Scattered Suns (26 page)

Chapter 50—JESS TAMBLYN

Jess returned to the wandering wental comet to wait for the volunteer water bearers to join him. He also brought his own bittersweet memories. Here, unseen in the comet’s wispy tail, he and Cesca had had a romantic assignation. In this secret place the two of them had been able to drift for a while in their dreams, letting their love take them where they wanted to go. Those had been happy and heady times, before the universe itself had pulled them apart.

Now wental entities infused his soul, but they could never fill the loneliness that he felt without Cesca. The wentals could not fathom his need, nor could he explain it in concepts they would understand. Maybe the ache in his heart was strong enough that they could grasp his sadness, even if they did not comprehend love.

Though he missed Cesca terribly, the inner calling consumed him. Given his new understanding and his enhanced abilities, he had a mission to fight the hydrogues. That was the priority of the wentals—and Jess knew that a wental victory had the potential to save not just the Roamers but all humans. He had to balance his needs and obligations, and push forward.

This comet was one of his starting places. The elemental water beings had infiltrated the comet’s primordial ice. Even far from the warming light of a star, the gypsy comet shone with energy, an eerie landmark in open space, traveling under its own power. The lambent glow was unlike starshine.

This seemed an appropriate place for his water bearers to gather.

Like a tiny droplet next to a much larger globe, his exotic ship hovered beneath the rogue comet. While he waited, Jess’s heart smoldered with regret for everything he’d had to give up. He still thought of himself as a member of clan Tamblyn, and he knew that the EDF was preying upon the Roamers, but he could do nothing to help. The wentals made him see a larger picture, and his focus could not waver, no matter how angry he felt about the injustices...

Though the water bearers carried samples of living water aboard their ships, they did not have the inherent ability to communicate with each other easily, like green priests. Occasionally, the wentals might pass subtle messages if a person were particularly susceptible, but the water beings seemed very reticent to “taint” another human.

Thus, Jess needed a face-to-face discussion. He had arranged this gathering some time ago. News of the EDF attacks continued to spread across the outposts and facilities. Refugees from Rendezvous arrived at hidden bases and orbiting industrial colonies; clan representatives were still spread among the various gathering points.

Because of their prescribed wandering, Jess’s water bearers could be effective links in communication. In this quick convocation, all fourteen would share what they knew, trade coordinates of where they had already distributed the wentals, then disperse again.

One by one, the water bearers arrived in an assortment of vessels. Jess sent his greetings and let the volunteers decide which ship would serve as their meeting point. Though he could not stand too close to any of them, this gathering would fill his need to be near other human beings.

Isolated, Jess stared through the curved film of his ship’s hull; the water shifted like a lens, and he viewed the other ships, thought of the people aboard, remembered their eager faces when he’d told them his strange story. They had all been filled with awe when Jess took them to the first wental-infused ocean world and gave them their samples of the living water entities.

He also remembered when they had all been simple merchants or workers or pilots, doing the business of their clans. Roamers had never had an easy existence, but they had traditions and connections; they had made tolerable, even pleasant lives for themselves under harsh conditions—until both the hydrogues and the EDF had used them as targets.

Jess longed for those days, even though his heart had been heavy with his supposedly secret love for Cesca. If he succeeded in this quest, perhaps those times would return. Eventually.

When all the water-bearer ships were gathered beneath the living comet, transmitting a whirlwind of messages, greetings, and dire announcements, Jess slid through the bubble wall of his vessel and drifted free across open space to the largest ship, where the meeting would take place.

For the first hour, the volunteers shouted and commiserated about the destruction of Rendezvous. Nikko Chan Tylar, announcing the invasion of the Chan greenhouse complex, was distraught. Other water bearers delivered embellished stories about further EDF atrocities. Jess wondered where Tasia was and if she’d had anything to do with the attacks...

The volunteers were incensed. “Four Roamer ships have disappeared. Who knows how many the Eddies have simply destroyed?”

“The clans are scattered. There’s no accurate counting of ships. We don’t have a clue how many are missing.”

Another volunteer offered a suggestion. “Jess, we’ve seen what you and the wentals can do. Why not turn yourself loose as a weapon against the Earth military? Go smash a few Juggernauts and show them we can fight back too!”

The rest of the volunteers cheered, clearly enthusiastic about the idea.

Jess stood isolated on the far side of the room, a thin sheen of moisture covering his skin and his pearly white garment. The other water bearers kept their distance, knowing how much power would be released if they brushed against him.

“I could fly in with my ship and surprise the Eddies, but I have no weapons. I could startle them, but I could never attack them. From what you’ve all described, the EDF sends in a whole battle group, strikes fast, seizes prisoners, and destroys the facility. I could never arrive in time to help.”

One volunteer whose entire family had disappeared after the obliteration of Rendezvous looked haggard and furious. “Then go to Earth. Set your big ship right down in front of Hansa HQ and tell them we won’t take any more of this crap! They’ll get the message.” His eyes narrowed. “In fact, why don’t you offer to shake hands with the Chairman himself? If what you say is true, then you’d give him enough of a jolt to snap him out of this nonsense!”

The volunteers hooted, but Jess shook his head. “The wentals won’t allow it. It would be an abuse to turn my powers against my own race, and such a selfish action would taint the wentals. They’ve seen what can happen if the life force turns bad. You don’t want to imagine it.”

One of the volunteers scowled with disappointment. “Have you given up being a Roamer then, Jess? Are you no longer a member of the clans? We can’t just sit by and let the Big Goose do this.”

Though he wasn’t sure the wentals understood the nuances of political conflicts between humans, Jess certainly felt the turmoil inside him. “I want to help, but my mission to revive the wentals is all-consuming. Remember, the hydrogues are our real enemy.” A shudder of anger pulsed through Jess, an instinctive reaction from the water-based entities.

“Doesn’t seem like they’re the only enemies anymore,” Nikko answered bitterly. “How can we keep spreading wentals while the Eddies destroy our homes and kidnap our families?”

Jess stood firm. “I’ll carry on by myself if the rest of you decide to stop assisting me. Though many of our friends and families have been terribly hurt, the EDF is not our worst enemy. If the hydrogues are not stopped, civilization across the Spiral Arm is at stake. They have attacked Theroc in an attempt to exterminate the remnants of the verdani, and without question the enemy will strike the worldforest again.

“But we have an advantage. The hydrogues don’t yet know about the return of the wentals, their other opponent from the great ancient war. Before they come back to Theroc, we must complete our work so that the wentals will be ready to renew their alliance with the verdani.”

“And all of us,” said one of the volunteers. “I hope it comes soon enough, before the Eddies wipe out every clan in the Spiral Arm.”

Nikko balled both hands into fists. “Well, I’m a Roamer, and I can’t just ignore this. Isn’t there something—”

Jess could read the distress among his water bearers. “Yes, there’s a way you all can help. Many distant Roamer outposts don’t even know what’s happened. Others have scattered from Rendezvous and are now in hiding. As you continue your search for isolated worlds for the wentals, you can spread the warning. You’ll encounter other families, other Roamer settlements, and you can form an important communication network.”

The water bearers still were not happy. “But if the wentals are so powerful, can’t they help us at all?”

“Yes.” He finally smiled with a bit of good news. He explained how the hydrogues had been driven from Golgen, that the wentals would keep the planet safe for skymining. “Any Roamer clan with ekti-processing equipment can flock to the gas giant. The wentals will protect them as they begin full-scale skymining again. We can produce enough stardrive fuel to save us.”

The volunteers murmured amongst themselves; the very idea that the water entities could recapture an entire gas giant impressed them. “Then let’s make sure that’s just the first of many gas giants the wentals take back,” growled a volunteer.

Jess had another mission for Nikko Chan Tylar. “Try to find Cesca, wherever she’s gone to ground. I’m sure she has dispatched messages, invoked emergency plans. Do what you can to help her draw the clans together again.”

“I’ll find her,” Nikko said. “Knowing Speaker Peroni, she already has a plan.”

After another hour of discussions and strategy debates, the volunteers had more information and guidance. Riled up and ready to work, the water bearers in fourteen ships left the remarkable glowing comet behind and raced off to their next destinations.

For himself, Jess intended to make a long-delayed trip back to his family’s water mines on Plumas. Back home.

Chapter 51—CESCA PERONI

More and more black robots came alive behind them. Scrambling backward down the corridor, Cesca and Purcell could feel the walls shudder as the Klikiss machines hammered their way out of the tomb of ice.

“They’re all coming to kill us!” the acting administrator cried over the suit radio. “How many of those robots were in there?”

“I didn’t see very deep into the chambers. It could be a whole army.” Over the same comm frequency, she heard whistles and pops, crackles of static, then modulated electronic shrieks—a robot language. “Better observe radio silence. They’re listening in.”

“But can they understand us?” Purcell said.

“They can
track
us.” That was enough to cut off any further discussion.

Their grazer was parked outside on a rise above the tomb entrance, but it seemed very far away. The tunnels went on forever. She hadn’t realized that poor Danvier had led them so deep.

Finally, up ahead, she saw a swath of black universe spangled with stars. The two Roamers reached the tunnel entrance and burst out into the empty night. The hemispherical grazer vehicle sat near the top of the rise not far away.

Breathless from running even in the low gravity, Cesca paused and turned. Deep behind them, flashes of red reflected on the planes of smooth, excavated ice. Behemoth-sized shadows moved, nightmarish ellipsoid hulls with flat heads, blazing optical sensors, and multiple murderous arms. The Klikiss robots looked like sluggish, ponderous machines, but they gained speed and closed the distance.
How can they move so fast?

Outside, Cesca and the engineer administrator bounded up the slope toward their squat vehicle. She had barely begun grieving for the loss of Jhy Okiah, and now two more Roamers had been slaughtered in front of her. Even through her shock, Cesca strengthened her resolve, pushed Purcell forward, and mentally raced through possibilities. First the two of them had to escape.

They reached the grazer’s airlock hatch just as the first Klikiss robot emerged from the tomb passage. The beetlelike machine hesitated, scanning the terrain as if reawakening stored memories...or searching for prey. Several others emerged behind it.

Purcell quickly forgot about maintaining radio silence. “They’re coming!”

Cesca threw herself against the airlock and opened the outer hatch. Because the chamber was empty, the door unsealed after only a brief series of status lights blinked on the control panel.

She herded Purcell into the one-person chamber, then crammed in beside him. They didn’t have the luxury of cycling through one at a time. The two of them barely fit. Cesca pounded her gloved fist against the inner controls, sealing the outer door and starting the cycle.

Status lights danced in a graceful but laboriously sluggish pirouette. The pressurization continued at a sedate pace, pumping atmosphere from the main vehicle into the airlock. Beside her, Purcell swore to himself. “We should have ridden in vacuum, with our suits on! Then we could have just opened the inner door.” At the time it had seemed an unnecessary discomfort and inconvenience during the long journey.

From the tiny window in the chamber’s outer hatch, Cesca saw four of the insectile machines standing together only a few hundred meters away. Their exoskeletons looked oddly discolored against the bleak white landscape, and she realized that their black hulls were spattered with shiny, frozen blood. The four robots began to scuttle up the rise toward the grazer.

“Come on!” she said through clenched teeth, as if the airlock mechanism could sense her urgency.

Extra air dumped into the chamber with the force of a gale wind. The airlock was nearly filled.

With her clumsy gloved fingers, Cesca worked the override and finally popped the inner door. She felt a hollow thump against her helmet as the pressure equalized; inrushing air from the inner chamber felt like a hand shoving them back. Cesca regained her balance. “Come on, Purcell—you drive this thing better than I can. Get us moving!”

He lumbered toward the seat and threw himself in. Cesca flicked on the power systems while Purcell activated the engines and adjusted the driving yoke. The grazer hummed, then began to crawl forward. The engineer turned the vehicle around in a ponderous semicircle.

Operating the rear viewer, Cesca saw one of the horrific robots loom up, frighteningly close. It raised segmented claws to hammer down upon the back of the slow vehicle. The thud of impact reverberated through the grazer’s hull.

Purcell yelped. “They’ll rip us open like a pack of emergency rations!”

Three more robots converged on the rear of the vehicle, hammering, scraping, pounding.

Purcell added power to the engines, and the treads pulled the vehicle forward, nudging it over the crest of the rise and turning downhill. A shriek and a clang rang against the metal hull. The robots were grabbing any clawhold to batter their way in.

The puttering engine roared, and the low vehicle trundled forward, groaning with the strain. A curling belch of processed steam vomited from the exhaust tube, spraying one of the robots with thick white frost. It released its grip. Two others continued their grasping attack, but Purcell fed power to the engines, dragging the gas-harvesting vehicle over the frozen ground.

Cesca heard metal shear away with a tearing groan—and suddenly the grazer bolted forward like a stampeding bull. “We broke free!”

“Yes, but what did we lose in the process?” Purcell said.

The grazer picked up speed, puttering away. It was by no means a swift piece of machinery, but it covered the ground faster than the Klikiss robots could scuttle on their clusters of fingerlike legs.

Inside the pressurized vehicle, Cesca slid open her faceplate, and as soon as Purcell had a chance, he removed his own helmet. Cesca noticed the sweat streaming down his long face.

The rear viewer showed the robots staggering to a halt in a group. One of them held a large piece of insulated plating ripped from the back of the grazer. The robots stood over the plate like hunters inspecting a fresh kill.

“What was that, Purcell? What did they manage to break off?”

He kept driving in a straight line, bent over the steering yoke. He glanced aside for only a second to see the image, then froze. “Oh, no. That’s the insulation cowling over the engine. It protects our moving parts from the intense cold. Kotto designed it himself.” An edge of renewed panic sharpened his thin voice.

“Can we make it back to base?” Cesca said.

His eyes were round beneath heavy eyebrows. “Are you kidding? That’s almost a day’s journey under good conditions.”

“Then how far can we go without it?”

“We’ll have an accurate answer soon enough. Without the insulation, our machinery won’t function long in this intense cold.”

Far behind them now, the four robot pursuers gave up the chase and turned back toward the ice tunnels.

Purcell hunched over the driving yoke, winding their way up to higher ground. Already, the engine coughed and groaned, as if throwing a tantrum about the severe environment in which it was being forced to perform.

“Our radio still works, doesn’t it?” Cesca said. “We’d better warn the base.”

“Yes. We’ll get a clear signal as soon as we’re out of the shadow here.”

The grazer lurched and stuttered, but Purcell talked to it, pleading. He gently coaxed the controls, and the vehicle continued to inch forward. With painful sluggishness, the damaged grazer managed to reach the top of the higher rise, and then, with a shudder, the engines seized up. Components ground together and froze solid. Their lubricants had turned to cement.

Sniffing the cold reprocessed air inside the grazer, Cesca caught the smell of smoke. “Shut everything down! If we catch fire in here, we’ll use up our spare oxygen.”

“We’re not going anywhere anyway.” As Purcell deactivated the systems, Cesca found a fire extinguisher and sprayed foam dispersant in the smoldering rear compartment. They were safe from immediate danger, but stranded.

Cesca looked forlornly out the viewing windows. They had managed to get far enough away that the robots paid them no heed. In the distance, she saw more machines moving about at the tunnel opening. The Klikiss robots reminded her of hive insects, like the bees a few Roamer families kept in order to sell fresh honey at exorbitant prices.

Purcell pushed himself back from the control seat. “No use, Speaker Peroni. The engines are dead. Machinery simply can’t work unprotected in this cold.”

Staring at the distant black forms marching about by the ice tunnels, she said, “I wish the robots had that problem. Why did they attack us? Roamers have never had any contact with Klikiss robots, never. Jack Ebbe was tinkering with long-dormant systems. Could it have been an automated response, the robot’s equivalent to a reflex action?”

“Or maybe they were expecting someone else to wake them,” Purcell said. “Prince Charming, maybe?”

Using battery power, Cesca activated the comm systems and transmitted a warning to the Jonah 12 base. Back inside the domes, workers sounded the alarm and recalled all grazers while sending out a rescue vehicle to retrieve Cesca and Purcell. “It might take us a while, Speaker. You’re a long distance off.”

“We’re fine, as long as the robots don’t notice us sitting up here.” She did not feel at all comfortable about being exposed, but they had no other way of getting back. They had air and food to last them until another grazer could come for them.

“I don’t suppose you want to walk home?” she asked Purcell.

He still looked shaken and gray, as if the events were only now catching up to him. “We’d never make it. Our suits can only protect us for a few hours out there.”

While they waited, immobile atop the second ridge, Cesca used magnifying viewers to make out what the robots were doing. Over the radio channels, Purcell monitored the brisk exchanges at the base for a while, but then had to shut down to conserve their battery power.

Cesca felt a block of ice form in her stomach as she watched more and more robots emerge: a full-fledged black army. Awakened now, the ominous machines stepped out of the tunnels and lined up in endless ranks.

More than a hundred of the robots began to stride across the ice, and dozens more kept coming, a conquering military force that moved with implacable precision.

They marched in a straight line toward the Roamer base.