Jo Clayton: Crystal Heat

Digby’s simulacrum formed, translucent so she could see the outline of the body through it. “You’re aware,” he said. “You aren’t supposed to be aware.”

He gestured and her face came back to her control, her throat, her voice.

“I’m a lot of things I’m not supposed to be,” she said. Her voice was hoarse, her lips trembled, and it was difficult to speak, but the relief in that much relaxation of the lock was enormous. She tried not to let it affect her; she had to remain focused-and avoid the temptation to talk too much.

“How?’

“Practice:”

“That’s not responsive.”

“It isn’t, is it.”

He gestured again, and the chair she sat in began to shift around her.

“No!” She spat the word at him, rushed the rest of it while she still had the ability to speak. “Before you touch me, check Backhoe’s kephalos.” The chair froze in midshift and she went on more slowly. “I saw the destination code and I programmed it into a drone’s message flake. Along with my speculations as to what this was about. Aleytys should have it by now and be on her way here.”

The simulacrum looked away for a moment. When it turned back, she faced its fury with her first degree of hope.

“How?”

She’d gone over this moment again and again on the way here and had changed her mind as many times as she thought she’d finally made it up. On top of that, the Sustained body on the far side of the glass was a factor she had to fit into her reasoning and she didn’t have much time. Go with instinct, she thought. Trade him secret for secret. That might be sufficient to tilt the balance…

“I was hatched twenty millennia ago, Digby. You may be old, but you’re a child compared to me. For a long time you’ve wanted to know who I was, what I was. So listen. I was a Weaver of Shayalin, born to a family who danced dreams for the Shallana and any who caine to listen. You wouldn’t know of Shayalin. It was ash before your species left the ocean that spawned them. That’s what I was until. I died. Then I was a pattern of forces caught in the RMoahl Diadem and I watched the years pass through other eyes than my own. It was useful training. The techs who craft mindlocks have limited imaginations; they don’t dream of someone like me. When the Diadem came to Aleytys, after a while I traded eternity for mortal flesh. This flesh. We are sisters of the soul, Digby. We are more than sisters. I would die for her and she for me. More important to you, she’ll come for me and she won’t be alone. The Vrya will come because I know how to reach Vrithian and that’s not a secret they’ll trust you with. And there are the other souls I shared space with in the Diadem. Like Aleytys they are bound to me in ways you’d never understand. If they find a shell, not their sister soul, you’re dead. The Vrya and my soul’s kin, they’ll destroy this place and purge you from every inch of the systems you control until you simply do not exist any more.”

“And why should I believe any of that preposterous story?”

“Wait a few days. Vryhh ships are fast; it won’t take long for Lee to get here. Two weeks at most. The others might need more time, but they’ll come, too.”

“My defenses are considerable. What if I simply deny you’re here and let them do their worst?”

“That’s your decision. By that time you’ll have done your probing and your wipe, so I’ll be dead even if this body lives and I won’t care what happens to you.”

“Seyirshi, was right, you’re a mutagen, transforming everything you touch. I should have taken his warning and kept clear of you.”

“I survive,” she said. “One way or another. A bargain, Digby. You leave me and mine alone, I’ll go my way and not interfere with you.”

“I want to talk to Aleytys. Give me her call-sign.”

“If you’re thinking of infesting Tigatri’s kephalos, I warn you she’s self aware and apt to react murderously to intruders.” She saw the smug glint in the simulacnim’s eyes and sighed. “Send me out to Backhoe and I’ll make the contact for you. I don’t want to be under all this rock when you make an idiot of yourself and get your plug pulled. You’ve got control of Backhoe’s kephalos, so I won’t be going anywhere.”

The white non-corpse in the Sustain lay stony and immobile and for several minutes the gaze its spokesimage turned on her was as unyielding.

The body was still held in Digby’s grip, so Shadith could do nothing but sit and wait. She’d considered using the mindmove to attack the Sustain since Digby had unwittingly brought her close enough, but that might mean all systems would go out and the thought of being sealed into this hole in the ground nearly sent her reasoning paths into overload. She put that aside to save for a last and desperate stunt, taken in the hope that Aleytys would arrive before air and food were gone.

The body coughed, coughed again as the remnants of the disinfectant gas irritated its lungs.

The noise woke the simulacrum from its stasis. “The ship’s corn has been tied to the skipcom here. You can watch, but you won’t be permitted to speak once the connection is made.” A gesture and the last of the mindlock dissolved. “The car will takeyou back. This is not to be considered an agreement, you understand, but I am contemplating your offer.”

Aleytys’ blue-green eyes burned through the screen. “I don’t know if I want to listen to you, kak. Who threatens Shadow, threatens me. You’d better believe that.”

“I seem to have made an error in judgment.” Digby’s voice dripped penitence; he’d chosen a sad puppy look and was doing his best to project rueful contrition. “Is there some way we can resolve this difficulty without mutual destruction?”

“For one thing, you can stop trying to worm through Tigatri’s defenses. If you get her annoyed enough, she’ll seize your trace and do to you what you’re trying to do to her.”

“Ah. I must apologize to Shadith. I thought she was exaggerating for effect.”

“Hm. I think more than apologies are called for.”

In the Backhoe , watching this exchange on the forescreen, Shadith smiled. Squeeze the bort good, Lee, squeeze him till he squeals.

She blinked as the screen suddenly added a third cell as Harskari appeared and joined the conversation.

“Yes. Considerably more. Shadow is my sister, my daughter, Digby. Lee is not alone in this. Look to your health, you thing of painted light. We’ll pull your house down and melt your flakes to slag.” She was smiling as she spoke and her voice was soft, her dignity pulled like a robe about her.

Shadith was bouncing in her chair and grinning widely enough to threaten her ears. “Go get ’im, Mama Harskari.” She drew a deep breath, chortled as she watched Digby’s face go stiff and his eyes empty as he contemplated the nearly identical faces of the two women. The load was off her shoulders now, she could sit back and watch her soul-kin operate. For a little while she could revel in being a child again.

Digby seemed to sigh. “It was an extravagant tale… that your daughter, you say? Mm… that Shadith spun for me, but it seems she underspoke the truth. What do you require?”

“She is indeed the daughter of my heart and of our long companioning. In addition to her immediate return to us, WE,” Harskari laid stress on that word, “require indemnity deposited on Helvetia equal to one year’s gross income of Excavations Ltd; Aleytys will give you the details in a moment. As to what Shadith requires, you’ll have to ask her.”

The screen blanked and Shadith found herself in darkness; around her the faint, subliminal soughing of the ship’s life support was hushed. Digby’s voice was silky in her ears. “I can do more than stop the fans. I can evacuate the air from the ship and you’ll die gasping.”