Binary system, p.11
Binary System, page 11
She let out a breath. “Perhaps they’ve moved on.”
“It would be safer if we concealed ourselves,” Var said.
Delia looked around. “That’s a great idea, in theory. There’s one slight problem – a distinct lack of hiding places.”
“One hundred paces ahead and to the right,” Var said, “is a fissure in the ground. It will lead to a Vo underground lair.”
Delia made out a discoloration in the cracked, grey stone ahead. “How can you be sure?”
“Pheromones,” Var explained. “Vo have come this way many times before. It is a narrow cleft, so I suggest you dismount and follow me.”
Var arranged her legs to form a staircase and Delia followed Mahn down, her stomach tight with apprehension. Var scuttled over the iron-hard ground towards the cleft, and Delia and Mahn hurried to keep pace.
Perhaps Var had been mistaken, Delia thought; perhaps she’d seen a flash of sunlight on a rock or a sliver of ice, and ascribed it to a Skelt’s lightning movement? They seemed to be alone on the vast face of the featureless plain. Nevertheless, she was cheered by the thought that soon they would be safely underground in the lair of the Vo.
She wondered if they would proceed to Jhelam underground; another extraordinary experience. She wondered if the Vo had cities down there, and if so, what they might be like.
They had almost reached the rent in the ground when Var whistled in alarm. Almost before Imp had time to translate, “Attention! Skelt!” the locust creatures appeared en masse.
“Run!” Mahn yelled, reaching for her hand.
She saw a blur of silver motion to her right, and another straight ahead. Var was scuttling at speed towards the cleft, a dark slash ten metres away. The spider-crab collided with a silver streak, and the Skelt went rattling off across the ground. For a second it lay on its back, then vanished from sight as it picked itself up and ran.
Var reached the cleft, slipped through the gap and disappeared.
Mahn gripped Delia’s hand and dragged her along – and then he was suddenly no longer at her side. Something hit him and he went flying across the ground and lay very still. Delia started towards Mahn, but something restrained her. She turned, crying out, and stared into the elongated face of the locust creature gripping her arm.
In an instant a dozen Skelt materialised around her, armed with sickle swords, spears rising from quivers on their backs.
Delia struggled, attempting to free herself from the Skelt, but its grip was like iron. She had the laser scalpel in the pocket of her thermal suit, and her left hand was free... But with so many Skelt around her she would be a fool to play the hero.
Do not resist, Imp counselled. Do not give them an excuse to harm you.
She looked desperately across to where Mahn lay, unmoving.
One of the Skelt thrust its face at her and worked its mandibles. Imp translated: “What are you?”
They’re not the Skelt we evaded earlier, she said.
I am not sure that this is to our advantage.
What should I tell them? She was shaking in fear and it was all she could do to hold on to the contents of her stomach.
We don’t want to be returned to the Skelt at Alkellion, Imp said, in light of the militia’s decision to put you to death.
“What are you?” the Skelt asked again.
I think the best course might be to plead ignorance. Do not respond to its questions. This might buy us time.
Very well... But time for what?
Time to allow me to consider the situation.
She stared at the Skelt before her, then looked away. The party seemed uninterested in Mahn, who lay unmoving ten metres away. He had hit the ground with force... but perhaps he was merely unconscious, not dead. His tiny form, loose-limbed and pathetic, brought tears to her eyes.
The Skelt were joined by the others, who crowded around and stared at her with obvious curiosity.
The first Skelt brought its face close to hers and spoke again. Imp translated: “You do not comprehend? You are ignorant? An animal? Perhaps the Vo planned to eat you, yes? Perhaps you are good meat?”
Another Skelt spoke, and Imp said, This one says that it thinks you are intelligent, and not an animal. It calls you an enigma, which ought to be investigated.
This brought a clacking cacophony of response from the rest of the party.
What are they saying, Imp?
They are debating what to do with you.
And? What are the suggestions? And don’t spare my feelings.
Very well, they range from eating you themselves, feeding you to the harl, or taking you back for their leaders to question.
‘Back’? she asked. To Alkellion?
They did not specify.
A Skelt stepped forward, drawing its curved sword and gesturing towards her. The creature rattled its jaws.
Imp?
It said that you are meatier than a Fahran. It has volunteered to be the first to sample your flesh.
Wonderful. I think I’d better say something.
I agree.
She stared at the Skelt with the drawn sword and said, “I understand you.”
The translation brought a clatter of comment from the surrounding party. Their leader bent close. “You speak our tongue even better than the Fahran.”
“I am a scientist, from another star. I came here in a flying ship. I have knowledge which I will share.”
This brought another round of clattering comment. They speak of the light in the sky they saw many days ago, Imp said, evidently your life-raft. They say they must take you back to their city. They will be well rewarded, they say.
The leader spoke. “We will not eat you, yet. First, you will speak to our chiefs, and then we might feast upon your flesh.”
“My flesh is poisonous to the Skelt,” she said. “But your leaders will reward you well for the knowledge I will share.”
The leader gestured, and Delia saw a blur of movement as two Skelt moved towards her. Then she was tipped on to her side and carried through the air, a dizzying rush all the more vertiginous for being unexpected. Sharp claws bit into her arms and legs and it was all she could do to stop herself from crying out in pain.
She tried to look back, to see whether they had gathered up Mahn too, but was unable to bend her head far enough.
The disorienting rush lasted for a few minutes; eventually she came to a stop and was unceremoniously placed upright. She staggered, gaining her balance, and looked around her.
She saw a hundred Skelt gathered on the plain, and a procession of a dozen strange creatures. They resembled turtles without shells, but turtles twice the size of bull elephants, with iridescent scales and multi-horned heads. Each creature – the harl Var had spoken of? – bore a cargo of dead animals with jet black pelts, and other, smaller animals, slung like trophies across their domed backs. Behind the caravan of harl she made out a dozen spider-crabs, their legs shackled, each one ridden by a Skelt.
She was tipped up again and carried off at speed. When she stopped again, she was being lashed to the back of the leading harl. A Skelt – she guessed it was the leader who had questioned her earlier – crouched beside her and called out a command to a colleague hunkered behind the head of the beast.
The harl started up and plodded ponderously forward, its breath coming in great stertorous wheezes. Behind them, Delia heard the rest of the caravan trudge in wheezing pursuit. She closed her eyes and wondered what fate awaited her at journey’s end.
Chapter Seventeen
HOURS ELAPSED. DELIA dozed and woke. She ached from being tied in an unnatural position to the back of the beast. The sun was directly overhead, a bloodshot eye staring down on her dispassionately. They were still on the great plain, but she could not make out the northern mountains. With the sun at its zenith, it was impossible to say in which direction they were heading.
Do you know where they’re taking us? she asked Imp.
No, in that I have no knowledge of our destination. However, as for our direction...
Go on, she said, fearing the worst.
Imp confirmed her fears. North.
That’s bad, isn’t it?
It does not necessarily mean that we are heading for Alkellion.
She grunted. Pull the other one. And even if we’re making for another city, word will soon reach the Skelt at Alkellion that they have me, and what then? The militia there want me dead, or have you forgotten that?
If we are heading towards another city, that will be to our advantage. It will give us the opportunity, perhaps, to play one set of Skelt off against the other. I can promise scientific knowledge, perhaps offer knowledge for privilege, until such time as I can effect your escape.
She was of a mind to say that she never realised that machine intelligences were prone to fantasize, but kept the thought to herself.
We’re unlikely to come upon another Fahran as good... she began, and could not continue.
Imp, what of Mahn? Do you think...?
It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty, Delia. I attempted to assess his status after the ambush, but without success.
At least Var managed to get away, she thought. Perhaps she had returned, searching for her friends, found Mahn and taken him to safety.
In the blink of an eye, a Skelt appeared beside her. She still couldn’t tell them apart, but suspected it was the leader of the scavenging party again.
The Skelt regarded her, its mandibles clacking. Imp translated: “You claim to come from the stars.”
“That’s correct. I do.”
“And the name of your planet?”
“Earth.”
How did you translate that, Imp? she asked.
Simply as the Skelt word for soil.
“And how far away is this Earth?” the Skelt wanted to know.
“Thousands of light years,” she said.
The Skelt listened, its head cocked. “And why did you come to my world?”
“I came to explore, in peace.”
“You were alone?”
She had a thought. “I was alone in my vessel, yes. But my colleagues followed in another craft. By now they will have landed on Valinda. They will come looking for me – in their ship, which has powerful weapons.”
Ingenious, Imp said.
“How powerful?”
Recalling that the Skelt had damaged her life-raft with their own ground-to-air weapon, she said, “Much more powerful than anything possessed by the Skelt.”
The alien regarded her without speaking for a while. “You are a fearsome warrior race, you people of Earth?” it asked at last.
“We can defend ourselves, if we need to.”
The Skelt turned its long, equine head and looked into the sky. “We, too, came from the stars, many summers ago. My people are a powerful warrior race. We have conquered more than a hundred planets on our travels through space.”
Unable to stop herself, she said, “That is hard to believe, given that now you fight with swords.”
“The Skelt on Valinda occupy an outpost, and quell the world with a level of technological sophistication deemed requisite for the task at hand. The Fahran and the Vo are feeble foes. My ancestors, when they left my people here, equipped us appropriately and moved on. But our history books say that my people have weapons capable of destroying worlds. I have read of the world of Kalash, defended by a suicidally proud race. They would not cede their planet to us, and so suffered the consequences.”
“And... are you in contact with your people amongst the stars?”
The Skelt just stared at her in silence, unwilling or unable to give her the information.
Imp, is there any way this Skelt might know in which direction its race moved around the spiral arm?
I very much doubt it. But I can ask.
Imp spoke to the Skelt, who replied. Imp said to Delia, I asked the creature whether its people moved along the arm towards the core, or contrariwise. As I suspected, it does not know. It is my opinion that the concept of star travel, and the distances involved, are things of magic to this creature.
Delia said to the Skelt, “It must make you proud, to hold sway over a foe as peaceful as the Fahran?”
Either her sarcasm was lost in translation, or the Skelt chose to ignore it. It said, “We are proud to rule Valinda as decreed by our ancestors.”
“And use races like the Fahran and the Vo as your slaves?”
The leader turned its inscrutable eyes upon her. “But that is their destiny, as an inferior race. Is it not written in nature, that the weak succumb to the strong?”
“And when my people come to rescue me?” she asked, her heart thumping.
The Skelt regarded her for long seconds. At last it said, “Then we will prove, when we have vanquished your compatriots, that we Skelt are the true masters of Valinda.”
Delia stared at the grey, unchanging landscape.
After a minute she looked back at the Skelt. “And where are you taking me now?”
“To our city, Alkellion,” said the Skelt, “where I will hand you over to our Council. They, in their wisdom, will decide what should be done with you.”
As rapidly as the leader appeared, it vanished from her side, leaving her staring into space.
Alkellion... she said. Imp, I must get away before then!
That will be difficult.
I have my laser scalpel, remember?
It is not an efficient weapon. We are surrounded by almost one hundred Skelt. They are trained warriors, I might remind you, and move at speed. You would do well to bide your time.
The harl caravan trudged on. The wheezing of the creature became metronomic, lulling her. The Skelt leader did not return to quiz her, for which she was thankful. She considered the possibility that, somewhere upon the face of the planet, other humans breathed the same air as her.
Imp.
Go on.
Perhaps Mahn survived and made his way to Alarah to get word to the other survivors... Or perhaps Var might have the wherewithal to do that?
It is a possibility, but of course you assume that the survivors are armed, or capable of coming after you and defeating such a well-drilled foe as the Skelt... And, indeed, that there are survivors.
But if there are survivors...?
I calculate that the chances of a successful outcome, should there be survivors, and should they elect to come after you, are remote.
Then... you’re saying that I’m as good as dead?
I am saying nothing of the sort.
You imply as much, she accused.
I simply stated that a successful outcome to the scenario you posited is unlikely. That does not mean, therefore, that I think your chances of remaining alive are limited.
But once I’m back at Alkellion, with the military members of the council wanting me dead...
Many days have elapsed since then – time enough for the parties involved to have reconsidered the situation. By now, the scientists of the council might have won over bellicose factions. And once it is known that another human vessel is upon Valinda – that, in my opinion, will concentrate Skelt minds and make them reconsider your destiny.
Some hope of that, she said.
In a flash the leader was beside her again, leaning forward to issue commands to the harl-driver. The great beast lumbered to a halt, and Delia watched as a dozen Skelt, blurring on either side of the harl, moved off into the distance.
Look, Imp said.
A party of Skelt came into sight a hundred metres ahead of the column. They stopped as one, then vanished as they moved, appearing again before her harl and staring up at her. A newcomer spoke to the Skelt leader at her side.
What are they saying, Imp? she asked.
It seems that these Skelt have come directly from Alkellion.
She stared down at the newcomers, aware that they were discussing her.
The leader turned to her. “It would appear, little one, that you have been far from truthful with me.”
“Meaning?”
“You did not tell me that you escaped from Alkellion, evading our guards with the aid of a Fahran.”
She replied, holding the Skelt’s implacable gaze, “You didn’t ask.”
The Skelt said, “A decree was issued for your death. No-one defies the Council and survives.”
One of the Alkellion Skelt, down below, called up to the leader.
Delia said, Imp? What did he say?
The guards from Alkellion demand that the leader hand you over so that they can carry out your immediate execution.
Thank you for that, Imp.
You did ask.
I’m not complaining. And what does the leader say?
He is equivocating. He thinks it wise to deliver you to the Council, citing that the situation has changed with the arrival of more beings from Earth.
The Alkellion Skelt gazed up, its mandibles working.
It says that the presence of other humans makes no difference. He will kill you, and then the other humans. He also points out that he outranks the leader of this party.
Wonderful. But I’ve got my scalpel, Imp, and if they decide to kill me I’ll go down fighting.
The leader turned to Delia and said, “I have orders to hand you over to my colleagues from the city.”
“Tell him about the other ship,” she said in desperation. “Tell him that my colleagues will avenge my death. They’ll kill every one of you complicit in my death – tell him that!”
“I have my orders.”
He moved swiftly, slashing through the ropes binding her to the harl. She felt claws pinch her arms and legs as she was lifted from the creature and deposited, staggering, on the ground before the party of Alkellion Skelt.
She raised her head and stared at the leader of the new arrivals. Her heart pounded. She wondered whether to reach for her scalpel and lash out at the Skelt now, at least do the bastard some damage before she died.
The Skelt drew its sword and pushed up Delia’s chin with its ice-cold blade. She tried not to flinch.
“Your blood will freeze on the ground of Valinda, and wild animals will feast on your carcass.”
She pressed her right hand against the pouch of her one-piece, felt the outline of the laser scalpel beneath the material, and slowly moved her hand to reach for the weapon.
