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  Most of the XT aliens were out of the running for this slot, except Veidt-who was needed down below to mind-link with the spheres-and Lron. Rick had doubts that the burly Karbarran could successfully pilot the ship through a jump; and although the module was Spherisian in design, neither Teal nor Baldan were qualified to handle it. Vince was needed for the GMU. That left only Lisa, unless...

  "Janice," Rick said suddenly, "can you handle it?"

  Burak almost volunteered, but Tesla restrained him at the last moment, gesturing him silent while everyone's attention was focused on Minmei's former partner.

  She nodded, without saying anything. If it came down to a fold for Tirol, Lang would be delighted to find her aboard. She sensed Lisa looking at her, and gave her a tight-lipped but understanding look.

  "Lisa?" Rick said, figuring he would be safer with a crowd around him.

  "I'm fine with your choice, Commander," she told him evenly. "But just who do you have in mind to pilot the Alpha?"

  Rick looked around uncomfortably. "Well, I think I'm the most qual-"

  Half-a-dozen voices interrupted him at once.

  "It's too risky," Max said, speaking for all of them. "I'll go."

  "Your place is with the Skull," Rick pointed out firmly, and everyone grumbled their agreement. Several of Max's squadron volunteered, including Miriya, but Rick rejected all of them for one reason or another. Then Jonathan Wolff stepped forward.

  "I'm the logical choice," he said, addressing the circle. "With Vince and Max, we'll still have our air-and ground-based forces intact in the event of a follow-up attack. One less tanker isn't going to influence things one way or another."

  Rick had to smile at Wolff's attempt at humility; but Wolff's reasoning was sound. "All right," he said at last, "you've got it."

  Just then Tesla began to shoulder his way to the center of the circle. "Commander, I, too, would like to volunteer my services." He turned to the Sentinels, some of whom were already ridiculing him.

  "You've all seen how I can be made to cooperate. But now I wish nothing more than to demonstrate my willingness to cooperate. These four months have taught me a great deal about freedom and self-determination, and I would urge you all to begin to accept me as a member of your group, rather than a prisoner. Should the Regent's troops appear in Praxis-space, I will be there to foil them, much as I did in Tracialle."

  Rick looked up at the Invid, remembering what Lisa had told him of the Farrago's attack on the Karbarran city, and wondering whether Tesla was genuine or simply trying to save his own green skin. Rick asked him if he wasn't growing tired of his role-whether he had any reservations about betraying the Invid cause.

  "It seems to be my lot in life," Tesla said in a theatrical manner. "Besides, I want this mission to succeed as much as the rest of you do."

  Rick exhaled a short laugh. "We appreciate that, Tesla. But intentions aside, I think you might be too...uh, large for the mecha."

  "Too large!" Telsa said as though insulted. "Put me in the Beta's cargo section, then." He sucked in his breath, as if to narrow his bulk, and waited, making an effort to will the right words into the Human's mind.

  "You think we can fit Burak and Tesla back there?" Rick asked Wolff hesitantly.

  Wolff sized up the Invid and the horned Perytonian, who was looking a bit peaked. "Be a little tight, but I think we can manage them."

  "Then let's hop to it," Rick said decisively.

  Tesla and Burak lingered for a moment at the hub of the sudden activity. The Invid turned partway toward his accomplice and spoke in a hushed voice.

  "Make certain you bring plenty of fruit aboard, my young friend. Destiny calls to us both."

  On Tirol, too, things were off to a shaky start. During the first session of the truce negotiations, the Regent had thrown a kind of temper tantrum, which only Edwards recognized as being as false as the Invid himself. He had a perfect understanding of the

  imposter's aim, and so was hardly surprised to learn afterward that the XT had informed Dr. Lang and the council he would henceforth meet with Edwards only. The Regent had explained how difficult and alien it was for him to discuss terms with a body of representatives-especially when one of those twelve was a Zentraedi, with whom the Invid would never make peace. Once again Lang had tried to set himself up as ombudsman, and once again the Regent had rejected him out of hand. Edwards was the Human the Regent would talk to, and none other. Lang let the council know that he was against any one-to-one arrangements and insisted that his arguments be added to the record. But Edwards was delighted to hear that the council had overruled the scientist's objections and that Longchamps and the others were counting on him to see the talks through to their completion.

  Just now the simulagent and the traitor were seated across from one another in Edwards's spacious quarters aboard the SDF-3. The two of them had already put on quite a show in the fortress amphitheater, but here they were safe from the prying eyes of the council and free to speak their minds. Edwards had decided to play it close to the bone, and congratulated the Invid on his performance.

  "Why, whatever do you mean, General?" the false Regent said after a short silence.

  There was just enough hesitation in the Invid's response to reassure Edwards that he was dealing with an imposter, but it benefited him to play along. "Your words for the council's scanners," Edwards told him. "All that talk about how there's more than enough room in the Quadrant for both our races."

  "We are a reasonable people," the false Regent returned, sipping at the green grog he had brought with him.

  "Yes, of course, you are. I'm encouraged by the very fact that you've come to Tirol. There are some who didn't believe you would."

  "And you?"

  "Oh, I think you're capable of almost anything, Your Highness."

  The Invid set aside his goblet and looked across the desk at Edwards. "You speak boldly for one your size, Human. Are all those from your world so courageous?"

  Edwards sat back in his chair and grinned. "To a man."

  "And your weapons speak with equal power...But it intrigues me: how exactly did you come by your Protoculture systems?"

  "We took them away from the Zentraedi," Edwards said, leaning forward on the desk.

  "They were annoying us."

  The simulagent studied his four-fingered hands. "And you came here in search of their Masters?"

  "We came here to finish the job, if you want the truth. Word had it that they were going to be showing up in our neighborhood, so we decided to take the fight to them instead. Save our planet the inconvenience of a backyard war."

  "Yes, but you seemed to have missed them."

  "We'll catch up." Edwards shrugged. "First we've got a little business here to take care of."

  The Invid ignored the remark. "Just where is your 'neighborhood,' General?"

  Edwards touched his faceplate. "A long way from Tirol."

  "Yes, but where?"

  "West of the Moon, east of the Sun."

  "You trifle with me," the XT said menacingly.

  Edwards shot to his feet and put both hands flat on the desk. "And you waste my time! What are you after?"

  The Invid met his glare. "The return of the brain."

  "In exchange for what?"

  "Your lives," the Regent hissed.

  Edwards laughed and walked away from the desk, only to whirl around and say, "You needed my help to eliminate a single Karbarran ship. And I know that your fleet is spread so thin you can hardly protect the worlds you've conquered. So what makes you think you can intimidate me now?"

  The Regent, too, was on his feet, filling one half of the room. "I thought for a moment we were on the same side, General. But perhaps I was mistaken."

  "You've already been more help to me than you know," Edwards told him. "But the brain stays until you've got something better to offer me than threats."

  "Your egotism will be the death of you," the Reg
ent said from the door.

  Edwards smiled as the door slid shut. Everything he said had been calculated to draw out the real Regent; talk was useless until then. But he had faith that his gambit would pay off. Eventually the Regent would show himself-in person or as before in the sphere-and when that day came, there would be much to discuss.

  Incredible as it seemed, the armored Alpha was actually being carried aloft by perhaps three dozen orbs of mixed size, clustered like grapes beneath the mecha's swept-back wings and Beta-elongated fuselage. Cheering seemed a bit premature, but that didn't stop any of the still-grounded Sentinels from sending up exclamations of encouragement.

  The feat had required more orbs than anyone would have guessed-over a quarter of the number that remained in the cave, at last count-but Veidt, as promised, had been able to herd them under the hovering VT without much ado. Several of the creatures either didn't comprehend the Haydonite's telepathic instructions or thought better of them at the last moment and opted for solo flights into Praxis's cloudy and smoke-smudged skies. The others, however, rose quickly to the task, less like lighter-than-air balloons than anti-Galilean cannonballs. Cabell calculated that if the present rate of lift remained unchanged, the mecha would arrive at the Roche limit with ample time to rendezvous with the drive module. At that point, Sarna, copiloting the Alpha along with Jonathan Wolff, would bid the orbs what amounted to a "thanks and so long," and the VT would utilize its onboard computer and thrusters for guidance adjustments. Janice, Burak, and Tesla were squeezed together in the mecha's Beta hindquarters.

  Rick threw a couple of enthusiastic shouts to the Alpha before rushing off to join Vince and some of the others, who were already in the GMU's command center monitoring the mecha's progress and supplying its telemetry systems with updates gleaned from the base's scanners and data mainframes.

  Wolff was on the net when Rick entered the command center. "Everything checks out fine so far," he was telling Vince. "It's like an elevator ride to the stars." The net was relatively clear, except for occasional bursts of static.

  "Ask him if Sarna anticipates any disengagement problems," Rick said to Vince.

  "Uh, no problem," Wolff reported a moment later.

  Rick leaned in to one of the console pickups. "And Janice?"

  "Here, Rick. We're doing all right." Thumping noises could be heard in the background. "It's just a little close for comfort."

  Rick made a mental note to tell Janice just how much he admired her. "Sit tight, Janice.

  You're almost there."

  Wolff and Janice acknowledged and signed off. Rick found himself crossing his fingers, something he hadn't done in years. He laughed in a self-mocking way, optimistic but oddly disturbed at the same time.

  Outside the base, members of the Skull Squadron and the Wolff Pack were beginning to prepare a second mecha for lift. This one was to include Lisa, Miriya, Cabell, Lron, and Crysta. The air was filled with lightning flashes and all-but-constant peals of thunder. Praxis trembled underfoot like the SDF-3 during fold maneuvers. Even Cabell refused to speculate on how much time the planet had, but to a few of the Sentinels each minute felt like something to be thankful for.

  Kami and Learna had yet to emerge from the orb cavern deep inside the region's now-floodlit central cave. The temperature had dropped considerably over the past half hour, and the air was breathable once more. Baldan and Teal had joined the Garudans to help keep count of the orbs, and with the first Alpha on its way, Jack, Karen, Rem, and Gnea appeared on the scene.

  Everyone watched as two golf ball-sized spheres wafted up out of the shaft to join their brethren, who were grouped in various locations along the vaulted ceiling. A veritable parade of overhead orbs stretched from here all the way to the mouth of the cave. Jack directed his light down into the shaft and asked Karen and Gnea to do the same. He had discerned some sort of movement perhaps eight feet down the well; one of the larger creatures was struggling to fit through the constricted passageway. Each time the thing would back off, two or three smaller orbs would bubble up and out of the shaft. The Sentinels had discussed various ways to enlarge the opening, but Rick was leery of employing explosives or lasers for fear the orbs would misunderstand their intentions. Jack couldn't, however, see any harm in spelunking down for a closer look.

  While Gnea and Rem went rushing back to the GMU for cord and anything they could find in the way of rigs and harnesses, Baldan and Teal were off in a corner of the cavern exploring a different route down. It had occurred to the male Spherisian-earlier, when he had melded his hand with the cave wall-that there were peculiar forces at work in the depths of Praxis, and Teal, her arms buried to the elbow in rock, was affirming that now.

  "The mineral content is most unusual," she reported analytically. "Nothing like what we've experienced elsewhere on Praxis. It seems more a part of the planet's past than its present."

  "I sensed the same thing," Baldan told her, gesturing to the cavern's outcroppings and formations. "These deposits have been exhumed from somewhere in the core, but in some unnatural fashion. They're not so much the result of the planet's vulcanism as they

  are the cause of it." Once again, Baldan pushed his arms deep into the wall. "Perhaps I can travel the Crystal Highways here as we do on Spheris, and communicate with the tortured substrata of this world."

  "It's dangerous," Teal said, pulling one of Baldan's hands from the wall. "Praxis is destabilized. You might not be able to re-form..."

  Baldan registered surprise at her concern for his well-being; it was unlike her. "Then keep hold of my hand," he said as he began to meld the rest of his crystalline being with the glistening rock that formed the cave wall. Teal could see a portion of the wall assume Baldan's features in bas-relief; he seemed to smile, then disappeared entirely.

  "Good luck," she whispered, still grasping her friend's disembodied hand.

  Elsewhere in the cavern, Rem, Gnea, and Karen heard Jack say, "There are thousands of globes down here! Enough to lift the whole damn base!" His voice rose from the shaft like that of an oracle. "They're huge ones! We've gotta give them a way out! Tell Hunter-"

  Just then a violent tremor hit the cave, erasing Jack's words and eliciting a shower of rocks and dirt from the grotto's ceiling. The orbs began an excited dance when the tremor passed, hastening toward the entrance in what seemed an inverted ball-bearing stampede. Karen was leaning into the shaft yelling Jack's name.

  "I'm okay," he yelled back at last. "Just took a spill off the rope. I'm on a ledge or something. Seems to be some kind of cavities down here...One of you better come down-and bring more light."

  Teal had been knocked to her knees by the force of the quake, but she had managed to keep hold of Baldan's hand and forearm. She twisted around in time to see Kami and Learna picking themselves up off the floor. Then she saw Baldan's face manifest in the wall: he looked terrified.

  "What? What is it, Baldan?"

  His stone mouth formed the word Invid. "They've performed a horrible experiment here, brought back creatures from the planet's past-like these globes, but terrible ones also. You must hurry and warn the others. These creatures-"

  "But you can't expect me to leave you here!" Teal was aghast.

  "I'm trapped," he told her. "It's no use."

  Teal tugged on his arm. "Don't-" Then she looked down and noticed a fissure in the wall that hadn't been there before the tremor.

  "Baldan..."

  "Hurry," he insisted.

  Reluctantly, she let go of his arm. And as she turned to leave, she heard Karen scream from across die grotto.

  "It's Jack and Rem!" a wide-eyed Karen was saying when Teal approached her. Kami, Learna, and Gnea were trying to calm her. "Something's taken hold of them!"

  CHAPTER FOUR

  [The psychohistorian] Constance Wildman would have us believe that the Robotech Wars were nothing more than a series of incestuous struggles and Freudian-inspired rivalries-the Masters and their "children
," the Zentraedi; the various intrigues that blossomed around "primal goddess" Lynn-Minmei; the Flower as grail, nutrient mother's milk...And she adduces the Regis-Tesla-Regent triangle to strengthen her case; for where else "do we find a more perfect archetypal representation of the rebellious son who wishes to kill the father and possess the mother?" To which one might be tempted to answer: in the relationship between Zor and Haydon.