A Fury Of Aces: Crystal Venom Part 21

'Eyes sharp, Glint. Jim just went max with his deployment. Looks like a h.e.l.l of a place for an ambush. The girls have moved out from the walls as well and are accelerating.'

As if on cue, all the craft piloted by Basalt's crew started to weave and vary their speed and height. Rick yelled at them. 'All biologicals! If that is for camera effect, it is good. If not, it is a complete waste of time. This area is safe for us.'

Harry almost questioned Rick, but left it alone. They flew in tight formation to stay within the valley walls above the pickup zone, a beautiful single tower with elegantly built stone buildings at its base. Nothing moved; no Avians appeared and as Julie, with Harry in support, found, all the heavy armoured shutters around the buildings were closed as well. The lander swept down to settle just outside the largest of the buildings. All its hatches were opened while it waited.

Everyone's crew comms suddenly activated, with the major saying, 'Guys, we are in the s.h.i.+t. Get to cover as quickly as you can. Patrick is climbing further away from his geosynchronous...o...b..t and is warning us that this moon is about to enter a thick interplanetary cloud of material which he describes as trillions of tiny pieces of iron. Julie, you saw caves in the surrounding hills. Give us the locations - I hope like h.e.l.l I can get this lifter into one of them. Move it, people!'

The coordinates started to show on their screens and a whole group of caves looked to be just big enough to fit the lifter. Marko, with Fritz following, flew down into the largest. Against the back walls of the cave he could see signs that the Avians knew about the threat, as there were habitations already built into the stone.

He radioed the major. 'Boss, this one I am in is big enough for you and probably the Hangers as well. You won't be able to fly in though. Walk it in, or we could push you in maybe?'

'I'll walk it in. Just need some guidance is all. I see you all heading down and tucking yourselves away. Good.'

An angry Rick blasted a message across all frequencies: 'Biologicals, just what the f.u.c.k are you up to now? It is bad enough I have to deal with the feathered variety, but you smooth-skinned ones are just as bad, always scurrying off like small rodents doing something annoying. Get back out here, or find the Avians and then get back out here, as I have no time for these stupid games.'

After a long pause, the major responded. 'Rick, I have copied the messages and data from Patrick to you. Surely you, of all ent.i.ties, must understand the threat posed by the iron dust?'

Rick roared back at him. 'There is no threat, Major! My greater self is well aware of it and we do not consider it an issue.'

'Yeah, well I do, and I will look after the safety of my crew.'

'Your continuing insubordination is duly noted!' Rick shouted. 'I also note that you have a small airborne unit which no doubt the eternal teenager, Fritz van Vinken, built. I warned you about communications not routed through me!'

A second later a laser flashed across from the nearest guns.h.i.+p, destroying the crew comms link unit, which rained fragments of itself against the canopy of the descending lifter.

A laughing Fritz came onto their comms link. 's.h.i.+tf.u.c.k thinks I am that stupid, eh? Decoy worked a treat.'

The major allowed himself a tiny smile. 'Everyone just act dumb until this plays out, OK. Fritz, do you still have comms through that ancient UHF system you built so you can talk with Sirius? I presume that you warned her to take cover.'

The big-headed little man was serious when he replied. 'Yup, but she says that what Rick says is good enough for them, so they are staying up there, boss.'

Michael groaned, wondering why people were always so stupid in the face of overwhelming evidence. 'In that case, ask them to hard-sh.e.l.l everything they have edited to date, so when they come cras.h.i.+ng down at least we should be able to recover it.'

Fritz nodded and radioed the message. 'Relayed. Asks is it really going to be that bad?'

The major vigorously nodded his head. 'Yes! The atmosphere is about to become amazingly electrical. That idiot Rick, for all his power, does not understand. In about twenty-five minutes there is going to be the electrical storm from h.e.l.l. OK, guys, guide me back, will you, please?'

The major brought the lifter down outside the cave just as Lilly and Jasmine flew the Hangers inside as well. He then rotated the lifter and unfolded the six large lifting and grabbing legs which, in conjunction with the antigravity, allowed him to gently walk the craft backwards into the cave. Harry stood out in front of the large machine, directing him with hand signals. He then lowered it down against the rock cave floor.

'Right, we have about fifteen minutes to shut everything down and I mean everything,' the major said. 'Then I want everyone on board the lifter. And make d.a.m.n sure that all your craft are earthed. The static electricity from this lot is going to be something special. Chop chop!'

Marko and Glint climbed back into their Chrysops, turned everything off, then opened the electrical maintenance hatch and physically removed all the fuse and link modules. Around them, everyone else was doing the same. The monitor, Jim, even turned himself off. The last thing they did was to open a small hatch in the rear of the craft and run the earthing leads out. Glint held them against the bare rock floor of the cave as the inbuilt charges fired the hardened beryllium copper rods into the rock. They then walked towards the lifter, which was squatting like some giant mechanical version of a rock lobster, and climbed up into the airlock.

As they entered, the major called out to Marko. 'Mate, pressurise the rear compartment with breathable air, and go through the same sequence of shutting everything down. As everyone comes through the airlock, get them to take their primary helmets off and put their survival ones on. Oh, yeah, and as soon as one of the guys can help, you had better power down that arm of yours and also the ACEs.'

's.h.i.+t! That serious? So how long?' Marko exclaimed.

'Just do it, Marko. Some twenty-seven standard hours before it is all over.'

Over the next few minutes everyone arrived and powered down their internal bioware and electronic cognitive functions, which they found very amusing, initially, as most spoke different languages, except Lilly and Jasmine who had a common language, and Harry and Fritz who had another. Sign language and combat taps suddenly swung back to the fore. Fritz spent most of his time tapping out music beats as they were all he knew.

The major waved to get everyone's attention. He then signed that the last message from Basalt was that the storm was expected to last fourteen standard hours with a few hours lull, then another ten hours of even greater intensity.

Marko looked closely at the little spider, Spike, clinging onto his arm. Recognising the shut-down switches that Topaz had installed on Spike, he shut the little fellow down. He looked across to see Harry reluctantly doing the same to Flint. Marko then signalled Glint to sit beside him and as he did so, he reached to find a precise point behind one of the fossa's rear leg joints and pushed it. The ACE immediately froze, which allowed Marko to then open a side maintenance cover and totally shut him down as well. He sat crosslegged with Glint's head in his lap and stroked it for a few minutes, before signing Harry to help lift his bulk up into one of the bunks that lined the crew quarters.

Then he brought up his artificial arm's settings in his head, and closed it down so the arm went completely dead. He tucked the strange-feeling hand into his belt as he walked forwards to the c.o.c.kpit of the now totally silent machine and looked out over the beautiful valley, to see huge black clouds starting to roll across the sky. The lightning began relatively slowly, while the wind picked up and buffeted the dirigible as it started to climb, accompanied by its support craft and with an almost reluctant Games Board lander being the last one to climb.

The sky grew darker still, then lightened as the larger iron meteorites started to enter the upper atmosphere, burning up as they went and creating surreal light displays through the clouds. They were all sure that many of the meteorites made it intact right to the ground, as the trails of something other than lightning were plain to see.

The smaller, lighter fragments and dust settled down though the air as the molten iron core of the moon and its magnetosphere started to interact with the vastness of the neighbouring gas giant whose upper atmosphere also fed the electrical storm ... they could see vast sheets of electrical activity glowing through the clouds with multiple colours being displayed like super-charged aurora. The sheets of lightning started to flash upwards as frequently as those coming down, striking the hapless dirigible again and again as it valiantly struggled to gain alt.i.tude. The violence intensified with iron-charged plasma bolts appearing and striking the guns.h.i.+ps and the missile carriers, shorting out their controls and weapons' safety mechanisms, resulting in unintentional unguided launches and weapon discharges.

Those watching from the lifter could not see most of the violence, but they all knew when one of Rick's craft had been destroyed by the different colours they made as they crashed, detonated or were struck by friendly fire. Slowly, the dirigible vanished into the fiery gloom and was gone.

Fritz entertained them all for an hour or so with a percussion performance played on a variety of objects that he found in the lifter, much to everyone's delight. Most of them watched the storm for a few hours, then slipped back to lie down and get some sleep in the bunks, taking care to keep their gloves on when touching any metal surfaces. Marko watched longer then any of them until he realised that the major, who he had been keeping company, had gone to sleep in his command chair.

After a particularly fierce display he felt the hairs on his body stand up and believed that something malevolent was behind him. Carefully turning, he watched discharges of purple-coloured static electricity dance around the cabin and then across the window frames in the c.o.c.kpit before vanis.h.i.+ng into the floor. Outside he saw rolling b.a.l.l.s of plasma leaping around the valley and wished he could record the images, as they were nothing like he had ever seen. He sat up for another hour, then went back to wake Harry to take his watch so at least someone would be awake through the night.

Four.

He awoke with Jasmine patting his arm then gesturing to the coffee mug she had placed beside him. He smiled up at her, then reached to pull her face to his for a kiss. He signed that he should learn her verbally spoken language so at least they could communicate better at such times as this, to which she nodded and smiled again. With coffee cup in hand, he walked forwards to watch the heavy rain in the dawn light and an electrical storm still in progress.

The major signed that he considered it safe enough for everyone to power up their bioware and re-boot their augmented cognitive wetware as well. Marko smiled as he reactivated Glint and Spike. Spike immediately walked up his arm and locked himself back onto the side of Marko's helmet. Glint just looked at Marko with disapproval when Spike reported to him that there were no images of the storm from Marko's bioware.

As soon as the major was able to speak to everyone, he said, 'OK, go check your craft. Boot them back up, make sure that they are good to go and then stand by.'

Twenty minutes later the storm had cleared sufficiently for Jasmine and Lilly to take off in the Hangers for a quick reconnaissance. Ten minutes later they returned to report that they had located most of the wrecks except the Games Board lander and the dirigible, and that the atmosphere seemed clear enough for normal flight.

A message full of static came through. 'Basalt crew, this is Patrick. I am inbound to your position. Suggest that you get as high as you can, as quickly as you can, for a hot pick-up. Coordinates as follows.'

The major immediately responded. 'You heard him. Get on with it! All craft RV with me once we are airborne. Patrick, did the Games Board lander or dirigible make it to orbit?'

'Negative. Neither dirigible made it, and I have no knowledge of the Games Board lander. None of the Rick segments are currently communicating with me either.'

Marko waited until the major had walked the lifter from the caves before starting the turbines and with a touch of antigravity eased his Chrysops out of the cave into the steady rain. Looking behind him, he saw a small group of adult Avians descending from stairways cut into the rock walls at the rear of the caves. He raised a hand to them, wis.h.i.+ng that he had had an opportunity to speak with them. They waved back as the other craft all lifted off and started to climb out of the valley. He hung back for a few moments, signing to the Avians that they would be back as soon as possible. He smiled, knowing that the message had got through when most of them signed their greetings and best wishes to him.

He spun the little craft around and accelerated skywards to catch up with the lifter.

'Glint, keep looking around,' Marko instructed. 'The lander and dirigible must be around here someplace.'

Looking up into the heavy storm-laden sky, Marko fervently wished that he was back inside the caves. He shrugged and loaded the instructions for motion sickness drugs into his bioware knowing that it was going to be a rough flight. Ahead of him his colleagues were already docking with the lifter.

The monitor, Jim, suddenly spoke. 'Marko! I am getting a message on my channels from Sirius!'

'Really? What is their condition and can you say where they are, Jim?'

'Yes. Information relayed on a loop. Their situation is dire. I fear that they will both need to be re-lifed.'

Marko started looking at the coordinates of the message's source. 'Oh. Boss, did you get this?'

'Yes,' the major replied. 'You have ten minutes absolute maximum, Marko. Go have a quick look and then leg it up to us, OK. Don't p.i.s.s about. They knew the risk and accepted it. I am far more concerned for the edited data. Secure that and I would be more than happy.'

Marko poured on the power, climbing hard to bring them up into a tight little ravine slashed into the side of the b.u.t.tress walls of the valley. They flew over the edge of another spectacular waterfall and between very close sheer rock walls. Marko decided to rely on the ground-mapping flight computer for flight control, which promptly slowed them down as they negotiated the tight confines of the ravine. The speed of the Chrysops dropped to walking speed as the wreck of the lander came into view. It was on its side, jammed between the rock faces, thirty metres above the raging creek below. Marko took back control and flew over the wreck, noting that the entire engine room had been torn away and lay further upstream. The main part of the fuselage was crushed down into the rocks and appeared firmly wedged in place. The c.o.c.kpit canopy was cracked and as they hovered close up to it he could see the two women lying close together at the rear of the crumpled forward cabin, with Sirius waving feebly at them. They looked around for a place to land but could not find one.

'Glint,' Marko said, 'take control, fly us over to the side entry hatch and I will climb down.'

An agitated Glint replied. 'Marko, the data blocks are accessible through the top of the c.o.c.kpit which is easily reached. We have very little time.'

'I know that, Glint. We will be fine. Just do as I say, please. You have control.'

Glint nodded, knowing that he should be the one to board the wreck but deferred to Marko. 'I have control.'

Glint moved them further aft as Marko stepped out onto the Chrysops's stubby wing before stepping off beside the hatchway onto the level, but slippery, surface of the lander. He punched the emergency access locks which forced the door to open outwards and then, grasping the lip, swung himself down into the still functional airlock. Cycling through as fast as he could he jumped into the cabin and walked forwards. Checking the air in his displays he saw that the lander must have been breached as the oxygen levels were just verging on the poisonous, although lower than at the mountain's base. He pulled the buckled door out of the way and squeezed through to find the two woman at his feet. Neither had masks on, not that it mattered for Ivana, as it was obvious from her injuries that she had been dead for some time. Her head was in Sirius's lap and as Marko knelt beside them he could only detect a very faint pulse in Sirius's neck. As he touched her, she let out a little sigh but did not wake. Looking up, he found then pulled the combat first aid kit from its housing and pushed the diagnostic unit against her neck. The readouts stated imminent death unless immediate full surgical was available.

Marko looked at the unconscious Sirius and knew that he could do very little for her as it would be pointless to risk a rescue mission in the time she had left. He explained the situation to Glint who told him they had time to make it back to the caves and that he had recovered the data blocks. Glint also relayed the best wishes of the Basalt crew and that they would return within a day. Marko sat down then pulled Sirius close with the Jim monitor arriving a few moments later to record everything. They then waited the half hour it took Sirius to quietly die, while Marko constantly debated with himself whether he should allow the medical pack to wake her with stimulants.

Several times he almost activated the unit. Each time he decided it would only be for his peace of mind to tell her that in spite of everything he still liked her. And he was just being a sentimental fool if he didn't just wait the year or so when he would see her again anyway.

A minute after she died, he activated the Soul Saver ejects for Sirius and Ivana and placed the disks in a secure pocket of his suit, took a last look at the two dead women and left the wreck with Jim following. Moments later Glint took them on a fast run down the ravine and then, in a vertical dive, raced ahead of the returning storm down to the valley floor and into the caves. They both leapt out with Marko pulling the electrics and Glint activating the earth straps while the Jim monitor deactivated himself after he grasped the side of the c.o.c.kpit with his metal hands to hold on tight.

Glint looked across at Marko. 'Before Spike and I shut down, which we would have done without you interfering the last time, what are you going to do?'

Marko pointed into the caves. 'We run to the rear and hopefully we can hunker down in one of those carved-out rooms. Let's go!'

They moved at a fast run as the first serious rumblings of the storm reached them, through a broad fan-shaped entrance which opened out into a series of chambers, some of which had spiralling staircases cut into the honey-coloured stone and led both upwards and downwards. Everything they could see, except the floor, consisted of flowing, almost sensuous, curves without a single straight line anywhere. Marko told Glint to shut himself down as the first lightning strikes. .h.i.t the ground out in the valley.

Glint climbed onto a low bench in the nearest oval-shaped room and quickly powered down, with his primary access hatch opening in his side. Marko reached in, pulled the breakers out and shoved them in a pocket as he also switched off his arm, powered the suit down and was just about to switch his bioware and cybernetics off when Spike said, "Night, Grandfather, sleep well!', and there was an echo of a tiny chuckle. Marko saw that the little spider had shut himself down as he was no longer accessing his additional conscious data banks from the Chrysops or Glint. Marko smiled and shut down his internal electrics, then sat on the bench beside the motionless Glint and watched the huge storm flashes light up the distant rooms.

A little later, as it grew even darker outside, he perceived that the ring-shaped artificial lights had come on in the room that they were in and also in the hallway outside. Looking out through the visor, which felt unusual as there was no information from the shut-down heads-up unit, he looked carefully at the stone from which the rooms, benches and low tables had been carved. He wished he could take his right glove off to touch the beautifully worked stone when he also saw that most of the surfaces had very fine decorative work carved into them. Looking as closely as he could, he wondered as to the origin of the decoration, as the only place he had seen anything like them before was in the octopoid city on the planet at Cygnus 5.

Without internal power, his artificial left arm felt and moved as a dead weight. He did not have a belt slack enough to tuck it into, so he supported the wrist in his right hand as he slowly walked around the room, then had a quick look into the corridors as well, finding even more elaborate and more defined stone carvings the deeper he went into the mountain. He counted the steps he took and then returned to find Glint still motionless on the stone bench. The storm outside the caves was now at its peak, with almost continuous blasts of lightning and concussions when the bolts. .h.i.t the ground. Beautiful orange or red spheres of balled lightning moved around outside the caves. Sometimes they seemed to pa.s.s right through the rocks; other bolts just quietly dissipated, while still others exploded.

Marko stood and watched, taking great delight in seeing the display, coupled with great annoyance that he wouldn't have a record of it to show anyone. He found himself enjoying the spectacle, realising that the memories stored in the original biological parts of his brain would have to suffice and that for the great bulk of human existence it was all that had ever been available. He looked down at his suit and thanked himself for choosing the Tux suit with its inbuilt, non-electrical, air scrubbing and replenishment systems.

Starting to feel hungry, he opened one of the upper arm pockets where he had stored a ration pack and squeezed the valve of the pack open, allowing the small gas charge to pressurise the pack; with his tongue he pushed on a spring-loaded feeding tube built into his helmet so he could suck it into his mouth as the three mouthfuls of pulp became available to him. As he finished the pack off, he mused how much better it tasted than the last one he had had many years before, then wondered if Stephine had anything to do with that.

Feeling refreshed and satisfied, Marko sat in the middle of the corridor. He could see Glint and also the storm, and thought about the technologies that had surrounded him since birth. He wondered if, in some respects, he was the poorer for them, as they created a constant barrier between him and the actual world. A part of him wanted life to be that simple, but then the greater part of himself also understood that he would not cope without the constant information feeds and connection with his friends. He looked at Glint and also touched the side of his own outer helmet, under which Spike was dormant, and knew that they were a technological part of him he would never want to give up.

He wondered why the purple electrical haze that made most things outside look fuzzy was not doing the same inside the rooms. Marko walked to the edge of the main entrance area from where he could see the Chrysops, which had glowing blue spikes of electricity on most of its edges. Looking up, he saw bands of what appeared to be copper in the ceilings and also across the floor. As he watched, a few small red glowing spheres of ball lightning floated in through the cave then lifted up into the domed area in front of him, quickly accelerating onto the bands to vanish.

He stood watching for a few more minutes then walked back to see that Glint was still where Marko had last seen him and he also wondered where the Avians, who they had seen a few hours earlier, had gone. Marko went to another area of the entrance wis.h.i.+ng that he could magnify his sight to look more closely at the copper bands and what also looked like fine copper mesh set into the stone. He looked back out into the storm trying to figure out how long he had been in the caves, then shook his head in resignation. He knew that without electronics he was completely out of touch with time. He was also annoyed that he could not listen to any of the music selections that Fritz had made up for him and loaded into all his suits.

Still thinking about time he dropped his left arm to his side so he could manually operate a lolly into his mouth to suck on. He smiled as the taste of one of his favourites rolled through his mouth and he gave a quick mental thanks to Stephine. He wondered about Glint again and had turned to walk back when he felt a tugging on his left arm. Startled, he spun around to see a small human child looking up at him with a shocked expression on his face, now holding onto his deadweight left hand. Marko cursed, feeling like someone lost in a strange place, as the suit was not giving any of its normal proximity warnings or threat a.n.a.lysis.

Slowly turning, he shuddered as he saw a group of Avians and humans in a semicircle behind him and wondered what to do. He could see that none of them had weapons that he could recognise, and that most were smiling at him. He signed 'h.e.l.lo' with his right hand, which caused an immediate response in sign language using the same greeting. He signed in further recognition that he was effectively helpless, nodded to each of them hoping that they could see his smile through his visors, pointed into the room then slowly walked back to where Glint lay dormant with the child still holding onto Marko's useless left hand.

Reaching Glint, Marko sat next to him, while the child gazed at the ACE then slowly and very gently touched the tips of his long pointed ears. The adults also sat looking intently at Marko and Glint. One of them, the tallest of the Avians, signed at Marko: 'Is it dead?'

Marko looked at the Avian standing across from him, then examined the sentient, judging the blending of bird types and human. Almost the same height of an average human, with five clawed splayed feet, very slim human legs, large genital fold, slim hips and huge chest; also overlarge folded wings, slim human arms and hands, and shoulder joints in the same plane at the wing scapula. The head reminded him of a parrot's, although a little broader and streamlined, with black eyes below which were a flatfish human nose and a slim, but distinctly human, mouth and jaw. The feathers, which almost entirely covered the creature except for its palms and face, intrigued Marko because they were a deep steel blue-black with scarlet and gold tips.

Marko slowly used one hand and finally signed back in reply. 'No, not dead. Sleeping, shut down.'

'Why shut down?'

'Energy danger.'

The Avian shook his head. 'Not here. No need to. Is it a safe creature?'

Marko smiled, signing, 'Yes, very safe. Named Glint. Why safe here?'

The Avian looked up at the ceiling, pointed, and signed a reply to Marko. 'No danger. Isolated. You electronic?'

'Yes, in part.'

The Avian suddenly smiled. 'We know who you are. Marko Spitz. You are a friend of created creatures. You are Marko?'

Marko nodded and signed again. 'Yes, I am Marko. I made Glint and many other ACEs. Your name?'

'I am Ant. Is your s.h.i.+p hardened, Marko? Is it shut down?'

'Yes, yes, shut down.'

The Avian nodded, turned and said something to two of the others who nodded in turn and left, heading towards the entrance. He looked at Marko, frowned, and signed. 'Atmosphere dangerous to you. Oxygen levels too high for your type. Can adjust for you. Come.'

They all stood up and began to move from the room, the small child still holding Marko's hand. The two that had left arrived back with a stretcher. They placed it beside Glint and reverently, gently, lifted him onto it and then followed them all. In the entrance, three other humans arrived in metallic suits, trailing earthing straps and pulling a long cable behind them. They walked out into the cave and attached the cable to the Chrysops, earthing it, then disconnected the craft's own earth straps as a wheeled hydraulic carryall, trailing its own piping, came out from a pa.s.sageway, slid under the little craft, lifted it and reversed to bring it to where Marko and the others stood.

The elder Avian gestured to the craft as Marko rapidly debated with himself as to what he should do. He wanted to trust the surrounding sentients, but wasn't yet able to do so totally. Nevertheless, he walked across to the Chrysops and awkwardly clambered up onto the wing. The small boy also did the same, peering into Glint's c.o.c.kpit, smiling and asking questions that Marko could only just hear, but had no understanding of. The adults smiled and spoke to the child, who also laughed, patting Marko on the lower back as if he was an entertaining dullard.

Marko reached into his c.o.c.kpit and activated the Jim monitor who, moments later, rose up out of the craft, still a.s.sembling himself. Marko immediately realised his mistake as panels above them opened and a small, disc-shaped antigravity weapon platform dropped down to confront them with stubby barrels which pointed separately at Marko, the monitor and the Chrysops. Marko was cursing himself for not explaining his intentions when he saw a transparent s.h.i.+eld slide up from the floor to protect the Avians and humans behind it. However, the small boy at his side quickly looked from Marko to the Avian and human adults and back again, his face filled with fear. Marko pointed for him to join the adults then signed as fast as he could to the sentients that the monitor was no longer Games Board in nature and was quite harmless.

Knowing that a crunch point had been reached, he started the powering-up sequence for his whole body systems, hoping that he was not about to fry himself or get shot by the weapons platform. As the first stage of the suit came online, he opened his outer armoured helmet, which folded up and then down onto his shoulders so they could clearly see his face behind the primary helmet faceplate, and also Spike clinging onto the outside of it. The heads-up units came online as did his first-stage biomeds, then his cybernetics, allowing him access to the Avian language as he activated the speakers on the suit.

'My deepest apologies, sentients,' Marko began. 'I should have told you further of my intentions. This unit is called Jim. He was rebuilt by us when the Games Board producer, who is now dead, destroyed his mind. He has no weapons. I activated him to see if there could possibly be effects on start-up from the electrical discharges. I have now done the same myself, so I am at your mercy.'

He held himself very still, watching the discussions going on behind the s.h.i.+eld. Soon the weapons platform backed off as the s.h.i.+eld retracted into the floor. The elder Avian stepped forwards until he was at the edge of the Chrysops.

'I too apologise, Marko. It would seem that we have trust issues on both sides. It is good that we can talk freely. So, what are your intentions?'

Marko let out a long sigh of relief. 'Right now, I wait until my colleagues can return to pick me up. These electrical events of yours ... they must be regular occasions if you have inbuilt safeguards against them.'

The elder nodded, looking around the enclosure. 'Yes, we found this place many generations ago and modified some of it to our tastes. It will be several days before your friends will be able to return. There is an electrical flux built up between this planet, the gas giant and the surrounding magnetic fields which will have to dissipate before they will be able to return. We are most interested to know why your force arrived here at the time it did. Surely you were advised of the considerable risk you were taking in coming at this time of the gas giant's year when it and subsequently this moon pa.s.s through the iron cloud? And besides, we have no interest in leaving this place as we have been here for hundreds of years.'