Chapter Eight
Noah worries incessantly about his genetic linkage to Francella Watanabe and her severe mental health issues. But there is an ancillary problem, something he has not discussed with me, and which I have not had the courage to bring up: Is not Doge Anton genetically linked to Francella as well, and might there be psychological repercussions because of that?
—Tesh Kori, private notes
Thousands of additional Tulyan pilots had arrived from the starcloud and were being meshed with the podships like alien marital partners, using the ancient techniques to ensure the maximum efficiency of the Tulyan-Aopoddae linkages. Now, counting the original nine hundred podships that the Liberator fleet had brought to the galactic fold, Doge Anton had a force of more than one hundred twenty-two thousand podships. As had earlier occurred with the original fleet, as the new pilot-ship matchings were completed, the sentient podships took on the reptilian faces of their pilots, and opened up gun ports on the sides of their hulls.
The process was going well. Only two hundred fourteen podships remained to be synchronized by the Tulyans, plus a few more out in the reaches of the fold that needed to be brought in.
Noah, Anton, and Eshaz stood at a viewing window inside a modular headquarters structure that General Nirella’s military technicians had constructed. Held in place by space anchors, it was positioned exactly where the Palace of Woldn used to be, which was considered the most central—and most commanding—position in the entire fold.
The three leaders stood with a number of dignitaries who had been brought in after the victory here over the Parviis, including two members of the Council of Elders and a number of merchant princes. They watched while teams of Tulyan podship handlers worked in the airless vacuum with the remaining, unsynchronized Aopoddae.
The entire Liberator fleet had been delayed while Tulyan experts synchronized and stabilized the vast fleet, necessary to ensure that there would be no rebellion in the Aopoddae ranks and that every one of the sentient ships was working in concert with the pilots. This involved subtle methods of synchronicity and mutual respect, ways that had been known to the Tulyans since time immemorial, and by which they ensured the integrity of the immense fleet.
“It has been very difficult to integrate so many ships,” Eshaz said, “but we’re almost there. Long ago, the Parviis did something similar, using their own methods. We’re replacing their bonds with our own, then checking and rechecking.”
“And those are the most difficult of the bunch,” Anton said, pointing out at the podships that were still being worked.
“Precisely. We’ve separated them from the others and are performing final tests on the others as we speak. Keep in mind, too, that this is not a process of breaking or taming the podships. Rather, we must harmonize with them.”
“Just as Humans and other races need to do in nature,” Noah said.
“Well put, my good friend,” Eshaz said. He touched Noah’s left arm affectionately before pulling away. Then, looking at Doge Anton, the Tulyan added, “If final tests go as anticipated, the rest of the fleet should be able to depart for the starcloud in two days.”
“And the recalcitrants?” Anton asked, gesturing again at the podships outside.
“They can be left behind for more work. Eventually, they will be integrated with the others. These just have more difficult Parvii bonds to overcome.”
Anton tapped on the window plax. “Can they be merged with the guard force of one hundred armed vessels that we’re leaving?”
“Some, perhaps. We’ll see.”
Outside, Noah saw three additional podships being brought into the mooring basin, including one piloted by Acey Zelk. In the only way that a Human could do this, the teenager stood on top of the vessel. He wore a life support suit, and was secured to the beast by an ornate harness. He used thorn-vines to guide the creature. The suit and harness enabled him to travel at high speeds, as fast as the podship could go. The young man was grinning as he came in atop the hull, and he waved toward the viewing window.
Noah and Eshaz waved back.
But Noah withdrew his hand quickly. He wore a long-sleeve shirt, and the extension of his left arm had revealed something that had been troubling him for several days … a rough area of gray-and-black skin that ran from the forearm to the shoulder and down across his torso, like a mineral vein.
He had not wanted to see a doctor about the condition, suspecting that it was far beyond anything a medical practitioner could understand. Much of his own paranormal abilities undoubtedly stemmed from the time that Eshaz had healed him of a serious head injury by connecting him to a torn fragment of Timeweb. Afterward, Noah’s own sister, Francella, had attempted to kill him by the most brutal of methods, by hacking him to pieces. Through some miracle, he had survived the dismemberment attempt, growing back all of his severed body parts like an exotic lizard.
The doctors had been dumbfounded.
Even after all that, Noah’s demented, dying sister had injected him with a dermex of her own tainted, contaminated blood. Since then, Noah had been increasingly concerned, but had not wanted to consult with anyone about it, not even Eshaz. Whatever was happening to his body would happen, and Noah sensed—very strongly—that neither he nor anyone else could do anything about it.
The night before, while sleeping in accommodations that had been provided for him in the headquarters building, he’d experienced an odd dream about Francella, in which she had chased him across the Parvii Fold. It had seemed so real, but had been utterly impossible, since Francella had died after injecting herself with an immortality elixir—a substance that turned against her and made her age rapidly. It was with that tainted blood that she had injected Noah, just before dying herself, prematurely. His relationship with her had been a real nightmare. No matter how many good things Noah had tried to do for her during his lifetime, nothing had worked and she had never appreciated any of it. To the end she had remained bitter toward him, irrationally blaming him for her troubles and trying to kill him.
Now Noah saw Eshaz watching him closely, as the Tulyan sometimes did.
Then Noah remembered Eshaz touching his affected arm a few minutes ago. With their truthing touch ability, Tulyans could read thoughts if they desired to do so. But Noah had been wearing the long-sleeve shirt, and Eshaz hadn’t felt the skin directly. Noah had always assumed that direct skin contact was necessary, but what if that wasn’t the case? What if Tulyan mental probes could penetrate the fabric?
With Noah staring back at him, Eshaz lowered his gaze.
In privacy that evening, Noah examined his arm closely, and an unavoidable thought occurred to him. The affected area that he’d been trying to hide reminded him of podship skin.
***