Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson [153]
The other Hyrillkans were laughing and celebrating now. Many splashed across the shallow irrigation canals, causing schools of phosphorescent jellyfish to swim out of the way, fleeing the clumsy feet. Looking relieved and content, as if happy times had returned to them and the hydrogue scars were healed, giddy Ildirans everywhere plucked plantmoths, squeezing flowers and sharing bloodsap. As one, they reveled in the raw and powerful shiing.
Rusa’h watched his young Designate-in-waiting with obvious disappointment, as if Pery’h had done something wrong. “Shiing merely removes distractions. It erases the background noise so that all Ildirans can see the Lightsource connections for themselves.”
The nearest lens kithman moved to stand by Rusa’h and looked at Pery’h with stimulant-brightened eyes. “The Designate speaks the truth. We have consulted the thism and followed the threads. His discovery is a revelation to all of us. Raw shiing is the key.”
Pery’h felt defeated. “It seems I can do nothing to prevent this celebration, but for myself I choose to maintain my connection with the Mage-Imperator, my father.”
“We all know Jora’h is your father,” Rusa’h said in a cool, distant voice, “as he is my brother. Even so, do not assume that everything he says is correct.”
The Hyrillka Designate watched as his subjects continued to take fresh shiing. Though the people were stripping the fields bare, nialias reproduced and ripened swiftly. Even after today’s festival, with a concerted effort the drug exportation could resume without substantial delay.
Designate Rusa’h, surrounded by people, stood like a statue, disconnected and apart. He closed his eyes and concentrated; his long hair—the longest of all the Designates’ since it had never been shorn in grief—twitched, as if with a mind of its own.
While every Hyrillkan around him was caught up in the liberating effects of shiing, Rusa’h smiled grimly and cast out his own thoughts to gently touch the drifting threads of disconnected thism…feeling the potential to establish his own separate network. Soon.
Pery’h reeled amidst the noise and chaos, refusing to partake of the wild celebration. As one by one the Hyrillkans let themselves drift free of the thism network, he found himself isolated—and oddly vulnerable.
Chapter 77 — DOBRO DESIGNATE UDRU’H
One morning, a week after the Mage-Imperator returned to the Prism Palace, the human breeding captives and guards turned to stare into the hazy sky. From outside his primary residence, Udru’h lifted his gaze to follow their excitement. A finger of fire came down, the sharp blade of a deceleration rocket. Even from such a distance, the Designate could see clearly that it did not belong to any Ildiran vessel.
Young Daro’h hurried up breathless to him. “Are we expecting a shipment or a visitor?”
The Dobro Designate felt a cold slice of dread down his spine. He had no maniple—not even a septa—of the Solar Navy here. Until recently the Ildirans had never needed defenses so deep in their Empire, and Mage-Imperator Cyroc’h had refused to call any sort of attention to this isolated and supposedly insignificant splinter colony. A serious oversight, Udru’h now realized.
What if the Terran Hanseatic League had discovered Dobro, despite their careful secrecy? What if the Earth Defense Forces had sent battleships here, having learned what had happened to their lost generation ship? What if Jora’h had foolishly told them the truth?
But that was impossible. Adar Kori’nh had destroyed the derelict Burton, removing all evidence. And, despite his qualms about the Dobro experiments, the Mage-Imperator understood the consequences, should the human government discover what was happening here.
Udru’h straightened. “Come with me, and we will both learn the answer.” Guard kithmen, bureaucrats, and scientists emerged from the