Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [125]
Osira'h touched her mother's arm. "It is true."
The girl sensed a mood shift as the people began to grasp the enormity of their situation. Struggling with anger and disbelief, they tried to balance a need for retribution against their own desire for peace, freedom, and a fresh start.
Stoner ground his teeth together, lowered his head, and said in his deep voice, "But how do we do anything against this? We don't know how to fight. How can we have any effect on his scheme? Do we go see Designate Daro'h? Demand that he take action?"
Nira raised her voice like an iron blade, as if she had finally gotten a grip on vengeance. "Daro'h may be the new Designate here, but he is not the person responsible."
Osira'h closed her eyes, forcibly drove back any fond memories she still had of her uncle and mentor--every remnant of pleasant times, every hint of love and devotion Udru'h had once shown her. He would be leaving for Ildira soon and had asked her to join him for a quiet dinner tomorrow. That would be a perfect time for them to move. The former captives had to make their plans swiftly.
"We all know who guided the program," Osira'h said, "and we know who is to blame."
72
SULLIVAN GOLD
The warliner's engine rooms hummed with the stardrive machinery and the constant conversation of crewmen. Now that the hydrogues had come back to issue their terrible instructions, the level of urgency had increased dramatically. But as far as Sullivan could see, the Ildirans still didn't get it.
The engineer Shir'of beckoned him and Tabitha to follow into the engine chambers. They trooped down metal stairs past curved reactor tanks and circulation cylinders filled with hot ekti. He showed them everything, every deck and every engine room. They passed hundreds of crewmen, three times as many as he could imagine were necessary. Sullivan rubbed his temples in the constant noise, missing Lydia and his children and grandchildren.
If we come up with something here, the Ildirans will let us go home. Provided the Adar is true to his word.
Tabitha drank in the details with a mixture of fascination and scorn. She had given up trying to take notes on the unfamiliar Ildiran datapad that the scientist Klie'f had given her. She lifted the datapad. "This thing is probably the same model they were using two hundred years ago."
Shir'of smiled, as if it were a compliment. "Once we reached the pinnacle of our technology, there was no need to continue improvements." He did not see the flaw in his reasoning.
"And now you're in trouble," Tabitha said. "After picking your noses for so many generations, you've forgotten how to come up with new ideas."
When they reached the command nucleus, Adar Zan'nh dispensed with formalities. "Show me your breakthroughs. Time grows desperately short. I am ordered to go to Earth immediately, and if you cannot find us an alternative before I return . . ." He let his words hang ominously.
"We've only had a few days to think about it," Sullivan said.
"Yeah, I usually need at least a week to defeat an invincible enemy," Tabitha quipped. "I can't come up with a doomsday weapons system off the top of my head, design, develop, produce, and implement it all within a couple of days."
Sullivan looked at her. "Nevertheless, that's what we've got to do."
Tabitha cracked her knuckles, turning to the problem. On the screen, blips marked thirteen hundred ornate battleships gathering in orbit, drawn from across the Ildiran Empire. "So we're stuck with what we've got. How do we use your Solar Navy in a different way?"
Sullivan scanned the constant activity around the command nucleus. Solar Navy soldiers hunched over stations, arriving and leaving in a constant flow, as if the warliner's bridge were a busy city street.
"Here's what I've been thinking." Tabitha bit her lower lip. "The only thing I know of that can take down a hydrogue warglobe--other than a bunch of faeros, I mean--is slamming a big ship into it, like that Ildiran