Текст книги "At the Edge of Space (Brothers of Worlds; Hunter of Worlds)"

Автор книги: C. J. Cherryh

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Текущая страница: 32 (всего у книги 36 страниц)

The humans debated no longer, but fled, and the amaut went up and closed the street door after them, waddling down the steps holding up his wrist to cast a light that included Aiela upon the floor.

It was Kleph, his ugly face more than usually sinister in the dim lighting. Cold air and damp breathed out from some dark hole beyond the light, an amaut burrow, tunnels of earth that would twist and meet many times beneath the surface of Weissmouth. Aiela had not been aware that this maze yet existed, but it was expected. He knew too that one hapless kallia could be slain and buried in this earthen maze, forever lost from sight and knowledge save for the idoikkheon his wrist, and amaut ingenuity could solve that as well.

“What are you after?” Aiela asked him. “Are you here to cover your high command’s mistakes?”

“Most honorable sir, I am devastated. You were given into my hands to protect.”

Aiela let go a small breath of relief, for the fellow did not reasonably need to deceive him; but it was still in his mind that Kleph had access to humans such as had attacked them at the port, and had just evidenced it. The little fellow waddled over and freed him, put his arm about him, helping him and compelling him at once as they sought the depths of the tunnel. Shadows rippled insanely over the rudimentary plaster of the interior, the beginnings of masonry.

“Kleph,” Aiela protested, “Kleph, I have to find a way to contact my ship.”

“Impossible, sir, altogether impossible.”

The squat little amaut forced him around a corner despite his resistance; and there Aiela wrenched free and sought to run, striking the plaster wall in the dark, turning and running again, following the rough wall with his hands.

He did not come to the entrance when he expected it, and after a moment he knew that he was utterly, hopelessly lost. He sank down on the earthen floor gasping for breath, and leaned his shoulders against the chill wall, perceiving the bobbing glow of Kleph’s lamp coming nearer. In a moment more Kleph’s ugly face materialized at close quarters around the corner, and he made a bubbling sound of irritation as he squatted down opposite.

“Most honorable sir,” said Kleph, rocking back on his heels and clasping his arms about his knees in a position the amaut found quite comfortable. “There is a word in our language: shakhshoph.It means the hiding-face. And, my poor lord, you have gotten quite a lot of shakhshophsince you arrived in our settlement. One is always that way with outsiders: it is only decency. Sometimes too it hides a lie. Pay no attention to words with my people. Watch carefully a man who will not face you squarely and beware most of all a man who is too polite.”

“Like yourself.”

Kleph managed a bow, a rocking forward and back. “Indeed, most honorable sir, but I am fortunately your most humble servant. Anyone in the colony will tell you of Kleph. I am a man of most insignificant birth; I am backworld and my manners want polish. I have come from the misfortune of my origin to an apprentice clerkship with the great karshGomek, to ship’s accountant, to my present most honored position. My lord must understand then that I am very reluctant to defy the orders of bnesychGerlach. But we observe a simple rule, to choose a loyalty and stay by it. It is the single wisdom of our law. BnesychGerlach gave my service to the ship in the port, and as you serve the lord of that ship, I am interested in saving your life.”

“You—chose a remarkable way of demonstrating it.”

“They have injured you.” Kleph’s odd-feeling hand most unwelcomely patted Aiela’s neck and shoulder. “ Ai,most honorable sir, had I the opportunity I would have shot the lot of them—but they will take the passes and disappear far into the uplands. If one wishes to corrupt, one simply must pay his debts like a gentleman. They are filthy animals, these humans, but they are not stupid: a few corpses discovered could make them all flee my employ in the future. But for the passes to get them clear of our lines, they will gladly do anything and suffer anything and seek my service gladly.”

“Like those that fired a shell among us at the port?”

Kleph lifted a hand in protest. “My lord, surely you have realized that was not my doing. But I am Master of Accounts, and so I know when men are moved and ships fly; and I have human servants, so I know when these things happen and do not get entered properly in the records. Therefore I am in danger. There are only two men on this world besides myself who can bypass the records: one is under– bnesychYasht, and the other is bnesychGerlach.”

“Who hired it done?”

“One or the other of them. No shakhshoph.It is what I told you: one chooses a loyalty and remains constant; it is the only way we know to survive—as for instance my own lords know where my loyalty in this matter must logically lie, and so I shall need to stay out of sight until the crisis is resolved: a cup of poisoned wine, some such thing—it is only reasonable to eliminate those men known to serve the opposition. I am highly expendable; I am not of this karsh,and therefore I was given to the lord in the port. I also was meant to be eliminated at the port; and now it is essential that we both be silenced.”

“Why?” Aiela had lost his power to be shocked. His mind simply could not grasp the turns of amaut logic.

“Why, my lord nas kame, if the population of this colony realizes the bnesychserves the other lord, it would split the colony into two factions, with most bloody result. We are not a fighting people, no, but one protects his own nest, after all—and the bnesychhas many folk in this venture who are not of karshGomek: out– karshfolk, exiles, such as myself. Such loyalties can be lost quickly. There is always natural resentment toward a large karshwhen it mismanages. And if it no longer appears the action at the port was on human initiative, it would be most, most distressing in some quarters.” He pressed his broad-tipped fingers to Aiela’s brow, where there was a swelling raised. “Ai, sir, I am sorry for your unhappy state, and I did try to find you before you wandered into a trap, but you were most elusive. When I knew you had entered the headquarters and when I saw the northside lights out, I acted and disposed my human agents at once, or you would be in the other lord’s hands before dawn.”

“Get me to the ship at the port,” Aiela said, “or get me a means to contact them, or there are going to be people hurt.”

“Sir?” asked Kleph, his squat face much distressed. He gulped several times in amaut sorrow. “O sir, and must the great lords blame those who are guiltless? See, here am I, out– karsh,helping you. Surely then your masters will understand that not all of us in this colony are to blame. Surely they will realize how faithfully we serve them.”

It was impossible to tell Kleph that the iduve did not understand the custom of service and reward, or that harm and help were one and the same to them. Aiela made up his mind to a half-truth. “I will speak for you,” he said, “maybe—if you help me.”

“Sir, what you ask is impossible just now, if you only under—”

“It had better not be impossible,” Aiela said.

Kleph rocked back and forth uncomfortably. “The port—these tunnels are not complete, nor shored properly all the way, and your– hhhunhh—size will not make the passage easy. But at this hour, honest folk will be abed, and no human mercenary would be down here; they fear such places.”

“Then take me to the port.” Aiela gathered his stiffening legs under him, straightening as much as he could in this lowceilinged chamber. Kleph scrambled up with much more agility and Aiela snatched at his collar, for it occurred to him Kleph could run away and leave him to die in these tunnels, lost in a dark maze of windings and pitfalls. He knew of a certainty that he could not best the creature in a fight or hold him if he were determined, but he intended to make it clear Kleph would have to harm him to avoid obeying him.

“You recovered my gun,” Aiela said. “Give it back.”

Kleph did not like it. He bubbled and boomed in his throat and twisted about unhappily, but he extracted the weapon from his belly-pocket and surrendered it. Aiela holstered it without letting go Kleph’s collar, and then pushed at the little fellow to start him moving. They came to tunnel after tunnel and Kleph chose his way without hesitation.

Light burst suddenly like a sun exploding, heat hit their faces, and the stench of ozone mingled with the flood of outside air. A shadow of manlike shape dropped from above into their red-hazed vision, and Aiela hauled back on Kleph to flee. But the pain of the idoikkheparalyzed his arm and he collapsed to his knees, while beside him on his face Kleph groveled and gibbered in terror, his saucer eyes surely agony, for the amaut could scarcely bear noon daylight, let alone this.

“Aiela,” said a chill, familiar voice, and the idoikkhe’stouch was gentle now, a mere signature: Ashakh.

Aiela expelled his breath in one quick sob of relief and picked himself up to face the iduve, who stood amid the rubble of the tunnel and in the beam of light from the street above.

What of the amaut?asked the pulses of the idoikkhe. Will you be rid of him?

“No,” Aiela said quickly.

A response in which I find no wisdom,Ashakh replied. But he put the small hand weapon back in his belt and looked down on the amaut, coming closer. “Get up.”

Kleph obeyed, crouching low and bowing and bobbing in extreme agitation. The light at his wrist swung wildly, throwing hideous shadows, leaping up and down the rough walls. Ashakh was a darkness, dusky of complexion and clad in black, but his eyes cast an uncanny mirror-light of dim rose hue, damped when he moved his head.

This person was aiding you?Ashakh asked.

“If Kleph is right, bnesychGerlach was behind what happened at the port, and Kleph risked a great deal helping me.”

“Indeed,” mused Ashakh aloud. “Do you believe this?”

“I have reason to.”

As you have reason for letting this amaut live? I fail to understand the purpose of it.

“Kleph knows Weissmouth,” said Aiela, “and he will be willing to help us. Please,” he added, sweating, for the look on Ashakh’s grim face betokened a man in a hurry, and the iduve understood nothing of gratitude. He misliked being advocate for Kleph, but it was better than allowing the little fellow to be killed.

Chimele values your judgment; I do not agree with it.

But Ashakh said no more of killing Kleph, and Aiela understood the implication: it was on his shoulders, and vaikkawas his to pay if his judgment proved wrong.

“Yes, sir,” said Aiela. “What shall we do?”

“Have you a suggestion?”

“Get a ship and get the others out of Tejef’s hands.”

Ashakh frowned. “And have you a means to accomplish this?”

“No, sir.”

“Well, we shall go to the port, and this person will guide us.” Ashakh fixed the trembling amaut with a direct stare and Kleph scurried to get past him and take the lead. The tall iduve must bend to follow as they pursued their way through the winding passages.

“Do they know—does the Orithain know,” Aiela asked, “what happened?”

We had a full account from Tesyel, who commands the base ship.And then in un-Ashakh fashion, the iduve volunteered further conversation. Chimele sent me to find you. I was puzzled at first by the direction of the signal, but remembering the amaut’s subterranean habits I resolved the matter—not without giving any persons trying to track us a sure indication of the direction of our flight. We had best make all possible haste. And I still mislike this small furtive person, Aiela-kameth.

“I can only decide as a kallia, sir.”

Honor to your self-perception. What are your reasons for mistrusting Gerlach?

12

The touch of Rakhi’s mind came softly, most softly. It had hurt before, and Chaikhe accepted it cautiously, her nape hairs bristling at the male presence. She fought to subdue the rage that beat along her veins, and she felt Rakhi himself struggling against a very natural revulsion, for chanokhiaforbade intimacy with a katasathe.She was for gift-giving and for honor, not for touching.

And there was his own distinctive harachia,a humorous, subdued presence. His arastiethesuffered terribly at close range, much more than hers did, for although folk judged Rakhi scandalously careless of his reputation, he was not really a person of kutikkaseand his sense of chanokhiawas keen in some regards. He cared most intensely what others thought of him, and found even the disapproval of a nas kame painful; but where others bristled and had recourse to the idoikkheior engaged in petty vaikka,Rakhi laughed and turned inward. It was the shield of a nature as solitary in its own way as Ashakh’s, and of a man of surprising intelligence. Even Chimele scarcely understood how much Rakhi dreaded to be known, how much he loathed to be touched and to touch; but Chaikhe felt these things, and kept her distance.

“ Nasith,” Rakhi voiced. He used this means, although other communication was swifter and carried sensory images as well; but this let him keep the essence of himself in reserve. “ Nasith,Chimele is with me. She asks your state of health.”

“I am quite well, nasith-toj.”

“She advises you that Ashakh is presently attempting to recover the kameth Aiela. He has not communicated with you?”

“ Nasith,I certainly would not have thought of violating Chimele’s direct order in this regard. No, nor would I accept it if he contacted me.”

But you areiq -sra through both lines,he thought, and Ashakh does as Ashakh pleases when he likes his orders as little as he likes the one that separated you. We shall have him to deal with sooner or later.“Contact bnesychGerlach and re-establish communications with the amaut authorities. Under no circumstance admit humans within your security. They do not know us, and they have a great m’melakhia,tempered with very little judgment of reality, as witness their actions against Khasif and Mejakh. They also have a certain tendency toward arrhei-akita,which makes vaikkaupon the few no guarantee that the example will deter others. Many of their actions arise from logical processes based on biological facts we do not yet understand, or else from their ignorance of us. Remember Khasif and use appropriate discretion.”

“I will bear this in mind.”

“ Ashanomehas suffered vaikkaat the hands of someone in Weissmouth in the matter of Khasif. Chimele puts the entire business into your capable hands, nasith-tak.Whatever the fate of Priamos as a whole, this vaikkamust be paid. Look to it, for we have been disadvantaged under the witness of both Mijanotheand Tashavodh.”

“Does Chimele not suggest a means?” inquired Chaikhe, proud and anxious at once, for the arastietheof Ashanomewas a great burden to bear alone.

Chimele’s harachiacame over Rakhi’s senses, a rather uncertain contact at the distance he preserved: her takkhenoiswas full of disturbance, so that Chaikhe shivered. “Tell Chaikhe that Weissmouth is hers, and what she does with those beings is hers to determine, but I forbid her to risk her loss to us without consulting me.”

“Tell Chimele I will handle the matter on those terms,” she said, uncomforted. Chimele’s disturbance lingered, upsetting her composure and making her stomach tight.

Chaikhe.Rakhi let Chimele’s image fade. “Dawn is beginning in Weissmouth. I urge you make all possible haste.”

“I shall. Leave me now. I shall begin at once.”

He broke contact, but he was back before she had crossed the deck to the command console. Chaikhe, understand: I must—

His trouble set her teeth on edge and backlashed to such an extent that he hastily withdrew the feeler. She took firm grip on her rational faculty and invited his return.

Chaikhe, I—must stay. I do not lackchanokhia, I protest I am not sensitive to your distress. I dislike this proximity. It grates, it hurts—“I must remain in contact. Chimele’s order, nasith.She judges it necessary.” But Chimele does not suffer, she does not feel this.

Chaikhe shuddered as he did. The consciousness of the child within her sent a quick pulse of fury over her, an impulse to kill: and that impulse directed at Rakhi distressed her greatly. Something powerful stirred in her blood. Chemistry beyond her control was already beginning subtle changes in her; her temper almost ruled her. Her takkhenoiswas devastating. Her own power frightened her. Is it this, to bekatasathe?

“Chaikhe,” Rakhi’s thought reached her, faint and timid, “Chaikhe, honor to you, nasith-tak,but I must do as I am told. Chimele—”

“I perceive, I perceive, I perceive.” For a moment the faculty of reasonable response left her, and she was a prey to the anger; but then there was the cold clarity of Rakhi’s thought in her mind. Au, Chaikhe, Chaikhe, what is happening?

And Chaikhe looked down at the green robes that were the honor of a katasatheand felt a moment of panic, a wish to shed these and the child at once and to be Chaikhe again. The violence growing in her mind went against everything she had always honored; and it was the child’s doing.

Yet the thought of yielding up the child before the time shocked her. She could not. The process would complete itself inexorably and the madness, the honorable madness, would fasten itself upon her, a possession over which logic had no power.

Dhisais!

Long moments later Rakhi felt again toward her mind, fear at first, and then that characteristic humor that was Rakhi. “O nasith-tak,being katasatheis a situation of ultimate frustration to a male. If I should also become dhisais,I know not what I shall do with myself. Will they let me in the dhis,do you think?” Or shall I die,nasith-tak? I should rather that, than to lose my mind.

In another male his language would have been unbearably offensive to her condition—for to be katasathewas to hold a m’melakhiaso private and so possessive that proximity to others as equals was unbearable. Had she been aboard Ashanome, she would have resigned her other activities and settled into a period of waiting, accepting gifts of the nasul,protection of Ashakh, increasingly occupied with her own thoughts. But in a strange way Rakhi did share with her, and could not really share or threaten; and she felt his disadvantage as her own. Their arastiethehad become almost one, and Rakhi had a right to such frankness.

We have begun to merge,he thought suddenly. Au, Chaikhe, Chaikhe-nasith, what will become of me?

Go away. Chimele’s orders notwithstanding, go, now! Give me my privacy for a moment. Something is happening to me. I fear—I fear—

She is ill,she perceived Rakhi telling Chimele in great alarm, sweating, for he felt it too.

“‘No,’” came Chimele’s answer, and in her mind she could see Chimele’s brooding face sketched by the tone of the answer. “‘No, no illness. What was put into Chaikhe’s veins while she slept was no more than nature would have sent soon enough. My profound regret, Chaikhe.’ ”

You are driving me to this state!she realized suddenly, with a flood of anger that hurt Rakhi no less; she felt the tremor that ran through him and his shame at having unwittingly participated. Then bitter laughter rose in her. Honor to Chimelesra -Chaxal.Vaikka, vaikka, o Chimele, shadow-worker. From all others I knew how to defend myself; but those that come between Chimele and necessity must suffer for it. Honor to you indeed,nasith.

“I knew nothing of it,” Rakhi protested. “I did not, Chaikhe.”

We are both disadvantaged,nasith-toj. But when did one ever deal with Chimele and profit from it? Go. Go away.

He fled in great discomfort, and Chaikhe sank down at the control console, her indigo fingers clenched together until the knuckles turned pale. Then with an abrupt act of will she forced her mind to business and fired an impulse to Tesyel, nas kame in charge of the base ship. Tesyel,she sent him, have Neya escort thebnesych Gerlach to me immediately, giving him no opportunity for delay. If he be sleeping or naked as the day he was born, still give him no time to turn aside. If there are others with him, bring them. If they resist, destroy them. Use whatever of theokkitani-as you need in this.

A light flashed on the board, Tesyel’s signaled acknowledgment. Chaikhe noted it as a matter expected and put the wide scan from the base ship on her own screens.

Something flashed there, coming hard, at the far limit of the screen. She exerted herself to fire, almost a negligent gesture, for she meant to seal Weissmouth against all aircraft until Ashakh was heard from, and had it been Ashakh, she was sure she would have been advised.

The incoming ship brushed off the fire and varied nothing from its course, far outstripping amaut capabilities in its speed and defenses. It was huge, just inside the limits for intra-atmosphere operation.

The recognition occupied less than a second in Chaikhe’s mind, as long as it took to flash a warning to Tesyel aboard the base command ship.

Tejef!her mind cried at Rakhi, shamefully hysterical, and rage and the wish to kill washed over her to the depths of her belly. Her ship blasted out a futile barrage at the incoming vessel, which showed every evidence of intending a landing: stalemate. Greater expense of energy could wipe out Weissmouth and the surrounding valley and still not penetrate the other’s defenses.

Calm!Rakhi insisted. Calm! Think as Chaikhe, not as adhisais. O nasith-tak, if ever you needed your wits it is now. Conserve power, conserve, waste nothing and do not let him harm our people in the city. You are the citadel of our power on Priamos. If you fall, it is over. Do not add yourself to Tejef forserach.

Power fluctuated wildly. In mental symbiosis with the ship’s mechanisms, Chaikhe felt it like a wound and shuddered. We are attacked. And Tesyel cannot control the base ship like an iduve.But while the attack continued, her mind centered on one delicate task, an electronic surgery that altered contacts and began to unite her little ship with Tesyel’s larger one, putting systems into communication so that she could draw upon the greater weapons of the base ship and command the computer that regulated its defensive systems. This would hold as long as her ship retained power to send command impulses. When that faded, she would lose command of the base ship. When that happened, Tejef would hold Priamos alone.

A half-day remained. When the sun stood at zenith over Weissmouth, the deadline would have expired; and Tejef’s ship could force her to exhaust her power reserves well before that time, pounding at her defenses, forcing her to extend the power of her ship simply to survive.