She felt curiosity and a growing excitement in him, an excitement that swamped his panic; turning his focus off his helplessness and setting him to doing something about it made an immediate difference. He let himself swing away from her, though he did keep one hand closed painfully tight about her arm. She felt him get set, then felt the effort he was putting into throwing out the sound, felt his disappointment when there was no return. Then he started pulsing again, long slow beats that she didn’t actually hear but felt as tickles across her skin. She stiffened, nearly choked on her excitement. I’m feeling that. I feel that, she mind-yelled at Linfyar. I feel that. Linfyar radiated glee, then pressed harder, delighted with the tickling thrum. A sound that was a physical presence here, as solid as their flesh.

  He let go of her, began turning in a slow circle, throwing out the subsonics. He burned with excitement when he located another three echo points evenly spaced about him.

  I did it, Shadow, he sang to her. *I did it, way way down, ‘bout as far as I can go. Three and you, Shadow. Three and you.*

  This was the final evidence that her body was here with her, not just a hope and a prayer and self-delusion. *Splendid, Linfy. I’m going to try reaching them. This one on my left first. Keep track of me, will you, and tell me if I’m going wrong, huh?*

  Sure, Shadow. He was a little trembly at the prospect of her going away from him, but he had enough information coming in so he didn’t feel wholly lost and could regain that stubborn independence circumstances had built in him.

  She pushed, ignoring the ache in her head, knew she was drifting away from Linfyar because she lost the body-sense of his presence. Who? she thrust at the faint warmth that drew her. Who?

  After several repetitions and a slow drift closer, she got a startled response from the presence ahead. Who? came back at her.

  Shadith. Friend of Aleytys. You?

  Grey. Shadith?

  *You’ve met me.*

  No ….

  *When I sang through Lee’s body.*

  What?

  Shadith the singer. From the diadem.

  Lee! More energy in the mind voice, then pain, then a sudden fear and anguish. Another dream.

  *No. Lee’s nowhere near here, and you’re not dreaming.* She willed herself to drift closer to him; she couldn’t think talk and shift positions at the same time, so she gave herself successive pushes between fragments of speech. *Head … sent me and … Taggert … after Ticutt dropped … out of … no, you wouldn’t know …* In each of the pauses she surged closer. *When she didn’t … hear from you … after four months … Head sent Ticutt … to see … what he could … find out … when he stopped … reporting … Head waited … for Aleytys, but we … figured … it was a trap for … her, so she went … somewhere else … suck Kell off … so we wouldn’t have to … fight him off … while we looked for … you! Uh!* She wrapped herself around him. Grey?

  Real?

  Feel that. She pinched his arm hard, pushing back her dismay at how wasted it felt.

  He shuddered, the contact closer to breaking him than those eternities of nothingness. She held him and let him sob and struggle into calm, knowing it was good that she was here instead of Aleytys to see his weakness and help him deal with it. For his pride’s sake and Lee’s place in his life. He’d dealt with Aleytys taking over his position as premier Hunter. After all, he’d been expecting that to happen; he was aging and it was the natural order of things for him to pass on into other aspects of Hunters as he withdrew from active field service. That this had come before he was ready to retire and it was his lover who replaced him, that had been difficult to swallow, but he was strong enough in himself to accept that, and her special heritage had in a way eased the transition. And he’d seen her grieve for her son, he’d comforted her and helped her through it. This was different. Not something he wanted between himself and Aleytys. Shadith was a stranger to him, a name, an acquaintance he could trust enough to fall apart in front of without shame or a sense he’d have to live with the memory of his breakdown every time he saw her. She waited in silence, holding him, saying nothing, letting him wear through the reaction and come shuddering back into control.

  *Where’s Lee?* he said finally.

  Vrithian. Look, if you concentrate and will yourself along, you can move. A minute, I can show you …. Linfy?

  Uh-huh?

  Got us located?

  Yah.

  *Who’s closest to us? What direction?*

  She felt the brushing tickle of his subsonics, then it moved on. A moment later, sounding more confident than before, with more than a touch of cockiness, he said, *Go left and ease back toward me, like you’re coming down a lazy hill.*

  Gotcha. You hear that, Grey? No? Hmmm. Well, listen. She repeated what Linfyar had said, altering directions to fit his orientation. “I think all of us ought to get together. I’m getting glimmerings of maybe a plan.*

  She felt the straining of his body, the hard knots of what muscle he had left as he struggled to do something he didn’t know how to do, powered by desire and will. They were moving faster, she was sure of it, she could actually sense the medium, it felt like half-set gelatin. His will blended with hers was more effective than hers alone. Her optimism increased. If they could build up enough momentum in here, maybe she could jump them all out. After all, she was experienced in this sort of leap, popping from the diadem matrix into the body she was wearing now. Of course, she had Aleytys powering that jump and guiding her, but maybe, just maybe …

  They slammed into another form. Grey grabbed at it; Shadith wrapped herself around them both and did her best to steady their tumble. When they were quieted, she touched the other. Ticutt. Cautious Ticutt, who went into nothing without thinking it through three times and then again. Ticutt, she said. *Shadith. A friend of Aleytys. Grey’s here with me.*

  Ticutt went stiff. Even in his mind there was almost no response.

  *You got that? I come to get you out of this, (chuckle) I suppose I mean get us out now.*

  Silence a moment longer, then quiet slow words, no emotion in them, “spoken” with the mild precision of his ordinary speech. A good trick. If you can do it. The mindvoice shook a little on the last words, but he wouldn’t allow himself to show more of the terrors that haunted him, couldn’t allow anyone to know how shattering his relief was. Grey could weep and shiver and purge his self-created demons because Shadith was the only witness. Precise and prideful, jealous of the reputation he had for his calm assessment of possibilities in the most unnerving circumstances—and with Grey there to see him falter—Ticutt could not allow himself to show any of the demons working on him.

  Well, she said, *I hadn’t planned on being in here with you when I started this. But I’ve got an idea or two. Come on. Let’s go find Taggert.*

  *He’s here too?* Grey spoke more slowly than before; he was running on the dregs of his strength, and there was nothing here to replenish it.

  A little way off. Point us, Linfy.

  Uh-huh. Tickle of subsonics passing over them, moving on. “Left again. Turn. Turn. Turn. Stop! Go on in that direction.*

  Got it. And you come over to us, Linfy. Then we start working on busting out of here.

  Got it.

  Ticutt, if you put your mind to it, you can move yourself. Keep hold of us and shove.

  This time she rode a power that woke in her a wild excitement, like the times she’d handled Lee’s talent and felt that surge of strength that was only barely within her control. They cannoned into Taggert and went spinning into nowhere, finally steadied, rocked as Linfyar landed on them, steadied again.

  Hi, Tag. That old acquaintance again.

  Shadow. What the hell.

  Me and Grey and Ticutt and Linfyar.

  Grey! You all right, man?

  *He can’t hear you, Tag. Looks like I’m the only one who can talk in here. Umm. Maybe not. Maybe I can be a kind of switchboard. Focus on me, Tag. Focus on me, Ticutt. Focus on me, Linfy. Can you all hear me now?*

  *Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.*

  Echoes bounced about inside her skull. She waited till the worst was over, then she said, “Tag, keep the focus on me and see if you can talk to the others.”

  Right. Grey, can you hear this?

  Coming through. Sorry to hear you, old friend.

  Sorrier to be here. What did it to you?

  *Got a chance to put my hands on the Ajin. Looked good, fast snatch and out. No oppos worth mentioning. Got a handful of Ajin—and here I am.”

  *Uh … huh! Ticutt, you listening?*

  I hear you both. Same with me. I got what looked like a safe shot. I took it. Here I am.

  Uh … huh! Shadow, you still hearing this?

  Yes. Looks like we tripped the trigger when we put the claws in. Linfy, you listening?

  Uh … huh! Shadow.

  Right. (chuckle) Listen, everyone. I said I had had a few ideas. Grey, did you notice how much faster and easier we made the move for Taggert when Ticutt was helping with the push?

  I noticed. Lot more energy.

  *Energy increase feels geometric rather than additive. Which is interesting. Ordinary sounds don’t seem to travel in here, but Linfyar can make sounds and hear them a long way past both ends of our range. He tried out the top end and didn’t get anywhere. Then he tried the low end. He located you for me with some very low notes, about as far down as he can go. Don’t bother telling me sound waves that long are lousy for echo location. It shouldn’t work, but it does. Which means something, but who the hell knows what? I sure don’t. But I don’t have to know how it works to use it. What I think is this: we should link up with Linfy and give him energy to push his notes way out so he can explore this miserable hole for us. If he can find some kind of, well, edge, something to push against, we can try busting through it. I don’t know where we’ll be if we break through, but just about anything’s better than this. Even dead. Don’t you think? If any of you has a better idea, say something. No? Right, then, focus through me. Linfy, I’m going to start feeding you some push; pinch me if it gets more than you can handle. You start feeling about and see what you can find.*

  Got it, Shadow.

  Here we go. Start looking, imp.

  Avosing

  the lines converge

  Stretched out on a grassy knoll that kneaded itself to her shape whenever she shifted position, a pleasant noisy stream running behind her, huge horans rising on three sides of her, invisible kuskus singing in them, their five-fingered leaves whispering just loud enough to be heard over the water, Aleytys watched Avosing grow larger in a viewscreen thirty meters on a side. Ship nudged into an orbit that kept it stationary over a mountain range that ran through a broad continent, part woodlands, part immense prairies, rippling grass that must have reached horizon to horizon for anyone standing on the ground. “Where’s the trap?”

  “There.” A flashing light in the mountains. “We are maintaining position directly over it.”

  “Any difficulty with probes or visuals?”

  “Aleytys.” Ship sounded pained. Its voice had startled her the first time she’d heard it. Shareem’s voice. For a while it curdled her stomach every time ship spoke to her, but she didn’t try to change it. Shareem’s voice. After what he’d done to her. Why? What did it mean? He tormented her, he killed her, why did he have to own this small piece of her? Lot of whys. There was an urgency in her to know as much as she could about Kell now that outside urgencies no longer existed for her. He was dead, but she had as yet unshaped plans for digging into him like a xenologist into a city mound.

  “And the trigger?”

  “There also.”

  An inert square bloomed on the image of the world, isolating a single mountain, a huge long-dead volcano with a lake in its crumbling center. The square spread out, another square bloomed in the center of it, a schematic showing the pier, the landing field, the outer structures, the confusing web of tunnels running through the mountain’s stone. At a confluence of lines near the edge of the stone she saw the flare marking the scaffolding that supported the mechanisms which created and held in place the pocket universe and brought into being the umbilical joining the two when anyone attempted to lay hands on the Ajin with aggressive intent. A short way on, a pinlight flashed. The trigger. So the Ajin was home, waiting for her, though he didn’t know that.

  Aleytys sat up, the knoll shifting shape to conform to her unexpressed wishes, reading muscles and posture to gain a disconcertingly accurate knowledge of her intentions before she’d formulated them to herself. “What’s down there?”

  Beside the map, ship listed the number of mercenaries, technicians and support personnel. Shadith, Taggert and Linfyar weren’t among those. Either they had been sucked into the trap already or they hadn’t gotten this far. Aleytys sighed. “Weapons? Anything to worry us?”

  “Nothing the warbots can’t handle. I’ll watch. If the numbers are too great, I’ll thin your weeds for you. Take Abra with you—we’re linked; even stone that thick won’t break the bond.”

  Aleytys got to her feet “I’ll do that. Get me to the lander.”

  The lander swooped down, ignoring fire from the base, shrugging off beams and missiles with a contemptuous ease. It settled onto the landing field and disappeared beneath a hot yellow dome as one side opened out to let Aleytys, Abra and six warbots come sweeping out. The six ‘bots moved out in tight circle about Aleytys, walking with the sinuous flickering stride of the scorpions they vaguely resembled.

  With the warbots wiping all resistance before and behind, irresistible as a tsunami, she swept through the trees and the mercenaries, burned her way into the main building; she blew the offices and central control to smoking shards, moved farther in, striding along just short of a run, mouth set in a grim line, hair blowing free; nothing could touch her, nothing could stop her, into the lava caves she went, leaving two ‘bots to guard the mouth of the main tunnel and two others to search out and destroy anything or anyone that attacked them. Behind her the mercenaries and technicians and others still alive began gathering whatever they could get their hands on and heading for the boat, the fliers or the few hidden trails leading out of the crater. Some among them stayed behind, those that had bought what the Ajin was selling; they retreated into the rockfalls and sniped at the ‘bots or tried to work their way into the tunnels and rescue the Ajin.

  Aleytys stopped before the door to the Ajin’s quarters, stood back while one of the warbots melted the lock out of it and kicked it in. The ‘bot skittered inside on multiple multisegmented legs. Its armored scanners whirled over the six surfaces of the room, its weapons pattered at high speed, taking out the lasers in the walls, the mines in floor and ceiling, shedding everything thrown at it, letting the remaining ‘bot shield Aleytys and Abra from the flare-offs. The room was clean in seconds. The ‘bot skittered to one side and waited.

  Abra beside her, Aleytys strode into the room, looked around. The walls were melted and congealing, splatters of cooling stone were flung across the cratered floor, most of the furniture was torn and leaking its stuffing, smoldering here and there, adding its stench to that of hot stone and charred wood. A slim metal case leaned against a smoking chair, its neat, precisely machined lines like a shout in all that disorder. “What’s that?”

  Abra crossed the room, picked it up, opened the catches. “Psychprobe. Portable. Suggestion: Taggert?” Aleytys shook her head. “Impossible to say. Where now?” Abra pointed, moved ahead of her down the hallway. One warbot followed them, the second stayed to guard the door. Abra stopped at an open door, shone light into the room. The Ajin lay unconscious in a mess of bloody sheets and blankets, a tangle-web smeared across his naked body, claws at the end of two extensible rods set in wrist and ankle, blood crusted about the wounds, a little still trickling. An hour since the attack, not more, probably less. Shadith and Taggert; Abra was right about the probe. She moved closer to the door. A metal arm flashed before her, stopping her. “No,” Abra said. “Ship says don’t pass the door.”

  “I hear.” As the arm dropped, she said, “Turn the light on that small table by the bed.” A heavy silver ring gleamed in the harsh glare of the light. She recognized it immediately. The trigger. She reached for her power river, filled herself from it, pleased that it seemed to take little more effort even though she’d taken off the diadem, reached for the ring.

  She couldn’t lift it.

  That puzzled her. It wasn’t that heavy; couldn’t be if the man wore the thing. She tried for a firmer hold, but her mindfingers slipped off as if the metal were greased; she staggered backward as her concentration slipped with her reach, landed with a whoosh against a foreleg of the ‘bot behind her. She straightened and went back to scowling at the ring. What next? Send one of the ‘bots after it? She rubbed at the buttock that had slammed into the ‘bot’s leg. Send it and lose it, if the ship was right. She began prodding delicately at the ring with the fingertips of her outreach, pit-a-pit-a-pit, throttling back the frustration that made her want to scream, pit-a-pit-a-pit, soapy metallic feel under her mindfingers, couldn’t get a grip anywhere.

  Abruptly she slapped her side. “Aschla’s hells, I’m stupid stupid stupid.” With a shaky laugh she reached for the bedtable and began sliding it slowly and carefully toward the door. It moved with a touch of reluctance, but came along to her tugging without challenging her hold.