The Stars Blue Yonder (33 page)

“Negotiate,” the Flying Doctor said.

A thin fountain of confidence welled up in him, tiny but nourishing. “You control the Wondjina network. You control that silver ouroboros you used to follow me around without having to use Spheres. But you can't step outside it. Wherever and whenever you go, you're tied to it.”

The Roon was listening.

“I can give you the blue one,” Myell said. “I can teach you how to use it.”

Cappaletto said, “Son of a bitch.”

Myell deliberately ignored him.

“You don't how to control it,” the Flying Doctor said. “Such a human thing, to be so blind.”

“I know how to control it.” Myell pressed on. “I will give it as a gift. But not to you.”

The Flying Doctor bared its razor-sharp teeth. Fetid air swelled past them, filled with rot.

“I'll give it to your boss,” Myell proposed.

Blurriness again.

Myell was still trapped in one of the swaying upright cages. He knew that much. Cappaletto had stopped talking some time ago and wouldn't respond to Myell's questions. The vast chamber had gone dark and the river across the overhead was red with blood.

He heard a murmur. Gayle, near his feet. Her face down and her spine bent in supplication. He couldn't see her lips moving but the words carried softly.

“Inscribe,” she was saying. “The ouroboros is yours.”

“Did you start me on this trip?” he asked. “Were you the one who came to me?”

A slight shake of her head. Her face was down, her expression hidden. “Someone else. But we witnessed.”

Because only the gods could change history, he reminded himself.

“You have to let us go, Anna,” he said.

If possible, she pressed herself even closer to the floor.

Across the chamber, a hundred synchronized drums beat out a one-two-three beat and went silent. Myell twisted and tried to see, but all was darkness there.

“Please,” he said. “You can come with us.”

Again she shook her head. He tried to imagine how terrified she was, how much in danger, but it was hard to think through his own fear and desperation. Before he could find any more arguments she crawled off into the shadows. Birds squawked in alarm but more thumps on the drums—one-two-three-four—silenced them.

Something small glinted on the floor, exactly where Anna had left it. A tiny sharp knife.

Out of reach. Utterly useless.

He tried anyway. Bent his knees against the bars, squeezed his fingers through, groped blindly. The tips of his fingers were far enough away that they might as well have been on the other side of the chamber.

A moment later, the silver light over Myell's head went out and the cage door swung open.

It happened too fast for him to catch himself. Instead he tumbled out clumsily and heavily, bones like lead. Only a last-minute instinctive turn of his head kept him from smashing his face on the floor. The shock of impact rattled through him as thick as a shock wave. His hands and arms shook as he forced himself to his knees and groped for the knife.

Cappaletto was still imprisoned in his cage. His eyes were mere slits, but the pupils were tracking Myell.

“You can't,” Cappaletto said hoarsely. “Don't give them the ring.”

“I'm not going to,” Myell said.

Instead he took the knife in his hand and pressed the tip against his arm. His fingers were shaking so hard he dropped it. Already the ring was making its way toward him, pushing away his air. He had only seconds until it flashed. He groped for the knife, grabbed it. Dragged the tip through flesh to make large awkward letters. A short word, the only one he had time for.

“What the hell?” Cappaletto demanded.

Tiny beads of blood rose up like tears. Across the chamber, mammoth
doors began to swing open. A retinue was arriving. The drums began beating in a steady thunder that sent all the animals squawking and swinging wildly.

Cappaletto lifted his head. “You're too late—”

The letters finished, Myell hurled himself forward and grabbed Cappaletto's cage.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

All the tea was gone. Somewhere a church bell was ringing, loud and insistent. The good people of colonial Sydney passed outside Darling's windows by foot and on horse and by carriage, and strolled through Hyde Park, and went about their morning business. Jodenny thought everything in this room was a dream, and the world beyond an illusion. All she could focus on was Myell and Gayle's chamber of horrors.

A knock on the study door made Darling say, “Just one moment, Maude.” To Jodenny she added, “She'll be nagging me about my lunch appointment. It's a business meeting that can't be avoided.”

The idea that Darling might soon abandon the story for some meeting made Jodenny's stomach churn. She tried to speak, couldn't get the words out, tried again. “They escaped?”

“Of course.”

Jodenny gripped the armchair tightly. “But what happened next?”

“I'm not sure,” Darling said. “The blue ring took them, yes. Eventually it took them back to my base. Obviously my crew and I treated them with distrust, and had no memory of any previous visit. Then Chief Myell told us his story and convinced us to come with him or die at the hands of the Roon. He and Chief Cappaletto brought us here, saving our lives.”

“He's here?” Jodenny demanded.

Another knock.

“One moment, Maude!” Darling said, louder than before. “No, Commander. He's not here. Not now. Remember, this was thirty years ago from my perspective. I haven't seen either of them since. Four of us from the future settled here and have done reasonably well with our lives. But when I met Sam, I recognized his name. And, of course, yours. Chief Myell spoke highly and well of you.”

A third knock, and then the side door opened. Maude said, “Madam, you must not be tardy.”

Lady Darling stood up with a cross expression. “Yes, Maude. I know. The entire industry of charity in New South Wales will grind to a halt if I'm late.” To Jodenny she added, “It's for the hospital. They have no nurses here, no comprehensive system of care. We're trying to change that. Won't you come back and see me tomorrow morning? We can further this discussion.”

Still dazed from course of the conversation, Jodenny stood up. Her balance felt off, though her feet were flat on the floor. Junior, who'd been quiet for most of the morning, shifted around and poked Jodenny's kidneys with a foot or a fist.

“I'll be happy to,” Jodenny said, but only got as far as the door before a question made her turn back. “Why doesn't he want me to know?”

Lady Darling had turned her attention to a sheaf of papers that Maude had brought in. “Hmm?”

“Sam. Why didn't he want me to learn this from you?”

A pause. Lady Darling glanced back down at the papers. The church bells had stopped, but Jodenny's ears were ringing.

“He doesn't want you to think about Chief Myell,” Lady Darling
finally said. “His heart is large, but not large enough for all three of you.”

Jodenny made her way back through the hotel's corridors to the lobby and the hot, dusty street outside. She didn't remember much of the walk back to Lower Fort Street, or even how long it took her. The city swirled around her with noise and color and sewage, the dogs and goats wandering freely, the ex-convicts and immigrants all building up and out, transforming the harsh land into civilization. She saw bloody carcasses hanging in the windows of the butcher shops, dark mottled meat covered with flies. She passed urchins sitting on doorsteps or playing in the streets, with their thin faces and crooked teeth and threadbare clothes. By the time she saw Lady Scott's house in front of her, she had sweated through her dress, and blisters covered her heels. Lilly met her at the door, all concerned.

“We thought you were lost, ma'am!” she said. “The Captain and Tulip, they're out looking for you. Sarah said you were going to see the sights but that was hours and hours ago!”

“I'm fine,” Jodenny said. Just looking at the steep staircase made her dizzy, though, so she sat on the sofa in the front parlor. The urge to lie down struck her as an extremely good idea, and the next thing she knew, Lilly was putting a cold wet cloth on her forehead and saying, “Sarah, go find the Captain.”

“No,” Jodenny murmured. The very last person she wanted to see was Osherman. Yet the next time she opened her eyes he was there, leaning over the sofa with his fingers taking her pulse.

“Stop it,” she sat, batting him away.

Osherman didn't move. “Stay still. You fainted.”

“I did not,” she said.

Still, she didn't have the strength to sit up or push him away. Jodenny lay quietly for a few more minutes while Lilly fetched more cold cloths. Someone had undone the collars of her dress, which was a nice gesture. Her feet were up on a pillow and Sarah was fanning her with a large hand fan.

“All right, enough fussing,” she finally growled. “I just walked too far, that's all.”

“Where did you go?” Osherman asked.

Jodenny sat up, waving off their helping hands. “The museum. The park. Nowhere special. It was good exercise.”

Osherman frowned. “It was too much exercise.”

“I'll decide what's too much exercise,” she retorted.

“Didn't you take a parasol?”

Jodenny blinked at her hands. “I must have dropped it.”

“Dropped it,” Osherman repeated. He shook his head. “Let's get you upstairs. You can rest more comfortably there.”

It was true that she felt more comfortable once she'd shed the dress, and it was easy to slip off to sleep once the curtains had been drawn against the bright sun. Still, the room was hot and she missed air-conditioning with every ounce of her being. When she woke from the nap it was night, and Osherman was reading in the corner chair by the light of a lantern.

“She lied,” Jodenny said.

“Hmm?” Osherman put his book aside and stretched his arms in front of him. He looked tired. “Who lied?”

Jodenny rubbed her eyes with her hand. “No one. I was dreaming.”

“About who?”

She didn't answer. There was no easy way to tell him that Darling had been in her dream, and in fact no compelling reason to tell him at all. She sat up, happy to discover that her head didn't spin.

“You really overexerted yourself today,” Osherman said. “You do that, and you could endanger the baby.”

Perhaps he didn't mean to sound so condescending, but Jodenny certainly interpreted it that way. “Thanks for the medical advice, but she's not your baby.”

That last part slipped out before she could stop herself. Osherman blinked, surprised. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

“I know she's not,” he said. “I'm not trying to take Chief Myell's place.”

“You couldn't.”

“I know,” he insisted.

Jodenny groped for the glass of water someone had left on the bedside table. The water tasted lukewarm but soothed her dry throat.

“I can't take his place,” Osherman repeated, “but I can try to repay the
debt, Jodenny. He gave me my life back. The least I can do is look after his wife and child.”

“How did he save your life?” she demanded.

Abruptly he turned his attention to his shoes, and made to undo the laces. His fingers were long and strong, but now they were shaking.

“He yanked me out of Providence,” Osherman replied. “If he'd left me there, I'd still be the gibbering town idiot. The one everyone was afraid of, the one who couldn't be trusted around sharp knives or small children. The monster.”

Jodenny put the water glass down so abruptly that it clanged against the wooden tabletop. “You were not the town idiot.”

“For months and months I was the fool.” His voice was low and angry. “You think I didn't know how people talked, what they said about me? Dangerous. Psychotic.”

“They were wrong.”

“They weren't wrong. I was dangerous. Because of the fucking Roon. You were the only thing—the only solitary damned thing—keeping me sane. And then Chief Myell showed up. Next thing I know I'm in the infirmary on the
Confident
and they cured me. The miracles of modern medicine. So who do I have to thank for that?”

“You don't sound particularly grateful,” she observed.

He wrenched off his left shoe and set to work savagely unlacing the other one. “Your husband. That's who. Who, if I'd listened to the first time around, would have saved me from the damned Roon in the first place. Go through the Child Sphere, he said. Both of you did. You begged me come with you. And I was so smart, I said no. I was going to get home on my own.”

The leather laces in his hands broke off. He threw them into the corner and pulled off his shoe, only to throw the shoe after the laces.

Jodenny decided silence was the best option.

Osherman gazed after the shoe bleakly. “Now I'm here. Stranded in medieval Australia. You're pregnant and who's going to take care of you, if I don't? Like I should have from the beginning, on the
Yangtze
, and spared you all of this.”

From out in the hall there was the sound of someone coming up the
stairs. The footsteps continued past Jodenny's room to Lady Scott's room. Jodenny listened for the snick of the bedroom door closing, unwilling to have this conversation when there might be eavesdroppers.

Jodenny said, carefully, “I'm not your responsibility, Sam. And no matter how much you regret it, you can't change the past.”

“No, I can't.” Osherman rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. “I can't. Can't change how you feel about him or about me. But I know that in our original timeline we married and had our own children, and I think it can happen here, too. If you let it. I want you to marry me, for real. Here and now. You loved me once and you could love me again.”