Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [61]
“What will stop them from spreading to the other Ildiran stars?” she asked him in quiet awe.
She knew his answer before he spoke it. “You will.”
The girl’s destiny was to go amongst the hydrogues, use her special telepathic ability to meld with the incomprehensible race, and convince them to negotiate with the Mage-Imperator. Other than the treacherous Klikiss robots, no one had succeeded in communicating with the deep-core aliens.
Udru’h looked at her, sensing her hesitation, though she had not spoken aloud. “The climax of hundreds of generations is unfolding in you. So many people have made sacrifices to create a person with your singular potential. You must not let them—or me—down.”
The Designate squeezed her shoulder and gave her a paternal smile, trusting that she would do anything for him. He had always been so kind to her. But not to all those other human breeding captives...
The girl turned away from him, full of conflicting emotions and unspoken questions about his motives and his past crimes. Before her mother had revealed the truth to her, Osira’h had always enjoyed making this man proud of her. Before...
She stared at the dying sun, the clamor of giant alien ships, the surging weapons of solar flares and impossible icewave blasts. Her answer was clear, regardless of her other feelings. “I won’t let you down.”
Chapter 28—TASIA TAMBLYN
The dry world had once been a bustling center of the Klikiss civilization, and the Earth government intended for Llaro to be much more than a barracks planet for a few prisoners of war.
When the three carriers full of Roamer detainees landed near the main Klikiss ruins, Tasia looked out at the tan rocks, the fantastic curving formations that had once been inhabited hives. “It’s not exactly the garden spot of the Galaxy, EA, but at least it isn’t a hellhole. Roamers have been perfectly happy with places worse than this.”
“Yes, Master Tasia Tamblyn,” EA said. “You have given me a general history of the original clan settlements.”
“Factual summaries, not actual memories.”
“I’m afraid that’s all I can have.”
Before being dispatched here, Tasia had seen a sketchy but official EDF map of the Llaro settlement. Now, even from the air she noticed the progress in building and excavations: A main flat area had been cleared as a spaceport for EDF transport ships, personnel carriers, and local short-distance craft. Adjacent to the landing zone stood a new Eddy base erected to monitor the Roamer detainees from Hurricane Depot and Rendezvous. Predictably, the military base was laid out on a rigid grid, as if it had come out of a box and been assembled according to directions.
Slightly less regimented, but still composed of prefab structures, was a new colony town of free settlers. Eager volunteers who had accepted the Hansa’s offer of free land and assistance had come here through a nexus of Klikiss transportals and erected their homes, ready to scratch out an existence here.
And then all the fresh Roamer prisoners had been dumped among them. The first batch of detainees from Hurricane Depot had established their own encampment on the outskirts of the colony town. Ostensibly a temporary settlement, what the Roamers had built looked like an old bazaar of awnings, tents, and nonstandard structures. Pennants, clan banners, and curtains defiantly proclaimed their family identities, even in captivity.
And now she was bringing another large group of captives to join them.
Tasia waited on the flight deck as the detainees were released from the carriers. They had no assigned guards, strict rules, or regimentation; her orders were just to turn them loose on the planet. Llaro had no fences, no curfews, but it wasn’t as if they could go anywhere.
Angry and uneasy, the new arrivals gathered under Llaro’s pink-and-lavender skies, milling around in front of the personnel transports, waiting for someone to tell them what to do. Tasia knew she couldn