The Ashes of Worlds

On the way down, her father stared at the wrecked capital city, unable to protect the morality of his people by dampening the shock he experienced. Osira’h could also feel the lingering pain that resonated from all the Ildirans who had survived down below, though she sensed her half-breed brothers and sisters, along with Prime Designate Daro’h, trying to bolster the people. She directed the pilot to where tiny figures stood at the edge of the still-smoking ruins.

As soon as the cutter landed and the hatch opened, Osira’h bounded out. The air burned her lungs; the whirl of fiery elementals overhead seemed to singe the very atmosphere. Grasses, bushes, and any remaining combustible wreckage had begun to smoke.

Prime Designate Daro’h and Yazra’h ran forward, barely able to believe that the Mage-Imperator had returned. When Osira’h’s brothers and sisters came to her, she grasped their hands and formed a mental circuit. Preparing herself, she retreated into her mind, then extended her thoughts outward, both to her father and to her siblings. She had to bind them all together. Tight. strong.

The faeros incarnate was out there, a cauldron of fiery hatred, a nexus for the revived elementals. Osira’h could find him, too, and force him to come.

She squeezed the hands of Rod’h on one side and Gale’nh on the other. Her two sisters completed the ring. “Like we did before,” she said. “Form a barrier that’s stronger than fire, stronger thanthism.” As they worked, the air acquired an impermeability that stopped some of the worst heat. The children concentrated on the intangible connections that tied the whole race together. “Reach out and strengthen the soul-threads. Find the other Ildirans — all of them. Rusa’h has burned his own paths. Now it is time for us to undo them and weave our shield.”

Using their exotic bridging abilities, Osira’h and her brothers and sisters isolated andcut off the connecting chains through which the faeros had entangled the soulfires they had stolen. The fiery elementals had traveled along those scorched pathways when they had ignited thethism to consume Ildiran souls. Now the five children erected roadblocks along those blackened lines. They severed intersections and sealed off pathways by which the flaming elementals could retreat, starving them of the soul energy on which they fed. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, blocking out the world around them so she could hone her concentration.

But then Osira’h became aware of shouts nearby, cries of terror. The heat in the air increased to an unbearable level, penetrating their tenuous shield until she could feel her skin sizzling. A golden-orange light flared in front of her face, making her reel backward as a huge, angry fireball descended before them. Larger than any of the other faeros, it hovered close, a swollen, roaring knot of flames.

Osira’h sensed the seething fury even before she saw the incandescent manlike figure inside. She held fast to her siblings, refusing to break contact.

Rusa’h had answered their call.

153

Chairman Basil Wenceslas

The shuttle pulled away from the still-frozen Klikiss swarmships, passing through the wreckage of the Earth Defense Forces and the maddeningly intact Confederation ships. Appalled, Basil worked his jaw but was unable to find words. He could guess exactly what must have happened — a treacherous ambush. At least theGoliath seemed intact.

Ignoring the pilot, he took charge of the comm console and opened a direct channel to the EDF flagship Juggernaut. “General Brindle, what the hell happened? Why aren’t you firing on the Confederation warships?”

The reply took longer than he expected, due to the chaos and confusion that still reigned aboard the EDF ships. Brindle sounded distracted. “Our ships were sabotaged, sir, most likely by the Klikiss robots. They must have booby-trapped our ships when they repaired them. We have ascertained that it was not in any way connected to the Confederation ships.”

Basil knew Sirix was capable of doing such a thing, and in a way he was disappointed that he couldn’t blame Peter for the disaster. Regardless, he felt satisfied to have caused the destruction of all the black robots. even if the breedex did not seem grateful for the assistance. Enemies everywhere.

Basil studied the motionless alien swarmship, considering what the Klikiss hive mind would do when it broke free of its mysterious paralysis. He might never have another chance like this. “General Brindle, are your weapons still functional?”

“Yes, sir. TheGoliath has full armaments, and nineteen other ships remain undamaged.”

“Good. The hive mind is aboard the main swarmship. Destroy it, and you destroy the entire Klikiss threat. Let’s take care of this right now. Open fire with everything you have.”

The General hesitated. “Initiatehostilities against the Klikiss? Sir, two-thirds of my fleet is gone!”

Basil bridled. “Right now the breedex is crippled, and the insects can’t defend themselves. They’re not going to shoot back! If those unharmed Confederation ships have any balls, they’ll join the fight beside us. It’s what Peter always promises to do.”

“Sir, in your absence King Peter has reclaimed the Whisper Palace. The people on Earth are. celebrating.”

Basil felt as if an airlock had suddenly popped and depressurized the shuttle’s cabin. And was General Brindle pleased to deliver this news? Basil felt a rage swelling within him. “General, I gave you an order. Open fire on the Klikiss swarmship. I’ll deal with Peter myself.”

Before the Juggernaut could launch its first volley, though, a transmission spread like a bombarding wave across all channels, as pervasive and overpowering as the first Klikiss broadcast that had demanded his presence. The volume was thunderous through the cockpit speakers, and this time it actually sounded like Davlin Lotze — his voice, his personality!

“Chairman Wenceslas, I do not understand this weapon you used against us, but I am impressed. Dozens of my separate subhives have been incapacitated. Only a few remain functional.”A harsh undertone filled the speakers during a long pause before the breedex continued.“Many parts of my hive mind are now. offline. Klikiss parts. Therefore, I was able to reassert my influence.”

Margaret Colicos pushed her way into the cockpit. “Davlin — you’ve got to stop the Klikiss advance. The One Breedex wants to exterminate humanity.”

“Ah, Margaret. Many subhive remnants are stunned, and now my own mind controls them all. The Klikiss parts of the breedex are. safely locked away now.”Basil could clearly hear nuances of wry humor in the response.“I trust you’ll find my solution acceptable. Observe.”

The swarmship began to come alive again, more ominous than ever. The components shifted and flickered. The once-paralyzed insect warriors were reawakening aboard the gigantic conglomeration vessels.

The Davlin-breedex continued.“But you are not to be trusted, Mr. Chairman. I heard you give the order to destroy us while we were paralyzed. You are a danger to us. You have proved regrettably faithful to all of my expectations and memories of you.”