"Colonel, does he know where the supreme commander is now?"
Klass and the Meddinian huddled. WarAvocat cued Gemina to review what it had overheard.
Klass said, "He says the supreme commander is now sending frequent countdowns. If he listens long enough and has access to good charts, he can position the transmission point. He thinks it's on the M. Bullica—M. Tennica strand now, moving toward M. Tennica."
Deep inside Canon, in the region where the Sixth, Second, and Fourth Presidencies converged. From M. Tennica one dramatically elongated strand arrowed to M. Lakica, into the heart of Canon, directly toward S. Alisonica. "It is Capitola Primagenia! Access, Gemina. Is Kez Maefele correct in thinking it's too late for us to take him at S. Alisonica?"
Tension mounted. Gemina took a long time getting the data up on screen.
The air shuddered, cracked. "Yes. Can catch."
Klass fainted.
Aleas screamed.
WarAvocat sat there chewing air like a fish out of water.
Seeker observed, bewildered.
VII Gemina was almost four thousand years old. Never before had that great mind down in the Core, Gemina, spoken to anyone directly. Speech did not come till a Core mind developed an identity and ego and concluded that it was a singular entity with the Guardship itself as flesh. From that leapoff, it was only centuries before it decided it was not a machine but a demigod.
Speech was the first climbing onto the Web of madness. The end of the strand was the hollow, lonely insanity of a IV Trajana or VI Adjutrix.
It was not too late to stop that. If the news did not leave this compartment, did not get discussed, and the Gemina ego did not become alert to its peril, Starbase could rectify the trouble. But would not try, should the ego become integral to the Guardship's functioning.
He would head in to Starbase as soon as they finished the Ku.
WarAvocat regained his composure. He accessed OpsAvocat and ordered a crash run straight through to S. Alisonica. The hell with Tregesser Prime.
— 128 —
The real Cable Shike and the real Tina Bofoku stood hand in hand on the Isle of Ise, watching the nighttime sky. Shike said, "And that's that. Won't any of them have any more use for House Tregesser now that they know only the innocent stayed behind." He laughed and squeezed Tina's hand.
She said, "I hope Lupo hid himself good. They'll never stop looking for him, will they?"
"No. But the universe itself doesn't have enough years left for anybody to find Lupo Provik if he doesn't want to be found. Let's go in. It's getting chilly."
The emperor and empress of House Tregesser went in out of the cold, content, safe from the wrath of the stars.
— 129 —
Turtle's squadron charged in toward M. Tennica anchor point. The lead vessel shot off down the M. Lakica strand, taking up the countdown transmission. Delicate Harmony and the others shot off along the strand to A. Tellurica, where the squadron then scattered. Two ships remained with Delicate Harmony, one running ahead, one behind. Just in case.
Turtle followed the progress of VII Gemina closely. The Guardship was running the most direct strands toward S. Alisonica. But that meant nothing yet. WarAvocat might be pretending. No telling what he would do if he shook Hunger of the Destroyer. Which he might. He was running so hard that even riding the red on the edge of disaster Hunger was falling back. The race might go to whichever ship lasted longest without a malfunction.
Hunger's commander needed not taunt fortune forever. He needed to maintain contact only till pickets spotted the Guardship headed toward an operational region.
Maybe WarAvocat wanted it known he was coming. He had no reason to suspect that countdown was a lie and zero was the time when all opening phases were supposed to be complete.
The days fled. There was little to do but wait and watch and worry about how he would arrange matters so he and the hostages could get out alive.
Delicate Harmony and its companions broke off the Web and began the long starspace crawl to the loose strand connecting Gateway and Starbase, chasing the attack fleet, which had departed its assembly point three days earlier.
VII Gemina was running toward Capitola Primagenia still.
The pieces were falling into place, smoothly and on time.
— 130 —
WarAvocat grew uneasy as VII Gemina drove nearer and nearer Canon's heart. That Outsider watcher had dropped away, but watcher or no, his intention must be apparent.
If he was indeed too late... For what? That was the question.
For the Ku, too late could mean too late to abort his attack. But that was not the mission VII Gemina had assumed. He was going to get Kez Maefele and rob the Outsiders of their most potent weapon. He need not be too late for that.
But he remained uneasy in the way he did when he left his quarters sure he had forgotten something important but could not think what it might be.
Even putting Gemina onto it surfaced nothing to justify his uneasiness.
What sort of reception would be waiting? Material losses at P. Benetonica would restrict his options. He consulted Gemina and the Deified, put together a straightforward consensus plan of attack.
VII Gemina would go in screened, thrash around till the Ku was spotted, then would chase him till he was caught. Those new ships were nimble, but they had to put into a station sometime.
With slightly over eight days on the count, Seeker reported the Ku's arrival at the S. Alisonica anchor point. An hour later he reported a big burst of coded transmission throughout that region.
"Are they jumping off early?"
Seeker did not know.
Soon afterward the Meddinian stopped reading anything. The implication was that the Outsiders were all in starspace and communicating by normal means. Which in turn implied that the attack had begun.
WarAvocat became more uneasy.
Next day Seeker reported catching the tail of a brief signal from behind. It could have originated anywhere between VII Gemina and the nether face of the Outsider empire.
Forty-six hours later he reported a similar unrangeable signal.
The record passage for a Voyager running from T. Rogolica to the Barbican was forty-three hours and some minutes.
Moments later VII Gemina ripped past an Outsider sitting in a turn node. It blatted a signal. Seeker reported it as a number.
Little things. Little things. WarAvocat was tempted to cancel.
VII Gemina broke away from the Web expecting anything. And found nothing.
Capitola Primagenia had been attacked but not destroyed. The Outsiders had pulled out. Losses on both sides had been heavy, those of the Outsiders apparently heavier than they had expected. But a triumph had been within their grasp.
And they had gone.
Everyone began pestering WarAvocat about tactical dispositions and relief efforts. He shut them out and brooded, sure he was one piece short of a complete puzzle.
The last Outsider, another damned watcher, handed him that piece. It sent a message. The dragon has taken the poisoned bait. Now it is too late. Success is assured.
"Aleas! Get over here. It's Starbase!" he roared. "Damn his black heart!"
Aleas stared."What are you howling about?"