Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson [145]
A huge flare erupted from the solar surface, an early death throe of the sun, and Davlin watched the hydrogues sweep in like piranhas. “My God, it’s already started.”
Crenna was in terrible trouble, and the people there did not yet understand. Davlin delivered the harsh news as clearly as he could. “They’re going to extinguish the sun.”
Chapter 73 — RLINDA KETT
The Blind Faith and Voracious Curiosity flew side by side through space. Just like old times. Both vessels were packed with provisions, sophisticated processing equipment, weather gauges, and instruments for the optimistic colonists who ventured through the Klikiss transportals.
Each candidate planet had its share of native metals and minerals that could be converted into useful objects, but even the most ambitious pioneers couldn’t make do without the proper fabrication tools. This time, the Blind Faith carried large excavators and rock-crunchers, machines so big they could never fit through a transportal, even if someone had been able to get the behemoths up the cliffside on Rheindic Co and through the tunnels of the abandoned alien city.
Rlinda’s Voracious Curiosity held a four-month supply of protein and vitamin concentrates to ensure the settlement’s survival through lean times, until the colonists could establish their own agriculture and determine which of the native life forms were edible. It offended Rlinda’s sensibilities to be hauling such bland fare—was life really worth surviving if a person had to eat flavorless protein pastes?—but she wasn’t in a position to quibble with what the Hansa placed on the manifest.
Neither was BeBob. While following Rlinda on her extended delivery runs, her favorite ex-husband worked hard and maintained a low profile. Chairman Wenceslas had come through on his promise to “ignore” his unofficial absence from EDF duty, but BeBob didn’t trust General Lanyan or the other stuffed-uniform military officers.
The two vessels arrived at the fledgling colony on Corribus a full two hours ahead of schedule. Early in her merchant career, Rlinda had made a habit of padding her estimated flight time so that she would routinely complete her deliveries earlier than expected. The exaggeration harmed no one. It made the customers happy and gave them an inflated sense of Rlinda’s reliability, though if anybody had bothered to check her competitors’ flight times, they would have realized she was no faster than anyone else.
They flew in tandem, perfectly familiar with each other’s skills. The two ships looked like a pair of falcons cruising toward the granite-walled canyon and the once-empty Klikiss settlement. When they landed at the cleared spaceport on the rustling plains outside of the canyon, Rlinda saw no reception committee. Only a few hundred people had passed through the transportal to set up their foothold, and no doubt they had heavy schedules and hard work. They had been here only a few weeks, but they needed all the equipment and supplies the two ships could deliver. The next stopover was scheduled for a month hence.
She opened a channel to the Blind Faith. “Here we are, BeBob. Corribus at last. I’ll bet you’ve always wanted to come here.”
His response wasn’t surprising. “Never heard of the place before you told me it was on our route.”
“Never heard of Corribus? With all that time alone on your ship, why don’t you take an interest in history?” The man used most of his free time to amuse himself with simulated gambling games and vapid entertainment loops.
“Oh, I don’t avoid learning just history. Never much cared for current events, either, except when they affect me.”
“You’re hopeless, BeBob.” She switched off the comm and opened the hatch of the Curiosity. The gravity was slightly heavier here than she was used to, so she stepped forward with a lumbering gait.
Of all the abandoned planets connected by the Klikiss transportal network, mysteries lay thickest on Corribus. Here the Klikiss ruins were scorched, burned, vitrified. In their initial investigation report, a survey team had speculated that on