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the ship-soul is intentionally given a mechanical-sounding voice so it can be
distinguished from humans. OnUnfettered Destiny, the voice sounded morewindy
than Bell or Rye, as if it were powered by huge ship-sized lungs instead of
the many little lung-ettes of real Cashlings.
The ship-soul spoke briefly, then fell silent. Lady Bell seemed waiting for
more; I suppose she had instructed the ship to contact her newsbroker and was
now expecting a reply.
In the meantime, I squirmed in my too-comfy seat. Uclod and Lajoolie still
appeared bleary after their nausea in the receiving bay; Nimbus hovered near
them while Festina whispered to Aarhus in confidential tones. I disliked my
friend speaking in a manner I could not overhear... but it seemed a great deal
of trouble to move into a position where I could eavesdrop, especially when
she and the sergeant were probably just discussing tiresome navy topics.
It was all too much bother to pay attention. In fact, everything in the world
seemed excessively complicated. I remember thinking,Why can't I just sleep for
a while? Then I snuggled into the soft woolly floor.
Enough To Wake Me Up
Lady Bell said something sharp in Cashlingese. I sat up abruptly, unsure how
much time had passed since my last conscious thought. As far as I could tell,
no one had changed position at all. Perhaps it had only been a few seconds.
But I did not know how long I had blanked out, and that terrified me.
"Is something wrong?" Festina asked. I opened my mouth to say,I am very very
scared... but she was looking at Bell, not me.
I pushed myself up to look at Bell too. Even though the Cashling woman had no
face, it was clear she was most upset. In fact, his. Prophet was wheezing
indignantly from a dozen orifices at once.
"This stupid ship!" Lady Bell said. "The most important day of my life, and
wouldn't you know, the communication system breaks down. We can't raise a peep
from Jalmut; no trans-light communications at all."
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As the human phrase goes, a chill went down my spine. In fact, it felt more
as if the chill moved upward from my stomach to my shoulders and thence to my
face, but perhaps chills behave non-traditionally in artificial gravity.
"Uh-oh," muttered Uclod. "I hate to say it, missy," he told Bell, "but it
sounds like you're getting jammed."
"Jammed?" Aarhus repeated. "Oh crap."
"Quick!" Festina said. "We need a long-range scan right now!"
"No, we don't," Nimbus answered quietly.
He waved a foggy arm, pointing behind our backs. We all whirled to look
through the glass bulkhead.
There, looming across half the sky, was the stick-ship.
Big Bully
"Damn, that's a big sucker," Festina whispered.
The Shaddill had appeared alongsideRoyal Hemlock, a vast brown forest beside
a single white tree. Every stick in the Shaddill ship seemed larger than the
entireHemlock: longer and wider, like oaks crowding in on a paper birch. There
were hundreds, maybe thousands, of the brown sticks, one of which telescoped
lazily toward the dwarfed navy vessel.
"What are the odds," Uclod asked, "those bastards will just grabHemlock and
fly away?"
"They don't want to fly away," Festina said. "They want to capture everyone
who knows too much. You. Oar. Anybody you might have talked to."
"Which means the whole damned crusade."
"Right. They want to nab every last ship."
"How the hell will they do that?" Uclod asked. "We've got dozens of little
ships. If we scatter in different directions "
"They won't let us," Festina said. With sudden urgency, she rolled to her
feet. "Lady Bell, is there any way to opaque this ship's hull?"
"Why would I want to do that?" the lady asked.
A flash of blue brilliance burst upon us like lightning. For a moment,
Festina's face was reduced to pure black and white: white eyes, black pupils,
white skin, black birthmark, white anger, black "I knew this would happen"
expression. Then her body crumpled limply to the floor.
Everyone else was already lying down.
Another Ship Bites The Dust
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I am such a one as thrives on bright light. I did not feel invigorated by
this particular light, but I did not slump over unconscious either. Perhaps,
as the Pollisand had joked, many types of light just pass right through my
body. At any rate, I am not so weak as opaque persons, so it takes more than a
garish flash to subdueme.
The others, alas, were unconscious... everyone but Nimbus, who still hovered
mistlike above the unmoving bodies. It annoyed me that he too had remained
awake; one enjoys being special, or at least more special than an entity made
of fog. Nevertheless, I could guess why he had not succumbed: a creature
consisting of tiny floaty bits might not be affected by Sinister Weapon Beams
in the same manner as creatures made from meat... and of course he was nearly
as transparent as I, not to mention he too had been designed by the Shaddill.
Perhaps we had both been constructed immune to Shaddill weaponry. If so, the
stick-people were greatly foolish ifI were designing artificial beings, I
would make themespecially susceptible to my favorite weapons, so I could quell
rebellions with dispatch. But then, the Shaddill were villains; and if I had
learned anything from the fictional writings of my people, it was that
Villains Always Make Mistakes.
"What shall we do now?" I whispered to Nimbus. "If the Shaddill think we are
unconscious, this is an excellent time to take them by surprise."
"Don't be too hasty," the cloud man replied. "They know you're here, right?
Catching you seems to be a priority for them. And they must suspect their
stun-beam doesn't work on you it didn't work when you were in Starbiter, so
why should it work now?" He drifted across the floor a short distance, then
drifted back again: the cloudish equivalent of pacing. "Maybe they'rehoping
you'll do something noticeable so they can tell where you are."
"Ahh," I said. "That is astute reasoning." I looked up at the glass roof. "Of
course, they will see me as soon as they look in this direction. I am harder
to notice than opaque persons, but I am not invisible."
"Don't worry about that," Nimbus told me. "In a Cashling ship like this, the
hull is only transparent one way; you can see out, but no one can see in. The
Shaddill won't spot you that easily."
Which meant that with so many ships in the crusade, the Shaddill faced great
difficulty determining where I was. Our trying to flee or attack would be a
mistake, since it would catch the Shaddill's attention... but then, I doubted
that wecould flee or attack.Unfettered Destiny would almost certainly refuse
to take commands except from the Cashlings themselves. Indeed, I did not know
if I could even leave the studio without Lady Bell's or Lord Rye's permission,
the ship's security systems might not open the door for me. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]