Be calm, I tell you! Divivvidiv closed all his low-brain channels in an effort to end the Xa’s pestering.
“The scarecrow told us of a vast explosion, sir,” Steenameert said to the giant. “We have to take note of what he said. Entire galaxies will be annihilated! According to him Overland and Land will soon be destroyed in one great flash!”
“Baten, why do you plague me with all this talk of galaxies and explosions at this time?”
The smaller Primitive’s repulsive features showed signs of agitation. “He said it would happen soon, sir.”
“Soon? How soon is soon?”
“That is what we must find out.”
Beloved Creator! Divivvidiv was shocked to find that the Xa had regained access to his mind, apparently with little effort. Did you say to the Primitives that I am to be killed only six days from now?
The way in which the question was framed revealed to Divivvidiv that a communications leakage had developed somewhere in the station’s heavy shielding, enabling the Xa to pick up wisps of mental interactions which should have been denied to it. Useful though the discovery would have been at another time, it now served only to aggravate his feelings of anger and alarm.
I command you! He projected the words at the Xa with all the force he could gather. Go into general quiescence and remain in that condition until I recall you.
“… asking you, greyface,” the giant was shouting, “how long will it be until my home world is affected by the explosion of which you spoke?”
I cannot be precise—but two hundred of your years is a likely figure.
“Two hundred years.” The giant glanced at his companion. “It seems a short span for a world, but for me—at this very moment—it seems an eternity. There is much to do, Baten, and we must act quickly.”
More quickly than you realize, Divivvidiv added, encircling the thought with all the defenses of his high-brain so that not even the Xa could gain a hint of what was going on in his mind. The guilt which had formerly troubled him each time he remembered the fate his kind was planning for the inhabitants of the twin worlds had been erased, for the present anyway. The raw emotions of contempt, disgust and fear engendered in him by his gigantic captor had seen to that.
In only ten days, Toller Maraquine, he thought, your insignificant little home world will cease to exist.
Chapter 12
When Cassyll Maraquine emerged from the palace he was perspiring freely. Regardless of the impropriety for one of his station, he immediately took off his formal tabard and opened his blouse at the neck, allowing heat to escape from his body. He breathed deeply of the fresh morning air and looked around for Bartan Drumme.
“You look like a boiled lobster,” Bartan commented jovially, emerging from behind the base of the heroic statue of King Chakkell which dominated the forecourt as Chakkell had once dominated the entire planet.
“It was like a baker’s oven in there.” Cassyll dabbed his brow with a handkerchief. “Daseene is killing herself, living in conditions like that, but when I try to advise her to take the air…”
“What is the point of being the ruler if you can’t make death the subject of royal edicts?”
“This is not a fit topic for jests,” Cassyll said. “I fear that Daseene has only a little time left to her—and this astonishing business of the barrier, plus her worries about the well-being of Countess Vantara, can only make matters worse.”
“You must be concerned for Toller’s safety. Is there a scale upon which such emotions are balanced? Upon which your feelings weigh less heavily on the pan than those of Daseene?”
“Toller can take care of himself.”
Bartan nodded. “Yes, but he isn’t his grandfather.”
“What does that mean? What manner of convoluted family tree would I have if my father and my son were one and the same?” Cassyll demanded, not hiding his vexation.
“I’m sorry, old friend. I love young Toller almost as much as…” Bartan raised his shoulders to a level with his ears, a way of agreeing that they should talk about other things. “Shall we find a comfortable seat?”
“It would be preferable to an uncomfortable seat.”
The two men, forcibly nudging each other to show that their friendship was still intact, walked in the direction of the Lain River. They reached it near the Lord Glo Bridge, turned east along the embankment and sat down on a marble bench. The air was quiet and balmy, pervaded by the kind of privileged mid-morning calmness which is typical of administrative districts in capital cities. Ptertha were plentiful that morning, glistening like glass spheres as they followed the course of the river, darting and swooping a few feet above the surface of the breeze-ruffled water.
Bartan waited only a few seconds and said, “What is the verdict?”
“She wants to send a fleet.”
“Did you tell her there aren’t any ships available?”
“She told me not to vex her with minor details.” Cassyll gave a humorless laugh. “Details!”
“What are you going to do?”
“I have promised to find out exactly how many ships can be made airworthy, by cannibalizing others if necessary, and report the situation to her. Many engine parts will need to be repaired or replaced, and there is a dearth of balloon fabric. It could take as long as twenty days before we can send anybody aloft, and…” Cassyll fell silent, twisting the gold ring he wore on the sixth finger of his left hand.
“And you were hoping Toller would have returned long before then,” Bartan said sympathetically. “He probably will be back… with that countess hanging around his neck… It takes a lot to deflect that young man from his course.”
“Excellent choice of words—I took some fresh readings early this foreday and I’d say that the barrier is now almost a hundred miles across. It means that no ship could possibly fly around it.”
“There you are then!” Bartan said with a display of cheerfulness. “Toller has to come back soon!”
“You’re a good friend,” Cassyll replied, trying to smile. “I love you, Bartan, but I would love you even more if you could tell me why that blue world appeared in our system and caused a crystal wall to be built between us and our ancestral planet.”
“You think the two are related?”
“I’m sure they are related.” Cassyll glanced up at the sky, at the enigmatic disk of white light which hovered at the zenith. “Just as I’m sure that neither bodes us any good.”
Chapter 13
“I am going to have much to occupy my mind in the hours to come,” Toller said to Divivvidiv, omitting the now-ritual insult about the color of the alien’s face as a sign that he was speaking unemotionally, dealing in cold facts.
“Therefore I take this opportunity to make your position absolutely clear to you,” he went on. “it is incumbent on you to preserve your own life, and you can best do that by giving me your full support in our venture. If I find you lying to me, or giving me tricky answers to questions, or allowing me to blunder into a danger of which you could have given me a warning—I will kill you. Your execution may not be instantaneous—because you are valuable to me—but, if I believe that you have gone against me in any of the ways I have just mentioned… and if subsequently there is a move against us from any quarter… you will die immediately.