What was here?
He had never seen anything like the strange nodules, an odd anomaly, and the humans were exploiting them somehow. The operations had drained and discarded hundreds of the sacks, while continuing to work on the hundreds that remained.
The ebony Shana Rei ships hung over the largest complex, but did not move, as if something caused them to hesitate. The creatures of darkness didn’t attack, even though the human ships flurried in a seemingly disorganized evacuation. Many were escaping, but the Shana Rei did not seem concerned.
Knowing he couldn’t count on the shadow creatures to do what was necessary, Exxos transmitted an order to his robots. “Commence full attack!” Like a flock of black vultures, they streaked into the industrial complex.
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN
GARRISON REEVES
The shadow cloud swelled near the Iswander ekti-extraction complex like smoke ripping through the fabric of space. Utterly silent, the black nebula reached toward the cluster of bloaters.
Lee Iswander’s face was markedly pale when he turned to Garrison. “I didn’t listen to your warnings at Sheol—I hesitated too long before I evacuated. I won’t make that mistake again.” He turned to the frightened-looking techs at the admin stations. “Signal our operations to evacuate immediately. All ships out of there! Follow emergency procedures.”
Elisa was angry. “We can’t give up without a fight, sir. You banked everything on this. It is your chance—”
“No, Elisa. We’ll pick up the pieces later.” He raised his voice, transmitted over the open channel, “All work crews, find the nearest escape vessel and get away from that cloud.”
The intercom echoed with distress calls, confused shouts. Evacuation alarms rattled through the connected modules. Ships at docking hatches and in landing bays were quickly crowded with people and launched out into the open, heading away from the bloater-extraction fields in every direction.
Alec Pannebaker called from the industrial yards, “But, Chief, this ekti hauler is fully loaded. I’m taking it up and out of here. That way, we’ll salvage something at least.”
“Only if you can do it safely. The facilities can be replaced—and we know there are other bloater clusters.” He turned to his wife and son. “I will not lose personnel again. Fifteen forty-three… that was enough.”
Garrison was relieved. “Thank you, sir. Seth, come with me to the ship. We’ll get as many aboard as possible. Mr. Iswander, we have room for your wife and son. Elisa, are you coming?”
Elisa placed herself at the doorway. “You’re not taking Seth away from me again.”
“I’m not taking him away from you. There’s no time for your nonsense. We’re getting out of here. You’re welcome to come with us.”
Iswander surprised him by interjecting in a firm, commanding tone, “Elisa, I need you to cooperate. Go with Mr. Reeves and your son, see that my family gets to safety.”
She blinked, taken aback that he would side against her. She rallied visibly, then turned to Iswander. “Yes, sir. You need to leave, too.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m staying here to wrap up. I can get away in my own cruiser, but I don’t want to worry about you. Mr. Reeves, thank you for your offer to take a few extra passengers. I am indebted to you.”
Arden said, “No. You have to come with us!”
Iswander frowned. “I have other responsibilities first, and your duty is to do as you’re told.”
Nodding to the industrialist, Garrison put a hand on his son’s shoulder and said, “Come on, everyone, let’s go!”
Elisa hesitated. Iswander said to her, “Leave! That is an order.”
The huge refinery vessels were gathering momentum, lumbering away from the bloater cluster. One panicked cargo ship accelerated blindly, slammed into a group of deflated bloater sacks, and exploded.
Around the extraction field, ships flew about like enraged insects from a stirred-up hive. Another evacuating ekti hauler had raced off without securing its cargo, and the heavy tanks of stardrive fuel tumbled out, spoiling the vessel’s weight distribution and sending it into a spin, which ejected even more ekti canisters. They spread out like unaimed projectiles, and one struck a small ship flying away from an extraction station that was still connected to a flaccid bloater. The tank exploded, ripping open the fleeing ship.
As he ran into the landing bay where the Prodigal Son waited, Garrison saw the explosion and expected the shock wave to ignite the bloater, which would cause another chain-reaction explosion… but they got lucky. The deflated sack did not catch fire.
Elisa grabbed Seth’s hand and hurried him into the Prodigal Son. When Londa and Arden were also safely aboard, Garrison headed for the cockpit while the others strapped in. In less than a minute, he had primed the engines and launched from the bay into the dubious safety of open space.
ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN
AELIN
With emergency evacuation alarms hammering through the Iswander complex, the green priest prepared his escape. Aelin didn’t know what was happening out there, nor did he care. Everything else was insignificant to what he knew now.
The song of the cosmos continued to play in his head, deafening him with blinding colors, filling the backs of his eyes with incomprehensible words. He tasted music at the back of his tongue.
Ever since being exposed to the revelatory bloater flash, Aelin had felt the surreal symphony inside his mind. He never wanted it to stop, and his heart ached to know that he had dipped only a single droplet out of an infinite ocean.
How he wished he could have shared this with his poor brother…
Since his rescue, he had been comatose off and on, but Aelin did not mind. While unconscious and drifting, he found that he was able to bask in all the wonders that filled his head. When he woke, though, he felt dull and stupid, his perceptions fuzzy, his vision limited. His treeling was dead—withered by the overload of the flash—but the mind that now encompassed him was orders of magnitude greater than even the verdani.
He had come back to himself in the Iswander Industries medical center, swimming up through the murk of sedatives that the doctors gave him, only to find that the modular station was in the midst of a turbulent evacuation. Frantic people rushed through the corridors. A crewman ran by, shouting into the doorway, “Another ship leaves in two minutes. Better be gone before the shadow kills us all!”
In the adjoining room, two doctors were helping an injured ekti worker who had suffered a mishap at one of the pumping stations. One of the doctors looked up at him. “Good, you’re awake—prepare to evacuate!” He quick-released the unnecessary restraints that had held Aelin down. “You’ll have to walk on your own. Hurry!”
People scurried toward evacuation hatches and landing bays. The doctors guided the other patient into the corridor, and Aelin eased himself out of his infirmary bed. He felt weak, as if his muscles had forgotten how to function.
But he didn’t want to evacuate—in fact, he had no intention of leaving the bloaters. He had a plan.
Aelin made his way to a small garment closet, unfolded the door, and slipped inside, closing it behind him. Several minutes later the doctors returned, looking for him. “Where the hell did the green priest go?”
“Everybody’s evacuating. Somebody must have taken him.” Grumbling, the doctors left.
Aelin let out a long sigh. Evacuation alarms continued, but by now most of the people had departed from the station.