"The ship is now descending to ground. We were not aware that this creature operated in such manner."
"Perhaps it's a new model," Jack said wryly.
"Where do you wish the ship to settle?"
Jack remembered how Tappy was waiting in the grove, hiding.
He wanted to be back with her as soon as possible. "Right where it was before. Then open the hatch or whatever so the honkers and I can return to the ground. They'll get the fungus antidote."
"The ship will be at rest at that site by the time you have followed the blue line to an exit. I will hear any further directives you speak."
Jack looked around. There was the blue line again, leading away. "Good enough."
He followed the line. It was not the same route as before, but that could be because it was more direct. They ha (I entered via the landing structure and would exit from a regular portal.
He turned a corner. There before him stood Malva, looking so real it was hard to believe she was a mere holograph. He stopped.
He knew he should just walk through the image, but she was in a dress which revealed so much breast and thigh that he was afraid to touch it even vicariously. "What do you want?" is places
"The captain has made a deal with you," she said. "Th me in a precarious situation. I do not wish to be subverted by the Imago."
",You don't have much choice. All of the members of this ship's complement will be converted. I presume you will be useful in some way." He did not bother to conceal his distaste.
"Agreed. All will be subverted, unless they arrange to avoid it.
That is what I wish to do. Agree to set me free, in mind and body, on the planet, and I will provide you with significan -onnation of interest to you."
"No deal. I don't trust you. I may not trust you even after you're converted. Get out of my way."
She did not move. "Please, Jack. I am desperate. You have done what I thought impossible, and subverted the captain. The victory is yours. I will offer you anything you desire. Only guarantee my
"No." Now he resumed motion, intending to walk though her image, as he should have done before.
But he collided with her. Her lush torso pressed against him from breast to thigh as he tried to recover his balance, astonished.
She was here physically!
Now he remembered that he was still naked.
He started to speak, but she cut him off with a kiss. "I can be extremely accommodating, if that is your desire," she murmured, glancing down. "I beg you to free me, whatever. the pi-ice of it."
Jack got his hands up and pushed her away. "I don't want your body! I don't like you or trust you. I refuse to make any deal."
She disengaged, offering no resistance. "Will you at least histen? I believe you will find it worthwhile."
Jack started scrambling into his clothing. "Look: the captain is listening to everything we're saying. You must be guilty of treason already, trying to deal on your own. Anything you have to tell me, I'll learn when you are converted. This is pointless."
"The captain can not overhear us here; I selected this place because I know it is between monitors. Our dialogue is private.
As for treason: he became guilty of it when he made his deal with you. I serve the empire, not the captain. I wish only to return to the ernpire, and to continue my opposition to the depredations of the Imago. Listen to me, then decide whether the information is worth the price of my freedom. Isn't that fair?"
Jack sighed. "All right. Tell me, and if I think it's worth it, I'll free you. You will be set loose on the surface of the planet and not pursued. But if you make any attempt to interfere with the Imago in any way-"
"Understood. Here is my information. Though the Imago you serve may be benign in principle, the tool it is presently using is not. The thing you call the Imaget has no necessary affinity for the Imago; it was pressed into service by the honkers for a reason of their own. I researched it, after spying it before. Bear in mind that I was the only person present at that encounter who was not subsequently corrupted, because I used the holo image. I alone remained objective. I discovered that the Imaget has gone by many names over the millennia, and that there is a pattern that is far from benign. It has formed empires in the past-"
"Now wait a minute!" Jack exclaimed. "This I'the thing could hardly-"
She gianced at his hair, where the Imaget nestled. "Do you suppose that any creature in its hatchling stage is the same as it is in its maturity? All babies are charming. What do you think its powers will be when it has grown to a mass greater than your own?"
She was making sense. He had been suspicious of the Imaget himself. Malva was independently confirming that suspicion. "Go on.
"The Imaget, by whatever name, enhances the properties of other creatures so effectively that they inevitably become dependent on it. It encourages this. When they can not function without it, the power passes from them to it, and they then serve the Imaget.
Only the Imago has been proof against this, and in the past it has been the Imago who has brought down empires of the Imaget, as it has brought down those of the Gaol or other dominant entities.
it is an irony that the Imaget is now serving the Imago itself, but perhaps the Imaget has found a way to add the power of the imago to its own. If so, the empire that it forms this time will be truly impregnable."
Jack was appalled. "I can't believe-"
"Naturally, because you are already subverted. But you were subverted by the Imago before you encountered the Imaget, so you serve the Imago, and may be objective enough to appreciate the danger. The Imago itself is uncorrupted and uncorruptible, and this extends to its host. Perhaps the Imaget will simply cast the Imago aside when its usefulness is done, or confine it in the manner the Gaol wish to. One empire is very like another, in the acquisition and preservation of its power. If you are prepared to risk the exchange of one master for another and all that implies, ignore this threat."
Jack was silent, realizing that she had raised a question which he could not afford to leave unanswered. "Still, a single Imaget could hardly-"
"When the Imaget is grown, it will reproduce by having its minions plant its eggs on converted creatures, and these new hatchlings will ultimately serve the eldest one," Malva continued.
"Once that stage is reached-"
"Enough!" Jack said. "I will give you your freedom. I will verify this by researching myself, and act as I see fit."
Malva smiled. "Thank you. May I take a weapon with me, to defend myself from wild creatures when I go into the wilderness?"
"Yes, take it," Jack said absently. The honkers-how much did they know of this? Were they working for the Imaget instead of the Imago? could the Makers have been a benign empire, overthrown by the Imaget? Something like this was all too plausible.
Malva stepped to the side and reached into a recess in the wall.
She brought out what looked like a twisted pistol and tucked it into her waistband. Then she followed Jack as he resumed progress along the blue line.
It led to a nether portal, with a ramp to the ground. The honkers of his raiding party were already there, waiting for him. Jack's dialogue with Malva had delayed him.
"Fetch the antidote," he told the honkers as he descended.
Immediately one went to the ventilation shaft and picked up another small jar. "Release it inside the ship," Jack said, and the honker ascended the ramp and opened the jar.
Tappy emerged from hiding and ran to Jack's embrace as he reached the ground. "You won!" she exclaimed joyfully.