MIRA

 

Mira?

Si?

We are close to Scolar.

Mira worked to get her eyelids open. She’d slept the entire sub-light leg from the shift station to Scolar orbit, and her body craved more. Still.

Baby? She moved her hands through the viscous protection of vein-sink and touched her stomach.

Our baby will be born soon. Its survival is now dependent on the humanesque medics, Insignia commented.

Mira shifted, and Primo responded by buoying her up and withdrawing its receptors from her skin. She swung unsteady legs onto the floor of the buccal, wiping a layer of goo from her face and blinking rapidly.

As her hand fell back to cup the small curve of her belly, she watched Thales, sedated in Secondo, his face relaxed in sleep. Less ravaged.

She felt a flowering of tenderness for him. He wasn’t the person she’d first imagined him to be, but he had his own strengths, his own sense of honour. She was glad to have seen to the true heart of the man.

Thales?

He is recovering. But diverting attention to his medical needs has been... distracting.

Mira wanted to smile at Insignia’s annoyed tone.

The biozoon didn’t welcome relationships with ordinary humanesques. It cared only for itself, her and her baby. Thank you for caring for him. Where is the soldier?

Eating. The humanesque female has an insatiable appetite. There is only a small stock of food left. My stores have not been replenished for some time. Nor has my nutrient supply. My own health is at risk.

Insignia’s last statement brought Mira fully awake. The biozoon had not received an amino acid boost since visiting Akou. I will negotiate for refugee aid on Scolar.

It is possible that you will not be well received on that score.

Why so?

Planets have begun stockpiling supplies.

What do you mean? Mira waited in silence. Insignia? Please answer me.

The biozoon gave its grunting equivalent of a sigh. It is best you see the farcasts for yourself. It will no doubt affect how you negotiate with Scolar.

Because she was no longer deep in vein-sink, Insignia broadcast the images in the space above her. For a moment she couldn’t make sense of the images blinking in and out of existence.

What is it?

A sampling from the OLOSS ‘casts from Dowl and Intel stations.

Mira studied the images again. At Intel, craft fled the system in panicked disorder. Dowl was a different matter. The station space was studded with traffic and the unmistakable signatures of Geni-carriers.

OLOSS is trying to close shift stations across Orion, but that means a halt to all trade. Some worlds won’t survive without it and are objecting. It’s maybe too late for many, anyway. Geni-carriers have already been reported in dozens of systems. The Pod has been informed that the Melal, Sharmet and Keoskie systems have been attacked.

Mira wasn’t familiar with the places that Insignia listed. Are there casualties?

The Pod estimates several billion lives lost between the three.

Billions! Mira found it almost impossible to comprehend that kind of devastation. What about Scolar?

The bulletins report that the Scolar Sophos are advising OLOSS. There has been no change to the status of the system.

Advising? Isn’t it too late for that?

Not entirely. Your pre-emptive warning has allowed many of the OLOSS leaders to escape. Another few hours, and they would have all been trapped at Intel.

Has station master Landhurst been mentioned? He drew all the leaders to Intel. He wasn’t surprised when I told the summit what I knew. I think that—

He has been connected to the Post-Species?

Si.

The Pod has been suspicious of that, also.

The tiny consolation Mira felt that she might have averted the deaths of some OLOSS leaders was overwhelmed by the knowledge that so many souls had already been extinguished. She should have done more. What can OLOSS do?

Insignia took another pause before replying. I’m not experienced in aspects of war but if res stations are being disabled then the Post-Species have already divided us. Farcast will be our only communication outside our worlds. The Pod believes if this situation persists then, in time, the sentient species on the isolated OLOSS worlds will die.

No!

Many are not self-sustaining, Mira. It is the simple truth.

Insignia’s prophecy galvanised her. I’ll wake Thales.

You must move slowly, or the amniotic fluid will flow again.

Mira left Primo and shuffled across the buccal to sit on the edge of the Secondo vein. Her clothes were sodden with Insignia’s secretions, her hair matted, and she felt a rivulet of warm fluid leak onto her thighs.

‘Thales.’ She touched his shoulder lightly.

His eyes opened wide in fear, then relaxed when he saw her face. He licked his lips before speaking. ‘Baronessa. We are alive?’

‘Si,’ said Mira. ‘Although dead people have felt better, I’m sure.’

He smiled weakly.

‘Insignia has healed your face,’ Mira added. ‘There is scarring still, but the colour is better. The necrosis has gone.’

He lifted his hand to his cheek and felt along the contour. This time his smile was wider, more animated. ‘Truly I am grateful.’

Mira nodded.

‘Where are we?’ he asked.

‘Scolar.’

‘Home? I am home?’ Gladness crept into his voice, colour to his skin.

Mira let herself enjoy his pleasure. ‘There are people I’m sure that you wish to see. I would only ask that you support my request to be treated at the Mount Clement clinic.’

Thales jerked up a little. The vein responded by buoying him upright. ‘Of course. Baronessa, forgive me. How is your baby?’

‘‘Insignia has slowed my fluid loss, but I risk infection without proper care. I would ask your advice on how to contact the clinic quickly.’

The colour deserted his face as he climbed to sit on the side next to her, the effort taxing him. ‘I must contact my wife.’

Mira stared at him steadily. ‘Sophos Mianos’s daughter, the one you spoke of in front of the summit meeting? Will she help you?’

‘I—I’m not sure.’ He stared back at her just as intently. ‘But we have been through much together, you and I. I will do my best for you.’

‘Give Insignia the details and she will attempt contact. Do you wish to bathe first?’

‘That would be preferable, or my wife may not recognise me.’ Mira heard the tinge of bitterness in his humour.

‘I would bathe also.’ She rubbed her hand across the small hard lump in her belly. It felt lower, as though it pressed on her bones. ‘But I don’t have much time, Thales.’

He nodded. ‘I will hasten.’

They helped each other as far as the cucina, where Fariss appeared. The tall soldier’s face softened when she saw Thales. ‘You’re awake.’

‘Could you help him to a cabin?’ Mira asked her.

Fariss stuffed the biscuits she held into her mouth, and scooped up Thales in her arms as if he weighed nothing. The young scholar sank against her with complete trust.

As Mira watched them disappear along the stratum, her heart tugged a little, not from jealousy but envy. She hadn’t experienced comfort in another’s company since her sister Faja had died. Even Insignia and the nurturing of the Primo vein did not fill her need for humanesque intimacy.

She continued on to her cabin, where she bathed and brushed her hair, taking care to keep her movements slow and steady. When she was finished, she located an absorbent wad in the cabin cupboard and inserted it into her fresh underwear.

Feeling more ready to cope with what would come next, she sat on the bed.

‘Wanton?’

The Post-Species individual was where she had left it, resting on her bed covers against the tiny blisters of mycose. The pile had dwindled since her last visit to her cabin, indicating that Wanton was still in trouble.

‘Mira-fedor. Wanton is most pleased to hear your voice.’

‘H-how are you?’

‘The mycose has preserved my life. It is not an inexhaustible supply though. I would hope to heal the fracture in my casing before it has depleted much further.’

Mira leaned closer to the small gelatinous object. Its voice sounded plaintive, but she was never sure if attributing humanesque characteristics and emotions to it was appropriate. Did Wanton have feelings in the way she understood them? The Extro had helped her to escape her Post-Species gaol, and had displayed a very humanesque sense of self-preservation throughout their escape from the Hub world, but something was intrinsically different between them. Something she couldn’t qualify.

‘We are in Scolar space,’ she said.

‘Yes,’ said Wanton. ‘The biozoon has been exchanging information with me.’

‘Insignia? said Mira with surprise. ‘And you?’

‘We have shared our knowledge of humanesques. It is surprising to see what information we both lacked.’

Mira sat back, annoyed and amused. Wanton and Insignia had been talking about her. ‘And what did you learn?’

‘Contradictory would seem the most appropriate word.’

Mira couldn’t control her defensive reflex. ‘I wouldn’t specify that as a solely humanesque trait. I have known you to be evasive, and Insignia to be contrary.’

‘It is true that both biozoons and Post-Species Hosts display minor idiosyncrasies, but with humanesques it seems to be... quintessential.’

‘What do you need to heal yourself?’ Mira changed the subject quickly. Together Wanton and Insignia, it seemed, would be impossibly superior.

‘I am not permitted to disclose the required healing substance.’

‘Then how can I help you?’

‘I will tell you when and how.’

Mira let out an exasperated breath. ‘Now who is being obtuse?’

Mira, interrupted Insignia, Thales is ready to contact Scolar.

Mira pressed her hand down into the bed to ensure that the mycose blisters rolled as close to Wanton as possible.

I’m coming.