"We salute you, General!" Et Kala.s.s exclaimed, his voice clamorous, but his facial expression inappropriately somber. The minister signaled theatrically, and a lackey jumped upon the podium at Jook' s feet and led a rousing cheer. The entire court and attendant citizens yelled their thunderous acclaim, the hurrahs echoing and reverberating through the polished halls.

Gorruk, lantern jaw held high, basked in glory, and yet his thoughts dwelled on the n.o.blekone standing across from him. The cheers subsided, and the decorum of the court returned.

"General Gorruk, what is your next step?" Et Kala.s.s inquired.

Gorruk' s intense gaze darkened. "That is a military secret, military secret, Your Excellency," he replied with vitriolic tones. "Enough questions!" he turned and bowed to Jook. "Your Greatness, permission to depart. My presence is required at the front. For we are still at war." Your Excellency," he replied with vitriolic tones. "Enough questions!" he turned and bowed to Jook. "Your Greatness, permission to depart. My presence is required at the front. For we are still at war."

"And so you must return, General," Jook rumbled. The Supreme Leader had grown larger and more obese, his self-indulgences and depravities legend. Dissipation ravaged his countenance, but stern malignancy and wary cunning still radiated from behind half-shut eye lids.

"To my duty, Supreme One. My armies are engaged," Gorruk replied, hiding his disgust. To think the odious leader had once been the scourge of the north.

Jook nodded, and Gorruk marched from the hall to more and greater cheers.

General Et Ralfkra, the Public Safety Militia commander, walked into Et Kala.s.s' s inner office on an announced matter of urgency. The minister eagerly antic.i.p.ated the general's message- but he was wrong!

"He was not in the hovercar!" Et Ralfkra said bleakly.

"What!" Et Kala.s.s would have yelled, but his throat constricted, and it was more of squeak. The first attempt at a.s.sa.s.sination was usually the best-and the last-chance to succeed.

"Three sources have reported Gorruk's arrival at field headquarters. He knows of the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt and is sending agents to investigate."

Et Kala.s.s sat heavily, chest down on the ma.s.sive lounge, his mind grinding.

"What is our next step?" Et Ralfkra asked.

"Continue the march." The minister spoke calmly, his courage and resolve returning. "Our positions in this government are too valuable to abandon. Double our personal guards and set up the necessary agents to block Gorruk's inquiry. We will be under siege."

"How will this effect Et Barbluis's plans? What should we tell him?"

"Unchanged. He is to proceed," Et Kala.s.s replied. "We may not have eliminated Gorruk, but I am sure we have distracted him. The distraction may serve our purpose, if to a lesser degree."

"I will send the signal," the militia commander said, but he did not immediately depart. He stood indecisively. Et Kala.s.s noticed the general's agitation and sat erect in the lounge.

"What is it my friend? You have something to say?"

"Minister, the news is sketchy, and I am told his condition is stable-"

"Et Avian! Something has happened to Et Avian?" Et Kala.s.s interrupted, his golden complexion blanching.

"Please, sir! Be at ease and allow me to finish. Et Avian is alive and returning to Kon on the booster you dispatched, but he is badly injured. By a wild animal-a bear. His shoulder was broken and he suffered muscle and tendon damage. The injuries are serious, but he is out of danger."

Et Kala.s.s's panic slowly dissolved. He fell back on the lounge, shaking his head. The pressures were too much. Et Avian must survive; his time was come.

"And more news, Your Excellency," Et Ralfkra reported.

Et Kala.s.s's head snapped up, searching the general's expression. "Good news or bad? I have had enough bad news, General."

"I do not know, Your Excellency. You must tell me. Et Avian made contact!"

Crescent-shaped, the steep-sided and narrow valley of Penc curled to the south and climbed in stages to the lake pa.s.ses, so named because of the large artificial lakes. Gorruk's armies advanced steadily toward the serene bodies of water, their progress made more difficult by the narrowing and climbing terrain. The retreating southern defenders regrouped, harrying and slowing the advancing columns, but paying a dear price.

The four lakes at the high end of the valley were formed by great dams built millennia earlier, prideful artifacts of ancient konish engineers-beautiful, peaceful reservoirs, graced with rustic stone bridges and bordered by ancient cedar groves. A third of the natural valley had been displaced by these engineering wonders, forming a series of deep lakes, each one monumentally higher than the one before-oceans stacked upon oceans. Tunnels and aqueducts hewn through the ridges surrounding the valley carried the clear mountain water to farms and cities throughout the region. Penc was synonymous with rich and abundant agriculture-and with water.

Gorruk paced the floor of his field headquarters, devising the next phase in his aggressive strategy.

"General, our armies have reached the first dam," the aide reported.

"Very well," Gorruk replied, uncharacteristically distracted. It was not the first time someone had tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate him, but he knew Et Kala.s.s was behind the latest attempt, and that thought infuriated him. Gorruk moved to the status panel and scanned the real-time displays that continually updated the positions of his forces. His armies were taking the upper hand on all fronts. Gorruk had received word that Et Barbluis was even withdrawing from the plains behind the Rouue ma.s.sif. Perhaps his armies could move to the central flatlands unopposed. Nothing would stop his armies then.

A runner entered the command center and handed a dispatch to Gorruk' s aide. The aide scanned it quickly and came directly to Gorruk, his face a mask of pale horror. The runner left quickly.

"G-general, we have c-confirmed reports indicating sappers have mined the lake dams," the aide reported, taking a hesitant step backward.

Gorruk's great snout jerked upwards. It was unthinkable. Blowing the dams was unfathomable. Unfathomable! Destruction beyond comprehension. The southern generals were not that that desperate. They did not play by those rules. desperate. They did not play by those rules. Rules? Rules? Stark reality dawned on Gorruk' s strategic and intellectual horizon. He turnedthe idea over in his head and acknowledged the tragic ingenuity. His respect for the old n.o.blekone Et Barbluis elevated immensely. He had been suckered. Stark reality dawned on Gorruk' s strategic and intellectual horizon. He turnedthe idea over in his head and acknowledged the tragic ingenuity. His respect for the old n.o.blekone Et Barbluis elevated immensely. He had been suckered.

The first explosions breached the highest edifice, and torrents of water broke onto the lake below it. Coordinated detonations set along the moss-grown span of the lower dam ripped the centuries-old structure apart, and the combined waters of two reservoirs descended majestically upon the third dam. It in turn was torn asunder in perfect synchronization by another series of blasts, and the full fury of the unleashed waters descended upon the last lake and dam, the largest of all. The doomed stone was crushed by the descending hydrodynamic forces even as the explosives detonated. The explosions were loud, but the banshee scream of the waters eclipsed all sounds. Ripping and gouging with the force of a nuclear explosion, the torrent streamed into the upper valley, carrying everything before it. Soldiers, armored vehicles, barns, trees, herds of farm animals were dashed away in tumbling chaos; the roiling, turbulent onslaught careened down the valley bottom, thundering with resounding tumult. Et Barbluis observed the spectacle from a safe elevation, his grief monumental. He had destroyed the valley, along with many of his own soldiers still fighting the enemy. His stomachs knotted; he could not breathe. Time stood still-tragedy held constant. War was an obscenity.

The cataclysmic scene unfolded. The routed battalions of the north surged backward, creating a chain reaction of panic. Explosive rumblings from the unfettered cascades converted panic into pure terror. Apocalyptic noises from the valley's head vibrated the air. Birds screamed. A gigantic rolling, churning wall of water poured into the valley from the upper horn, its inertia swirling wide and high against the far slopes of the valley, only to come crashing down onto the valley floor, sweeping across it with ruthless power. The heart-stopping sound of water pushing gravel, magnified on a t.i.tanic scale, preceded the arrival of the flood, and gales of yellow dust tumbled into the air from the winds compressed before the deluge.

Frantic armies trapped on the valley floor sprinted helplessly, abandoning weapons in the field. Torrents of living flesh, streams of hysteria, hordes of northern troops frantically crawled along the lower slopes, clawing and digging at the sheer rock, obsessed with escaping the deluge. In vain-the roaring waters avalanched by, sweeping away the living and the dead.

When the slithering waters receded to the scooped-out banks of the River Penc, the green peaceful valley was transformed. The once sparkling, crystalline river ran brown and thick, like melting chocolate, and the pastoral valley had become the surreal landscape of a nightmare; muddy ooze slid from exposed rocks, and the deep humus was no more, the fertile topsoil sc.r.a.ped from the bedrock and flushed into the rocky river gorges. Primeval muck, animal carca.s.ses, and the bodies of soldiers were cast among the boulders. Carrion birds arrived in great numbers.

Chapter 32.

Hudson Returns Weeks went by slowly. Foliage on the margins of the lake thickened into the lush, deep greens of early summer. The humans listened nervously for the sound of airplanes-in vain. No aircraft appeared. But Dawson had a baby, a healthy, black-haired, blue-eyed boy named Adam. Shannon was its proud father.

"Lieutenant," Shannon said, squinting into the afternoon sun. "After we complete the main lodge I'm going to build a house for Nancy and the baby, if it's okay with you."

"And for yourself, too?" Buccari replied, watching MacArthur as he supervised the positioning of timbers alongside the rock piles. Cliff dwellers hopped about importantly, providing strident a.s.sistance. Her left arm was in a sling. After they had buried Jones and the monstrous alien, MacArthur had relocated her shoulder. Then he had held her tenderly, and she had allowed herself time to cry in his arms.

"And for yourself, too?" she repeated, turning to face Shannon.

Shannon looked at his boots. "And for myself, yes, sir," he replied.

"Certainly, Sergeant," Buccari responded, realizing there was no other workable answer. The integrity of the group was splitting, but not for the worse. Another emotional priority had emerged, a priority that superseded the essence of team or crew. A family had formed.

"We should build one for Tatum and Goldberg, too," Buccari said.

"And Lee and Fenstermacher," Shannon added. "And what about you, sir? With the women out of the lodge, you'll be wanting your own place."

Buccari turned sharply and looked at the heavily bearded Marine. It was an honest, concerned face, paternal and frank. His implication was innocent, but Buccari was momentarily nonplused. Her thoughts went to MacArthur; his nearness reinforced the flood of emotions and physical sensations welling within mind and body.

"Lee and I can still live together, Sergeant," Buccari replied hurriedly, cutting off her thoughts. "Leslie hasn't mentioned moving out of our tent yet."

"Lee's pregnant, too, Lieutenant."

She stared at Shannon and shook her head in disbelief. "Nancy says so," Shannon said softly.

She was speechless, but it did not matter; the sound of an airplane engine eclipsed all other thoughts and sounds.

Et Silmarn banked the abat in a gentle curve over the lake. Hudson pointed out the cove, and the ma.s.sive pilot nervously grunted. The geometry of human construction was more apparent than ever; humans scurried about the clearing like disturbed ants.

Et Silmarn slipped the airplane toward the gra.s.sy slopes. Winds were strong and steady, and choppy turbulence rattled the airplane and its occupants about, but the pilot skimmed the tree tops and settled gently onto the hill, rolling to a bouncing halt. The kones moved quickly and efficiently, immediately refueling the wing tanks. Four sealed barrels of fuel were rolled across the open gra.s.s and placed within the tree line-provisions for future needs. As the kones worked, Hudson walked down the hill toward the human encampment.

"Huhsawn! Huhsawn! Stuh-hop!" Kateos shouted. The linguist had made remarkable progress. She trotted after him, Doworn.o.bb and Et Silmarn close behind. The other scientists, spare pilots, remained at the plane.

"Huhsawn! Waytah fo-ah meee, pool-leeze," she pleaded, her helmet-amplified voice deep and resonant, but also hinting at nervousness. The t.i.tans shook the ground with their footsteps. Hudson smelled their fear.

"Wee go-ah witha yew. Wee see-ah more hewmanns," Kateos rumbled emphatically.

"Huhsawn! Look-ah fo-ah b-bears!" Kateos implored. "B-berry danger!"

Hudson concentrated on the phonetics and put them in context. "Right! Very dangerous! Follow me," he instructed. He walked over to Doworn.o.bb and pointed to the laser blaster. "Be ready!" he commanded and pantomimed pointing and shooting the weapon. Doworn.o.bb nodded vigorously, touching the big weapon suspended from a harness on his chest. Hudson turned and headed down the hill at a jog. The kones followed easily, trotting on four legs.

They met a solitary Buccari standing in an open glade of yellow-barked fir. Her jumpsuit was patched and cleaned, but faded stains streaked across large sections of the sun-bleached fabric. Hudson noted her injured arm and wondered why she had come alone, but as he drew closer he caught glimpses of Shannon's Marines in the underbrush. Hudson signaled for the kones to hold their position and closed the remaining distance alone. Buccari surprised him with a one-armed embrace. He returned it with unchecked emotion, trembling in the excitement of being reunited. She backed away and looked up, wet-eyed and smiling hugely. Hudson wiped his own eyes.

"Ah, I was so worried, Nash. You okay? You look good!" "I'm good, I'm great!" he blurted. "Your arm. How's your arm?"

"Sore, but getting better. I can lift the elbow a little." She peeked around his shoulder at the colossal beings. "So, huh.. .what happened? Are we friends?"

"Too much to tell, Sharl! I don't know where to start. They treated me well, but except for Kateos, they mainly just left me alone. They're suspicious and afraid, but, yeah-they're friendly." He pivoted to face the kones, waving at them to approach.

"You should hear Kateos speak Legion, Sharl!" Hudson exclaimed. "Amazing. You can hold a conversation with her. That's her specialty-languages. She's sharp! Real sharp! Doworn.o.bb's not bad, either."

"So she is a female-did you say Doork.n.o.b?" Buccari responded.

"Yeah! Doworn.o.bb. I'm not kidding," Hudson said. "That's his name."

"What now?" she said, checking the sun. "It's getting late." "Yeah," Hudson answered. "They plan on spending several nights here. Kateos says the most important thing is learning to communicate. She wants to talk. I couldn't get any more than that out of them. There are two more kones back at the plane. They'll come down later."

The mammoth, hulking beings towered above them, nervously watching. Their peculiar pungent odor came and went in waves.

"d.a.m.n, I forgot how big they were," Buccari said nervously. She squared her shoulders and bowed, holding her hands at waist level, palms upward-the cliff dweller's greeting. The kones replied in kind. The one called Doworn.o.bb fumbled with his weapon, slinging it over his shoulder. They stood erect and Hudson formally introduced them.

"Welcome!" Buccari said slowly.

"Thang-ah yew, Sharl. Wee owe yew b-big thangs! B-big thangs to Sharl!" Kateos stepped forward and extended her hand. Buccari glanced warily at Hudson.

"I taught them to shake hands," he said. "And they wanted to know all about you, but they could never p.r.o.nounce your last name. You're a hero. They say 'Sharl' real well."

"Yeah," Buccari said, her small hand disappearing in turn into each of the gigantic but surprisingly gentle gloved hands. "Let's go back to camp. We can talk better there."

"Yesss...talk-ah," Kateos said. "We talk-ah with Sharl."

Buccari smiled at the kone and turned downhill. She signaled and Shannon's Marines abruptly moved, revealing their positions. Et Silmarn made a transmission over his helmet radio, and the kones, trodding alertly on all fours, followed.

"So, how was the flight?" Buccari asked.

"Tiring! It took two days. I never did get that truck trimmed." "Huhsawn b-ber-ah good-ah..." Kateos struggled for the right word. "Pilot-ah...ver-ah good-ah pilot-ah."

"She is good!" Buccari complimented. Kateos smiled proudly. "And getting better fast," Hudson said. "Real fast!" "How is the injured, er... alien?" Buccari asked.

"They call themselves kones," Hudson replied. "He made it back alive and is doing well, or at least he was when he left the planet. There was an orbital lander sitting on their launch pad when I arrived-not a coincidence it turns out. It had been sent expressly to retrieve Et Avian-that's his name. Guess what, Sharl? He's a member of their n.o.bility. You saved the life of a very important kone. They worked on him at the science station for about a week,gave him a lot of blood. Once he was stabilized they launched him back to Kon."

"Kon?" Buccari asked. "Is that their name for R-K Two?" "Right. This planet is called Genellan."

"Genellan! I like that. Much nicer than R-K Three."

"Planet-ah named Genellan," Kateos said, smiling through her visor.

"Why do they wear helmets, Nash?" asked Buccari, smiling back.

"Air's not dense enough for them," Hudson said. "The backpack is a compressor and heating system. To them this place is cold-miserably cold. Even their southern base is considered cold, and, Sharl, it's awesome. Looks out over a tropical ocean, and it's beautiful. I walked on sandy beaches that went forever, and I swam in the ocean. It's beautiful, wonderful, the closest to paradise I've ever been."

"Even without human beings for company?" she said. "Paradise has a price."

At the sound of engines, all the cliff dwellers ran in near panic for shelter. A flight of hunters wheeled high overhead; keen eyes discerned movement in the trees-humans, and others-bear people. Braan studied the activity. The leader whistled commands and dove for the trees. Others followed, except for two hunters left aloft to maintain a soaring vigil for as long as the dying thermals would hold them. Braan and his warriors landed on the backside of the wooded peninsula below the long-legs encampment.

"They won't talk about it," Hudson said. "They won't say why they attacked the fleet or what is going to happen now. The bad news is: their planet is at war."

"Wee cannah tell-ah wha' haffen when-ah war-ah over," Kateos said.

Buccari was growing accustomed to the inflections of the prodigious creature; she also detected resignation-sadness-in the female's words. The kones sat around the campfire, relishing the heat but remaining wary and acutely attentive to the movements of the humans. A huge rubbery tent had been erected in the clearing. The kones were to stay for three nights. Their one clear objective, besides bringing Hudson back and learning more of the human language, was to establish a schedule and a plan for future interchanges.

"What-ah message should-ah I bring to my leaders?" Kateos asked.

"Tell them we came to your star in peace," Buccari said. "We mean no harm. We are stranded here. Will your government accept our presence?"