My attempt to dream of Lira last night didn’t go anywhere, which at least means I had another good night’s rest. The technicians are saying that I may be able to have my eye unbandaged tomorrow, and if I’m given an all-clear on health, they’re considering a visualisation. The patrols haven’t spotted any Cruzatch in this area, so KOTIS Command figures that they can have me test in the Ena here, and then if all goes well whisk me off to somewhere else.
Ghost has reappeared. I hadn’t seen her since we flew here, and was privately rather worried. But she woke Nils up today sleeping on his chest. He seemed happy to see her, but I earned a minor lecture from Maze for failing to mention that she’d ridden along with us. Then she was fussed over a lot, and is happily seducing random technicians.
Partway through the day I had a nice long discussion with Isten Notra, who had read all my clumsy reports on my dreams, and spent a full kasse winkling every possible detail out of me, pushing me for all the impressions and opinions that I shy away from expressing.
We received further scripts for The Hidden War today as well, with the first few episodes rewritten in more detail – they’ll be going into production on those soon I guess – and the next few episodes in first draft. I was highly amused to see that they had written in the whole stealing of my personal file, and me being made part of a Setari entertainment program. I can’t say I enjoyed the script all about me being emotionally frayed, but the stuff about Lastier’s squad being scandalised by their portrayal was very funny. Then there’s the Velcro/Astroturf massive, which is another script I didn’t enjoy, but was generally accurate.
Wednesday, October 15
Sudden Defence
I woke up in the middle of the night because Kaoren had been gone a while, and found him, Maze and Grif Regan down in the dining room, taking part in an interface meeting. There had been an attack on the Oriath expedition. Eeli’s unconscious with a head injury, and Kade from Eighth is badly torn up. It was a huge surge of Cruzatch, and they only overcame it because the ships had weapons, and the Setari were able to retreat to them and blast everything in sight.
The attack suggests that Oriath is important to the Cruzatch, which I guess counts as useful information. KOTIS has withdrawn entirely from the site for now, intending to return in force.
This makes the question of what to do with me a tricky one, and Kaoren’s just told me that they’ve decided on an Ena visualisation trip ASAP, and then to observe me sleeping afterwards, and they’ll decide whether to send me back to Tare or on to Pandora depending on whether I have another episode.
Tactical Survey
They had me visualise the site at Oriath, after showing me the mission log. Third and Eighth had been exploring a sprawling palace which was above the sealed installation, searching for entrances and any information. After I’d watched the log to just before the point where they were attacked, Kaoren stepped me through a description of the room they’d been in, but continually emphasising that there were no Cruzatch there, and I was able to project the room and the surrounding ones without effort. Fortunately without the Cruzatch, as ordered, although the theory was that I could just drop the projection if I produced them as well.
My minders (all three squads) fanned out and explored the nearby areas which Third and Eighth hadn’t reached as yet, and then we headed back to real-space, leaving a drone behind to monitor for Cruzatch. If they showed up, it would suggest Cruzatch are able to detect my projections.
Back in real-space, they had me project the same area again, but this time with Cruzatch, emphasising what the area looked like right at that moment. So long as no-one moves the projected physical objects, or makes too much noise, projected Ionoth don’t notice people in real-space and – depending on how strongly I’m projecting – are often only visible to me. In this case the Setari could sort of see the Cruzatch, and they could definitely see the crystallised webbing the Cruzatch were laying down, just as they had around the Kalasa platform. This is very good information to know, and I can now regard myself as a military spy satellite.
They debated having me try to project what the place had looked like back before the disaster, but this was deemed too risky, so I was sent to medical to be tired, and since I slept without even dreaming, let alone getting trapped anywhere, we’re on the way to Pandora. Haven’t told the kids yet, because I can’t resist surprising them, whether they appreciate it or not.
Reunion
My morning visualisation and midday nap has messed me up rather thoroughly in terms of adapting to Pandora’s earlier timeframe. I’d only been awake (again) for a couple of hours when we arrived at Pandora around its sunset. Everyone had been in a grim mood the entire day, and an undernote of anger was added in when we reached the Setari building and met up with Third and Eighth – those who weren’t in medical, anyway. Only a few of them don’t have some sort of injury – Cruzatch are quick close-combat fighters, and nanosuits only partially protect the Setari from their burning claws. They’d also proven adept at throwing chunks of rubble during combat, which is what had happened to Eeli. She’s over at the main medical building.
Taarel’s hair’s really short. She was clawed across the back, and her long spirals of hair were severed and melted so she cut it all off. She looks amazingly different, but still very regal and commanding and very intent on the plans for the counter-strike, even though Third won’t be going. I think she needs to concentrate on that to stop herself worrying about Eeli.
More squads are coming from Tare and Kolar, along with smaller combat-oriented ships. The exact timing for the attack hasn’t been settled, and won’t be until after another visualisation.
I only stayed down in the common room for a short while, then Kaoren and I went up to be with the kids (who were having their bath when we first arrived). Rye was first out, and stopped dead at the sight of the two of us talking quietly to Siame, and then went all formal, which was impossibly sweet and reminded me of those really old movies where the kids call their fathers Sir. Kaoren put his hand on Rye’s head by way of greeting and the poor kid just about died of joy. It was interesting watching Siame’s shut-down expression – I think of the three she feels the most sympathy for Rye, but it really hurts her to see Kaoren being affectionate with other people.
Rye must have told Ys and Sen over the interface that we were here, because there was suddenly a shriek from the other bathroom, a rather magnificent splash, and then Sen pelted into the lounge, all wet hair and bubbles, to throw herself into my lap. Ys appeared a few moments later, clutching a mass of towels and brick-red with embarrassment. I dissolved into laughter and was half-choked by Sen’s death grip as Ys dropped some of the towels over her. Kaoren kindly discovered a need to go into our bedroom for a minute, which allowed for some towel-readjustment.
It’s impossible not to adore Sen, and I hugged her back, and told her how much I’d missed all three of them, and that it had felt much longer than a few days. Then I told her that she’d better get a little less soapy or she’d slide right out of bed while I was reading today’s story. I squeezed Ys' shoulder gently and then gave Siame a kick on the ankle because she was staring at the part of Ys' back which was exposed, which fortunately Ys hadn’t noticed, though Rye had. He’d gone white, but didn’t say anything as Ys left the room and I went over and hugged him really hard, then asked him to tell me what they’d been doing at the talent school. Siame’s far from stupid, so she took my heavy-footed hint, and showed no sign of curiosity (but no doubt had a discussion with Kaoren about it).