Touchstone 1 - Stray

wear off quickly,” she said, grimly.
    “We’ll pause when Kiste’s back in,” Haral said, surveying the still forms around him. They’d managed to get less than half out so far. Drysen, when he returned, had Darm and three others. One of them was Zee, which made my heart give a little joyous skip, but the toll on the two rescue squads was obvious. They’d brought in every Setari who was close, but almost all of First, Third and Fourth Squad were still out there.
    And all that time I’d been staring at the glowing mist and remembering moonfall on Muina. Liquid light. But moonfall hadn’t hurt me, as it was so obviously hurting the Setari.
    “What aether?” I asked Zan through our shared channel, since she was sitting down with her eyes closed and was probably the least busy that I’d get her.
    “A form of energy,” Zan replied, opening her eyes, but keeping her answer in the channel. “We encounter it occasionally in the spaces, though I’ve not seen any reports of such concentrated amounts outside the major interplanetary gates which cut through deep-space. It’s very common around them, and we need to use vehicles to survive passing those gates.”
    “It do what you?”
    “Initially pain, like being burned or frozen at the bones. Interference with control of movement and talents, then loss of consciousness, increasing paralysis. Death within a kasse, if you remain in it.” She closed her eyes again, but added: “We’ll reach them yet.”
    “Is other sorts aether?”
    She gave me a puzzled look, but then Kiste came back into view and fell through the gate, landing on his hands and knees. “That stilt’s heading this way,” he said, panting. “Circling, but definitely coming for here, and not slowly.”
    Haral was looking grimmer by the second, but his voice was still relaxed and calm as he said: “Kantan, enhance again and do what you can. Mane, be ready to follow. Signal if the stilt’s in my projected enhanced range.” He went on as Kantan touched my shoulder. “Given the effect of the aether, we can’t take a stilt lightly, no matter how enhanced. We’ll try an initial group of myself, Lenton and Tens. If everything we can do doesn’t bring it down–” He paused, and I suspect he’d realised he’d run out of conscious heavy-hitters. “If we can’t bring it down, Kiste, make whatever attempt you can while Namara and Drysen pull everyone they can reach to the gate.”
    Mane followed Kantan through before Haral finished speaking and Haral waited a few seconds then touched my arm, watching without change of expression as Kantan collapsed at Mane’s feet. He’d managed to strengthen the wind vortex, but the glowing mist didn’t seem to be getting much thinner. Lenton waited the bare minimum of my prescribed delay before enhancing himself as well, while Tens stepped up to help Mane, who was struggling not to fall while bringing Kantan and another – it was Alay – through the gate.
    “Stilt will be closing in a count of twenty,” Mane said, folding into a panting tangle almost on top of Alay. “Gainer was the only one left in my range.”
    Tens touched my shoulder, and exchanged a glance with Haral. I think they were trying to accept not succeeding in getting everyone out.
    I never saw the stilt myself. Only later, in extracts of the mission report which Zee showed me. Black, nearly as tall as the tower, with a long, sloping body and spindly legs like vine tendrils. The underside of it was all covered in more tendrils, long ones and short ones, and I think that’s where its mouth was, because its head was just this sort of triangle with eyes. Haral, Lenton and Tens concentrated their attacks on its underside, anyway, with Ice and then two balls of lightning. The first was a little low, but the second was placed nicely, shattering frozen tentacles in a spectacular orgy of blasts. One of its legs was blown apart, and it fell.
    Lenton passed out, and Haral and Tens carried him back between them, staying upright themselves but moving very slowly. “Go,” Zan said to Drysen, who touched me and headed out, face bleak. I saw the same expression on Zan’s face as she waited her turn. Everyone who’d gone in a second time had collapsed. With the continuing Ionoth attacks, it was no wonder all of Sixth Squad had ended up unconscious. The few Setari remaining had no chance of getting the other squads out. When Drysen didn’t even manage to bring back one more person before