“We are the last survivors of the Onthos. We are also called the Gardeners—though we have not been able to tend the blessed trees for thousands of years.”
As more and more of the Onthos tapped into the worldforest network, they acquired knowledge, language, and the details of history over a vast gulf of time. They seemed overwhelmed by their new situation… but more than anything, relieved.
“We were the first tenders of the worldtrees, the original worldforest that thrived on our world,” said the Onthos who had initially spoken. “That forest was entirely destroyed by the Shana Rei. In doing so, they carved out and extinguished all of those memories from the verdani mind. No one remembers… but us.”
The green priests in the meadow buzzed with excitement.
Amazed, Arita looked at her mother. “Where could they have been for so long?”
The Gardener heard her question. “Darkness engulfed our world, killing all of the worldtrees. We did manage to scatter some treelings before it was too late… and those remnants have grown into the current worldforest.” The little aliens spread their hands in a strange unison. “It has been centuries… millennia since we had treelings of our own. We have nothing. We are the last refugees from the Shana Rei.”
In a choreographed pattern, the Onthos bowed, and turned to face the King and Queen. “We ask to live here with the forest in peace, to become Gardeners once again. We beg sanctuary from the creatures of darkness.”
GLOSSARY
ACADEM: Roamer school inside a hollowed-out comet, near the Roamer complex of Newstation. The school is run by Jess Tamblyn and Cesca Peroni.
ADAM, PRINCE: failed candidate to replace old King Frederick of the Hansa.
ADAR: highest military rank in Ildiran Solar Navy.
AELIN: green priest, brother of Shelud.
AGUERRA, RAYMOND: original name of King Peter.
AHLAR: Ildiran splinter colony, site of an ancient Shana Rei attack.
ALAKIS, ADAM: researcher on Vaconda, father of Zoe Alakis, died of Heidegger’s Syndrome.
ALAKIS, EVELYN: researcher on Vaconda, mother of Zoe Alakis, killed in a flyer crash when Zoe was young.
ALAKIS, ZOE: wealthy head of the Pergamus medical research facility.
ALEXA, MOTHER: wife of Idriss, former ruler of Theroc.
ARAGAO, OCTAVIO: communications officer aboard the Kutuzov.
ARBOR: Rlinda Kett’s restaurant on Theroc.
ARITA, PRINCESS: daughter of King Peter and Queen Estarra, a budding naturalist.
ATTENDER: servile Ildiran kith.
AURIDIA: sparsely inhabited planet over which Newstation and Academ orbit. Auridia contains a Klikiss transportal for access into the transportal network.
AZZAR: Klikiss robot.
BALI’NH, ADAR: historical Ildiran commander, first Ildiran to contact human generation ships.
BEBOB: Rlinda Kett’s pet name for Branson Roberts, her favorite ex-husband.
BEKH: Ildiran curse.
BENETO: green priest brother of Estarra, killed by the hydrogues.
BIG GOOSE: deprecating name for the former Terran Hanseatic League.
BIG RING: Kotto Okiah’s large experimental accelerator under construction at Fireheart Station.
BJORN: spaceship engineer in clan Reeves.
BLACK ROBOTS: intelligent and evil beetlelike robots built by the Klikiss race; most of them were wiped out in the Elemental War.
BLIND FAITH: ship flown by Captain Branson Roberts.
BLOATERS: strange organic nodules found in deep, empty space.
BLONDIE: diner owner in the human enclave in Mijistra.
BO: Teacher compy from Academ, tasked to teach Roamer children from clan Reeves.
BOLAM, DENNIS: administrator of the Eljiid research camp.
BOONE’S CROSSING: former Hansa colony, wiped out by a hydrogue attack in the Elemental War.
BREEDEX: central mind of the Klikiss.
BRIA’NH, TAL: historical Ildiran commander, one of the first to combat the Shana Rei.
BRINDLE, ROBB: administrator of Kett Shipping, married to Tasia Tamblyn, father of Xander.
BRINDLE, XANDER: one of the pilots of Kett Shipping vessel Verne, son of Robb Brindle and Tasia Tamblyn.
BUGBOT: deprecating slang term for a Klikiss robot.
BUZZBEETLE: Theron insect.
CAILLIÉ: generation ship from Earth whose passengers colonized Theroc.
CAIN, DEPUTY ELDRED: former deputy of the Terran Hanseatic League, now an administrator of Earth loyal to the Confederation.
CARII: Ildiran splinter colony, site of an ancient Shana Rei attack during an eclipse.
CARLIN, REESE: Retroamer.
CELLI: green priest, married to Solimar, who tends a terrarium dome in Fireheart Station. Celli is the sister of Estarra and Sarein.
CHAIRMAN: true leader of the Terran Hanseatic League.
CHIAR’H: Ildiran woman of the noble kith, volunteer worker on the Kuivahr sanctuary domes, married to human Shawn Fennis.
CHRYSALIS CHAIR: reclining throne of the Mage-Imperator.
COLICOS, ANTON: historian, known for his work with Ildiran records, first to translate portions of the Saga of Seven Suns; the son of famed xeno-archaeologists Margaret and Louis Colicos.
COLICOS, LOUIS: xeno-archaeologist, husband of Margaret Colicos, specializing in ancient Klikiss artifacts, killed by Klikiss robots at Rheindic Co.
COLICOS, MARGARET: xeno-archaeologist, wife of Louis Colicos, spent much of Elemental War as prisoner of the Klikiss. She and her son Anton collated the only known Klikiss history, The Song of the Breedex.
COLLIN: young green priest, friend of Arita’s.
COMPETENT COMPUTERIZED COMPANION: intelligent servant robot, also called a compy, available in Friendly, Teacher, Governess, Listener, Worker, and other models.
COMPY: nickname for competent computerized companion.
CONFEDERATION: new human government replacing the Terran Hanseatic League, loose alliance among Roamer clans, independent planets, and remnants of the Hansa. Ruled by King Peter and Queen Estarra, capital on Theroc.
CORRIBUS: colony where Orli Covitz once lived, devastated by Klikiss robot attack during the Elemental War.
COVEN, MARY: former pilot of the Proud Mary.
COVITZ, ORLI: compy scientist, strong advocate for compies, married to Matthew Freling. She is the owner of DD.
DANIEL, PRINCE: former candidate to replace King Peter in the Hansa.
DARO’H, PRIME DESIGNATE: successor to Mage-Imperator Jora’h.
DAYM: blue supergiant star, one of the “seven suns” in the Ildiran sky.
DD: Friendly compy owned by Orli Covitz.
DENVA, MARIUS: line supervisor at Del Kellum’s distillery on Kuivahr.