Chapter 67 - The Kraken Gate
We refilled our water bottles from spring by Tyrone’s shelter before we set off. The Caddrian gave his shelter a final look, then turned his back on it. The sun had risen fully over the crumpled mountains. Ty assured me that the Charg were less active in the heat of the day.
‘You must have disturbed their nest,’ he explained, ‘made them feel threatened, when you encountered them before. That would have brought them all out to defend their warrens.’
I nodded, grimacing as I fought through the pain. The Charg were the least of my worries at that precise moment. Mercifully, walking wasn’t a problem, in spite of a bruised hip, but from the waist up, my body was a mess. Ty had bandaged my left arm again that morning. It wasn’t bleeding much, but it was all but useless. I could open and close my hand weakly, but that was about it. My shoulder felt less sore, but I was sporting a super-chromatic bruise about the size of two dinner plates across my breast and ribs.
’How’s the breathing?’
‘Piece of cake,’ I wheezed. ‘Just don’t make me talk unnecessarily.'
‘Definitely a broken rib or two.’
‘Yes. I wonder why that is? Oh yes, I remember! Someone on my team smashed me with a forty-pound wooden shield!’
‘Oh, right,’ replied Ty. ‘So you’d rather ‘ave a crossbow hole in your chest to breathe through.’
I shot him a withering look, deciding to save my breath for the journey. After one and a half bells, we descended to the savanna-like grasslands where we’d seen the harmadonts. I scanned the horizon, but could see none.
‘We’re not far from where…’ I couldn’t speak his name for a moment, but Ty knew what I was trying to say.
‘Ankush?’
I nodded. ‘And the naturalist, you remember Evershed?’
‘Aye. Full of himself, that one, but I daresay he didn’t deserve what ‘appened to him.’
We stopped for some water and a bit of a rest, although Ty didn’t look like he needed it. Ten years older than me, but twice as tough. The warmth of the sun felt like an injection of strength, as though I was being recharged, like the Koulomb Gate’s batteries. I breathed in as deep as I could and let it all out slowly. I wasn’t sure I could get used to Ganessa. The mauve tint to the sky was unsettling, like the presaging of a winterxil storm on Illesin.
Ty asked me what the others were doing while I was sightseeing. I rolled my eyes, but described the fort building operation and all the work that Ellen had put in to make it happen. Ty gave this some thought and looked at me narrowly.
‘So, if this weren’t a rescue mission because you thought we were all dead, why did you come all this way?’
I told him and he repeated it back to me slowly.
‘Director Harman wanted to know what happened, back there.’ Ty thumbed over his shoulder. ‘And that tosser we did for…’
‘Captain Andrew Banks.’
‘If you say so. He was convinced that the Koulomb Gate is a weapon.’
‘Being turned into one,’ I corrected him.
‘Well, Ms. Derringer, I can’t say as I’m the expert in figuring puzzles out, but if Harman is interested to see what kind of damage ‘is machine can do, then perhaps this Banks was onto something.'
‘You know, Ty…I’m beginning to think you’re right. And maybe that would explain why Chancellor Gordon and the Council were riding him so hard; they also suspected it.’
‘I’m sure they’d be delighted to have something to fight the Nallians with.’
‘Probably, but you saw the size of the crater back there, didn’t you?’ I stopped and looked Ty in the eyes. ‘Do you think it’s right to have that kind of power in the hands of one person, or even one family? Perhaps, if he had come clean to the Council at the start…brought them in on the project. Perhaps then, they’d have given their blessing, but if he’s been working on this in secret, pretending all the while that it was in the name of exploration…’. I stopped, but Ty filled in for me.
‘Then he’d be a threat; a maverick, that they weren’t in control of.’
‘Exactly. And they wouldn’t be able to negotiate with the Nallians, not knowing what Harman was going to do next.’
‘Except there’s a problem,’ Ty added. ‘I though you said the Koulomb Gate needs a line of sight to the target.’
‘Banks seemed to think that could be overcome, but anyway, there’s a much bigger problem than that.’
‘And that is?’ Ty combed a hand through his thinning hair.
‘A hugely expensive weapon that destroys itself and its immediate surroundings as well as the intended target isn’t very practical, is it?’
‘I didn’t see what ‘appened to Emberly,’ Ty reminded me.
‘You remember Rostov Park, hmm? Pretty place with Winslow Hall sitting in the middle. Genteel, surrounded by well-built properties from the time of Orwall the Second?’
Ty nodded.
‘All gone. It’s just a hole in the ground and a whole lot of rubble.’
Ty wasn’t easily moved but I noticed his eyebrow twitch ever so slightly. ‘Aballas’ ammer, then,’ he said. I didn’t know the reference, so I asked.
‘You haven’t heard that old story about the lazy man wanting a magical ‘ammer to do his work for him?’
‘No.’
‘Ah well, maybe it’s a Caddrian tale. Anyway, Aballas grants the man’s wish and gives him an ‘ammer that doesn’t need his ‘elp to ‘ammer in nails.’
‘But there’s a catch?’
‘Of course. He has to ‘old the ‘ammer and make the backstroke, which seems fair, because the ‘ammer punches every nail into the wood in one hit. Very quick…very efficient. The trouble is, the ‘ammer hits the man in the face at the end of every backswing.’ Ty winked at me as he picked up his pack. I shouldered my own, near empty bag and shook my head.
‘That sounds like one of the Endarchine Collective’s parables, Ty.’
‘It might have been that,’ said Tyrone. ‘They were all over where I grew up.’
The sun was sinking in the sky by the time we neared the site of the touchdown. We had been walking for nearly six bells and I was utterly exhausted. My legs and hips were now feeling as ill-used as the top half of my body.
In spite of my weariness, I couldn’t help experiencing some disquiet as we neared the base. At this time of day, I expected to be able to hear the sounds of construction at full pace. There was no possibility that the palisade and buildings had been completed yet. There was evidence that a lot of work had been done; the area had been cleared of poisonous grabber-vines, all the trees within a hundred paces had been felled and the boggy ground had been trampled to a rich, grey mud, but there was no one was in sight. Ty looked thoughtful.
‘How long ago did you set out from here?’ he whispered.
I wasn’t entirely sure. Things had been somewhat fraught. ‘Three days? Maybe four.’ I replied, keeping my voice equally low.
‘’ave you had any news from the other side?’
‘Well, no. I’ve had no contact since we left this spot,’ which wasn’t strictly true. Banks had caught up with us, but he didn’t count because he’d been ranting about other stuff.
‘Right,’ said the veteran. ‘So you’ve no idea what’s ‘appening on the other side of the gate.’
‘None,’ I conceded.
‘What if the Nallians ‘ave overrun Lannerville? That fellow Banks seemed to think they were coming. Maybe I should ‘ang back. Right now, no one knows I’m ‘ere. If there’s trouble, I’m your surprise element.’
‘All right. I’ll recce the base to see if I can find anyone. Stay out of sight until we know how things stand. If it doesn’t smell right and I can’t call to you, I’ll scratch the top of my head. If you see that, stay away, otherwise I’ll call for you, as though we got separated. Whatever happens, if the portal opens, make sure you get through it, do you understand?’
Ty assured me he would be fine and melted into the trees. I waited a couple of turns and then set off to scout the area. There was no sign of a struggle, so I ruled out trouble with the native fauna. Crates of provisions were stacked neatly, and a few tools lay in evidence near the frames of the unfinished shelters, as though they had merely been put down for a lunch break. It looked as though the away party would be coming back. I got to the far side of the site when I heard a cry.
‘Connie! Thank Draxil you’re alive!’ A khaki-clad Jenniver ran up to me and gave me a hug.
‘Ouch!’
Jenniver released me and stepped back. ‘I’m so sorry, Connie! You look simply awful. What happened?’ She’d acquired some kit from the marines and sauced it up. She was wearing a leather holster on her left forearm that held one of Na-Su’s catapults. Across her chest and right shoulder was a bandolier that had been repurposed to hold packets of quicklime. In her right hand was a crossbow with a sawn-off stock, presumably to save weight, and fixed on top was an optical scope that looked like it had come from Mahkran’s kit bag. It was an impressive transformation from lab-coat-and-clipboard boffin to tough-girl.
I smiled warmly, at least I hope that’s the way it came across, because if the Koulomb Gate was a weapon, Jenniver was its creator. Professor Maddison was too much the scientist to devise a practical application for his brainchild and although Director Harman was as sharp as a tack, I doubted that his grasp on the science was enough to make the leap from portal to hyper-destructive weapon. No, Dr. Jenniver Betz was surely the source, and if she got any hint that I knew, Tyrone and I wouldn’t make it home alive.
‘Time for that later,’ I replied, playing the innocent. ‘What’s going on here? Where is everyone?’
‘We’ve pulled everyone back to Illesin.’
‘Oh. What for?’
‘There’s a glitch, a problem with the gate.’ Jenniver looked back over her shoulder at where the portal would have been. ‘My uncle is furious. He’s ordered everyone off Ganessa until it’s fixed. We can’t risk a malfunction while people are here.’
‘I see.’ Harman putting the safety of people at the top of his priorities was further evidence that something was wrong. I tried to imagine how Mahkran and James had been persuaded to remain behind, with Ankush’s fate and mine unknown. ‘My lot are safe, on the other side, are they?’
‘Yes,’ said Jenniver, touching my arm in a mock display of empathy. ‘Naturally, they all wanted to come and search for you. My uncle wouldn’t allow it, but I persuaded him to let me and one other do a quick search, so I brought Lieutenant Overstrand. I promised your lot that I would get you back if I could.’
‘I’m so grateful, Jenniver.’ I suppressed the shiver that ran down my spine. Whatever the girl had in mind for me, there must have been at least one possible outcome that she didn’t want any of my team to witness. For a brief moment, it was as though I could see the machinery working in her head; her confidence increased, realising that I was alone and that the situation would be easier to handle, even if I decided to cause trouble.
‘Where are Dr. Evershed and the marines, Scott and the other one?’
‘Yes, where are they?’ said a voice that made me jump. It was Overstrand, back from his own search of the surroundings, he’d approached from behind. ‘And what about Second Lieutenant Banks? He came through without permission. He said he had to catch up with you to warn you about something.’
‘Did he say what the trouble was?’
‘He thought you were all in danger…something about Private Coleman.’
I couldn’t let on that I knew Jenniver’s secret, but I had to find out whether Overstrand had been turned. If he was my enemy, we were all still in terrible danger.
‘Banks and Coleman were working for the Nallians,’ I said, watching the lieutenant’s reaction. ‘They tried to kill us all and nearly managed.’ Overstrand’s shock looked real. He opened his mouth to say something, and failed. He would have had a prepared response, if he had known, something to put my mind at ease, but he had nothing. He was clean.
‘What happened?’ Jenniver asked.
I was tired, bruised and beaten. I needed to get back through the gate and find Ellen, James, Inigo, Na-Su and Mahkran. Alone, I could do nothing more.
‘Coleman killed Evershed and got careless. Ankush called him out and they fought. Coleman died, but then a Charg got Ankush. Banks caught up with Lieutenant Scott and me. He tried to kill us both. He succeeded with your commanding officer, before I managed to get the better of him.’
Overstrand gaped.
‘Meniah’s blessing!’ exclaimed Jenniver. ‘Was Banks responsible for the attack on the observatory?’
‘He was.’
‘Now wait just a moment!’ protested Overstrand.
I lost my temper. ’Damn it, man! I’m not making this up. He told me himself!’
‘All right, all right,’ Jenniver said, trying to calm us both down. ‘Ms. Derringer will give a full account to my uncle when we get back, lieutenant. We don’t have time for it now.’ She smiled again and put a hand gently on my back. ‘I’m so glad you got here when you did. I thought I was going to lose you.’
She had just uttered the words when a loud hum sounded, reverberating deep inside my chest. The portal was opening. We watched the marked area in the centre of the stockade, where the gate was supposed to touch down. A shimmering circle appeared, and then it abruptly darkened. A strong breeze began to blow from it, tumbling leaves and loose matter to the edge of the clearing.
Come on,’ Jenniver urged. ‘My uncle is determined to keep to his precious schedule. We need to go now so that Professor Maddison and I can fix the glitch.’
I wondered where Ty was. He would be watching us, but from where, I could not guess. If he hadn’t managed to get inside the stockade, he wouldn’t be able to see us because of the high walls. I hoped he was close by, in one of the half-finished shelters, or behind one of the remaining piles of timber. I had to make sure he got back this time. I couldn’t leave him stranded on Ganessa again. Why don’t I just announce his presence? Why wouldn’t Jenniver simply escort him back with me? Except that I couldn’t, because I had left him out of the tale I had told so far, so for him to pop up now would be highly suspicious.
Jenniver was keen to leave, but I had to delay long enough to make sure Ty got the signal that I had promised. An idea occurred to me. Turning so that it wouldn’t be seen, I unbuckled the wristband with its failsafe inhibitor inside, and pocketed it.
‘Oh, er, hang on. I need to get my wristband. I put it down somewhere.’
‘Draxil and Aripole protect us!’ exclaimed Jenniver. ‘How could you be so careless? You of all people. You can’t go back through without it!’
‘I know, I know,’ I protested, looking vexed. ‘It was itching my arm so badly, I just…’ And then, in a flash of insight, I knew how the failsafe had been triggered. Just like that, the idea appeared, fully formed and absurdly simple. Aballas’ hammer, from Ty’s parable came to mind, striking with precision, and yet with a terrible kickback. Director Harman or his niece, or someone working for them, had disabled the inhibitor. The tiny shells were sewn into the stout leather strap, and therefore not easy to remove, but so, so simple to smash. Forty people had been murdered to test a weapon.
I put a hand to my hair and gave it a good long scratch to be sure that Ty would see. I moved a few paces here and there, as if searching. I scratched my head again, in case he’d missed it the first time. Overstrand cast around half-heartedly while Jenniver grew more and more irritated.
‘This is so unlike you, Ms. Derringer,’ she barked, suddenly less friendly. ‘Surely you remember where you were when you put it down!’
I gave her an apologetic look and then put my hands in my pockets, at which point I made a surprised face and pulled the inhibitor out.
‘Oh, silly me. It was in here all along!’
Jenniver shouted at Lieutenant Overstrand to get going, then she grabbed my sleeve and bundled me through the portal.
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