Of Fire and Night - Kevin J. Anderson [183]
Beneto separated the armored plates in his thick trunk and created a passage for them to enter. He sensed them as they climbed up to the heartwood chamber, following the tunnels he made. Solimar carried the comm unit, trailing wires and a long-term power source.
He and Celli stopped upon entering the great chamber at the middle of the ship. Breathing hard, Beneto's little sister looked at her brother with mingled fear, sorrow, and wonder. Solimar seemed uncertain of himself, his eyes downcast, his expression glum. Through telink, Beneto could read his feelings.
Physically joined with his carved pilot seat, a wooden throne fused with symbolic controls and guidance systems, Beneto moved his body forward, detaching an arm from where it had grown into the seat. "You see, Solimar, the worldforest required your skills as a human after all. Any green priest can join with a battleship, but I needed you to do this."
The broad-shouldered young man looked disconsolately at the comm system. "To hook up this simple equipment? Anyone could have managed that."
Celli was quick to scold him. "How many Therons understand technology the way you do? Name anyone else who's built a gliderbike from scratch. Tell me who could maintain all those Roamer systems if you were to go away."
"Someone else could learn."
"Now no one else has to."
Beneto indicated where he wanted the comm system. "If I can make contact with the Earth military, I can coordinate our fight when we arrive. At the very least, it will stop them from shooting at me."
Her heart aching, Celli threw her arms around the remnants of her brother's form. "I'll never see you again, will I?"
His carved face smiled. "My body was never really here in the first place. But I am always part of the forest. Solimar can contact me--he knows how." She seemed to take heart from that. "And now you must leave. Our ships are about to depart. There is a war to be fought, and won."
Celli clung to him a moment longer. She always wanted to be seen as older and more mature, but at the moment she looked like the sensitive little sister he remembered from long ago. Beneto had many regrets for the things he had not accomplished in his second chance at life, but he also had many obligations to meet. Foremost, he had to join the final battle against the hydrogues at Earth.
He conveyed his goodbyes and his love, not only to Celli but also to their parents. She and Solimar hurried out of the giant treeship, and Beneto sealed the opening in the trunk, armoring himself for spaceflight and war.
Beneto stretched his new arms and felt his branches move through the air. His thorns and leaves extended upward into the winds of space. The huge branches were barely able to hold themselves up in the planetary gravity, but in open space they would stretch out to embrace the stars. All of the new battleships experienced the same reaction within their cores.
The Therons and the verdani were ready, as were the wentals and their numerous Roamer partners. This battle could be won after all! His thoughts thrummed through the interconnected worldtrees. "Our verdani seedships will not wait here any longer. We must bring the fight to our enemies, while the wentals launch their great offensive."
It was time to go.
Beneto's treeship was the first to lift off. With a tearing sensation followed by a wonderful sense of airy freedom, he uprooted himself from the soil of home. As he pulled away from the worldforest, his myriad verdani eyes saw the Theron people raising their hands, waving farewell. Through his enhanced vision, Beneto discerned Celli and Solimar, Mother Alexa and Father Idriss.
The other new organic vessels tore free of the Theron dirt and joined the rest of the forest battlefleet. Hundreds of spiny treeships rose together like a flurry of seeds showered into the sky, and moved beyond the boundaries of atmosphere.
They cruised between the stars, drinking raw sunlight. Beneto's gigantic tree body was sealed by an impenetrable verdani force and infused with the life