There’s been a lot of Cruzatch sightings in Pandora near-space – and Taren and Kolaren near-space – and everyone’s on high alert. KOTIS Command is debating taking me back to Muina to see if that reduces the energy cost of the dreams, but they’re worried about exposing me to Cruzatch attack, not to mention the possibility of me getting trapped in that dark place again. But waiting till I’m stronger is no longer the safest option.
I’m giving people ulcers on their ulcers.
On the positive news front, they’ve found another of the Arenrhon-type places in the zone where the satellite picked up power readings. And they’ve located Oriath on the old maps recovered from Kalasa and are going to send an expedition there to scout around.
I am very bored with being in medical now, and am going to try my hand at bullying Kaoren into letting me go back to our apartment, at least while I’m awake.
Friday, October 10
To Atanra
On the way back to Muina to see if the energy cost of my dreams is less there. More ping-ponging between planets. I don’t see what else KOTIS could do, but I am starting to feel like one of a mob of squawking chickens, running back and forth, back and forth, trying to find a safe place because the sky is falling everywhere.
My interface is still turned off, and it’s very strange travelling without it. Makes me feel very isolated, for all I have four full squads with me.
We did have quite a debate about the kids, since we’re not going to Pandora, but to a newly built facility called Atanra (the word means passage) which is very near Muina’s rift into deep-space and is intended as a staging ground for planetary arrivals and departures. They hurried construction along at least in part so they could keep me close to the rift in case I get trapped again. No platform, no handy Ddura you can summon to play guard dog. Lots of shielding and defences, presumably. Because it’s not considered a safe zone, the kids will be going on to Pandora. And because the squads no longer have any members on sick leave, they’ve been assigned a babysitter.
I’m trying not to show how hugely entertained I am by the idea of Siame’s first mission being looking after three children who think they’re well able to look after themselves. Not that, with all her Sights, Siame is probably in any doubt as to me finding the situation funny. She’s being very self-assured – she really has a phenomenal poise, which only the drastic alteration to her close relationship with Kaoren has come close to upsetting. She decided to be coolly professional with me again, polite with a hint of Kaoren’s dryness, not pretending to like me, but careful not to be hostile either. I can live with that.
It’s been fun watching the squads react to her, particularly Fourth and Eighth, who have probably seen her before when they were Kalrani, but not had that much to do with her and thus see her entirely as "Tsee Ruuel’s sister" and are rather wary. Most of the senior Setari are encouraging, but Lohn and Nils seem to regard her as Kaoren’s mini-me and are longing to tease her. They’ve taken her, Ys and Rye on a tour of the ship (it’s the Litara this time – considerably larger than the Diodel).
I’m hoping they turn my interface back on soon, so that I’ll be able to chat to the kids even though they’re in a different settlement. Sen is particularly fond of sending a channel request to me at random moments, and it bothers her that it currently won’t connect. She’s not very happy at all right now. I’ve been taking the opportunity of the flight to be reassuringly well and alive, but the eye patch makes it a little unconvincing, and she’s been latched on to me as much as possible. She’s half-asleep in my lap helping me write.
Theoretically we left Ghost behind, but I can feel her wandering about the ship. Since there’s no Ddura at Atanra, I figure it should be okay. Nearly at the rift entrance, so it’s time to go back to our pods.
subtitle:[* * *]
Atanra is basically barracks, warehouses and a big landing spot for ships. One single building for all the living areas to make it easier to protect, furnished with very solid shielding. I spent my time being scanned while the Setari swept the area and checked the drone set in near-space for signs of Cruzatch activity. Ghost kept me invisible company, but is otherwise maintaining a low profile.
Thankfully the medics decided it was okay to turn my interface back on, and so I was able to read the kids their bedtime story and ask them what Pandora was looking like now (most of the flowers have moved on, lightning-quick, and all the trees are leaf-dusted). I’m feeling a little over-observed, since my room is a medical observation area. It’s not too bad, I guess – it has two beds so that Kaoren can sleep in the same room as me – but I’m feeling like I should dig out one of my lab rat shirts.
Saturday, October 11
Ghosts
No dreams or projections of any sort last night. With four squads assigned to look after me, I’m going to spend my time feeling perpetually guilty about wasting their time. They’ve broken into a dayshift and a nightshift, and are busy clearing the area of nearby Ionoth and obligingly pretending they’re not sitting around waiting for me to do something interesting. I’m not even scheduled for testing at the moment, until my eye is back to normal.
Atanra might be an interesting place to visit if I was allowed to go outside, but between health and safety issues I have a choice between the mess hall and my medical observation unit. I spent the day doing a lot of schoolwork, sleeping, and trying not to cringe during an examination of my eye. I was unconscious for a lot longer the last time my interface went haywire, so I missed the sensation of my eye not feeling right.
I was in a bit of a mood most of the day. I always feel embarrassed when I’m feeling grumpy, given all the people who’re stuck babying me, but I dealt with it by telling people I was feeling grumpy and was going to concentrate on schoolwork.
The highlight of my day was an actual conversation with Ys – who sent me a channel request after discovering an interface site devoted to "Caszandra’s children", which had a lot of detail apparently culled from conversations with some of the Nuran survivors. About Ys and Rye they only seem to know that they were servants who had been assigned to look after Sen, but they had quite a bit of information about Sen’s parents – Fiionarestel and Durenatar. The story (as retold) sounded a bit Romeo and Juliet – Fiionarestel was a highly respected scholar (and Sight Sight talent) and Durenatar some kind of architect. They’d been close childhood friends, but their families (or Heads of their Houses, rather) had a disagreement and they were forbidden from seeing each other. And had anyway, and had Sen, and were totally cut off from their families until they were found dead following what was widely believed to have been a murder-suicide.
Ys desperately doesn’t want Sen to know any of this. She hated asking me, but her need to protect Sen trumps everything, and so she wanted me to find a way to suppress all information about Sen’s parents.