Hidden Empire - Kevin J. Anderson [100]
Jess's young sister, Tasia, stood by herself near the ice platform, watching each new group of visitors arrive through the ceiling shafts. Her compy EA stood beside her, tallying the names. Tasia usually loved company, chattered with guests, attempted to show off tricks or things she had found on the ice sheets, but now she seemed sullen and confused, angry at an invisible enemy. Her uncles stood by her, but when Tasia saw Cesca's mourning cloak, the girl broke down and ran into the rounded huts that were shielded from the cold, thermally separated and insulated from sound. There, she would sob alone.
Plumas had an outer shell of ice that was kilometers thick, floating upon a deep sea that covered a small rocky core. The ice sheath occasionally cracked open like chapped skin, forming lines along the surface where liquid water bled out until it froze iron-hard again.
Deep beneath the protective skin, heated by the pressing weight of ice as well as tidal stresses and even the cooling rock core, Plumas maintained a liquid ocean. Ambitious Roamers had drilled access holes through the surface to get water for their own needs. The forebears of clan Tamblyn had set up mining and pumping operations on Plumas, marketing the vital liquid as well as derived oxygen and in-system rocket fuels the Roamers needed. The Tamblyn family had also carved out a place to live deep under the frozen roof of the moon.
The Roamers had carried their small prepackaged huts into the air bubbles beneath the ice crust, erecting them on stable shelves that looked out upon the underground water. The Plumas ocean had spawned native plankton, lichen, and even deep-sea nematodes that had lived unchanged for eons. When the Roamers brought their artificial suns, the Plumas environment blossomed. Phosphorescent light rippled through the frozen ceiling like a still-life aurora trapped in the sky.
Plumas was one of the more wondrous Roamer settlements, demonstrating that the resourceful gypsies could find austere niches that no one in the Terran Hanseatic League would ever consider. Jess's family had found this place and made it their fortified and hidden home.
Now, Bram Tamblyn seemed barely able to stand. Though he was tough and hardened, a workhorse who never slowed down, the old man appeared ready to shatter if any more stress was placed upon him.
"Why don't you go rest, Dad? Talk with your brothers. I'll take care of the final preparations. We're not scheduled to begin for another four hours."
Bram did not answer. He looked as if he resented his son's compassion. His wife had died years before in a surface accident, and her body had fallen into a freezing water gap, where she would be forever locked and preserved, far out of sight. Now, the old man's eyes were reddened; his face was dragged into a frown by the wrinkles around his cold-chapped skin.
Jess felt alone as he remained on the ice pier looking out into the gray waters of the internal sea. If only he could just be a statue. He looked up to the looming solid sky. The ceiling hung blue and white, lit by artificial suns planted inside holes cut into the ice, balls of illumination that directed heat and light downward throughout the crystalline shield.
Shivering, Jess went to see if he could comfort his little sister before the funeral began. He had many duties to perform before the day was over.
***
The visiting clan leaders and the surviving members of the Tamblyn family gathered out on the ice shelf. Plumas was silent and muffled. A faint mist sublimated