by A. D. Bloom
"Leave Cyning's body," Ram told the guards. "We don't pay you enough to retrieve it from that pit."
The Ekkai flashed a last statement to Ix and withdrew into the night.
The cold wind came up again on the walk back. It was easy to find Cyning's skiff; the fuel-rich lichen soil under it had continued to burn and now, a sparking ring almost a kilometer-wide had spread out. More than a centimeter down, the fire couldn't get any oxygen, so it burned out quick. The edge of the ring came to meet them, and they put their hands low to the burning ground and warmed them as the sparks skittered off into the night.
Waist-high dust devils curled and twirled and danced in pairs along the burning edge of the ring. Ram thought he saw the dim creatures of the pit, the Weirdlings of the ark, dark and swirling beneath them as they swept sparks up into the air to twinkle and snuff against the stars.
The Shediri began to beat their arms against their thoraxes and made that keening noise some take for a laugh. Ram knew it was the noise they made when something had significance and they'd all realized it together. They sang that sound into the night while young Hank grinned at his side, finally looking at home. Hank understood what this place was. Ram hoped all his people would understand it too along with the Shediri and the clams.
One species - one planet...that was the old way. Here begins a new paradigm. This world is ours; this world is yours. None of them were aliens here. When the Weirdlings of Otherworld had ended their dance with fire and skated silent into the night, Ram and the rest of them walked back through the ashes to meet their fates together.
Books in the War of Alien Aggression series in chronological order:
Hardway (Book 1)
Kamikaze (Book 2)
Lancer (Book 3)
Dreadnought 2165 (Book 3.5)
Taipan (Book 4)
Combat Salvage 2165 (Book 4.5)
Cozen's War (Book 5)
2166 - Force Liberty (Book 6)
2166 - Battle of Shedir (Book 7)
2166 - Devlin's War (Book 8)
$2.99 box set, books 1-5 The War of Alien Aggression (550 pages, the complete war with the Squidies from the first shot to the last) available now.
$2.99 box set, books 6-8 The Liberty Fleet Trilogy (377 pages), (.99 cents on pre-sale, $2.99 after that.)
Click author link to see all books.
About the Author
A.D. Bloom types loudly on a 1998 IBM M13 mechanical keyboard (13H6705), prefers writing on vertical monitors, and claims he’ll make portable aerial radar from a $12 usb radio dongle when he’s done with his current project.
amazon.com/author/a.d.bloom
Table of Contents
2166 - Force Liberty
2166 - The Battle of Shedir
2166 - Devlin's War
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
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