‘We really should have flown in,’ Maggie said a little while later.

The alley wound between buildings in a haphazard manner, never keeping the same direction for very long. It meant they forever skirted the source of the pain and never approached it.

Jupiter grunted. ’We would have been spotted.’

‘But then this foolish heroism would have ended sooner, and we’d be on our way south by now.’ Maggie held her hand up. ‘I’m…’

‘Joking… Yeah I get it.’

Under the constant throb of pain, Jupiter felt the connexion to Maggie and Breeze all the stronger. Like always Tamm remained a blank, as if his story had yet to be written. Only his spoken words connected with Jupiter.

‘It’s strange…’ Jupiter trailed off sensing…

…Maggie’s next words. ‘I know. But I think we agree to…’

‘Keep quiet,’

‘Until we need to…’

‘Shh,’ said Tamm. ‘If you can read each other’s minds why do you prattle?’

Jupiter realized Tamm had been affected after all. His imprint had faded, but neither had the imprinting had truly gone. Instead the bonding had moved to a new state.

Jupiter grinned. ‘Yes Sir.’

Tamm rounded on him, his aura flashed surprise and indignation.

Jupiter held his finger to his lips, a sign both species used and understood. ‘Tamm. You are the military mind. What do we do?’

Tamm nodded, his aura flashed confirmation, agreement, and determination. Truly aura were a window into the soul of a manisaur, and yet they scarcely recognized it themselves. Though all were aware of aura they reacted to it but did not pay special attention. Aura certainly worked to replace facial expression for humans.

Jupiter understood then something of why manisaurs distrusted humans. With no aura they could not read human emotions. He guessed too, that most humans, even those with tulanvarqa, did not understand the nuance of aura either.

Blank pages.

Except he and Maggie’s tulanvarqa had a stronger and deeper effect. And he guessed why.

The blue glowing eggs in the pool Maggie had gotten from Moby the manta. Through Moby they had received tulanvarqa where other nuvra had none. Even more than Eoth-born humans could normally ever attain.

He had known that, but until this moment…

‘You’d not connected it together,’ Maggie said.

‘Yeah. You still feel the pain?’

‘Yes. It’s stronger but they work to keep it from hurting us. As if they hold a scream inside them, they fight to not release it.’

‘You know who it is? Right?’ Jupiter tilted his head back to the brightening sky, but he did not see it.

‘Yes. It’s a manta. Like Moby.’

‘It’s making the connexion stronger somehow.’

‘In its pain it is screaming.’

‘From the engine room of a downed and broken skyship.’

Maggie and Jupiter stepped close to one another, and as one, they turned to the former Imperial officer.

‘Tamm,’ said Maggie. ‘We need to go down there. To the right.’

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A veil lifted from Jupiter’s vision, he became aware of his surroundings. The path to the prison, the downed skyship grew clear.

‘But we’re going to need you to get us in,’ Jupiter said.

‘How?’

‘You wear your Imperial uniform,’ Maggie said. ‘Or the remains of it. That will be our ticket inside.’

‘Breeze. You’ll have to hide’ Maggie said. ‘You…’

‘Know… Wait… Close…’

‘Tamm. Let’s go,’ said Jupiter and he strode towards the end of the ally. What looked like a service entrance led to a low building against the high stone wall.

‘We can’t just walk up…’ Tamm said.

‘You’re an Imperial navy officer. You can get us in.’

‘But…’

‘Say you just arrived. The Air Lord’s skyship or something.’

‘But the skyship Nakhevaqum is nowhere near us, instead far down Qhawadha. If the Air Lord is way to the interior.’

‘You might have been dropped off. It doesn’t matter. Just get us inside.’

‘And then?’

‘Tell them you need to see the documents on the captured manta. I guess that would be a thing right? Anything that will get us close to it. Then once we see the situation we can leave.’

‘And why do I have humans with me?’

‘We are nuvra. And are loyal to the Air Lord. We are your slaves… or something.’

Tamm considered this and then flashed his aura. ‘You are my slaves. This is true. You do as I tell you. You must.’

‘That’s the way,’ Jupiter said. ‘Don’t let your aura let you down.’

Maggie and Jupiter walked up to the service door and rapped. Tamm stood tall behind them and put on his sternest aura of authority.

For a manisaur he lied better than most. Perhaps the imprinting and commands from Jupiter helped in this. If Jupiter commanded he lie, he could slip into the role where a free manisaur would not shift their aura enough to convince. Maybe.

Jupiter raised his hand to knock again, but Tamm stopped him, and kicked his foot against a plate at the base of the door. It shook the door and made a boom.

‘Quevantaqi do not tap at doors.’

‘Yeah. You kick them in, sounds like.’

‘Silence slave,’ Tamm said his voice dropping to a deeper boom.

The door opened, and Tamm shouldered his way inside. The soldier staggered back.

‘Take me to the nakharavi flight works. The Air Lord himself seeks confirmation of your efficiency.’ Tamm strode forward and motioned. ‘Slaves. Attend me.’

Jupiter looked at the soldier, saw confusion, but then compliance in their aura. Manisaurs did not lie. That Tamm could lie meant the imprinting, far from being a problem, gave Jupiter an advantage. It also meant sejrat’sha - a turned blade, had more than one meaning. The danger came from a turning from the norms of society. No wonder manisaurs distrusted and feared such trauma imprinted manisaurs.

They passed through a guard barracks, and then through a high wooden door set into the stonework of the wall. Jupiter guessed they had formed the walls of an old fort, the remains of which had become a prison.

Glowglobes hung on brackets on the stone walls, until they stepped into the light of a large courtyard of packed earth and gravel.

In the center a small skyship had settled. But it lay broken, without masts and rigging. Props kept it level. Openings had been cut through the hull. The stern of the hull lay in a wide trench, an old water court filled with water. Jupiter guessed the water court linked to the bay through the canals that would have allowed water craft to enter and leave the fortress by sea without exposing the fort to invaders.

The skyship’s weathered timbers and slumped shape looked like a huge insect had died. The hollow corpse left to rot on a forgotten shore.

The aching pain shimmered from a presence within.

‘The nakharavi - the manta, it lies inside, where they light zharaqsa - flight crystals,’ Tamm said.

‘Why?’

‘It is from nakharavi that we derive the light to power zharaqsa. The nakharavi lies within the skyship’s zharaqsa flight engine.

‘You know this?’ Jupiter eyed the black skyship as it swung in the still morning air.

‘All know it.’ Tamm’s aura flashed calm. Jupiter knew he spoke the truth.

‘Why did you not tell us?’ Jupiter thought back to the raid he and Gan had made on the flight works at Zenska. The Lana-Lankhaka - marine and now captain of his own skyship had given no hint of this. But Jupiter now recalled the fear and sickness he had sensed that night when he had stolen the haul of crystals.

I thought that feeling came from within me. But a manta suffered there. We should have saved it.

‘Did not ask.’

Jupiter stared at Maggie and felt her shock, an echo from within the skyship was all the confirmation they needed.

‘Zharaqsa comes from mantas?’ Maggie said.

‘Yes.’

‘And it is made how?’ Jupiter knew what he had seen at the flight works. The sickly green light that came from fully lit zharaqsa had the sense of death upon in.

‘From sick mantas. They imbue the catalyst crystals with a life-light… and with it the power to lift our skyships. Their pain releases the power and zharaqsa takes it in. The result is fully lit zharaqsa.’

‘That’s monstrous,’ said Maggie.

‘And why are these mantas, these nakharavi sick?’ Jupiter said this but feared he knew the answer.

‘We make them so.’

‘You torture them?’ Jupiter said.

The pain from the manta spiked and Maggie reached out, gripped Jupiter’s hand as tears rose in his eyes.

‘We’ve got to stop this,’ Jupiter said.

‘We can’t.’ Maggie turned away. ‘Too much pain.’

‘The rebels want to damage the Imperial navy’s ability to deploy skyships,’ said Tamm. ‘To stop the navy’s use of zharaqsa. We must kill the manta.’

‘No. We’re going to free it.’ Jupiter’s determination burned fierce then.