The Ashes of Worlds - Kevin J. Anderson [142]
In the command nucleus, Osira’h touched her father’s hand. “Rusa’h thinks you are still on the Moon.”
Adar Zan’nh snapped quick orders. “Move our remaining ships to the far side of the Moon. We will take advantage of the blocking shadow to finish loading our last cutters and transports.”
“If the faeros are coming for us,” Jora’h said, “they will find us.”
The last few warliners dove below the cratered horizon, swiftly finishing their lockdown procedures. “No, Liege. I promise you, we will escape.”
Behind them, like an inconceivably powerful meteor shower, the faeros armada headed straight toward the Earth’s Moon.
* * *
98
Captain Branson Roberts
When he discovered the damn fool thing Rlinda had done by chasing off to “save” Davlin Lotze, BeBob packed up the Blind Faith and went after her.
He’d come back to the shipyards, pleased with how well the Blind Faith had operated. The trip to the forestry colony of Eldora had been a successful run, not traumatic like the debacle at Relleker. When he disembarked, he had expected a particularly large hug (and other physical celebrations) from Rlinda. But she was gone. She hadn’t done BeBob any favors by leaving him that explanatory message. He couldn’t decide if he was more upset that she would pull such a crazy stunt, or that she would have gone without telling him.
And now he had to go rescue her.
BeBob took less than an hour to pack his supplies, top off the ekti tanks, and head out again, muttering to himself all the while. On his approach to Llaro, he flew casually, calling no attention to himself. He’d read the reports submitted by Tasia Tamblyn and Robb Brindle about this place, had talked at great length with Orli Covitz and Hud Steinman during their escape flight from Relleker. He had some idea what to expect. He wished Rlinda had. Once he saw the immensity of the hive city, he couldn’t believe she would have willingly stepped foot into that. What a mess!
He felt sick with revulsion and anxiety. “Why did you go without me, Rlinda?” His instruments were blurry, and he swiped away tears.
The insect colony was a nightmare of towers, tunnels, and incomprehensible organic shapes. BeBob couldn’t begin to estimate the number of bugs that inhabited the place. Every scrap of ground was covered by Klikiss, from the free-form rock towers, to the canyons, to the desolate flatlands that had once been agricultural fields planted by hopeful colonists. Crowds of bugs — millions to be sure — marched around in a maddening blur of colors, sharp-jointed legs, and armored crests. They all seemed extremely agitated. The comparison to a stirred-up anthill was too easy.
Orli had told him, in vivid detail, about the horrific slaughter of the trapped Llaro colonists when the breedex decided it was time to fission. He wondered if that could be happening now . . . and who the next group of victims would be.
In the heart of the city, a large trapezoidal stone slab towered many meters high, ringed by coordinate tiles. The transportal was continuously active, and rank after rank of Klikiss poured forth from the gateway, thousands more every minute, flooding to Llaro.
“Oh, Rlinda, what have you gotten yourself into?”
And how was he supposed to get her out of it?
Then his continuous sweeps picked up the Curiosity’s ID beacon. No voice, no transmission — just the locator. Nevertheless, his heart started pounding. At least the ship wasn’t utterly destroyed. Definitely a good sign. He descended recklessly toward where Rlinda had landed.
It didn’t matter if Rlinda had landed her ship safely — the bugs would have gotten her. He realized that if he had any common sense, he would just turn around and race away before the Klikiss came after him. But he couldn’t bring himself to alter the Blind Faith’s course. Not until he knew.
Some rescue this had turned out to be.
Finally, he spotted the Curiosity, a dark speck landed amidst the gray-brown structures, right in the middle of the maddening flow of insects. He increased magnification, ran a set of scans (silently thanking Orli