As soon as the nightshade began to crumble, the faeros fireballs sensed that part of the burden had been lifted from them. They flew away from the broken barrier, but rather than flitting off into open space, they streaked toward the shadow cloud. The hex battleships were already diminished by the ruin of their nightshade.
As the flaming ellipsoids provoked them, the Shana Rei launched the first active weapons that Keah had seen. A mouth opened at the flat end of the hexagonal shafts to vomit out a gout of black static.
The manifested shadow struck and engulfed the first faeros, wrapping around the fireball like a shroud, coalescing and darkening. The black cocoon cracked and trembled. Dark orange lines shivered through the inky skin as the faeros struggled, but gradually it died like a candle flame starved of oxygen.
Another gout of black static engulfed a second faeros, but with each weapon launched, the Shana Rei hex ships seemed to diminish further, as if creating the darkness required immense effort and energy.
And then many more faeros swarmed toward them.
The fiery ellipsoids pursued the retreating hexagon ships into the shadow cloud. Streaking in, the fireballs intensified, as if about to go supernova, inspired by the Ildiran sun bombs.
Klikiss robot ships buzzed around before wheeling back to the safety of the shadow cloud. The dark nebula contracted like a folding fist, and the last of the robot battleships disappeared into it.
The Shana Rei retreated into the tear in space, slipping between dimensions, and the remnants of the shadow cloud swirled like smoke being sucked into an exhaust vent. Then they were gone from the Theron system.
The last remnants of the nightshade crumbled and vanished, ending the eclipse. The surviving faeros flitted about like sparks in an updraft before they shot away into space.
“Guess they didn’t want to stay for the victory party,” Keah muttered, then raised her voice. “But we sure as hell are going to have one!”
Nadd the green priest wept openly. Even the Ildirans aboard the Solar Navy ships were excited. The comm officer was already relaying a congratulatory message from King Peter and Queen Estarra.
General Keah wanted to make some kind of inspirational victorious comment on their victory, but it was unnecessary. Her crew kept yelling and cheering. She decided that she owed Adar Zan’nh another one of her historical ship models. In fact, after today he could take them all.
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE
MAGE-IMPERATOR JORA’H
The Mijistra medical research center was staffed by thousands of doctors who trained among their greatest sages before being transferred to serve throughout the Empire.
Every member of their kith was predisposed to practice medicine. Some became proficient surgeons, while others were diagnosticians, pharmaceutical specialists, first-aid technicians, or skilled biochemists. Others performed intensive research, like those investigating Reynald’s disease. The medical kith members who would gather in the quarantine chamber today were those who specialized in autopsies.
Jora’h and Nira watched the proceedings through a rectangular observation window made of thick crystal. Gale’nh stood with them, silent and curious, insisting that he might notice a detail because of his own encounter with the Shana Rei. Open to any insights, the Mage-Imperator agreed.
The walls of the autopsy chamber were smooth and seamless, molded from a continuous shell of polymer metal. The diagnostic equipment and power sources were all self-contained.
“This is dangerous work, Liege,” Gale’nh pointed out. “What if the darkness is still within them, some residue of their possession?”
“We hope to learn the answer, Tal,” Jora’h said. “And we must take risks before we can learn.”
Nira’s expression was hard. “I want to know what turned those people into monsters.”
Gale’nh straightened. “I will submit myself to analysis if it would help… vivisection, if necessary. Prove that they are not still within me.”
“No!” Nira said.
“It will not be necessary,” Jora’h said in a tone that allowed no argument. “Let us learn from those we have lost.”
The analytical specialists entered the chamber through three layers of security hatches, each of which sealed behind them. The randomly selected bodies for inspection had already been brought in, and when the dissection team was in place, the chamber was locked and secured. Banks of ceiling blazers shone down upon every surface; the bright light could be increased a millionfold in an instant, should extreme sterilization precautions become necessary.
Inside the chamber, five cadavers lay on the tables, chosen from the participants in the mob massacre. Four members of the medical kith were ready to proceed, the lead autopsy specialist, Enda’f, and three assistants.
“We will extract every possible answer from these specimens, Liege,” said Enda’f. He tugged gloves onto his long-fingered hands.
One of the lesser medical kith mounted a set of magnifying goggles and a high-resolution projector onto the doctor’s head. A second doctor laid out an array of tools, as well as devices for performing automated chemical and spectral analyses and a cabinet for holding specimens.
The third medical kith prepared a body, a long-limbed female who lay naked on the table, her skin a dull gray-green. She was a member of the teacher kith; perhaps in death, her body would teach them important information.
“We have one hundred seven total specimens, Liege,” the autopsy specialist said. He did not even remark on how appalling the number was. “If we do not make any breakthroughs with these first cadavers, I promise you I will dissect and test every one until I have the answers you require.”
Nira held Jora’h’s hand. “We should have done this with the attackers that tried to kill me. If we’d learned the cause then, maybe we could have prevented this slaughter.”
Following that assassination attempt, Jora’h had ordered the tainted Ildirans incinerated in a solar furnace. He had been disturbed by what they represented, and afraid that even after death their corruption might linger. Although he understood the necessity now, he still felt gravely uneasy as he peered down at the otherwise healthy-looking bodies in the autopsy chamber. He felt a chill to know that a hundred more remained in storage.
How many times would this insidious violence happen again? Had there been other instances on splinter colonies that he was not aware of?
“You should have studied me as soon as I came back from the Kolpraxa,” Gale’nh said. “I do not believe that any of the poison remains inside me… but how could I know?”
“The worldforest is also fighting the Shana Rei on Theroc,” Nira said with a shiver. “How many places can they strike at once?”
The Solar Navy had rushed to help as soon as the worldtrees informed them of the nightshade there. “I hope Adar Zan’nh has been able to assist Theroc,” Jora’h said. That would be only a small consolation after what his ravening people did to the poor human settlers in Mijistra.
They peered through the thick window into the chamber below. Three autopsy assistants leaned close to the dead female cadaver, running their fingertips over her face, shoulders, breasts, ribs. Their deep scans covered the entire surface of her body.
Enda’f scrutinized the images projected on a holographic screen in front of him, not missing a detail. When the intense scans were complete, he shook his head. “No apparent external cause of death. No marks, no injuries. She just… died.”
Gale’nh said to Jora’h and Nira, “The taint that killed them—and drove them to kill—is inside.”