Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson [133]
Chapter 67 — CESCA PERONI
Roamer vessels descended like the cavalry upon Theroc. Cesca rode in the foremost ship with her father. It felt good to be doing something to help the Therons, and she hoped it might soothe the pain for them and give her something to be proud of. She had not been able to offer Reynald love during his life, but she knew that what she was doing for his people now would have been far more important to him.
As the flurry of mismatched spacecraft approached the splintered and burned forests, Cesca finally began to comprehend the extent of the damage the hydrogues and faeros had done. Tears welled in her eyes as she looked over at her father and realized how glad she was to be with him at a time like this. “I just pray that I’ve brought the right people and enough supplies, Dad.”
Denn Peroni concentrated on the complicated landing activities. “You followed your Guiding Star to do this good deed in the first place, Cesca. Have faith that you were sufficiently inspired to remember everything we’d need—if not, we’ll make do. You’ll get them back on their feet again.”
As a girl she had traveled with him on his merchant ship from one port of call to another—Hansa colonies, isolated Roamer settlements, scary and crowded Earth. On her twelfth birthday he’d brought Cesca to Rendezvous and convinced Speaker Okiah to teach her the nuances of personal and familial politics that he himself didn’t understand. Thus, when Cesca had asked her father to join this humanitarian mission to Theroc, he had not hesitated for an instant. Her heart warmed at the memory of his supportive smile…
Ship after colorful ship landed in the raw cleared areas where tall worldtrees had once stood. With a lump in her throat, Cesca remembered the only other time she’d visited here: her gala betrothal celebration not so long ago. There had been green priests and treedancers, exotic foods and forest smells, insect noises and lights among the trees.
All gone now.
Cesca emerged to stand beside her father as dirt-smeared Therons came forward from temporary encampments. Among them, she spotted Reynald’s parents, looking much more haggard than she remembered, as if every drop of joy or energy had been wrung out of them. Father Idriss, whose square-cut black beard was shot through with lines of gray, regarded the new arrivals with wary disbelief.
Cesca smiled reassuringly, full of pride in her extended family of Roamers. “The clans wondered if you could use our help. Might we lend a hand?”
Mother Alexa’s smile blossomed like a bright flower.
In spite of the brief show the Eddies had made of assisting Theroc after the hydrogue attack, the military had stopped far short of finishing the job. The observation satellites they had left in orbit provided useful images of Theroc’s continents, but the Therons did not have the manpower, equipment, or resources to handle a crisis of such magnitude.
Even with the assistance of every able-bodied Theron, the Roamers had their work cut out for them.
Using prefab dwelling modules designed to create instant settlements on inhospitable worlds, clan engineers built a base camp in a clearing where all the worldtrees had been shattered by hydrogue icewaves. The Therons joined them, explained what progress they had made thus far, discussed plans, and offered suggestions as to how their green priests could best help the Roamers.
With a sense of satisfaction, Cesca watched her people working alongside the weary Therons with dedication and energy. Industrial lifters cleared away the worst debris from the ash-strewn ground by piling the enormous hulks of dead worldtrees into high funeral mounds that would stand as monuments to the worldforest. Large excavating machines designed for mining and construction on lifeless planets now went to work on a grand scale, accomplishing as much in a single day as the Therons had done in the past month.
“Our initial concern here is to prevent further erosion,” said Kotto Okiah, placing his hands