Acorna's Triumph by MCCAFFREY ANNE

Author:MCCAFFREY, ANNE [MCCAFFREY, ANNE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0-380-97900-4
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Somewhere on the Planet Skarness,

During the Present Day

Acorna heard Neeva's voice mingling with Becker's and Rafik's.

Neeva stopped speaking to stare at them. An amazed silence was finally broken by her words, "Feriila? Vaanye? Can it be you?

"Yes, sister," Feriila said. "Didyou miss us?"

The hug they exchanged was answer enough.

Meanwhile, while the Linyaari family celebrated a grand reunion, Mac unloaded the drill from the ship.

"I do not understand how it happened, Khornya," he said. "You were in the hole a moment ago — I have a very clear record of it in my data banks — but now you are not. I believe you said before that there are people trapped below."

"Yes," she said. "Yes, I did, but apparently you and I are the only ones who remember what went on from before. Once we accomplish our mission here, I think that we need to have a chat, Mac."

Mac nodded and lowered her once more.

This time she was uninterrupted as she felt her way through the blockage to the cave inside. Her mind met with the minds of the people beyond.

(We're coming. Help is coming.)

(Good,) a thought voice replied. (We still have hydrient, but were considering the digestibility of the most recent corpses when the stones began their song.)

(You have been here a long time?)

(An eternity, it seems. We stocked these tunnels long ago with emergency provisions, but we were thinking in terms of days — -weeks, perhaps months. It has been over ayear since the Khleevi came to rip this planet apart.)

(I take it that this world is your home, then?)

(We are musicians who serve the stones. Their home is our adopted home. To serve them is our great honor.)

(You serve them? How?)

(We are their agents to other worlds. When an ensemble has reached perfection and is ready to be heard off-world, we select it and take it to a place where it may be chosen for the honor and the wonder of all who hear it. We also help train the newly severed to reach full voice, to blend with others.)

(Fascinating. Your relationship to the stones is what caused them to set up such a racket once they made contact with the chrysoberyls and hence, with us?)

(Is that what happened? All we know is that so many began singing at once — and so badly — that we still have our fingers in our ears. Even so, I fear our perfect pitch is ruined. It's a good thing you're telepathic, or we wouldn't know you were here.)

(You didn't hear the drill?)

(Drill?)

(Well, keep your fingers in your ears a bit longer and we'll have you out. Stay to the back of the space you're in now. Once the opening is visible, come out quickly. We have no idea how stable the walls will be once the rubble is cleared.)

(How many of you are there, anyway?)

(Many fewer than came down here originally,) the voice answered. (Maybe three hundred now? Oh, no, make that two hundred and ninety nine. Fkara's youngest died after the stones' first lament).

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