Using crystal knives to make seven access incisions, the assistants and the autopsy specialist cut open the female’s body, peeled away the skin, and studied the muscle fibers, the blood vessels, the body cavity. They removed the internal organs one at a time, frowning—first curious and then fearful.
The images zoomed closer. Among the wet slime and cold blood, a black substance oozed like oil, curling behind the heart, permeating the lungs and blood vessels.
“A peculiar contamination,” said Enda’f. “Like a black stain that ebbs and flows.” He poked with forceps, but could not obtain a sample. He used a syringe, but the cylinder came away filled with only normal-looking blood.
The assistants shifted the remaining internal organs as if to catch an escaping serpent, but they were also unsuccessful.
The autopsy specialist stood up from the cadaver, his gloves bloody. “I cannot locate the source, Liege, or where it resides now.” He made a notation, consulted with his assistants, then moved on to open the cranium.
Jora’h said, “It is in the thism itself.”
After the team removed the top of the female cadaver’s head to expose the brain, the autopsy specialist inserted probes to test the convoluted brain matter. “Ah, there’s the blackness—it has burrowed deep within the cerebral tissue.”
Gale’nh looked deeply uneasy. “It is still there…”
Enda’f removed a long, thin knife from the tray. Turning it so that the light from the blazers gleamed on its crystalline edge, he cut into the brain.
Darkness exploded outward like an erupting geyser. Oily black static sprayed from the opening in the cadaver’s head. More of the tangible shadows lunged out of the chest cavity.
The assistants recoiled, scrambling away and knocking over the tray of instruments. The autopsy specialist caught the black eruption full in the face and chest. He screamed and writhed backward in agony.
It wasn’t a black liquid—just an oily intangible substance that filled the air, pouring from the dead body. It engulfed another assistant who collapsed on the smooth floor, thrashing and twitching. The remaining two assistants rushed toward the hatch, but the interlock seals had already snapped into place.
The blackness swarmed over them, suffocating them. The room continued to fill with a roiling black shadow cloud. Gale’nh howled, covered his face with one arm.
Nira let out an astonished cry, and Jora’h pulled her away from the observation window just as an exterior armor plate dropped into place, shielding them before the incineration blazers released an instant vaporization burst.
The light of a thousand suns swallowed the autopsy room. Even the hair-fine line of light that showed through the window covering was searing enough to blind him momentarily.
Jora’h could only hope that the emergency system had been swift and intense enough to cleanse that horrific darkness in time.
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR
SHAREEN FITZKELLUM
Even on the isolated, tide-swirled planet of Kuivahr, they heard about the Shana Rei attacking Theroc. The black stain vomiting out of Golgen’s clouds had only been one of the first encounters with the creatures of darkness. Shareen was not looking forward to another one.
When a Kett Shipping vessel arrived to take a load of kirae to Ildira (including one special bottle designated for the Mage-Imperator himself), the pilot told about the massive shadow cloud that had appeared at Theroc. As the crates of kirae were loaded aboard his ship, the pilot seemed uneasy about going to Ildira as well. “Odd reports coming out of there, too—mass hysteria, mob violence. The Ildirans say it’s also the work of the Shana Rei.”
Shareen remembered the quicksilver form of the hydrogue that had appeared on the Golgen skymine with blackness welling up inside its body, and how the shadow itself had flooded through the clouds of the gas giant. “Sounds like we were lucky to get away from Golgen when we did.”
“We lost a whole skymine, by damn! I wouldn’t call that lucky,” Del Kellum said. “Except I’m lucky that you’re all here with me now.”
Her father added, “I have no interest in a galactic war. Done that already.”
While Toff devoted his days to racing around in mudskimmers, Shareen and Howard worked in the distillery. They had already made improvements to increase production and shorten the fermentation time, but otherwise they didn’t have specific job assignments yet—this wasn’t exactly the skymine work-study routine Howard had signed up for.
Shareen enjoyed his company, though, and he didn’t get tired of her ideas. Howard turned to her with a serious expression. “You have some very thought-provoking concepts.”
“Then why are you so quiet after I tell you about them? You don’t say that much.”
“Because I’m thinking about them. That’s what thought-provoking means.”
They sat together on the outside upper deck under the cloudy skies, dangling their legs several stories above the muddy water. Del came out to join them, letting Marius Denva and other line supervisors handle the operations.
“Thought I’d find you here.”
“Are we that predictable?” Shareen asked.
“No, I just looked everywhere else.” Del made a great effort easing himself down and adjusting his legs precariously close to the edge, but he seemed comfortable enough. He gazed out toward the horizon in silence, which was unusual for him. Shareen didn’t break the spell, and all three of them just sat thinking, listening.
Del finally spoke up. “I’ve seen enough of the Spiral Arm, operated facilities on half a dozen planets, served as Speaker for the Roamer clans. There’s so much out there… but for me, this distillery is just enough. There was a time when my Shareen and I had plans to operate skymines on different gas giants. We were going to invest in a luxury spaceliner that would take tourists to the most amazing places—and we’d charge them through the nose each step of the way. She and I even talked about what we’d do when we retired together.”
Shareen saw tears sparkling in his eyes, and when he took a deep breath she heard a slight hitch in his throat. “Even if we didn’t retire, I still thought we’d be together. Sometimes the universe rises up and bites you right in the butt.”
She had heard many stories about her grandfather’s lost love Shareen Pasternak. It sounded like a truly epic romance, and she wondered if Del had exaggerated a little, but she was glad he had those stories and those memories, anyway. Coming back to himself, he looked at his granddaughter and reached over to tousle her hair.
“You two deserve more than spending your best years here. You’re too important for this. I expect great things from you, Shareen.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, except to thank him.
Howard included himself as well. “We’ll do our best with the opportunities we have, sir.”
“That’s the problem right now—not many opportunities here. That has to change. I’ve already called in a few favors for you.” He drew a deep satisfied breath, then made quite a production of getting back to his feet. “I’ll have some news tonight at dinner—it’s a surprise.”
Shareen knew she was supposed to be excited, and she wondered what sort of odd scheme her grandfather had come up with.
Clan Kellum ate their meals family style, and Howard was considered an adopted member of the family. He sat next to Shareen as they shared whatever seafood stew or shellfish concoction the commissary sent over.
Patrick took care of feeding Rex, who played with his food and jabbered about each item. Toff talked about the adventures he’d had (which sounded like the same thing he did every day, but Shareen had long ago learned how to tune out her pesky brother).