“I won’t press.” I studied the image for a time. “Those spheres… could they be Danann and Chronos? A representation of those bodies, that is?”
Barna did not reply immediately, but the tightening of his brow and lips—almost an incipient frown—intimated that my suggestion was accurate.
“If it is a model,” I continued, “the clear or crystal sections imply some sort of flow or force that joins, and the dark line between the bases suggests a link.”
“That’s one possibility.” The words were almost grudged forth.
“I had considered that because the briefing materials had suggested the initial link between the two bodies. There is certainly some linkage, but I imagine that the nature of that link is something that the scientists have yet to determine.”
“They’re working on it.”
“It is magnificent You’re certainly to be congratulated on finding it.”
The trace of an ironic smile played at the corners of his lips. His eyes dropped to the console, and the fleeting smile vanished.
“Not that Kaitlin Henjsen was totally pleased, I would judge.” That was a calculated approximation to the unknown truth.
Chendor laughed. “She was appalled that a mere artist could find it.”
“That merits double congratulations.” I hesitated. “If I did not display it to anyone else, would it be possible to have a copy of the image to study—for my own work on Danannian culture?”
“I don’t see why not. The scientists are studying the artifact. You should certainly be able to use an image.”
“Thank you.” I gestured toward the covered canvas. “When it is done… might I see it?”
“When it’s done, Liam, you’ll be among the first to see it.”
“Thank you.”
“That’s assuming that we don’t run into difficulty with the ships out there in the void. Do you know who they might be?”
“I have no idea. I would judge from the political situation that it is unlikely that they are League ships or ships from the Middle Kingdom—or certainly not from the Comity. Other than that…” I could only shrug.
There was little enough either of us could add to that, and a silence swelled into the studio. Chendor glanced to the console, again, as if he expected a message or an in-comm.
“If you’d transmit that image…” I offered.
“I’ll do that now.”
“Thank you. The best of fortune with the work in progress.”
He smiled faintly.
With another nod, I took my leave. As I progressed up the ramp back to my own space, I did wonder why he seemed quieter than usual, almost sad and preoccupied, but I had not wished to be excessively inquisitive—and I worried about Jiendra.
72
Barna
Once Liam Fitzhugh had left, I uncovered the canvas again. I’d been trying to capture the depth, the aliveness of the artifact. The Danannian artifact was far more than a model or an object. Anyone with any sensitivity at all who looked at it knew that. The problem was that none of the images I had made of it conveyed anything close to that energy.
I supposed that I shouldn’t have told Liam about it, but he was the type who’d keep his word, and he’d put his life on the line for everyone in the mess. Perhaps for everyone on the entire ship. How could I have said no to him when every physical scientist on the expedition knew about and probably had studied the artifact personally?
He was also interested in Lieutenant Chang. The way his eyes had lingered on her image and his question about a portrait of her showed that. At first glance, no one would have thought that they matched, but they did. Behind the big words and the professorial demeanor, Liam was a big cat, and he’d turned his predatory nature into academic excellence, I suspected. I wouldn’t have wanted to cross him professionally. Like most cats, he was a loner. Unlike most, he needed a soul mate. Jiendra was much the same, if I couldn’t have described her quite as conveniently.
Neither liked to reveal what lay within. Whether they could with each other, and whether Jiendra was even interested in Liam, beyond conversation and a similarity in outlook, I couldn’t tell.
I paused. Together they would also make a good composition, and one that was important in its own way. They had saved lives, in more ways than one, between the two of them. I smiled, and took out a sketch pad.
As I laid the lines on the pad, I realized that I hadn’t heard from Elysen in more than a day, and that had been unusual. After I roughed out the sketch, rather than return to the canvas of the artifact, I left the studio—what else could I call it, with all the canvases and matrices stacked everywhere?—and walked to her work-space door. It was closed.
I rapped on the door, firmly. There was no response.
“Elysen?”
That wasn’t like her.
When I got back to the studio, I immediately tried the ship’s comm.
Elysen’s image appeared. It was one that she must have recorded soon after boarding the Magellan. The silver hair was still alive, and her eyes danced. “I’m sorry not to be available, but please leave a message…”
“Elysen, this is Chendor. I hadn’t seen you in a while. I was just calling to see how you were. I’ll check back later.”
I told myself that she well might be off making observations, or inspecting the artifact with Cleon Lazar. At that moment, I realized that I didn’t even know where the artifact was. I’d found it, and I hadn’t even been told where they had put it.
I shook my head and removed the cloth covering the painting. Then I stood back and studied it.
I wasn’t getting anywhere with that version. Something was missing. I took the canvas off the easel and set it aside, turned to the wall so that I couldn’t look at it, even casually. If I started again, first painting part of the silvered blue background of the chamber where I had found it, could I better capture the feel of the artifact?
I decided on using a taller canvas, but one that was proportionally narrower. That might help in conveying the upward sweep of the crystalline sections. Then, it might just make it worse.
I tried to keep my concentration on the canvas as I prepared it. I still worried about Elysen.
73
Chang
Lieutenant Chang! To the ready room.
Didn’t have that far to go since I was already there, dozing in one of the couches. After a sim run, I’d finally drifted off. Slept through the midday meal. That figured, the way things were going.
Looked up and across at Lerrys. “You get a link?”
He nodded.
“Anything on the screens?”
“Nothing different.”
We waited until the others arrived. I listened. Didn’t feel like saying much.
“… Convenanters… what I heard…”
“… could be anyone…”
“… wouldn’t be Middle Kingdom or the League.”
Tuala was the last one to arrive. He smiled shyly at me and took the seat next to Lerrys.
“You don’t know that, Lindskold…”
“Know what?” Morgan half grinned as he stepped into the ready room, closing the hatch behind him. Grin didn’t help. He still looked like gray shit.
“Nothing, sir,” replied Shaimen.
Morgan looked across the ready room. Took in the pilots there, all five of us, one by one, starting with lindskold and ending with Lerrys.
I waited. No one else said anything.