Having been entranced by that same fierce gaze, Joss agreed.
Those meddlers who whined about her dear boy gaining too much power had no idea how much he already possessed. That man had more drive, more passion, more ferocity than anyone she'd ever known.
How wrong they were about him. Pietas, dangerous? Ridiculous. He was what he'd always been. Now, with telepathy and the ability to shield, there were even more reasons to adore her king.
Dangerous. Pietas? No.
Pietas was lethal.
Chapter Thirteen
Pietas grappled with patience. When a rescue party was returning to base, the top priority was reporting success or failure and accepting the next assignment. One did not stop and peer around trees every few yards as Joss was doing.
"Why are we stopping again?"
"I want to be sure we haven't gotten too close." She was lost again. Typical.
"We stopped two minutes ago. Gotten too close to what?"
"To what I want you to see."
Mindul of his promise not to rush her, he stifled the urge to throw up his hands.
She walked forward, looked back and forth, finally motioned to him. "I think this is the place."
"You're certain this time?"
"I think so. Stand here." With one hand, she made a circle in front of her. "I'm two inches shorter than you so it should work."
He stepped into the area. "Here?"
"One more step." She guided him. "There, can you see the caldera?"
"I see a rise and the sky."
"All right, two more steps, then." She touched his chest. "But, please. Don't go any farther."
"I won't." He took the steps. The trees ended and the world fell away beneath him. "Whoa! Six! You gotta see this. I mean you must," he corrected. He was picking up bad habits, hanging out with a human. Consorting, he corrected again.
The man came up on his right. There was a gasp and then a long, low whistle.
Pietas didn't look at him. He couldn't take his eyes off the view.
Six laughed. "Oh, wow! I've never seen anything resembling this."
They stood on the lip of a gigantic bowl with sides that plunged to a level bottom. A patchwork of deserts and plains in various shades of beige and green made a quilt of color on the floor. Greens and browns speckled the sides, revealing forest and outcroppings of rock. A blue waterfall cascaded to the valley floor.
"Pi." Six nudged him. "You see that silvery sheen the sun's glinting off?"
"Where?"
Six pointed. "There. Base of the waterfall."
"Ah, yes. I see it."
"That's where the falls goes, isn't it? A big lake."
"I believe so." He turned to find his sister watching him rather than viewing the caldera. "Has anyone explored the floor yet?"
"Some." She crossed her arms. "You can't see them from here, but there are marshes around the bend. Another waterfall. Smaller. We all take baths there. A much smaller lake. A forest starts beside it. The caldera isn't round. A cove branches off to one side. Once we get through those trees over there," she jutted her chin, "the side slopes gradually. It's half an hour going down to our camp. Coming up is more."
"This place is amazing." Six bent, hands braced on his thighs. He pointed. "What is that? Am I seeing things, or is the ground moving?"
"You're not seeing things." Joss stood between them. "That brown section in flux is a herd of antelope."
"That's one herd?" Six frowned. "That has to be, what? A Terran mile across."
"There are thousands of them. They graze all around the floor of the caldera. They're not afraid of people. At least not yet. I'm sure they will be soon. If you can catch one, it's good meat, but they're fast."
"I bet one of my spears could catch them." Six grinned at Joss.
Smiling, she turned and looked over at Pietas, but the moment she met his gaze she looked away, blushing. He'd noticed her blush the same way in the clearing. What had that been about?
He turned back to his sister. "How big is this place?"
"By Terran standard measurements, Mother says thirty-one miles in diameter with a thirty-six-mile perimeter. Give or take."
"How deep?"
"About six hundred feet. She estimates the area is about a hundred square miles. It's huge, isn't it?"
"Huge doesn't even begin to describe it." Pietas took in the vastness of the area's sheltering sides and abundance of arable land. "It's a giant cradle."
"Funny. That's what Mother named it. Ayoli. Cradle. She says it's fitting since it's where we'll originate on this world."
He was about to ask if they could go when he caught movement atop the ridge on the other side. Long white cloud-fingers were sliding over the edge and trickling down the caldera's rim, creeping slowly among the trees.
He reached past Joss and tapped Six on the arm, then pointed.
Six looked up, followed where Pietas was pointing, and went wide-eyed. He uttered a curse in Spanish. "What is that?"
Pietas withheld the grin that wanted to burst from him. "What do you think?"
He made a rapid sign of the cross. "El espectro."
"You mean ghosts? Are they friends of yours?"
Six started to speak but then leveled a malevolent glare at Pietas. Another round of Spanish cursing accompanied an indecent gesture.
When Pietas laughed, the others joined him.
Six gave in and chuckled. "What is that? Clouds? Fog?"
"Clouds, ghost. Not your kin at all. I have a hunch it's a familiar sight here."
"Almost every day." Dessy pointed. "See how they weave in and out around the trees? It doesn't rain much in the caldera, but it doesn't have to. The clouds seep their moisture into the forest. They build. Before long, you won't be able to see the ridge top at all. A fuzzy white waterfall comes over the top."
"How far are we from camp? I can't wait to see Mother."
Dessy glanced toward Joss. "An hour or so."
"Good. Let's go."
"Pietas." Joss touched him. "One more stop and then I promise we'll go."
How like her to want one more tweak. One more addition to what was already perfect. He'd learned to rely on her judgment and did not argue. Instead, he trailed her through the trees toward another break in the forest.
The sun's angle made it early afternoon. Moderate breeze. Pleasant hiking weather.
Joss halted and turned back to him. "You'll be able to see the pods once we pass that big tree." She indicated it with one hand. "I want you to keep in mind how big this place is. There's plenty of room. We have resources. We--"
"Joss, enough. I get it. I've been patient, but I've worked for months to find everyone. Let me see whatever this is so we can get on with it."
She wrung her hands. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. None of this is your fault." He gripped her upper arms and touched his brow to hers. When he pulled back, her tears showed. "Joss! What is it?"
"I've hoped against hope we'd find you. If anyone can get us through this, you can. I wish-- I wish I had better--No, never mind. We're here. I'll let you see." She stepped out of his path.
Pietas stroked her cheek. Once through the tree line, the caldera's sloping sides revealed what she'd been trying to hide. Moments ago, a few yards away, he'd struggled for words to reflect the breathtaking natural beauty.
Now, he groped for words to describe his rage.
Chapter Fourteen
If Pietas could lay hands on the humans that committed this atrocity, he'd rip off their limbs and use them to beat their bodies into bloody pulps.
And then he'd get violent.
A bend in the caldera's wall had hidden a cove that stretched for miles. Nestled within steep hills on three sides stood towering delivery chambers. On a colony ship, they'd have housed the populace of a new city.
Human thieves had pilfered the city sections and supply portions of the colony ship. The automated modular units would have released first, taken themselves apart and re-
formed into dwellings, medical facilities, schools, and workplaces. A functioning city, product of mighty human terraforming. Once completed, the pioneer citizens in cryosleep would be roused in shifts and moved in.
Humans filled planet after planet with such places, driving out lesser, unworthy civilizations. Ultras had done the dirty work for them until the tide of war changed in the Ultras' favor.
How ironic that the tech Ultras had been created to build and guard now imprisoned them.
The placement of these delivery units had been no accident or miscalculation. They stood so close together one could barely walk between them. Instead of situating them in a wide circle or square to enable egress, they'd been lined up, three across, stretching the length of the cove. Stacked this way, it would be physically impossible to open the access doors and exit.
No automation meant they must unpack the cryopods manually.
Pietas did a quick mental calculation. Over five hundred and twenty-eight thousand people. Pallets held fifty cryopods per layer. He added a few details learned from transporting soldiers and figured each delivery unit held almost seven thousand people. He tried to count the number of units but in the distance, their gray color merged into an uncountable mass. Must be close to eighty. On this end, two units leaned toward one another and a third had fallen. Its angle was all that kept the other two from toppling.
All three had burst open and spilled their contents.
Heaps of jumbled stasis pods littered the valley floor, hundreds deep.
Joss had said there were over three thousand dead due to mishandling. Judging by the damage visible from here, that could be a low estimate.
He felt rather than heard her come up next to him. He reached out; she stepped in close and wrapped an arm around his waist.
"How many units, Joss?"
"We counted them twice to be sure. Seventy-seven. Seventy-four intact. Each of the three rows stretches over two miles."
"How big are these units?"
"Koliga used to design them. He says these are over a hundred and forty-six feet high, forty-eight feet deep and thirty-two feet wide. They aren't meant to stand in rows. They're made to link in a circle or a square. That's why three have toppled."
Pietas walked to the cliff's edge. Leaning out brought the Council's encampment into view, halfway to the bottom. He stayed there, mute, calculating.
"Pietas? Please come back. The cliff is unstable. It could give way."
The units below him radiated heat. "I calculate the equivalent is sixteen city blocks, with each block having wall-to-wall skyscrapers fourteen stories high."
"That's what your mother said too. Come back now, Pietas."
"And every pod in them is rigged to release at the same time."
"Yes." She sounded closer. "Take my hand."
He didn't respond. How different from his amazement minutes before. How many minutes had passed? Seven? Eight? Yet in that stretch of time his life had turned upside down.
His people's pods would all unlock at once, yet their pallets were stacked, one atop the other. If set up in common fashion, there'd be nine pods per pallet, six pallets per layer, with the top layer holding five pods each, twenty-eight layers per unit.
Those on the bottom two layers on each level would be trapped inside their pods by the weight of the layers above. All imprisoned inside a building-sized container that could not be opened.
Those jumbled on the valley floor faced the same issue. The pods on the bottom might unseal, but they could not open. His people were immobilized. Shackled by the unspeakable cruelty of faithless monsters.
Just as he had been.
"Pietas, let's move away from the edge. It isn't stable."
"You're sure the pods are functioning? You couldn't have reached those on the bottom."
"Erryq fit in most of the small spaces, but you're right. There are some we can't get to. We looked at every one that we could. It took ages to determine what classes they were."
He walked to the right, judging the angle of slope. "Ultra."
"I'm sorry. What?"
"Humans divided us into classes. Here, we're all Ultras."
"Your father's been using the term Reborn. New planet, new chance, new life."
He scoffed. "We are Ultras. Always were. Always will be."
Off to one side, where the edge had crumbled, a few trees hung over the side. Their exposed roots tangled with those of trees still standing, preventing their complete fall. Near the base of one sat the panther, tail wrapped around its feet. The huge black beast stood and blinked green eyes.
What was it waiting for?
"What is what waiting for?" Joss turned in that direction but the cat had withdrawn into deeper shadows.
"I need you to go." He kept his voice as calm and rational as he knew how. He did not look at her. "I'm not safe. My skin is crawling with the power I'm holding back. Get away from me. Far away. Take the others and go. I'll join you in an hour or so."
"But--"
"I can hear your thoughts. How could I abandon my people? What good would jumping do? I'd suffer and come back with the same problems. Go. Take the others."
She bent and touched his shoulder. "I love you, Pietas."
It wasn't until then he realized he'd fallen to his knees. He reached up, clasped her hand and laid his cheek against it. "I love you too. Send Six to me."
"But he'll--"
"It's fine, Joss. He'll be safe. He's a ghost. I can't hurt him. Now go."
As if awaiting the summons, Six dropped down beside him. "I need to learn at least ten more languages, Pi. Maybe twenty."
"What? Why?"
"After seeing this--" Six's gesture took in the miles of pods "--I'm gonna need a lot more cusswords."
Despite the seriousness of the moment, Pietas laughed. How like his friend to take the darkest moment in his life and make it bearable.
His laughter turned into a sob. He choked it back.
No! A king did not cry like some useless child or a worthless--
Pietas arrested that lie and cast it aside. He determined what he believed. Not his father. No matter which way he went, the man would find fault. If he cried, he was useless. If he didn't, he was heartless. The impurity of emotion clouded his judgment. The lack of emotion stifled him. Pietas fought to center himself. Gain control. When he met his father if he wasn't in control, his father would be.
No panic. No despair. For centuries, he'd led soldiers into battle against odds that would crush a lesser man. He could do this. He would do this.
The endless line of gray units shimmered in the sun. A flock of black birds with bright orange beaks swooped and dived among and between them.
Without power, how did one move five-hundred-pound cryopods? Down fourteen stories. Half a million times. What was he going to do? What should he do? What could he do? He had to free his people.
He couldn't let them stay trapped. Locked in darkness with no escape. Unable to breathe. Unable to speak.
He had to get them out!
Now!
"Pietas! Listen to me." Six was kneeling before him, his brown eyes dark with concern. "We will. We'll get them out. All of them. I swear it."
With renewed focus, he took in Six. This human meant more to him than his own family. His life raft in a storm. His shelter. When Pietas had been drowning in sorrow, Six had kept his head above water. Six was his friend.
His amigo.
He grabbed the man and held on.
Chapter Fifteen
By the time Pietas came to himself, the sun sat lower in the sky and the bank of clouds had seeped down the caldera's sides. His cheek touched Six's chest and his arms were around the man, but couldn't recall at first how he'd gotten there.
That he'd allowed himself to be held was obvious. He'd allowed a human to touch him. Comfort him. Who knew a human could even do such a thing? Before Six, he'd have never guessed one capable of compassion.
"Thank you." Pietas hugged him.
/> "Sure." It came out a squeak.
He lessened his grip.
Six sat back, facing him. The man's shirt was darkened and wet in front. "We'll get through this. Together. I'll be here. I won't leave you. I promise."
Pietas had lived more than a year trapped as his people would be trapped. He had to open the delivery units and re-stack the pallets. Get them down however many stories with no power and no working transport.
"We will, Pi. I promise. We'll get them all out. We'll find a way. We'll figure out how." Six placed both hands on Pietas's shoulders. "I'm not letting them go through what you went through. I couldn't live with that again."
"You shouldn't have felt my pain through the pod. The steel and copper should have prevented that. They meant it to isolate me. Prevent me from using my gifts."
"I didn't feel your pain, Pi. I felt mine. You were in there because of me. I lived with that for a year, knowing you were awake inside that thing, suffering, and I couldn't stop it. I couldn't get you free. I'm not letting that happen again. Not if I can stop it. Not on my watch."
Pietas drew a ragged breath. He clasped Six's forearm. "Warrior to warrior, Six. You are a man of honor. I'm proud to be at your side."
The man's eyes glistened and he swallowed. "Brothers. Always." He stood and reached down to help Pietas up.
Instead of his usual refusal, Pietas accepted. "Let's go." He tapped Six on the arm and started toward the trail. "We'd better find a stream so you can clean up. You don't want to meet my mother with a face as dirty as yours."
"Look who's talking, Ultra." After settling his backpack, Six pointed to the wet spot darkening the middle of his shirt. "You see this? You cried all over my shirt."
"Haven't you heard the rumor? Ultras don't cry. That's human sweat."
"It is not! I washed this shirt..." Six counted on the fingers of one hand. "Five weeks ago."
Pietas snorted a laugh. "No wonder it's wet. The stink made my nose run."
"Are you telling me you blew your nose on my shirt?"
"I'm not telling you anything. Humans never listen anyway."
Six cupped a hand behind his ear. "What?"
Bringer of Chaos Page 8