A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [54]
“The atmospheric compression fields are still functioning around the main habitation structure,” Zan’nh said, “but at greatly diminished capacity. The levitation engines are maintaining altitude—they’ll burn for a thousand years—but don’t expect to find any hot chrana soup in the skymine galley.”
“We will not stay here long enough to eat. Let us make our inspection and be away.”
They positioned breathingfilms over noses and mouths, then bundled up in insulated fabrics; the outside temperature of the high cloud decks was far below optimal. Tal Zan’nh hesitated, giving his commander the option of setting foot first on the historical relic or letting the junior officer take the lead and face any dangers. They stepped out together, huddled against the whistling breezes that moaned through the tall derricks and empty support frameworks. Everything seemed dead and lonely and cold.
Once, sky-harvesting activities would have warmed the place. Squealing exhaust gases, humming ekti reactors, and churning intake engines would have made this a bustling city, gulping whole clouds and running them through high-energy catalysts to convert hydrogen into the rare ekti allotrope. Now Kori’nh heard only the subtle groans of corroded structures that settled and drifted.
Zan’nh moved ahead, using a scanner to probe fracture paths and measure the extent of rust and deterioration. He reached a steep metal staircase that led down to the ekti reactors. Their primary imperative.
They descended the stairs, one of which crumbled under Zan’nh’s left foot, but he grabbed a railing, careful to make sure the Adar did not injure himself. A loose piece of metal clattered and banged as it dropped, skipped, bounced, and finally tumbled off the curved deck to vanish down into the infinite cloud depths.
Barely seen in a flash of movement, a glistening black creature with many legs scuttled into a dark cranny between deck plates. Kori’nh whirled at a sound of fluttering wings behind him, but he saw nothing. Squinting into the shadows, he wondered if he was imagining too many sounds in the unstable debris. Roamers were notorious for keeping unnecessary creatures—perhaps they had left small pets behind?
Now the Mage-Imperator wanted to consider relaunching his operations, working quietly in the hope that he could get away with renewed ekti harvesting. That the hydrogues wouldn’t notice. Kori’nh would follow his leader’s orders…but in his bones, he felt that the danger was too great.
Deep in the enclosed mechanical levels, the air smelled flat with an acidic undertone that even their breathingfilms could not disperse. The deck beneath their feet vibrated with the hum of levitation engines that held them aloft.
Zan’nh went to the reactor controls. From a pocket on his wide belt, he removed a compact power source and linked it to the diagnostic instruments. “I took the time to familiarize myself with skymine operations, Adar. These controls are similar to those the Roamers currently use.” Part of the panel went dark, but the young officer continued to run his scans.
“Admirable foresight, Tal Zan’nh. Exactly what I expected of you.”
When Zan’nh attempted to restart the smallest ekti reactor, the grumbling and shuddering subsidiary engines did not sound healthy. Despite his repeated efforts, the system fell silent and dead. He shook his head. “And that was the best of them, Adar. All the reactors will need to be replaced, and none of the current generation of engineers has experience in such work.”
Kori’nh frowned. “Imagine the effort it would take: metals, machines, large crews of assemblers.” The walls seemed close around him. The light was dim, and the air