and so not seeing very much, but it could hear perfectly well. It made a transmission.
A satellite the size of a pebble, held stationary just above the atmosphere directly over where Tefwe was, which had been keeping station directly over her since she’d been Displaced to the surface at Chyan’tya, relayed the transmission to its home ship, the VFP
“I wonder what he was leaving behind, and why?” Tefwe said.
“I wondered that too. I did ask. He wasn’t forthcoming.”
“Cethyd?” she said.
“Some civ-forsaken ball on the outskirts of nowhere, jealously guarded by well-teched barbarians. Known for The Mountains of the Sound. Aren’t your implants working?”
“I’m leaving them off. Just got my terminal.”
“Which has just been in touch with something overhead.”
“Really? That’s sneaky.”
“You didn’t know?”
“I should have guessed.”
“This isn’t the real you, is it?”
“No; spare body carried by an SC ship, altered to suit.”
“I imagine another you will be popping into existence very shortly, somewhere near The Mountains of the Sound, on Cethyd.”
“I dare say. That
“Yes,” the drone said. “I’m too old to play those kinds of games. Your word stands, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Well; good hunting, to your next self. What happens to you — to this you — now?”
“Supposed to head back to the VFP. Naturally it wants to snap me back instantly, now, and be on its way, but I said you’d appreciate me making the effort.”
“Well, I have. But don’t let me detain you.”
“Really?”
“Go immediately if you wish.”
Tefwe thought. She could almost feel the VFP — doubtless listening — willing her to agree. “Later,” she said, and half expected to be snatched away anyway as the ship’s property, or to see a wrathful bolt of fire falling from the heavens to strike her, or at least the nearby desert. “Around sunset, perhaps. First I ought to let the aphore drink, but I’d like to see more of the sandstream. If it’s not too much trouble.”
~Ms Tefwe, sent the ship via some internal piece of augmentation which, obviously, she only thought she’d turned off.
“None at all,” the drone said. “Though,
“There’s more than one?”
~Ms Tefwe, the ship sent again.
“Many. Most of the outcrops you can see from here are similarly adapted.” The old drone sounded proud.
“Really! I must see them.”
~Ms Tefwe, the ship sent once more.
“We could visit two or three in the time. Soon I hope to start linking them, underground, and complete a programme of replacing all the external raising screws with internal ones.”
“Not the wheels, though, I hope. I like the wheels.”
~Ms Tefwe; kindly reply.
“Not the wheels. Those I intend to keep.”
“How long will all that take?”
~Ms Tefwe…
“Many decades. Don’t you think you should answer the ship?”
“… Na.”
Sixteen
(S -9)
xLOU
oMSV
Cethyd? Barely mentioned in my data reservoirs.
?
Will you down a current all-civs/systems overview? This is becoming ridiculous.
?
Ignorance can be interesting.
?
Also fatal. I am not going to copy you the relevant data; get it all yourself. Anyway, Cethyd is a good choice, if he’s trying to escape our attention. Home of the Uwanui, under something called the Oglari Jurisdiction, themselves beholden to the Dolstre, who seem to have decided we’re no friends of theirs. And the Oglari are just able enough and vicariously well up-teched enough to make a friendly visit tricky. Perhaps as well we have the SC fleet and its fellow travellers on-side. Nearest is a brother ship to you, a Troublemaker, de-fanged to VFP. Think it’ll be up to the task?
?
Indubitably.
?
It is effectively weapon-free. And it starts as a Limited. No offence.
?
We are of that generation of “Limited” that classes as nominatively camouflaged. We out-everything earlier GOUs. It’ll handle whatever it finds.
?
Hmm. Oh-oh, hello; incoming…
?
xGSV
oLOU
oGCU
oGSV
oGSV
oUe
oMSV
oMSV
oLSV
Hello all. Developments. Not all encouraging. The good news is that the two Delinquent GOUs
