"Will they be plotting against me again, Lupo?" Simon asked after the last Director left.
"Valerena and Worgemuth, certainly. Maserang is out of it. He was going along out of inertia."
"And Blessed?"
"Valerena dragged him along."
"I wish I could stick a knife in Worgemuth. But the old bastard has too many damned relatives."
"You going back to the end space now?"
"I don't want to miss this thing."
"It might be months."
"You're sure a Guardship will come?"
"Pure reflex. Of course."
"You have any doubts, Lupo?"
"Plenty. This's been tried a hundred times. All we've got new is those shields and a lot of crazy Outsiders to do the dying."
"We didn't send that krekelen out whimsically. You checked it right along with the eggheads. We have enough firepower. We have the Po-Ticra suicide pilots eager to die for their silly god."
"I know. It looks like a lock. But I've been thinking. We shouldn't have taken the Web-location modules out. We'll lose everything if it blows up on us. That's a lot of capital to burn."
"It's not Tregesser capital. If it goes bad, I want only two people getting out alive. You and me."
"You're the boss. But I still hate to waste ships."
— 36 —
Lady Midnight joined Turtle in Amber Soul's quarters. "She isn't any better, is she?" There were tears in her eyes.
"Neither better nor worse. She must be trapped in her own sorcery. We Ku have dozens of stories about sorcerers who destroyed themselves with their own magic. I wish I knew how to help."
"Time will help."
"I hope so. Is he treating you well?"
Midnight blushed. "Yes. Better than most. But..."
"He's basically decent, within the mandates of his culture. He wouldn't willfully do you a hurt. Yet he can destroy a world or exterminate a race without a qualm. What is Canon's is Canon's. What isn't shall be." He muttered, "The dragon never sleeps." Then, "You said ‘But.'"
"Someone has been harassing me. That woman who was there when they brought us here. She interrupts my sleep to call me names. And I don't even know who she is."
"She's a ghost gone rancid in her eternal life. It's not you she hates, it's me. I think we can circumvent her."
Did the Deified lose maturity with the millennia? Could an entire Guardship turn infantile?
Doubtful. This was a weakness of the ghost of Makarska Vis. "Excuse me? I was maundering."
"I asked if you know where we are. Not that it matters."
"No. But I know where we're going. Starbase Tulsa."
That name. It throbbed like the beat of primitive drums. Starbase Tulsa, the womb from which every Guardship sprang and to which every Guardship made its periodic hadj. If there was an object of greater dread than a Guardship it was that stellar citadel whence the invincible issued.
An entire mythology revolved around Starbase. It might be heaven or it might be hell. For the mass of humanity and those nonhumans adrift in Canon space, it was more of the latter. It was a place where devils spawned.
Midnight began to shiver. Her wings, which had lost so much of their luster and color already, drooped, faded. Her timidity could not withstand the onslaught of dread.
"We'll be no worse off than we are now, Midnight."
"I know. But I can't help it." Tears tracked her cheeks. She stared at Amber Soul.
Turtle did, too. "Stay with her. Try to get something down her. I think she senses our presence and concern, on some level, and that comforts her."
Midnight had a high empathy quotient and an inability to resist appeals. She would forget herself for a while, ministering to Amber Soul.
"I have a few chores to do. I'll be right back."
In his own suite Turtle examined the comm. Getting the Deified Makarska Vis was easy. In moments he had her on screen, looking vexed. "You!"
"Me. Greetings, Deified. Did I disturb you?"
"Yes."
"Good. You have been disturbing a friend of mine, presumably venting your spite on her because she is incapable of returning your vitriol."
The Deified Makarska Vis gushed filth.
"To me you are a ghost, a memory mummy impressed upon the motions of electrons. I am not awed. If you do not wish to be disturbed, you will stop harassing my friend."
Would it work? Was she possessed of sufficient determination to lock him out? He shrugged and returned to Midnight and Amber Soul.
— 37 —
Among the satellites orbiting the ringed gas giant, there were a dozen moonlets that were natural only in appearance. They were created things half the size of a Guardship, sheathed in ice that concealed their true nature. The ice had been bombarded to give them an ancient, lunar appearance. Everything was camouflage here. This outpost was too near the frontier.
Blinding light ripped from one of the moonlets. Meteor impact? No. This came from within, sustained. Ice turned to water and water to gas. The light died, leaving a cone burned through the mask. The moonlet began moving.
A day later, far from its primary, it flicked out of existence. It had clambered onto the Web. Invisible, it hastened toward the Atlantean Rim of Canon space.
The intruder was invisible but not undetectable at close range. As the object breached the Rim, it very nearly ran over Guardship XXVIII Fretensis. Alarms sounded. The Guardship swept in pursuit.
— 38 —
On impulse WarAvocat went to Kez Maefele's door. The Ku responded immediately. "WarAvocat?"
"We're due to break away soon. Approaching Starbase. I thought you might be interested."
"Am I that obvious?"
"I know your weakness now. Curiosity. I could use it to trap you."
"The Deified Makarska Vis took care of me when she was WarAvocat."
"By main strength and awkwardness. The woman's tactics had the subtlety and finesse of an ax murder."
"There is something to be said for overwhelming might."
"Speaking of Makarska Vis, word is you bluffed her into backing down."
"I am sure she did not stop harassing Midnight because I told her to back off."
"No. Your suggestion got backing from Gemina. She'd begun showing divisive, political tendencies. I'm going to Hall of the Watchers. Their wall gives the best view. Are you coming?"
"Yes. You have a motive for doing this?"
Startled, WarAvocat said, "No."
"You did not mean to impress me with the power of the Guardship fleet?"
"No." He started walking. The Ku followed. "We are a less complex people than you think."
"Maybe. Few of you are subtle."
"We have no need."
"Remarkable. Especially considering the longevity and persistence of the players."
"It's gone funny on some Guardships. Here it hasn't because the soldiers nourish the roots of the culture. Soldiers tend to be direct and simple."
"And if something evades immediate comprehension, they blow it up or kill it. Ku warriors were the same."
It took an hour to reach Hall of the Watchers, by which time VII Gemina was off the Web and closing with some stellar concourse in the form of a triple wheel station, the rotational axis of which was a hollow cylinder large enough to pass a Guardship. Traffic was heavy.
WarAvocat observed, "Somone else has come in recently, for refitting. There's always activity but seldom this much."
"This is Starbase Tulsa?"
WarAvocat chuckled. "No. This is the Barbican, Starbase's only intersection with the universe outside. This is as far as outsiders come. They make deliveries here. Our own ships carry materials from here."