“I told you I was as human as you are. But I am also different, Sariana.”
“Tell me,” she invited softly.
“The weapons that produce lightstorms are made of prisma crystal. The ships that contain the weapons are made of the same substance. My people named it prisma crystal because of its unique qualities. There is nothing else like it as far as we know. No one knows how, when or where it was created. But when we first arrived in this sector there were crystal ships full of weapons on nearly every planet. Some of the ships were huge. They were in orbit around the planets they protected. They reacted instantly to an alien ship attempting to land. It was those orbiting crystal ships that got most of the colonial star-ships.”
“It was one of those orbiting ships that got The Serendipity .”
Gryph nodded. “And it was a side effect of a lightstorm that crippled The Rendezvous. Your people didn’t get the full brunt of the explosion. The Serendipity did.”
“But what about the Shields, Gryph? How did they happen to be here when The Serendipity arrived?”
Gryph reached down and scooped up a handful of pebbles. He sent two or three skipping across the placid river. This next part was going to be the hardest.
“My people were no slouches technologically. It didn’t take them long to discover that the weapons that created the lightstorms could be controlled by certain men whose minds could be tuned chemically to the resonating frequencies of prisma crystal. The minds of those men could be made to function as shields against the energy the weapons produced. They could turn that energy back on itself and neutralize the prisma ships and their weapons. But not just any mind could be tuned. Only certain men had the potential. But to make a man into a Shield, the scientists first had to change him in certain ways. Permanent ways.”
“I don’t understand.”
Gryph swung around to confront her. He knew he probably looked dangerous and aggressive and ready for battle in that moment. He couldn’t help it. He was feeling exactly that way. This was the crunch. She had to accept what he told her next. If she didn’t—He refused to let himself dwell on that. He wished he could read her mind right now. Truly read it.
“They injected men who showed a strong potential for tuning into prisma with a chemical that slightly altered their genes. The result is a man who has problems taking certain drugs because they disrupt his system. The result is a man who can’t father a son unless he is fortunate enough to find a woman whose mind can resonate with his on at least a minimal level. He can’t father daughters at all. The result is a man who can tune into prisma crystal and reverse its natural vibrations so that it jams and is rendered harmless.”
“And you’re one of those men.”
“I’m one of them.” He drew a deep, steadying breath. “The scientists and medics on board my ancestors’ starship thought at first that the men they had altered genetically would be sterile. Obviously we aren’t or there wouldn’t be any of us left. But there aren’t many women with whom we can mate.”
“And you think I’m one of those women.”
“You are. You’re naturally empathic. You may be more than that. You may be slightly telepathic. I’m not sure and it doesn’t matter. The important part is that your mind can link with mine on a fundamental level. Using the prisma I was able to tune you into my own mental vibrations. You proved the tuning had worked the morning you opened my weapon kit. Only another mind resonating on the same frequency as my own could have done it.”
“I’m no telepath, Gryph. I’ve never had a telepathic experience in my life.”
He smiled faintly. “Until you met me. Our linking is beyond the normal parameters, Sariana.”
She flushed. “If you’re talking about what happens between us when we make love—”
“It isn’t just that. The link between us becomes strong in times of stress, too. How do you think I found you the night you slipped out of the Avylyn villa? And how do you think I found you yesterday at the fair?” He watched her deal with that for a moment. “And how do you think you got what you wanted from me last night?” he concluded softly. “Whatever you were before I met you, you’re more than empathic now that you’ve been linked to me through prisma. And you’re very strong. You can project and you can receive not only emotions felt during passion or danger, but you seem to be able to project and receive actual images.”
“No, I don’t think I do. It’s just that I have a vivid imagination,” she protested weakly.
He grinned in spite of himself. “That’s a load of dragon-pony manure. Or maybe a vivid imagination is part of the whole thing. I don’t know. All I know was that I was on the receiving end of what you were projecting last night and it wasn’t my imagination that was going wild.”
She got to her feet and walked down to the water’s edge, not looking at him. “This is all very complicated.”
“I know.”
“How did your ancestors save The Serendipity? How did they even happen to be on Windarra when the starships arrived?”
“The original Shields cleaned up Talis and the planet was colonized. In the battle to survive on Talis, much of our technology was lost, including the secrets for producing more Shields and the secrets of interstellar travel. But a few Shields found mates and to everyone’s shock, had sons. Fortunately, as it turned out. We never did rediscover the secret of creating more Shields. But when we got back into space we found out we still needed Shield talent. We were dependent on the ones who were descended from the original Shields.”
“You did get back into space.”
“Yes. We got back into space and when we did the Shields were needed once again to mop up the remaining planets of our solar system. And then faster, more sophisticated ships were designed. A decision was made to use the new technology to send exploration teams of Shields out beyond our star system to try to locate the source of the crystal ships. As long as they existed, they were a danger. My people decided they had to learn who or what had built them and where they came from. No trace of any living being has ever been found with the ships.”
Sariana picked up a few pebbles and tossed them out over the water. Gryph could see that the arc was all wrong but he decided this wasn’t the time to correct her pitching. The pebbles hit the water and sank without a single skip. She turned around to face him.
“Your ancestors, the ones who saved The Serendipity, formed one of the exploration teams, right?”
He nodded. “Right. They were tracking prisma to this planet when they picked up signals from The Serendipity and The Rendezvous. They didn’t know the people inside the ships were human. Not at first. There was the distinct possibility that the beings in the new starships were the ones who had created the prisma weapons. So my ancestors stalked yours and wound up in orbit around Windarra. When the first lightstorms hit The Serendipity and The Rendezvous, someone realized you weren’t the bad guys.”
“So the Shields came to the rescue.”
Gryph shrugged. “It was what Shields were created to do. But there was only one Shield ship. It couldn’t protect both of the incoming colony ships. The Shield team chose the one that seemed damaged the most by the initial assault and rode the storm down with it.” Gryph paused and then added soberly, “It was the worst lightstorm that had ever been encountered. Many Shields were killed and the ship was virtually destroyed. When it was all over, my ancestors were in the same shape as yours. Marooned on Windarra. No one on the home planet of Talis had any way of knowing where or how we had disappeared. As far as they were concerned we were missing in action. No one came looking for us.”
“It seems to me,” Sariana said softly, “that there was a major difference between the situation your ancestors faced and the one the colonists faced. The colonists, at least, had arrived at their intended destination. They had come here prepared to create a home world for themselves. Your people had no such intentio
n. They were truly shipwrecked.”
Gryph saw the understanding in her eyes and a rush of relief went through him. Her natural empathy was going to be his salvation. “Initially my ancestors assumed there would be no second generation of Shields. The odds were against finding suitable mates among this strange group of humans. They faced the fact that they would die in exile and there would be no offspring.”
“But some of the stranded Shields found wives among the First Generation colonists.”
“Yes. Your people were grateful to ours. But they were also bound by a very rigid social structure. If my people were to survive, they had to create a legitimate place for themselves within that structure.”
“Hence the First Generation Pact was negotiated.”
“And we have abided by the terms of the Pact,” he stated proudly.
“Tell me something. What makes the Avylyns’ precious cutter Shield business?” Sariana asked abruptly.
Startled by the change in subject, Gryph frowned. He wondered why she wasn’t asking him more detailed questions about his people. “The cutter wasn’t stolen by a rival jewelers’ clan, Sariana. And if someone didn’t need it to make prisma jewelry, there’s only one other use for it.”
“To cut prisma.”
“Exactly. That means another crystal ship has been found. But there is something else that bothers me even more than that.”
She gave him a curious glance. “What is that?”
“Everyone in the western provinces knows the danger of the crystal ships. The last thing any sane or even any crazy westerner would do is try to get into one on his own.” Gryph drew in a deep breath. “But it’s just barely possible an insane Shield might attempt it.”
Sariana’s eyes widened. “Why?”
“Because a Shield is the only one who would know that it’s theoretically possible to do something else besides jam the crystal frequencies and destroy the weapons on board the ships.”
“What else can be done, Gryph?”
“Some of my people have speculated that it’s just barely possible a Shield could manipulate the light frequencies of the crystal instead of jamming them. And if he could manipulate them, he might possibly be able to control the weapons.”
Sariana stared at him. “He could use them? Turn them against others?”
“It’s only a theory, Sariana. It’s never been attempted, at least as far as we know. Certainly it hasn’t been tried on Windarra. We Shields have been extremely careful to keep the theory to ourselves. No outsider has ever been told.”
“I’m an outsider, aren’t I?” she challenged.
“No,” Gryph said. “Not any longer. You’re a Shieldmate. My Shieldmate. You are entitled to know the secrets of my social class.”
“Even if I’d rather not know them?” She looked wistfully out across the river.
“You’re the kind of woman who ultimately prefers to face facts. You may waste a lot of energy trying to bend those facts to suit your fancy, but eventually you do face them. This secret I am telling you is a fact. And it’s a fact that a rogue Shield may have stolen the cutter because he’s discovered a crystal ship and has decided to see if he can get inside to control the power of the weapons for his own purposes.”
“Why haven’t you told anyone else about this?”
“I told Delek. He’s sending for backup support from the frontier provinces, but it will be a long time coming. I’m not sure we have that much time. He and I decided I’d better start the search for the ship now and let the others catch up with me.”
“You could ask for help from my people,” she pointed out stubbornly.
“Sariana,” he said as patiently as he could, “the other social classes must never know that such a thing as controlling the weapons is even theoretically possible for a Shield.”
“Why not?”
“Use your head! My people are a very small minority among yours. We’re tolerated because we have a history of having helped the colonists and because we’re useful as mercenaries and bandit hunters. We are also tolerated because we’ve always abided by the terms of the Pact. People trust us.”
“In other words, you have been tolerated because you are seen as loyal warriors, not a potential threat,” she concluded.
“What do you think would happen if it became known that a Shield might be able to use the power of the crystal ships to control everyone on this planet?”
Sariana took a long time mulling that one over. “I see your point,” she admitted finally. “You walk a narrow line, don’t you, Gryph? You must keep people in awe of you if you are to maintain your secrets, yet you can’t risk having the populace learn to fear you. If people knew how dangerous your kind could be, they might decide they would be safer without you around.”
“The system has worked reasonably well since the First Generation. The last thing any Shield wants is war between our class and the other classes.”
She nodded. “So now you have to hunt down this rogue Shield before he activates the crystal ship weapons you believe he’s found.”
“Or before some outsider discovers there is such a thing as a rogue Shield.”
“You think the ship is somewhere in this gorge?” Sariana asked.
He rubbed the back of his neck and took a couple of steps closer to her. She was being a little too businesslike about this whole thing, he decided. He couldn’t tell exactly how she was reacting behind that thoughtful facade. If she was experiencing any strong emotions she was rapidly learning how to conceal them from him. He wanted to pull her into his arms and prove to himself that she still wanted him in spite of everything he had just told her, but he had a hunch this wasn’t the time.
“According to the records, the last weapon ships discovered were found around here. The Shields thought they had cleaned out the area but it’s difficult to track prisma in this kind of country. Certain kinds of rock can get in the way of a Shield’s ability to focus on the light radiation prisma produces. Today I start hunting.”
“You’ve tracked weapon ships before?”
“No,” he admitted. “Not real ones. I told you, the last ship was found before I was born. But I’ve been trained to work prisma.”
“How do you do it?” she asked curiously.
He smiled wryly. “It’s a little like the first link with a Shieldmate. Except that there’s no passion involved. I use the lock on my weapon kit and sort of, well, tune myself, I guess you would say.”
“I see. You had better get busy then, hadn’t you?”
He narrowed his eyes and wondered again what the hell she was thinking. “Sariana?”
“Yes?” She turned toward him expectantly.
“Never mind. You’re right. I’d better get busy.”
He spent the afternoon seeking prisma as they cruised slowly through the awesome gorge. One hand on his lock, his mind concentrated to the point of pain, Gryph focused on the unique kind of disturbance a ship full of prisma weapons created. It wasn’t easy finding one of the small crystal ships, he had been told by experts from his father’s generation. It took time and patience.
The problem was he didn’t have a lot of either.
“Maybe your weapon kit lock isn’t strong enough to do the job under the kind of conditions you’re encountering in this gorge,” Sariana suggested that evening as they finished setting up camp.
“Maybe.” Gryph sat gazing into the fire and wondered what he was going to do if he couldn’t locate the weapon ship. “I wish I knew how much time I’ve got to track it. Whoever took that cutter could be getting into the ship right now. I should have brought Delek with me instead of sending him for help.”
“Why?”
“Because two Shields could cover more territory than one working alone.”
Sariana stroked the scarlet-toe curled in her lap. She was eyeing his weapon kit
. “Something about that kit of yours has interested me from the beginning.”
His mouth tilted. “I remember the night you took it off me. It fascinated you.
“I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to examine it more closely. Unfortunately, you woke up before I could look inside.”
“You wouldn’t have been able to open it at that point. You had to be tuned to it by me. That’s what happened the night we went to bed together the first time. The next morning you were able to open it and prove you were my—” he broke off before he said wife.
“And I haven’t wanted to touch it since,” she said wryly. “But I find I’m curious about it again tonight.”
Gryph watched her closely for a long while. “You want to open the kit?”
She got up and put the lizard on her shoulder. Then she circled the fire and sat down beside him.
Gryph slowly unsnapped the kit and handed it to her. He felt an odd tingling sensation when she took it from him. She put the kit in her lap and examined it intently.
Gryph experienced another wave of the tingling sensation. He shook his head to clear it.
Sariana touched the lock, her silvered nails moving lightly over it.
Gryph was suddenly filled with a strange urgency. He was getting odd impressions in his head, the kind of filtered light he saw when he had first learned to work prisma.
Sariana stroked the lock with a lover’s touch and Gryph drew a deep breath. He reached for her free hand.
“Think of light,” he whispered. “Think of light in all its different colors. Think of a beam of white light broken out into a hundred million rays, each slightly different than the one next to it. Follow the spectrum into the range where the colors have no names. Look at the colors you can’t see with your eyes. You can see them with your mind. Do you understand?”
“I don’t know. I think so.” Her voice shook.
“Now look for the colors in that range that have a certain pulse.” Gryph realized he was holding onto Sariana with a savage grip.