WarAvocat?"
"You have custody of locals called Immunes?"
"Yes, sir."
"The Deified are interested. Send them up."
"Will do, WarAvocat."
Hanaver Strate leaned back, closed his eyes, tried to imagine what those electronic spooks were up to now.
The night terminator had reached Merod Schene before the detainees arrived. WarAvocat inquired, "Deified, where do you want to interview the detainees?"
"Hall of Decision."
Startled, he examined the speaker. He did not know her. Her apparel proclaimed her one of the oldest Deified. First Millennium.
Strate reached Hall of Decision before the detainees. The old-time Deified were very interested. He spied several who had not appeared for the show with the krekelen and Commander Haget. Many lost interest in the outer reality after a few centuries in
Gemina
's bosom.
What brought them out now?
One awed junior officer delivered the detainees to Strate as the only living being present. "What's wrong with that one?" WarAvocat asked, indicating a woman in apparent catatonia.
"I don't know, sir. About seventy klicks out she started screaming. Then that."
"I see."
"The others didn't know what was wrong."
"Uhm?" Strate ordered an envelope of silence and a security shield, then climbed to his Dictat's throne. He considered the detainees. With one exception they seemed overwhelmed.
"Deified? You wished to examine these... people?" It was hard to regard them that way.
Ansehl Ronygos suggested, "Relax the silence."
Strate reiterated the request as an order. The system would have responded to Ronygos directly, but the Deified liked to nag the living for having introduced unbreakable routines that prevented them from issuing edicts and making decisions without the consent of the living.
VII Gemina
was trying to avoid troubles that had befallen other Guardships.
XII Fulminata
, without restraints upon its Deified, had gone cold and weird, ruthless, merciless, and almost suicidally fearless.
IV Trajana
was the spookiest of all Guardships, having subsumed its crew completely. Afterward, it had climbed onto the Web and been heard from again only briefly during the
Enherrenraat
incident.
Some thought
IV Trajana
was hunting the Presence that lived on the Web and appeared to be responsible for the disappearance of so many ships. Possibly. Ages ago
VI Adjutrix
had gone seeking the ends of the Web, which extended far beyond Canon space.
Ronygos said, "Let's have their names and origins."
The young officer hurried through the list. With one exception they were aliens or artifacts. How did the aliens get to V. Rothica 4? Were phantom Travelers a problem again?
Several First Millennium Deified descended upon the detainees. They surrounded the one who seemed unimpressed. Then the old spooks just stood there staring.
WarAvocat checked the detainee's number. "Access,
Gemina
. Review the file on detainee number five."
A whisper in his ear: "Name, Turtle. Origin: Alien, species uncertain, probably Ku. May be an artifact. No other data available."
"Curious," WarAvocat mused aloud, watching the old Deified. Why was
Gemina
reticent about what was troubling them?
— 18 —
Simon Tregesser was playing lord of thunders to distract himself. It was not working. For two weeks that thing in the tank had been useless. Half the time it was comatose, the other half it might as well have been. It said nothing that made any sense.
When a thing like that was terrified out of its mind...
He did not want to think about it. But when he put it out of mind, Noah slipped in.
Noah had been missing too long. Something must have happened. That bitch Valerena! Next time he killed her he would make it permanent. Lupo said Blessed showed promise.
He hurled thunders and lightnings with renewed fury. The whole damned universe was out to frustrate him.
XII Fulminata
! What the hell? Was some malign force ranged against him?
That was his most secret fear. That somehow someone or something was using him the way he
"You have custody of locals called Immunes?"
"Yes, sir."
"The Deified are interested. Send them up."
"Will do, WarAvocat."
Hanaver Strate leaned back, closed his eyes, tried to imagine what those electronic spooks were up to now.
The night terminator had reached Merod Schene before the detainees arrived. WarAvocat inquired, "Deified, where do you want to interview the detainees?"
"Hall of Decision."
Startled, he examined the speaker. He did not know her. Her apparel proclaimed her one of the oldest Deified. First Millennium.
Strate reached Hall of Decision before the detainees. The old-time Deified were very interested. He spied several who had not appeared for the show with the krekelen and Commander Haget. Many lost interest in the outer reality after a few centuries in
Gemina
's bosom.
What brought them out now?
One awed junior officer delivered the detainees to Strate as the only living being present. "What's wrong with that one?" WarAvocat asked, indicating a woman in apparent catatonia.
"I don't know, sir. About seventy klicks out she started screaming. Then that."
"I see."
"The others didn't know what was wrong."
"Uhm?" Strate ordered an envelope of silence and a security shield, then climbed to his Dictat's throne. He considered the detainees. With one exception they seemed overwhelmed.
"Deified? You wished to examine these... people?" It was hard to regard them that way.
Ansehl Ronygos suggested, "Relax the silence."
Strate reiterated the request as an order. The system would have responded to Ronygos directly, but the Deified liked to nag the living for having introduced unbreakable routines that prevented them from issuing edicts and making decisions without the consent of the living.
VII Gemina
was trying to avoid troubles that had befallen other Guardships.
XII Fulminata
, without restraints upon its Deified, had gone cold and weird, ruthless, merciless, and almost suicidally fearless.
IV Trajana
was the spookiest of all Guardships, having subsumed its crew completely. Afterward, it had climbed onto the Web and been heard from again only briefly during the
Enherrenraat
incident.
Some thought
IV Trajana
was hunting the Presence that lived on the Web and appeared to be responsible for the disappearance of so many ships. Possibly. Ages ago
VI Adjutrix
had gone seeking the ends of the Web, which extended far beyond Canon space.
Ronygos said, "Let's have their names and origins."
The young officer hurried through the list. With one exception they were aliens or artifacts. How did the aliens get to V. Rothica 4? Were phantom Travelers a problem again?
Several First Millennium Deified descended upon the detainees. They surrounded the one who seemed unimpressed. Then the old spooks just stood there staring.
WarAvocat checked the detainee's number. "Access,
Gemina
. Review the file on detainee number five."
A whisper in his ear: "Name, Turtle. Origin: Alien, species uncertain, probably Ku. May be an artifact. No other data available."
"Curious," WarAvocat mused aloud, watching the old Deified. Why was
Gemina
reticent about what was troubling them?
— 18 —
Simon Tregesser was playing lord of thunders to distract himself. It was not working. For two weeks that thing in the tank had been useless. Half the time it was comatose, the other half it might as well have been. It said nothing that made any sense.
When a thing like that was terrified out of its mind...
He did not want to think about it. But when he put it out of mind, Noah slipped in.
Noah had been missing too long. Something must have happened. That bitch Valerena! Next time he killed her he would make it permanent. Lupo said Blessed showed promise.
He hurled thunders and lightnings with renewed fury. The whole damned universe was out to frustrate him.
XII Fulminata
! What the hell? Was some malign force ranged against him?
That was his most secret fear. That somehow someone or something was using him the way he
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