Rlinda swallowed hard now, trying to hide the tears. After all of their adventures, their perils, their harrowing escapes, she couldn’t believe he had died while crossing a street… As Rlinda spoke, the words rattled out in a flood; if she talked quickly enough, she could stay one step ahead of the tears.
Her favorite ex-husband was cremated and his ashes compacted and placed in a capsule, which she kept on her desk. When she died (preferably after a glorious meal served with the best wines) Rlinda had left instructions that her remains were to be placed in an identical capsule, and they would be launched together into interstellar space.
“That’s very romantic,” Orli said.
Rlinda shrugged and sniffled. “It seemed like a good idea.”
They finished the desserts, and Rlinda folded her big hands on the tabletop. With her napkin, she reached over to dab a sparkle of sugar from Orli’s cheek. “Other than needing a shoulder to cry on, is there some way I can help you?”
Orli froze for a moment, then spilled her request. “I’m done with the Relleker compy facility, done with staying at home and keeping my feet dirtside. I need a change of scenery, a change of pace.”
Rlinda drew her brows together. “Running away won’t solve anything.”
“Maybe I’m running toward something… or maybe I just need to keep moving. You know I can fly ships. Does Kett Shipping need any pilots? Somebody to make a few runs?” She seized on this sudden direction for her life, which only pointed out just how aimless and lost she had been feeling.
Rlinda chuckled. “Why, yes, in fact, I do. One of my pilots, Mary Coven, is retiring, and I bought her ship for a song, but I don’t have a captain yet. That sort of paperwork usually falls to Tasia and Robb.”
“What do I need to do to get approvals?”
“You need to ask me.” Rlinda tapped her on the head. “There, you’re approved. The ship is called the Proud Mary. We can rename it if you like.”
Orli shook her head. “The name sounds fine.”
“Go to Earth, spend a week or two arranging matters, take the Proud Mary on a shakedown flight. I assume DD will be your copilot, given the appropriate upgrades?”
Orli threw her arms around Rlinda and gave her a big hug again. “Thank you. This is just what I needed.”
SIXTY
ADAR ZAN’NH
The Solar Navy search ships headed out into uncharted space above the Spiral Arm, attempting to follow the course the Kolpraxa had taken. Adar Zan’nh’s septa flew for days, seven fully equipped warliners with sensors extended, hunting for any sign of the lost exploration ship.
There had been no report, no distress signal, but every Ildiran had felt the crew’s outcry in the thism, then utter silence. Osira’h had felt it more sharply than anyone else.
As the warliners flew through empty space, the crew remembered stars, but there were few stars nearby in this vast void. It would be so easy to get lost out here in the void…
Zan’nh forced himself not to think about that. Through the faint threads of thism that connected them, he felt the crew’s uneasiness. Out here in the universe’s darkest spaces, he had to be the strongest tie that bound them all. Yet he could not ignore the fact that he was worried for the Kolpraxa and its commander. The expedition should have been a shining moment in Tal Gale’nh’s career.
Throughout the voyage, Osira’h remained in the command nucleus, alert, guiding the search by following the connection she maintained with her brother. Though none of the warliner’s sensors detected any trace of the lost ship, she reached out with her enhanced telepathic powers, feeling a vibrant sense of purpose again.
Looking up, she reassured Zan’nh, “Gale’nh is still alive, Adar. We will find him—I can still sense him.”
Zan’nh kept his voice low, so as not to feed the fears of the crew. “I am personally concerned for Tal Gale’nh and the Kolpraxa’s crew, and as Adar of the Solar Navy, I am also concerned about the threat they may have encountered.” He could not push away the sight of the ominous shadow cloud that had swallowed—destroyed?—the fleeing black robots. What if the Shana Rei truly had returned? It seemed impossible. What could have awakened them? And how could the Solar Navy fight them?
Beside him, Osira’h held on to the command rail and closed her eyes. Her feathery hair twitched with a hint of her thoughts.
Zan’nh regarded the halfbreed girl who had grown into a beautiful young woman. Osira’h was slender, with an elfin face and small rounded nose reminiscent of her mother’s, the noble cheekbones and generous lips of the Mage-Imperator.
Zan’nh remembered when Osira’h was just a little girl, the most perfect product of the Ildiran breeding program. Unlike the others, she was a halfbreed child born of love instead of scientific experimentation. Trained to use her mental powers, Osira’h had bravely confronted the hydrogues. Zan’nh remembered how impressive she had looked, forcing her will on the great elemental beings and commanding them to cease their destruction.
Now she concentrated, finding the faintest gossamer connections that told her Gale’nh was alive. Zan’nh knew she was trying to send strength to her brother, and she continued even when she sensed no response from him.
“I will not underestimate the power of hope,” she said.
The search ships flew onward, guided only by Osira’h’s reassurances that they were following the correct course.
Five days later, Osira’h called out, “He is here.” She raised her voice so everyone in the command nucleus could hear her. “He is here!”
At Adar Zan’nh’s command, all seven warliners decelerated and hung together in the middle of an infinite emptiness. Osira’h’s eyes remained closed as she guided them, confident and insistent.
Sensor operators deployed fast-moving probes in all directions, like fluff from a seedpod, but they detected nothing. The communications array sent out persistent signals hailing the Kolpraxa. Still no response.
They combed the emptiness for hours with no result.
Osira’h paced the command nucleus. “I know Gale’nh is here, but I’m trying to find one small spark in all this emptiness. The stars are far away. It’s so dark.” She could not suppress a shudder.
Finally, they blundered into the Kolpraxa almost by accident, detecting a mass anomaly in the vacuum, even though the expeditionary ship was all but invisible. It emitted no electromagnetic or heat signature; its running lights were dead; its anodized metallic hull didn’t reflect even a hint of starlight.
The seven warliners approached cautiously, shining forward blazers on the exploration ship, which was little more than a silhouette that drank light, as if the Kolpraxa had been painted with a matte coating of deepest black.
“It is the Shana Rei,” someone whispered. “Just like in the story of the planet Orryx.” Zan’nh remembered the tales from the Saga of Seven Suns, how the creatures of darkness had englobed entire worlds and battle fleets with impenetrable black armor.
Osira’h leaned against the command rail, her eyes wide. “Gale’nh is inside there. He’s nearly smothered. We have to get to him.” Her voice grew more urgent. “We have to break through!”
Zan’nh pushed back his uneasiness. “Dispatch a full team with high-powered lasers. Maybe concentrated light will break through.” If Osira’h sensed Tal Gale’nh was alive in there, then the Kolpraxa must still have life support and atmosphere.