Acorna's Search Part 29

She had no idea what she would find here, except that she had a hard time imagining it could be as fearsome as all of the things she had gone through already in her lifetime not as terrible as the Khleevi, or as wily as Baron Manjari, his crazy daughter Kisla, and her guardian Count Edacki Ganoosh, or even as formidable as General Ikwaskwan.

Aari had sounded terrified to her, but she was not reading any terror in the air now, as she walked toward the city. According to legend and history, this time on Vhiliinyar should have as sentient beings only the Hosts, the Ancestors, and the earliest beginnings of her own race. The history of Vhiliinyar according to Grandam had been remarkably placid for the most part. No wars, perhaps a few natural disasters, but nothing as deadly as the events and creatures Acorna had encountered in her own time.

If something back here had harmed her love, if it was intent on harming Maati, Yiitir, and Maarni, then it would find her ready and willing to take it on. Theirs had been a peaceful mission, to rebuild what had been destroyed through no fault of their own. Her people had endured about all of the hards.h.i.+p anyone could stand and she didn't intend that they should be subjected to more. And she was perfectly willing to explain that point of view to anyone who disagreed, regardless of what race they came from.

She was in such a state by the time she stormed into the building with the time device that she felt ready for anything... except for what she got, which was a silent, deserted building with no one to challenge and no one challenging her.

The changes in the rest of the city meant nothing to her at the moment. Her sense of ire was so aroused that her sense of wonder failed to register all the vehicles whizzing by and the beautiful music playing in the streets.

She rode down the inclinator from the ground floor to the floor containing the time device in her own time.

This area was eerily as she had left it lit up and unoccupied. Not quite as silent. From somewhere she heard a pounding, as of construction or machinery starting up. And there was one other change too. A door she had never noticed before made an opening in the wall of s.h.i.+fting glyphs. She peered through it into some sort of medical or laboratory facility. A s.h.i.+ver ran through her that had nothing to do with her wet condition.

The metal table in the middle of the room beckoned to her from a memory that was not hers. She walked to it. A few curly silver hairs lay upon it, a drop of blood. Kneeling so that she was level with the table, she sniffed deeply. Aari. This was where he had been when he called. The hairs were his hairs. The blood was his as well.

But where was he?

What had happened to him?

Was he hurt somewhere, needing her touch to heal him? She reached out to him mentally and heard nothing.

She searched the room, the walls, and then started on the

adjacent room. In the back of her mind was Aari as she had seen him in the water, wondering what he was doing there. She pa.s.sed the time map and saw that it surprisingly reflected Ku-bnlikaan as it had been before her dive into its shrunken sea. Deserted, subterranean, befouled, and damaged. She grinned suddenly. Aari had escaped back to their own time! They had pa.s.sed each other time traveling, using the seawater as a conduit. He would be waiting for her when she returned! She should have trusted that he would find a way back to her! There had never been any need for her to travel at all. But what about the others?

The map was no help it seemed to be locked in its current incarnation.

She was ready to pay attention to the thumping now, and she returned to the corridor, heading as if pulled toward it to the entrance to the Ancestors' caverns. The stone floor shook as if a major earthquake rocked the building's foundations.

Acorna saw the release for the pa.s.sageway door recessed in one of the flagstones and pressed it. As the door raised, hooves flashed past her nose.

She backed away, then peered downward. "Ha! Got it!" An Ancestor had backed up on the top step and attacked the closed door with all the strength of its hooves and hindquarters.

"h.e.l.lo?" Acorna said.

"It's another one, Gladiis!" the Ancestor exclaimed. "What in creation does she want, do you suppose?" "Kh.o.r.n.ya!"

The Ancestor was all but knocked aside by Maati as she leaped from the top step straight into Acorna's arms, knocking her over backwards.

"Oh, Kh.o.r.n.ya, you came! You came! I should have known! I heard the most awful cry from Aari and where is he? Is he okay?"

"I think so, yes," Acorna said, smoothing Maati's hair and

hugging her tightly. "It looks as if someone hurt him, but not badly. Somehow he got away before I could rescue him. Inconsiderate of him, don't you think? So I'll have to rescue you instead, I suppose. Are Maarni and Yiitir with you?"

"Yes, uh huh. They're here. They're fine. But before you rescue us, first, come on, you have to meet Grandmother Gladiis and Grandfather Humiir and the others, and Upp and the frii and their family."

Leaving the door open, Acorna allowed herself to be led below and found herself surrounded by Ancestors. Maati introduced her to the ones she had named. All the while Maati was pulling her by the hand deeper inside the cavern. Here Acorna could smell and hear the sea echoing against the walls. She also made out the faces of Maarni and Yiitir. They looked well, happy even. Acorna breathed a sigh of relief.

Maati started to drag Acorna past them to the water. "Upp? Frii? Sii-Linyaari? I have someone I want you to meet!"

"Maati, they're not here," Yiitir told her.

"Not here? Where are they? Did they go back to sea?"

"I don't think so," Maarni said. "One moment they were swimming below the landing, the next they were gone. They're very quick, you know, and it's dark here so I could be mistaken, but it seemed very sudden even for them. The frii was doing one of his leaps from the water and it looked to me as though he vanished in midair."

"Oh, no!" Acorna said. Now she understood what had happened with Aari also. He hadn't been trying to time travel when she met him in the water. Her own journey had precipitated his probably before he was ready. He must have been looking for Maati and the others and the sii- Linyaari, also in the water, had time-traveled, too.

Maati caught her thought and laughed. "Aari is going to be unhappy with Kh.o.r.n.ya! She tried to rescue him and messed up his precious s.p.a.ce-time continuum!"

"Oh, Maati," Acorna said. "I fear you may be right!"

Halfway through the tunnel to the surface, Mac said diffidently, "Captain, with all due respect, I detect a flaw in your logic in this situation."

"Now that is totally inconceivable," Becker told him. "You must be malfunctioning. What flaw?"

"You have a com unit. Why would you fly all the way back to MOO, when they could fly what you need here in half the time, even considering your shortcut?"

"Because " Becker stopped. "Because... they wouldn't know where to get what we need."

"Some of the finest engineers in the universe are in Mr. Harakamian's employ, Captain. They are reputed to be very competent."

"Yeah, but the Linyaari only want me here. Not them."

"That is not the case if one is speaking of Linyaari engineers. Of which there are many on the MOO."

'Yeah, but in case you haven't noticed, the Linyaari have a runny habit of disappearing from this place."

Then perhaps we should attempt to stabilize the time diffusion in the landing area and nearby surroundings."

"For which we need the equipment they'd be bringing," Becker said, one word at a time to emphasize that this time it was Mac whose logic was flawed.

"Captain," Mac said. "I may shut down from pure shock. Do you mean to tell me you no longer have aboard the Condor a half a dozen pumps of various sizes, hoses, and the other items necessary to make an irrigation system, albeit one of limited size?"

Becker stopped and scratched his mustache. "You got a point, Mac. I congratulate myself on upgrading your memory. I'll go ahead to the s.h.i.+p and start digging the stuff out. Meanwhile, if you return for Acorna and Thariinye now, we'll have more people to haul stuff back there. As soon as we have this first area built and get it tested, then we can have the other Linyaari come down from the sky and help us with the work while we're waiting for the supplies from MOO."

"Other Linyaari, Captain?"

"Yeah, see, they sent a couple of shuttles here but one of them disappeared, so the other one, which was supposed to help me, dropped off the equipment they brought and returned to the mother s.h.i.+p."

"Should I not come along and ensure that you do not disappear, Captain?"

"I'll walk back in my own tracks, son. It's an old Becker trick taught to me by my pappy who was taught it by his'n."

"I do not entirely understand you, sir."

"Good. Good. I'd worry more if you did. Now off you go. RK, you with me or with him?"