Blood of the Cosmos (22 page)

After they smashed the lenses, the crazed crowd grabbed the bladelike fragments of crystal, slicing their own hands, and lifted up the broken shards as weapons.

Prime Designate Daro'h was still retching, fighting against what he couldn't understand, but Rod'h saw the bloodied Ildirans coming for them with murder in their eyes. He hauled the Prime Designate by his new robes toward the edge of the square. “We have to leave, Daro'h! We must get away from here.” The filmfabric sleeve tore as the Prime Designate staggered, but Rod'h kept wrestling him away.

The mob did not target them specifically. Instead, the Ildirans lunged forward with one mind and fell upon Arune'l, stabbing and slashing the lens priestess. She didn't even fight back. They tore her apart and then turned their sharp blades on the other whimpering acolytes who huddled in the middle of the bright sunlight as if to hide.

The rest of the Prime Designate's entourage was reeling and disoriented. Even the attender kith scurried about in aimless circles like drugged insects.

Acting alone, Rod'h rushed the Prime Designate down another street. He didn't dare call out for help, afraid to draw attention to the two of them. Daro'h moaned in despair, and Rod'h saw that he had blood splashed across his new garments—blood from the other victims. He was apparently uninjured. For now.

The mob members, drenched in the blood of the lens kithmen, stood among the broken stumps of the crystalline framework they had smashed. Once Arune'l and the lens kithmen were dead, they stopped and simply stared at what they had done. Together, they let out a horrified wail of realization as the Shana Rei possessors made them understand what they had done. Then, like rag dolls controlled by invisible strings, the unwilling attackers threw themselves onto the upright stumps of broken crystal, impaling themselves.

As they ran away, the Prime Designate staggered, moaning. Rod'h's rush of adrenaline resolved into anger and purpose. Thanks to his mixture of genetics—like Gale'nh, Osira'h, and his other siblings—Rod'h could resist the Shana Rei in ways that other Ildirans could not. Rod'h knew that he could be strong enough, too.

He couldn't trust the other Ildirans in the street, though, any of whom might turn on the two of them in an instant. Rod'h needed to get the Prime Designate back to the safety of the Prism Palace, and from then on, he would have to watch over Daro'h very closely—by himself.

 

CHAPTER

33

ADAR ZAN'NH

Standing on the outdoor meditation platform of the Hiltos shrine, Adar Zan'nh focused his gaze on mad Designate Rusa'h. The cold wind blew skirling cyclones of loose snow from the black mountain ledges.

He could not shake his horror and disgust of this man who had torn the Empire apart, who had unleashed the faeros upon Ildira and caused the deaths of millions.… As the defeated Designate stood passive and at peace, Zan'nh could not believe that he had changed, that the nightmares of what he had done were burned out of him. The Adar could never trust such a person again.

But before he could speak, he felt a powerful twist of pain inside his mind. For a moment, he was certain Rusa'h had found a way to betray them through the
thism
again … but no, the fallen Designate also wore a stricken and terrified expression. He stared up at the sky in horror.

Around them in the shrine, Kao'l and the other lens kithmen reeled in shock from a force that buffeted them from within. But the greatest threat came from above. In orbit.

Tal Gale'nh let out a hoarse gasp. “I know them! The Shana Rei have found us.“

*   *   *

Above the planet, empty space tore open and black geometrical horrors emerged. Long hexagonal cylinders slid out like blunted knives of pure obsidian. The very presence of the Shana Rei ships exuded chaos, unraveling coils of capricious entropy that made the systems aboard the flagship warliner malfunction, flicker, and fail.

A flurry of metallic hornets emerged alongside the hex ships, black robot warships that swooped forward in search of targets. Though their primary goal was the Hiltos shrine on the surface, they spotted the Solar Navy flagship and immediately opened fire.

*   *   *

On the high tower platform, Adar Zan'nh's comm burst to life, but the signal was intermittent, broken, choked with static. Septar Dre'nh, the captain of the flagship in orbit, yelped, “Adar, we are under attack! A shadow cloud appeared in the Hiltos system, and black robot vessels have engaged the warliner. But these robot ships are larger, a different design.”

“Full defenses!” Zan'nh shouted into the comm, although he knew the septar would already have sounded battle stations.

“We are holding them off for now, but you must evacuate, Adar. A squadron of robot ships also dropped into the atmosphere—I believe they may be on their way to you.”

As he listened to a broken transmission, Zan'nh wanted to be aboard his flagship, where he could direct the battle in space. He also knew the shrine had no defenses, and they were vulnerable here. He needed to rescue the hundreds of lens kithmen and support workers here.

He barked into his comm. “Septar Dre'nh, dispatch rescue cutters down to Hiltos with all possible speed, enough to evacuate three hundred Ildirans. Meanwhile, prepare sun bombs for launch against the Shana Rei.”

The lens priest Kao'l looked sickened, and his voice sounded bleak. “Abandon the shrine? All the history, all the revelations we have had.”

Rusa'h said in his maddeningly confident voice, “The shadows mean to extinguish us all. Their presence is like smoke that will smother the
thism
, and we are not strong enough to fight them alone. Hiltos cannot be saved.”

Zan'nh turned to the lead lens priest. “Kao'l, gather your people. We can fill my cutter with as many as possible, and more rescue ships are on the way down from orbit.”

Gale'nh said, “Adar, I will stay here and assist with the evacuation.”

Zan'nh shook his head. “Absolutely not. I need your wisdom in my command nucleus. You are the only one who knows the shadows.” It was a tactical decision, but also a personal one. “You will come with me.”

Kao'l said, “When Rusa'h came here, we guaranteed his safety. Adar, please evacuate him in the first group. He is special.”

Resentment flashed through Zan'nh. “He is dangerous. That man deserved to die many times over. I will not let others die now in order to save him.”

The fallen Designate's voice sounded as if he didn't care one way or another. “If you let me find a way to fight the Shana Rei, I may be able to save as many lives as I cost before.”

With the scream of engines and a roar of weapons bursts, angular black ships ripped through the Hiltos atmosphere, robot vessels in full attack mode. Crackling red beams lanced out, carving deep gouges in the mountainside, vaporizing one of the shrine's towers.

Zan'nh doubted that flying an evacuation cutter through the sky would be any safer than taking shelter in the shrine, but he knew that if he wasted any more time arguing with Kao'l, they would die. “
Bekh!
Come with me to the cutter, then—all of you.” He hurried Rusa'h and Gale'nh down the steps to the landing ledge as the crowd followed. “We will evacuate as many people as we can.”

Kao'l said, “If the lens kithmen join together, direct all of our
thism
to reveal more of the Lightsource … maybe we can help the fight from here.” Even he seemed dubious, but obligated to suggest it.

The black robot ships swooped around the towers and fired another barrage. They hammered the black rock structure, shattered the mirrored walls.

“Do we have any reason to believe that will work?” Zan'nh said. “I would rather we got you to safety.”

“We can try,” said Kao'l. “I will stay here with my followers, but take the other kiths. They should all fit aboard. If your next evacuation ships are able to save us, then we will rejoice. If not, we will do what we can.…” Zan'nh thought that the lens kithmen might not have any other chance than to trust in their connection to the Lightsource. The rest of the cutters might not be able to make it down through the harrying robot fighters.

On the landing ledge, Solar Navy crewmembers frantically prepared the cutter for departure as Zan'nh and his group ran toward them. The craft had defensive weapons, but they could not be used until the ship got into the air.

The pilot yelled, “We are ready for launch, Adar.”

Black robot craft streaked overhead and blasted a snow-encrusted mountainside, which triggered an avalanche. A roaring white wave smashed against one side of the shrine, knocking down structural walls. Under such an onslaught, the ancient structure would be leveled.

Ildirans streamed out of chambers and passageways in the Hiltos shrine, other kiths trying to escape while the lens kith stood together. The first cutter could take only a handful of extra people, and any additional weight would limit their maneuverability, making it more likely that the craft would be destroyed before it could even reach orbit. It was a terrible equation.

“Evacuation cutters descending, Adar!” the pilot shouted. “They will arrive in fifteen minutes—accompanied by streamer escorts, fully armed to protect the ships.”

That was what Zan'nh needed to hear. The streamers would engage the robot ships in dogfights and keep all, or most, of the cutters intact as they flew to the flagship.

Soldier kithmen rushed Hiltos inhabitants into the ship, crowding them. The other kiths were the first aboard, while Kao'l directed the lens kith to stay with him.

Gale'nh suddenly pressed a palm against his forehead as if he felt great pain inside his mind; his knees buckled. “I came here to get cleansed, but they are still inside me. I should stay. I can help the lens kith—”

“No!” Adar Zan'nh said. “Aboard, now!”

With maddening calm, former Designate Rusa'h said, “There may be only one way to cauterize that taint within you, Gale'nh. But we cannot do it now.”

After the cutter was fully loaded, Kao'l stood with his lens kith companions, crowded on the landing ledge. Zan'nh shouted to the crowds. “Other evacuation ships are coming down!”

“We will stay here and endure … and resist in the only way we know how,” Kao'l said. His fellow lens kith accepted his reassurance, but as the robot ships roared overhead again, Zan'nh feared the evacuation cutters would not arrive in time.

All the lens kithmen stood shoulder-to-shoulder out in the open, many of them holding prismatic amulets as a meditation focus. They directed the reflective surfaces into the light, catching the glare from the sky. As the cutter's hatch closed, Zan'nh heard them making an eerie, concerted humming sound.

The pilot launched without delay, and Zan'nh made his way to the cockpit. “I will take the weapons controls myself.”

Three black robot ships raced off in pursuit of the rising cutter while others continued bombarding the shrine. All Solar Navy craft had enhanced shields, and glancing blows from red energy beams slapped the cutter as it rose into the thin air of Hiltos, but the impacts caused no significant damage.

“At least we are drawing enemy fire from the shrine,” Gale'nh said.

As they climbed into the thickening clouds, he could no longer see Kao'l and the lens kith they had been forced to leave behind. But he glimpsed a flashing light, a bright glow. Robot ships swooped down, but something like shimmering weapons fire sparked from the remnants of the shrine.

Maybe it was nothing more than the concentrated reflections from all those meditative amulets, or maybe it was something more. Zan'nh felt an energy, a brightness in the
thism
, as all those lens kithmen concentrated. He wasn't certain they actually opened the floodgates of the Lightsource, but he felt light-headed, awash with a kind of adrenaline. Perhaps the lens kithmen were having some effect after all. Two of the black robot attack ships spun in the air, as if buffeted by a strong wind.

Zan'nh took the controls of the cutter's energy weapons and targeted the nearest robot vessel. Like a surgical scalpel, his blasts ripped open the belly of the black ship. These robot ships were larger and more intimidating than the ones they had encountered at Plumas, and they also looked new—undamaged. That made no sense. Very few robots had survived the Elemental War, and the Solar Navy and the CDF had caused a great deal of damage to the black robots at Plumas. How could there be so many ships left? Could the Shana Rei have built another fleet for the robots?

He muttered to himself as he opened fire, “
Bekh!
Then we will just have to destroy them again.”

In the back of the cutter, the evacuated Hiltos workers stared out the windowports as they watched the continued destruction. Beside them, Rusa'h appeared to be meditating without the focusing crutch of one of the reflective amulets.

Five black robot ships swept past the cutter, and Zan'nh fired upon them, damaging two attackers, but more of them closed in.

Sweating, the pilot continued on a steep ascent toward orbit. Even the flagship offered dubious safety, though. The Shana Rei and black robots had already destroyed many warliners.

“Our shields are failing, Adar,” the pilot announced.

The robot ships kept shooting at them.

Seven additional Solar Navy cutters dropped from above, heading down from the embattled flagship. The unexpected reinforcements damaged three of the robot ships, and the angular black vessels spun out of control, leaving smoke stains in the sky. One plummeted into a glacier, exploding on impact.

On the comm, one of the new arrivals said, “The shrine is under heavy bombardment, Adar. I do not see how we can evacuate the remaining people there.”

Zan'nh thought of Kao'l and the determined lens kithmen down there, and knew he had to do something.