They were at least able to get some idea of the rest of the vessel. The sight did little to calm Selene's fears, as the ship clearly resembled the Cathedral ship that had orbited Maes Far, and others that she'd come into contact with since. There was the same twisting, organic shape, as if the vessel had grown naturally rather than being constructed. The same concern, perhaps, for beauty over function. The dome they were inside protruded from one side of the vessel like a globular eye upon a stalk, staring out at the galaxy. Whether there were other such eyes, they couldn't tell. The entire structure was dazzling, no doubt, but the sight of it sent a fizz of anxiety spinning through her. If they were on a Cathedral ship, then escape was not going to be easy. Why were they being toyed with?
Eventually, the walkway opened out onto the disc at the centre of the sphere. A single, nacreous orb about the size of her hand protruded from the floor, but otherwise the platform was bare. Ondo knelt down to study it from all angles, trying to understand its function.
After a few moments, Selene placed her left hand on the orb. It was very slightly warm to the touch. It had to be some sort of control mechanism. Pressing the orb with her fingers had no effect, but then she found that nudging it forwards a minute amount made the platform move, sending it swimming towards the transparent bulkhead in the direction she'd indicated. By some unknown means, the twisting walkways rearranged themselves to allow the platform passage. She couldn't be sure if they were disconnecting and reconnecting, or simply looping out of the way.
“They are solid, and yet they flow,” said Ondo. “They're almost organic, like the shoots of plants, but they were obviously completely solid when we walked upon them.”
By twisting the orb, she found that she could re-orientate the platform to all angles, allowing her to study the exterior at any point on the sphere's circumference. Only the bulk of the rest of the ship blocked the view of the plasma field. The question was, who used the observation dome, and why. And why were she and Ondo being allowed to see it?
“With all that plasma and hard radiation, we must be all-but invisible to anyone in nearby space,” said Ondo. “I wonder if that's deliberate?”
“The ship was hiding away here, watching for an incursion into the system, just like any Cathedral ship.”
Ondo took a moment to reply. “Is it hiding or imprisoned? It barely seems worth Concordance stationing a ship in such a remote place, especially as they weren't watching Coronade until we turned up. It seems more likely to me this station was something to do with the stellar engineering we see evidence for, some part of the mechanism that triggered the nova event. But why it's still here, once again, I have no idea.”
“If this ship was here when the star went nova, it would have been blasted away like everything else in the system. It shouldn't have survived.”
“True, but I have no other theories.” said Ondo. “Do you?”
“Concordance knew we'd come here and sent this ship to capture us. I don't see the need for any more complex a theory than that.”
The suggestion clearly troubled Ondo. “I'm not convinced, not least because I think Concordance avoid the Dead Space regions. For all we know, they can't come here. There was no sign of their ships at the Depository, not even when we returned. And why capture us and then leave us alone to explore their vessel? Why aren't we jumping through metaspace to the centre of the galaxy so that the First Augurs can rip our minds and bodies to pieces?”
“The bastards are playing with us, giving us a glimpse of freedom. They're tormenting us. Who knows? Perhaps it's a weird religious thing, some sort of ritual. They're probably watching us from somewhere, laughing at us. What we need to do is take control of this ship and get away.”
Ondo's attention was caught by some detail of the exterior view. “It may be too late for that. Something is happening out there. I see movement.”
She followed his gaze and saw that he was right. Something was darting through the plasma cloud, the turbulence of its wake clear. There could be no doubt that it was coming directly for them.
Whatever game was being played, it appeared it was now over.
4. Aetheral
Selene tried desperately to resolve images of the approaching object. Was it a ship or some sort of weapon? It was coming directly at them at high velocity, just as a high-g harpoon might. Could the ship withstand such a strike? The transparent bulkhead looked impossibly fragile. She zoomed in on the object to try and glean more data about it. Come up with some strategy.
Then she saw: the object wasn't a ship and it wasn't a missile. There was no mistaking that angled, snouted head: it was the figure she'd glimpsed in the ruins of the planet, the being that had picked her up. It was flying through space untroubled by the void or the radiation, moving under some form of built-in reaction drive directly towards them.
She relayed what she was detecting to Ondo. “That's the figure I saw. Do you recognize it?”
“I don't … I can't be sure.”
“Well, I think you're going to find out very soon. At that velocity it will be here in thirty seconds.”
“We should leave the dome before it
