Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

be bitter," she said finally. "But I can't help it. So much left to do here, and I won't be around to see things get done properly. Who'll look after Bea when I'm gone, and stop her working herself to death?"
    "I'll be here," said Moon. "I'll watch over her. But you mustn't give in,
    Sister. You're a fighter. A Sister of Glory."
    "I'm a leper. And I've always known that's a death sentence. I just thought… I'd have more time. We're all dying here, Moon. You mustn't feel guilty that you can't save us, the way you saved our Mission."
    "I don't feel guilty," said Moon. "That's Owen's job."
    They both managed a small smile at that.
    "It doesn't seem fair," said Moon. "We fought off armies of Hadenmen and Grendels, but we can't save you from a stupid disease."
    "Yeah, well, that's life. Or rather death. God sends us out, and he calls us home. Get on with it, Moon; find your damned ship. Be useful."
    Moon paused uncertainly. He wanted to comfort her, but didn't really know how.
    Owen would have told him to follow his instincts, but Moon wasn't sure he had any. So rather than say the wrong thing, he just nodded and turned away to survey the great open clearing before him. He knew exactly where the Sunstrider II had made its final violent landing. Moon remembered everything, and was never wrong. Unlike humans, he was unable to forget anything. Though sometimes he thought there were things he might choose not to remember if he could.
    He put the thought aside for later contemplation, reached out with his Maze-enlarged mind, and made contact with the overconsciousness called the Red Brain. It was like plunging into a vast cool ocean, alive with endless points of light, a billion plants fused into a single mind larger than even Moon was comfortable dealing with. Once, he had been part of the Hadenmen massmind, but the Red Brain was larger and wilder and almost terrifyingly free, and only its glacially slow plant thoughts enabled Moon to deal with it without being swamped. Moon and the Red Brain moved together, linked but still separate, like
    a single whale singing its songs to a sentient sea. And when the Hadenman asked the Red Brain to return the Sunstrider II, it was happy to oblige.
    Moon dropped back into his own body, and not for the first time was struck by how small and fragile it seemed. He had a feeling he was growing out of it, like a set of children's clothes. He put that thought aside too, as the clearing before him began to shake and shudder. The ground rumbled under his feet, and the scarlet and crimson plants waved wildly. Moon calmly called the lepers back to join him and Sister Marion, and they wasted no time in obeying. The ground in the center of the clearing bulged suddenly upward, cracking raggedly apart.
    Plants were torn up by the roots and thrown aside, displaced by the upthrusting earth beneath, but they were only small parts of the massmind, and easily sacrificed. The earth growled and rumbled as something buried deep below was slowly forced to the surface again. Those plants in the clearing mobile enough did their best to get out of the way as the great rent in the earth bulged open, forced apart by the sudden rebirth of the Sunstrider II. It lurched to a halt, buoyed up by the thrusting earth and vegetation beneath it, and slowly settled into its new berth. The earth settled down, the plants came to rest again, and everything in the clearing grew still. Moon looked the crashed starship over critically. It looked like hell.
    But then, it had been one hell of a hard landing. The mud-smeared outer hull was split open in several places, and the rear assembly was mostly ripped away.
    There were signs of extensive fire damage, outside and in, and most of the sensor spikes were gone. Which was precisely why Owen had only sent him to retrieve the stardrive; the only part of the ship likely to have survived intact. Moon thought of the approaching courier ship. Someone was in for a surprise. Moon smiled slightly, and turned his attention back to the crashed
    ship. It only took a few moments to call up the blueprints, and locate a reasonably wide crack in the outer hull, not too far from the engine section.
    With a little luck, and a certain amount of brute force, he should be able to reach the stardrive fairly easily. He looked back at Sister Marion.
    "I'll enter the ship alone. Make sure everyone else keeps their distance unless I call for them. The stardrive is based on poorly understood alien technology,