Pham Nuwen laughed softly, "Yours was certainly the lesser error. I'm still trying to figure out where I went wrong, and… I don't think I have time now to learn."
He looked back at the sea. After a moment, Ravna stood and stepped toward him. Up close, his stare looked glassy. "What's wrong?" Damn you, Old One. If you're going to abandon him, don't do it in pieces!
"You're the great expert on Transcendent Powers, eh?"
More sarcasm. "Well — "
"Do the big boys have wars?"
Ravna shrugged. "You can find rumors of everything. We think there's conflict, but something too subtle to call war."
"You're pretty much right. There is struggle, but it has more angles than anything down here. The benefits of cooperation are normally so great that… That's part of the reason I didn't take the Perversion seriously. Besides, the creature is pitiful: a wimpy cur that fouls its own den. Even if it wanted to kill other Powers, something like that never could. Not in a billion years…"
Blueshell rolled up beside them. "Who is this, my lady?"
It was the sort of Riderish conversation-stopper that she was only just getting used to. If Blueshell would just get in synch with his skrode memory, he'd know. Then the question truly hit her. Who is this? She glanced at her dataset. It was showing transceiver status, had been ever since Pham Nuwen arrived. And… by the Powers, three transceivers had been grabbed by a single customer!
She took a quick step backwards. "You!"
"Me! Face to face once more, Ravna." The leer was a parody of Pham's self-assured smile. "Sorry I can't be charming tonight." He slapped his chest awkwardly. "I'm using this thing's underlying instincts… I'm too busy trying to stay alive."
There was drool coming down his chin. Pham's eyes would focus on her and then drift.
"What are you doing to Pham!"
The Emissary Device stepped toward her, stumbled. "Making room," came Pham Nuwen's voice.
Ravna spoke Grondr's phone code. There was no response.
The Emissary Device shook its head. "Vrinimi Org is very busy right now, trying to convince me to get off their equipment, trying to screw up their courage and force me off. They don't believe what I'm telling them" He laughed, a quick choking sound. "Doesn't matter. I see now that the attack here was just a deadly diversion… How about that, Little Ravna? See, the Blight is not a Class Two perversion. In the time I have left, I can only guess what it is… Something very old, very big. Whatever it is, I'm being eaten alive."
Blueshell and Greenstalk had rolled close to Ravna. Their fronds made faint skritching noises. Some thousands of light-years away, well into the Transcend, a Power was fighting for its life. And all they saw of it was one man turned into a slobbering lunatic.
"So that's my apology, Little Ravna. Helping you probably wouldn't have saved me." His voice strangled on itself, and he took a gasping breath. "But helping you now will be a measure of — vengeance is a motive you would understand. I've called your ship down. If you move fast and don't use agrav, you may survive the next hour."
Blueshell's voice was timid and blustery at the same time. "Survive? Only a conventional attack could work down here, and there is no sign of one."
A maniac surrounded by the soft, quiet night. Ravna's dataset showed nothing strange except for the diversion of bandwidth to Old One.
Pham Nuwen made a coughing laugh. "Oh, it's conventional enough, but very clever. A few grams of replicant disorder, wafted in over weeks. It's blossoming now, timed with the attack you see… The growth will die in a matter of hours, after it kills all of Relay's precious High automation… Ravna! Take the ship, or die in the next thousand seconds. Take the ship. If you survive, go to the Bottom. Get the…" the Emissary Device pulled itself straighter, and smiled its greenish smile a last time. "And here is my gift to you, the best help I have left to give."
The smile disappeared. The glassy look was replaced by a wonder… and then mounting terror. Pham Nuwen dragged in a great breath, and had time for one barking scream before he collapsed. He landed face down, twitching and choking in the sand.
Ravna shouted Grondr's code again, and ran to Pham Nuwen. She pulled him over on his back and tried to clear his mouth. The fit lasted several seconds, Pham's limbs flailing randomly about. Ravna collected several solid hits as she tried to steady him. Then Pham went limp, and she could barely feel his breath.
Blueshell was saying, "Somehow he's grabbed the OOB. It's four thousand kilometers out, coming straight for the Docks. Wail. We're ruined." Unauthorized flight close to the Docks was cause for confiscation.
Somehow Ravna didn't think it mattered anymore. "Is there any sign of attack?" she said over her shoulder. She eased Pham's head back, made sure he had a clear breathing passage.
