Saga of Shadows 1: The Dark Between the Stars (4 page)

“He thinks the seismic makeup of Sheol is changing, and the old calculations are no longer valid.”

Iswander was disturbed. “My consultants double-checked their test results and disproved your husband’s concerns. Even so, he riled up the other workers. If they find out he’s fled, they’re going to demand answers—and I don’t need nervous work crews.”

“I suspected he might be plotting something.” Elisa focused more on her specific problem than on the overall question and its impact on Iswander operations—which demonstrated just how rattled she was. “I could tell by his mannerisms. Garrison can’t keep a secret to save his life.”

“Do you have any idea where he’s gone? For a man to steal a child away from his mother is . . . not a good thing, not a good thing at all.”

“It’s fortunate I was suspicious, sir. He checked the Iswander ships, saw which ones were fueled and supplied. Garrison thought he was being discreet, but I rigged tracers on all vessels. No matter where he goes, each time he stops and changes course, it’ll drop off a tiny signal buoy and squirt a message with his new coordinates.” She fought with the dryness in her throat. “I can track him, sir, but I’ll need to leave right away. He’s got a head start.”

Iswander folded his hands on his desk. “You’re one of my most important employees, Elisa.”

She thought he was going to refuse her request. “I understand this is a critical time for Iswander Industries, sir. You’re just leaving for Newstation—”

His expression softened. “And I understand that this is even more important. Choose a ship of your own, any one you like—you’ve earned it. I’ll inform the other team leaders that you’re taking an unspecified amount of time for a personal matter.”

Elisa should have felt relieved, but her anger wasn’t dampened, merely focused. “Yes, Mr. Iswander. This is definitely personal.”

T
HREE

A
DAR
Z
AN
’
NH

Orbiting the planet Ildira, the new starship looked out of place and alien, even to Ildiran eyes. The first of its kind, the
Kolpraxa
had an unusual design developed by visionaries, astronomers, and explorers. Unlike the giant fighting-fish silhouette of a Solar Navy warliner, this exploration ship had expanded-range engines, habitation spaces, and enlarged cargo holds for supplies on long voyages far outside the Spiral Arm, to push the edge of knowledge.

After the Elemental War, the Mage-Imperator had given their race a new vision, to explore the unknown, to expand the Empire’s comfortable boundaries that had stood unchanged for millennia. Adar Zan’nh, the grand commander of the Ildiran Solar Navy, knew the
Kolpraxa
would be only the first of many such missions.

Curiosity, ambition, and exploration were not common to the Ildiran psyche. This drive to seek answers to questions that had never before been asked was clearly a human thing. Zan’nh, and all Ildirans, had to adjust to so many changes in recent years. . . .

The Adar’s inspection cutter arrived at the spacedock facility where the final engineering touches were being applied to the
Kolpraxa.
Teams of spacesuited worker kith floated around like beetles, using manipulator arms to remove the construction framework and nudge it away from the hull.

Zan’nh landed the cutter inside the
Kolpraxa
’s well-lit receiving bay and stepped out onto the polished deck. His hair was plaited in a tight braid and done up in a topknot. His short tunic was tied at his waist with a green sash that accentuated the greenish gold of his skin. Glittering rank insignia adorned his chest. For this formal meeting with Tal Gale’nh before the
Kolpraxa
’s departure, he wanted to be worthy of the Ildiran epic, the Saga of Seven Suns.

Yes, history would be made here.

The halfbreed Gale’nh, who had been given command of the ship, marched forward to greet him. He was a young man with a proud demeanor and creamy features that clearly revealed his partial human heritage. A product of the secret Ildiran breeding program, he was the son of the green priest Nira and the legendary Solar Navy commander Adar Kori’nh—Zan’nh’s predecessor.

At twenty-six, Gale’nh was young for his rank of tal, but he had a sharp mind and the ability to make swift and accurate decisions. Because of his mixed heritage, he also had a knack for seeing things differently—an advantage in his role, since the Solar Navy suffered from rote adherence to long-established ways.

Gale’nh pressed a fist to his chest in a gesture of respect. “Welcome aboard my ship, Adar. I hope it meets with your approval.”

Zan’nh gave the young officer a nod. “You inspected the systems? Drilled your crew? Interviewed your engineers? And it all meets with your approval?”

“More than I can say, Adar.”

He gave a brief nod. “You are the
Kolpraxa
’s captain, so your approval matters more than mine.”

The two men took a lift to the command nucleus. The blister dome that formed the ceiling of the bridge gave the commander a sense of the universe around him—the starry field, the glare of sunlight, the swiftly moving ships and worker pods withdrawing the last pieces of framework.

Proud of his experimental ship, Gale’nh rattled off a summary of the crew complement, the sophisticated technical equipment, the variety of probe satellites that could be dispatched when needed, and—important for the Ildiran soul—groups of artist kithmen, singers, and especially rememberers who recorded history.

When Adar Zan’nh and Gale’nh arrived in the command nucleus, Rememberer Ko’sh awaited them. The rememberer was a tall, imposing man, dressed in a shimmering gray robe marked with symbols. The expressive lobes on his face were able to shift coloration like a chameleon to add flavor and emotion to the stories he told. He lifted both hands in greeting.

“Adar Zan’nh, this is the greatest mission in our recent history! More significant than Adar Bali’nh’s rescue of the human generation ships and his first journey to Earth. Or Tal Bria’nh’s encounter with—” The tall rememberer caught himself and bowed. “The
Kolpraxa
will be a light that shines into the emptiness between stars. It is time for our people to go beyond what
was
to what
can be.
”

Zan’nh was surprised by Ko’sh’s upbeat attitude, for the man had been stodgy in the past, especially upset when the human scholar Anton Colicos had pointed out errors or omissions in the Saga of Seven Suns. “Tal Gale’nh will lead you to points unknown. I have complete faith in him.”

Gale’nh bowed, struggling to accept the praise with good grace. Zan’nh had groomed the young officer, training and mentoring him as he moved up through the ranks. Though he was a halfbreed, it didn’t hurt that his mother was the consort of the Mage-Imperator, or that his father was the greatest military leader Ildirans knew. “I can only hope to do great work of my own, in my father’s name. I am . . . humbled by my own heritage, the weight of responsibility. The
Kolpraxa
is so important.”

Zan’nh knew that Adar Kori’nh had been a greater commander than he himself would ever be—everyone on Ildira was aware of that. “I was just a young tal when I was thrust into this position as Adar. I wasn’t ready for it either, and I also felt humbled.” He lowered his voice as he confessed, “But no one was more ready than I was, and so the job fell to me. If you had not volunteered to command the
Kolpraxa,
Tal Gale’nh, I would have assigned you to the task.”

The young tal’s eyes were shining; his breathing was fast, his excitement plain. “When I saw the opportunity, how could I not seize it? The chance to go outside the Spiral Arm, to see what’s out there?”

A signal on the command nucleus announced that the rest of the docking structures had been moved away. The stardrive engines were fully loaded with ekti and optimal for test firing.

Gale’nh turned to face him. “The Mage-Imperator has prepared a departure celebration in Mijistra, and you will join me. The people will cheer the launch of this great mission.” He lowered his voice and added wistfully, “I wish I were going out there with you.”

F
OUR

N
IRA

With seven suns nearby, Ildira’s perpetual day kept all shadows at bay. The soaring towers and crystalline architecture of Mijistra caught the bright light and reflected it back, celebrating with rainbows and sparkling flares. The capital city’s crowning masterpiece was the Prism Palace, assembled from interlocking multicolored crystal, its central sphere surrounded by a symphony of minaret towers, each one capped with a smaller globe.

In the skysphere audience chamber, Nira basked in the Mage-Imperator’s presence. She and Jora’h were inseparable, bound more surely than by law or telepathic
thism,
by unbreakable ties of love. The two had survived ordeals that threw them together, tore them apart, and at last let them return as eternal partners.

Overhead, the skysphere dome was a rainbow-hued ceiling, hung with flowers and verdant vegetation. Birds and colorful insects flitted about, enclosed in the shimmering ecosystem. A roiling cloud of mist in the center of the dome served as a projection screen for Jora’h’s benevolent three-dimensional image.

Beside the Mage-Imperator’s chrysalis chair, Nira held a potted treeling from the worldforest, through which she could share her thoughts instantaneously with her fellow green priests. She looked forward to seeing her son and saying goodbye before he departed on his voyage on the
Kolpraxa.

She reached over to clasp Jora’h’s hand, only to find his fingers already moving to enfold hers. That was how closely their minds and hearts were linked, although her emerald skin looked different from the faint golden sheen of his Ildiran skin.

The Mage-Imperator sat in the skysphere audience chamber, holding court. Jora’h’s predecessor had become so corpulent over centuries of rule that his chrysalis chair served as a reclining cradle to hold his enormous body. By Ildiran tradition, a Mage-Imperator’s feet should never touch the ground, for even his footprints were sacred. But Jora’h had done away with that tradition, as well as many others. Nira was glad of that. She loved to walk beside him through the Prism Palace or out in the city streets.

Knowing she was eager, he raised his voice to the audience. “Send in Tal Gale’nh so that I may bid him farewell.” Noble kithmen and court functionaries repeated the command, and attender kithmen scurried about to make way.

The doors opened, and Adar Zan’nh passed under the glittering archway into the audience chamber, but Nira had eyes only for her halfbreed son. Gale’nh looked dashing in his Solar Navy uniform. Though his skin was paler than that of a normal Ildiran, he was young, energetic, and confident.

Adar Zan’nh stepped aside so Gale’nh could come forward. The young man touched a fist to the center of his chest and bowed in respect. “Liege, I will make you proud of me and the
Kolpraxa
’s crew. We will write a new chapter in the Saga of Seven Suns, and we will lay down threads of our racial
thism
even beyond the Spiral Arm.”

Jora’h raised both of his hands. “Yes, your mission expands the reach of our Empire, but we do this not out of mere ambition, but because we are part of the universe and the universe is part of us. For thousands of years the Ildiran race slumbered, but now we are awakening.”

Unable to conceal her proud smile, Nira touched the treeling she held. Her fingers brushed the golden bark scales, felt the multileaved fronds tremble. She dropped her mind into the tree, letting her thoughts travel out via telink into the stochastically connected worldforest, where each tree was identical to all others, each one a quantum reflection that allowed her thoughts to be in all places at once, without regard to distance or transmission speeds.

Nira sent images and thoughts back to the primary worldforest on Theroc, as well as to green priests scattered across the Confederation, any colony that had a treeling. Even Ildira had the trees, since she had spent two decades tending them. Her telink announcement of the
Kolpraxa
’s unprecedented mission traveled simultaneously through all of them.

When she opened her eyes, Nira realized that Gale’nh had been speaking to her. “Thank you, Mother, for accepting me and for being proud of me.” He understood that she didn’t love his father, that she had been impregnated by force as part of the sinister Ildiran breeding program to produce a telepath.

That was long ago, in a time buried in crises. She had survived the ordeal and accepted all five of her halfbreed children now: Gale’nh, Tamo’l, Muree’n—even Rod’h, whose father had been the Dobro Designate himself, head of the enforced breeding program and Nira’s worst tormentor. And of course there was dear Osira’h, her daughter by Jora’h, whose telepathy was so powerful she could command the hydrogues and the faeros. No, Nira could not hate her children for the acts of their fathers or the misguided requirements of the breeding program.

“You give me great joy, my son, and I love you as I love each of my children. You have no need to make
me
proud, Gale’nh—go and make
all
Ildiran people proud.”

After the Mage-Imperator blessed the departure of the exploration ship, the rest of the audience moved outside for the next part of the spectacle. Adar Zan’nh and Tal Gale’nh marched out of the Prism Palace, shoulder to shoulder, while Jora’h took Nira’s hand and led her up to their observation balcony. From there, they would watch the grand pageant.

When they stepped out into the bright sunlight, Nira smiled at Jora’h. The Mage-Imperator’s hair had grown longer over the years, and many of the fine golden tendrils twitched and waved of their own volition. His eyes were a smoky topaz with an unusual starflare. Nira thought he was beautiful.

Beneath the balcony in front of the Prism Palace, the tiny figure of Tal Gale’nh met up with subcommanders who led groups of Solar Navy specialists of different kiths dressed in appropriate uniforms, their shoulders spangled with small mirror chips that sparkled in the sunlight.