Since joining the Confederation, Roamers no longer needed to live in difficult environments, as they had when they were outlaws. Clans were free to settle on hospitable planets and in space colonies. It was a much easier life for them, but even so, most Roamers were determined to make sure that their children did not lose those hallmark Roamer skills. Olaf Reeves had often said, “A knife loses its edge unless it is sharpened.” Jess and Cesca had formed their school here inside a hollowed-out comet so that Roamer children would never forget their heritage.
The thick ice walls were riddled with passages, offices, classrooms, and laboratory vaults. During the construction of Newstation, much of the cometary ice had been excavated for water supplies, and over the years, the school had expanded as more clans sent their children here.
When Cesca greeted the new compies, the small figures responded identically. “We are glad to be here, Cesca Peroni and Jess Tamblyn.”
Cesca led them from the hangar grotto, and the compies followed like robotic ducklings behind a new mother. “Our students are broken into seven classes, based on their abilities. We’ll supply their educational portfolios so you can download the details and get to know each child. Some come from special circumstances, and some are so smart they can teach me.” She laughed. “Our goal is to give each of them what they require.”
The Teacher compies nodded in unison, as if she had thoroughly convinced them.
Jess added, “Rendezvous was our original home and government center, which was destroyed by the Earth Defense Forces. But it remains in our memories.”
They made their way along the icy passages, past classrooms where students performed low-gravity chemical experiments and highly reactive tests inside shielded chambers. “As part of their studies, they are reproducing some of Kotto Okiah’s early work,” Cesca explained. The new compies trooped past the rooms while students gawked at them, distracted.
The tunnel walls were covered with opaque polymers alternating with transparent insulating films so the cometary ice could illuminate the passageways. The ice was infused with quiescent wentals, which glowed to light the way.
“The comet walls seem brighter today,” Cesca noted.
“Maybe the wentals are restless,” Jess said. He could sense something unusual inside his mind. “The energy level is increasing. I think they’re becoming more aware.” There could be no mistaking it now.
He and Cesca had both been infused with the water elementals during the great war. Since then, the wentals had mostly gone dormant, and at times Jess missed communing with the strange beings.
A few days earlier, however, the wentals had experienced a similar surge that caused them to reach out to Jess and Cesca to share the source of their agitation. A renegade named Tom Rom had attacked the Klikiss transportal outpost on Auridia below. While the Roamers were in an uproar over the destruction of the outpost, the wentals reacted to something else … recoiling from a cold shadow that reached through the transportal wall. Tom Rom had severed the connection by destroying the conduit and blocking the flood of darkness. Then, just as quickly as it had begun, Jess and Cesca’s brief contact with the wentals faded again.
Jess wondered if the wentals might reach out to touch their minds again today. Just before their group reached the comet’s central chamber, they came upon several students gathered at the opening into the great zero-G hollow. Three older Roamer boys—one of them a member of clan Duquesne, Jess noticed—crowded around Arden Iswander, who looked like a younger, thinner version of his father. Right now, he looked defiant and scrappy.
“It’s your dad’s fault,” jeered the Duquesne boy, hanging among his companions. Punches had already been thrown.
Seth Reeves, who was even younger than Arden, launched himself in among the bullies, shoving the threatening young men who closed around Arden. “Leave him alone! You can’t blame him.”
“Arden’s father is a murderer, so—” one of the bullies began.
“His father is his father,” Jess said, startling the boys. “And Arden is his own person. He can only be held responsible for his own actions, not someone else’s.”
“Well, Seth’s mother fired the shots that killed my family and destroyed our operations,” the Duquesne boy pointed out. “No wonder they stick together.”
“Seth isn’t responsible for that either,” Cesca answered. “I will not let you blame either of these young men for what their parents did.”
Jess interrupted, “Don’t you have better things to do? Exercises? Classwork? Or do you all need detention?”
The four new Teacher compies hurried forward. “We would be happy to assist in imposing disciplinary measures. We wish to make a good impression as new teachers.”
Cowed for the moment, the bullies bolted into the cavernous chamber where students were doing zero-gravity exercises. Arden and Seth looked shaken. Jess felt compassion for the unlikely friends. “We want you to feel safe at Academ. We’ll protect you.”
Cesca added, “If you keep being harassed, we’ll take strict measures.”
Arden and Seth mumbled something, their faces flushed. The two boys also bolted away into the core chamber.
“Is this a daily occurrence?” asked KA, one of the new Teacher compies.
“I don’t think so,” Jess said, “but we better make sure it doesn’t become one.”
“Would you four please keep an eye out for problems?” Cesca asked. The compies assured her with great enthusiasm that they would.
Jess felt the inner tingling again, a pull that grew stronger. Cesca gasped as the comet walls suddenly sparkled and glowed a bright icy blue. The wental light was more intense than ever, and Jess sensed a response from them that he had never experienced before. The wentals felt afraid.
CHAPTER
20
NIRA
After the faeros had departed, Mijistra quietly fell back into a tense semblance of normal life.
Nira had experienced the threat of the Shana Rei reaching through the thism to possess Ildirans, and now she also felt the dark fear and emptiness that permeated the telink network. She had always drawn comfort from the worldtrees and her fellow green priests, but without that solace, she felt very alone.
Just as her son Rod’h must be terribly alone right now, lost among the shadows. Her other children could still sense him, but as a green priest, Nira had a connection to him that was tenuous at best. She ached to think of what he must be suffering. He had been captured while trying to understand the mysterious Onthos.
The Gardeners had told of their distant worldforest, which was obliterated by the Shana Rei in ages past. The recent expedition to the Onthos home system had yielded evidence of those long-dead trees and retrieved specimens of blackened wood. She hoped the petrified fragments would provide some answers. The ancient disaster had so thoroughly obliterated a part of the verdani mind that the worldtrees didn’t even remember it.…
Nira went to the Prism Palace’s laboratory annex, where members of the scientist kith were analyzing the preserved remnants from the Onthos homeworld. After Adar Zan’nh’s expedition returned, the worldtree shards were delivered here, and the scientists had set the wooden samples out on a long analysis table.
As a green priest, Nira hoped to unlock some of the data frozen inside the crystallized wood. She didn’t know if it would help Rod’h, but because it might add to their information about the shadows, she would do her best. She tentatively touched one of the fragments on display and immediately pulled her fingers back. Even though the fragments had been sitting at room temperature for weeks, the black wood remained cold to the touch.
The lead scientist came over to her. “The fragments remain several degrees lower than the ambient temperature, and we have been unable to determine why. It is one of many mysteries. We have already studied the samples, performed chemical tests and materials analysis, but the results are inconclusive. Our work here is finished. We will submit our final report to Mage-Imperator Jora’h.”<
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“Your methods give only dry scientific answers,” Nira said. “Not the sort of insights I can provide.”
The scientists backed away to let her continue her inspection. In the bright chamber, Nira stood and studied the drained wood with quiet intensity. The shattered chunks were angular, like crystals made of night, showing the faintest whorls and swirls, like some mysterious code.
Nira remembered, decades ago, when she had tried to make contact with chunks of burned worldtrees taken from Theroc after the fires. Back then, she had been able to tap into hints of the verdani mind, and she had reawakened a spark of life even in those dead ashes. She hoped to do the same with these cold and ancient shards, to learn anything that these verdani cousins had forgotten.
Anton Colicos joined her in the laboratory, curious. He had gone on the expedition to the Onthos system, and now he looked at the black fragments with a chill, as if he did not like the reminder. He shook his head. “Their planet was a nightmare that hadn’t woken up yet. I went along to chronicle the expedition, and I barely survived when the shadows attacked us.”
Her heart felt heavy. “Were you with my son Rod’h at the end? Did you see him?”
The historian looked awkward. “I was with the Solar Navy battle group, yes, but Rod’h was off in a scout ship studying a dead verdani battleship when he was taken.” Anton brightened. “He and I did go together down to the Onthos planet, though. Most of the Ildirans were uneasy about the darkness, but he was very determined and brave. He helped us gather these specimens.”
Worried, Nira frowned at him. “Adar Zan’nh is about to go back to Kuivahr. Will you go with him this time?”
The historian shrugged. “The Mage-Imperator asked us to assess what’s left there, if anything can be salvaged from the planet. I expect it will be the same as the Onthos planet, everything black, empty, and dead.”
Nira felt a heavy chill. “No survivors? It’s only been a few days.”
Anton just shrugged. “We’ll know soon. And I’ll be there to record what we learn.”
Nira looked closely at him. “Would you please search for any trace of my daughter? No one has heard from Tamo’l or the other misbreed evacuees, but Adar Zan’nh is sure most of them got away.”
“We’ll certainly look. We’ve been told that many managed to escape through the Klikiss transportal, so it could take a while for them to make appropriate connections and get back in touch, depending on where they went.” He seemed to be trying to reassure her. “I wouldn’t give up hope yet. Maybe Tamo’l is already safe.”
Nira looked down at the blackened chunks of ancient wood. “Then I’ll do my part. Maybe I can learn something, for the sake of Rod’h and Tamo’l.”
“We already have our data.” A male Ildiran scientist presented her with a crystal sheet filled with dry technical results.
She shook her head. “These tests can’t tell you what those ancient trees endured, or what they learned before they perished.”
The researcher looked at her, perplexed. “It cannot be learned.”
After being the Mage-Imperator’s consort for so many years, Nira was accustomed to Ildirans regarding her with a lack of comprehension—no hostility, just a distant separation. “I have to try.”
Anton Colicos scolded the scientists. “The problem of the Shana Rei has not been solved. Let her try.”
Just as Nira cleared her mind to plunge into the black shard, five attenders rushed in, leading Mage-Imperator Jora’h. A tired darkness hovered around his eyes. She smiled at him, but her heart ached. Since she could not share his pain through the thism, the best she could do was to share her love and confidence.
She held her green fingers over the cold lump of dark wood. “I was about to hunt for lingering memories in this Onthos worldtree wood. Your scientist kithmen claim they can learn no more.”
The Mage-Imperator looked at his scientists. “Is this true?”
“Yes, Liege.” The lead researcher bowed, looking shamed. “There is no more information to be gained from these fragments.”
“Then we will let Nira do what she wishes.”
Even Nira wasn’t certain what she could accomplish. It was quite likely that this wood had been dead and drained for far too long, but what if it did hold ancient information? Or maybe the fragments would even let her touch Rod’h’s mind … or find Tamo’l.
She ran her green fingertips along the sharp surfaces and flinched from the unnatural cold. She sent her thoughts into the wood, reaching out, searching for a link to the verdani mind. The trees would remember.
The cold Onthos wood contained ancient echoes. She felt lost and adrift. Her own thoughts vanished into emptiness rather than being caught in a safety net of interconnected trees and minds. Inside, there was … nothing.
Not giving up, she went farther into the blackness of an empty mind and she was answered only by the void of a universe before creation. These fragments of alien worldtree wood did not remember. Were they so terrified that every memory had been erased?
Anxious for answers, Nira dug deeper, explored farther, extending a wider web to see if she could sense anything of Rod’h or Tamo’l. The blackness became more absolute, the emptiness more disorienting. She began to feel cold inside, as if the darkness were seeping into her, pushing toward her, trying to empty her mind just as the wood fragments had been emptied.
Nira pulled violently back, feeling a surge of panic. She tore her thoughts away from the quicksand of the worldforest fragments. These were not the trees she knew! Whatever remained of this ancient forest was no longer part of the verdani mind. It was dangerous.
With a gasp, she broke contact and emerged, yanking her hands away from the blackened fragment as if it had stung her. When she reeled, both Jora’h and Anton caught her.
“There is nothing to be learned in there,” she said, gasping. “That worldforest is … more than dead. I sense nothing but an absolute black emptiness so deep I almost drowned in it.” She shuddered.
Jora’h gave orders for the scientist kith to gather up the fragments of blackened wood. “Seal them away, where they cannot contaminate anyone else.” He dismissed the attenders and the scientist kith, then held Nira in his arms. She felt his strength, but also his uncertainty.
When they were completely alone, he whispered, “That black emptiness … I feel it inside myself as well.”
CHAPTER
21
KOTTO OKIAH
The black void inside the nebula both called to him and terrified him. Kotto had always known that innovative science might lead to unexpected and remarkable results—and this gaping hole in the universe was certainly unexpected and remarkable. And possibly dangerous.
Kotto muttered out loud to his two compies, as if they were privy to the silent conversation in his head, “An experiment that breaks the preconceptions of physics is worthwhile in and of itself. Now we just have to figure out what to do with what we’ve discovered.”
“Of course, Kotto Okiah.” KR scanned the boundaries of the dark trapdoor, mapping the indistinct lines and tracking the fluctuations. If not for the background pool of ionized gas, the tear would not have been visible at all. “Our studies will surely be beneficial, somehow.”
GU added, “We would be happy to help you compile a technical report, Kotto Okiah, but we need more guidance.”
“I’m not ready to write a report yet,” he said. “We don’t have enough answers.”
“When will we have the answers?” asked KR.
“When we finish our research.”
“When will we finish our research?” asked GU.
Kotto took a long breath. “That depends on what we find on our expedition.” He raised his hand to cut off further questioning from the compies. He knew these conversation chains all too well, and if he got sucked into the successive inquiries, he might continue for an hour until the compies exhausted their curiosity. Curiosity was good, but they had work to do.
He finished recon
figuring a dozen different sensor packages. He wanted his survey craft to be completely outfitted, because he had no idea what conditions he might encounter, and once his ship entered that compelling and ominous void, he couldn’t just turn around because he had forgotten something.
Down in the admin hub’s launching bay, Roamer technicians helped him equip the survey vessel, adding shields and filters just in case. Kotto let them make all the modifications they could think of. KR and GU assisted with the inspections.
Kotto felt butterflies in his stomach. Despite his display of confidence and scientific bravado, he knew this journey would be dangerous. What if he was swallowed up in an alternate universe and never came back? What if his mere passage through the boundary disassembled the survey craft down to its component atoms, including himself?
He doubted that would happen, since they’d sent in initial probes, which had returned intact, although the readings were baffling and contradictory. The mechanical and electronic devices functioned in the void just fine, but Kotto couldn’t say how his brain’s biochemistry or his psyche might react to the change. On the other hand, the complex probe circuitry remained intact, and wasn’t his brain just a sophisticated biological circuit board? It made sense.
He intended to take the two compies along. Even if the strange other dimension incapacitated him, KR and GU should still be able to pilot the ship back. He didn’t want to risk anyone else.
Shareen and Howard entered the bay, looking both eager and concerned. Kotto was glad to have them working with him. They seemed more innovative, more mathematically adept than he himself had been in recent years. In fact, their youthful energy, imaginations, and enthusiasm intimidated Kotto, although he was careful not to let them know it.
He hadn’t actually wanted lab assistants in the first place, and Shareen and Howard inadvertently reminded him of his own fading talent. For years, he had feared that his ideas were running out, that the great Kotto Okiah had served his purpose and should just rest on his laurels. But he wasn’t resting—he was restless. He didn’t want to retire.
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