The Ashes of Worlds

by Kevin J. Anderson

  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 for having shown him how to work all the new computer systems), and soon saw how much damage the Curiosity had suffered. The engines were blasted; several holes had been torn through the hull; dark smoke stained the metal plates.

  Definitely a crash, then. And it didn’t look like an accident.

  He hit the transmitter, his voice breaking as he squawked, “Rlinda, it’s me! Are you there?” He waited a second — it seemed like a year — then repeated his message. “I found your ship, but where are you?”

  Unexpectedly, a warm voice came over the comm speaker. “BeBob, it’s me. Don’t worry.” Before he could respond, Rlinda added, “Well, you can worry a little bit, but I think we’ll be okay . . . if you don’t wait too damn long. The bugs aren’t interested in us. Not at the moment, anyway.”

  He was so shocked and thrilled that he nearly sent the ship into a spin as he fumbled with the comm controls. “I’m coming! Doesn’t look too good down there. Where in the world am I supposed to land? How do I find you?”

  “Are you saying you won’t be able to tell me apart from a million giant cockroaches? Thanks a lot.” She spoke to someone else with her, then answered, “We’re inside the Curiosity . . . but as you can probably see, my ship’s not going anywhere. Land nearby.”

  He wondered if this could be some kind of trick, if the Klikiss had managed to imitate Rlinda’s voice, but he doubted such creatures could have mimicked her personality so well. He altered course, descended to the wrecked vessel. “Who’s ‘we?’ You got company?” Maybe she had found Davlin after all!

  “Margaret Colicos. She’s coming with us.”

  Orli and Steinman had told him that the long-lost xeno-archaeologist was still trapped among the Klikiss. “I’ll try to land without squashing too many bugs.”

  “Don’t worry, the breedex has plenty more where they came from, and right now the bugs are preoccupied with their superfissioning, or whatever they call it. But I’d sure appreciate getting the hell out of here.”

  As soon as the Faith’s shadow fell over them, the gathered insects shuffled aside, clearing enough room for him to set the ship down with a hard thump, kicking up dust and powdery stones. Not his best landing, but he doubted Rlinda would scold him for being sloppy.

  The Curiosity’s hatch glided open, and Rlinda emerged with another woman. They both looked dusty and sweaty, but apparently unharmed. They pushed their way through the monstrous ranks of secreters, diggers, warriors, and scouts, dodging toward the Faith. They were running. Maybe Rlinda wasn’t as confident as she’d sounded.

  He opened the hatch and was almost overwhelmed by the smell of all the insects, but he shouted and waved. “Rlinda! Over here!” As if she didn’t know damned well where his ship was.

  She pelted up to him and nearly bowled him over with a hug, driving him back into the ship. BeBob had known her for so long that he could see how deeply frightened she was. “Rlinda, what’s really going on? Did you find Davlin? How did you get Margaret free from those things?”

  “The breedex is letting us go. No strings attached.” While he tried to process that, she continued in a rush. “The breedex is Davlin — at least in part. Davlin is controlling this hive . . . the whole damn race, in fact. Or he was.”

  Looking agitated as well, Margaret Colicos boarded the Blind Faith just behind Rlinda. “The race is about to complete a massive new fissioning, pooling the genetic songs of all the diverse subhives. There will be One Breedex.” She looked devastated, as if only she understood what she was saying. “Until now, Davlin’s humanity kept a tenuous control over the Llaro subhive, but the domates are even now devouring representatives of all the defeated breedexes. It will be a massive, final fissioning, and after the other Klikiss attributes flood into the hive mind, Davlin is sure to be entirely subsumed.” She sealed the hatch. “We have to depart — now — before that happens.”

  BeBob’s mind was already overloaded. “Is any of that supposed to make sense to me? You’ve both got a lot of explaining to do.”

  “We’ll fill you in after we’re all flying away at top speed,” Rlinda said. She wasted no time in getting to the cockpit and firing up the engines. The Blind Faith raced away, unnoticed by the swarming insect creatures.

  99

  General Conrad Brindle

  As frantic emergency calls came from the lunar EDF base, the battleships patrolling Earth orbit rallied, while others launched from the Palace District spaceport.

  From the bridge of his new flagship, the Goliath, General Conrad Brindle watched the ships move into position and prepare for a rapid response. “The Moon is under attack by the Ildiran Solar Navy,” he shouted into the comm, as if nothing else needed to be said. �
�I want our response fleet to launch pronto! Battle stations, emergency checklists — finish all the details en route. The Moon is under attack!”

  It defied belief! He was glad to be in the middle of an EDF operation he could support, for a change. He was an EDF soldier to the very core, and alien invaders could not be allowed to strike human territory with impunity. He also recalled six Mantas from the fringes of the solar system, but it would take hours just for the signal to reach them.

  After only ten minutes, all of his ships signaled that they were ready to depart, and he immediately gave the order to launch. Now that the black robots had placed so many EDF ships back into service, Conrad had a significant force. Even though every one of those vessels had passed the most thorough inspections, he was glad to be aboard a Juggernaut that had been repaired by humans.

  Conrad still hadn’t quite grasped the fact that he was in command of the Earth Defense Forces. He and Natalie had retired, then during the hydrogue war they were both recalled to active duty as training officers, and now he found himself in the big chair. He followed orders, he did his duty . . . and his duty was to defend Earth — in spite of itself, if necessary.

  “Power up weapons. All gunners to your stations. Make no mistake, we are going into battle.” His stomach felt leaden as he formulated his attack plan. He was still running the numbers of how many enemy ships he was due to face. From the initial reports, the Solar Navy had brought more than a thousand warliners. Even his partially restored EDF couldn’t possibly fight against that. Yet he would if he had to. He did not intend to let the Ildirans get away. For the honor of the Earth Defense Forces, he had to stop them.

  By the time his ships had powered up, moved out in formation, and traversed the quarter million miles to the Moon, however, the Solar Navy had accomplished its mission. Adar Zan’nh had struck the lunar EDF base, seized all Ildiran captives, and scrambled away. Most of the Solar Navy raiders had already escaped.

  As the Goliath and his clustered battleships closed the distance, Conrad watched the ornate warliners race off into space. Too late. He had never seen such a major operation move so quickly!

  “Solar Navy, you are ordered to surrender!” Conrad’s words sounded hollow as he spoke them. Adar Zan’nh had no reason to listen to him. He turned to his gunners. “Fire at will. My intent is to disable, not destroy.”

  “Looks like the Ildirans have no stomach for fighting, sir,” said his navigator.

  Conrad nodded without replying. The Adar already had what he’d come for. Considering the enormity of the Ildiran force, a part of him was glad the whole Solar Navy did not intend to engage in a full-fledged battle. It would have been a bloodbath.

  The Ildirans had not taken the time to retrieve the Mage-Imperator’s hijacked warliner, which was still in orbit over the Moon. Conrad saw that its systems were coming on, and an EDF pilot — a mere lieutenant left on duty with the engineering and inspection crew — announced that he intended to use it in the fight. He powered up its engines and accelerated to begin the pursuit.

  Over the emergency comm system, Commandant Tilton bellowed for help from the EDF. He sounded like a bleating sheep.

  The Adar’s last few warliners had arced around the dark side of the Moon in a tight orbit and now emerged from below the southern hemisphere. Accelerating from the slingshot, the Ildiran ships followed a trajectory that actually threw them toward the Goliath and the pursuing EDF ships. “General Brindle, warliners on a collision course!”

  “Are they trying to ram us?” Conrad gripped the armrests, pushing himself halfway out of the unfamiliar command chair. The cratered landscape of the nearby Moon filled the entire screen.

  “No, sir. I think they’re . . . running from something.”

  Three more ships in the Adar’s group fanned out, activated their stardrives, and sped away. Meanwhile, the last Ildiran ship skimmed close to the surface in extremely low orbit, using the lunar mass as a shield until it left the Moon and headed off at full speed. Although its vector would carry it directly out of the solar system, it would also bring the gaudy alien ship unnecessarily within weapons range of the EDF battle group.

  And the Ildirans didn’t even seem to care.

  Conrad couldn’t understand the Adar’s actions. “What is he thinking?” No response came from repeated hails. The EDF ships unleashed a flurry of jazer blasts, but the warliner was moving too swiftly; some of the bolts struck the ornate solar sails, but did little damage. The fleeing ship streaked away.

  Conrad looked quickly to his bridge crew for any answers or suggestions. “Can anybody tell me what he’s trying to do?” None of this made any sense.

  A cloud of hot spheres streaked toward the Moon like incandescent buckshot. Within seconds, the shower of sparks on the Goliath’s main screen changed to an inferno. Impossible numbers of fireballs extended beyond the net of the EDF’s sensors.

  “Faeros,” he said aloud. “My God!”

  The flaming ellipsoids arrowed straight toward the lunar base and all the EDF ships that had launched in a confused response as soon as the Solar Navy had departed. The Mage-Imperator’s confiscated warliner, still attempting its pursuit of Adar Zan’nh, had risen up over the Moon and was increasing speed. The faeros saw it. The EDF lieutenant in command of the skeleton crew called to General Brindle for instructions.

  Without pause, without warning, without any communication whatsoever, the foremost faeros slammed into the warliner, engulfing it in flames. The ship’s extended solar sails shriveled, and its meager shields could not possibly withstand the impact. The whole gigantic vessel was vaporized within seconds.

  The stream of fireballs kept coming, and thousands of faeros began to attack the Moon. The whole Moon.

  Elemental flames lanced down in a unified barrage, blistering the already barren landscape, gouging new molten craters in the surface. This was orders of magnitude more destructive, more overwhelming, than any attack, any weapon, any disaster Conrad had witnessed in his entire life.

  Even as a second wave of EDF ships rushed in from other stations in the solar system, he knew there was nothing his entire fleet could do against these things.

  Clustering around the Moon, the fireballs threw down a holocaust. The faeros bombarded the surface with total abandon, erasing craters and turning the rocks and dust into glassy streams of lava.

  They obliterated the fortified EDF base within the first few minutes. All transmissions from Commandant Tilton and anyone in the vicinity of the EDF base had fallen silent. Conrad didn’t know how many people had been stationed there, but it must have been in the thousands. Those men and women were already dead, the facilities destroyed, all the nearby ships vaporized. Every ship that had managed to launch was wiped out.

  But even that did not satisfy the rage of the fiery entities. The faeros bombardment continued until they succeeded in breaking through the lunar surface. Their weaponry hammered through the regolith until the Moon itself became cracked and red.

  “General Brindle, do we attack?”

  “No, do not engage the faeros! Maintain our distance.” He shuddered, staring at the screen. “No weapon in the entire Hansa arsenal can fight against that.” Any Earth Defense Forces that tried would be incinerated in the first wave.

  Conrad didn’t know what had provoked their fury. It reminded him of angry wasps stinging a blundering child who had accidentally disturbed their nest. Then he remembered the root cause of the hydrogue war: The Hansa’s first test of the Klikiss Torch at Oncier had unwittingly destroyed an enclave of hydrogues; in retaliation, hydrogue warglobes had completely annihilated the four moons of the gas giant, turning them into rubble.

  Now the faeros, elemental companions to the hydrogues, were doing the same to the Earth’s Moon. “What the hell did we do to piss them off?”

  Or were the humans just in the way?

  The vengeful faeros continued to pour energy through the crust, pounding hot spikes all the way into the Moon’s core, until it
reached a final unstable point.

  Conrad couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Unable to stand, he collapsed back into the command chair.

  Because of the lunar mass and size, the explosion seemed to occur with infinite slowness, a gradual crumbling and separation. The Moon cracked, fissured . . . and then literally broke apart like a ball of dried clay.

  100

  Mage-Imperator Jora’h

  The fireballs swarmed in as the Mage-Imperator’s ship angled high out of the orbital plane. The rest of the Solar Navy had successfully gotten away to the rendezvous point, and now the flagship warliner could no longer hide behind the bulk of the Moon.

  Though the EDF reinforcements had finally arrived from their stations around Earth, they were by far the least of Adar Zan’nh’s worries. He did not engage them, but flew past with all possible speed. Instead of pursuing them, however, the faeros concentrated their fury upon the Moon itself.

  Even the Adar was astonished by the sheer number of fireballs that Rusa’h had summoned. “We must take you to safety, Liege. We cannot stay here.” He turned to the helmsman. “Set course for Ildira.”

  Jora’h could not tear his eyes from the thermal pummeling of the Moon. “And lead all the faeros directly back there? Rusa’h wants me, does he not?”

  “Then we have go somewhere safe for a while,” Nira said.

  “King Peter would offer me sanctuary on Theroc,” Jora’h considered, “but the faeros already know that place. The worldforest has been devastated too many times. We need a world that has no connection with our prior dealings.”

  “We must make our decision now, Liege,” Zan’nh said with an edge in his voice, staring at the fireballs on his screens.

  Standing pale and shaken at the edge of the command nucleus, Sullivan Gold cleared his throat. “I’ve got an idea. I have the coordinates, I know the facilities, and I was about to go there myself.” He glanced at his wife. “There’s a gas giant called Golgen with plenty of Roamer skymines. They have no love for the EDF or the Hansa, I can promise you that — and I bet they’d welcome the presence of the Solar Navy, as protection in case the Chairman decides to raid them again.”