“I do, thank you.”

  They began to walk again. Ethan glanced at the android from the corners of his eyes. Strongquist’s normally impassive features were troubled.

  Ethan’s comm chirped. At first, he didn’t recognize the caller but then he realized it was the scientist who was at the colony ship with Cariad. The one she was with now.

  The man said, “Hello, I’ve been asked to pass on a message to you. The fila would like to invite the colony Leader to visit their ocean city.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Cassie and Florian had arrived to give Cariad a break. She’d told them both that she was fine living aboard the Nova Fortuna and caring for the growing babies, but both her techs had insisted that she’d spent long enough on the ship and that she needed a change of scenery.

  It was true that living in the angled world of the ship’s interior had worn on her nerves, and that Kes was so wrapped up in communicating with the fila that he was poor company. Cariad also had to admit that her emotions were all over the place and she didn’t really know why. The former reasons didn’t seem sufficient to account for her feelings.

  Cariad felt like there was something else not right with her. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. Perhaps it was only that she missed Ethan. Too much had been left unsaid between them. So much unfinished business that they had to work through before deciding where they would go from there. Yet, she wondered, was there really any point, considering they might have less than a handful of weeks left to live?

  Cariad had left the door to the reproduction facilities open so that she would hear Florian and Cassie as they approached. She heard their voices coming nearer and could soon make out their happy banter about what to call their child when it was born.

  “I still think Florian Junior is an excellent name,” said Florian.

  “But what if it’s a girl?” Cassie said.

  “I repeat, Florian Junior is an excellent name.”

  “I didn’t know your name could be used for girls too.”

  “Well, strictly speaking, it can’t, but there’s a first time for everything. And who would know? I don’t think there’s another Florian in the colony.”

  “If we’re going down the Junior route,” came Cassie’s voice, “Cassie Junior would be better for a girl.”

  “Cassie is a very pretty name, but I think there can only be one. You’re unrepeatable.”

  Cassie’s laughter echoed in the corridor. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment.”

  Florian walked through the door and Cassie arrived directly behind him. Cariad crossed the room to hug them both. She no longer thought of them as her subordinates. They were more like friends who happened to do the same job as her.

  “Great to see you, Cariad,” Florian said. “How’s everything been going?”

  “Great to see you too,” Cariad replied. “The babies are thriving, even at an angle. We have some real kickers. The carers are going to have their hands full when they’re born.”

  “They sure are,” said Cassie. “One hundred and twenty-three newborns! I can’t imagine it. We get the best end of it, though, don’t we? The babies don’t make a sound while we’re looking after them and if they need feeding all we have to do is increase the nutrient supply. No messy milk, no spitting up, no dirty diapers to change.”

  “Been thinking about what’s to come?” Cariad asked, eyeing Cassie’s prominent bump.

  “I have a little,” Cassie replied. “I’m glad we’ll only have one to deal with, and I decided I’m leaving all the hard stuff to Florian.”

  “What?” he exclaimed. “That’s news to me.”

  “Well, for the first nine months after he or she’s born anyway,” Cassie said. “After all, I’m already looking after our baby for nine months of its existence. You can take the next shift. It’s only fair.” She winked at Cariad.

  “I rather think, like you said, you’re getting the best part of that deal,” Florian said. “But I agree to your proposal—providing we call him or her Florian Junior. What do you say?”

  “Hmm… I’ll think about it.” Cassie turned toward Cariad. “Are you packed?”

  “I don’t exactly have a lot to take with me,” she replied. “Is the flitter waiting?”

  “No, it didn’t wait,” said Florian. “We came in through the lower airlock, and Guardians were there waiting to be taken to the shuttle. So you have another hour or so until the flitter’s back to transport you.”

  “That’s fine,” said Cariad. “I wanted to catch up with you two anyway and find out what’s been happening.”

  “You’ll be pleased to know the clinic’s doing really well,” Cassie said. “Alasdair and Kurtz are doing a great job, though they’ve moved the clinic to the new site because that’s where most people are these days.”

  “Yes, they’re fixing up the underground living areas now,” Florian said. “We popped over to take a look, didn’t we, Cassie? Apart from the fact that there are no windows, they’re quite nice. And they have water and electricity.”

  “So the entire place is under a forest?” Cariad asked.

  “The entire place,” Cassie replied. “There are three entrances but they’re very well camouflaged when they’re closed. If the Scythians land I don’t see how they can possibly know where to find us.”

  “The Scythians?” Cariad said. “Is that what we’re calling the aliens now?”

  “That’s what people are saying,” said Florian. “The fila call them the scythes, right? Scythes—Scythians. They used to be a nation in ancient Earth history, I believe.”

  Cariad was about to reply but a feeling of nausea hit her. Momentarily unable to speak she nodded in reply to Florian.

  “Is something wrong?” Cassie asked. “You’ve turned pale.”

  Cariad swallowed the saliva that had spilled into her mouth. Sudden bouts of nausea were another of the symptoms she’d been experiencing that had made her think something was wrong with her. “I feel sick,” she said. “I’ve been feeling sick off and on and generally strange for a few weeks now. I don’t know why.”

  “What kind of strange?” Florian asked, pulling up a stool and sitting down. The position wasn’t particularly comfortable at the angle of the room. It required pressing the table with the elbow or hands to maintain some friction, but the habit appeared hard for the tech to break. He gazed at Cariad with concern.

  “Little things, inconsequential stuff, has been upsetting me,” she said. “I think Kes has concluded the stress is getting to me. I’m sure he’s been censoring what he tells me in case I start weeping again. And I’m restless. Not sleeping well. I often feel too hot as well.”

  Florian turned to Cassie and gave her a look. Cassie’s eyebrows rose. She asked, “Cariad, do you find you have to pee, like, a lot?”

  “Yes,” Cariad said. “Come to think of it, that’s another symptom I have.”

  Florian’s features twisted as if he was trying to control his reaction to her words. He got up and walked over to the wall. He placed his forearm against the wall and rested his forehead on it, his shoulders shaking.

  “Do you know what’s wrong with me?” Cariad asked, alarmed. “Is it something serious?”

  Cassie took Florian’s place on the stool. She reached over to Cariad and took her hand, biting her lip as if struggling to know what to say.

  “What is it?” Cariad asked. “If you have an idea, tell me. I’ll go and speak to Kurtz when I get back.”

  Cassie took a breath. “Going to see Kurtz would be a good idea. Cariad, is it possible that you might be pregnant?”

  “Pregnant?” Cariad snatched her hand away from Cassie’s and shoved it into her lap. “No! No way.” But as the words left her lips certain things began to fall into place in her mind.

  “Are you absolutely sure you aren’t?” Cassie asked gently. “It would explain all your symptoms.”

  “But I can’t be,” Cariad protested. “The only time I… I’d been drinking the Nova Fortuna’s water supply for ages. I would have had to request the non-medicated water if I wanted to begin ovulating.”

  “You’re forgetting, though,” Cassie said. “Before the aliens attacked you spent a lot of time planetside. And then there was that time you went off for a couple of days to try to find Ethan. If you weren’t taking a contraceptive… ”

  Cariad clapped a hand over her mouth. Cassie was right. Prior to the alien attack she’d spent weeks living planetside while she worked on the Natural Movement saboteurs investigation. “But,” she said forlornly, “we were only together… I mean… ”

  At this, Florian wasn’t able to contain himself any longer. He lifted his head and roared with laughter. “A world expert in human reproduction,” he spluttered, “responsible for every embryo created in the Nova Fortuna project… And you didn’t, you didn’t know… ” He began another bout of laughter, silent this time, while tears coursed over the deep creases in his face.

  Cassie tutted and hopped off her stool. She strode across the floor to the father of her child and pushed him over to the doorway. After forcing him outside she closed the door. His whoops of laughter could still be heard outside.

  Cassie returned to Cariad and put an arm over her shoulder. “Congratulations?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Cariad replied, tears threatening again. “Ask me in a while. I’m just getting used to the idea.”

  “There’s no rush to decide anything,” said Cassie. “We can rig up another gestation sac if we have to. I’m sure we can transfer the embryo safely. That’s what they used to do in the old days, right?”

  “Yes, that was an option,” Cariad replied. How could she have missed the obvious explanation for how she’d been feeling? The fact that she might have conceived hadn’t even crossed her mind. For most of her professional life she’d been matching genetic profiles and creating new life, but in every case the embryo had been planned. She’d almost forgotten that these things could happen by accident. And in all her life she’d never imagined that it might happen by accident to her.

  The door opened and Florian came in, wiping his eyes. “Cariad, I’m so sorry. That was incredibly insensitive of me.”

  She smiled wryly. “It’s okay. I guess it is kind of funny.”

  Cariad thought she knew herself well. She didn’t do anything on a whim. She always thought things through and then made a decision. Life didn’t thrust itself upon her. She didn’t allow that. But life had thrust itself upon her, and not only that, it had forced itself upon Ethan too. She hadn’t even spoken to him for weeks. Did they have a future as parents to this child? Cariad didn’t know. What would Ethan think when she told him the news? Would he be pleased or upset? They didn’t even have a relationship, let alone anything more permanent.

  Or maybe her fears were moot. The window that the Guardians had predicted for the aliens’ return would be opening soon. Were they all going to die anyway? Ethan, herself, and the tiny life they had unwittingly created?

  She burst into tears.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  The capsule the threads had provided to convey Ethan to their ocean metropolis stood open in the water at the edge of the beach. A transparent, elongated oval, the vessel accommodated only one person in a single, reclined seat. Ethan was reminded of the container the fila had used to transport him from the river to the chamber in the lake where Rudra and Ganika had lived for weeks. The capsule bobbed on the swell, remaining in exactly the same spot despite the motion of the waves, due to the action of forces Ethan couldn’t identify.

  The invitation of the open lid was evident: climb inside, human.

  But what would happen then? The last time Ethan had encountered the threads at close quarters he’d come away missing one-half of a leg. What might happen this time? Would he even escape with his life?

  Relations with the fila had been good in recent weeks and Ethan suspected his fears were exaggerated, but he wasn’t entirely convinced. The man who had been communicating with them—the xenobiologist Kes, Cariad’s partner—appeared convinced the creatures intended no harm, but he hadn’t spent weeks in their captivity and nearly died. Ethan’s experience was not speculation, it was real. The memory was fresh in his mind. He was not wrong to hesitate before entrusting his well-being to the threads.

  Yet Ethan was also aware he wasn’t only one man any longer. He represented a colony of men, women, and children who were relying on him for their survival. A dire threat hung over them and the threads were their only ally. If Ethan didn’t accept the creatures’ invitation, if he didn’t step into the capsule and allow himself to be borne wherever they wanted to take him, he could be putting hundreds of lives further into jeopardy.

  Two Guardians had brought Ethan to the arranged place where he was to embark on his journey. They waited patiently behind him. No time for Ethan’s departure had been set as far as he was aware. He could think about it all day if he wanted, but he knew he really had no choice. To fulfill his role as Leader he must go into the ocean.

  It was a risk, and his entire being rebelled at the idea of going anywhere near a thread creature again. But what was one life compared to many? The settlement was nearly complete. The Guardians had built the weapon on the Nova Fortuna. The colonists were gearing up for the battle that was likely to begin soon. If he didn’t make it back from his trip, they could go on without him, but the colony needed the threads’ promised ship to arrive. He didn’t want to do anything that might jeopardize that.

  Ethan exhaled, long and slow. He took off his boot and sock, rolled up his pants legs, waded the short distance to the capsule, and climbed inside. As soon as he settled in the seat the lid closed over the top and sealed with a click.

  He realized he’d forgotten to say goodbye to the two Guardians, but when he looked over his shoulder they were already trudging up the sand toward the waiting flitter. A wave lifted the threads’ vessel and this time it was dragged a little out to sea as the wave departed. Another wave hit and then pulled the threads’ capsule farther out. Its motion was not smooth like that of a flitter. The capsule bobbed and drifted. It seemed to resist the waves’ force that pushed it toward the coast but released the resistance when the waves retreated, as if it were harnessing the water’s natural movement.

  Ethan looked backward again and found that he was already several meters away from the beach. The flitter was gone. The rounded tip of the threads’ vessel dipped beneath the surface, returning Ethan’s attention forward. His hold on the arms of the semi-reclining seat tightened. He could see no threads in the water though they were clearly controlling his transportation.

  The nose of the vessel dipped again, deeper. Waves slapped the transparent sides. Ethan could see below the surface of the cloudy water. Pieces of seaweed floated past along with small, fragmented pieces of debris—remains of the Nova Fortuna that still lingered around the crash site.

  Ethan’s gaze rose to the massive arch of the ship that dominated the view a few hundred meters from his position. Somewhere inside was Cariad with her new love, or perhaps an old one rekindled. He would have liked to have seen her before embarking on his journey. He wanted to make things right between them, but now that would have to wait until he returned, assuming he did return.

  All of a sudden, the capsule slid under the water, or rather, Ethan felt as though a giant, invisible hand had grabbed the vessel and was dragging it downward and pulling it along. He began to move fast and smoothly, and the resist-relax motion attuned to the waves’ movement entirely ceased. A strong acceleration hit, pushing Ethan into the strange, black, jelly-like material of his seat. Sunlight faded as he was drawn inexorably lower into the murky water.

  At the moment the last of the natural light faded, beams burst outward from the capsule along the line where the lid met the lower half, illuminating the water to a distance of several meters.

  Then Ethan saw them, flying toward him through the gloom. His stomach lurched. Within seconds he was surrounded by threads. He gripped the arm rests tighter, wondering what their purpose was. When they didn’t attack he calmed down a little and noticed that the creatures weren’t whirling in their usual manner. They were propelling themselves alongside his vessel, their thin, lithe tentacles trailing out behind them. Were they escorting him or guarding him?

  “Human Leader,” came a voice from nowhere. “Air will not leave your submarine and pressure will not enter it. Do not fear.”

  The voice lacked intonation but the volume was moderate and not ear-splittingly loud. Ethan was relieved. He’d been expecting the mind-shattering noise he’d heard the first time the threads had spoken to him in the chamber in the lake. Their understanding of human verbal communication seemed to have improved.

  Ethan twisted around in his seat, trying to discover where the voice was coming from. The vessel’s transparent, rigid shell gave no clues. Aside from the seat, the capsule didn’t appear to feature any other devices. The voice had sounded as though it was coming from all directions. Had the shell itself been creating the words? Ethan also wondered if he’d been listening to a recording or speech in real time. He decided to find out.

  “Where are you taking me?” he asked.

  No answer. Ethan concluded he’d heard a recording.

  But then several seconds later the voice said, “Human Leader is visiting the people’s Leader.”

  So it was not a recording.

  “Where is the people’s Leader?” Ethan asked. “Why are you taking me to see… ” Him? Her? It?

  Another long pause, then, “It is difficult to translate. People’s Leader is on the surface. You are meeting for the joining.”

  “What?” asked Ethan, tensing up. “What joining? What do you mean?”

  Many of his rapid heartbeats later the voice said, “Joining Ceremony.”

  “What’s a Joining Ceremony?”

  The usual pause. “It is difficult to translate.”

  Ethan tried asking the same question again in several ways but the responses didn’t give him any additional information.

 

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