Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [14]
A voice rang out in his head. 'But the faeros have a quarrel with you - as do I.' Clothed in tongues of orange flame, an incandescent manlike figure emerged from the indistinct edge of the fiery ellipsoid. His skin was too bright to look at. He drifted to the ground like a hot ember, and when he stepped forward, he left smouldering footprints on the street. 'I will ignite the possibilities that Jora'h tried to quench.'
Daro'h shielded his eyes. 'I recognize you. You are Rusa'h.' Fleeing capture after his failed rebellion, the mad Designate had plunged his ship into the primary sun of Hyrillka. That was the last Daro'h had heard of his uncle.
'And you, Daro'h, are a son of the Mage-Imperator. Your is strong. Your connection to your father gains you… a reprieve for now.'
The blazing man turned to look at the remnants of the Ildiran settlement. Fires had charred portions of the town and surrounding hills in the recent rebellion of the human breeding subjects against their Ildiran captors. Now, half of the Dobro town was burned, and a pall of smoke had hung in the air for days. Fiery Rusa'h stared, looking pleased. 'The fire has already tasted your world.'
'There is no need to damage Dobro further! These people have done nothing to you.'
'I came here for Udru'h - to consume his treacherous flesh.' He smiled. 'I will leave for now so that I may light other fuses.' The faeros ships flickered, expanded, then rose higher, only the nearest fireball waited for the burning avatar of Rusa'h. 'The soul-threads of are like the soulfire of the faeros. Everything is connected, and I will forge bonds wherever I need them.' He backed toward the ellipsoid. The false Mage-Imperator will be burned if he tries to stop me.' Fire cloaked Rusa'h's form, making his expression difficult to read. 'No, he will be burned… regardless.'
The faeros-man let himself be engulfed, and like a comet the fireball rose crackling through the skies, leaving a wake of smoke and heat ripples.
When it seemed safe, people from the settlement emerged from the protection of the buildings in which they had hidden. Daro'h's fear and helplessness weakened his knees, but he refused to collapse. He was the Prime Designate. He must lead, though he doubted even the Solar Navy could fight against the faeros.
For the moment, his priority was to get to Ildira and warn his father of this new threat.
Seven
Margaret Colicos
On Llaro, the Klikiss invaders continued to build… and build, until they swallowed up the site of the old city. Then they expanded it. New structures fashioned out of resin cement rose tall, dwarfing the weathered monoliths that had survived for thousands of years. Using scrap metal from the dismantled EDF barracks, colonist homes, silos, and equipment sheds, the Klikiss began to construct simple machines, open-framework vehicles, and flying contraptions.
After the massacre of EDF soldiers, which had taught the Llaro colonists to keep their distance, Margaret offered cold but necessary advice to the leaders of the settlement. It was hard for her to explain what she had learned, and the words often locked in her throat. After fleeing through the transportal, leaving dear Louis behind on Rheindic Co to be killed by the black robots, she had found herself in a horrible place: a burgeoning hive of reawakening Klikiss on the far side of the galaxy. Only through her knowledge of Klikiss writing, which she and Louis had deciphered in the ruins, had she been able to communicate, at all, at first. And then there was Anton's music box…
It was clear that most people on Llaro didn't want to hear the hard truth, though one man - Davlin Lotze - was as intent on understanding the Klikiss as she herself had been during her early days among them. The creatures had expanded the old ruins, built their own new structures, and torn down some of the colony buildings that were in the way. Storage facilities, locked sheds, the large EDF hangar, and a makeshift repair bay were located farther away from the main complex, so far, at least, the Klikiss