To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

by Christopher Paolini

  Koyich readjusted the sling on his gun. “What makes you think that?”

  She pointed. “Fractals. They were obsessed with fractals.”

  “That doesn’t help us now,” said Koyich. “Not unless you can read them.”

  “No.”

  “Then don’t waste—” Koyich stiffened, as did Falconi.

  Alarmed, Kira checked her overlays. There—on the other side of Bughunt—another four Jelly ships had just emerged out of FTL. They were coming in hot; a lot hotter than the first batch of enemy vessels.

  “Goddammit,” said Falconi between clenched teeth. “How many ships did they send?”

  “Look: the rest of the Jellies are increasing their thrust so they’ll arrive at the same time,” said Koyich. He’d gone preternaturally calm, flipping the switch from serious to combat mode. Kira recognized the change in Falconi also. “We’ve got an hour to find this staff. Maybe less. Pick it up, everyone. Double time.”

  With the exos still at the lead, they trotted deeper into the city until they arrived at an open plaza with a tall standing stone, cracked and weathered, in the center. As Kira examined the stone, she experienced a shock similar to when she’d seen the sigil, for it was covered with a fractal pattern, and when she looked at it closely, the smallest details of the pattern seemed to swim, as if moving of their own volition.

  She felt as if the ground had shifted. What was happening to her? Tingles crawled across the surface of her skin, and the Soft Blade stirred as if restless.

  “Anything?” said Koyich.

  “I … I don’t recognize anything. Not specifically.”

  “Right. We can’t wait. Hawes, set up a search pattern. Look for anything that might resemble a staff. Use the drones; use everything we’ve got. If you haven’t found the staff by the time the Jellies enter orbit, then we focus on digging in and denying them territory.”

  “Yessir!”

  The lieutenant and Corporal Nishu split the rest of the Marines into four squads, and then they dispersed into the buildings. All of them save Koyich, who took up position by the side of the plaza and—from the pack he was carrying—removed a comms dish that he aimed at the sky.

  “Navárez,” he said, fiddling with the controls. “I’m hooking you up to the squad’s feed. See if you recognize anything.”

  Kira nodded and sat hunched on the ground, next to the standing stone. A contact appeared on her overlays. She accepted, and a grid of windows filled her vision. Each window displayed the video from a Marine or a drone.

  It was confusing to watch, but she did her best, shifting her attention from one window to the next as the Marines hurried through the decaying buildings, rushing through one empty room after another.

  And still, she felt no sense of certainty. They were in the right place; of that she was sure. But where in the complex they were supposed to go continued to elude her.

  Tell me! she commanded the Soft Blade, desperate. No answer was forthcoming, and with each passing moment, Kira was aware of the Jellies growing closer.

  Falconi paced around the perimeter of the plaza along with Trig and Nielsen, keeping watch. By one side, the Entropists stood huddled next to a panel that had come loose from the corner of a building, studying whatever lay underneath.

  “Navárez,” said Koyich after a while.

  She shook her head. “Still nothing.”

  He grunted. “Hawes, start scouting for a location we can hole up in.”

  *Yessir,* the sergeant replied over the radio.

  After half an hour of near-silence, Falconi came over to Kira and squatted next to her while resting Francesca across his knees. “We’re almost out of time,” he said quietly.

  “I know,” she said, eyes darting from one window to the next.

  “Can I help?”

  She shook her head.

  “What are we missing?”

  “No idea,” she said. “Maybe it’s been too long since the Soft Blade was here. A lot could have changed. I’m just—I’m afraid I brought us all here to die.”

  He scratched his chin and was quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t believe that. This has to be the place. We’re just not looking at it right.… The Soft Blade doesn’t want to die or get captured by the Jellies, does it?”

  “No,” she said slowly.

  “Okay. So why show you this system? This city? There has be something the Blade expects you to find, something so obvious we’re missing it.”

  Kira glanced at the standing stone. We’re not looking at it right. “Can you give me control of a drone?” she said, calling over to Koyich.

  “Just don’t crash it,” said the first officer. “We’re going to need every one we’ve got.”

  Kira linked the drone to her overlays and then closed her eyes so she could better concentrate on the feed from the machine. It was hovering next to a tower, half a klick away.

  “What are you thinking?” said Falconi. She could feel his presence next to her.

  “Fractals,” she said.

  “Meaning?”

  She didn’t answer but zoomed the drone straight into the air, higher and higher until it was flying above the top of even the tallest tower. Then she looked at the settlement as a whole, really looked, trying to see not only the individual buildings but also the larger, overall shapes. A flicker of recognition came from the Soft Blade, but nothing more.

  She turned the drone in a slow circle, angling it up and down to make sure she wasn’t missing anything. From the air, the towers were stark and beautiful, but she didn’t allow herself to linger over the sight, dramatic though it was.

  A crack echoed through the city from the west. Kira’s eyelids flew open, and as she looked for the source of the sound, the image of the city slipped out of focus.

  Her perception shifted, and she saw what she’d been searching for. The decay of the buildings and the encroachment of the native flora had hidden it until that very moment, but she saw. The ancient outline of the city was—as she had suspected—a fractal, and the shape of it contained meaning.

  There. At the nexus of the pattern, where it coiled in on itself like a nautilus shell. There, at the center of it all.

  The structure that she identified was on the far side of the settlement: a low, dome-shaped place that, had it been on Earth, she would have thought was a temple from some long-dead civilization. But temple felt like the wrong word. If anything, mausoleum seemed more appropriate, given the pale starkness of the building.

  The sight of it triggered no memory or sense of confirmation from the Soft Blade, no more so than the city as a whole. That the building was important seemed undeniable, knowing the affinity the Vanished had for fractals, but whether or not it had anything to do with the staff … Kira couldn’t say.

  Dismayed, she realized she was going to have to guess. They didn’t have time to wait for the xeno to disgorge another fragment of useful information. They had to act, and they had to act now. If she chose wrong, they’d die. But hesitation would kill them just as surely.

  “Hawes, was that you?” said Koyich.

  *Yessir. We located the entrance to an underground structure. Looks like it’s defensible.*

  Kira tagged the building on the drone’s feed and then quit the program. “We might not need it,” she said, standing. “I think I found something.”

  3.

  “You think, but you’re not sure,” said Koyich.

  “That’s right.”

  “That’s some seriously weak shit, Navárez. You really can’t give us a better idea than you think?”

  “Sorry, no.”

  “Fuck.”

  Falconi said, “Doesn’t look like we can get there before the Jellies land.”

  Kira checked the position of the aliens: the first three ships were just entering orbit. Even as she watched, she saw them dipping lower as they entered the atmosphere. “We have to try.”

  “Dammit,” said Koyich. “Worst case scenario, we’ll hole up in that bu
ilding, try to fight off the Jellies. They don’t know where we’re headed, so that gives us an advantage. Hawes, get two exos over to the location Navárez marked, full speed. Everyone else, form up on me, fast as you can. AOP is about to go hot.”

  *Yessir!*

  The first officer collapsed the comms dish and stowed it in his pack as they ran out of the plaza and down the nearest curving street.

  “Can the Ilmorra give us any cover?” Kira asked.

  Tatupoa and another Marine jogged out of a side street, joining them. “The Jellies would just shoot it down,” said Koyich.

  The buzzing of drones grew louder as several of the machines took up positions high overhead, providing constant overwatch. The wind tugged at them, causing the drones to dip and sway as they fought to hold still.

  “The Wallfish is on her way back,” Falconi announced. “Emergency burn. She’ll be here before long.”

  “Better tell them not to,” said Koyich. “That barge of yours doesn’t stand a chance against the Jellies.”

  Falconi didn’t answer, but Kira could tell he disagreed.

 

 

 

  Thudding along next to her in his power armor, Trig looked nearly as worried as Kira felt. “Just stick close to me and you’ll be fine,” she said.

  He flashed her a sickly grin. “Okay. Just don’t stab me with your suit.”

  “Not a chance.”

  A pair of booms shook the air, and two Jelly ships pierced the cover of clouds and descended through the sunset sky on pillars of blinding blue flame. The vessels disappeared behind the towers near the eastern edge of the settlement, and then the roar of the rockets fell silent.

  “Move,” Koyich barked, although none of them needed urging. They were already running fast as they could. Hawes, Nishu, and the rest of the search teams rejoined them and took up formation alongside Kira and the others.

  The radio crackled in Kira’s ear. One of the two Marines who had gone ahead said, *Sir, made it to the target. It’s locked up tighter than a bank vault. No obvious entrance.*

  “Cut your way in, if you can,” said Koyich between short breaths. “Whatever you do, defend that position at all costs.”

  *Roger that.*

  For a moment, Kira worried about the Marines damaging the staff. Then she shook off the worry. If they couldn’t get into the building, the point would be moot regardless.

  To her left, Sanchez said, “Movement! Four hundred meters and closing.”

  “Damn they’re fast,” said Nielsen. She racked the slide on her snub-nosed rifle.

  Kira activated the targeting program on her blaster. A bright red crosshair appeared in the center of her vision.

  Then Sanchez swore in a language Kira didn’t recognize, and her overlays failed to translate. “They just took out my drone,” he said.

  “Mine too,” said another Marine.

  “Shit, shit, shit, shit,” said Hawes. “Make that three.”

  “We have to get off the street,” said Falconi. “We’re sitting ducks out in the open.”

  Koyich shook his head. “No. We keep pushing forward. If we stop, they catch us.”

  “Two hundred and fifty meters and closing,” said Sanchez. They could hear noises among the buildings now: thumping and clattering and the whine and buzz of drones.

  Kira reassessed her mental hold over the Soft Blade. Only what I want, she thought, doing her best to impress the notion on the xeno. No matter how chaotic things became, no matter how much pain or fear she might end up in, she wasn’t going to let the Soft Blade inadvertently hurt someone again. Never that.

  Then she willed the xeno to cover her face. Even though she was wearing the skinsuit helmet, she wanted the additional protection. Her vision went black for the length of a blink, and then she could see the same as before, only now with the addition of the hazy, violet bands of the local EM fields. Thick loops emanated from the walls of several nearby buildings, marking places where the power was still on. (Why hadn’t she looked before?)

  “This is suicide,” said Falconi. He grabbed Kira by the arm and pulled her toward an open doorway in the nearest building. “This way.”

  “Stop!” shouted Koyich. “That’s an order.”

  “Bullshit. I’m not under your command,” said Falconi. Nielsen followed him, and also Trig and the Entropists. After a moment, Koyich had no choice but to order the Marines to do the same.

  The ground level of the building was tall and lofty. Soaring pillars divided the space at regular intervals, a forest of stone trunks that branched as they approached the ceiling. The sight reminded Kira, with almost physical force, of her dreams.

  Koyich stormed over to Falconi. “You pull a stunt like that again and I’ll have them pick you up and carry you.” He jerked the barrel of his blaster toward the Marines in power armor.

  “That’s—” Falconi stopped as the noises outside grew louder. Kira saw movement in the street they’d just abandoned.

  The first Jelly crawled into view: a tentacled squid, similar in form to the ones Kira had encountered before. Following it were several more squids, a lobster-like creature, a chomper, and several more forms she’d only seen on the news. White, orb-shaped drones darted about over them, and farther back, she spotted some kind of segmented vehicle flowing across the rubble-strewn street.…

  At almost the same moment, the Jellies and the Marines released clouds of chalk and chaff, hiding each other from view.

  “Go, go, go!” Hawes shouted.

  Laser blasts and gunfire erupted, and a chunk of masonry exploded out of the pillar above Kira’s head.

  She ducked and ran, staying close to Trig’s exo. Explosions sounded behind them. Falconi turned and fired his grenade launcher, but Kira didn’t look back.

  Their only hope now was speed.

  The two Marines in the lead lowered their metal-clad shoulders and smashed straight through the wall in front of them. Another empty room followed by another wall, and then they burst out onto a narrow street.

  “Keep going!” Nielsen shouted.

  Kira looked for the Entropists and saw them dimly through the swirling chalk: ghost-like figures nearly doubled over, hands outstretched. “This way!” she called, hoping it would help guide them.

  Together, she and the rest of the group sprinted across the street and into another building. This one was smaller, with tall, thin corridors barely wide enough for the exos. With every step, the machines scraped flakes off the mossy walls, showering the floor.

  The Marines continued to bull forward, breaking past every barrier. Future archeologists, Kira reflected, weren’t going to be happy with all the damage.

  They passed through a room with shallow, pool-shaped depressions in the floor—Kira remembered the scent of perfumes and the sound of splashing water—then an arcade with large, broken tubes of some transparent material extending upward along the walls—bodies rising through space, both pairs of arms outstretched for balance—and then they broke through onto another street, wider than the first.

  The buzzing of drones grew louder, and Kira saw threadlike flashes of superheated air as lasers punched through the clouds of chalk surrounding them.

  Then one of the lobster-like Jellies skittered around the side of the building high above—clinging to the wall like an oversized insect—and jumped onto the back of Tatupoa’s armor.

  The man shouted and twisted, flailing his arms in a futile attempt to knock loose the chittering creature. “Hold still!” shouted Hawes, and a burst of gunfire erupted from his rifle. Each shot produced a pulse of pressure that Kira felt against the front of her chest.

  Ichor exploded from the side of the lobster, and it fell twitching to the cracked pavement.

  But it had accom
plished its mission. The delay it caused was just enough for three squids to swarm around the building and close with them.

  The Marines weren’t caught by surprise. The instant the squids entered their line of sight, the big chain guns mounted on the front of the two heavy exos sprang to life. Even through her helmet and even through the Soft Blade’s mask, the sound was painful and terrifying—visceral in its intensity.

  Kira continued to stumble forward, feeling as if her bones were being hammered.

  The three squids thrashed under the impacts of the Marines’ explosive bullets. Several of their tentacles returned fire with blasters and guns and a whirling blade of death that buried itself in a wall down the street.

  One of the Marines threw a grenade. Falconi fired his launcher, and the paired set of blasts obscured the squids.

  Chunks of twitching flesh splattered the buildings and rained down around Kira. She ducked, shielding her face with an arm.

  Then they were inside again, and half the Marines turned to cover the rear. They spread to either side, using corners and rubble and what looked like high-backed benches for protection. Three of the men were bleeding: Tatupoa in his exo, the two others in skinsuits. It looked like they’d all been hit by lasers.

  They didn’t stop to tend their wounds. Without lowering his blaster, one of the two pulled out a canister of medifoam, sprayed his wound, and tossed the can to his comrade, who sprayed his own injury. Neither of them lost a step throughout the whole process.

  “Go! Go! Out the back!” shouted Koyich, continuing to retreat from the building entrance.

  “How much farther?” said Nielsen.

  “Hundred meters!” shouted Hawes.

  “Th—”

  BOOM!

  The walls and ceiling vibrated like a drumhead, and centuries’ worth of accumulated dust plumed into the air as the corner of the building caved inward. The ceiling sagged, and everywhere Kira heard creaks and squeals and tearing moans. She willed the Soft Blade to switch to infrared. Through the new opening in the side of the room, she saw the Jelly vehicle directly outside: black and menacing, with a segmented carapace that reminded her of a giant pillbug. On its back, a huge mounted turret was taking aim at them—