by Clara Woods
Zyr nodded. “I do not know why the Cava Dara are still attacking. I believed, like you, that the attacks would stop once the trigger was removed. That is either not the case, or there is another trigger.”
“Another trigger?” Persia whispered. “Like a second mage farm?”
“Yes,” Zyrakath answered. “Or something else entirely.”
“I don’t think there’s another mage farm.” Lenah shook her head. “So, what could that other thing be? This is a disaster and—stars.” Her voice hurt. “Are those Cheung ships firing at each other?” She stared up ahead, then back onto her screen. Fireworks of laser beams shooting in all directions had replaced the well-aimed shots at the incoming Muha Dara. What had seemed like a difficult battle with two clear fronts, now looked like pure chaos.
“Stars, you’re right,” Cassius exclaimed, also staring out of the window. “What are they doing?”
“They have been turned,” Zyrakath said gloomily.
“But are they conscious enough to shoot? Aren’t they supposed to start floating through space and attack the other ships that way?” Persia asked, leaning over Lenah’s shoulder. “I mean, the turn is instant, no?”
“It is,” Zyrakath attested. “I do not know why they are doing this. With my people, it was different. The turned attacked the remaining Syrr flesh-to-flesh as we didn’t have flying boxes available to us.
“I’ll get us closer,” Lenah said and moved the Rambler forward without asking for their consent. No one mouthed any objections.
She flew slowly, scanning the surrounding space. Up ahead, small moving figures took shape. Some were tiny specks of upright floating humanoids. Syrr. Others were larger, darker, a sharp stinger hovering over their bodies. Those were Bartoc. Lenah’s head itched as she remembered how the only Bartoc she’d ever encountered had pulled her toward that stinger by the hair. If Cassius hadn’t rescued them right then and there…imagine what these versions of Bartoc could do with just a bare touch.
A gasp followed by a slight crash made her turn. Zyrakath had apparently stumbled back in the air and hit the wall. His mouth was open wide, and his stony eyeballs appeared to balk at what he was witnessing. “By the souls of the Elders, those are my people.”
“They no longer are,” Cassius said softly. “They haven’t been for six thousand years.”
Zyrakath shook his head. “If I wouldn’t have left. If I had stayed to keep watch over them.”
Lenah shivered, remembering the creepy stone army they had encountered on Masis III. Zyr had been there with them for six thousand long years.
“What are they doing to the hatches?” Persia asked.
Lenah pulled her attention back to the view in front of them.
“They are pulling them open, and, oh no—” Persia trailed off.
Lenah didn’t say anything. She could only watch in horror. How could a tiny Syrr body, Muha Dara or not, be strong enough to pull open the hatch of a spaceship with their bare hands?
“By the stars, they’re going in,” Cassius whispered.
Moments later, shapes filed out of the ship closest to them, humanoid, but bigger than the Syrr. Floating, somehow no longer in need of oxygen. Humans.
“Lenah, get us away,” Cassius said, urgency in his voice. “We can’t do anything here. At any moment, one of those things will get close enough. Move us, Lenah. Or I will.” He seemed serious about it. Even calling her by her name again.
Slowly, feeling shock take hold of her body, Lenah moved her hands to the controls. Her father had done this. He had caused this horror and she had failed to avoid it.
“Look, one of the Cava Dara. There.” Persia pointed sideways. A tall figure, bigger even than the humans, appeared a few klicks away from the Rambler. Its black silhouette shone brightly against the backdrop of the planet below and displayed every crease and curve in the unmoving wings and regal face. Its purple eyes seemed to bore into Lenah, even across the distance, as if it could see her, sitting here, protected in the cockpit. Lenah shook herself and looked away, and the creature did the same almost as if they really had shared contact. It then moved its wings, stretching them high over its head in an almost lazy motion. A moment later, it vanished from their field of vision.
“What can we do now?” Lenah asked in a soft voice. “How can we help?”
Cassius shook his head.
“Stop them from destroying your home, of course,” Zyr said.
Lenah turned to look at the drone. “And how would you suggest we do that?”
He hovered close to her face. “Use your magic. What else? You and the other one. The one you fought with at my temple.”
Lenah gaped. “Corinna?”
“Why by the stars would we fight with Corinna?” Persia said, shaking her head. “She tried to kill us.”
Ignoring Persia’s comment, Lenah asked, “What do you mean, Zyr? Use my magic?”
Zyr gave her an exasperated look, and she figured he was debating whether to complain for not being addressed properly or explain. But then he spoke. “I had access to the temple’s great library for six thousand years, and I read each of the 2.14 million books several times.” For someone unaccustomed to human numbers, he certainly was using a lot of them. “I no longer need to sleep since I transferred into this artificial body.”
Lenah tapped her fingers on her armrest but didn’t interrupt him. At least, he was talking to her. Even if his story sounded self-important, it would hopefully lead somewhere relevant.
“There were hundreds of Cassidian books in the library. Some of which told the history of the Old Cassidians. And their extinction.” He shook his small head. “If we’d have known that the Cava Dara would come for other races as well, maybe we could have avoided our fate.” He took a deep, theatrical breath. “In one of those books, it was written that the Muha Dara could be influenced by Cassidian mind controllers as long as there is not a Cava Dara nearby.”
“But I’m not one of those Cassidian mind controllers.” Lenah shook her head.
“You are a human, but a mind controller none-the-less,” the drone answered.
No one spoke as Lenah processed that. Could her magic originate from the Cassidians? It would make sense, considering that was how humans had acquired warp magic. But the Cassidians Zyr was talking about had gone extinct eighteen thousand years ago. Then again, did it matter right now?
“You’re saying I can stop these,” she said. “As long as I’m far enough away from the Cava Dara?” Lenah could not hide the skepticism in her voice.
“They are most likely susceptible to your powers,” the little drone answered. “As well as the other woman’s.”
“Corinna?”
He nodded. “The mind controllers even united their magical powers together and were able to multiply their effect. Nonetheless, in the end, they lost.”
“You might be a genius, Zyr,” Lenah said and was rewarded with a smile and appreciative nod from him. She almost wanted to hug the drone, but the mere thought of him giving her another lecture on elder respect stopped her.
“We should test this theory of yours,” she announced and guided the Star Rambler back toward the Cheung army ships.
“I think getting closer won’t be needed,” Persia said, staring at the sensor panel. Lenah followed her gaze. Four ships were coming their way, and they were shooting at each other.
“Stars, where did they come from so quickly?”
“Concentrate,” Zyrakath’s calm voice said from behind her. Lenah listened to him.
At first, all she could see were the minds of her friends, but then she discovered something else, like a mist that was surrounding the approaching figures. Was that their version of a mind? So weak, it looked like transparent fog instead of the well-defined cloud she was used to?
“Lenah!” Persia yelled into her ear, and Cassius’s shoulder rammed into hers. Lenah jerked her concentration back into the cockpit. The proximity sensors were beeping loudly. Cassius’s hand was
on the flight stick, the Rambler angling sharply downward. They were moving away from a ship that had closed in above them, but there was another ship halfway under them, and they were going right toward it. How had they closed in this quickly?
She pushed Cassius’s hand away from the flight stick and pulled the Rambler sideways, rapidly accelerating. The ship creaked in protest at the sharp turn, but she knew it would follow her controls. Her Rambler was old, but agile. They soared through a gap between two of the incoming ships.
Belatedly, Lenah realized the planet’s atmosphere started right there, and the ship shook hard as they plummeted through.
35 Making a Call
“I’m really not sure she’ll answer at all,” Uz commented, and not for the first time. Her eyes were puffy, and she didn’t look one bit better than she had back at the tree. But Lenah was glad she’d agreed to come out of the engine room and help her call Corinna. Only, Corinna wasn’t picking up.
“Let’s send her a comm then. I’m not wasting any more time on this annoying woman,” Lenah grumbled. “She’s there when you don’t need her and not there when you do need her.”
“In the message, what do you want to tell her?” Uz asked, looking skeptical. Or depressed. Probably both. Lenah was glad she was thinking of something else rather than the destruction of the tree.
“The truth.”
Uz shrugged and swiped the recorder. Then nodded toward Lenah. “Ready.”
“Corinna, this is Lenah Callo. Before you hang up on me, I’ll get straight to the point. Mind magic can influence the Muha Dara. Our combined strength will be even stronger. More than we can both do separately. I have it from an ancient, but reliable source. I’m going planet-side and will help in the city. Just for today, let’s forget what happened between us and work together. For the good of Astur.” She nodded for Uz to turn off the recording.
They both stared at the device for a few moments.
“Do you think she’ll come?” Uz asked.
Lenah bit her lip. “Not sure. On Masis III, she was very proud of being in control of this matter. Remember how she said that it should be in capable hands, implying her own? And how she chased us halfway across the galaxy to get factual proof of this mystery?”
Uz nodded.
“I believe she’ll be intrigued by this new fact and by the control she could gain over the situation. Which she seems to have lost out in space.”
Uz pursed her lips. “I guess that makes sense, but she’s still our enemy. Apart from the Cava Dara, we’re the last people in the galaxy she wants to cooperate with.”
“True,” Lenah said and nodded. “But we’re better than the Cava Dara and that’s all that counts right now.”
They sat in silence for a little while, then Lenah turned back to her controls. She had a ship to bring down to the surface and a population to help. It didn’t matter what Corinna Cheung decided to do. Lenah would give her best anyways.
“Lenah, look at that.” Uz pointed at a stream of figures visible in their view window.
“Stars, how can they be so fast?” Lenah said as she watched the mix of Syrr, Bartoc, and humans float toward the capital. “First, they rip open hatches, now, they fly faster than any spaceship.”
It was eerie. A body should not be able to withstand this. But whatever had become of these former humans, Syrr, and even Bartoc, they seemed immune to the very forces of nature, like gravity, the vacuum of space, or the friction of atmospheric reentry.
“Uz, can you check what’s going on in Asturis I? News sources, video feeds?” Lenah asked with renewed urgency.
Uz nodded and started typing commands into the Rambler’s starnet console. A short while later, a public camera view came up, showing the center of the capital’s office district. There was no commentary, only a camera feed depicting office workers running out of buildings, their faces contorted into panicked masks. Quick-moving shadows cast darkness over the crowd, even though the sun was out and not a single cloud was visible over the city. Lenah could guess what that meant.
“I think they are ripping off windows,” Uz said, pointing to several blurry specks in the background.
“Where are the guards? The police? Why is no one there to defend these people?” Lenah asked, her throat constricting.
Uz shook her head, but before she could answer, the beeping of an incoming message interrupted them.
They stared at each other for a few seconds before Lenah pressed the play button.
“I’m in a transport vehicle outside the city. Hidden Creek’s area. If what you’re saying is true, I am interested,” Corinna said, her voice mixed with the chatter of several people and the hissing of guns in the background.
Lenah took a moment to think before answering. Should she fly the Rambler right into the office district or should she join up with Corinna at the Hidden Creek’s Park? The park entrance was about a klick from the offices and would hopefully give Lenah a chance to land the Rambler before gambling to use her powers on the Muha Dara.
She pointed for Uz to press the record button. “We’ll meet up at the Creek’s Park entrance. I’ll come as quickly as possible.”
“Where is that?” Uz asked when she ended the communication.
“It’s a big park, and the entrance is close to the city. It will be a short walk into the city center and toward that.” Lenah motioned to the news feed. “Turn it off, will you? I can’t concentrate on flying if we’re watching that.”
Uz complied. After a short moment of sitting in silence during which Lenah returned to her ship controls, Uz asked, “Is there anything else you want me to do?”
“Not now, no.” Lenah shook her head. “But I want you to be ready when we land. All of you.”
Uz nodded and got up. “I will be. For now, I’ll be in my cabin.”
36 City in Panic
“You call this a park? This is a jungle.” Persia’s voice sounded over the speaker in her suit.
“It’s a big park. Asturis I has lots of green areas. That’s the one priority the founders had, to retain the wilderness all around, even though the city itself is organically built and not planned,” Lenah said absently, repeating what she’d said many times before to guests of the Callo family. “This park was built to balance out the size of the temple.”
“No kidding,” Persia said looking over at the giant pyramid that was the temple of the Life in Paradise Church, Astur’s oldest and most traditional religion. Nowadays, its ancient house of worship was the city’s biggest tourist attraction.
“Where’s Zyrakath?” Lenah asked, turning away from the city to look for the drone.
“He’s pouting over there.” Cassius pointed toward the park’s tall stone gate. “He told me he’s not a fighting drone but a knowledge worker. I told him to suck it up and come with us,” Cassius said, his breath puffing out in a white cloud. Somehow, the temperatures of the planet had dramatically dropped since they’d left it a couple of hours ago. Lenah hadn’t noticed at first as she’d donned her Cheung fighting suit again and was isolated from the temperature, but the others had immediately started to shiver.
Lenah followed Cassius’s pointed finger to the small drone hovering several meters behind them under the gate. She didn’t know if it was on purpose, but it looked like he was trying to make himself invisible next to the gray stone of the thick column. Lenah nodded to Cassius. She couldn’t blame him for losing his patience with the drone. She’d done so herself.
Carefully, she approached. “Zyrakath, is there anything else you can tell me, anything you might think is helpful with these creatures?” She didn’t like one bit that she hadn’t been able to influence any while still onboard the Rambler. For some reason, her ship felt so much safer than walking out here. Even though she’d seen firsthand how the hatches of the military ships hadn’t kept the Muha Dara out.
“I only know from the literature that they can be influenced,” the drone answered. “I do not know how.” He wrinkled his forehea
d. “From my own experience with my people, I saw how these creatures cluster together in one area. They invade it like a swarm and touch everyone until only Muha Dara are left. The grown swarm moves on to the next area. They also leave behind this lingering frost. On my home world, it only went away a few cycles after the masters left and the Muha Dara were asleep.”
“Muha Dara is old Cassidian for Mindless Frost,” Uz reminded, and the drone dipped his head in the affirmative. “Cava Dara means Winged Frost,” Uz said, looking up at the sky where hundreds of floating figures were visible.
Lenah nodded her thanks to Zyrakath.
“We know that the city square is the area they’re targeting. Unfortunately, it makes sense. I wonder how they knew. But if you want to create as many Muha Dara as fast as possible, you’d go right there. There are so many offices in the area.”
“Offices?” Zyrakath asked. “My internal language programming wasn’t able to translate that word.”
“It’s a building where common people go to work for the families. Knowledge workers, people working mostly in tech or finances,” Lenah answered. Zyr’s eyebrows pulled together on his wrinkled face.
“Doesn’t matter,” Lenah said, shaking her head. “It’s the middle of the work week, and this is where most people are clustered together on the whole planet. Oh stars, it’s even the week of the harvest holiday. People from all over Astur come to sell their produce on the plaza and have spiced kaleh.”
“I always wanted to come and have a real Asturian kaleh,” Persia wistfully said. “Seems I picked the worst year to finally show up.”
Zyrakath ignored Persia and turned to Lenah instead. “Are we waiting for your adversary?”
“Yes, I’ll comm her again.”
“Lenah,” Cassius called her back over, then pointed upward. A small group of Muha Dara, all of them Syrr, had turned away from the city square and were rapidly approaching.
This was it. Lenah gathered her concentration, holding up a hand to halt the others. She wanted to see what she could accomplish first. “Just give me a minute.”
