At three minutes to ten in the morning, two days after the previous Aesyr attack, Duhyle and Helkyria were testing her "apparatus" on the main-level windows and doors. They had verified that the equipment did in fact open, close, and lock the exterior apertures when Captain Valakyr appeared.
"Commander, ser?"
Helkyria looked up. "I take it that some Aesyr force is approaching."
"Yes, ser. Two submersibles and a cargo vessel that is most likely a troop carrier."
Valakyr?s voice carried faint puzzlement, as if to ask why the vessels had been allowed to reach the western shore of Vanira. "They?re likely two hours from reaching the canal."
"I?ve been in touch with the Magistra of Security, Captain. I see no sense in losing satellites and threatening the future over those attackers. Not yet, at least. Bring all your troopers and food into the station…and as much equipment as will fit with them comfortably. We can seal the station against them, and not even the Hammer can broach the stone."
"That?s eighty-five security troopers in addition to the seven spec-ops techs, ser."
"There?s room enough, isn?t there?" replied the scient-commander. "They all fit in the larger lower chamber for your briefing."
"I beg your pardon, ser, but with only two exits, attacking them from inside the station might prove…difficult."
"Attacking them with conventional weapons would prove nothing and would merely give them the excuse to use the Hammer. None of your troops would survive that, and the use would push us that much closer to destruction. Now…if you would muster them in the lower spaces and inform me when everything is settled."
"Yes, ser."
Duhyle saw that the captain was less than pleased.
Once Valakyr had left the chamber, Helkyria added, "Knowing which battles to fight and when is often more important than winning the irrelevant…or worse, losing it."
"How are you going to use the station? Beyond being a shelter?"
"At the moment, I have no exact idea, other than I think I?ve managed to mimic the upper-level command structure," admitted Helkyria. "I?m convinced it has other capabilities. At the least, the troopers will be safer inside the station, and we?ll have postponed immediate disaster."
"What else about the upper-level command structure?"
"It branches into other…areas…I need to get on with looking into that. You and Symra might see how you can assist the captain."
"I can do that." Much as Duhyle wanted to know about those "other areas," he also knew there was no point in pressing Helkyria.
He nodded and headed out to find the subcaptain.
In the end, Duhyle?s greatest help to the security captain was his understanding of where what gear and supplies could be stored, particularly in the lower level. Even so, it took most of two hours before he, Symra, and Valakyr were satisfied that every possible space had been utilized.
"It?s tight," declared Valakyr, "but we didn?t have to leave anything of great value outside." She paused, then added to Symra, "Except for your vehicle."
"We extracted all the equipment and the shielding generator."
Valakyr looked to Duhyle. "If you wouldn?t mind conveying to the commander…we?re standing by for her orders."
"Certainly." Duhyle linked to the station systems to check the outside monitors. The lead Aesyr vessel, one of the submersibles, was holding position a kay or so to the northwest of the station, off the middle of the canal, apparently waiting for the others. "It might be a while. The Aesyr aren?t in position to do anything yet."
Valakyr nodded.
Duhyle strode the ramp to the main level and to Helkyria?s working area.
She did not turn from the screens before her.
"They?re all mustered inside, and everything we could get inside is stored."
"Good."
"They?re standing by for your orders."
"They?ll be standing by for some time," said Helkyria. "The Aesyr will send a small recon force. They?re looking for an excuse to use their Hammers. We won?t give it to them."
"What do you want me to tell the captain?"
"Just tell her that…and to stand by and that, if anything changes, she?ll be the first to know." The scient-commander paused. "Tell her that what I?m doing might result in…oddities."
"Oddities? She?ll ask what kind."
"I don?t know, but there?s a mental aspect to the command structure. The system is partly anticipatory, and that suggests that it reads intent. I can?t tell what else it reads, or how it may react. There might be strange sounds that aren?t really sounds, or momentary illusions, or dead silence…or nothing at all."
"Is everything locked?"
"Not yet, because a total lock might sever the power and comm-links, but tell the captain and the subcaptain that no one is to leave because I may lock down everything at any time. Then you and Symra should come back here."
"I?ll take care of it." Dearest.
The faintest pink suffused the tips of her locks. But she did smile. Insubordinate…butappreciated, dear man.
He?d really wanted to say the endearment aloud, but since his current position technically required a "Yes, ser," he?d compromised with a non-salutatory acknowledgment. Then he headed back down the ramp.
Once he?d delivered the messages to both officers, he hurried back to see what Helkyria was doing. He didn?t wait for Symra.
A half hour later, he and Symra still stood behind Helkyria as she worked on the console that she and Duhyle had built, while she occasionally checked the eternal screens and monitors. Duhyle did his own observing, noting that a comparatively high-speed launch had left the cargo vessel that now waited offshore with the two submersibles and cruised swiftly toward the station. Two more submersibles? How long have they been planning this revolt? Or were those researchcraft that they appropriated and converted? He knew his thoughts were wandering, but all he could do at the moment was wait. Good techs, engineers or not, could.
Another half hour passed before the first of the Aesyr scrambled up a boarding ladder temporarily affixed to the canal wall. Given the height of the wall above the water, it was a long climb. Because the attackers wore blend-ins, Duhyle strained to determine precise movements, but it was clear that the first Aesyr arrivals were surveying the area.
Then, three figures moved toward the station.
"Locking the station," said Helkyria coolly.
The light seemed to change, although Duhyle couldn?t have said how.
Then, he froze for a moment, because an image appeared literally before him-that of a couple. Both had short and curly dark brown hair. They were roughly the same height. The woman was closer to Duhyle. She had dark hazel eyes, a tan skin, lighter than his or Helkyria?s, but darker than that of a northerner or an Aesyr. Both man and woman had strong but slightly pointed chins, and both wore identical formfitting singlesuits that left very little to the imagination. Each wore a patch or an insignia on the right shoulder, a design of intertwined and stylized lightning bolts that curved back on each other.
The man said something and gestured, and the image vanished.
Where did that come from? Who are they…or who were they? Had the canal captured images from all who had inhabited it? Would his image appear to some future inhabitant or investigator?
His eyes turned toward Helkyria. He wanted to ask her if she?d seen what he had, but he swallowed. Instead of the pale blue and not-quite shapeless uniform singlesuit she had been wearing not moments before, Helkyria stood before the controls of her equipment in a shimmering and filmy golden garment that left almost nothing to Duhyle?s imagination. So stunning and inviting was the image that Duhyle found himself breathing faster and wanting to lunge forward, yet he knew it was an illusion.
The image vanished, and Helkyria stood there in her pale blue singlesuit. A range of colors played though her hair, golden light flaring from the tips and from her eyebrows. Duhyle glanced at Symra, whose hair was momentarily a dazzling blue.
Symra immediately looked down and away from Duhyle.
Then all the extraneous light vanished. The chamber seemed dim and lifeless, although the lamps remained lit.
No one spoke for several moments.
"That…was rather a profound side effect." Helkyria?s words were a trace ragged, the first time in years Duhyle had heard emotion in public. A much fainter rainbow of light flickered through her eyebrows and hair before vanishing.
What, if anything, had Helkyria seen in him? Duhyle wasn?t about to ask with Symra there. "Did you see an image of two people…a man and a woman?"
"No." Helkyria?s voice was firm. "I was watching the console."
"Ah…I did," admitted Symra. "They had dark hair and tight suits, and they were so much alike that they might have been brother and sister. They were here for just a moment. Their image was, I mean."
"Let me know if you see anything else unusual."
Duhyle attempted to access the external comm-links. He expected them to be off-line, but they remained, as did the external monitors. The console before Helkyria continued to operate as well. He hadn?t expected otherwise, since they?d linked it into stored power.
Helkyria frowned. "We?re still getting power from the external system. I hadn?t expected that with the locking, but the underlying control system is more sophisticated than I thought."
That worried Duhyle. Did that mean the locking wasn?t as secure? Or that the canal and station walls harbored some form of energy-based intelligence? "What about ventilation?"
"The ducts are still working, but I can shut them down if necessary. I think it might be possible without losing access to the external grid."
Think? Duhyle did not voice the question.
"Ser…what are you going to do?" asked Symra.
"For now…we wait. I?m going to inspect the station. Later…we?ll see."