in-cantation, this time to the haunt-lock. The window opened without a sound. She climbed from the Animus's back onto the sill.
The body lay within, beneath the cold filaments of the matrix. It was still strapped to the couch. It raised its head and looked at Yskatarina as she entered.
"You were here before," it said.
"Yes. I've come to help you."
"I do not believe you. You are of Nightshade," the thing said. "I remember Nightshade."
Yskatarina flexed the sensors within her legs and squatted down beside the ancient thing. "You were the Matriarch, were you not, a hundred years ago? Do you re-member two sisters? Yri and Yra?"
"Yes. They sought sanctuary with us. We sent them to Earth."
"Do you know where they went? And what happened to the ship they traveled in?"
"I will not tell you," the old Matriarch said. Feebly it raised itself up, hissing. Yskatarina acted quickly There were excissieres just beyond the door and she did not want them to hear. She touched a sleep-pen to the crea-ture's neck and it slumped back onto the high couch. Then she switched on the matrix and whispered Elaki's se-quence into it.
She had never seen this particular function of the ma-trix before. It was different. The familiar sparks darkened above the prone figure, forming spirals and coils of black-light. Then, as the sequence took hold, the world opened up and Yskatarina found herself staring down into the hellish abyss that she had glimpsed during her own modi-fication. She fell back, hand over her mouth, trying not to cry out. There was a dreadful sense of familiarity, recogni-tion, that sent her soul cowering within her.
Something rushed upward. She saw a mouth agape in a silent shriek. Then it was gone, evaporating into the fig-ure on the couch. The gap closed. The blacklight disap-peared, with a burst that hurt the eyes. Yskatarina stepped forward and released the bonds. The thing on the cOuch sat up.
"I am alive," it said, wonderingly. "I have a body."
"Yes, you do," Yskatarina said in relief. The Kami looked out at her from the former Matriarch's dull gaze. Yskatarina held up a small silver phial. "This is a copy of that which belongs to the current Matriarch. My aunt gave it to me. It contains the substance that controls the excissieres. And I now will tell you what you must do, when you are strong enough…"
Fragrant Harbor
CHAPTER 1
Mars/Earth
Yskatarina held tight to the spiny claw of the Animus as the ship—a public carrier—wheeled over the Crater Plain. Other passengers shifted and grumbled around them. She did not like being confined so closely with so many others, but at least all kept their distance from the Animus, eyeing it askance, drawing skirts and robes aside.
From the view port, misted with droplets of ice, Yskata-rina could see the plain in its entirety, all the way to the slopes of Olympus. The Memnos Tower rose up out of the red earth like a diseased finger.
Yskatarina, with a trace of wistfulness, remembered the gaezelles and wondered where they now ran.
She was pleased with her work at the Tower. She was confident, after a further conversation with the Kami that now occupied the body of the former Matriarch, that Memnos would be unable to tell the difference. Very soon, now, the Kami would be able to carry out its task. She wondered that the current Matriarch had taken the risk of reanimating the ancient thing, given Nightshade's involve-ment. But Martians were always arrogant, always over-reached themselves.
Then there had been the emotion-wipe, of which few memories remained. Something about a shred of flesh, and Elaki sitting on a crag… Nothing more than this, but when Yskatarina looked within, to the place where that turbulent storm of resentment and loyalty and love had raged, there was only a small dark hole. Wonderful to feel nothing but hate for the woman who had threatened to take the Animus away from her—no more conflict, no more tearing on the mind's rack. She felt whole for the first
The body lay within, beneath the cold filaments of the matrix. It was still strapped to the couch. It raised its head and looked at Yskatarina as she entered.
"You were here before," it said.
"Yes. I've come to help you."
"I do not believe you. You are of Nightshade," the thing said. "I remember Nightshade."
Yskatarina flexed the sensors within her legs and squatted down beside the ancient thing. "You were the Matriarch, were you not, a hundred years ago? Do you re-member two sisters? Yri and Yra?"
"Yes. They sought sanctuary with us. We sent them to Earth."
"Do you know where they went? And what happened to the ship they traveled in?"
"I will not tell you," the old Matriarch said. Feebly it raised itself up, hissing. Yskatarina acted quickly There were excissieres just beyond the door and she did not want them to hear. She touched a sleep-pen to the crea-ture's neck and it slumped back onto the high couch. Then she switched on the matrix and whispered Elaki's se-quence into it.
She had never seen this particular function of the ma-trix before. It was different. The familiar sparks darkened above the prone figure, forming spirals and coils of black-light. Then, as the sequence took hold, the world opened up and Yskatarina found herself staring down into the hellish abyss that she had glimpsed during her own modi-fication. She fell back, hand over her mouth, trying not to cry out. There was a dreadful sense of familiarity, recogni-tion, that sent her soul cowering within her.
Something rushed upward. She saw a mouth agape in a silent shriek. Then it was gone, evaporating into the fig-ure on the couch. The gap closed. The blacklight disap-peared, with a burst that hurt the eyes. Yskatarina stepped forward and released the bonds. The thing on the cOuch sat up.
"I am alive," it said, wonderingly. "I have a body."
"Yes, you do," Yskatarina said in relief. The Kami looked out at her from the former Matriarch's dull gaze. Yskatarina held up a small silver phial. "This is a copy of that which belongs to the current Matriarch. My aunt gave it to me. It contains the substance that controls the excissieres. And I now will tell you what you must do, when you are strong enough…"
Fragrant Harbor
CHAPTER 1
Mars/Earth
Yskatarina held tight to the spiny claw of the Animus as the ship—a public carrier—wheeled over the Crater Plain. Other passengers shifted and grumbled around them. She did not like being confined so closely with so many others, but at least all kept their distance from the Animus, eyeing it askance, drawing skirts and robes aside.
From the view port, misted with droplets of ice, Yskata-rina could see the plain in its entirety, all the way to the slopes of Olympus. The Memnos Tower rose up out of the red earth like a diseased finger.
Yskatarina, with a trace of wistfulness, remembered the gaezelles and wondered where they now ran.
She was pleased with her work at the Tower. She was confident, after a further conversation with the Kami that now occupied the body of the former Matriarch, that Memnos would be unable to tell the difference. Very soon, now, the Kami would be able to carry out its task. She wondered that the current Matriarch had taken the risk of reanimating the ancient thing, given Nightshade's involve-ment. But Martians were always arrogant, always over-reached themselves.
Then there had been the emotion-wipe, of which few memories remained. Something about a shred of flesh, and Elaki sitting on a crag… Nothing more than this, but when Yskatarina looked within, to the place where that turbulent storm of resentment and loyalty and love had raged, there was only a small dark hole. Wonderful to feel nothing but hate for the woman who had threatened to take the Animus away from her—no more conflict, no more tearing on the mind's rack. She felt whole for the first
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