The team sat or lay under the stars, outside the little chapel, to wait for helicopter transport back to the mainland.
Peri moved beside Amanda. “Hey,” she said. “Remember earlier, when you asked who you needed to sleep with? And I said that would be me?”
Amanda gave her a quizzical look. “I remember.”
Peri laughed. “Well, I know you haven’t got a room for the night. So, I’m not propositioning you or anything, but you’re welcome to sleep in mine. Unless you want to be propositioned, of course?”
Amanda gave her an appreciative smile. “Maybe another night. The propositioning, I mean, not the sleeping. I’ll take the sleeping now, thanks. And I’m babbling a bit, aren’t I?”
“Yes, you are,” Peri confirmed. “But relax, I got the gist.” She gave Amanda’s shoulder a squeeze, and leaned to her other side where Gus was lying on his back looking tired.
“Lost without your dog?” she asked softly.
He propped himself on elbow and gave Peri a tight smile. “A little,” he admitted. “I have been looking after Tash for a very long time. When I think back, it is a surprisingly long time.”
Peri nodded. “You’re the Gustav Adolph, aren’t you? Gustavus the Second Adolphus, King of Sweden, Lion of the North, champion of the Protestant Reformation.”
Gus simply shrugged by way of reply.
“And that would mean you’ve been looking after Tash for about four hundred years.”
Gus nodded. “About.”
“Now what?” asked Peri.
Gus looked into her eyes, as if searching for something. “He’s in there, somewhere, isn’t he?”
She nodded. “I can feel him,” she said. “That isn’t the right word. I can – sense – him inside me. When I came back, he fled. It’s like he found a corner and curled up in it, and pulled a barrier round himself to cut himself off from me. He isn’t talking, he’s just there.”
“So now, I guess you are his caretaker,” he said, wistfully. “I am not sure what I am any more.” He slumped back down and stared at the stars.
“My valued advisor?” suggested Peri.
“It would be unfair on you not to be,” he answered. Then he propped himself up again. “When you – went away – and then came back,” he said, slowly, “Did you meet someone?”
“The Servator.”
“So you did meet him,” he said with a nod. “Or her. A remarkably vague and ambiguous individual.”
“Indeed. She is definitely both of those.”
Gus sighed. “So she – or he – snatched you from death and sent you back to carry out a task.”
Peri sighed, too. “If she is to be believed, she is responsible for my birth, and my more recent re-birth. I know little more than that. I really would appreciate your help to understand what the hell has happened to me, and what I need to do. Will you help me?”
“Yes,” he said without a moment’s hesitation. “I will help you.”
Peri smiled in appreciation. She stood and walked over to sit between the two marines.
“Well, that was fun,” she said. “Did we all have fun? How was it for you?”
Steve gave a snort. “If that’s your idea of fun, then I’d hate to be around you on a bad day.” He paused, and diffidently remarked, “I’m not really sure what to report back, though. Any suggestions?”
Troy added, “We talked it over a little, and let’s face it, things happened so fast that we’re not actually sure what went down.”
Peri smiled gratefully. “I’m glad. Can you please do me a favour, and keep it that way? Better to say you didn’t see what happened than come out with some story that’s hard to believe. You don’t want to sound like you were seeing the impossible.”
“The impossible?” asked Steve. “You mean, like, a woman being torn apart and then a dog being transformed into a replica of her? That kind of impossible?”
“Yes, that kind of impossible. You see, Steve, that sort of impossible nonsense could lead to two outcomes. Either you need serious psychiatric help, or I end up on a dissecting table so the powers that be can try to work out what I am. Worst case Is, both outcomes come to pass, and none of us sees daylight again.”
“Can’t have that, now,” said Troy. “I’ve always been partial to daylight.”
“So the best thing all round is probably that you guys stick to the truth, namely, that you’re not sure what happened. Because let’s face it, it happened to me, and I’m not sure what happened, so you’ve got no chance. Can we live with that?”
“I can,” said Steve.
“And me,” said Troy. “But you’ll owe us a beer.”
“I owe you at least two,” said Peri. “Thanks, guys.”
The sound of the rotor blades of an incoming Dauphin helicopter made further conversation impossible. It was time to go.
Epilogue
Peri Carlton sat in a comfortable armchair in the waiting room of the UN Security Council Affairs Division, with her eyes closed. She may have looked asleep, but she was not. She was focused inward, trying to strike up a conversation with the second personality hosted by her body.
“Come on, you can’t hide forever. We both know you’re in here.”
This was a daily routine that she had followed for the last six weeks, since the Servator somehow re-animated her. Every day, she had set aside time to try to establish communications with the ancient being, and every day she had been ignored.
“You know I can sense your presence, and your mood. So I know you’re in there, I know you’ve walled yourself off, and I know you’re sulking. But there’s no need to stay in a foul mood. It won’t change anything.”
She huffed out a deep breath in frustration.
“I think you’re being childish. I do. And that’s weird for somebody your age. I mean, you must be millions of years old and you’re carrying on like a five-year-old. What the hell is THAT all about? Still not talking?”
She registered the fact that someone was walking along the corridor, approaching the waiting room. She could not hear their footsteps, exactly, but she knew they were there. She was not sure how she knew, in the sense of the mechanism by which the person’s approach was detected and signalled to her consciousness, but as she kept reminding herself, ‘How is unimportant’. It was just another of her new alien capabilities, and she accepted it as such. Just as she accepted that the image formed in her mind identified the approaching person as Colonel Li Lixia of the Peoples’ Liberation Army.
Li pushed the door open and strode briskly inside. “Peri,” she said. “Thank you for waiting.” She spoke in Mandarin.
Peri simply inclined her head in response.
“Come with me,” said Li, and set off towards the door of a small meeting room. “After a frustrating day of trying to follow the fractured and illogical arguments of diplomats who foolishly think their English is better than it is, I want to speak naturally for a while. Will you indulge me?”
Peri replied in fluent Shanghai-accented Mandarin. “I would be happy to join you, Colonel Li. Opportunities to practice are few and far between.”
Li waved a hand, dismissively. “You need no practice, Peri. Your Mandarin is already perfect. And will you stop the ‘Colonel Li’ nonsense?”