It was clear the Emissaries were launching an invasion, regardless of whatever promises they'd made to Hua or Immortal Light. He heard trumpeting and roaring from deep inside the jungle, heralding the approach of more Emissaries in full cry.
'Do you seek God?' the first Emissary screamed, as shocked troopers scattered out of its path. One had taken control of the pulse-cannon mounted on the transport, and Corso saw the beast slide to a halt as its shields started to overload under the assault. But then it moved with surprising swiftness, ramming into the transport and sending it crashing over on its side.
'Take us to God's ship!' screeched a second Emissary as it came stamping up the hill to join the first. 'We will seek out God, that we may punish him!'
Corso noticed Hua's aide, Cohen, stumble as he tried to avoid the second Emissary. He was trying to hide behind the overturned transport, while almost everyone else had run for the jungle fringing the base of the hill. The Emissary picked him up casually in its trunklike assemblage of tentacles, and then slammed him hard against the side of the vehicle. Cohen fell abruptly silent, and hung in the massive creature's grip like a broken doll before being flung contemptuously towards the abandoned conference table nearby.
A third Emissary made an appearance. Like the second, it was not visibly equipped with any kind of translation device, but its message was clear as it joined the first two. It did, however, carry a portable field-cannon, spraying a wide beam across the dense surrounding foliage and setting it on fire. The original Emissary now moved closer to the treeline, apparently determined to hunt out the concealed troops who were still firing at the intruders from under cover.
At about this point, it occurred to Corso that finding himself a better hiding place might be a pretty good idea.
He'd been scrunched down next to what passed for bushes in the local ecology, just a little way downhill from the auditorium. From here he could see Hua, Briggs and half a dozen troopers hunkered down next to a growth with wide-splayed roots and thousands of wiry, drooping branches.
As he watched, the troopers were returning fire, aiming for the Emissary wielding the pulse-cannon. The ground exploded next to the creature and Corso realized it must have turned its protective shielding off in order to use the cannon. The Emissary stumbled, caught off-guard, then more explosions and shots quickly followed. The alien collapsed on its side, trumpeting angrily.
The remaining two Emissaries charged down the hill towards where Hua and the rest were hiding. Corso stood up and ran like hell, crashing through the dense undergrowth, stumbling and picking himself up again and running until something dropped towards him from above. He cried out and threw his fists about wildly, as something slammed into him and he slipped on the damp ground.
Scrambling towards the relative shelter of a massive tree-trunk, he turned round to see it was Honeydew, and one of the Bandati's wings had been badly burned.
'Be quiet,' Honeydew hissed.
The ground underfoot trembled as an Emissary stamped past them just on the other side of the tree. A few moments later they heard sporadic shouts and screams, interspersed with further gunfire and explosions.
'You have to get us out of here,' Corso insisted, grabbing the injured Bandati's shoulder. 'We sure as hell can't stick around. This is turning into a massacre.'
'There is nowhere to go,' Honeydew replied. 'The Emissaries clearly intend to take the derelict from us by force. There is fighting all across the station.'
Corso raised himself slightly and looked around, wishing he had some kind of a weapon, even just to make himself feel less naked and defenceless.
'Then getting the fuck off this station would be a good thing, don't you think?'
Honeydew's wings twitched. 'Where would we go?'
'Look, the Shoal are on their way, and so is Dakota. That's probably why the Emissaries started killing everyone on sight. They want to grab the derelict and blow this station apart before anyone else gets near it.' Corso carefully neglected to remind Honeydew that they were almost certainly looking for him as well.
Heavy footsteps sounded somewhere nearby, and they crouched low again, scuttling into the deeper shadows between the roots. Corso listened hard, but he could hear no more voices. Even the sporadic gunfire had ceased, leaving only an unnerving silence.
He lifted himself slightly, wondering if it was safe enough to make a move. He glanced down at Honeydew and realized the alien wasn't going to be flying anywhere any time soon.
'I do not like this,' said Honeydew, 'scrabbling about on the ground like some animal. It is unsafe here. It is better to be-' His interpreter let out a burst of static.
'Up in the air?' Corso suggested.
'Yes.'
Corso glanced at Honeydew's injured wings and wondered if it was in him to kill the alien, assuming that was even possible. Probably not, because the creature was fully trained in the arts of war, and Corso himself was little more than a misplaced academic. He stared at the Bandati, wondering why he didn't feel more angry at him. He'd been imprisoned, drugged, tortured, and fed to a monster. And yet where anger should be, there was only a hollow, vacant sensation. Perhaps, he considered, I'm in shock.
A few hours before, they had been outright enemies. Now the peculiar exigencies of their situation demanded they become allies. Life, he decided, could be very strange.
'Tell me one thing,' he asked Honeydew in a soft whisper. 'What are they talking about when they say they want to "find God and punish him"?'
'They are…' More static spat out of Honeydew's interpreter. 'I am having difficulty finding an appropriate translation. The closest equivalent is "gnostics". They believe the creatures behind the Magi caches are demiurges whose existence prevents the true God from entering this universe. They wish to find the entities that created those caches in order to kill them.'
Corso couldn't hide his confusion. 'But if it wasn't for the same caches, they wouldn't have their present technology.'
'My briefing was far from complete, Lucas. If you need an expert opinion, you could always try asking one of them for clarification.'
Corso ignored this jibe. 'We need to find a way back to that shuttle where the rest of your people are and get out of here. Are you ready to move?'
'No. My troops reported coming under intensive fire shortly after returning to the shaft, and I have since lost contact with them.'
Corso sank back and thought hard. 'Wait a minute. You said you were intending to hand the Piri Reis over to the Emissaries. Do they have it yet?'
'They do. It is my understanding it was brought here.'
Corso realized that his limited chances of being able to find his own way off the station constituted another good reason to stick by the Bandati. 'But if you know where it is, or have any idea where we might find it, there's a chance we could use it to get ourselves out of here.'
'You will recall it was severely damaged during your escape from Nova Arctis.'
'It's still better than nothing.' Where there's a will, there's a way.
Corso crawled on all fours out from between the dense roots, and listened intently. There was no sign of life.
He stood up cautiously. Still nothing moved.
Maybe the Emissaries had moved on from this section of the ring.
Honeydew struggled upright behind him. Hiding between the roots of a tree clearly wasn't a comfortable situation for a creature with such large wings dwarfing the rest of his body. Corso moved a little further downhill to where the gradient suddenly steepened, taking each step with infinite care. Still nothing moved, but he could see where the dense mat of reddish-green growth underfoot had been flattened by passing Emissaries.