76 - You're both in Deep Guano!

Hara, surrounded by her creations that floated, soared in circles or whirred around her desk or the floor, gripped the edge of her desk with one hand and pulled the veil off her face with the other as her head swivelled between the two screens in front of her.

One showed the garage on the moon with search lights glittering off the bizarre sculpture Alissa had built and the Immoderates hurling their search drones up into the air to either hover over their heads or stick to the ceiling as they physically searched every bay.

The other showed Kyrus, tentatively scratching the big war bird. The war bird that was listed as ‘freed’ because it was too savage to be ridden, too big to be controlled.

“You... you... oooooh... the both of you!” She slammed her fists into the mess on her desk and a dozen small machines skittered away from her, hiding under the edges of the screens and crawling under papers and into books to make themselves less visible.  “You’re both in such deep guano that I don’t know what to say!”  She shook her fists at the screens, one at each.

“They are doing what is necessary, child,” Dukir said mildly from his chair.  He’d found that her workshop was the best place for keeping track of what was going on, without being very obtrusive.  He’d not established the same kind of relationship he’d had with the old Emperor, and missed his friend.  His daughter was much more effective with Kyrus and Illax than he was.  In a sense, even though he had gone out again, he considered finding His Radiance and Kyrus the high-point of his career as spy-master.

“They didn’t have to do it like that!”  She waved at Kyrus’s screen where he’d moved up to dig both his hands into the pin feathers of the old war-bird, whose head was almost flat on the ground, eyes closed.  “He knew that the old birds are dangerous!” On screen he leaned over the old bull’s shoulders, beginning to put weight on him, still scratching.  The bird’s eyes popped open and then eased shut again.  “And he’s going to flippin’ fraxin’ fakkin’ fly on this thing bareback with only a silk loop?  Is he completely crazy?"  He was on the bird’s back now, silk loop in hand.  She could hear him clucking to the warbird and saying.  “Let’s go fly now, Old Man. You have to walk over to the stick.  Come on.”

Her gaze darted back to the moon screen where they were getting frantic in their futile search for the breach in security.  A klaxon sounded and a flat female voice stated. “Incoming Spine.  Furthest transfer point.” “That CEO’s arriving,” she said.  “Everything is happening at once!”

“Calm.  Please be calm, my dear.  Take all the information in and don’t miss anything by getting too excited.”  Sitting in a quiet room, even with an excitable youngster, was much easier on his aged joints.  He could gather information and instruct all at the same time.  He noted that the incoming visitor didn’t exactly trust Prime, or he would have come in through the closer transit point.  He’d been astonished to find out that a small, unimportant little world like Chishiki actually had two points where Anderson engines could make the enormous step between stars.

Hara crossed her arms and settled on her stool with a thump as if she’d nailed herself down.  “Ooooh.  I feel so helpless.”

FireDrake One, slung in his cradle over the abyss, raised his head *We are here if you need me/us.  You are not helpless. All you need to do is command me.*