of us to speak until he had tended us. This time I gratefully swallowed the disgusting medicine he produced, knowing that it would speed my recovery, and hopefully allow my fractured mind to start to make some sense of all that happened, back in the blackness. I even managed to connive a little extra of the special medicine from Rick, thoughts of Doug uppermost in my mind. Now, I just needed Zorax to teach me how to get it through the hydroport…
At the Queen’s insistence, I allowed Rashind, The Chief Healer, to check me over also. I wasn’t keen to permit the examination. I don’t know him, and the circle of people I trusted was really, really small. Especially now. But he was very gentle, and as I watched him work, checking me over and talking softly to me, I was struck by what a steady soul he was. I decided I liked him. I was willing to reserve trust for another time, but he at least passed the first hurdle.
Relief that it was over still pulsed through me, as solid and real as the fish of life.
But I was looking forward to some answers.
“What is it?” The Queen was turning the box over in her hands as she sat in front of us, a picture of relief and puzzlement. None of us was sure who should answer. None of us knew.
I was glad Rick was here for the de-brief, and that he started to tell the tale. I looked to him now for an answer to Imd’s question.
It is nothing, just a receptacle.
Imd wanted more. Then, how?
Rick squeaked a confused click. It held something. Some kind of device. Something very sophisticated from what Rania and Lecanora have been telling me.
Imd pressed. What do you think it was, Defender of Aegira?
Rick puffed up at the affection, as Imd had intended. My best guess is that it uses an EMP. Electro-magnetic pulse. Probably crossed with micro-nuclear technology, which your energy guys have been experimenting with for a while. Making smaller, more efficient, less wasteful power sources. But the neat part is the sonar activation. It seemed to respond to a pre-programmed sound trigger, in this case a single, particular note.
Imd continued. But how did it steal the voices, friend?
Rick shook his dignified dolphin head, and for the first time I really bought that he was now a member of the High Council of Dolphins. He really looked the part, there in the Queen’s chambers, answering her questions with such poise.
I do not know. We do not know. But perhaps they took Imogen’s voice, and Lecanora’s, with some kind of amplified recording system. And they used the voices to magnify the EMP, make it into a weapon, silent and yet made of concentrated sound. I can only guess that it’s a prototype, judging by how the Princess described the malfunction, the effect it had on Rila.
Mom entered the fray, her frown indicating concern at something she’d just heard.
A prototype? But we have Kraken now.
Rick inclined his head again, in that cool way that only dolphins and Indians from the sub-continent can pull off with such panache. It would be nice to think he is the end of this.
Mom was not appeased. But you don’t?
Rick turned to me. What do you think, babe?
I thought about Rila’s words, her talk of pursuit of a higher end, and I wondered whether those higher ends were really just Kraken, or whether there was more.
I don’t know. But something tells me that it’s not over yet.
I wanted it to be over. I wanted the world to be safe. May the Goddess help me, I wanted to be safe. But I knew better than anyone that wanting it don’t make it so. The visions… I’ve sensed that others will come into play, before this is done, before Aegira knows peace.
Mom was nodding her head thoughtfully. I, also, cannot believe that Kraken is the apex of this. And I know much of him, and the things of which he is capable. She looked at me, hesitating, and at Lecanora, and in the look was the shadow of the conversation we had to have.
We all reflected for a moment on Kraken, and I thought about how hard this must be for Mom, who had been his lover. I didn’t know much; only that Kraken had been seized, and was even now being questioned using a special serum extracted from lighsa weed. A truth serum.