What are their resources, their military capability?'
'I have no idea/ he said, shivering again. 'They abandoned their spaceship technology centuries ago. They had no further need of it. As I said, the Necroteuch had warped their sensory abilities. They became able to undo the angles of space and time, to move through dimensions. From world to world. They mastered the art of constructing spaces in four dimensions, environments that existed only at specific time-points/
'Like the one where the trade was meant to take place/
Yes. KCX-1288 was once part of their empire, ravaged in their civil war. They chose it for the meeting because it was remote from their main population centres. They built the tetrascape inside specifically for us/
'Tetrascape?'
'Forgive me. I coined the term. I thought I might use it in a learned paper one day. A tailored, four-dimensional environment. In that particular case, engineered with a human climate. We were their guests, you see.'
'How was the deal arranged?'
'Locke, the rogue trader. He was on a retainer to the House of Glaw, had been for years. A mercenary roaming the stars at the behest of the Glaws. He ventured into saruthi territory, and eventually made contact. Then he discovered the existence of the Necroteuch, and knew what it would be worth to his masters.'
And they agreed to trade?' I was becoming impatient. Time, surely, was running out.
He shuddered again. 'It's cold/ he said. 'Isn't it? Getting colder/
'They agreed to trade? Come on, Malahite! We can't help you if you delay/
'Yes… yes, they agreed. In exchange for the return of artefacts and treasures from worlds they had abandoned and no longer had access to/
'Wasn't the Necroteuch precious to them?'
'It was in their souls, in their minds, woven into their genetic code by then. The book itself was incidental/
And you were employed to excavate the materials that the Glaws intended to trade?'
'Of course. I was promised such power, you know…'
His voice tailed off. Beyond the distant mountains, the sky was growing dark. A strengthening breeze scattered loose shale around our feet.
'The rains?' he said. 'Surely not this early/
'Concentrate, Malahite, or you'll slip away! The Necroteuch is destroyed, the trade prevented, and House Glaw is shattered and defeated! So why are Locke and Dazzo leading their fleet into saruthi territory?'
What's that?' he asked sharply, holding up a hand for quiet. It was indeed colder now, and chasing clouds obscured the suns. A distant, plaintive threnody was just audible.
'What are they doing?' Voke spat.
He looked at us as if we were stupid. 'Repairing the damage you've done to their cause! The high and mighty masters of the Glaw cabal have masters of their own to please! Masters whose wrath defies thought! They must assuage them for the loss of the Necroteuch!'
I looked across at Voke. 'You mean the Children of the Emperor?' I asked Malahite.
'Of course I do! The Glaws couldn't do all this alone, even with their power and influence. They made a pact with that foul chapter for support and security, in return promising to share the Necroteuch with them. And now that's gone, the Children of the Emperor will be most displeased/
And how do they hope to avoid this displeasure and make amends?' Voke asked. Like me, he was becoming alarmed by the stain in the sky and the sound in the wind.
'By obtaining another Necroteuch/ I said, realising, answering for Malahite.
The archeoxenologist clapped his hands and smiled. 'Brains, at last! Just when I was giving up hope for you. Well done!'
There is another?' asked Voke with a stammer.
The saruthi happily traded back their human copy because they had their own/ I said, cursing myself for not seeing the obvious sense before.
'Well done again! Indeed they have, inquisitor/ Malahite was gleeful and smiling, though he was clearly shivering now, and desperate for warmth. 'It's a xenos transcription, of course, composed in their, I'd say language, but perhaps flavour is a better word. However, the arcane knowledge it contains is still the same. Dazzo and his masters will have the Necroteuch, despite the set-backs you have caused/
