CHAPTER.

111.

GARRISON REEVES.

After refueling the Prodigal Son at Newstation, Garrison followed the coordinates Jess and Cesca had given him. He couldn't understand why Elisa would take Seth so far out into uninhabited space, with no nearby planets or moons. That wasn't like her. What possible operations could Lee Iswander have established out here?

Garrison had heard of the man's lucrative new stardrive fuel business. The CDF had purchased a great deal of ekti-X for their fleet, provided by Iswander Industries. He had paid attention only because of Iswander's name.

When the Prodigal Son arrived at the obscure coordinates, Garrison looked around in astonishment at another grouping of bloaters, just like the cluster he and Seth had discovered out in the emptiness between the stars. Like the one that had exploded in such a titanic detonation ...

What did Elisa-and Lee Iswander-want with the strange nodules?

As he eased the ship nearer to the cluster, he noticed the artificial lights. At higher magnification he spotted the dispersed industrial complex: vessels, tankers, modular habitats, loading platforms, pumping facilities-all bearing the logo of Iswander Industries.

He remembered how the bloaters had exploded, the flame front, the shock wave, the devastating fire. The drifting sacks were filled with some volatile substance ... and now an industrial operation had been set up here?

Garrison narrowed his eyes and put the pieces together as he saw pumping stations connected to the bloater spheres like giant mosquitoes. Beyond the lights of the complex he saw drifting deflated membranes. Elisa must have told the industrialist about the bloaters after the Sheol catastrophe, and he had built a factory complex out here where no one could find him.

Lee Iswander had found a tremendous source of stardrive fuel.

And Elisa had brought Seth to another dangerous place. Hadn't she learned? Hadn't Iswander learned?

As anger welled up inside him, Garrison flew in toward the operations. Even if Iswander had taken a lesson from Sheol and improved his safety systems, Garrison didn't want his son there. Not with Elisa, not with Iswander, not with those explosive things....

He flew in close before announcing himself. By now, someone must have picked up his ship, but there was substantial traffic in the vicinity, and the Prodigal Son was a typical cargo vessel. In fact, the ship's ID beacon might still be in the Iswander Industries database, since he'd taken the craft from the Sheol yards.

He flipped on the comm. "This is Garrison Reeves, and you have something of mine." He didn't care about the bloaters or the ekti-extraction operations, and he doubted Lee Iswander would fight to keep a ten-year-old boy in his operations. Elisa liked the idea of winning, of taking the boy away from him, but business operations would preoccupy her. Garrison hoped he could just take his son and leave-but he knew that hope was nave.

He heard a buzz of garbled chatter on the comm, scrambled transmissions. Five ships raced toward him, closing in and surrounding him. A voice came over his comm. "This is Iswander Security. Mr. Reeves, you are trespassing."

"I didn't see any signs posted," he said. "And you have my boy."

After another flurry of chatter, he recognized the voice of Alec Pannebaker. "Garrison, we wish you hadn't come here. I have orders from Mr. Iswander to bring you to the admin module."

"Good, that's where I wanted to go anyway."

The ships flanking him were not exactly security vessels. Garrison doubted they were even armed, but they made sure he flew toward the docking module. Garrison realized, with a pang of sadness, they were the same design of modules he had bought from Iswander for his clan's use at Rendezvous, the ones Olaf Reeves had discarded.

After he landed the Prodigal Son inside a bay, his heart was pounding. Lee Iswander stood there waiting for him. He wore business attire, kept his hands at his sides; his expression was more disappointed than angry, as if this was the last problem he wanted to deal with today. "Mr. Reeves, I see you're well. You must be relieved that you got away from Sheol before the disaster happened."

"I'd be more relieved if you had listened to me back there," he said. "More than fifteen hundred people would still be alive."

"I can't argue with your point, Mr. Reeves. Believe me, I've suffered from it, and my conscience still weighs heavy on me, but we have to move on. You saw these ekti-extraction operations. I have implemented thorough safety procedures, believe me."

"I'm not here about your operations. I came to retrieve my son. I intend to take him and leave."

Iswander frowned. "I'm afraid that may be problematic."

Garrison felt suddenly cold. "Why? Has something happened to Seth?"

"Not the boy, Mr. Reeves-it's you. It's this place. It's what you've seen. Follow me."

Garrison followed him through a connector into the main admin module. The first thing he saw was Seth standing with an older boy and a woman he believed to be Iswander's wife.

Seth's face lit up. "Dad! I hoped you would come!" He bounded off the deck and shot toward Garrison in the minimal gravity. Iswander's wife reached out, trying to grab Seth's shoulder, but he slipped away. He careened into his father like a cannonball.

Garrison wrapped his arms around his son. They both caught their balance.

"As you can see, the boy is unharmed," Iswander said.

Garrison held on to his son. They were going to have to pry Seth away from him. "A child belongs with his family-in a safe place."

Elisa swept onto the admin deck like a thunderstorm. "How dare you suggest I would hurt my son!"

"Good," Iswander said with an odd smile. "I see we're fundamentally in agreement." He looked at her as if he expected her to agree automatically.

"You should never have found this place, Garrison," Elisa said. "We can't let you leave."

Iswander was trying to calm them both. "No need to be melodramatic, Elisa. I'm interested in a clear solution. There's got to be an answer that works best for everybody, so let's solve this. Garrison has shown himself to be a good worker, and he is technically still an employee of Iswander Industries. He could stay here, work the ekti operations, live in our habitation module-separate quarters, of course, unless you manage to reconcile?" She made a low angry noise. "And that way you can both be with your boy. No need to tear a family apart."

Garrison didn't like that idea at all, but Seth wore a hopeful expression.

Iswander continued. "And unlike the lava-processing facility on Sheol, these are just simple ekti operations. Despite the volatility of the bloaters, we have solid safety procedures in place. It's all perfectly safe." He seemed pleased to have solved the problem.

Then alarms began to ring. Sensor screens in the admin deck lit up, and the ops crewmembers hurried to respond.

Elisa snapped, "I bet he led someone here! Who is it, Garrison? Roamers? CDF? Mercenaries?"

"I came alone."

Wide-eyed, Seth stood close to his father. Then with a yelp he pawed at his pocket and yanked out a small vial-the sample of wental water Jess and Cesca had given him. Now it glowed bright, flaring with a pale blue illumination. "It's hot and cold at the same time!"

He let go of it and stared down at his tingling fingers. The vial fell gradually in the module's minimal gravity. The contained wental light flared bright, then went out like a snuffed candle just before the vial clinked onto the deck and bounced back up in a slow ricochet.

One of the sensor techs hunched over a screen. "This doesn't make any sense! The stars are disappearing-it's like a crack in space. A dark nebula."

Garrison's eyes widened. Through the broad windowports of the admin module, he watched a shadow cloud unfold as something emerged-huge, black hexagonal cylinders, like ebony crystals extruded from a poisoned seed of night. Having seen the report of the disastrous CDF engagement at Plumas, he knew exactly what this was.

"Please listen to me this time, Mr. Iswander! You have to evacuate," Garrison said. "That's a shadow cloud. The Shana Rei. The last one devastated both the CDF and the Solar Navy, then crushed the entire ice moon of Plumas, wiped out clan Tamblyn's water mines there. They'll do the same here!"

More alarms sounded throughout the ekti-extraction facilities. The dark nebula expanded, exploding blackness across space.

CHAPTER.

112.

ANTON COLICOS.

From the thousands of revealed documents in the Vault of Failures, Anton hoped he could gain some insight into the Shana Rei. This new chamber definitely showed great promise. The sheer number of weapons and experiments the normally stodgy Ildirans had tried when they first faced the creatures of darkness indicated just how terrible an enemy the Shana Rei must be.

In the hours after the war-strategy meeting, he and Dyvo'sh returned to the newly unsealed chamber, where a special table had been set up for them in the anteroom of the main vault. Piles of sorted documents waited for his inspection, and the light from blazers reflecting off the crystal sheets was bright, enough to make Anton's eyes hurt.

Inside the expanded Vault of Failures, five rememberers continued to inventory and triage the ancient, fragile documents from sealed shelves. There were countless records scribed by scientist kith, warrior kith, lens kith, medical kith, describing defensive systems, test results-everything the ancient Mage-Imperator Xiba'h had tried during his most desperate times before he chose his final solution. They knew about the sun bombs, but nothing else had proved effective. Now, the Solar Navy would reassess all these records and discuss with the various powerful Ildiran kiths that might help, but Anton had higher hopes that the CDF could take the designs and run with them. Something had to work.

Three ferocious-looking guard kith stood just inside the vault. Anton hated having the guards looming there all the time, but Yazra'h insisted on extra security after the attempted assassination of Nira. Yazra'h had always been overprotective of him, but he supposed he couldn't blame her.

Yazra'h and her ever-present protegee Muree'n arrived at the Vault of Failures, to find out if there had been any results and also to check on him. Anton was alarmed to see that both women sported obvious bruises. "Did you get into another fight?"

"We got into training," Yazra'h said with a laugh.

Anton frowned. "It doesn't inspire much confidence to see that my special bodyguards are battered and bruised before any danger even occurs."

With all seriousness, Muree'n said, "I apologize for damaging her."

Yazra'h arched her eyebrows. "These few scuffs only loosened me up." She glanced down at the stack of crystal sheets, though she had never shown any real interest in reading. "Ildirans tried those ideas already. We need new ones."

"Sometimes failures show us how to succeed. They might spark new concepts."

Muree'n's response was gruff. "I would rather succeed the first time. I'm not afraid to fight."

Yazra'h grasped the younger girl by the shoulder. "Neither of us is afraid, but we do not want to waste our efforts. I am confident Rememberer Anton will find a way for us to strike a mortal blow."

Anton lifted a crystal sheet. "It may be in here somewhere. The team inside the vault is organizing all of those old records."

Dyvo'sh spoke up, "We should request more rememberers to be assigned to the task."

Muree'n looked approvingly at the young assistant. "It will be done-if I have to drag them here myself."

Anton said, "Oh, I think they'll come without having to be dragged. There may not be much time, if the Shana Rei are increasing their attacks."

Osira'h and Prince Reyn joined them, and Anton greeted the young man, remembering his last visit to Theroc. "Prince Reyn-I mean, Reyn. Sorry I haven't had a chance to welcome you on your visit, despite my best intentions. This task is all-consuming." He gestured into the vault, where five rememberers removed archive after archive from the dusty shelves and sorted them into ever-growing piles. "I can't believe the worldforest has no clear knowledge of the Shana Rei, if the ancient war was so terrible. Any hints, Reyn?"

"I ... I am not a green priest."

Suddenly Anton heard a clatter of crystal plaques, then loud crashing sounds from inside the vault. Oddly, the three intimidating guards at the entrance stood immobile and uncaring. They did not react even as the racket continued.

Anton stepped into the doorway to see that the five rememberers had stopped their meticulous cataloguing. Instead, they yanked fragile crystal sheets by handfuls from alcoves and shelves, and without speaking, smashed one document after another onto the floor.

"What the hell? Those are priceless historical records!" Anton bounded into the vault, and an astonished Dyvo'sh rushed in after him. The armed guards remained frozen, as if in a trance.

Anton grabbed one rememberer by the shoulder, trying to stop him from destroying more crystal sheets. The Ildiran looked at him with eerily blank eyes. Dropping the stack of records, he placed his hand against Anton's chest and shoved with surprising strength. Anton was hurled against the wall, knocking down even more crystal sheets. Blackness swam around his eyes. He shook his head, tried to focus.

He heard shouts from the anteroom. At the vault doorway, one of the three guard kithmen finally began to move, drawing his crystal katana and marching toward Anton. He yelped and rolled out of the way as the guard thrust a crystal spear at him, missed, and then stabbed again.

Suddenly the guard froze, jittering, as a jagged blade sprouted from the center of his chest. His katana fell from limp fingers.

Yazra'h yanked her weapon out of the attacking guard's back and shoved his body to the ground. "Rememberer Anton, keep yourself safe!"

Dazed and in pain, he tried to fight his shock. What was happening? "I ... I'll do my best."

The other two guards swayed, then turned with a singular focus toward Osira'h and Reyn in the anteroom. Reyn grabbed Osira'h's arm and drew her behind the meager shelter of the small table.

Yelling, Muree'n threw herself at the two guards, but the nearer one backhanded her with incredible strength. Her reflexes jerked her head backward, and she barely avoided a blow that would have snapped her neck, but struck her shoulder instead. She crashed hard onto the floor and skidded against the wall with a cry more of indignation than of pain.

The two possessed guards lunged toward Osira'h and Reyn again, obviously intending to kill them. But Osira'h drew herself up and seemed to armor herself with her own strength and telepathy. Her eyes were wide, pearlescent, and she stared at the guards with tangible force. Her jaw clenched, her teeth ground together, and she forced words between them. "I have brought hydrogues and faeros to their knees-I can stop you!"

One of the two guards reeled away, as if derailed, but the other stood anchored, pressing himself forward as if against a hurricane. He inched closer, raising his katana. Osira'h strained, until the blood vessels stood out on her temples, on her neck.

With a wordless cry, Reyn shot forward, waist bent, head low, and rammed the guard at waist level, knocking him backward. The kithman clattered to the floor, his weapon skimming aside. The guard flailed, as if he couldn't control his muscles. Reyn staggered, caught his balance again.

Inside the vault, the other possessed rememberers were sluggish and no match for Yazra'h when she dove among them. In moments she was spattered with blood.

Panting, Anton wondered if he had broken a rib or two when the rememberer hurled him against the wall. He'd never broken a rib before. Anton had heard about the inexplicable flashes of violence against Nira, but he couldn't understand why any rememberer would destroy history!

Again, sounds of fighting came from the anteroom. "Go save them," he told Yazra'h. "I'll be safe here with Dyvo'sh."

As if in a trance, Dyvo'sh bent over the body of the first dead guard. He looked stunned.

In the anteroom, Muree'n threw herself back at a possessed guard, snatching his katana from the floor and driving it into his chest. The long crystal blade snapped off in his sternum.

The remaining guard came to himself for a moment, fighting with an invisible force. His eyes flashed, and he held on to the staff of his katana as if wrestling with a demon. Directing an anguished gaze at Osira'h, Reyn, and Muree'n-all of whom he was supposed to protect-he righted the katana staff, pressed the butt end against the floor. In a brief moment of triumph, he launched himself forward-onto the katana blade, snapped the shaft, and collapsed to the ground.

Still breathing heavily and leaning against the vault wall, Anton turned to Dyvo'sh to ask if he had suggestions. But when his young assistant rose from the dead guard's body, his eyes were blank, and he held the crystal dagger he had yanked from the armor. Dyvo'sh's face was a placid mask, yet he raised the crystal dagger and slashed.

Anton dodged, felt a sharp pain in his back and side-indeed, he must have broken some ribs-and Dyvo'sh drove in again, trying to stab him. Anton deflected a blow from the dagger with a crystal document sheet, and the document shattered in his hand.

Yazra'h bounded back into the vault to protect Anton. She swung her bloody katana before he could yell for her to wait. He cried out in anguish as her razor-edged blade cleaved Dyvo'sh nearly in half, and his young assistant fell dead on the cluttered floor.

Anton was horrified and confused, unable to understand any of this. "You didn't have to kill him! It wasn't his fault. He wasn't in control."

She stood over his assistant's body, satisfied but not triumphant. "I know that, Rememberer Anton, but he was tainted. They were all tainted."

Muree'n entered the vault to stand next to her. "We would never have been able to trust them again. They were vulnerable." The girl looked exhausted as well. Her mane of hair was wet with splashed blood.

Reyn and Osira'h joined them, both covered with red spray as well. Osira'h said, "The Shana Rei must have invaded through the thism. They found these weak points, these people, and controlled them. Made them try to kill."

Yazra'h faced Anton. She had always been haughty and overconfident, not affected by anything. He had never seen such a depth of emotion on her face as he saw now.