"Too dark," I said, shrugging.
"Did you have any sense of threat from it, or the amphitheatre in particular?"
"Amphitheatre where all cats live," I said, pausing in the entrance of a room with the tiered pod-seat things I remembered from my first trip. First and Third Squad were sitting about sideways on the seats with the covers up. "Super feral unfriendly cats. Don’t have to worry about petting them."
"I know," Maze said, and gave me one of his awesome smiles. "You won’t make the same mistake twice. Get some rest now."
There were only the two chairs still empty, in the corner on our left. I picked the upper tier one, smiling at Zee across the way, and then squirming as the chair began moulding itself around me. I was too tired to care much about anything else, not even that Taarel was watching from the opposite corner. Maze closed the cover of my seat as soon as I lay down, and I pretty much passed out instantly.
Zee woke me up with another override channel request. "Human yet?"
"Maybe half." I started to sit up and almost whacked my head on the seat cover, then finished the movement as Zee opened it.
"Back to medical. I know you’re looking forward to that."
"Zee’s turn be comedian." I did feel better, though. Groggy, but no longer like I was being sucked down into a black pit. Ista Tremmar looked me over, told me I had to eat a high-energy, high-protein diet until further notice, and pointed the way to the nearest bathroom. Washing my face helped, and Zee nodded approval when I came out.
"Next stop, a little food. We’ll be landing in about twelve joden. Read Maze’s mission outline first, and let me know if you have any questions."
There’s a hundred joden in a kasse, so that was a little over twenty minutes. I just nodded. I was feeling placid, really wanting another day or two of sleep, but willing to go along with whatever was asked of me so long as it didn’t require too much thought. I read Maze’s email, and Zee’s from early that morning about taking a tour of the ship. It really is a big ship, with all those little pods used when travelling through the gate, enough to cover a sizeable greensuit and greysuit complement. There’s the infirmary and a kitchen and canteen and laboratories and assembly areas.
The mission was pretty basic. All four squads would go ashore in my town, split into two groups and do an initial reconnoitre and check the drones. I would be with First and Third Squad, answering any questions it occurred to them to ask me, and their Sight talents would be paying a lot of attention to whether there was an unusual reaction from the places around me.
They were very interested in the amphitheatre, but also wary of it since the aether had drained there, so it would be part two of the outing. We’d all meet up there and poke our nose cautiously underneath and see whether anything bit it off. In other words, the mission outline was "wander around looking for anything interesting, try not to get killed".
Four squads makes for a lot of people in the mission channel, along with two non-Setari people staying on the Litara, whose names were Kensan and Tehara. And me. Greensuits ferried us ashore using the hovering sled things before returning to the ship, and I wondered vaguely why they didn’t leave any for us to escape with as I followed Ketzaren off onto the rocky bank.
It was the same spot I’d been picked up from – it seemed like an eternity ago – and since Sonn was standing right next to me I caught her eye and said: "Full circle," but though I think she understood what I meant she was being all serious and didn’t respond.
Ferus, though, was a different kettle of fish. "What was it you were cooking here?" he asked, nodding at the faint remains of my fires and the three massive flat bowls. "I’ve often wondered if you could possibly eat that much."
"Boiling wool," I said, shrugging. "Clean it, make blanket." Come to think of it, I don’t think I actually cooked anything the entire time I was on Muina. I never managed to catch any fish, or find any eggs. Survivor Cass was barely making a passing grade.
It was colder than it had been when I’d been living there. Autumn-ish, with a sharp wind blowing over the lake which made me gladder than ever that I’d been rescued. If the town has a proper European-type Winter, I would not only have needed a whole lot more wool, I’d be facing some real food challenges.
I’ve written all of this entry so far without mentioning Ruuel, mainly because I hadn’t seen much of him. But he was just a little way down the shore from me then, and said: "No sense of threat," and sometimes I wonder if he goes around deliberately striking dramatic poses, because whenever I let myself look at him he seems to be being particularly photogenic. Though I guess gazing intently into the distance is part of his job description.
"We’ll take the half to the left," Maze said. "Be vocal."
I was glad the squads were divided the way they had been. Not so much for controlling my urge to gaze at Ruuel, since I’m more or less managing that, but because that shot Forel from Seventh Squad had taken at Zan was a good way to get me to distrust her totally. Other than looking even more cat-that-got-the-cream than usual, she was being very correct, but I was happy to be with First Squad and Third Squad.
Particularly because Eeli was very fun to watch, so overjoyed at her first time on Muina that she practically vibrated. Occasionally a little comment would burble out, but mostly she was just eyes everywhere. Once, Taarel touched her shoulder and gave her a little smile and she settled down a bit. We walked about the town, not seeing anything other than small abandoned town. Sefen, Third’s strongest Place Sight talent, could see only a faint after-image of aether, just a haziness.
I spent the time reminiscing, working on a translation of "Do Not Go Gentle" for later, and wondering if Ruuel was annoyed with himself for not having seen anything significant about this town when they chased the Ddura here.
Maze’s be vocal apparently meant to communicate a lot as we explored, but I only heard Forel, Auron and Halla say anything from the other group. Eventually Maze told everyone to return to the shore to collect the new drones they’d left there, and head toward the amphitheatre.
The drone left by greensuits before the last moonfall had exploded. They’d been expecting this, since it wasn’t transmitting, but spent a small age doing examinations and taking readings and putting another drone in its place. I watched the cats, which had all retreated to the far side of the amphitheatre and were watching us back, tremendously annoyed.
While Third Squad messed with the remains of the drone, Fourth and Seventh Squad took me down to examine the extra-big central circle. Even enhanced, none of them could make out anything more from it than an after-image of the aether. Having me stand in the middle made no difference.
"Should we clear these animals out?" Tsennan asked.
At the time I just thought he was a gung-ho idiot, and only glanced at him as Sonn straightforwardly said: "No threat." It’s only thanks to my ever-present log that a later review gave me a peripheral view of Forel shifting to watch me beforehand. They were seeing if they could get a rise out of me because of Ghost. My log also showed Ruuel turn his head in Forel’s direction, but he didn’t react otherwise. Still, if I was her I wouldn’t play petty games in front of Sight talents. Particularly since she seems pretty keen on making herself look good in front of that particular Sight talent.