There'd been a couple of tense moments as the arcane's mercenary crew had filed aboard the wrecked Boundless. Even though they were unarmed and facing the weapons of Teldin's crew-and even though their employer, T'k'Ress, had specifically ordered them to go peacefully-Teldin could hardly believe it when all were aboard and he backed the nautiloid's ram out of the squid ship's hull.
For a moment, Teldin felt a twinge of guilt at marooning the arcane and its men aboard a ship that might never sail again. But the emotion was fleeting; all he had to do was remember the faces of his dead comrades-and, particularly, Julia's peaceful, bloodless countenance-and his regrets evaporated like a snowball thrown into a sun.
Through his omnipresent senses the Cloakmaster saw Djan climbing the ladder to join him in the small day room. He smiled at his friend. "How's the crew?" he asked.
"Adapting as well as can be expected," the half-elf responded. "We can maneuver, but we don't have the men to fight with this ship."
Teldin nodded. Crewing even one weapon would take too many men away from more vital duties. "We'll just have to stay out of trouble, then."
Djan nodded. He didn't say anything else immediately, but neither did he make any move to leave. On his face Teldin saw the expression that he'd come to associate with unpleasant thoughts. "Out with it," he told his friend at last.
The half-elf sighed and seated himself on the edge of the map table. "That was too easy," he said softly. "You know that, don't you?"
Teldin nodded unwillingly. He'd been thinking the same thing. The monopoly that the arcane, as a race, possessed over spelljamming technology was of almost inconceivable value. Yet T'k'Ress had given Teldin a means of finding the Spelljammer-and thus potentially destroying that centuries-old monopoly-while putting up virtually no fight. Certainly, Teldin had threatened the creature with torture and death, but even a modicum of resistance would have shown his threats to have been empty bluff.
Even if T'k'Ress had utterly believed that Teldin would kill it, surely the magnitude of the loss to its race if the monopoly were destroyed would be reason enough to sacrifice itself. And even if the creature had no loyalty to any beyond itself, it must have realized that destroying the monopoly would earn itself the eternal enmity-and probably the vengeance-of every member of its race. It just didn't make sense…
Unless the means that it gave Teldin to find the Spelljammer was flawed in some way.
He looked over at the milky glow of the modified planetary locator. The technomagical device still worked; it still showed the glowing matrix of the loomweave. There had to be something he was missing, but what?
"I know it was too easy," he said, echoing Djan's words, "but what else could I do?"
*****
Via his cloak-mediated senses Teldin could see the inner surface of the Vistaspace crystal sphere like an infinite black plane a few leagues ahead of the nautiloid. Below, in the helm compartment on the scout deck, he knew that Djan was preparing to use the passage device that T'k'Ress had left behind on the vessel. The Cloakmaster thanked the gods that they had this arcane device. Without it-and without a mage capable of opening a portal with his own magic- they'd have been trapped within Vistaspace.
"Ready to make passage." Even though the half-elf was a deck below, and pitching his voice at a conversational level, Teldin could hear him clearly, thanks to the cloak. "Flow stations. Captain?"
Teldin called down confirmation. "Open the portal."
He felt a strange shiver in the power of the ultimate helm as his friend triggered the passage device. Ahead of the nautiloid, the portal flared into being, quickly expanding to more than a bowshot in diameter. Through the lightning-limned circle Teldin could see the curdled colors of the Flow. He tapped only a fraction of the ultimate helm's power, and the spiral-hulled vessel shot through the opening into the phlogiston. As soon as they were through, the portal closed behind them.
"Passage successful," Djan called up, needlessly.
The Cloakmaster felt tingles of anticipation shoot through his nerves. They were out of Vistaspace, into the infinity of the Flow. Next stop… the Broken Sphere. He shifted his gaze to the modified planetary locator, to read from its surface the condition of the loomweave, to see on what course he should set sail.
The crystal surface was blank.
He virtually leaped out of his chair and dashed across the compartment to the pedestal. Yes, the surface was totally blank. The twisting matrix of colors had vanished. Even the milky glow that he associated with the device's operation was gone. "Djan!" he yelled.
The half-elf was up the ladder and beside him in a moment. He stared down at the blank, featureless display. "Now we know why it was so easy," he said quietly.
Without turning, Teldin reached behind him and dragged over the chair. He slumped down into it. "Now we know," he echoed dully.
He felt as though he'd been plunged into a black, cloying fog of depression. Oh, logically he knew he was no worse off than before T'k'Ress and the nautiloid had put in their appearance. In fact, he was better off, because he'd rid the crew of traitors.
But it felt so much worse. He'd been almost euphoric. Finally he knew how to find the Spelljammer! That knowledge, and the hope it brought with it, had been wrested away from him by the arcane's machinations. Now we know why it was so easy, he thought again. T'k'Ress knew the planetary locator wouldn't work in the Flow…
And why should it? he realized. It was a planetary locator, after all, and you only found planets within crystal spheres.
So, what was he to do now?
Part of him wanted to turn the nautiloid around, to make best possible time to the crippled Boundless, and follow through with the threats he'd made to T'k'Ress. Part of him wanted to give up, here and now.
He shook his head. Neither option was attractive.
He glared at the inert crystal-topped pedestal. Maybe there was some way to fix it, he thought suddenly, or modify it so that it would work in the phlogiston. After all, it worked by detecting folds and wrinkles in the loomweave, and both T'k'Ress and Zat had implied that the loomweave existed in the Flow as well as within crystal spheres. Maybe if he could figure out how the device worked…
But how?
The cloak, why not? The ultimate helm gave him omnipresent vision when he used it to drive a ship. Wasn't it possible-remotely possible-that it would let him look inside this magical pedestal and see how it worked? It was worth a try.
The Cloakmaster took a slow, calming breath and let the tension flow out of his muscles like water out of a vessel. He mentally reached out to the ultimate helm and felt the artifact's power stir in response. He focused his attention on the dark pedestal of the planetary locator, trying to reach out with the cloak's arcane senses. Power glowed and throbbed around his shoulders.
Suddenly, it glowed and pulsed against his chest as well. The bronze amulet, on its chain, bloomed with energy. Although his physical senses knew the object wasn't changing size, his new nonphysical senses told him that it was swelling as it filled with power drawn from the cloak. The power of the amulet flashed brighter-invisible to his eyes, but easily discernible to his mind-and arced over to the planetary detector. To Teldin's amazement, the crystal display surface burst to life again, writhing and twisting with a colored representation of the loomweave.