Hellhole Inferno (39 page)

But there were no people. Lord Riomini had killed them all, eradicating every human being on Theser, as an example.

Enva Tazaar was herself a survivor of circumstances, like the hardy creatures who had come back to this devastation. Now she saw a glimmer of hope, a possible path to success. Done with hiding, she openly called herself Enva Tazaar now, and intended to regain—or avenge—all that she and her family had lost. She vowed to resurrect her life, and this planet.

For starters.

Enva did not delude herself about the magnitude of the task. It would be much rougher to settle here than on Tehila, and vastly different from Orsini, but she would do it anyway; and she would do
more
than merely survive. She and these hardy people would set up a thriving colony here. They would explore this planet, see what it had to offer. The previous planetary administrator, Sia Frankov, had not been driven to extensive curiosity or exploration. But for Enva it was a new world.

Someday she might even have a chance to be creative again, a sculptor or an artist.

Two Candelan refugees accompanied Enva in the patrol craft. More than three hundred people were already on the ground setting up the first encampment. The stringline hauler that had transported all the colonists was still in orbit, unloading more passenger pods and downboxes full of supplies, generators, tools, and components for living quarters, everything General Adolphus could spare.

She saw obvious parallels between Theser and Hellhole—and now she understood how Adolphus must have felt when he was first exiled there.

Enva had mixed feelings about what the General was doing for her. On one level, she appreciated having a new chance—but she had wanted to rule the Crown Jewels, as his equal, his ally … not someone who needed to prove herself. Still, she knew her own history, and understood why he didn't entirely trust her. Yet, grandiose dreams died hard. Theser was a proving ground for her. If she succeeded here, and demonstrated her abilities for the General, surely he would let her do more important things.

In the back of the craft, a structural engineer and a terraforming expert spoke in low tones about the blasted landscape, the total devastation caused by the cruel whim of Lord Riomini.
Diadem
Riomini now. That news had come directly from the second-wave follow-up ship of supplies that had joined the group out at Theser as soon as the General returned from Tehila. It was a travesty that such an evil man had risen to that position instead of Enva Tazaar. Riomini's ascendancy reaffirmed the decadence of the entrenched Constellation noble families. Perhaps together, she and General Adolphus could change the Crown Jewels, and set a new course for humankind.

The pilot flew close to the steep crater walls, which had once held towering laboratories and factories where eccentric engineers constructed spacecraft engines. Enva looked out the window, shaking her head. “Not much evidence left that this was once a vibrant city.”

Below, she saw charred ground, slag piles, and only a few identifiable remnants of foundations. She stared at a piece of cloth fluttering in the wind.

That
, as discovered by her first party of explorers, was the hateful black flag Riomini had mounted in the ruins to flaunt his victory. When Ian Walfor had first discovered the disaster here, he had knocked down the banner, but it still caught the wind from the ground, where it lay with the pole attached. Someday Enva wanted to strangle Riomini with one of his own flags. In fact, she had already decided to create a memorial here, just like the one Governor Goler had built to mark all those who had been slaughtered in the Ridgetop Recovery.

Theser was a planet-size graveyard, with the souls of the dead still present. She intended to do something to avenge them, even if it was only symbolic. And Riomini's flag was a symbol like a knife in the back.

“Set down there,” she said to the pilot, pointing to a flat spot by one of the destroyed buildings.

When the patrol craft landed on a stable clearing, Enva emerged to stand before the Riomini flag, which drooped now from a change in the wind. With emotion welling up inside her, she ripped the black banner from the pole and tossed it on the rubble. She asked for the engineer's assistance and poured some siphoned fuel on the fabric, which she lit on fire.

The Riomini banner burned brightly for a full minute, and then the flaming embers were lifted in a gust of wind before vanishing into the sky.

 

51

Adolphus realized he had bigger problems than a traitor seizing the stringline hub.

When Lodo saw projected images of the inbound asteroids, he quivered. His alien face was unreadable, and he shared a silent communion with Encix in the Ankor conference room. To Adolphus, their mutual dread was palpable.

Lodo had rushed to the spaceport at General Adolphus's urgent summons. He needed the most powerful telemancers to help him develop a swift and decisive defense against the cosmic impact … if that was even possible.

The screen display showed fuzzy, very-long-distance images of the twenty clustered asteroids. Orbital projections confirmed that Hellhole was sitting in the middle of the cosmic crosshairs.

“The Ro-Xayans are shoving the asteroids toward us using telemancy,” Lodo said, “just as my volunteers turned the empty civilian ships into projectiles at Tehila. The entire Ro-Xayan faction is using the sum of its telemancy to drive those rocks.”

Encix added, “With such an outpouring of psychic power, they will drain themselves to nothingness! You see, General, the Ro-Xayans are irrational. They are so intent on preventing us from achieving our destiny that they will destroy themselves to do it.”

Tanja Hu and Ian Walfor had joined the General at Ankor. Outside, a dust storm whipped up brown swaths of mist and caused ball lighting to jump from the grounding towers around the launch structures, but the storm was projected to last only an hour. Adolphus had far more to worry about than inclement weather. And he still needed to deal with George Komun's ultimatum.

The storm across Tanja's face mirrored the weather outside. “That bastard's betrayal is bad enough, but those incoming asteroids—it's like Candela, but far worse. Ian and I watched my planet's last hours. We went back to see the aftermath—and that devastation was from only two asteroids. This is
twenty
.”

“Initially, the Ro-Xayans thought one would be sufficient to wipe everything out,” said Walfor, looking at Encix and Lodo. “You sure must've made them upset with you.”

“That was a long time ago,” Lodo said.

Keana had also rushed to Ankor with Lodo, and she was not just representing the shadow-Xayans. Initially, Adolphus had called her to help respond to Komun, thinking that as the former Diadem's daughter, she might have been useful in negotiating with the Constellation. But the asteroid threat was entirely separate from Constellation politics. Nevertheless, of all the shadow-Xayans, Keana-Uroa had demonstrated some of the greatest telemancy skills. Her grasp of alien powers and her communion with her Xayan mental partner set her above most of the other converts. Adolphus hoped she might be able to offer insights—preferably a solution.

Keana shook her head. “Even through Uroa, I still can't understand the Ro-Xayans' venom and hatred.” She turned a perplexed expression to the two Originals. Lodo and Encix regarded each other in silence, as if sharing a secret, but they refused to answer.

Tanja was impatient and frustrated. “We went through this already on Candela. We need to begin an evacuation immediately, General! You have more time and resources than I had. Because Hellhole is the main stringline hub, there are ships coming and going all the time. You have the Michella Town spaceport and the Ankor spaceport to get people off-planet. There's every reason to believe you could do a better job than we managed at my planet.” She was urgent and desperate, leaning forward. “But you have to start
now
!”

“Komun is in the way. I don't control the stringline hub,” Adolphus said. “If he detonates the mines as he threatens, we'll have no way of evacuating anybody
at all
. And if those asteroids hit, everyone dies.”

“Komun can't possibly want that,” Walfor said.

“Diadem Riomini does,” Adolphus said. “He issued explicit orders that this planet is to be sterilized, just like he did on Theser.” He clenched his jaw. “If Komun prevents us from evacuating, the Constellation will reward him for it.”

Tanja clenched her fists. “Then launch an immediate strike, General. Take back the hub. You don't have any choice.”

Actually, Adolphus did have a choice: He could surrender himself to Komun, who would then release the stringline hub. It would be worth the sacrifice if that let him save all of these people, but Adolphus didn't believe for a moment that it would work. He had too much experience with people who issued ultimatums. He would surrender … and Diadem Riomini would still order everyone here to be left to die.

“George Komun can't want to see us all dead,” Walfor insisted. “He can't! He was my friend, dammit—let me talk with him.”

Adolphus gritted his teeth. “
I'll
talk with him. I knew him well, too, Ian … or I thought I did.” He operated the comm controls on the embedded conference room screen to contact the hostage stringline hub. “Maybe he'll see reason.”

But Adolphus doubted it.

Though the traitor's voice had sounded confident, even flippant at times when he last spoke with General Adolphus, George Komun now showed clear signs of stress. On his screen image, the crow's-feet around his eyes had deepened, but he still seemed inflexible. “General, I know about those incoming asteroids. We've detected them, too. Face it, your circumstances have changed. You need to end this now. We both understand the danger your planet faces.”

“We appeal to you,” Adolphus said. “You know full well what will happen when the asteroids strike. No one will survive. We have to get these people off-planet—and that means we have to go through the stringline hub. We have to start evacuating! We have less than six days.”

Komun tapped his fingers together. “General, your decision is clear, and my job is easy. We can end this immediately. Simply come up here in a shuttle, unarmed, and present yourself to me. I'll accept your surrender, we'll take care of the formalities, and then we can start the more important job of evacuating your people.”

Adolphus responded in an icy voice, “I had hoped you'd be more reasonable than that, George. I can't believe you'd accept all that blood on your hands.”

“Not on my hands. Your stubbornness doesn't make
me
a monster. I'm making a simple enough request, and I have obligations to the Constellation. I'm thinking of my world, too. Which do you hold more precious, General—your population, or your pride?”

Angrily, Tanja Hu pushed her way into the field of view. “George, stop this nonsense! General Adolphus will never surrender, and you know you won't blow the stringline hub because it would mean the death of everyone down here. You also know the Constellation won't keep any promise they made to you. They'll take Umber for themselves after you've given them what they want.” Her face was drawn, and her dark eyes flashed. “I already lived through this once at Candela. Thousands of my people died because
I
couldn't get them off-planet in time.”

Walfor interrupted at her side. “It doesn't have to be that way. We've got a chance. Don't ruin it.”

Komun laughed uneasily. “Yes, I know General Adolphus well. When I came here, I knew that even with the element of surprise I had no more than an even chance of succeeding, but now I've got undeniable leverage—and you have a ticking clock. The sooner General Adolphus surrenders, the sooner you can start evacuating.” He gave a thin smile. “I'll even contribute my thirteen ships to help with the effort.” He looked back at the General, his expression sincere and sad. “Don't wait too long. Every minute that passes is a minute that could be used to get another load away. You know what you have to do. The asteroids are coming.” He ended the transmission.

Adolphus looked toward Keana and the two Original Xayans. “Thousands of your shadow-Xayan converts have been training with telemancy to defend this planet. Can't you push back against the Ro-Xayans, nudge those asteroids and deflect their orbits—or at least slow them down?”

Lodo said, “It would be insufficient. Last time, the entire Xayan race couldn't stop the momentum of a single asteroid.”

“But the converts are strong,” Keana interrupted. “With our hybrid vigor we're much more powerful than the Originals.”

Encix glanced at her as if Keana had insulted her race.

Lodo added, “And there are also many Ro-Xayans. They have been using their powers to push those asteroids toward us, increasing their speed. All the converts combined could perhaps deflect one or two if we poured our concentration into a single telemancy blast. But it still wouldn't save Xaya.”

Encix grew more agitated. “The solution is plain! If we had more shadow-Xayans—many more—we would also have more telemancy. You lead the humans on this planet, General Tiber Adolphus.
Command
them to enter the slickwater pools and join us! Once we reach the critical point and achieve
ala'ru
, the Ro-Xayans and the asteroids—not to mention your petty Constellation factions—no longer matter. Force your people to enter the slickwater.”

“I will
not
,” the General said. “That was not part of our agreement.”

“That was before the Ro-Xayans returned,” Encix said.

Adolphus frowned. “I will evacuate this planet before I herd thousands of people into the slickwater pools against their will. We have enough time, barely—if I can resolve the problem of the stringline hub first.”