Liett had gone to her chamber some time ago and would not be back until the morning. She began early; Ryll worked late, perhaps so that they needed to spend the least time in each other’s presence.

Striding to the door, Ryll thrust a finger in the lock. It gave a gentle snick. Furtively he picked up Liett’s jar and carried it to his bench. He fed his own creature, the size of Tiaan’s thumb, a knockout pellet. It went still. In seconds Ryll had it out of the cage, made a careful incision from neck to tail, clamped the major blood vessels, scooped Liett’s tiny creature from the jar, blew it dry then put it into the incision, with the body at the base of the skull and the tentacles trailing down the back.

With deft stitches he fixed the creature inside, rejoined the blood vessels, sutured the wound and spread a clear jelly over it. Tossing the needle on the bench, Ryll held his armoured creature in one hand and began flesh-forming. Tiaan’s brain fizzed.

After an hour or so, the creature gave a single, feeble kick. A thread of purple ebbed out under the jelly, which had formed a clear skin. The creature kicked again and lay still.

Tiaan crept across to stand beside Ryll, who looked saggy today. ‘Are you all right?’ she said.

‘The heat down here does not suit us. We are beings of the cold void.’

She had noticed how sluggishly he moved in the lower levels. ‘It does not seem to bother Liett.’

‘Liett doesn’t have skin armour.’ He turned back to the cage.

‘Is the creature dead?’ she whispered.

‘Not yet!’ A muscle twitched in his neck. ‘But it’s in shock. I should not have tried. It’s too small.’

‘Could you not start at an earlier stage, as with your own children in the void?’

‘We don’t know enough about other animals.’

They watched the creature for hours. It did not move, or even look to be breathing, though Ryll said it was still alive. Finally, when it was nearly dawn and the creature lay as limp as ever, Ryll rose.

‘I must sleep, at least for an hour.’

‘And I. Liett will be coming to drag me out in two.’

She dozed with her mind full of flesh-formed images and woke feeling hot, claustrophobic and not a little horrified that a part of her had gone into the creature. She was at the window, gulping down lungs of frigid air, when the bolt clicked.

Liett flung the door open. ‘Come. I have had an idea. We must work swiftly. You will channel power for me and there can be no mistakes.’

Tiaan dragged herself down the ladders, wondering what would happen when Liett discovered what Ryll had done.

‘What is the matter with you today?’ Liett snapped. Tiaan had stalled halfway down, hanging from the ladder like a dead spider.

‘I worked most of the night with Ryll.’

‘Waste of time!’ Liett gave her a playful buffet that crashed Tiaan into the wall.

Liett squeezed through the entrance, scowled at Ryll, who was frowning down at his creature, and headed for her bench. Tiaan’s brain began to fizz. There was barely any colour in Ryll’s skin, and no pattern, just a uniform dull grey. It must be taking all his Art to keep the creature alive.

‘Where’s my snizlet?’ Liett held her jar up to the light. Ryll was too preoccupied to answer. ‘What have you done with it?’ she screamed.

He did not look up. She bounded across the room, lifted Tiaan by the shoulders and shook her. ‘What has he done with my snizlet?’

Tiaan’s head was nodding so hard she could not speak. She simply pointed to Ryll’s armoured creature.

Liett dropped Tiaan and flung herself at Ryll. Her claws scored down his side, carving a gash between his skin plates. Setting down the cage, he whirled and lashed out.

Liett ducked out of the way. She was brave, but her soft skin made her almost as vulnerable as a human. She struck at him, drawing blood on his brow ridge. He crouched, preparing to spring. Tiaan covered her eyes.

‘Stop!’ roared a deep voice from the door.

The two froze in place. Coeland levered herself through the opening and stood up. Several more lyrinx followed.

‘Well?’ she said in a dangerous voice.

‘He stole my snizlet!’ said Liett. ‘He took it without asking and put it in his rrhyzzik, there. And now it’s dead!’

‘Is this true?’ Coeland asked coldly.

‘It is true that I took it,’ said Ryll, ‘but it’s not dead yet.’

‘I demand satisfaction on his body!’ shouted Liett. ‘Just last night I understood what I was doing wrong. Now I’ll have to start again.’

‘Do you make a pleading, Ryll?’ Coeland asked.

‘The answer is in both our work,’ he answered. ‘Rrhyzzik is well designed for the …’ he glanced at Tiaan, ‘the job, but it’s a dumb creature; unbiddable. Her snizlet is a brilliant sensor and adaptor, though too weak to survive outside. Yet mate the two together, hers inside mine …’

‘Never!’ cried Liett. ‘His rrhyzzik is as much a monstrosity as he is. It will never do …’

Something clacked in the cage. The creature pushed to its feet, swaying like a newborn calf. Its spined snout quested the air. It took a step forward, fell down, got up again, then took another wobbling step, and another. With each step it grew stronger.

The lyrinx gathered around, even Liett. In a minute it was practically gambolling. It did a running jump, flung four legs in the air at once, somersaulted and landed facing the other way. It pressed against the bars, staring at them, and there was undoubted intelligence in its eyes.

Ryll let out an ear-splitting whoop. ‘We’ve done it!’ he roared, lifting Liett high and twirling her around while she batted at him half-heartedly. She was laughing, though. He put her down again, giving her a great kiss on the bridge of her nose. ‘Liett, your snizlet is the most brilliant work I’ve ever seen. Together we’ve done it!’

She rubbed furiously at her nose. He extended his arm to her. After a considerable hesitation, she clasped it, her hand about his biceps, his about hers.

Coeland grinned wide enough to have swallowed Tiaan’s head, clasped arms with both of them, and turned to the entrance. ‘Back to work! Grow it to size, Ryll, and you shall have your heart’s desire.’ She nodded to Liett. ‘Perhaps you too, daughter, if you have worked out what it is. This is only the beginning.’

FORTY-FOUR

Ryll and Liett had solved one problem, but not the other. It was a killing strain to get their creatures to the size of a rat, but there the growth always stopped.

Tiaan was pleased about that. She did not like the look of the new creature, and the way it fed was absolutely terrifying. Once Ryll tossed in a live rat and after a few seconds of paralysed staring it tried to dart away. The flesh-formed creature was on it with a single bound and literally tore its head off. What would the creature be like if Ryll could grow it to full size? What was its full size?

There were several more crises in the following week. One day the creature began to race around in circles, snapping at its tail and convulsing as if it was trying to tie itself into a knot.

‘Snizlet and rrhyzzik are trying to reject each other,’ said Ryll.

‘It’s driving it insane,’ said Liett, standing so close that her shoulder touched his. His broad hand lay on the shelf of her buttock. Their relationship had been transformed.

In the morning the animal lay on its side, panting. A line of sores had formed along the suture scar; red streaks radiated away from them. Tiaan could feel its pain as if it were her own. ‘Put it out of its agony,’ she begged. ‘No thing should suffer so.’

‘It’s not going well, Ryll.’ Liett slid her hand around his hip. ‘What if we were to kill it, and build it anew?’

‘The two haven’t integrated yet.’ Ryll slipped his own hand lower. Tiaan could not decide if she was fascinated or repelled by this public display. ‘I think it would just make one, or the other.’ He went to the cage. ‘Tiaan, give me all the power you can. I’ll try to force integration.’