was crying. “He lives on,” the runner said quietly. “You, of all people, know that.”
Norr made use of a handkerchief to dab at her eyes.
“That’s true. . . . But I will miss his strength, loyalty, and courage.”
“Yes,” Rebo agreed somberly. “I will, too.”
The fl?ames found the top of the pyre, tried to leap into the sky, and sent sparks up to touch it. And, as Norr watched the still-glowing embers fl?oat away, she knew there was another reason for her tears. Hoggles had been in love with her, and had it been otherwise, would probably be back on Derius, Thara, or Ning, building a life for himself. But the variant had chosen to follow her instead, to take care of the woman that he loved, even if that meant delivering her into someone else’s arms.
There was a mad crackling sound, followed by an explosion of sparks, as the funeral pyre collapsed in on itself. The only other mourners were six heavies who didn’t know Hoggles but had volunteered to help because they were brothers of a sort. They took half a dozen steps backward as a wall of heat sought to wrap them in a warm embrace.
“So,” Rebo said, as he guided Norr back to a more comfortable position. “What now? It’s pretty clear that the Techno Society has Logos . . . and it wouldn’t be realistic to think that we’re going to get him back.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” the sensitive agreed. “But we have the ring, which means that we can locate One-Two, which means we can activate Socket.”
“Assuming we get there fi?rst,” Rebo observed.
“Yes, assuming we get there fi?rst.”
Rebo eyed the fi?re. “So, we’re going down into the city of Kahoun.”
“I am,” the variant answered simply. “I have to. For the man who was my father, for Bo Hoggles, and for what remains of the human race.”
Rebo sighed. “Damn. . . . I was afraid you’d say something like that.”
Norr turned to look up into his face. Her eyes were huge—and still rimmed with tears. “You don’t have to come.”
The runner’s hand came up to cup her chin. “Oh, but I’m afraid I do,” he said gently, and kissed her lips. Something gave, the fi?re crackled, and a column of red stars took to the sky.
TEN
The Planet Haafa
—Heva Manos, advisor to Emperor Hios,
in his biography,
Having watched the funeral pyre burn itself out, and returned to King Kufu’s tower for some much-needed sleep, Rebo and Norr awoke at least somewhat refreshed. Having lost the battle fought the day before but taken possession of the emperor’s tomb, the king’s attention was focused elsewhere. And that was fi?ne with them. After a quick breakfast, the twosome returned to their curtained quarters, where Rebo completed the process of removing the ring from the emperor’s leathery hand. Lysander took possession of Norr’s body a few moments later, and, with the ring on his/her right index fi?nger, he/she sought to contact Sogol. Meanwhile, deep below the Segenni Desert, the AI variously called Sogol, Logos 1.2, and One-Two had just completed preparations for another release of knowledge, when an incoming signal registered on her electronic senses. There had been a time when such a signal would have been her cue to contact Emperor Hios, but he’d been dead for a long time, and judging from the radio traffi?c that constantly washed around Sogol, a group of tomb raiders had breached his pyramid. That meant they had the emperor’s ring, and judging from the nonstop series of beeps registering on her receiver, knew how to activate it.
Fortunately One-Two had the means to kill the input and was just about to do so, when a long-dead audio channel suddenly came to life. “This is Hios. . . . Please refer to authentication sequence 7629H5t15.”
Of course Sogol knew that the actual code was 7628H5t15, and was surprised to hear a female voice, but the input was pretty damned close to what it should have been. And that warranted further investigation. “Emperor Hios?” the AI inquired tentatively. “Is that you?”
“Yes!” Lysander replied. “It’s me, or a version of me, speaking through a sensitive. I thought you were off-line —
but learned otherwise when Logos 1 brought us to Haafa.”
“I spoke with him,” the tinny voice responded, “but I . . .” There was a burst of static at that point, and the rest of the AI’s words were lost.
“One-Two?” Lysander demanded. “Can you hear me?”
There was a moment of silence, followed by more static, interspersed with garbled words. “. . . Pyra’s trying to interfere. . . . A lot of trouble when it opens. . . . Follow the tomb raiders down. . . .”
The words trailed off into noise after that—and Lysander shook Norr’s head in disgust. “Someone, or something, is attempting to block our transmissions.”
“That’s the way it sounds,” Rebo agreed, “but the situation seems fairly clear. . . . “Sogol can open a pathway into Kahoun. Once we’re down there, she can come to us.”
Norr’s face went momentarily blank, the sensitive’s head jerked, and her eyelids fl?uttered. Then she was back. “What happened?” the variant wanted to know, as she held the ring up to the light. “Did Lysander get through?”
