Transformation Space - Marianne de Pierres [96]
Unlikeable bastard, thought Jo-Jo, but tough. A little self-belief goes a long way.
He stared outside, musing on Pellegrini, and soon enough fell into another doze. This time he was roused by a dull yellow light on the horizon. He checked the locator again. It was almost dark, and unless some external illumination had been rigged since they’d passed over, Medium appeared to be glowing.
As the AiV closed in on its target, his mind woke and questions began to fight each other for space. A sweaty fear engulfed him. Why did Sole want him to go to Medium? Why now? What were the Saqr doing there? How long would Sole’s control over his body last?
Once again, he tried to reset the AiV’s trajectory, but his hands still refused to obey his brain. He could think and make decisions, but none of them were translating to his physical self.
Fear turned to a raging frustration, and yet all the while his sense of urgency grew. He must hurry. Hurry! Hurry!
When the AiV began to descend toward the Extro ship, he got a close and terrifying view of hundreds and hundreds of Saqr crawling over the outer skin; lines of ’em, like ants toing and froing from their anthill to a good source of food, trailing off the sides and back in the direction of the mine. They’re taking quixite on board.
As the AiV banked, something else caught his attention: two biozoons, side by side, wallowing in the sand dunes like impossibly large whale sharks. They were lit by the glow from Medium and the glittering satellites that were beginning to pop into existence as the sky darkened.
Sal! Jo-Jo knew his ship in an instant. The other one he recognised almost as quickly. Insignia. The fear and frustration tearing at him turned to a strange elation. She’s here! I knew it!
Suddenly, he couldn’t wait for the AiV to land. He sprang out of the pilot seat, down onto the sand, and tried to run in the direction of the ’zoons. But the Sole compulsion refused to comply, forcing him back towards Medium.
Hurry. Hurry. Over dunes. Staggering in sliding sand, until he found himself standing in front of the exact spot he and Randall and Catchut had been expelled from days before. He knew it from the dark burn-stain left by Insignia tearing away its coupling.
His hands lifted from his sides and pressed hard against Medium‘s coarse outer skin. The blemish was higher than he could reach. Too high! He fell to the sand and frantically began to dig, creating a mound to one side. When it was high enough, he tried again. This time his palms just reached the bottom of the dark stain. He began to push and pinch, the way he had before, and moments later he was pulled in – sucked, almost like thick liquid through a straw.
The sensation was a terrifying as before and he found himself screaming through the transition.
Once inside, he felt as if he’d been wrung out: the pressure left him weak and headachy. Blinking, he looked around. The interior had completely changed; the chamber they’d been trapped in was no more. Instead, Jo-Jo found himself in a low-lit tunnel. The only likeness it had to his surroundings last time he was here was the amber tint of the walls and floor.
He wiped his face with his hands and got slowly to his feet. Where did the tunnel go? Why was it a tunnel and not a space? He moved forward cautiously, following the tunnel through a series of bends. It’s like the insides of a body. Ear canals or intestines. The very notion made him want to run back to the scar in the wall and burrow out, but the compulsion wouldn’t let him. He moved inexorably forward and deeper inside, his sense of urgency growing by the breath. Hurry. Hurry. He trailed his hands along the wall to keep his balance, and his pace quickened until he found himself running as fast as his condition-weakened legs could go.
Finally, he burst from the tunnel into a place that was wider and