Tarli awoke , rolled over and moaned as the cold uneven floor bit into her back , aggravating the bruises she had almost forgotten about in her sleep . She rose awkwardly into a squatting position and winced as her eyes sought out the solitary grille , high up in the wall . There was precious little light yet ; dawn might be breaking but not with any strength so far . She pulled herself to her feet , using a protrusion of the stone wall as a lever for her battered body . For a moment she stood swaying , then realising that she was now too awake to get any further sleep , the eleven year old girl began , painfully , to carry out her morning exercise routine . For six days now she had been held in this place ; each day they came for her , took her out and beat her . Each morning she awoke to the same fears and dire expectations , but if she was ever to get out of this place she would need that part of her strength which she could conserve . Gritting her teeth and ignoring the tears which stang in her eyes , Tarli began to loosen up her aching muscles .
The door , a forbidding edifice of black iron and rust , swung forcefully open on its well-oiled hinges . Tarli rose from where she had been crouching , drawing patterns in the dust and dirt as an exercise of the mind . Though she was steeled to it by now she still flinched inside at the thought of what was to come .
Today was different though . . . The man who stood in the doorway , his body framed against the harsh white electric light in the corridor beyond , was not the curly-bearded captain who had come for her each day previous . This man was taller , broader , his hair a mass of leonine curls . His dress was different too ; not for him the rough black and green real leather battle fatigues of the soldiery here , but a silver and black uniform , almost smart by the standards she had seen here , over which he wore a purple cloak . He nodded slowly at her , then sheafed a thin , almost invisibly-slim , dagger which she had noticed he had held .
"Come" he said .
She followed him out of the cell , glad at least for some movement - stationary exercise could only do so much . They walked at first the usual route , down the narrow yellow-walled corridor , across a flying bridge and into a more modern building , the foyer of glass and steel . Even here , though , the sense of neglect was evident ; the pseud-silver counter was dirty and its top covered with dust , pieces of machinery , seemingly dumped at random , littered the floor , and the walls were marked with the oily smudges of many unwashed hands . Here though their route diverged from what she had known previously . Instead of heading down the rampway to the right of the counter , the man led her to the left , along a steel-walled corridor , heading straight into the distance .
The relative desertion of the place she was used to by now ; down the rampway there were the so-called warders (torturers morelike) , and outside she had sometimes glimpsed a patrol of men from the foyer . They saw no one in the ten minutes or so that it took them to cover the length of the corridor . At last they turned a sharp left and were face to face with a pair of massive iron gates set into the living rock of whatever hillside the corridor had led them into the heart of . At either side of these gates a hulking guard stood , his uniform a mixture of the barbaric and the technoliogically advanced . At the hip a battle-axe hung ; cradled in the arms was a fearsome energy weapon .
"Tell Salaktiss I have her." said the man in the purple cloak .
One of the guards looked up to a globe set high on the wall ,
"Guardian Lothar has the girl , sir . "
There was no immediate reply . This did not seem to unnerve anyone , neither the man - Lothar presumably - nor the guards . All three stood still , silent waiting and Tarli was of no mind to do otherwise herself .
At length the gates swung open . A man dressed identically to Lothar , but older and grey-bearded stood there .
"Zephaniah ?" queried Lothar .
"I will take you to Salaktiss ; he awaits in the White Room . At present he is busy with 'The Thing' but he will see you shortly."
Lothar motioned to Tarli to follow him and together they entered a long rock-hewn cavern . Behind them the gates swung noiselessly shut . The three of them walked swiftly along a white-marble path set into the rock floor . Tarli took in the faded hangings on the walls , the battered shields speaking of an age long past , and the occasional massive oak table , none of them with anything upon them . They came to a series of steps cut into the rockface at the far end , and mounting these found themselves in a glass-walled well-lit room separated from the darkness around . A console of computer equipment hummed purposefully in the centre and other smaller machines carried out whatever tasks they had been set at intervals around the perimeter of the room . There were two exits , apart from where they had come in ; one led to a steel-bridge spanning a gorge from which the rush of waters far below could be heard . Where it went beyond that could not be ascertained without venturing upon it as it curved upwards and away . The other exit was up a ramp into a brightly-lit corridor that would not have been out of place in a space station . No doubt this was the nerve centre of whatever place this was .
Lothar paused to examine the read outs on several of the monitors and nodded to himself apparently satisfied with whatever they were showing . Zephaniah stood impassively , his hands clasped behind his back waiting . Tarli stood likewise , wondering . . .
A bell rang , a high sonorous note cutting through the quiet of the room which , at a rough estimate , appeared to have lasted for at least half an hour . Tarli started but the two Guardians had apparently been expecting it . Lothar motioned to her to follow and strode up the ramp . Tarli did as she was bidden . The older man , Zephaniah , brought up the rear .
They went only a short distance along the corridor , then stopped before a sealed doorway , white as the white of the walls . Lothar placed his hand upon a glass pad halfway up the wall and the door slid upwards . He motioned that she must enter first , then followed . Of Zephaniah there was no longer any sign .
"Ah , the girl ."
The voice spoke before Tarli had identified its source , so overwhelmed were her senses by the bright lights and the dozens of large machines all flashing and singing to their internal rhythms . The man who had spoken was sat behind a console in the centre of the room . He appeared to be in later middle age , a body which had once been brawn now running to fat , and a face dominated by a pair of sharp black-hued eyes shining from beneath his bald plate .
"Tarli . . . sir" she said , feeling that some response was in order .
"Yes - yes , I know . Hmm..."
A brief silence ensued before Lothar spoke ,
"The idea which we discussed Salaktiss ?"
"Yes" the other said , both impatient and unsure at the same time , "Yes - there can be no harm in it ."
He beckoned for the eleven year old girl to follow him and led the way around various banks of equipment to what seemed to be a glass wall with only darkness behind it . He looked once more at her and frowned , then turned and flicked a switch . At once the cave beyond was bathed in light , revealing the sleek lines of a small spacecraft , a luxury yacht sitting alone in the centre of the cavern . Way above launch-doors were closed against the skies .
"Do you know this ship ?" he asked .
"Surely she must" insisted Lothar .
"Well ?" demanded Salaktiss .
Tarli nodded , wondering what this was all about - though she felt that perhaps she already knew , "It is the Real Zaragoza . . . sir" she replied .
"Yes" he nodded , eager now , "We picked her up two weeks ago - she was drifting from battle damage , against the Dell , her crew had taken to the capsules , but . . . " he paused , "Well - you know this ship . You tell me ?"
"It holds Ariadne" she replied , knowing it was for this reason she had been brought here .
"Ah - is that Its name ." he rubbed his beardless chin , "It had been damaged in the battle ; some parts of Its memory appear scrambled , but It talked of Its past."
"It mentioned you" said Lothar .
"Yes , indeed It did" Salaktiss continued , "It spoke of being on Station One when it was destroyed , and of escape aboard the liner Helen Of Troy . It told of those It had met there - some of them anyway ; It seemed unsure whether Its memory was full in that area , but It mentioned people called Vorp , Tex , Marat , Valan , Horrt and Tarli . It seems worried that It has forgotten something or someone important to it . . . Of Its history since leaving the Helen Of Troy apparently of its own volition It is unsure ; THAT certainly seems to have been erased from Its memory , though It knows that It was on Station Two when the Dell attacked - It believes It was their target . Of the battle which damaged It , It claims that those who attacked did not realise the nature of their target or It would never have survived ."
Salaktiss broke off and looked sharply at the girl ,
"Are you understanding what I am saying ?"
"Yes" she nodded .
"Hmm - It said you would . It said many things in fact , and I have no reason to doubt them . It seems to believe that you can help heal It - give It back some of Its memory . It seems that It was designed never to forget and the damage that has caused it to lose records of Its experiences has created some sort of inner crisis ; until that is resolved It refuses to function properly ."
"I can tell It about what happened while the Real Zaragoza was with us , if you like ..." offered Tarli .
"Yes" spoke Lothar , "I believe that is the idea."
"Hmm..." Salaktiss looked away , "Captain Jarez was reluctant to release you to the Guardians ; he felt that you had knowledge which you were holding back from telling him ."
"I told him all I knew" protested Tarli .
"I have reviewed the tapes and I accept that" said Salaktiss , "but you must agree that your presence here is not properly explained by what you knew of it."
"We weren't informed what the others would be doing."
"So you say ... And there is also the issue of the whereabouts of the woman who was with you - we have searched the crash site and the surrounding woodland but have not found her . No ships have come in ; our surveillance would have picked them up . So , she must be out there somewhere - doing what ?"
"I don't know" admitted Tarli , "We weren't supposed to crash ; I don't think there were any instructions as to what to do if we did ."
"Unless she took it upon herself to create them." Salaktiss looked sharply at the girl but she only shrugged at this , "Hmm..." he said , "And what of the main body of your force ? I know you don't know what they were doing here , but would they leave you ?"
"If they thought that I was dead."
"And do they ?"
She could only shrug .
"Is there any among them who would insist on having PROOF you were dead before they believed it ?"
"Marat - but he was off with Valan ; I don't know if he would be back yet."
"Hmm . . . So if he does return whilst the Helen Of Troy is still in orbit - and it IS that - we may expect a little expedition ..."
"Perhaps"
It was certainly good to learn that Vorp was still in the area , for whatever reason that might be so .
"Enough" said Salaktiss suddenly , "You may do as The Thing - Ariadne you say ? - requests . Come"
He led her to the left and through a narrow decontamination chamber into the launch cavern . This time Lothar did not follow , and Tarli could see him standing deep in thought at the viewing gallery as she crossed to the Real Zaragoza . At this close distance she could make out the burns and scars along its hull and an ugly hole near the cockpit .
"Yes" Salaktiss had folllowed her gaze , "She was a lot worse when we picked her up - what you see now is the best we can do without the help of The .... er , Ariadne . It - She ? - is tied into all its systems and won't let our technics proceed until i..her memory problems are addressed ."
Tarli only nodded and allowed herself to be led into the interior of the yacht ...
"Welcome Tarli" said a gruffly female voice , emanating from all around what had once been a luxury lounge , but now was a charred expanse , strewn with equipment and tools . She frowned in puzzlement as her eyes lit upon a child's reading primer , swept up into one corner of the room . The viewing screen that dominated the forward wall was cracked but showed an image that Tarli supposed was some personification of Ariadne , only it bore no resemblance to the musical images she had been used to on a previous occasion . For some reason the Artificial Intelligence was choosing to present to the world as its face a one-horned golden bull with red flashing eyes and a silver ring through its nose.
"Yes" said Salaktiss with a hint of worry in his voice , "When we first found , er her , she was presenting a shattered bell . It went through different things - an oared galley , a wasp , some strange patterns - before settling upon this bull . She doesn't seem capable of explaining her choices , at least not so that we can understand ."
"I remember Tarli" Ariadne's voice rasped .
"I remember you" replied the girl , "though you weren't like this."
"You will help me regain what I have lost."
Tarli couldn't tell whether that was an instruction , a request or a statement of what was believed to be true . She nodded agreement with it , whatever it was .
"Right" said Salaktiss nervously , "I will leave you here . I have much to attend to in the White Room . When you are ready to return there is a buzzer at the entrance to the decontamination chamber . " he paused , then looked closely at her , "You will be able to handle this ?" he asked .
"Yes , I think so ."
"Hmm" he considered this briefly , "So do I . Until later."
Without any further word he turned and hurried from the ship . Tarli turned back to the viewscreen ,
"What do you want to know ?" she asked .
"Everything" , Ariadne appeared to groan .
Tarli swallowed and squatted down on the floor , wondering where and how to begin . . .