“Soon all shall be prepared,” said Phanisar to Galiose and Ceralt. “I now await word that the female Larid has been removed from the Palace. The operation of the comm should not be overly painful for the others, yet she, in her weakened condition, need not be made to suffer.”
Most pleased was I to learn that the device would cause but little pain, and then was I struck in the stomach with the twist of my insides. Without volition I bent forward with the pain, and surely did I think the device had been activated.
“Jalav!” shouted Ceralt, and in a flash was he by my side, his arms about me in support. The ache eased so that I might straighten, yet was I still touched by it. Ceralt looked anxiously toward Phanisar, and the tall, aged male shook his head.
“It is only the action of the counteragent,” he said to Ceralt. “The dabla bush held her childless, and now must its grip be loosened. The cramps shall pass in a matter of feyd, and then shall she be as other wenches, able to bear your seed. I placed the counteragent in her renth, and now the time is past when she might void herself of it.”
Most relieved did Ceralt seem, and his light eyes looked upon me with pleasure as his arm tightened about me, while I remained confused. “I do not understand,” I said to Phanisar, bringing the aged male’s eyes to me once more. “I am not able to bear a child!”
“You soon shall be,” he replied with a grin. “The counteragent shall see to that.”
“That may not be!” I insisted, my head shaking in negation. “Jalav is war leader, and no war leader may have life within her!”
“That is also easily seen to,” grinned Ceralt, his arm yet about me. “Jalav shall no longer be war leader, therefore is the difficulty overcome. Life there shall be within you, my girl, placed there right quickly by me.”
Ceralt and Phanisar laughed with each other as males are wont to do, and the words of the males angered me greatly, for Jalav was not slave to be ordered about and done contrary to her will. In some manner had the leaf of the dabla bush been overcome, yet had I seen dabla bushes growing there in the city of Ranistard. When the Silla arrived to battle the Hosta, the war leader Jalav would be well prepared!
Ceralt insisted that I take seat till the pain left me; however I had been seated but a moment when a slave entered to say that Larid was well away from the dwelling. All then eagerly pressed toward the platform of the device, therefore did I, too, rise once more so that I might join them. Whatever was to occur would not occur without Jalav.
Fayan had been seated beside the platform of the device, and now the male Phanisar placed a band of sorts about her brow. The band led, by a very thin length of metal, to the device itself, and naught else touched the warrior Fayan, though the band seemed sufficient. Fayan sat unmoving and expressionless, yet I knew that the matter cost her dearly in courage. Phanisar touched briefly about the device, and then I, too, found the need to call upon courage. A deep, sharpened tingling touched all parts of me, and a darkness, the darkness of the Crystals, descended once more. Completed, now, was this darkness, and deeper, if possible, than the instance previous, a darkness unending in its distance, of a height and a width incomprehensible. The darkened Crystals in their golden air beckoned to me, pulled at me, toward where surely my soul would be forever enmeshed. My right hand clutched my life sign, my left hand grasped at the covering of Ceralt, and then was the strength of his arm about me, holding me from the dreaded dark.
“Now, wench,” said Phanisar softly to Fayan, “there is a thing you must say till a response is elicited. Say the word, ‘calling,’ then repeat the word, slowly and clearly, till I bid you to cease.”
“Calling,” said Fayan, without inflection, and indeed she repeated the word, over and again, her eyes full closed, the inner part of her seemingly afloat in the golden air beside the Crystals. Most distant did Fayan appear to be, and distantly did the echo of her call resound.
Two hands of reckid passed to naught, and still did Fayan speak the word. How long a wait was to be faced, none knew, and then, of a sudden, from the golden air, came a voice, and the word was, “answering.”
A brief stir moved all about, and the air that had been that of eld, became charged with hope, and fear and awe. Galiose stood triumphant in his place, and Phanisar seemed to glimpse the making of his fondest dream. His hand moved toward the shoulder of Fayan, though he halted short of contact, and his voice, quite hoarse, reached forward instead.
“We do send our fondest greetings, lady,” said he, for truly had the voice been that of a female. “We seek the ears of the gods, and would speak with your masters if we may.”
“My masters?” the female voice echoed. “What station are you calling from? And why does your speech sound so strange?”
Confusion touched the features of Phanisar, and he stumbled. “Truly do I beg your pardon, lady, yet do I lack understanding of your words. What might be a station?”
“I don’t know what’s going on here,” the female voice muttered angrily, “but I’ll sure as sending find out! I’ll have a fix on your comm in just—about—now!” A silence surrounded the female voice, and then it returned, at first awed, and then filled with joy. “You’re way out in sector V!” the voice exclaimed. “We haven’t heard from anyone there since the rebellion! Then your power crystals were saved! Hell and damnation, won’t Mida be pleased!”
“Mida!” I cried most happily, and the males looked toward one another in deepest shock. Mida reigned where the male gods dwelt, and all happenings came at her bidding!
“We know naught of any rebellion!” Phanisar blurted, his eyes wild. “The crystals had been taken from us by females and now have we recovered them so that we might once again reach the gods! I know naught of what you speak!”
“You poor boonies,” the voice commiserated with true sadness. “Out of touch for all this time, and probably regressed, too. Maybe if I tell you what happened, it’ll help you to understand.
“About two hundred and fifty standard years ago, all comm stations, like the one you’re calling from now, were controlled by men. Oh, sure, only women could be senders, but what they sent was at the direction of men. Then Mida came along, and decided that enough was enough, so a call went out to all stations to hide the power crystals until men came around to our way of thinking. It took a long time—you men are so stubborn—but to keep the Union from falling apart, the men finally gave in. Mida took over running things, and now women do the calling and the directing—and a good job we’ve done, too! The Union is stronger than ever, and we have a fully trained group that will hop over there and help you get your planet straightened out again. I’ve got a good, solid fix on the booster station built into the satellite of your planet, and we’ll come as soon as we can. With our women around to run things, you’ll be civilized in no time.”
The shock held each of the males in a grip unbreakable, therefore was I free to step forward and say, “Yet you spoke of Mida. Mida is with you?”
“No, honey,” laughed the voice, “it would be more accurate to say that I was with Mida. All of us are with Mida-members in good standing, too. Mida does it all, and its name comes from the job of sending. You’ll be learning it soon enough, but it can’t really hurt to tell you—Mida stands for ‘Minds In Dark Adventure.’ It started out as a club for senders, and ended up running the Union. But just you wait. As soon as we get there, you’ll have a chance to learn everything we know. You’ll love being civilized—all of you.”
Again there was silence, most agonizingly from myself as well, yet Ceralt stepped forward to stand beside me. “Civilized,” he said in a musing tone. “We are to be civilized.” And then he laughed and laughed till the tears came down.