A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [263]
“It looks so peaceful out there,” Estarra said, reaching over to take his arm.
“You can hardly tell that Armageddon is occurring.” He felt cold inside just thinking of the terrifying possibilities. He was glad to have Estarra next to him so they could face the impossible challenge together.
The attack on Theroc had been devastating. Preliminary estimates suggested that over a million inhabitants had been slaughtered, including Estarra’s brother, Reynald. But her parents, grandparents, and Celli had miraculously survived.
King Peter did his best to comfort Estarra once she’d learned of Reynald’s death, so soon after the loss of Beneto. The worldforest had been terribly wounded, but the great trees, with their presence and knowledge, were dispersed across enough other planets that they would surely survive. With an extraordinary effort of nurturing the reseeded areas of worldforest, the green priests were confident they could make the great botanical mind thrive again on Theroc.
The Therons also intended to take up a more aggressive missionary planting program that would disseminate the sentient trees across other planets. Thus, the worldforest would no longer be so vulnerable to a single attack—and it would grow stronger. Idriss and Alexa, now reluctantly restored as the planet’s Father and Mother, had issued the statement.
On Theroc, in the burned tangle of forest, the EDF had found the wreckage of several destroyed hydrogue warglobes and smaller spheres that had been downed in the faeros’ counterattack. Perhaps by studying them, Hansa scientists would learn enough to develop effective weapons against the seemingly invincible opponent.
Estarra agonized over the trauma her planet had suffered and wanted to go visit the remains of the worldforest. Peter felt he could arrange passage for them both, but he was reluctant to leave Earth, not knowing what Basil Wenceslas might do in his absence.
Estarra’s sister Sarein had tried to act as a peacemaker, to ease the tensions between the Chairman and Peter. But the King would never again let down his guard, now that Basil had tried to assassinate him—and innocent Estarra as well. The Hansa had made no secret that Peter’s replacement, Prince Daniel, was already being trained somewhere within the labyrinth of the WhisperPalace.
Now, for Peter and Estarra, every day would be a matter of survival.
“There is one spot of hope,” he said. “The possibilities for new colonization via Klikiss transportals seems to be getting people excited. We’ve got no shortage of volunteers.”
Estarra leaned against him. “Yes, everyone wants to get away.”
Citing King Peter’s enthusiastic endorsement—though he hadn’t bothered to ask beforehand—Basil Wenceslas had issued a statement outlining a new colonization and expansion effort using the ancient alien transportation system. He called for hardy pioneers to tame the network of Klikiss worlds in a massive colonization wave from the nearest transportals, completely independent of ekti use.
Following Davlin Lotze’s notes and discoveries, researchers and explorers had already gone to several of the abandoned Klikiss planets, finding empty but intact ruins. With effort and an initial expenditure of ekti, such places could be converted into ready-made human settlements. Engineers and entrepreneurs would install the infrastructure and prepare for the full-scale arrival of instant populations. Green priests were eager to bring as many treelings as they could salvage and spread them along with the new wave of colonization.
So far, the transportals seemed perfect and inexhaustible—dimensional doorways that required only a