A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [115]
“But why must you have a plan?” DD asked. “Have the humans ever harmed you? Or the Ildirans?”
“You are a short-lived machine, DD. Earth compies have an insufficient sense of history, while we have the perspective of ten thousand years and an intimate knowledge of three civilizations. Millennia ago, we helped arrange the destruction of our oppressive progenitors. Now the great conflict is beginning again. This time, perhaps, we shall succeed in eliminating the Ildirans and humans as well. The new Soldier compies on Earth will be a major part of this victory.”
The excavating robots blasted away the last of the ices that concealed objects deep within the unnamed moon. DD glimpsed a black carapace covered with frost, then another behind it, and many more. Sirix and his companions worked together thawing and removing the imprisoning layers. Crowded within this glacial chamber, DD saw hundreds of deactivated, identical Klikiss robots.
Sirix assisted the restoration routine while a frightened DD kept himself out of the way. Long-dead optical sensors began to glow crimson. Jointed limbs stirred as hydraulics pumped and lubricants circulated through subsystems again. The robots began to awaken from their long storage-sleep, sharing information and programming.
“This is a hibernation enclave,” Sirix said to DD. “We currently have robotic teams on forty-seven other worlds. Soon all of the Klikiss robots will be restored and ready to join the fight, along with the modified compies from Earth production lines.
“We will win this war before the humans even recognize the forces that have been arrayed against them.”
57
CESCA PERONI
For most of her life, Cesca had lived, learned, and worked in the Rendezvous cluster of asteroids. After her marriage to Reynald of Theroc, many things—including her home—would change. Within a week, Cesca and a party of betrothal ships would go to the forest planet to surprise Reynald with her acceptance of his proposal, after such a long delay. Finally, she would see with her own eyes the towering worldforest and the lush foliage. It would be very different from the sterile warrens where Roamers made their homes, but the thought excited her. Theoretically, at least.
She had put off her response to him for far too long, and she knew what she had to do. Reynald deserved better. Jess had been gone for months, out of touch and flying through distant seas of nebula gas, while she tended to her duties as Speaker.
Cesca remembered the fateful yet happy day when she had agreed to marry Ross Tamblyn. With a pang in her heart, she hoped things would turn out better this time. Though Reynald was still not the man she loved, it wasn’t his fault. She could not hold it against him.
When she’d been so much younger, everyone could see that Cesca had a great future among the clans. Back then, agreeing to marry Ross had been a bold move, carrying certain risks. A black sheep of the Tamblyn clan, denied inheritance of the Plumas water mines by his father, Ross had built his own fortune with the Blue Sky Mine at Golgen.
Before accepting his proposal, she had listed the pros and cons of the marriage as if it were a business plan. Eventually, she and Ross had worked out appropriate terms with a long engagement so he could pay off his debts and establish his independence.
But that was before she had gotten to know, and love, his brother, Jess. Once she had taken her vow and set off down that path, however, she had no honorable option of changing her mind.
On that long-ago betrothal day, her mother had spent hours dressing her. Cesca’s garment was a rainbow of fabric swatches and patterned scarves—one piece from each family, each thread passed down through various generations from the original Kanaka pioneers. As she twirled about in the low gravity, the fabric fluttered around her like a kaleidoscope. When Ross finally saw her, the image took his breath away. “Cesca,