When Watcher's transmission ended, es presence didn't disappear from
Magda's virtual viewpoint. Es avian avatar was superimposed on the
upper left section of her foglet vision of the physical environment.
~By Omega's Holy Crunch!~ For several moments Magda felt incapable of
voicing anything further. Finally she said, ~Well, Kadzin—
time
to pull ourselves together.~
To Magda, that meant more than just getting a mental handle on the
wholeness of her foglet shape. The image and knowledge of her own
identity was nearly as scattered as her microchines. One part of
herself was still spacer, and the Wanderling's pilot. And that Magda
was horrified at what she'd become; all she wanted was to escape back
into the virch of her past.
But of course she couldn't. Her expanded sense of self quickly rejected
the idea, and reached out to Watcher, as shipsoul. ~What in all
virch-hells happened? How did we get torn apart? But never
mind—
let's just the Chimera 4 out of this gravity well and back into space.~
Kadzin streamed virtual pheromones of regret across their communal
space. ~It won't be that simple.~
The avian nodded. ~We have a contractual obligation to the colonists,
only part of which has been fulfilled. The virus has
begun to seek them out, and has created filamentary augmentations
within a few of them. When all colonists are brought to an
understanding of their possibilities, they will choose. And we will
take those who wish back to Nimbus.~
~But some of those colonists sabotaged the ship— us! We
certainly
weren't separated by accident. Doesn't that nullify the
contract?~ Magda argued.
~Whoever the saboteurs were, they were from a previous generation,~
Kadzin said. ~You know we can't just leave these people here, as
nearbaselines.~
~No, I suppose we can't. But as for those Ludds— I hope
they're
long dead, and had no backups!~
~I suspect you're right on both counts.~
~And what about Felicity? She must have known we were missing. Way past
those sixty years! Why didn't she send one of the Chimeras to find us?~
~Actually, she did.~ Watcher's avian grinned. ~A broadcast from
Chimera 2's probe tweaked the first of my timers, and it
clicked,
re- started our processes. The ship will move to lower orbit in 2400
minutes.~
~Good to know we're still part of the Galaxy!~ Magda suddenly
remembered Jenessa. ~Hey there, Jenessa. You're not making any sense of
this, are you? Anyway, you don't have to come looking for us. I'll have
Watcher transmit our background info to you. Tells a lot about us. And
something about your ancestors. Have fun with it.~
~Are you sure they're ready for all that?~ Kadzin asked.
~They'll need to get ready. We're not waiting around any longer than we
have to.~
~Aye to that. But we have our own next step to take, Mag.~
~That we do. Ready. Right now.~
Magda sensed each of her microchines, saw through the multitude of
camera eyes the soil and grass and brush where each one clung, made
sense of the minutia of varied reports. They were — her. And
she
was not planet-bound. Every attachment was dismantled. Her particles
thrust up and out, then moved together into the sloppily humanoid shape
that felt most comfortable to Magda.
All directions were visible to her surround-sight: nearby mountain
range, an evening sky, three nearbaselines, Kadzin pulling himself
together. The Chimera 4— home.
*
Jenessa gazed into the glowing tank of the assembler station. The same
glow she'd seen from a distance, five— no, six, days ago. Now
she
saw its yellow-orange reflected in Meera's eyes.
~Do you know we can talk like this, without opening our mouths?~
Enhanced frequencies of hearing brought Meera's words to Jenessa. Just
when she'd thought she was beyond surprise! Jenessa shook her head.
"I'm not quite ready for that. But I will be." For a great many things.
She turned to her left, where Erel lay on his side, head against his
flest's saddle, eyes averted from the glow, from the ship.
Jenessa pushed her blanket aside and reached out to him, touching his
shoulder. "You've begun receiving the transmissions, haven't you?"
She asked.
"Transmissions." Though his voice was weak, he seemed to spit out the
word. "You don't talk like . . .us any more. You talk like them."
"Soon there won't be much difference between us and them," she told him.
He twisted his shoulders, and directed his gaze toward her face. "I saw
and heard things, their way. In bits, flashes. Nonsense. Just
craziness."
"It wasn't a good way to begin. You missed the early transmissions. I'm
sure Watcher — the ship— will start them again,
when more
people have had their nervous systems rebuilt."
Erel turned, very deliberately, away from her.
She knew there was no way to bridge the gap between them. Yet. Just as
she knew there was no going back to her life as a trainer of flests and
leader of hunting parties. Or as Erel's bride.
She was still considering all those lost things, when Magda and Kadzin
floated into view from the northern end of the meadow. Jenessa stood,
then walked closer to the ship, to the Chimera.
The foglets would have been nearly invisible by starlight, but the
microchines caught glints and glimmers from the light of the assembler
tank. They were silent now, at least in the frequencies Jenessa shared
with them. She understood that they had a lot to catch up on, going
back to the completeness of their identity.
As did she, in her own way. She wondered who, and what, her identity
would become. Only hours ago, she would have been frightened by the
foglets. Now she found them, and their possibilities, intriguing.
Nevertheless, she felt comforted to know that becoming Nimbian wasn't
something that would just happen to her — as he enhancements
had
happened. It was a technological process that could be undergone. By
choice.
But the Chimera 4's transmissions had sparked other glimmers and glints
into her awareness. Other choices. Many of them.
