The Ashes of Worlds

“Stay here. Do not let me forget my humanity.”

28

Orli Covitz

When the last few crates were loaded in theBlind Faith ’s cargo bay, Orli, DD, and Mr. Steinman climbed aboard, and the ship departed for Relleker. Captain Roberts was glad to be setting off again on a regular trading run, and very pleased to have such good company.

TheBlind Faith sailed smoothly across space. On the tablescreen, Roberts checked his manifest. All three of them had heated up mealpax of something called “nourishing stew.”

“When we get to Relleker, those people will be so thrilled they’ll throw a feast in our honor,” Roberts said. “It used to be a resort, you know.”

“Relleker was a well-respected and wealthy Hansa colony,” DD chimed in, reciting from his database, “best known for its spa cities, its comfortable climate, and its wineries. Only the wealthiest people settled there.”

“And the snootiest,” Roberts said. “The colony head was a real piece of work, refused to lend us a hand saving the people on Crenna, tried to charge us docking fees while our ship was gathering emergency supplies.” He frowned. “Now, I’m not a man to hold a grudge, but maybe it was karma. The drogues wiped out Relleker, blasted every building to the ground, killed every last colonist.” He took three quick slurping mouthfuls of the alleged stew. “But it’s a whole new colony now, a fresh start.”

“I can’t wait to see it,” Mr. Steinman said.

When theFaith arrived, the planet looked like a beautiful blue-and-green gem mottled with clouds, a place to tempt human settlers. Grinning, Roberts transmitted, “Hey, down there! Send out the welcome wagon. We’ve brought a shipful of supplies, if anybody’s buying.” When the comm system remained quiet, his smile faltered. Glancing at Orli, he transmitted again, more formally now. “This is Captain Branson Roberts in theBlind Faith. We have a load of cargo for the settlement. Please transmit landing instructions.”

“I thought they’d be anxious to hear from us,” Mr. Steinman said.

“A Confederation ship’s been scheduled on this run for weeks. Can’t imagine why they’re so quiet.”

Roberts waited again. Orli grew concerned. “Perhaps they are using other communication bands,” DD suggested. “We could search for signal traffic.”

Roberts punched the comm system, but received an error message on the complicated new controls. Orli leaned over and reentered the instructions, fixing the glitch. Suddenly a cacophony of screeches, clicks, whistles, and tortured songs poured from the speakers.

Mr. Steinman put his hands against his ears. “What a racket!”

“Some kind of feedback or distortion.” Roberts slapped the control panel, as if that would fix the problem. “The Roamers must have put in a faulty comm system.”

“It is not faulty,” DD said. “That is the Klikiss language.”

As theFaith came around the planet’s night side, they nearly careened into two gigantic swarmships battling each other high above the atmosphere. The alien vessels were immense conglomerations of smaller craft packed into a fluid mass, like a colliding pair of globular clusters with blazing stars flung in all directions. Splashes of light, energy weapons, and power discharges crackled between the giant vessels as they tore each other apart.

“This doesn’t look good,” Steinman said.

Roberts activated the comm system again. “Relleker! This is the Confederation shipBlind Faith. Can anyone respond?” He heard only static, then more Klikiss screeching.

“I spent much time among the Klikiss with Margaret Colicos. I can translate.” DD stood close to the speaker, listening. “Two rival subhives are battling for control of Relleker. They arrived at nearly the same time, and now they are attempting to destroy each other.”

Clusters of smaller Klikiss ships attacked their opponents in a drunken, disorganized fashion. The gigantic swarmships seemed to be disintegrating as they continued to pick apart one component after another.

As theFaith raced over the night-dark hemisphere, Orli could see glowing patches of the planet’s surface below — huge areas burning. She shuddered, remembering that the insect creatures had already murdered so many people she had known on the Llaro colony. She could tell there wouldn’t be any survivors left down on Relleker, either. With two powerful subhives fighting over their planet, those colonists hadn’t had a chance.

As the enormous clusters continued to battle each other, a segment of the nearest Klikiss swarmship separated from the main ball like a wad of sparkling clay torn off. The group of tightly packed component ships angled toward theBlind Faith.

“They’ve spotted us,” Orli said.

“And we’re not in any shape to fend off an attack, Roberts,” Mr. Steinman yelped. “Time to get the hell out of here.”

Captain Roberts agreed. “Let’s see how good those new Roamer engines are.” He laid in the course for their swift retreat.

The artificial gravity generators struggled to compensate for the ship’s rough acceleration. A flurry of energy bolts shot past them, but theBlind Faith was out of range. Roberts looked behind them as they outdistanced the lumbering Klikiss component ships. “Straight back to Osquivel — we’ve got to tell somebody what’s happened here.”

29

Sirix

When they finally reached Relleker, eager to take over the technical facilities there, Sirix and his black robots were shocked to discover that the Klikiss had already arrived. Urgently shutting down power, the robot battle group remained out of sensor range while the two swarmships tore each other apart. Even though the breedexes were locked in mortal combat, Sirix suspected the rival subhives would put aside their differences the moment they spotted the black robots.

He observed the battle while PD and QT stood beside him on the bridge. Part of him wanted to inflict great harm on the loathsome creator race, but logic prevailed. Sirix would wait until the primary battle was over, let the Klikiss damage each other, then send his battleships in to annihilate the remnants of whichever subhive survived.

“What about the colonists down on Relleker?” QT asked. “We should try to protect them.”

“We may need them to help operate the industrial facilities,” PD added.

Sirix had already studied the scans. “It is too late to save the factories, or the humans.” He had placed a great deal of hope on Relleker, and the loss of those facilities angered him greatly, but he would not risk his remaining robots to help human colonists — if any had survived. Klikiss warriors were already swarming over the settled areas of the planet below.

The two swarmships decimated each other, neither admitting defeat. Finally, when Sirix analyzed the numbers and calculated that he could not possibly lose, he made his move. “Our firepower is now superior. It is time for us to eradicate both breedexes.”