Paw-Prints Of The Gods (50 page)

“Ow!” screamed
Artorius. “That hurt!”

“I’ll rip off both
your ears if you don’t get a move on!”

Nana stopped shrieking
and tugged Ravana’s arm. Stripy scooped the electric pet from the
floor and hugged it tight, not seeming to mind that the cat was
more interested in the half-eaten shreds of cambot between its
claws. Ravana realised the circling rods moved much more rapidly
than before and caught the anxiety in the greys’ behaviour.

“Fwack fwack,” urged
Stripy. “Fwack fwack.”

“Thraak thraak,”
reiterated Nana.

Kedesh caught the
girl’s glance and nodded. “Time to declare, I think.”

“Really?” Ravana
retorted scornfully. “Back on my side, are you?”

“I never left it! I
was batting for you, all the way.”

“zz-iin-yyoouur-heeaad-bee-iit-zz!” chanted the clones.
“zz-oopeen-thee-doooor-zz!”

“No!” cried Athene.
“Don’t listen to those brain-washed cyber-boneheads!”

Ravana approached the
rods and watched them sweep from right to left before her, each
trailing a faint blue mist. The rotating cage soared to the distant
ceiling and her blood ran cold at the thought they were somehow
trapped inside. She tentatively raised her right hand and pushed
her fingers through the luminous vapour swirling between the moving
rods.

Her father looked
nervous. “Be careful!” he urged.

“My hand goes right
through the light,” Ravana said, relieved. “There was me thinking
it was some sort of force... Ow!”

She reeled in agony as
the next rod swept up, caught her wrist and released a surge of
static into her weak arm. The shock sent her spinning backwards and
with a shriek she crashed to the floor like a wounded ballerina.
The green globe remained tight in her grasp as she fell and in the
midst of her pain she was convinced it momentarily flickered with
miniature starlight. She landed at Kedesh’s feet, who like Artorius
had gone pale.

“Ravana!” cried
Quirinus. He rushed to her side. “Are you okay?”

“zz-oopeen-thee-doooor-zz!” the clones shrieked again.
“zz-oopeen-thee-doooor-zz!”

“Better do as the
lizard men say,” sneered Jizo. “They eat people like you.”

“You’d make a
veritable banquet, my fat pickled friend,” growled Athene.

Ravana climbed to her
feet, rubbed her aching arm and froze. Jizo looked ready to hit her
back to the floor, but it was something else that had caught the
girl’s eye.

The dark swirling
surface of the pool bubbled and churned like the brew of a witch’s
cauldron. As Ravana stared, the shattered cocoon tilted and slid
aside, wallowing on a wave that rose from the depths. There was a
hiss of liquid, then all of a sudden a huge glistening mass of
smooth skin and spindly legs erupted from the pool.

Artorius screamed.
Ravana, rooted to the spot in terror, did likewise. The egg-shaped
mass rising before them had eight insect-like legs, emerging from
the top to bend downwards into the pool. Several dreadful moments
passed before Ravana realised what she feared to be a giant spider
was nothing of the sort. Standing twice her height, with a mottled
green surface streaked with veins, it was like no living thing she
had ever seen.

The rising hulk
shuddered to a halt. An oval aperture broke open in the side,
revealing a space within that glowed with a faint pink light.
Startled, Ravana stared as what looked like a tongue appeared below
the aperture and rolled across the pool towards them. She
remembered Govannon’s description of what he had seen on his
previous visit and gazed in wonder at the multi-limbed cocoon. The
incredible thought struck her that it was some sort of vehicle,
conjured from the depths to replace the one crumbled to dust.

“Thraak,” Nana
confirmed solemnly. “Thraak thraak.”

“Fwack fwack,” added
Stripy.

Tears gathered in
Ravana’s eyes. She did not need her implant translator to tell her
that the greys had come to say goodbye. It was then she saw Jones,
her childhood electric pet she had once called Fluffy, snug and
content in Stripy’s arms. Her first reaction was a sharp pang of
panic at the thought of having her erratic mechanical companion of
ten years taken away. Yet behind this was the acceptance it was
time to break this last link with childhood. Ravana had not felt
the same way about the cat since seeing the infestation of tendrils
within and would not miss the reminder of what the silver lines in
her own scars might really be. The beautiful expression upon
Stripy’s face told her the moment was right for her furry electric
friend to start an adventure all of its own.

“Goodbye, my friends,”
she said sadly. “Take good care of Jones for me.”

Artorius started
crying. “I don’t want them to go!”

The cyberclones moved
to stand either side of Jizo, near the dead spider on the far side
of the churning pool. Ravana thought the nurse looked far too smug
for her own good.

“zz-thee-booyy-iis-thee-oonee-zz,” declared Dhanus.
“zz-thee-oold-oonees-haavee-doonee-hiis-biiddiing-zz.
zz-iit-iis-tiimee-too-weelcoomee-oouur-saaviioouurs-zz!”

“zz-beeliieeveers-uuniitee-aas-oonee-zz!” Simha cried fiercely.

“Thraak thraak!”
retorted Nana.

The grey reached out
and placed a tender hand upon Ravana’s arm. Before the girl could
respond, Nana and Stripy turned and hastened across the tongue-like
walkway to the cocoon. Her mind whirling, Ravana watched them
clamber through the oval opening and settle into what looked like
seats. Her eyes widened as the skin of the strange cocoon became a
web of glowing threads, brought to life by the presence of the
greys.

Athene stomped towards
the oval opening and glowered. Jizo turned her perturbed grimace
from the greys and issued a hushed command to the cyberclones.
Simha and Dhanus immediately came towards Ravana and Artorius from
opposite sides of the pool, their sinister silhouettes moving like
phantoms before the accelerating blue blur of the rods. Ravana
caught Kedesh’s expression and knew the woman was equally at a loss
as to what Nana, Stripy or the Dhusarians planned to do next. The
greys’ earlier warning made it clear they could not remain within
the circle but Ravana felt trapped.

“This doesn’t feel
right,” growled Jizo. “Your grey friends should not be here!”

The clones stepped
nearer. Ravana saw the watcher moping near the cocoon and the
fateful lines of the
Isa-Sastra
popped into her head.

“Don’t you see?” she
remarked, suddenly inspired. She gave the nurse her best earnest
look. “All around us, paw-prints of the gods!”

“How the hell did you
work that out?” asked Kedesh, taken aback.

“She knows nothing!”
spat Athene. “This is no game for mortals!”

Ravana cast a wary eye
at Kedesh. She had not forgotten the mention of watchers in the
so-called prophecy and wondered if her improvised distraction had
hit upon a fundamental truth. The speeding rods told her to leave
the theological debate for later. Stripy and Nana sat busily waving
their arms around inside the cocoon, the cat on the younger grey’s
lap. Ravana imagined them in an aircraft cockpit, setting controls
for departure.

“The watchers are
stirring!” she declared. Her father stared opened-mouthed at his
daughter’s defiant display. “Their paw-prints have led us to this
place. They are here!”

With a dramatic
flourish, Ravana pointed to the cat just visible through the
cocoon’s oval door. Her former pet looked up and gave a plaintive
meow.

There was a timeless
pause. An incredulous Jizo approached the edge of the pool and
stared at the greys and their adopted electric pet. Ravana bundled
Artorius towards the edge of the circle and peered into the groove
left by the moving rods. The crevasse was narrow but deep and
easily capable of breaking a misplaced ankle. The rods zoomed past
so rapidly they made whooshing sounds as each went by. They were
almost out of time.

“Behold!” cried
Ravana, as Jizo turned back. “The greys have been chosen to
serve!”

“The cat?” Jizo gave a
drunken suspicious leer. “A watcher?”

Kedesh caught the
glint in Ravana’s eye. “Oh, yes. That’s a watcher all right.”

Stripy picked up the
cat and looked it in the face. “Fwack fwack!”

“What?” shrieked
Athene. “That mangy bag of wires is nothing like me!”

“That rubbish about
alien cat gods is real?” asked Quirinus.

“Rubbish?” The enraged
look of disgust upon the watcher’s face was almost comical, not
that anyone else but Ravana and Kedesh could see it. “How dare
you!”

The cyberclone monks
turned to the cocoon and raised their hands to the greys. Ravana
flinched as a wave of pain crashed through her head. To her
surprise, the torrent of sensations bleeding from her implant
carried a fear not entirely her own. The electric pet, whose AI
chip contained brain cells cloned from those harvested from greys,
had been there at the birth of Taranis’ disciples, who in turn had
recognised the fragment of alien within. Yet the two now before her
accepted her bluff. Incredibly, they were scared of her cat.

“zz-paawn-too-waatcheers-aand-maasteers-zz,” cried Dhanus, looking
at Stripy.

“zz-waatcheers-too-hiistooryy-stiir-zz!” Simha screeched.

“zz-paaw-priints-oof-thee-goods-zz!” rasped Dhanus.

“No it’s not!” cried
Athene, exasperated. “It’s just a silly children’s toy!”

The floor of the
chamber shook again and Ravana grabbed Artorius in alarm. Beneath
their feet, the ground was softening into quicksand. Kedesh
hurriedly drew her pistol, limped to the whirling rods and with a
sudden leap was through a gap and out of the circle. Before either
Lilith or Dagan could move, Kedesh had them in her sights and was
ordering them to drop their own guns. Artorius tugged Ravana’s arm
and reached out to the greys.

“Nana and Stripy!” he
wailed. “Don’t leave me!”

“Get out of there!”
called Kedesh. “Now!”

“zz-waatcheers-aand-maasteers-zz!” cried Dhanus.
“zz-thee-tiimee-iis-neeaar-zz!”

Quirinus scooped
Artorius into his arms and lunged towards the rods. The boy barely
had time for a surprised yelp before they were through to the other
side. Ravana tried to follow, but her boots had sunk into the floor
and she found herself trapped. Jizo plucked herself free from the
soft ground and lurched unsteadily towards her.

“What’s the matter?”
sneered Jizo. “Trapped like a fly in a spider’s web?”

“Stay away from me!”
Ravana yelled.

The cocoon’s walkway
tongue snapped back, the oval squeezed shut and the bobbing heads
of the greys were lost from sight. Jizo lunged to grab one of the
spindly legs and stumbled upon the quivering ground. Within the
rods, the floor was liquefying and puffing spurts of gas like tiny
volcanoes. The pool continued to churn, only now its dark contents
were being dragged around by the rods into the beginnings of a
whirlpool.

Athene watched
Ravana’s panic-stricken struggles with glee. In a blink of an eye,
the watcher metamorphosed into an owl-shaped blur and fluttered to
the top of the cocoon, where she once again took human form,
looking more like a deranged goddess than ever. The rods spun ever
faster, filling the air with a loud eerie humming. Ravana realised
Athene had finally revealed herself to all. Every stare of
amazement in the chamber was turned her way.

“You win today!” cried
Athene. “But the game is not over!”

“Where the hell did
she come from?” cried Quirinus, beyond the whirling rods.

“It doesn’t matter!”
Ravana snapped. “I’m stuck! Get me out of here!”

Kedesh immediately
leapt back through the rods and came to her side. Ravana felt an
arm pulling at her waist, then she was free and being dragged past
the whirring columns. As she picked herself up from the floor at
Artorius’ and Quirinus’ feet, she saw her father had retrieved the
agents’ stolen guns and had them trained upon a cowering Lilith and
Dagan.

“Ravana!” Quirinus
exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

“Just about,” she
said, wincing. She had fallen on her weak arm. “Kedesh, thank
you.”

“I owed you one,”
Kedesh replied. “That was a particularly sticky wicket.”

An anguished scream
drew their attention back to the spinning rods. Jizo stood within,
her arm and forehead covered in blood from where she tried to
follow but misjudged the leap. The clones resumed their chants and
paced within the circular blue glow. Above, the ethereal spectre of
the watcher loomed large through the gaps of the whizzing rods.

“You have no idea what
you have unleashed!” Athene cried. “Your masters awake!”

Something strange was
happening to the chamber floor within the circle. The ground sank
into a funnel, drawing the cocoon into the centre. Jizo and the
clones scrabbled for a foothold at the edge, perilously close to
the speeding rods. Artorius clutched Ravana’s hand and with his
other gave a wave of wounded digits.

“Goodbye Stripy,” he
said sadly. There were tears in his eyes. “Goodbye Nana.”

Ravana gasped. The
funnel suddenly opened upon the mind-twisting spectacle of a
negative universe. Tiny dark stars lay strewn across
blindingly-white space in a reality-warping vision of infinity. The
circle had become a doorway, a sublime classical portico into a
grand corridor of inverse space-time, incomparable to the fleeting
ragged wormhole of an ED drive. The chamber basked in the light of
alien suns, at the centre of which sat the greys’ mysterious
chariot, its spindly legs gripping the mouth of the funnel like the
runners of a sleigh. It was alien engineering beyond comprehension
and truly beautiful to behold.

“My word,” whispered
Kedesh. “It’s full of stars! Err... black ones.”

“An extra-dimensional
egg,” Quirinus murmured. “Now I’ve seen everything.”