Saga of Shadows 1: The Dark Between the Stars (57 page)

“All right,” Tasia said. “Draw up the paperwork, and we’ll look it over—but I think we have a deal.” Of course there were logical and commercial reasons to accept the contract, but she made her choice because she knew it would benefit her son. “From now on, Kett Shipping will be your ekti-X distributor.”

E
IGHTY
-
SIX

G
ARRISON
R
EEVES

As he flew the
Prodigal Son
at the end of another debris-mapping mission, Garrison was delayed outside the Lunar Orbital Complex because CDF ships were engaged in maneuvers. Newly commissioned Manta cruisers flitted through an obstacle course in the space rubble in a shakedown exercise.

After one of the rookie Manta pilots collided with a spinning rock fragment and tumbled off course, the pilot had to anchor the damaged cruiser to an asteroid and call for repair teams. The shutdown of the obstacle course and the mounting of emergency response crews delayed all traffic around the LOC.

Garrison had to park the
Prodigal Son
in a distant orbit, out of the way. And wait.

Finishing this run had earned Garrison two days of R&R, but he was banking his time so he could take a longer trip to Academ to see his son. He missed Seth, but the boy loved his school, and Garrison realized this was what life should have been for a normal Roamer boy. He wished Dale had kept his two sons at Academ, so Seth could have gotten to know his cousins.

Finally, when the space traffic was released again and the delayed ships could dock, Garrison parked the
Prodigal Son
in its assigned slot and then requisitioned fuel and a standard maintenance check. He got to his station quarters three hours later than expected, and was taken aback to discover a message tacked to his door. It was a handwritten note from Lubai, the green priest who did freelance work in the LOC’s exchange. “Garrison Reeves: I received an urgent message for you through the worldforest network. See me immediately.”

A chill poured through his bloodstream. Seth! Something must have happened to Seth. He should have gotten this message three hours earlier.

He raced into the exchange marketplace just in time for a new lunch crowd. He jostled his way past the entertainment kiosks and the clashing smells of different food stalls until he reached the green priest, only to find Lubai occupied with another customer. Lubai was bent over his treeling, eyes closed, while a young CDF soldier dictated a letter to her husband who was stationed on Theroc.

Garrison fidgeted, trying to catch the attention of the green priest. Countless scenarios played through his imagination. After rescuing Seth from Sheol and the bloater explosion, it would be an unbearable irony if the boy had suffered an accident in the supposedly safe environment of the Roamer school.

The female soldier continued talking to the green priest, an intimate, romantic message for the husband she missed so much. As he eavesdropped, Garrison felt a pang, knowing that Elisa had never felt that way about him. Finally, the soldier noticed him and looked embarrassed at what he must have heard; she left quickly.

Lubai looked up. “Garrison Reeves—I expected you’d come sooner.”

“There was a delay. What’s your urgent message? Is it my son?”

“No, not your son . . .” He paused, looked at Garrison with a deep and intense gaze. “It’s the rest of your clan.”

Garrison couldn’t understand what he meant. Lubai gestured for him to take a seat on the hard metal bench across from the treeling. “There was a deadly plague on the space city where clan Reeves made their new home. Their green priest, Shelud, sent messages of their explorations, the discoveries of an alien race. Then Roamers began to get sick. They started to die. Your brother Dale, his family, your cousins . . . such a tragedy.”

Garrison stared, unable to believe what he was hearing. “A plague? How many are dead? And what about my father?”

“All dead.” Lubai hesitated. “As they fell ill, Shelud went from deathbed to deathbed, interviewing them, speaking their words into the worldforest network. Many had a chance to pass along final messages. A woman named Sendra wished to say goodbye to you. And Olaf Reeves . . . he was still alive when Shelud sent his last message. But he too was already sick.” The green priest shook his head.

“When did this happen?”

“We lost contact with Shelud more than a day ago. Even then, he was one of the last ones left alive.”

Garrison felt weak. His arms were trembling as he rested them on the table.

In a compassionate voice, Lubai said, “Here, let me tell you everything.” He touched his treeling, dipped his mind into the forest database, and repeated the messages Shelud had delivered, told the whole story, the spread of the disease, Dale and his family dying, Sendra’s farewell. . . .

Garrison’s eyes refused to focus, and he felt light-headed. It was too much to take in at once—his brother and Sendra, their two boys . . . all dead now because Olaf Reeves had dragged them away from civilization, away from everything.

His anger toward his father for doing such a foolish thing could not push aside the sorrow. He couldn’t imagine anything as small as a virus defeating the blustery, inflexible clan leader. Of the Retroamers who followed him out into empty space, how many had really wanted to exile themselves? How much had they even known about where they were going?

He could hear his father’s booming voice as he railed at Garrison for letting himself be seduced by That Woman. When he was young and determined, Garrison had been so sure his father was wrong about everything, but Olaf’s assessment of Elisa, at least, had been correct.

Garrison had been dead to his father for a long time. He wished they could have reconciled, but now he knew that if he’d rejoined his family and gone along as Olaf wanted—and taken Seth there!—then he and his son would be dead too.

Sitting across from the green priest, he realized he had been silent for a long moment. Though Seth had barely known his uncle, his grandfather, or his cousins, the boy needed to hear this news. He said to Lubai, “Please send a message to Academ for me.”

E
IGHTY
-
SEVEN

O
RLI
C
OVITZ

In a very short time, the
Proud Mary
felt like home to Orli. The worn upholstery in the cockpit chair was soft, warm, and comfortable, conforming to her body. Even the lingering sweet smell of Mary Coven’s tobacco pipe smoke seemed natural.

According to records the
Proud Mary
’s previous captain had been a curmudgeonly woman, a loner by her own choice (and because people didn’t much like her company). Orli had a sense, though, that Mary Coven would have approved of the ship’s new steward.

DD proved to be an excellent copilot as well as a companion. He was, after all, a Friendly compy, originally designed to be a best friend, and DD was definitely Orli’s best friend. Oddly enough, when she’d been married to Matthew, even during the good times, DD had always been a closer confidant. She hadn’t realized that until now.

“I’m glad you’re with me, DD,” she said as they flew toward their destination.

“And I am very happy to accompany you, Orli.” The compy turned back to the ship’s screens, taking his navigation duties seriously. “We have thirty-one minutes before we disengage the stardrive and arrive at the space city.”

She leaned back in the pilot chair. “I hope the people of clan Reeves welcome us—or at least don’t get upset with us for checking on them.”

“I am a Friendly compy, Orli. People don’t normally get upset when I visit.”

“That’s because you’re charming.”

“And I find you quite pleasant as well, Orli.”

She had enjoyed the solitude during the long flight, the chance to get her thoughts together. DD often chattered to keep her company, but when she told him she wanted some quiet time to think, his feelings weren’t hurt.

Everything felt so different since leaving Relleker, as if she’d become a different person. Her life had changed in extraordinary ways, many of them reactive, many of them self-inflicted. By asking Rlinda Kett if she could fly a trade ship, Orli had taken control of her own life again. This was Orli Covitz version 3.0.

She had no idea if this was what she’d do for the rest of her life. She was still intelligent and attractive—at least she thought so. She had plenty to offer, whether or not Matthew realized it. And after her days alone in the quiet of the ship, with time to assess who she was and what she’d accomplished, Orli realized she wasn’t bitter toward her husband, just disappointed. She didn’t want to turn into a curmudgeonly old woman like Mary Coven—but she didn’t have to think about the rest of her life now, just the next step. She had no way of knowing who Orli 4.0 might be.

Wanting to make a good first impression for clan Reeves, Orli put on a clean captain’s jacket, washed her face, practiced her smile, and rehearsed a greeting. She had heard stories about Olaf Reeves, and when she’d asked for advice on how to handle the Retroamers, Rlinda just chuckled in her deep heartwarming way. “Orli, girl, be yourself—that’s all you need. Chances are, Olaf will tell you to go away and leave them alone. That’s fine—no harm done. You can use the practice, and I’m paying for the ekti to make your run. Xander and Terry have some sort of sweet deal, so we get the fuel cheap.”

The coordinates Olaf Reeves had discreetly given Rlinda were not at any planet, not even in an interesting star system. Orli wondered what could possibly be all the way out here. Then she saw the large station, an artificial structure that looked like a barbed-wire snowflake, with a central hub and five angled spokes.

Orli had been to dozens of planets, but she had never seen anything like this. “How did that city get here? And who built it?”

“I do not know, Orli. Let me check the ship’s databases for an answer.”

“I doubt you’ll find any information on it, but clan Reeves discovered it somehow. It looks . . . ancient.” She activated the comm. “This is Kett Shipping vessel
Proud Mary
contacting the station, or city, or whatever it is. I’m looking for clan Reeves. Please respond.”

DD continued to scan the area. “Orli, I found seventeen Roamer ships. They match the vessels owned by clan Reeves, according to records.”

“We must be in the right place, then.” Orli listened to the continued silence from the comm. “Calling clan Reeves, please respond.”

DD studied his readings. “This is puzzling to me, Orli. All seventeen of the Roamer ships are simply adrift in the vicinity with power systems shut down, no life support.”

Orli shot the compy a surprised look. “What do you mean—they’re not docked to the station? Why would clan Reeves set them loose?”

“I was asking you that question, Orli.”

“That makes no sense at all.” She repeated her transmission, but got only more silence. She frowned and took her finger off the comm button. They would have heard her call; either they were
unwilling
to answer, or
unable
to. “Rlinda sent us out here because she was worried about those people. Maybe she was right. We’d better find some answers.”

She adjusted course to take the
Proud Mary
past one of the drifting ships and verified that it was just an empty vessel, apparently undamaged, but cold and dark. If anyone had been on that ship, they were dead now.

The space city had not been built by humans—that much was obvious—but it didn’t look Ildiran or Klikiss either. The symbols on the outside were incomprehensible, particularly the bright pink triangles near the hatches. DD scanned the ship’s databases, but found no reference or significance to the designs.

One of the landing bays near the hub was wide open, like a gaping mouth, but glowstrips and guidance triangles were still illuminated. “At least somebody left a light on for us,” she said. She landed the
Proud Mary
inside the open bay, and when the weight of her ship pressed down on the pressure pads, the big doors glided shut, and the bay automatically began to refill with air.

“Everything seems to be working,” Orli said. “But still no response from the comm. We’re going to have to investigate this in person.”

Once the atmosphere checked out, they stepped into the pressurized landing bay and headed toward the hatch that connected with the rest of the space city. DD stood before the controls. “These are alien electronics and engineering, Orli. I don’t comprehend them.”

On the adjacent bulkhead, though, Orli found a different control pad that had been jacked into the main system. “These are Roamer add-ons. Somebody rigged a bypass.” She ran her fingers over the familiar pad, reading standard air pressure and temperature on the other side of the hatch. “They made the interior ready for human habitation.”

“I recommend that we exercise caution, Orli. There could still be danger.”

“I agree—
something
happened to those people.” She went back to the
Proud Mary,
rummaged in the captain’s locker, and withdrew a hand jazer, just in case. The Retroamers had turned their backs on human civilization, preferring isolation. Maybe they were too isolated. Someone could have gone berserk, perhaps released poison gas into the station atmosphere? She put on a facemask and found a portable air tank, which she strapped to her waist. Now she was ready.

Carrying the weapon, she opened the jury-rigged hatch into the main station. When she and DD entered the eerily silent alien city, a chill went down her back, though the temperature was warm and the lights were bright. Perfectly habitable and welcoming.

“Hello? Anybody home?” she called. DD picked up the refrain, calling out every few seconds in a piping voice that carried along the empty corridors.