The circular tube of the elevator seemed to be trying to hula. Then, under the stresses of gravitational pull and orbital spin, it snapped. Capsules spilled like seeds from a pollinating dandelion. The upper section made a bid for orbital stability. The lower section continued to shatter under the force of the collapse. Each piece and the capsules flared like sparklers as they burned up in the atmosphere.
It created a lovely light display for half the inhabitants of Takis, but a deadly skyfall for the inhabitants of Ban. Because several thousand feet of this thing wasn’t going to burn up. It was going to collapse like a cut sequoia, crushing everything in its path.
Kelly rose and snatched a glass from a passing servant. “Here’s to Raiyis Blaise’s patented genocide!”
Durg hit him in the mouth.
And the party was very definitely over.
Everybody had gotten very excited when the troops pulled out of the center of Ban. Terrified citizens came creeping out of hidey-holes, and most of the conversations Jay overheard seemed to focus, with desperate self-delusion, on the fact that this had clearly been an aberration. Blaise was a friend and champion of the Tarhiji, he would never send his soldiers against the ordinary folk of Jeban. This had to be an action by some Most Born general. Raiyis Blaise must have discovered his general’s over-zealousness, so the withdrawal was no doubt due to Blaise…
“We can try the elevator now,” Hastet said as they crept from their refuge in the basement of a burned-out building.
“Hasti, forget the goddamn elevator. Blaise did not pull his troops out as an act of kindness. He’s up to -”
But what Blaise might be planning was lost as a sound of terrifying and earsplitting magnitude rolled across the city. Jay had heard metal being stressed. This was metal screaming in denial.
They stared at the elevator, gleaming like an ice column, and as they watched, it began to collapse, falling straight down as if compressed by a great hand. Jay flung an arm around Hastet and threw them both to the ground. Illyana let out a squeak of protest as she was crushed against Hastet’s chest. Then all sound ended as a sound beyond hearing assaulted the ears. The ground heaved and bucked, ripping Jay’s arms loose from Hastet. Dirt pattered down on him. Then the shock wave hit, sending Jay rolling across the street like a windblown leaf.
For a long moment it seemed as if the planet itself was shocked into silence, or perhaps it was only a trick as abused ears tried to cope with the cessation of sound. Then the screams and moans and cries for help began.
“Monster. Monster. Monster,” Hastet murmured monotonously as Jay limped to her and hauled her to her feet.
Miraculously she had managed to hang onto Illyana. The baby was screaming her terror. Blood trickled from Hastet’s nose and matted in the hair at her temples. Jay felt the same warm flow against his skin. He wiped it away, blood smearing in the dirt on his face. On Hastet’s face tears left bright runnels in the dirt and blood.
People began running toward the great square… or what had once been the square. All the buildings within a mile radius were leveled, bricks and marble strewn like shattered rose petals after a killing wind.
Other people ducked their heads and slipped away, headed for the city’s edge. Jay and Hastet joined them.
They had been fencing when the whole of House Ilkazam went into a telepathic frenzy. Holostages sprang to life, and a servant brought a portable to the gymnasium.
The elevator fell.
Mark took three steps backward; then his rubbery knees gave out, and he collapsed on the gym floor. Bat’tam bowed his head and stroked the length of his sword like a man quieting a frightened dog.
Tisianne ripped off her mask and flung her sword end over end. It buried its point in the floor and remained upright, swaying slightly. Her face was slick with sweat beading in her brows, stinging the eyes. She licked her upper lip and tasted salt. It made a nasty combination with the rage and fear that roiled in her gut.
Tis started for the door, calling back over her shoulder, “They’ll need food, medical supplies -”
“There’s an army in Ban,” Bat’tam interrupted. “An unfriendly one.”
“I don’t care!” Tis replied.
Mark lurched to his feet. “What is with you? You can’t go there!”
Bat’tam looked at her shrewdly, then said, “You sent your child, the human, and his woman to an elevator. Alaak is in Vayawand hands. Now Ban.”
“Two out of the three, yes, very astute,” Tis said. “And given my luck, the odds are very good that -” Anxiety locked down on her vocal cords, and the words died.
They had hitched a ride with about twenty other refugees in a produce skimmer in from the country. The driver hadn’t been able to unload in Ban, so Jay and Hastet were perched on top of a load of pungent Takisian vegetables. There wasn’t a hell of a lot of conversation – the Takisians all seemed stunned by events – and for once Illyana was mercifully silent. Probably because she had a bottle stuffed in that tiny rosebud mouth.
The countryside was pretty. Jeban lay on the equator, and while it wasn’t what Jay would call tropical, they had left the winter snows of Ilkazam behind. There didn’t seem to be anyplace on Takis without mountains, but these were lower and softer with more gradual slopes covered by a low, thick grass/moss combination. Critters grazed on the hillsides or ruminated beneath squat bonsailike trees.
Jay picked up one of the bulbous gray-and-red-mottled vegetables. “What are these?” he asked.
“Pful.”
“Don’t ever cook ’em. They smell like shit.”
Illyana finished suckling, and Hastet tucked the empty bottle down in her carrying case. They had chucked all the luggage save the bottles and diapers, and Jay’s tote filled with Haupi. Jay was starting to feel like a real hobo.
“That’s the last bottle,” Hastet said in that carefully neutral tone she assumed when she was very upset.
Jay shifted, trying for a more comfortable position on the spined and unforgiving pful. “Look, this is nuts, I’ll -”
He didn’t get a chance to finish. There was that high-pitched humming, and a living ship came streaking across the colorful cloud-banded sky. Necks strained back, they all stared up at the ship. It slowed, hovered.
“Vayawand,” said one of their companions.
“He’s looking us over for some reason,” Jay said, forcing down a burgeoning panic.
The reason became very evident when one of the big ghost lances on the ship opened up and began to bisect the skimmer. Screams, shouts, and people began tumbling off the skimmer like spilled marbles. Jay grabbed Hastet and tossed her and Illyana off the skimmer bed. The heat of the cannon singed his hair as he rolled off the skimmer.
People were milling in panic in the center of the road. “Run!” Jay screamed. “Get off the road!” There wasn’t a hell of a lot of cover, but the road was lined with big flowering bushes. He gripped Hastet’s arm and pulled her after him. She bucked like recalcitrant foal and stopped dead.
“Haupi!” she cried.
“Shit! Get under cover!” he yelled, and plunged back toward the burning skimmer.
The pful smelled really nasty now, and there was a new scent added to the mix – sickeningly sweet, it caught in the throat. Jay clambered back up onto the roadway. As his head cleared the passenger window of the cab, he saw the driver slumped over the controls. His hair and clothes were still smoldering. Jay swallowed bile and scanned the back of the skimmer.
Miraculously his hand tote hadn’t been fried. Jay sprinted for it just as Haupi managed to thrust open the flaps and light out for the hills. Her wings had been clipped, so her escape was made in a series of flying hops all accompanied by her shrill chittering.