Transformation Space - Marianne de Pierres [8]
Activity seemed to help Catchut as well, and he began to take more and more of his own weight until he eventually shrugged them off.
Jo-Jo relinquished his hold on the wiry merc with relief.
‘I’m figuring the port’ll be crawling with Saqr still,’ said Rast, when she deemed it a safe enough distance from the Extro craft to speak. ‘Maybe that’s why they spat us out. They think we won’t stand a chance out here.’
‘Coulda spat us into the vac, Capo.’
‘I doubt it’d be able to thin its skin in space to junk us.’
‘Yeah,’ said Jo-Jo. ‘Or maybe it’d learned what it needed?’
‘Like what?’ Randall’s voice was sharp and clear, even though she was a few paces ahead of him.
‘Dunno,’ said Jo-Jo. ‘Just a thought.’
‘Yeah, well here’s – what – I – got,’ Randall puffed as she floundered doggedly up the next dune.
Jo-Jo had to force his legs along harder to keep up with her. Randall had her weaknesses, but stamina wasn’t one of them.
Catchut did the same, habit more than anything else.
Randall stopped at the top and caught her breath before saying more.
‘I’m reckonin’ the Extros are here cos they need somethin’. More’n likely a mineral that Araldis has, but not necessarily. Could be somethin’ else as well. Thing is, between that motherfuckin’ big drum of weirdness and the Saqr, they don’t need much to survive here. The Medium appears self-sufficient, and the Saqr are primitive as fuck. Jancz and Ilke might be the only other ’esques here apart from any survivors.’ She stared towards the darker outline of the mountain. ‘I’m bettin’ that whatever hasn’t burned up there is still how the Latinos left it. There’s got to be an AiV in one of those fancy places that works, or that we can get to work. We do that, then we can go scout for anyone left alive. Mira said she told Pellegrini to head for the islands. If they’ve made it, that’s where they’ll be.’
It was a long speech for someone not long out of a puddle of Extro goo, and her voice got hoarser with each word. Jo-Jo took some time to digest it all. ‘So we’ve just got to dodge Saqr till we find something that can fly?’
Randall started down the dune and they automatically followed her. ‘You got it. More important though …’
‘Yeah?’ As they reached the bottom, Jo-Jo felt firmer ground under his feet and the sting of pebbles.
‘Look,’ she said.
Jo-Jo could see her pointing to the sky. Sunrise was coming.
‘We’ve got to get to shade before Leah’s up, or we’ll be mummified before you can think jack shit.’
TEKTON
Tekton’s legs didn’t seem to want to hold him upright. Fortunately, the nanosuit he’d borrowed from Samuelle lent him stability. A glance across Commander Farr’s cabin told him that the old Stain Wars veteran Jelly Hob was feeling much the same.
The pair had been arguing over Tekton’s wild demands – that Hob fly him back to Belle-Monde – when Farr’s com-sole had activated to record the summit meeting on Intel station. At first they’d paid only scant attention to it, too busy with their own exchange, and the fact that Hob had discovered Tekton trying to access the Commander’s Dynamic System Device.
But since Baronessa Fedor’s sudden and unvarnished announcement to the summit that the Post-Species were mobilising mass weapons, neither had spoken a word.
Hob broke silence first. ‘Only one place this ship’ll be going now, Tekkie, and that’s to war.’ Alarms started up, as if to lend weight to his words. ‘I be thinking that you’d best get off now ’less you wanna be flying inta a dogfight with the Extros. Catch a civilian ride; there’s enough of them here. Best to hurry though. Things’ll get messy, I warrant.’
Tekton nodded, thinking Hob made good sense. ‘Yes. Best. What ships are available? And how do I get to them?’
Hob took a step closer to Lasper Farr’s com-sole and ran gnarled but surprisingly deft fingers down the pad, calling up reports. Images of the shift sphere formed in the air between them. The rings