With the Hierophant looming over them, Kira could again feel the same aching draw she had experienced before: the compulsion of the Vanished urging her to reply.

She allowed herself a grim smile. Somehow she didn’t think Ctein or its graspers were going to like how she answered the summons.

Graspers? She was falling into the thought patterns of the Soft Blade/Seed. Well, why not? They fit. The Jellies were many-limbed graspers, and today she was going to remind them why they should fear the Idealis.

Next to her, she scented sickness from Itari. It shivered, turning unpleasant shades of green and brown. [[Itari here: It is difficult for me to even be here, Idealis.]]

[[Kira here: Just concentrate on protecting my co-forms. Worry not about the great and mighty Ctein. What you are doing is completely unrelated.]]

The Jelly rippled with a wave of purple. [[Itari here: That is helpful, Idealis. Thank you.]]

As the Wallfish nosed into the hole the howitzer had torn out of the Battered Hierophant, and the half-melted decks darkened the view outside the Wallfish’s sapphire windows, Falconi said, “Hey, Gregorovich, you’re in fine form. How about a few words to send us on our way?”

The ship pretended to clear his throat. “Fine. Hear me now. The Lord of Empty Spaces protect us as we venture forth to fight our foes. Guide our hands—and our thoughts—and guide our weapons that we may work our will upon these perversions of peace. Let daring be our shield and righteous fury be our sword, and may our enemies flee at the sight of those who defend the defenseless, and may we stand unbowed and unbroken in the face of evil. Today is the Day of Wrath, and we are the instruments of our species’ retribution. Deo duce, ferro comitante. Amen.”

“Amen,” said Hwa-jung and Nielsen.

“Now that was a prayer!” said Sparrow, grinning.

“Thank you, birdname.”

“A bit more warlike than I’d prefer,” said Kira. “But it’ll do.”

Falconi hoisted his grenade launcher onto his shoulder. “Let’s just hope someone was listening.”

Then the Wallfish lurched around them as it came to a rest amid the bowels of the Battered Hierophant. If not for the Soft Blade holding her against the wall, Kira would have been thrown to the floor. The others staggered, and Nielsen fell to one knee. The rumble of the fusion engine cut out, but a sensation of weight remained as the Hierophant’s artificial gravity encompassed the Wallfish.

7.

Outside the airlock, Kira saw what appeared to be a storage room stacked with rows of translucent pink globules arranged around a dark, stem-like growth. Racks of unidentifiable equipment lined the three walls that hadn’t been vaporized by the Casaba-Howitzer. Droplets of slag had frozen to the grated floor, the curved walls, and the familiar tri-part shell that acted as a door. Everything visible would be highly radioactive, but that was the least of their concerns at the moment.…

No Jellies were visible in the chamber; a stroke of good luck Kira hadn’t been expecting.