to ask for help.”
“They will take this for themselves!” Poatas said, anguished. “We will lose it!”
“The Oct have already half taken it,” Droffo said.
“They are here but they do not control,” Poatas said, sounding defensive.
“I think they could control if they wished,” Droffo insisted.
“Well, they do not!” Poatas hissed. “We work with them. They offer us that.”
“They have little choice,” Leratiy told Oramen. “They fear what the Nariscene judgement would be of their actions. Whose judgement would the Morthanveld fear?”
“Their peers among the Optimae, I imagine,” Oramen said.
“Who can do nothing, only register their so-civilised disapproval,” Leratiy said contemptuously. “That is without point.”
“They might at least know what it is we are dealing with,” Oramen suggested.
“We do!” Poatas said, almost wailing.
“We may not have any more time,” Leratiy said. “The Oct have no interest in telling anyone else what’s happening here; however, the news will out soon enough, and then the Nariscene or indeed the Morthanveld may well come calling. Meanwhile,” the senior technician said, glancing at Poatas, who seemed almost to be trying to climb out of his skin, “I agree with my colleague, sir; we must move with all possible speed.”
“We must!” Poatas shouted.
“Calm yourself, Poatas,” Leratiy said. “We can throw no more men at the three other cubes without the extra just getting in the way of those who already know what they’re doing.”
“Three cubes?” Oramen asked.
“Our Nameless one insists that its memories and, perhaps, a few other faculties lie in three specific cubes out of the ten black objects we know about, sir,” Leratiy said. “It has identified them. We are preparing to bring them here, to it.”
“It must be done, and quickly!” Poatas insisted. “While we still have time!”
Oramen looked at the others. “Is this wise?” he asked. There were some concerned looks but nobody seemed prepared to identify such actions as unwise. He looked back at Leratiy. “I was not informed of this.”
“Time, again, sir,” Senior Technician Leratiy said, smiling and sounding both regretful and reasonable. “Of course you will be informed of everything, but this was, in my judgement, a scientific matter which had to be arranged with all possible haste. Also, knowing something of the situation pertaining outside this place – I mean, in effect, between you and Regent tyl Loesp – we did not want to add to your burden of cares before any physical movement of the cubes had actually taken place. You were always, sir – but of course – going to be informed of our intentions once the moves were ready to be made.”
“And when will this happen?” Oramen asked. “When will they be ready?”
Leratiy took out his watch. “The first in about six hours’ time, sir. The second in eighteen to twenty hours, the last one a few hours after that.”
“The Oct press us to do so, sir,” Poatas said, addressing Oramen but glancing sullenly at the senior technician. “They offer to help with the manoeuvring. We might move faster still if we’d only let them.”
“I disagree,” Leratiy said. “We should move the cubes ourselves.”
“If we slip, they will insist,” Poatas said.
Leratiy frowned. “We shall not slip.”
A messenger arrived and passed a note to Droffo, who presented it to Oramen. “Our furthest airborne scouts report an army moving towards us, gentlemen, from Rasselle,” Oramen told them. “They will not be here for another week or more, travelling by road. So, we have that time.”
“Well, army or meltwater, we must have our result before we are inundated,” Poatas said.
“Dubrile,” Oramen said to his guard captain, “would this be a better place to defend than my carriages at the Settlement?” He nodded to indicate the great chamber they stood within.
“Most definitely, sir,” Dubrile replied. He looked at the massed Oct. “However—”
“Then I shall pitch my tent with our allies the Oct,” Oramen said, addressing all. “I stay here.” He smiled at Neguste. “Mr Puibive, see that everything necessary is brought, would you?”
Neguste looked delighted. Probably at being called “Mister”. “Certainly, sir!”
It was a quiet time in the chamber, at the end of another long shift. Most of the lights had been turned off, leaving the whole huge space seeming even greater in extent than it appeared when lit. The Oct were taking turns to return to their ships for whatever reasons occupied them, but still over nine out of ten of them remained in the places they had occupied when Oramen had first seen them, arranged in neat concentric circles of blue bodies and red limbs, all perfectly still,