Tobias Buckell Crystal Rain

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Haidan's. Damn. He was late.
When he looked back up, Pepper was nowhere to be seen.
That was when John realized that Pepper had spoken in the same accent that
John did.
Alone on the bridge, John punched the empty air and swore.
CHAPTER FORTY
John watched Haidan cup his chin in his right hand, elbow on the chair's
wooden arm, and sigh. The windows had been pulled shut. Only a series of
electric lights in the middle of the table lit the area.
"We close," Haidan told him.
"Revanche stock. Got enough food for there and back." He cleared his throat.
Moving the hand under his chin away, he laced his fingers together to look
over the top of his chapped knuckles at John. "How you feeling?"
John changed the subject. "Prime Minister Dihana will christen the boat
tomorrow?" She was out meeting a group of refugees, trying to bring order and
get a census of how many lay in the city's streets and in the tents in the
piers.
"And you leave the next day," Haidan said. "Everything, charts, copies of the
documents I want you to read, are in you cabin, sealed."
"Thank you. What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Aren't you coming? Who knows this plan better?"
"I have to stay." Haidan put the palms of his hands on the edge of the table
and drummed his fingers. "I
visible. The whole city know me, know my skill for leading the mongoose. If I
leave, what they go think?
DeBrun, you the best sailor Capitol City ever see. You and I both know you can
figure that map out and navigate that boat."
"This is that important?" John dug the tip of his hook into the table and
broke off a small piece of wood.
"The Loa think so. I believe it. Dihana believe it. We got three of the city
best Preservationist ready to get on you ship. John, man, I ordering my best
mongoose-man out with you: Avasa. And his best mongoose. I can't give you
anything more without hurting us here in the city bad. You understand how
important I think this may go be?"
The door opened. A mongoose-man walked in and whispered into Haidan's ear.
"Okay," Haidan said as the man left. "They here."
Haidan let go of the table. The table lights lit him from beneath. His dreads
cascading down out of seemingly nowhere.
"A Loa join we now." Haidan leaned forward, more of his weathered face coming
into the light. "They insist on it, just as they had insist on the journey.
See what I mean about how important this is?"
A strange tickle ran down the back of John's spine. Would Loa be on his ship?
A strange reversal from the last expedition, a journey the Loa had protested,
priestesses denouncing the attempt throughout the waterfront. The Loa
themselves even came out of their six streetside buildings to stand on
balconies and show their displeasure.
"This Loa tell me that it go help you. We really need that."
"Okay," John said. "Where the priestess?"
Wheels squeaked. A divan poked forward through the door into the electric
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light. A Loa's comma-shaped body lay on the couch: a wet, pink silhouette on
the purple plush. Its steel-tipped tentacles dragged on the floor, pushing it
forward.
"This isn't the same Loa we speak to earlier," Haidan noted.
"I have not the need of a translator," the Loa hissed at them. The sound sent
shivers down John's shoulders. "My helper stays in the corridor." The door
shut. "Nor do I want any other than you to hear my words." Clear eyes squinted
in the light. The creature looked around the room by shifting its thick upper
body up onto a tentacle to regard them.
"The
Ma Wi Jung,"
it rasped. "The location coordinates you have are correct. And you surmise
that it can be used to stop Azteca correctly."
"Good to know," Haidan said. "But what is it? How can we use it to stop the
Azteca? And which Loa are you?"
"The one you spoke to is dead," the Loa said with a sigh. "It is unimportant.
This expedition faces an obstacle. You must realize that you are not capable
of using the
Ma Wi Jung
. Your technology, even if closely guided by us, is hundreds of years away in
such regards. But my kind has an item that can be of assistance. So we must
work together."
It held up a silver cone in one of its tentacles and set it on the table. John
picked it up and turned it over. "How will this help us use the old-father
artifact?"
"If you follow the coordinates exactly, and dig through the ice to get to it,
the entrance to the
Ma Wi
Jung is an oval door, and on the left is a square box. Place this on the box.
It will take a week, maybe two, but it will be able to open the
Ma Wi Jung to you," the Loa said. "It will inform you when it is able to open
the ship to you. You can then tell it to open the ship to you."
"But then what?" Haidan asked. "How they go use this thing? What it go do?"
"I have not finished," the Loa said. "The
Ma Wi Jung will need more than just you can provide it to create a powerful
weapon. Our device will follow your commands. You must tell it to force the
Ma Wi
Jung to come to Capitol City. Tell it, 'Khafou, fly this device back to
Capitol City coordinates.' You must use that exact phrase. It has been
pre-created for you to tell it to do that. Do you understand?"
John and Haidan nodded.
"Please repeat the command phrase," the Loa said. John repeated it. The Loa
settled farther into its couch. "Good. Make sure you stand inside the doors
when you say this. You will return to the city where we can share the power of
the
Ma Wi Jung'
s functions with you." It shifted its flabby body. "Remember, you cannot
control the
Ma Wi Jung without us. Only together can we use
Ma Wi Jung as a weapon. If you try to do this by yourselves, or hide
Ma Wi Jung from us, you will certainly suffer."
Haidan leaned forward again. "The Councilman Emil told Dihana
Ma Wi Jung is a ship, one that can fly up past the sky," Haidan said to the
Loa. "I listen to you speak, and it sound like you believe the same thing. Is
that what this thing is?"
The Loa shifted. "I think so." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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