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of square miles. To the west, clouds were moving in, rolling over the islands
of light.
The Mistress of the Ship was surrounded by a golden glow. Turning, Marika saw
that the same glow surrounded each of the bath. It was not intense, but it was
there. She could detect nothing around Kiljar or herself.
She started to ask a question.
Touch, Kiljar sent. Use nothing but the touch.
Yes. The glow. What is it?
The screen that restrains the void. What some sisters call the Breath of the
All.
We are surrounded, too?
We are. Watch now. Soon you will begin to see the horizon curve. Soon you will
see the moonlight shining off the snow in the north. No. Not tonight. It is
snowing there again. Off the backs of the clouds, then.
It is a rare night when it is not snowing north of Maksche, mistress. The
darkship was gaining velocity rapidly. What is that glow along the horizon?
The horizon had developed a definite bow.
Sunlight in the atmosphere and dust cloud.
Marika lost herself in growing awe. She could see almost all the moons. More
than she had seen at one time before. She could discern a score of the
satellites put up by the brethren and dark-faring sisterhoods. They were
brilliant dots moving against the darkness.
What is that? She indicated a bright object rising from the glow along the
edge of the world. It was too small to be a moon, yet larger than any
satellite.
The Serke-brethren voidship Starstalker. Just in from the dark this week. We
will pass near it. By design. The Redoriad ship is out, but Starstalker is
similar.
Won't they... ?
Be upset? Perhaps. But they have no basis for a protest. We can look. Inside
Biter orbit is convention space.
Marika glanced back at the world-and was startled. The Mistress had reoriented
the voidship. The planet was down no longer. The darkship was moving very fast
now.
She was in the void. If the glow she could not see failed her, she would die
quicker than the thought.
All sense of motion vanished, yet the world continued to grow more curved. The
bright spark of the voidship Starstalker drew closer, though the ship upon
which Marika stood seemed at rest.
She looked upon the naked universe, sparklingly bright, clearer than ever she
had seen it from the surface, and surrendered to awe.
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Kiljar touched her. Over there. The darkness where there are almost no stars
at all. That is the heart of the dust cloud. The direction our sun and world
are traveling. It will become more dense before it clears. It will be five
thousand years before we finish passing through.
That is a long winter.
Yes. We are getting close to the voidship. Do nothing to attract attention to
yourself. They will be displeased enough as it is.
The darkship turned till its long arm indicated a piece of sky ahead of the
swelling voidship. It began to move, though Marika could tell only because the
voidship skewed against the fixed stars. As they approached the shining
object, she detected lesser brightnesses moving around it. Closer still. The
voidship resolved into something more than a bright glow. Looking over her
shoulder, Marika saw that the sun had risen above the edge of the world. The
world itself, where it was daytime, was extremely bright-especially at the
upper and lower ends of the arc of illumination. The snowfields, she supposed.
The cloud cover looked heavier than in any photograph she had seen. A quick
query to Kiljar, though, told her that it was a phenomenon of the moment.
It was impossible to discern the shapes of continents and islands. This world
looked like no globe she had seen.
Turning to Starstalker, she found that the voidship had swollen into an egg
shape. The surrounding sparks had become smaller ships. They looked like none
she had seen before. Two were moving away, one of them well ahead of the
other. Two were moving in. Another waited idly, matching orbit. Several were
nosed up to the voidship like bloodsucking insects. Marika asked no questions
for fear her touch would leak over and be detected.
But Kiljar looked as puzzled as was she. Marika felt a leak-over as she
touched the Mistress of the Ship. Their approach slowed. Then the Redoriad
darkship began to turn away. Marika looked at the Redoriad with her question
plain upon her face.
Something is happening here that should not be, Kiljar sent. Those little
ships are like nothing I have ever seen, and I have been in space for three
decades. They may be in violation of the conventions. Oh-oh. They have noticed
us.
Marika felt the questioning touch, felt it recoil in surprise, alarmed because
the darkship was not Serke.
The touch returned. Stop. Come here immediately.
Kiljar waved at the Mistress of the Ship. Starstalker began to dwindle.
A spear of fire ripped through the great night, coming from one of the small
ships. It touched nothing. Marika had no idea what it was, but felt the
deadliness of it. So did the Mistress. She commenced a turn to her left and
dove toward the planet.
What is happening? Marika asked.
I do not know. Do not distract me. I am trying to touch the cloister. They
must know about this in case we do not survive.
Fright stole into Marika's throat. She stared back at the dwindling voidship.
Another spear of light reached for the Redoriad darkship, came no closer than
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the last. The Mistress skewed around and took the darkship another direction,
like a huntress dodging rifle fire.
Flames bloomed around one end of one of the small ships attendant upon
Starstalker. It came after the darkship, its lance of light probing the
darkness repeatedly. Behind it another such ship blossomed flame and joined
the chase.
Marika nearly panicked. She hadn't the slightest notion of what was happening,
except that it was obvious someone wanted to kill them. For no apparent
reason.
Another spear of fire. And this one grazed the pommel end of the dagger that
was the darkship. A silent scream filled Marika's head. The rear bath drifted
away, tumbling. She disappeared in the great night, her glow gone.
Kiljar ran along the titanium beam to the spot where the bath had stood. And
in her mind, Marika felt, Use that vaunted talent for the dark side, Reugge.
Use it!
Marika had begun to get a grip on herself. Down through her loophole she
went-and froze, awed.
They were huge out here! Not nearly so numerous as down below, but more vast
even than the monsters she sometimes detected above while flying high in the
chill upon her saddleship. Bigger than imagination.
Another beam snapped through the dark. The Mistress of the Ship was in the
shadow of the planet now, trying to hide as she would from another darkship.
But her maneuver proved more liability than asset. The pursuers had vanished
into the darkness, too, but seemed able to locate the darkship, and had the
muscle to keep after it.
A thousand questions plagued Marika. She shoved them aside. They had to wait.
She had to survive before she dared ask them.
She grabbed the nearest ghost. She felt a definite, startled response to her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]