A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [107]
Taken aback, Anton said, “But…I came to Ildira so that I could study your Saga. That’s my primary purpose, isn’t it? I mean, I’m sure your colony is nice, but—”
Vao’sh’s enthusiasm did not wane. “Our primary purpose is to tell stories, is it not? A rememberer cannot let himself become as dead and dusty as the history he means to preserve.” He took his human colleague’s arm. “We have been invited to stay for this season, and all through the quiet night, when we will be needed the most. You will have ample time to study the Saga and, best of all, to see its direct effect on the Ildiran race. My people will also have the opportunity to hear some of the tales that comprise human history.”
Anton considered. Here was an opportunity to visit a new planet and experience the phenomenon of a splinter colony, while continuing his study of the grand Ildiran Saga. How could he refuse? “All right, then, Vao’sh. It sounds like the best of both worlds.”
Maratha was a hot planet where a single blazing day lasted for eleven standard months, without clouds, without relief. To Anton, the place sounded desolate and inhospitable, but Vao’sh assured him that Ildirans considered it a fabulous resort.
Tide-locked in its orbit, Maratha’s year was nearly as long as its day. It orbited close to its yellow sun, just inside the liquid-water zone. “The temperature hovers at around a hundred and fifty degrees on your Fahrenheit scale,” said Vao’sh, “until twilight falls in a weeks-long sunset and the planet cools off into darkness.”
With a dubious expression, Anton peered out the window of their descending shuttle at the stark, bright landscape. “Not much, uh, greenery.”
“Take heart, Rememberer Anton. The domed city of Maratha Prime has every luxury and amenity you could imagine.”
With the beginning of the long daylight season, noble kithmen and ministers, important Solar Navy officers, lens kithmen, and other high-echelon vacationers had flocked aboard the passenger liner from Ildira. Flight restrictions due to the ekti shortage meant this one large vessel would haul the entire season’s worth of customers and supplies. These privileged vacationers would remain on Maratha for the full eleven months of brilliant light, since there would be no more transports before the end of the season.
“During the night season, only a skeleton crew stays behind to maintain the domed city. You and I will be with them. They are brave and hardy souls forming the smallest possible splinter. They keep Maratha functioning until the beginning of day season much later, when they receive a new influx of people, like us.” Vao’sh spread his hands to indicate the Ildirans waiting to depart from the shuttle.
“If there’s any ekti left to fuel another ship by then,” Anton pointed out.
Originally, when Ildirans had realized that Maratha’s long annual daylight would be a boon to their dark-fearing race, they had sent a splinter of constructors who cleared the area and laid the foundations for the giant city in the middle of the daylit continent. It had taken more than a decade to complete the successful resort, work crews being shuttled back to the nearest splinter colony on forested Comptor each time the darkness fell. Since its grand opening three centuries earlier, the city of Prime had remained extremely popular with Ildiran highborn kiths.
“Soon, we will have continuous year-round habitation on Maratha,” Vao’sh continued. “At this moment on the cold night side, a group of Klikiss robots is completing a new domed city at the antipode from Prime. When finished, Maratha Secda will greet the dawn just at the end of sunset at Prime. Vacationers can transfer to the second city during twilight for another half year of daylight. It will be perfect.”
“Good thing I brought a sleep mask.”
As the shuttle approached the large domes, Anton could see