Of Fire and Night (56 page)

144

DESIGNATE DARO’H

T
he last of the scorched buildings in the Dobro colony had been knocked down, the charred debris cleared away. The wildfires that ravaged the rolling landscape had burned out, leaving the surrounding hills blackened. Soon, the rains would come, and a fresh carpet of green would spring forth, a sign of rejuvenation just like the new buildings being erected in the Ildiran settlement.

The terrible revolt had not done fatal injury to Dobro.
All wounds heal, even if some of them leave scars,
Daro’h thought. He walked down the street, still smelling soot and blood in the air. The sour, scratchy odors would not go away for a long time.

As he’d promised, Daro’h offered the humans what they needed to rebuild their camp, but after many discussions, the survivors had decided to move elsewhere, perhaps down to the fertile southern continent. Benn Stoner and his followers wanted to set up their homesteads far from their former Ildiran captors. Later—maybe after a few years or a few generations—they might find sufficient forgiveness in their hearts to come back and join the others in the way the original
Burton
colonists had meant to live among the Ildirans.

For himself, Daro’h would soon go back to the Prism Palace. He was excited to take up his new duties as Prime Designate. Another person would serve in his role here. Unlike some of his brothers, Daro’h had no noble-born sons yet. Given the circumstances, Udru’h might even take back his former position, though Daro’h doubted the humans would ever allow it.

During his walk, he stopped in front of the former Designate’s residence. Two guards were stationed outside the door, technically holding the man prisoner. That evening, the humans and Ildirans were scheduled to meet. Daro’h didn’t know whether to call it a debate or a trial. Udru’h would speak in his own defense, the humans would air their grievances, and Daro’h would implement whatever terms they imposed. It was what the Mage-Imperator had decreed.

Udru’h, still looking bruised and battered, his skin discolored, stepped past the guards to Daro’h. “Tonight they decide my fate, and I will be done with this waiting. Perhaps the people will feel shame. Will they be afraid to impose a harsh retribution?” Strange ghosts seemed to be haunting him behind his eyes; memories of what he had done were not so easy to justify when those memories came from Nira’s point of view. It wasn’t clear to Daro’h if the former Designate wanted the people to forgive him anymore.

Daro’h shuddered. “You are my mentor. I was the new Designate. Had this happened a few years later, it would be me instead of you.”

Udru’h shrugged. “We will see if my good intentions outweigh bad memories. Crimes must be punished, one way or another. I know that now.”

Unexpectedly, Daro’h felt a sudden and unusual heat down his spine and in his mind. The air became crackling hot. The smell of smoke and scorched bones intensified around him. The normally stoic guards looked into the sky, alarmed.

A trio of shimmering ellipsoids encased in flame descended like comets toward the scarred settlement.

“Faeros,” Udru’h said. “What are they doing here?”

Daro’h had never seen the flaming shapes up close before. He couldn’t tell if they were ships or living elemental creatures. Many thousands of the faeros had been extinguished in their battles with the hydrogues. But why would they come to Dobro? What did they want?

The pulsing faeros drew closer, blazed brighter. Daro’h feared he might go blind if he stared, but he could not tear his eyes away. The fireballs loomed directly overhead, pausing as if they had come to the former Designate’s residence on purpose. Udru’h flinched, as if he heard something loud inside his head.

The
thism
within Daro’h grew hot, like overheated wires burning through his nerves and his thoughts. He felt the strong and silky soul-threads being pulled and strained, knotted, melted. . . .

A voice boomed through his mind, a roaring, skull-splitting shout that wasn’t even directed at him. “Udru’h, you betrayed me. Because of you, I lost everything. I failed.”

The former Designate reeled, as if his head might explode. The hammering molten voice continued its damning speech. “But I am stronger than ever now. I no longer see the Lightsource—I
am
the Lightsource.”

In shock, Daro’h recognized the angry voice of the mad Designate. At the end of his defeated rebellion, Rusa’h had flown his ship into Hyrillka’s sun. Now he was alive and intact . . . and with the faeros?

Unable to tear himself away, Udru’h shook his head against the thoughts, covered his eyes and ears, but the booming continued to rip through the
thism
. “Many faeros have perished. Now you will spark the creation of new faeros. Let your treachery consume you.”

Daro’h drew back in horror as Udru’h’s face began to glow as if his very bones had grown incandescent. The former Designate opened his mouth to scream, and smoke gushed out. His flesh turned white-hot. Suddenly Udru’h burst into flames. Fire licked out of his eyes, his mouth, his ears, and finally cracked out of the bones in his fingers.

Daro’h watched, unable to run, unable to scream.

Udru’h was engulfed by a single flare that incinerated every speck of his physical being. The new curl of fire, rolling and braided, shot up like a spark into the nearest pulsating faeros fireball.

Nothing was left of the former Designate but a black mark on the ground, a smear of residue. Glassy footprints marked where the heat of his body had melted the dirt. Daro’h looked up, feeling his skin singe.

Six more faeros fireballs descended to join the others over Dobro.

145

ORLI COVITZ

I
t was Orli’s turn to bring a delivery of homemade food to the EDF barracks near the Klikiss transportal wall. There was nothing wrong with being good neighbors to the fifteen soldiers still assigned to Llaro.

The Roamer detainees, Crenna colonists, and original settlers had decided to think of the stranded soldiers as “protectors” instead of prison guards or babysitters. With the uproar and turmoil out in the Hansa, even the Roamer detainees were resigned to staying here for the time being. The EDF troops were not at liberty to leave either. They were all cut off, while the rest of the Spiral Arm went to hell.

From messengers passing through the transportal, the Llaro colonists had heard about how Soldier compies had seized much of the EDF fleet. Orli lived in fear that the robot-controlled battleships might attack here, just as they had wiped out Corribus. And no one had any explanation for why the eerie faeros ships had come here searching, destroying one of the patrol Remoras in the process. She did not feel particularly safe.

If anything bad happened now, Llaro had no defenses at all—except for those fifteen soldiers. So the colonists took turns making meals for the troops, sharing some of their fresh produce from the fields. Best to keep their options open. It was a good thing for everybody to get along, she thought.

Orli and Mr. Steinman trudged uphill to the barracks, carrying the day’s baskets. “My legs are getting too stiff to make this walk every single day,” the older man said.

Orli was used to Mr. Steinman’s complaints. “You don’t make it every single day. And if you were all alone on a planet, like you wanted to be, you’d have a lot more work to do just to keep yourself alive. The house you’re living in now is a thousand times better than the rickety shack the two of us built together.”

“I was proud of that shack.”

“So was I.” Orli grinned. The whole settlement seemed to have adopted her. She had rooms of her own in one of the large multifamily structures, a place where she slept and had private time to play her music synthesizer strips. Since the colonists liked to listen to her melodies, she often sat in the communal areas at night and played and played.

Seeing the two approach, the EDF soldiers waved a greeting. Orli and Mr. Steinman were bright and cheery as they handed over the meals. The lonely troops plowed through the baskets, making appreciative sounds as they saw fresh breads and vegetables.

“We’re gonna have to go back to basic training,” said one of the soldiers. “I never ate this well in the EDF! I’m bound to gain so much weight that I won’t fit in my uniform anymore.”

“Just find a colonist wife,” his comrade chided him. “Maybe she can let out some of the seams.”

“
These
colonist women? She’d make me do it myself.”

“And so you should,” Orli said. “It wouldn’t hurt you to be self-sufficient.”

The soldier guffawed. “Would you listen to this girl?”

Behind them, a buzzing sound crackled through the air like static electricity. The guards snapped to their feet as the transportal wall thrummed. “Something’s coming through!”

“Nothing’s scheduled that I know of—hey, maybe it’s our replacements.”

“Keep dreaming.”

Other EDF soldiers rushed out of the barracks, eager for any change in the monotony. Anybody who came through the transportal wall might be bringing good news, or at least fresh supplies.

The trapezoidal sheet of stone grew murky, and two figures stepped through. It was not anybody they knew. The EDF soldiers grabbed their weapons and looked uncertainly at each other. “Who are you? Identify yourselves!”

Orli saw an older woman with weathered features, tattered clothes, and bedraggled hair. Her face had a distant, haunted look. Beside her walked a silvery compy, a Friendly model with bright golden eye sensors. The little compy spoke, as if happy to make introductions. “This is Margaret Colicos, and I am DD.” Orli thought the woman’s name sounded familiar.

Weirdly disoriented and unearthly, Margaret focused her eyes, spotted Orli and Mr. Steinman, then the EDF soldiers. “It has been so long since I’ve seen other humans.”

“What happened to you, ma’am?” Orli said. “Where did you come from?”

The transportal wall flickered again, and more shapes appeared behind her.

“I’m sorry. I did not want to do this.” Margaret’s voice was hollow and devastated. “Everything will change now . . . everything.”

Behind her dozens of multilegged creatures emerged from the trapezoidal wall, swarming through. The tall beetlelike shapes held sharp and sophisticated-looking weapons. Their leathery exoskeletons were black and segmented. Their smooth eyes burned with a strange intelligence. Behind the first ranks came another twenty creatures, then another rank, and another.

The EDF soldiers scrambled backward, shouting to each other. Panicked, they drew their weapons, fell back, and took aim.

“Don’t shoot!” one of the men cried. “We’re outnumbered a hundred to one!”

Mr. Steinman held on to Orli’s arm as if
she
might be able to protect him.

Margaret Colicos stood close to DD, as if in a daze. “After thousands of years of breeding and recovery, the Klikiss are ready to swarm again. They want their planets back.”

Waves of Klikiss creatures exhibiting several different shapes or breeds continued to flow through the transportal. The giant insects seemed numberless. Already, hundreds had marched through the trapezoidal gateway, sweeping out into the Llaro colony.

Margaret continued: “The Klikiss have returned with a vendetta against their treacherous robots, who brought about the end of their civilization ten thousand years ago.”

As the alarm spread, Llaro settlers ran about, shouting, trying to find ways to defend themselves. But the Klikiss had not attacked, Orli realized. Not yet.

Margaret turned to look behind her. “At this moment, Klikiss are swarming through every transportal on every one of their worlds. They will reclaim their sovereign territory.”

Orli saw a larger shape emerge through the transportal, a giant Klikiss covered with enormous spines, curved spikes, and mottled armor. Its head crests were jagged and threatening, vastly more powerful than the rest of the Klikiss.

In a clicking and chittering language that was oddly musical, with notes that rose and fell in an alien melody, the giant Klikiss spoke to Margaret. The little compy DD translated, the brightness of his tone belying the dire message. “The breedex is angered to see such widespread human habitation on these worlds.”

Margaret’s unfocused gaze swept across the established colony on Llaro. “Leave. Or the Klikiss will exterminate you all.”

GLOSSARY OF CHARACTERS AND TERMINOLOGY

Adam, Prince
—predecessor to Raymond Aguerra, considered an unacceptable candidate.

Adar
—highest military rank in the Ildiran Solar Navy.

Aguerra, Raymond
—streetwise young man from Earth, former identity of King Peter.

Aladdia, Sofia
—transportal technician on Rheindic Co, reassigned to study the hydrogue derelict on Earth.

Alexa, Mother
—interim ruler of Theroc, wife of Father Idriss, mother of Reynald, Beneto, Sarein, Estarra, and Celli.

Andez, Shelia
—EDF soldier, held captive by Roamers at the Osquivel shipyards.

Aquarius
—wental distribution ship flown by Nikko Chan Tylar, damaged by Klikiss robots on Jonah 12.

Archfather
—symbolic head of the Unison religion on Earth.

Avila
—Roamer clan.

Battleaxe
—nickname for former Hansa Chairman Maureen Fitzpatrick.

BeBob
—Rlinda Kett’s pet name for Branson Roberts.

Ben
—third Great King of the Terran Hanseatic League.

Beneto
—green priest, second son of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa, killed by hydrogues on Corvus Landing, but returned to the worldforest as a wooden golem.

Big Goose
—Roamer derogatory term for the Terran Hanseatic League.

blazer
—Ildiran illumination source.

Blind Faith
—trading ship owned by Branson Roberts. Destroyed along with Davlin Lotze during EDF pursuit.

Blue Sky Mine
—skymine facility at Golgen, operated by Ross Tamblyn, destroyed by hydrogues.

Bria’nh, Tal
—legendary Ildiran commander who fought against the Shana Rei.

Briggs, Sergeant James
—security chief aboard the Juggernaut
Eldorado
.

Brindle, Conrad
—Robb Brindle’s father, former military officer.

Brindle, Natalie
—Robb Brindle’s mother, former military officer.

Brindle, Robb
—young EDF recruit, comrade of Tasia Tamblyn, captive of hydrogues after the battle of Osquivel.

Burton
—one of the eleven generation ships from Earth, fourth to depart. Lost en route, captured by Ildirans, and the colonists aboard were used as breeding subjects.

Caillié
—one of the eleven generation ships from Earth, taken to settle Theroc.

Cain, Eldred
—deputy and heir apparent of Basil Wenceslas, pale-skinned and hairless, an art collector.

carbon slammer
—new-design EDF weapon, effective at breaking carbon-carbon bonds.

cargo escort
—Roamer vessel used to deliver ekti shipments from skymines.

Carrera, Ensign Federico
—EDF trainee pilot, part of General Lanyan’s “cavalry.”

Celli
—youngest daughter of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa.

Chan
—Roamer clan.

Charybdis
—the first water world where Jess disseminated the wentals.

Childress, Ensign Sandra
—EDF trainee, part of General Lanyan’s “cavalry.”

chrysalis chair
—reclining throne of the Mage-Imperator.

citysphere
—enormous hydrogue habitation complex.

clanker
—deprecatory term for either compies or Klikiss robots.

Clarin, Roberto
—former administrator of Hurricane Depot, now leader of POWs on Llaro.

cloud harvester
—ekti-gathering facility designed by the Hansa.

Clydia
—one of the nineteen green priest volunteers aboard EDF ships.

cohort
—battle group of the Ildiran Solar Navy consisting of seven maniples, or 343 ships.

Colicos, Anton
—son of Margaret and Louis Colicos, translator and student of epic stories, sent to Ildiran Empire to study the
Saga of Seven Suns
.

Colicos, Margaret
—xeno-archaeologist, wife of Louis Colicos, specializing in ancient Klikiss artifacts, vanished through transportal during Klikiss robot attack on Rheindic Co.

competent computerized companion
—intelligent servant robot, called compy, available in Analytical, Friendly, Teacher, Governess, Listener, and other models.

compy
—shortened term for “competent computerized companion.”

Corribus
—Klikiss colony world, obliterated by Klikiss robots.

Corvus Landing
—Hansa colony world, obliterated by hydrogues.

Covitz, Orli
—waifish survivor of the Corribus massacre.

Crenna
—Hansa colony world, evacuated when hydrogue-faeros battles extinguished its sun.

Cyroc’h
—former Mage-Imperator, father of Jora’h.

Daniel
—new Prince candidate selected by the Hansa as a potential replacement for Peter.

Daro’h
—Dobro Designate-in-waiting.

DD
—Friendly compy, formerly owned by Margaret and Louis Colicos; taken captive by Klikiss robots, but recently escaped.

Designate
—any purebred noble son of the Mage-Imperator, ruler of an Ildiran world.

diamondfilm
—crystalline parchment used for Ildiran documents.

Diente, Admiral Esteban
—Grid 9 commander.

Dobro
—Ildiran colony world, site of human-Ildiran breeding camps.

Dogged Persistence
—Roamer trading ship owned by Denn Peroni.

doorbells
—resonance mats invented by Kotto Okiah, capable of blasting open a hydrogue warglobe.

drogue
—deprecatory term for hydrogue.

dunsel
—slang term for token human commanders aboard EDF rammer ships.

Durris
—trinary star system, close white and orange stars orbited by a red dwarf; three of the Ildiran “seven suns,” one of which was extinguished by faeros-hydrogue battles.

EA
—Tasia Tamblyn’s personal compy; her memory was wiped when she was interrogated by Basil Wenceslas.

Earth Defense Forces
—Terran space military, headquartered on Mars but with jurisdiction throughout the Terran Hanseatic League.

Eddies
—slang term for soldiers in the EDF.

EDF
—Earth Defense Forces.

ekti
—exotic allotrope of hydrogen used to fuel Ildiran stardrives.

Eldorado
—Grid 5 flagship Juggernaut, captained by Admiral Kostas Eolus.

Elman, Private Kevin
—silver beret.

Eolus, Kostas
—Grid 5 admiral.

Estarra
—daughter of Father Idriss and Mother Alexa. Current Queen of the Terran Hanseatic League, married to King Peter.

faeros
—sentient fire entities dwelling within stars.

Fitzpatrick, Maureen
—former Chairman of the Terran Hanseatic League, grandmother of Patrick Fitzpatrick III.

Fitzpatrick, Patrick, III
—spoiled cadet in the Earth Defense Forces, General Lanyan’s protégé, presumed dead after the battle of Osquivel but captured by Roamers in Del Kellum’s shipyards.

Forrey, Karlton
—first Roamer to set up operations at Forrey’s Folly, which ended in disaster.

Forrey’s Folly
—Roamer outpost.

frak
—slang term for fracture-pulse drone.

Frederick, King
—previous figurehead ruler of the Terran Hanseatic League, assassinated by hydrogue emissary.

Frick, Anselm
—Palace District businessman.

fungus reef
—giant worldtree growth on Theroc, carved into a habitation by the Therons.

Gale’nh
—experimental half-breed son of Nira Khali and Adar Kori’nh, third oldest of her children.

Goff, Boris
—Roamer skyminer.

Gold, Sullivan
—administrator of the Hansa’s modular cloud harvester at Qronha 3, now held prisoner on Ildira.

Golgen
—gas giant where Ross Tamblyn’s Blue Sky Mine was destroyed, bombarded by comets targeted by Jess Tamblyn. Wentals have made it safe for skymining again.

Goliath
—first expanded Juggernaut in EDF fleet.

green priest
—servant of the worldforest, able to use worldtrees for instantaneous communication.

GU
—Analytical compy assigned to work with Kotto Okiah.

Guiding Star
—Roamer philosophy and religion, a guiding force in a person’s life.

Hall of Rememberers
—central building of the rememberer kith, where the
Saga of Seven Suns
is compiled and memorized.

Hansa
—Terran Hanseatic League.

Haphine
—gas giant.

Happiness
—former Klikiss world, colonized by neo-Amish group.

Huck, Tabitha
—engineer aboard Sullivan Gold’s cloud harvester at Qronha 3, now held captive at Ildira.

Huystra, Jeremiah
—leader of neo-Amish farmers on Happiness.

hydrogues
—alien race living at cores of gas-giant planets.

Hyrillka
—Ildiran colony in the Horizon Cluster, devastated by recent rebellion led by Designate Rusa’h.

Idriss, Father
—ruler of Theroc, husband of Mother Alexa, father of Reynald, Beneto, Sarein, Estarra, and Celli.

Ildira
—home planet of the Ildiran Empire.

Ildiran Empire
—large alien empire, the only other major civilization in the Spiral Arm.

Ildirans
—humanoid alien race with many different breeds, or kiths.

Isix cats
—sleek feline predators native to Ildira; Jora’h’s daughter Yazra’h keeps three of them.

Isperos
—hot planet, site of Kotto Okiah’s failed mining base.

Jack
—first Great King of the Terran Hanseatic League.

jazer
—energy weapon used by the Earth Defense Forces.

Jora’h
—Mage-Imperator of the Ildiran Empire.

Juggernaut
—large battleship class in the Earth Defense Forces.

Kamarov, Raven
—Roamer cargo ship captain, destroyed along with his cargo ship by Patrick Fitzpatrick III.

Keffa, Smith
—hydrogue prisoner and experimental subject.

Kellum, Del
—Roamer clan leader, in charge of the Osquivel shipyards.

Kellum, Zhett
—daughter of Del Kellum.

Kett, Rlinda
—merchant woman, captain of the
Voracious Curiosity
.

Khali, Nira
—female green priest, lover of Jora’h, mother of Osira’h.

kith
—a breed of Ildiran.

kleeb
—derogatory term for an EDF cadet.

Klie’f
—senior member of the Ildiran scientist kith.

Klikiss
—ancient insectlike race, long vanished from the Spiral Arm, leaving only their empty cities.

Klikiss robots
—intelligent beetlelike robots built by the Klikiss race.

Klikiss Torch
—a weapon/mechanism developed by the ancient Klikiss race to implode gas-giant planets and create new stars.

Kolker
—green priest, friend of Yarrod, stationed on Sullivan Gold’s modular cloud harvester at Qronha 3, now held captive on Ildira. He has lost his treeling.

Kori’nh, Adar
—leader of the Ildiran Solar Navy, killed in suicidal assault against hydrogues on Qronha 3.

Kosevic, Brion
—executive officer aboard the
Goliath
.

Kowalski
—Roamer clan.

Kowalski, Oscar
—head of operations at Forrey’s Folly.

KR
—Analytical compy assigned to work with Kotto Okiah.

Lanyan, General Kurt
—commander of the Earth Defense Forces.

lens kithmen
—philosopher-priests who help guide troubled Ildirans, interpreting faint guidance from the
thism
.

Lightsource
—the Ildiran version of Heaven, a realm on a higher plane composed entirely of light. Ildirans believe that faint trickles of this light break through into our universe and are channeled through the Mage-Imperator and distributed across their race through the
thism
.

Llaro
—abandoned Klikiss world, now used as a colony and also as a POW holding world for Roamer prisoners.

Lorie’nh, Tal
—cohort commander in the Ildiran Solar Navy.

Lotze, Davlin
—Hansa exosociologist and spy on Crenna, now presumed dead but hiding on Llaro.

Mae, Terene
—EDF ensign.

Mage-Imperator
—the god-emperor of the Ildiran Empire.

maniple
—battle group of the Ildiran Solar Navy consisting of seven septas, or 49 ships.

Manta
—midsize cruiser class in the EDF.

Maratha
—former Ildiran resort world, now infested with Klikiss robots.

McCammon, Captain Richard
—head of royal guard in the Whisper Palace.