Hellhole Inferno (56 page)

Yes, even though the Ro-Xayan asteroids were coming, Encix would trigger
ala'ru
before it was too late. It would be their greatest achievement as a race, the greatest event—and the last event—in the history of the current universe. Nothing else was more important.

Looking confused and bedraggled, still struggling with the new presence inside him, Major Bolton Crais stood beside Escobar Hallholme. The two men wore their uniforms, as if clinging to original parts of themselves, despite their alien change. Encix sensed that they were wholly dedicated to completing their destiny. It would only be a few more hours.

Encix thrummed through her facial membrane. “So close.”

The slickwater began to recede. There could not possibly be anyone left in the POW camp who had not been touched and blessed by their new reality, with very few mistakes or casualties. Those didn't matter.

In the skies above, they saw ships swooping down, descending at steep angles. Troop transports.

Escobar-Tarcov stared up, identifying the configurations. “Those are from my father's fleet. Constellation rescue ships to take us away.”

“But we no longer wish to go away,” said Bolton.

Yet Encix understood something more when she saw the vessels coming in to land. “No. But they contain many more potential converts.”

 

75

Tanja didn't complain about Ian Walfor's erratic flying. He guided the ship out of the hidden crater in the hollow asteroid, then accelerated away toward Hellhole. Now that the alien faction had released his ship, Walfor could maneuver freely without being hindered by telemancy.

Behind them, the yawning mouth of the crater held all the Ro-Xayan scout ships permanently docked there. Those strange, swift craft would not be flying again; their original mission to distribute resurrected native embryos was no longer relevant or necessary. Nor would the Ro-Xayans be observing the curious human settlers who had established a foothold on their devastated ancestral home.

The last of the rebel aliens were holed up inside their asteroid habitats as they hurtled toward their fateful impact. They would annihilate an entire race and an entire planet—and that was the
preferred
scenario. The choice was between letting a world … or a universe … be destroyed.

It would happen only if Ian's ship got there before the slickwater converts triggered
ala'ru
and eradicated the foundations of the universe. And only if Keana-Uroa could stop Encix in time. In their fast ship, they could reach Hellhole well ahead of the asteroids, but not necessarily soon enough to prevent
ala'ru
.

Full acceleration pushed them all back against their seats. Walfor soared away from the inbound asteroids and set course toward the planet. The ship seemed oddly empty without the hulking form of Lodo. And in the back compartment, Keana sat silent and preoccupied, possibly trying to contain all the new power within her body. She closed her eyes and clenched her hands in her lap, reaching out with her mind, questing with telemancy to gather information.

Suddenly she opened her eyes in alarm. “Encix has gone out of control! We have to hurry.”

“This is what hurrying feels like,” Walfor said. “Any more acceleration, and I don't know if the ship will hold together.”

Nevertheless, he squeezed more speed out of the engines, ignoring the risk of disaster or fuel cost. Tanja looked at the controls, saw the readings edging into the red zone. She hoped the ship could take it.

When they approached Hellhole, Tanja was astonished to see all the warships surrounding the stringline hub. The planet looked like a hornet's nest of activity. “What's going on here? Those weren't here when we departed.”

Walfor ran a second high-resolution scan. “Most of those are Constellation ships. Do you think they're helping with the evacuation? An act of mercy in the midst of war?”

From the back, Keana said, “We can't concern ourselves with who they are and why they're at Hellhole. There's no time. Encix is pulling together all of the converts down there, summoning the slickwater, and engulfing thousands more. She will reach the critical point soon, and there will be no stopping
ala'ru
.”

“So where do I go?” Walfor asked. “It's a big planet.”

“Slickwater Springs. We'll start there.”

Tanja scanned the trajectories of the asteroids. The Ro-Xayans continued to apply the full force of telemancy, pushing the asteroids toward Hellhole.

Walfor was scanning the surface, mapping out the ships crowded in orbit, the stringline haulers departing from the hub, no doubt loaded with refugees. Orbital space was like a shooting gallery, and he had to guide his own craft in without crashing into any evacuation vessels.

Alarmed, he reported, “Ankor seems to be shut down. There should be hundreds of shuttles and passenger pods rising up loaded with people, but there's not a single one from what I can tell. The gantries and control center are inactive.” Walfor switched the channel, listening in on Michella Town. “The other spaceport's in turmoil, too. Don't they realize time is running out? They need to get those ships loaded and into orbit!”

Keana hunched over, as if struggling against cramps in her chest and a pounding migraine in her head. “The evacuation is a lesser concern. We must get down there—
now
!”

“I'm trying!” Walfor said.

Tanja scanned the ship traffic patterns, shaking her head. So much had happened in the short time they were gone. This had been a chaotic mess when they departed, and now it was even worse. She snorted. “You go away for a day or two, get captured by an alien race and held inside a hollow asteroid, and the whole world goes to hell.”

Walfor shot in toward tight orbit, cruising along the daylit side of the planet, dodging ships, not bothering to respond to inquiries. He maintained full control, cutting corners so he could shave time off their flight, using the autopilot for suggestions only. They streaked over the gigantic bull's-eye impact scar. It was awe-inspiring, hinting at the power of the asteroid strike … and that was only a prelude of what the Ro-Xayans had set in motion this time.

From behind them, Keana said in a hoarse voice, “I feel something extraordinary down there—psychic power building. Encix is unleashing all of the slickwater, triggering the Xayan survival systems. I feel the telemancy surge growing and growing. But now I sense something else—”

She lifted her hand, opened her fingers, and then squeezed them into a fist. “All the energy that Zhaday and the Ro-Xayans gave me and the leftover resonance from Lodo … I can barely control it.” Her shoulders hunched, and she lowered her head. “Encix grows stronger, too, though. So many more converts! The shadow-Xayans are vastly increasing in numbers.”

Walfor's ship began to rattle and shake as he took a steep dive, plowing through the atmosphere. “I'm heading for Slickwater Springs. I'll have to skim the edge of a growler storm, but this ship can take it. Caution isn't a good idea right now.”

“An undue moment of caution could bring about the end of everything,” Keana said.

“Direct course for Slickwater Springs, then.”

Tanja called up the scanners, probing the surface. She found the settlement around the three primary slickwater pools and detected turmoil there. Tanja couldn't guess what the shadow-Xayans might throw against them, but she feared they were facing a huge fight ahead.

 

76

Clinging to the rooftop of the lodge building, Sophie had little time for regrets. She would fight to the end, but the foundation and walls of the lodge were trembling. The viscous fluid flowed upward from the underground aquifers, as if searching for her.

Feeling helpless but defiant, Sophie shouted from the rooftop. “Am I really that important? I'm not worth all this effort!”

Below, the shadow-Xayans remained eerily silent, communicating by their own means. Sophie didn't suppose hurling curses at them would do any good.

A silver ship streaked through the air, flying low. She heard the sonic boom as it approached. She craned her neck, watching the glint in the air, wondering where it was headed. Not long ago, she'd seen dozens of ships heading toward the POW camp in the next valley, presumably Commodore Hallholme's rescue vessels—but they wouldn't be coming here. She was on her own.

This new ship, however, wasn't part of that group, but rather a small cargo runner, decelerating hard as it approached. She could hear the roar of its engines ripping the sky. Ian Walfor's ship!

With a surge of hope, Sophie leaped to her feet on the rooftop, waving her arms frantically to get the pilot's attention. The ship circled, came in tight. She saw only part of what Walfor must be seeing from up there. Slickwater Springs had been flooded and devastated; most of the bungalows were collapsed, the tents washed away. And as the glistening waters withdrew from other areas, a great crowd of converts stood around, waiting.

Walfor's ship buzzed the besieged lodge building, then arced around and swooped past again to signal that he'd seen Sophie on the roof. His engines roared with the strain, decelerating until he came around and dropped lower, switching to stabilizer power so he could hover above the lodge house. A side hatch opened, and Tanja Hu leaned out, clinging to a support bar, extending her hand. Still much too far away.

The ship edged closer to the roof edge. There was a yawning gulf between Sophie and the hatch, and only roiling slickwater below waiting to claim her, but Sophie didn't hesitate. She sprang across. Tanja caught her and swung her inside. She collapsed on the deck, gasping.

Keana-Uroa stood in the back compartment, grim and determined. “Ian Walfor, you must land. I need to address the shadow-Xayans.”

Walfor called from the cockpit. “It doesn't look stable down there.”

“I intend to make it stable,” Keana said. “With the new infusion of power from the Ro-Xayans, I think I can control the slickwater. And I can protect us if they try to attack us with telemancy.”

Sophie's heart was pounding. She wanted to have Walfor fly them up to orbit, where she could board the
Jacob
and watch Hellhole's final day at the side of Tiber Adolphus.

“No need to land,” Sophie said. “I must be the only one here who was left unconverted. There's nobody else to rescue. Only shadow-Xayans are down there now, and they don't want to leave.”

“We are not rescuing any of
them
,” Keana answered. “We are trying to save the universe.”

Sophie blinked, thinking the full answer would likely be a long story. “Then it sounds like you have a busy day ahead of you.”

Keana went to stand at the open hatch of the hovering ship. She directed her gaze like an invisible battering ram, and beneath them the slickwater swirled, twitched, and began to pull away, draining back into the primary aquifers.

“Land in front of the lodge. The shadow-Xayans need to hear me. There are thousands here … and others will hear me through telemancy.” She lowered her voice. “I can only hope they will hear me in time.”

From the cockpit, Walfor looked at Tanja, who paused a moment, then nodded. “We're in this, no matter what, Ian. We know what's at stake.”

But Sophie didn't understand what they meant. “We don't have much time to escape to orbit. There are ships waiting to take us aboard.”

“Not our priority right now,” Tanja said, then explained—to Sophie's amazement—what they had learned about
ala'ru
.

When Walfor finally landed his vessel in the strangely dry clearing in front of the lodge building, Keana went to the hatch. Looking regal, she stepped out to face the multitude of shadow-Xayans who crowded together, regarding her with puzzlement.

One of the shadow-Xayans called, “We are going to achieve
ala'ru
, Keana-Uroa. Join us.”

From where she watched in the ship's back compartment, Sophie was dismayed to spot a transformed Arlen Carter standing among the crowd, as well as other Slickwater Springs workers who, like herself, had previously refused to immerse themselves.

“We have learned that
ala'ru
is a lie!” Keana enhanced her voice through telemancy so that it boomed and echoed across the compound. The shadow-Xayans could also hear, understand, and
believe
her through their own psychic connections. “It is much more than you were told.
Ala'ru
is not just an evolutionary step, an ascension to a greater state of being—it is the end of all existence! Every planet, solar system, and galaxy will disappear.
Ala'ru
will undo the fabric of the universe. In achieving its destiny, the Xayan race will annihilate everything else.”

She paused. The shadow-Xayans remained silent, tense—some disbelieving, some angry, others frightened.

“This is the truth,” Keana insisted. “We learned from the Ro-Xayans what Zairic didn't want you to know, what the Originals refused to tell you. Even most Xayans were not aware of the consequences—they merely went along because their leaders convinced them. All of you converts, touch the Xayans inside your minds, reach for the truth. Speak to your mental companions. We cannot allow
ala'ru
! We must protect the universe, even if it means the end of the Xayan race. It is a terrible, but necessary price.”

Sophie tried to understand what Keana was saying.
Ala'ru
had always been an incomprehensible prospect, but now the idea that it could trigger the end of everything seemed even more impossible.

She heard concerned murmurs growing among the gathered converts, but then a distinct change entered the rising tone. Though Sophie and Tanja were reluctant to venture onto the unprotected ground where the slickwater had surged only moments ago, they could see the open sky and what seemed like a black blur: thousands of tiny flying forms rushing toward them.