Geomancer

F IFTY -S IX

Despite Minis's warning, Tiaan had no choice but to use the amplimet and call him again. Haani looked on, fascinated. Previously Tiaan had waited until the child was asleep.

He was even slower to answer this time, and fainter, despite the undoubted power of the amplimet here. When Minis finally appeared, he looked drawn. His cheeks were dark with stubble, his face soot-stained.

Tiaan, he said after a long interval when he seemed to be looking for her but not seeing her. His voice was hoarse; it sounded as if it hurt to speak. What's wrong? he said in that strange, letter-by-letter way of speaking. Can you not find the way?

'I've been inside Tirthrax for a day and a half.' She visualised the vast oval hall for him. 'I've struck the gong a hundred times. All the alarms have gone off but no one came. Tirthrax is empty. What do I do now, my love?'

He threw his hands up around his face. His eyes were staring. I don't know. He disappeared.

'Who was that man?' asked Haani.

'What?' It took a while for her to realise that the child had spoken.

'I said, who was that man?'

Tiaan hugged her tightly. 'Did you see him too?'

'He was inside my head. He looked sad.'

The amplimet must be incredibly powerful here, if it could induce images in an ordinary mind. 'That is my lover, Minis.'

'Lover?' Haani sounded puzzled.

'He is the man I am going to bond with. We have come all this way to find him and help him, for he is in bad trouble. Is he not the most handsome man you ever saw?'

Politely, Haani did not answer that.

Minis was back, a little stronger now. Tiaan, this is what you must do. Somewhere in Tirthrax there will be a room guarded by a triplet of sentinels, the little black devices like witches' hats that sound the alarm. It may even be on the level you are on. We don't know. None of us has seen it. All we have here are ancient records; very ancient! The room will have this kind of symbol on the door.

He drew a swirling pattern in the air, with neither beginning nor end, inside nor outside. Fire followed his finger, reminding Tiaan of shapes she had seen on the hyperplane.

Touch the symbol with your crystal and you should see a mind-map of the lock. Work it and the door will open. Inside will be devices of metal, wire, crystal and glass. Minis described a variety of objects the like of which she had never seen before.

You must take them apart and put them together into a larger device, like this. Minis put a plan into her mind, like a three-dimensional blueprint, rotating it so she could see exactly how it was structured.

When that is done you must test it, thus! What's that? He looked away.

It can't be done! came a harsh male voice. She'll ruin the amplimet.

No matter to us if we're extinct, Vithis, a woman replied. The voice was familiar though Tiaan had forgotten the name.

They moved out where Tiaan could see them. Vithis was tall, long in the face but haggard-looking, with deep creases etched into his cheeks.

I say we face our fate on our own world. He bit off each word as if he wanted to spit it in their faces. No good has ever come out of Santhenar. There is still a chance in the polar catacombs. I would take my clan there, even if we go alone!

Then you will go alone, said Tirior, a handsome woman with black curly hair. The Ten Clans are behind me, Vithis. Santhenar is our sole hope.

I will not be bowed, he said.

There is no chance, Vithis, said Tirior. Tell him, Luxor! You're the only one he'll listen to.

Luxor could not be seen, though Tiaan remembered his dead voice.

Vithis, even in the catacombs the temperature is rising fast. The polar ice is melting; if you don't bake there, you'll drown. There's no way to keep the sea out. The gate is our only chance.

I would sooner take Clan Inthis to the Well of Echoes!

It has not come to that! cried Luxor, clearly shocked.

It is the noble way out.

Tirior appeared to relent. Not that, Vithis. Inthis is, as you remind us, First Clan. I will humble myself. I beg you, come with us.

Ha! cried Vithis. I never thought I'd see it.

He stalked back and forth for several minutes, whereupon he whirled and returned to the group. His face had set hard as congealed lava. Very well. Clan Inthis will join the Ten; but only if I am leader.

You, Vithis? cried Tirior. But you have always been against this venture. Folly, you've called it from the first.

Aye, I did, and still do. But if we are to take this path, I must lead the Clans.

Why? she said imperiously.

Because I do not believe. I always question. And because only I of all the clan leaders have truly thrown off the slave's mindset.

We were slaves for thousands of years, Vithis. It has changed us forever. We cannot go back to what we once were.

You still think like slaves, though we gained our freedom near four hundred years ago. But I have a vision for the Aachim. If the Clans are to go to the new world I must lead.

Come, said Luxor, urging them away. Not in front…

The image disappeared. Tiaan heard them talking but she could not make out what they were saying. After some minutes the image came back.

It is agreed, said Tirior. You will lead us, Vithis. Clan Inthis may take the honour of first across, if the gate succeeds.

You'd like us to take the risk, sneered Vithis. Then if something goes wrong, you're rid of us! You've always resented Clan Inthis, Tirior.

Don't be absurd, she replied.

I will be in the vanguard. I am prepared to take the risk for myself, as long as I see my clan safe. Clan Inthis will come last.

As you wish, she said equally coldly.

The risk is slight, said Luxor, since the device is unlikely to work. How could an untrained human possibly assemble a working zyxibule, even with an amplimet? Even at the greatest of all nodes? She will surely fail.

People do surprise, said Tirior, and this human has done it over and again. But, if there is to be a chance, she must have the best preparation we can give her. Let us not waste time. Minis, continue the instruction as we have laid it out for you.

'I don't understand what you're trying to do,' said Tiaan. They assumed too much.

Do you not? Minis sounded amazed. But you spoke of it months ago, back in the ice sphere.

'I have no idea what you're talking about,' she said.

You asked the original question!

'What question?'

You said, 'What if I tear open the wall between Santhenar and the hyperplane?' We assumed you knew. If it's done just right, you can create a wormhole that way.

Tiaan was beginning to feel really stupid. 'A wormhole?'

A passage that crosses a higher dimension between my world and yours. The hyperplane! You must have heard of gates, surely?

'Well, of course I've heard of gates!' she said. 'They're in the Histories. Why didn't you say that in the first place?'

We assumed… Perhaps we assumed too much, said Minis. You seemed so knowledgeable. Never mind. Yes, we hope you can help us make a device to form a gate between your world and ours. We will, of course, control it from here. Listen carefully.

He explained a complicated set of test procedures and the responses required. When you have assembled the device, which we call a zyxibule, tested it according to our instructions, and all is working properly – AND NOT BEFORE, AT THE RISK OF YOUR LIFE – put your amplimet in the cavity at the centre and call again. Do you understand what I have told you?

'I think so.' She asked enough questions to be quite sure. 'What will happen then?'

With luck, and if you can still contact me, and everything works perfectly after all this time, and the worlds are aligned, and you can channel enough power through the amplimet into the zyxibule, it will open a gate between Santhenar and Aachan and we will come through to our new world.

'Are there many of you?'

Some thousands…

Tiaan was relieved. Enough to help with the war but not so many as to cause problems.

We are prepared. A few lyrinx will not trouble us. Will you get ready now?

'I will.' She feasted on Minis for a few seconds more. Soon he would be here and they would be together, forever! 'But, Minis, what if I can't channel enough power, or something else goes wrong?'

He looked uncomfortable. It could be that the gate won't open. Or it might open but close again before we can come through… He trailed off.

'What else?' said Tiaan. 'There is something else, isn't there?'

Minis looked away, then was thrust aside and the hard face of Vithis appeared. You know the risk of using the amplimet, artisan. It could happen that in channelling so much power you will be burnt from the inside out, or your mind destroyed but your body living on. The risk of that happening is considerable. Perhaps one in three or four.

'Oh!' she whispered, sinking to her knees on the hard floor.

Another possibility is an explosion so colossal that the whole peak of Tirthrax mountain will be blown apart, and everything destroyed for twenty leagues around. We don't know, artisan. We never thought this plan would work. There was not enough time to properly design the zyxibule. We think we know how it will work but we can't be sure until we try it. Then, if it goes wrong, it will be too late.

Well? he snapped. Are you still prepared to do this, to save what is left of the Aachim species? Do you have the courage? Do not raise our hopes falsely.

What about my hopes? she thought desperately. Do I not matter? Clearly not to this bitter man. As an artisan, Tiaan had always lived with the threat of anthracism, though it had never happened in her manufactory. But this was an entirely different risk. She would have given up, but for Minis. Her death would be quick; his slow, painful and inevitable.

'I will do it,' she said in an almost inaudible voice, 'if you will just explain again what I must do.'

Vithis did so, for Minis had not come back. Remember, when you have tested the device and put the crystal inside, call us. Be swift! the hard man said, and faded away.