Later, Iswander met with Pannebaker and three of his crew chiefs in the conference chamber. “I want to know how dangerous those flashes are. I can’t afford any more stupid accidents like what happened to the green priest.”
One of the crew chiefs called up data and displayed it for the meeting. “Here’s a record of the flashes over the past several weeks. We’re draining a substantial number of bloaters, so the cluster is significantly smaller, yet other outlier bloaters seem to be drifting in from deep space. The frequency of the flashes is increasing.”
“Could it be some response to our extraction operations?” asked a second chief. “As if the bloaters are alarmed… or in pain?”
Iswander frowned. “They’re just gas bags. Are you implying it’s some kind of distress signal?”
The second chief looked embarrassed. “I wasn’t implying anything. Just asking a question.”
Alec Pannebaker called up his own projection that charted the path of the bloater cluster and showed how it had been accelerating toward the distant star system. “Maybe the cluster is growing more active as it gets closer to that sun.”
As if she had won a prize, Elisa Enturi showed off her son when she returned to the bloater-extraction field. She held the boy’s shoulder as she led him into the admin module. “This is Seth. He’ll be staying here. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get in the way.”
Iswander nodded, glad to have Elisa back. “I’m pleased everything worked out for the best. Any problems?”
“None whatsoever. And Seth is glad to be with us now.”
The boy nodded without any noticeable enthusiasm, but he did seem fascinated by the cluster of bloaters and all the extraction operations. He tried to get a better look through one of the windowports, but Elisa held him close.
“I’ve seen the bloaters before,” Seth said. “My dad and I found the first ones.” His comment provoked a sharp glance from his mother.
Iswander watched her. Without a doubt, Elisa was his best employee, but she had been focused on family problems for some time, her emotions erratic: angry with Garrison, then hurt because she thought he and her son were dead, then indignant when she learned she’d been deceived. Well, now that she had the boy in her safekeeping, Iswander hoped Elisa could concentrate on her work and devote herself to the ekti operations. He needed her.
To help, he called his family into the admin module and introduced them to the boy. Maybe Elisa’s son and Arden would become friends. “This is Seth Reeves, our newest member of the team. Make him feel welcome.”
Londa seemed delighted. “We’ll take care of him. It will be so good for Arden to have someone close to his own age here.” She gave Seth a warm smile. “This will be different from Academ, but Arden enjoys it here. You will, too.”
Now that she had gotten what she wanted, Elisa seemed anxious to get back to work. “And you and I can be together, Seth. I’ll see you after my shift.”
Elisa followed Iswander to the medical module. Aelin lay on a bunk, connected to monitoring apparatus. The two staff doctors wore expressions of consternation.
Aelin’s face looked gaunt; his green skin had a more ashen color. His mouth hung slack, but it seemed to wear a hint of a smile, as if he understood something mysterious and incomprehensible. His eyes were open, staring, and glassy. But as soon as the two entered, he became lucid. He turned his head to face Iswander. “I have seen it!”
Elisa was skeptical. “What have you seen?”
The green priest jerked his head toward her. “Wonders that even my soul can’t contain. I hear the thundering thoughts.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “And I still see flashes behind my eyes, inside my soul.” Aelin tried to sit up, but the doctors had put him in restraints.
Iswander frowned. The poor man was likely insane—but the accident was the green priest’s own fault, not something the industrialist could be blamed for.
“I have a warning for you, Mr. Iswander! You are spilling the blood of the cosmos—and the shadow is coming.” Aelin struggled against his restraints.
Both doctors were worried. “We don’t know what to do, sir. Our treatment options are limited.”
The second doctor said, “He should be transferred to a larger medical facility, maybe taken back to Theroc where green priests can care for him.”
Iswander shook his head. “No, he stays here. Do what you can.” He paused, then added, “And you’d better sedate him. He’s delirious.”
ONE HUNDRED AND SIX
OSIRA’H
Osira’h awoke in terror. From the raw burning in her throat, she realized she must have screamed. In her mind’s eye she could still see the echoes of blackness, the images burned into her thoughts.
She sensed the strands of thism throughout the universe, a glorious web that strengthened and bound the Ildiran people—but in her nightmare it had become a tangled tapestry. She saw intersection points, frayed and weak strands beginning to turn black, darkening, tightening.
The Shana Rei could strike in more insidious ways than the gigantic hex cylinders they had used at Plumas…
Before going to bed, Osira’h had spent an enjoyable hour with Prince Reyn. He was having a good day and seemed strong and engaged. Even though Osira’h watched him closely, she barely saw any signs of his illness.
They sat with a dozen quiet and fascinated Ildirans in a storyteller’s bowl, a small sunken theater ringed with seats. In the center, a mound of rough-cut orange fuel crystals glowed, shedding warm light on the audience.
Rememberer Dyvo’sh and the human scholar Anton Colicos told a story they had recently resurrected from the document crypts. Taking turns, Anton Colicos and Dyvo’sh talked about a small Ildiran splinter colony on Carii, which was due to have an eclipse. Ildiran astronomers had staked out a camp in the path of totality, an hour’s flight from the main city, ready to take measurements as the planet’s moon slid in front of the sun. The total eclipse lasted less than four minutes.
In that brief span of time, the Shana Rei emerged—manifesting out of the shadow and swallowing the astronomers. Even though the scientist kith remained in contact with the Carii colonists in the main city, the thism strands were knotted, then severed. And when the eclipse was over, everything in their camp was gone: astronomers, equipment, and records. The trees themselves were black and lifeless…
The tale chilled the audience in the storyteller’s bowl. The story reminded Osira’h of her brother Gale’nh, all alone aboard the dark-shrouded Kolpraxa.
Reyn leaned close to her and said, “If the rememberers are searching old records to find useful information about the Shana Rei, what can we learn from that story to help us defend ourselves?”
“Maybe the lesson is that we should avoid eclipses.”
When they each retired to their quarters, Osira’h drifted off to sleep, thinking warm thoughts of how much she enjoyed being with Reyn. She had hoped to have dreams of Reynald. Instead, the blackness struck at Osira’h through her dreams.
She heard shouts and pounding at her chamber door before guard kithmen forced themselves inside. Still shuddering, she climbed to her feet, trying to push away the nightmare. One of the guards looked around, crystal sword drawn. “We heard you cry out—are you in danger?”
The words caught in her throat. Maybe they were all in danger, Ildirans and humans. But apparently the others hadn’t felt it. She drew a deep breath before answering. She gestured around her, trying to sound aloof. “I’m unharmed. As you can see, there’s no threat.”