Crystal Singer

Francu appeared at one side, Tallaf at her other, both muttering about walking faster,

“It's so good to breathe uncontaminated air. My lungs have been stifled. I must breathe.”

“You must walk faster,” Francu said, a smile jiggling his checks as he responded nervously to the presence of a large crowd of people in an open space greater than his huge new cruiser.

“If you can, Killashandra. We've a time boggle,” said Tallaf, his voice anxious.

“They're all here to see the crystal,” Killashandra noted, but she lengthened her stride, holding the cocoon above her head, hearing the surprise wave of exclamations, seeing the nearest drawing back. Was the crowd here to see crystal succeed, she wondered, or fail? This was not a receptive audience. She'd faced enough to sense the animosity and fear.

She strode on to the building's entrance, slightly outdistancing the two spacemen.

“We will have to hurry this, Guild Member,” a man said, taking her arm as she passed the doorway.

“Yes, we will, or we can't be responsible for your safety.”

She heard heavy metal doors thud shut behind her and a muffled noise emanating from outside and becoming louder.

“I've been given to understand that this project is not universally favored, gentlemen. But one message sent and received will disperse that . . .” and she indicated the crowd which had pressed in about the building.

“This way, Guild Member.”

They were all almost ru

Then she was whirled into the main chamber of the immense building, where nervous technicians were more interested in the outward-facing security sca

“Do hurry with this one, Killashandra,” Tallaf urged as she took the last few steps to the raised level and the empty niche where the king crystal would be mounted.

She stripped the plastic away with nervous fingers and suddenly found serenity and surcease as the bared crystal caressed her skin.

"Hurry!" Francu exhorted her. "If that thing won't give us a message from Copper – "

Killashandra withered him with a glance, but her dislike of him broke the tenuous enchantment she had been hoping to enjoy. Now she heard the noise of the crowd, the increasing pitch of its excitement and frustration. She dare not delay the mounting. Nor did she want to relinquish her black crystal to this system of ignorant savages, this society of metal-mongers, this —

The black crystal was mounted, turning matte black as it responded to the heat of the room.

“Hurry!” “Has something gone wrong?” “It won't work!”

“Of course, crystal will sing,” said Killashandra, raising the little hammer and striking the king block.

The rich full A of the king crystal rang through the large room, silencing the irreverent babble. Killashandra was transfixed. The A became the louder note of the five-crystal chord, the two F and two E crystals singing back to her through the king. The human voice ca

“Copper to home. Copper to home base!” She knew the message, for it passed through her as well as the crystal. She heard the exultant reply and the incredulous response to its simultaneity. She had cut the crystals for this purpose, she had borne them to their various sites, and she had condemned them to sing for others. No one had told her they would cause her to sing through them in a space crossing chord!

“Killashandra?” Someone touched her, and she cried out. Flesh upon flesh broke her awesome communion with the crystal link. She fell to her knees, too bereft to cry, too stu

“Killashandra!” Someone raised her to her feet.

She could feel crystal power singing behind her through the king block, but she was forever excluded from its thrall.

“Get her back to the shuttle.”

“Is it safe?”

“Of course, it's safe. The link works! The whole system knows that now!”

“Through this door, lieutenant. You'll have to detour. The crowd is blocking your way to the shuttle.”

“We don't have time to detour.”

“We'll break through the crowd. Carry her first. That'll make them give way!”

“They can't be afraid of a woman!”

“She's not a woman. She's a Crystal Singer!”

Killashandra was aware of being carried through a dense crowd. She heard a rapid clattering, and loud but jubilant cries and, somewhere in the section of her brain that recorded impressions, she correlated sound and cheers with applause. So many people in such proximity was an unexpected torture.

“Get me out of here,” she whispered hoarsely, clutching the man who carried her with desperate hands.

He said nothing but quickened his pace, his breathing ragged with effort. He could barely disentangle himself from her when a second man came to his assistance.

“This delay may abort the whole intercept.”

“Captain, we'd no idea how feelings ran here. No warning that there'd be such a crowd. We're almost there now.”

"If we've lost the window – "

"We'll have a frigate standing by ready to catch up – "

“Do shut up and let me sleep. Stop joggling me so.”

"Sleep?" The indignation in Francu's voice roused her briefly from her torpor. "Sleep she wants when – "

“Just settle yourself in this seat, Killashandra. I'll do the webbing.”

“Drink. Need a drink. Anything. Water.”

“Not now. Not now.”

“Yes, now! I thirst.”

“Captain, you fly. Here's water, Killashandra.”

She drank deeply, aware that the substance was water, real water, crisp, clear, cool water, used only this once, for her consumption. Some of it spilled when she was jolted about, and she protested the loss, licking it from her hands. She was shoved away from the water by a tremendous force and pleaded to be given more to drink.

She was soothed, and then finally the weight was lifted, and she was given as much as she wanted to drink.

“Are you all right now, Killashandra?” She rather thought it was Tallaf asking.

“Yes. Now all I need is sleep. Just let me sleep until I wake.”