02 Quetzals Flock

QUETZAL'S FLOCK
It became obvious that the Ship had left with little time to spare. Even as they
settled down to rest after the exhausting exertions of the hours which had passed, the
air seemed to grow colder. They shrouded themselves in discarded black Kous and
sheltered in the Arch.
Eridos shook him awake and pointed to the red giant. It had belched out a
great finger of incandescence. The ground under them shook with greater ferocity and
as the hours passed, there were times when they feared that the Arch would fall.
Eridos repeated his question with greater frequency.
"What happens now?"
"I don't know! We wait!"
When he awoke after his second sleep, Eridos was staring morosely skyward.
The red giant was ruptured, it would never resume its oblate shape. Beyond it was a
halo of whiteness. The usual red of the sky had turned into a lurid pearl-pink. The
ground heaved under them, the Arch trembled and Eridos glared at him, his question
unspoken.
The red star was splitting apart, but the planet was still viable. They built a fire
in the open, close to the shore. They scavenged for food in the devastation of the two
camps. There was precious little, mostly hardtack which looked as if it had been
trampled into the ground under the hooves of the stampede.
Kane stood looking out over the black ocean, the water was receding. Eridos
sat slumped within his Kous, trying to keep the fierce wind from creeping into the
heavy cloak. The nightline was creeping closer, slowly advancing towards the Arch.
They couldn't retreat before it, it was imperative that they stayed close to the Psi Gate.
Kane looked up at the red rock from which it was formed. Red, like everything else
on Jubal and as red as the varicosed star which was bursting open with the approach
of its white dwarf companion.
The White One still remained hidden behind the red giant, but the attraction of
its impacted matter was sucking the heart out of it. Its flank had burst open and a great
belch of incandescent gas had been drawn out into a permanent flare. It was a
prominence which no longer dropped back as it had at first. The attraction was too
great. It stretched out like a great finger, pointing to the hidden menace, like a
warning to tell them that it would appear all too soon for the men who had remained
behind on Jubal.
Eridos glared into the sand, the wind stirred the purple grains so that they
drifted towards the black ocean in rivulets of fine dust. He had been a fool to trust
Quetzal. He turned to glare at his companion. Kane seemed impervious to the look,
but he was aware - Quetzal was aware, his mind tuned to that of his Companion of the
Image. He knew that the gathering hatred was just under the surface. He wondered
how long it would be before there was a showdown.
He continued to look out over the ocean and visualised what it was like far
beyond the horizon. The white dwarf would be exerting its influence in another way.
The ocean was gathering in a great dome, drawn back from the shoreline. On the far
side of the planet, the frozen ocean and atmosphere was being dragged under the
superheated sky, where it was thawing. The whole surface of the planet was being
torn out of shape, as the plates of the continents were lifted above the surging core
tides of the internal sea of magma.
Urartu had confirmed it. The planet had escaped many times before, to barely
recover from the tumult of the coming of the Companion. This time, it would not
survive, it would be torn apart, it would erupt into a torch of cosmic fury. He stirred
restlessly, conscious of the relentless antagonism of the other man. The Kane Ashford
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