Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [153]
"I'd hoped the hydrogues and the faeros would keep each other busy." He dreaded what could possibly go wrong now.
90
ANTON COLICOS
For four days the spiked diamond spheres hung motionless in Hyrillka's sky like armed bombs that could go off at any time. They made no move, sent no emissary, did not attempt to communicate. Anton felt as if he had been holding his breath forever.
Watching them, he thought about his calm and uninteresting job as a postgrad student of Ildiran studies on Earth. His archaeologist parents had taught him that the best knowledge and experience were acquired in the field, but he was having second thoughts. Considering the powerful warglobes, Anton might have been safer underground, sorting through obscure documents in the vault.
"I hope that isn't something else I'm not supposed to see," he said. "It's a little late to keep me under house arrest again."
"It is too late for many things," Yazra'h said. "You are part of this story now, Rememberer Anton."
"What could they possibly want?" Ridek'h asked.
"To intimidate the people," Yazra'h answered.
"But for what?"
She could only shake her head.
Anton said, "If the Mage-Imperator worked out some sort of bargain with the hydrogues, then why are those things hovering overhead like a couple of barroom bouncers? What's changed?"
Yazra'h turned cool again. "I do not know."
Tal O'nh kept his Solar Navy warliners on high alert. The reconstruction efforts came to a standstill as people waited to see what would happen. They seemed reluctant to rebuild more if the hydrogues might smash it all again in another day or two.
"Look! The streamers!" Ridek'h pointed to where a group of seven sleek Solar Navy ships cruised around the hovering warglobes.
Anton couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Those pilots must either be completely insane or extremely brave. Are they trying to provoke an attack?"
"Tal O'nh sent those ships to transmit to the warglobes," Yazra'h said. "He hopes to establish communication. Their message is simple: We do not want hostilities, but our warliners are ready to defend Hyrillka, if necessary."
"Isn't that . . . um, unnecessarily provocative?" Anton continued to watch the strange ballet overhead. So far, the warglobes didn't even seem to notice the gnat-sized streamers.
Yazra'h shrugged. "It is the truth."
"One warliner has already been sent back to Ildira at top speed with a report, but we have gotten no response from the Mage-Imperator." The boy seemed to have confidence in Jora'h. "He is apparently occupied with other urgent matters."
Suddenly the three hydrogues began to move, spinning, separating from each other. The Solar Navy streamers scattered and withdrew.
"What is happening, Yazra'h?" Ridek'h said. "Are they attacking us?"
The voice of Tal O'nh burst from the comm transmitter in the chamber. "Emergency! All warliners, be prepared. Designate Ridek'h, something is--"
Without waiting to hear the rest, Yazra'h grabbed the boy and pulled him from the open balcony and into the inadequate shelter of the citadel palace. Anton scrambled after them, keeping his eyes turned upward.
A group of fiery projectiles streaked across the sky--ten, fifteen, even more. The incandescent ellipsoids shot in from all sides, leaving trails of smoke and rippled air behind them. Seconds later, delayed by distance, sonic booms provided a fanfare of invisible explosions.
Anton suddenly remembered the new tale fragment Rememberer Vao'sh had shared several nights earlier. A Great Light came forth to fight the enemy.
"Look, the hydrogues cannot get away!" the boy shouted. "The faeros are coming!"
Like a fireworks display in reverse, fireballs intersected at the same spot in the sky and slammed into the warglobes. Most of the flaming torpedoes exploded on impact, shattering the diamond spheres. There were far more fireballs than necessary.
The fiery barrage was over in a few seconds, but rumbling aftershocks continued