"Silver bird?" Soz took a breath. "You mean a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p?"
"I think so."
"What was the picture?"
"Big black tomjolt."
No. She bit back her cry of protest. To Vitar, who had never seen a Eubian puma, the Trader insignia would look like a tomjolt. She groaned as another contraction hit her.
"Hoshma?" Lisi said. "Is the baby coming?"
"I think so."
The children found blankets and spread them under her. She braced herself against the wall as the labor progressed and tried not to cry out, though the pain was worse than with any of the other births. Maybe knowing what waited at the end made this one harder, turning her anguish into physical pain. The children huddled in the dark, silent while she struggled not to scream.
And when the child finally came, helped by Lisi, Soz"s node answered the question she had never asked. Dead. Her baby was dead.
They wrapped the tiny body in a blanket. Lisi used soap and gauze from the medkit to clean her mother while Soz lay in a crumpled heap, exhausted, her heart aching, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s full of milk her baby would never need. She keened to herself, arms wrapped around her body as if she held an infant.
Somewhere a baby wailed and Soz wept for the ghost sound.
"Here, Hoshma." Lisi put a fussing bundle in her arms. The baby cried again and Soz held him close. Lifting her s.h.i.+rt, she put him to her breast and he suckled heartily, squirming to get comfortable. She knew a newborn could never be so adept, but it didn"t matter. She hugged him and a bit of the grief in her heart receded.
She must have slept. When she woke, del-Kelric was drowsing in her arms, finished with his nursing. "Sweet Kelli," she murmured. "Thank you."
"Mother?" Jai asked. "Are you all right?"
She sat up slowly, aching and tired. "Yes."
"I"m hungry," Vitar said.
Soz rubbed her neck. "There"s food down here."
"We ate it all," Lisi said.
Uneasy, Soz said, "There should be supplies for many weeks."
"The quasis field cut through the cache," Jai told her.
"There"s still water," Lisi said. "Would you like some?"
"Yes." Soz wet her lips, suddenly aware of her thirst.
Rustles came from the dark. Then Lisi put a canteen in her hands and Soz drank, the warm liquid running down her throat like a benediction.
"I want to go home," Vitar said. "Dead baby scares me."
"It"s all right," Soz soothed. "The baby went into the sky. She"s happy there." In her mind, she thought: Node, how long have we been down here?
Fifty-six hours. Her node answered in the same manner she had addressed it, a normal-speed mode, which she perceived as words rather than accelerated abstract sounds and numbers.
So long? Estimate outside temperature, a.s.suming heatbar sterilization fifty-six hours ago.
Normal temperature, it thought. However, I suggest waiting twenty more hours, to ensure meteorological effects have stabilized and hostile forces have left orbit.
Soz grimaced. We have no way to ensure either.
This is true. But based on my data of ESComm operations, the probability the vessels will have left orbit rises to 85 percent in another twenty hours. It will also be morning by then.
Do we have enough air to last?
Yes. EcoComp is recycling it. I recommend rationing the water.
"Mother?" Jai asked. "Can we leave?"
"Not yet." She took a breath. "Try to sleep. We have to stay here a lot longer."
"No!" Vitar"s voice broke. "I don"t want to! We have to put the baby in the ground or ghosts will come."
"It"s all right," Soz murmured. "Come keep me company, Vitar. Ghosts are scared of your hoshma."
A scrabbling sound came from the darkness. Then Vitar was at her side, hugging her as if he feared she would disappear.
None of them slept well. Vitar cried, so softly Soz barely heard. Del-Kelric fussed, only quieting when she nursed him. Both Lisi and Jai were silent. For a while they tried telling stories, but their voices trailed off into the darkness.
When it finally came time to leave, Soz spoke to them all, trying to infuse her voice with a confidence she didn"t feel. "As soon as I collapse the quasis field, the dirt around us will fall, if there is any left. Don"t be scared. It won"t be enough to bury us." Quietly she added, "When we get out, don"t expect to see the house. Everything will be gone."
"Gone?" Lisi asked. "Why?"
"Heat," Soz said. "I think the rumbling we heard was something called heatbar sterilization. A s.h.i.+p in orbit uses a wide-beam laser to burn the region under attack."
"We didn"t burn," Lisi said.
"The only way heat could come in here is through the quasis s.h.i.+eld," Soz said. "The molecules within the field can"t change state, so heat can"t flow in." Flow seemed such a mild word for what she feared had taken place.
"Then why did we feel the shaking?" Jai asked.
Soz grimaced. "The ground can throw around the bubble. It just can"t change the bubble itself."
"Why did the bad people want to burn our house?" Vitar asked.
Soz s.h.i.+fted him in her arms, relieved to hear him using more normal sentences. "They didn"t know we were here," she lied.
"Yes, they did." Jai"s voice was hard. "They tried to kill us."
"Jai, don"t," Lisi said.
"Why? You heard what Vitar said. He was describing ESComm soldiers. They took Father away and tried to get rid of us."
"Stop it!" Lisi shouted.
"Don"t yell." Soz gentled her voice, realizing she couldn"t protect them from truths they might need for their survival. "I think Jai is right. They probably believe we"re dead. Only a quasis screen could have protected us and they"re hard to come by."
"We had one," Lisi said.
Soz nodded, then realized they couldn"t see it in the dark. "When your father and I were preparing to come here, I used my security clearance to get us a quasis generator."
"I"m hungry," Vitar said.
"I know," Soz murmured. She was starving, having given her food to the children.
"Are we going to another mountain?" Lisi asked.
"Another world," Soz said.
A long silence greeted her. Then Jai said, "You"re going to use the neutrino transmitter. To call in a s.h.i.+p."
"Yes."
"No!" Panic suffused Vitar. "Bad people!"
"It"s all right," Soz murmured. "They"ll probably think we"re the bad people, when we steal their s.h.i.+p."
"If the planet is burned, won"t they die?" Jai said.
"We won"t leave them here," Soz said. "We"ll put them somewhere unaffected by the sterilization, where they can survive. And maybe we can come back." She doubted it, but she didn"t want to tell the children.
"Can"t they come with us?" Lisi asked.
"No!" Soz took a deep breath. "Listen to me, all of you. We"ve talked about this, what would happen if you ever left here. No one can know who you are. Anyone who sees what you children look like, half Highton and half Skolian, anyone with any clue you are related to me, is dangerous to us. Do you understand?"
Silence greeted her. Then Jai said, "Yes," followed by less confident murmurs of a.s.sent from Lisi and Vitar.
"All right. Let"s get out of here." Soz tried to exude confidence. "Lisi, do you have the laser carbine?"
"Here it is." Lisi reached out until her hands b.u.mped Soz and gave her the carbine.
"Vitar, I"m going to stand up now," Soz said. "Lisi, here"s del-Kelric."
As her daughter took the toddler, Vitar let go of Soz. She pulled herself to her feet, grimacing from the pain of birthing. She tried not to dwell on the bundle wrapped in a blanket so near them in the dark.
"I can collapse the quasis," Jai said. "I"m by the comp."
"When I give the word," Soz said, "everyone put your arms over your head. Jai, protect the equipment. Roca and Vitar, cover del-Kelric."
"All set," Jai said.
"I"m ready," Lisi said.
"Me too," Vitar said.
s.h.i.+elding her head with one arm, Soz stretched the other upward. "All right. Collapse the field."
Nothing happened.
Soz probed the darkness above her head. Her fingers sc.r.a.ped a smooth surface hollowed out by the quasis bubble.
"When are you going to turn off the quasis?" Lisi asked.
"I already did," Jai said.
"I think we"re gla.s.sed in," Soz said. "Keep your heads down." She thrust the carbine up as hard as she could, with enhanced strength and speed. The stock slammed into a barrier, sending vibrations down her arm. She hammered at the barrier again, and again, fast and hard, until bits of fused rock rained around them.
Suddenly the roof caved in, with a blast of air and light.
"Ai!" Vitar shouted. "We"re free!"
Soz exhaled, silent with grat.i.tude. She looked around the cavity, brightened now by sunlight. Four dirty, frightened faces stared back at her. Jai was huddled over the comp, his broken arm held against his chest, Lisi and Vitar had curled around del-Kelric, who was trying to crawl free. Only the toddler seemed unconcerned, too young to understand what had happened.
Most of the ladder was intact, having been protected by the quasis. Soz went up it, pulling herself the last bit over a gla.s.sy lip of stone. She climbed out into sunlight and a fierce wind.
And desolation.
As far as she could see, in every direction, their world had become barren. The mountains were slagged, their soil and forest vaporized, the rock melted. No trace of green remained. Ravaged land spread out beneath a harsh blue sky seared of moisture. On a distant mountain a pillar of rock the size of a city tower broke away and crashed down the naked peak. The thunder of its descent echoed through the world, the only sound except for the wind.
"G.o.ds almighty," Soz whispered.
Lisi climbed up next to her, followed by Vitar. Jai came last, pulling himself with one arm. Vitar put his arms around Soz"s waist, and Lisi stood on her other side, holding del-Kelric. Even the toddler"s gurgles were silenced by the immensity of what they viewed. Jai stood next to them, his broken arm cradled against his chest. In silence, they stared at the remains of their home.
The coals of anger that had seethed within Soz during their long refuge, during the birth of her murdered baby, ignited now. This was no hot flare of energy that vanished as fast as it came, burning itself out.
No, this blaze would endure.
Viquara, Empress of Eube, stopped before the closed door and rested her hand against it. A new era of Highton triumphs waited for her on the other side.
No one knew. Doctor Tecozil was dead. Ur Qox was dead. Jaibriol I was dead. Only she and the man beyond this door knew the truth. Monstrous yet inspired, unthinkable yet brilliant, that truth would finally let Eube sweep the stars in triumph.
The emperor was Rhon.
"Open," Viquara said. Set to obey only her voice, the door slid aside.
He was staring out a window at the grounds of the palace. He turned as she entered, and she knew him in a glance, knew his face, his eyes, his features, his grace. He was older now, a man in his late thirties rather than the youth she remembered. He still had on the rough trousers and s.h.i.+rt he had been wearing when they found him. His hair fell over his shoulders and down his back, barbaric in its length.
He stared at her as if she were a ghost. The irony wasn"t lost on Viquara, who had so long thought him dead. Yet here he stood. None could deny this man-Jaibriol the Second-the t.i.tle of emperor. The proof lived in his genes. But faced with the threat of that other heinous truth revealed, his Rhon heritage, and the horror it would make of his life, he would keep his silence.
And through him she would rule Eube.