Galactic Milieu - Diamond Mask Part 7

"Did you hear the story from Grandad?" Ken asked.

"Yes. Now hush and listen: The story is about the great cave at Bholsa on the other side of Loch Gruinart. It's the biggest cave in the west of Scotland. For centuries people used it as a shelter and even kept sheep in the area around the entrance. But they were afraid to go very deep inside because it was said that its tunnel led straight to the fiery underworld."

"You mean, like h.e.l.l?" Ken asked doubtfully.

"Yes. Now let me tell the tale. One day a brave piper said he was going to find out for himself what was inside the great cave, and he marched in playing 'MacCrimmon's Lament,' with his little dog following after ..."

Dee closed her eyes again and let the calm voice of her grandmother fill her mind, overwhelming everything else.

She dreamed she was a white gyrfalcon, flying high above the rocky headland, following Mummie and Uncle Robbie and Aunt Rowan. As the three tiny figures approached a long, deep cleft in the rocks they began to hurry. Strange noises came faintly on the wind. Was it the great auk? The gyrfalcon lofted high, curving out over the churning sea and then turning back to fly up the geodh.

The three figures reached the lip of the chasm.

And one by one, as the falcon watched in helpless horror, they leapt into empty s.p.a.ce. They tumbled slowly, slowly down, as gently as falling leaves, neither their minds nor their voices crying out, until they landed on a rocky shelf. There the waves boomed and hissed as the sea surged into the cleft, reluctantly retreated, then came roaring back again to wash over the bodies lying there.

In the cliffside was a dark hole, and from it came a scuttling dwarfish thing that moved as quickly as a spider.

The Kilnave Fiend.

Plummeting down, the gyrfalcon cried a warning. At the sound of the bird's scream the three people lying on the drenched rock slowly lifted their heads and caught sight of the horrid thing approaching.

Get up! the falcon cried. Run! Run!

But the adults seemed paralyzed-or else they did not understand her. She swooped past their listless faces and hurtled toward the Fiend himself, talons outstretched and beak agape.

Instantly, the dwarf changed, expanding into a huge, ungainly black beast larger than an elephant, having four misshapen heads. Its eight eyes blazed blue-white like a constellation of evil stars, and its red mouths had pointed tongues thrusting in and out. Four long, supple necks bent over Uncle Robbie and the many black limbs held him fast.

Slimy lips pursed. The thing began to suck out his life.

She flung herself at the monster telling it: NO NO STOP STOP- Pain.

The most awful pain she had ever felt. It lasted only an instant, and when it stopped the four-headed monster had vanished. Dee seemed to see two men and two women deep inside the wet green cave, laughing. On the rocky floor were three smoking dark mounds that might have been large heaps of half-burnt seaweed. Mummie and Uncle Robbie and Aunt Rowan were gone.

"Go away!" the red-mouthed bright-eyed people said. "Go away, you stupid bird, and find your own food! There's nothing at all left here. Nothing but ashes."

She knew then what the smoking piles must be. She screamed and flew at the four adults in a rage of sorrow. But before her talons struck, the people turned again into the ravening monster. Its black arms spread wide. It seized her and the four laughing mouths got ready to suck and once again there was horrible pain ...

Dee woke from the dream, crying out. Ken, somewhere nearby, was also shrieking at the top of his lungs.

She was not a gyrfalcon but her own self. And the pain was real. Her head was covered by something, and she was being squeezed so tightly that she could hardly breathe. She kicked and struggled until finally she tore herself free and scrabbled about in the stony dust, dazzled by the sudden daylight, sobbing and gulping and gasping as she regained her breath. She crawled a short distance away, still hearing Kenny's screams, feeling giddy with shock.

It was some moments before the dizziness pa.s.sed. And then Dee saw that it had not been the Kilnave Fiend of her nightmare trying to crush her. It was Gran Masha!

Her grandmother sat with her back to a large rock, her youthful features so distorted that she was hardly recognizable. Her eyes were shut tightly and her mouth was twisted awry. She was making an inhuman rhythmic groaning noise, as though every breath she took was unbearable agony, and she clutched Kenny, flailing and howling, to her breast. His head was partially m.u.f.fled by her open jacket.

Dee heard Masha's mind shouting: Holdyouholdyou notletyougo neverletyougo you FIEND!

Dee was nearly paralyzed with fear. What was wrong with Gran? "Let him go!" she screamed. "Gran, let Kenny go, you're hurting him!"

Had the Kilnave Fiend somehow got inside Gran's mind? Dee tried to shout again but found that she was unable to utter a sound. It was not until she thought to close her eyes and summon the healing redness that she regained any strength. She climbed to her feet then and staggered toward the cliff overlook.

"Help! Somebody help!"

But no one was there. She turned back, heading for the steep path that led down to the car park, trying not to hear Ken's weakening cries and the ghastly sounds made by her grandmother.

"Help! Help!" She stumbled down the trail, tripping over heather roots and exposed rocks, pulling herself back up, canceling out the pain, shouting again, going on and on- CHILD. STOP.

She was brought up short, coerced to a standstill, nearly fainting, certain that the four-headed monster who had driven Gran crazy was now taking hold of her with its deadly mental power.

No, little girl. You are safe. I will not harm you. I am an official of the Galactic Magistratum. A kind of policeman. Open your mind to me and tell me what is wrong. OPEN.

A vast indigo wave swallowed her. Coercion. Almost overwhelming her protective s.h.i.+eld, yet failing at the last. She was still safe! But Gran Masha and Kenny ... She looked into the face of an elderly man who held her by the shoulders as he knelt in front of her.

He was wearing a garish orange sports jacket.

"My g-granny ... my b-brother ..." she stuttered. Then she seemed to see him properly for the first time, and she whispered: "You!"

Be still, Dorothea Macdonald. I will not hurt you. I will help you if I can. [By the All-Penetrant! What a mind-screen this infant weaves! I don't believe I can force it.] "Little one, tell me in verbal speech what is wrong. Are you hurt?"

"No ..." It was the Krondaku, all right, but no longer talking like a fake Scot! "My granny-the Kilnave Fiend's got her. And my brother. Up there." Dee pointed, then she pulled herself loose from the exotic's illusory hands and began to run back the way she had come. "Come on!" she shouted, and was lost to view behind a rock outcropping.

"Wait. Trust me. Open your mind. It will be so much quicker!"

But the child ignored him, and so Evaluator Throma'eloo Lek thrust forth his seekersense, located the madwoman with the half-throttled boy far up the slope, smote her with his coercion to force her to turn the lad loose, poured the balm of redaction upon the suddenly released victim, and was astounded to realize that he knew the deranged operant female who now lay thras.h.i.+ng weakly among the rocks at the top of the headland of T?n Mhor.

"Sacred Aperiodicity! It's Professor Masha MacGregor-Gawrys! And what's this in her mind? ... I cannot believe it. All three? And branded with those peculiar radially symmetrical patterns of ash? Extraordinary!"

Earth's gravity was twice the optimum for the Krondak species and the planet was oxygen-deprived as well. Lacking the vulgar metafaculty of psychokinesis that might have sped him on his way, the Evaluator could only struggle up the path with ponderous slowness. Finally, in order to conserve his fast-dwindling energies, he shed the superficial guise of humanity and slithered au naturel to the scene of the disaster, pus.h.i.+ng aside with his tentacles the sharp rocks and obstructing plant life. His primary optics glowed bright blue.

The little girl uttered a shriek when the exotic apparition first came into view, but she stood her ground beside her collapsed brother, an expression of fierce resolution on her face. Masha and the little boy lay about two meters apart. Ken was coughing and weeping, while the professor still rolled feebly in the throes of her seizure.

"Stand back, Dorothea. Do not touch your grandmother. I will take care of her. You may a.s.sist your brother if you are able. Give him some water. See that he does not aspirate it-choke on it."

Uncertain, Dee stared at the hideous being for a moment, then nodded. She unzipped one of the daypacks that had been flung aside by Gran's struggles, took out a water bottle, and knelt beside Ken.

The exotic sent out several urgent farspoken communications. Then he supported Masha's lolling head with one tentacle while a second pressed against her forehead. Instantly, the paroxysms ceased and she fell back in a faint. The Krondaku gently lowered her to the ground and placed the air cus.h.i.+on beneath her head. After a few moments she opened her eyes and moaned softly.

"Be at ease, dear colleague. It is I, Throma'eloo Lek."

"Lek?" Masha's voice was hoa.r.s.e. "Oh, thank G.o.d. I tried to hold it for the authorities, but... Did-did you see in my mind what happened? In the sea-cave?"

"Yes." His voice was solemn and portentous. "This is a very grave situation. More serious even than you realize, for I know what kind of ent.i.ty has done this terrible thing." Masha mydearfriend are you capable of mental speech? I do not want to traumatize the children further by speaking of this in front of them.

Lek! I hurt poor little Dorothea&Kenneth! I didn't mean to nonono I was deluded thought they were the THING ohG.o.d as the three of them began to die to give up their lifeforce in that hideous way the vision burst into my farsight and I saw them burn and I tried to seize the THING I thought I had it but ... but ...

[Peace.] I am afraid that you suffered a violent brainstorm. Perhaps it was indeed triggered by the draining of the lifeforce from the persons who were beloved by you. Perhaps it was caused by ... something else. I have repaired some of your mental damage but you will require additional treatment later. The two children are well. I redacted their minor injuries.

Lek! Call the Magistratum fortheloveofG.o.d Viola&-Robbie&Rowan were burnt beyond recognition beyond any hope of regeneration how in Christ'sname could it have happened CATCH THE THING THE KILNAVEFIEND BEFORE IT GETS AWAY- I regret to say it is already gone. The local police are on their way and I have summoned investigators of the Human Magistratum from both Edinburgh and Concord. And also the First Magnate of the Human Polity.

Paul Remillard? But- This tragedy concerns him personally. And his family.

"I don't understand." Masha spoke aloud. Slow tears had begun to streak her dusty face. Her hair lay in sweaty strands, which a gentle tentacle brushed back from her forehead.

"Gran Masha?" Dee stood there, hesitatingly offering the water bottle. "Would you like a drink, too?"

"You poor children," Masha whispered, turning aside, refusing to look at Dee. Her voice caught in a sob. "Oh, sweet Jesus. Lek, be sure that they don't-" A tentacle touched her lips and she fell silent. Her eyes closed.

Dee said to the Krondaku, "It got away, didn't it."

"So you know that much," the exotic murmured. "Remarkable."

Gran Masha seemed to be sleeping. Dee knew the Krondaku had done that to help her. The awesome exotic body now began to s.h.i.+mmer, to shrink. He was fuzzing her mind and putting on his human illusion again, but the pressed-down outline of his bulk in the dust remained the same.

"I knew something awful was going to happen," Dee told him. "But I didn't know what, and I was afraid n.o.body would believe me if I said anything."

"It is a metafaculty called prolepsis, Dorothea Macdonald. Even latent humans like you may have it. The power is not well understood."

Dee nodded. "I dreamed the monster was coming after me."

"A delusion. Your mind, like that of your grandmother, was affected by the death throes of your loved ones. You were never in danger."

But Dee was not so sure about that. She knew who the Kilnave Fiend was. She had seen all four of the beast's human faces. Two she knew already: the man and woman she had met on the ferryboat. The others had been strangers but she would never forget them.

Ken had got to his feet and was standing behind her. Fading bruises, ugly purple and yellow marks, discolored his face. The Krondaku's healing was not completely instantaneous.

"You children will have to be brave," Throma'eloo Lek said. His human face was kind and very sad. He reached out to them, took their hands, and poised his redaction again, ready to calm them once more if it was required. "There has been a most melancholy occurrence. Your mother and your uncle and your aunt have died."

Ken uttered a choked gasp and burst into tears. Dee spoke with soft intensity. "Do you know who killed them?"

The Krondaku frowned and did not respond to her question directly. "It may take some time to discover how they died. I am very, very sorry."

Dee nodded, pulling her hand free. The Krondaku did know about the monster-but he thought she did not. Very well ...

Ken was weeping bitterly. It did not occur to Dee to wonder why she felt calm and unafraid. Certainly it was not because of the Krondaku's mental power, which she had shut out of her mind. She was quite certain that the Kilnave Fiend was gone. The aetheric aura of Islay was now peaceful.

How very strange, she thought, that all of a sudden I can't remember Mummie's face, or Aunt Rowan's, or Uncle Robbie's. But I remember them.

"What's-what's going to happen to us?" Ken's voice was desperate.

"Your grandmother will soon recover," Throma'eloo said. "She will love you and care for you."

Dee looked down at the sleeping woman. Gran Masha probably did love them, but she was always so very busy. Now that she was young again, she would be even busier. It would be a great bother for her to have to take care of two little children, and Dee did not want to be a bother. Besides, there was a better place for them to go.

"No," she told the Krondaku, "we won't be staying with our granny. We're going to live with Daddy. On the planet Caledonia."

FURYFURYFURY answerpleaseansweranswer FURYFURYFU-.

Gettingtheh.e.l.loffEarth. Don't worry I did job got you decrypt and the 3subjects are extinct but there was unforeseenproblem. [Image.]

Yes. [Data.] There it is fresh out of RobbieStrachan's skull you've got plenty of time to wipe out the dangerous s.h.i.+t and subst.i.tute whitebread n.o.body will ever suspect a thing.

I'm sure of it he's the same one who interrogated Marc when I whacked old BrettMcAllister years&years ago he recognized the 7ashen chakras on each bod and the G.o.ddamkid DorotheaMacdonald had some mixedup EE perception of Hydra too she'll tell Krondaku&cops about Sanaigmorehouse they'll find MY/our DNA odds&sods all over the f.u.c.king place I'm completely blown I delayed leaving Earth only until I could contact you I thought you'd never answer!

Elysium. You set up corporation there. Lose myself in the booming cosmop scene- There? But aren't you afraid- s.h.i.+t!

<-and henceforward="" you="" will="" destroy="" the="" bodies="" promptly!="" no="" more="" procrastinating="" "celebrations"!="" is="" this="" understood?=""> Yes. Fury I'm sorry ... Do you still love me?

Everything I/we owned was left behind at Sanaigmore ...

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Goodbye Fury. Goodbye ...

6.

FROM THE MEMOIRS OF ROGATIEN REMILLARD.

I was there when death gave life to them, both Fury and the creature called the Hydra. It happened on Good Friday in the year 2040 in the little town of Berlin, New Hamps.h.i.+re, on the day that Victor Remillard finally died.

It had been the custom of my nephew Denis, Victor's older brother, to a.s.semble the immediate family each year on that date, ostensibly to pray for Vic's recovery and for the salvation of his soul. I had never partic.i.p.ated in the annual ritual before, judging it to be futile and possibly even dangerous; but that year Denis's wife Lucille was unavailable and so I was dragooned to complete the metapsychic minyan.

There were fifteen of us gathered around the bed of the criminal genius who had unwittingly helped to precipitate the Intervention. After he had tried and failed to murder me and nearly three thousand of Earth's leading operants, he had been struck down-perhaps by me, perhaps by the ent.i.ty I call the Family Ghost-and lapsed into a mysterious coma that deprived him of all sensory input and of all his metafaculties except self-awareness. His body, having the Remillard self-rejuvenating gene complex, had remained healthy for nearly twenty-seven years while he endured the ultimate solitary confinement. But finally, at long last, Victor seemed to be sinking toward natural death.

Present for that last Good Friday prayer session were all seven of Denis and Lucille's adult grandmastercla.s.s children together with their operant spouses-the so-called Remillard Dynasty. The oldest was Philip Remillard, with his wife Aurelie Dalembert. She was the only wife who was not pregnant at the time. The other Remillards were Maurice, with his wife Cecilia Ashe; Severin, with his wife Maeve O'Neill; Anne Remillard, who was unmarried, although she did not become a Jesuit until some years later; Catherine Remillard (enceinte), with her husband Brett McAllister; Adrien, with his wife Cheri LosierDrake; and the most brilliant of the lot, Paul Remillard, with his wife Teresa Kendall.

When Denis attempted to link me into the metaconcerted "prayer," I balked. Frankly, I was scared s.h.i.+tless, wanting to have nothing whatsoever to do with Vic, who was the most evil man I have ever known. Pray for him? Maybe if I was shamed into it I might have squandered a two-bob candle in some nice, bright church, on the off chance that Jesus knew something about Vic that the rest of the world did not and was willing to forgive and forget. But in no way was I going to be involved in any interactive mental shenanigans concerning that thoroughgoing b.a.s.t.a.r.d. My charity does not easily embrace a man who had attempted to turn me into his zomboid stooge-and when that failed, who was ready to drain my lifeforce like a bottle of Heineken.

So when Denis tried to incorporate me into his metaconcert I slithered out. And since I was his foster father, with all of the operant parent's usual metapsychic perks, not even his paramount coercion could force me to stay. Thus it was that my mentality stood aside somehow, unable to perceive what transpired among Victor and the others, and I became aware that an entirely new actor had come onstage.

Who are you? I asked.

I am Fury.

Where did you come from?