The Dark Between The Stars

ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE
LEE ISWANDER

Out in the industrial complex, the ekti-extraction workers scrambled through a damage assessment after the particularly severe series of bloater flashes. The pumping stations reset their power trains after the overload. All systems checked in, and the production facilities finally came back online.

It was an hour before anyone even noticed the missing green priest, the silent drifting inspection pod.

Iswander couldn’t figure out what had happened. Apparently, after the flashes, Aelin’s pod had spun out of control, its systems dead, life support shutting down, no propulsion. Inside, the green priest was unconscious, perhaps comatose. Alec Pannebaker led a swift retrieval operation to bring the pod back into the modular complex. They dragged the limp green priest out onto the cold deck in the hangar bay.

Iswander tried to control his anger. “Is he alive at least?”

One of the station doctors checked the motionless form. “Barely, sir.”

After Sheol, Iswander could not afford another foolish industrial accident—especially one that the entire green priest network would know about. Inspection pods were supposed to be taken out only for external repairs on the ships and refinery facilities, not for sightseeing—and Aelin had gone out alone with almost no training, without even an environment suit for extra protection. How stupid!

Though the pod’s air was mostly gone and the interior temperature had plunged, Aelin remained in some kind of coma, his metabolism extremely low. His potted treeling, however, had not survived: it was withered, its fronds curled up, as if burned from within.

As they carried him away to the medical module, Aelin’s eyes flickered open, and he stared without seeing anything around him. His hand reached out, questing in the empty air as if trying to grasp something. He grabbed Iswander’s forearm, clutched him desperately. His sudden grin chilled Iswander to the core.

“My mind is filled with colors! Thoughts that not even the verdani could hold…” His voice rattled as he drew a long breath. “I can see eons in my head, and I hear the voice of God. Or maybe it’s God’s God.”

Iswander frowned at the medical team. “He’s having hallucinations. Do what you can for him.”

His son Arden hurried into the hangar, worried about his tutor. “Is he all right? Will he recover?”

“I think he suffered a brain injury,” Iswander said. “We don’t know yet if he’ll be able to teach you anymore.”

Later, Iswander met with Pannebaker and three of his crew chiefs in the conference chamber. “I want to know how dangerous those flashes are. I can’t afford any more stupid accidents like what happened to the green priest.”

One of the crew chiefs called up data and displayed it for the meeting. “Here’s a record of the flashes over the past several weeks. We’re draining a substantial number of bloaters, so the cluster is significantly smaller, yet other outlier bloaters seem to be drifting in from deep space. The frequency of the flashes is increasing.”

“Could it be some response to our extraction operations?” asked a second chief. “As if the bloaters are alarmed… or in pain?”

Iswander frowned. “They’re just gas bags. Are you implying it’s some kind of distress signal?”

The second chief looked embarrassed. “I wasn’t implying anything. Just asking a question.”

Alec Pannebaker called up his own projection that charted the path of the bloater cluster and showed how it had been accelerating toward the distant star system. “Maybe the cluster is growing more active as it gets closer to that sun.”

As if she had won a prize, Elisa Enturi showed off her son when she returned to the bloater-extraction field. She held the boy’s shoulder as she led him into the admin module. “This is Seth. He’ll be staying here. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get in the way.”

Iswander nodded, glad to have Elisa back. “I’m pleased everything worked out for the best. Any problems?”

“None whatsoever. And Seth is glad to be with us now.”

The boy nodded without any noticeable enthusiasm, but he did seem fascinated by the cluster of bloaters and all the extraction operations. He tried to get a better look through one of the windowports, but Elisa held him close.

“I’ve seen the bloaters before,” Seth said. “My dad and I found the first ones.” His comment provoked a sharp glance from his mother.

Iswander watched her. Without a doubt, Elisa was his best employee, but she had been focused on family problems for some time, her emotions erratic: angry with Garrison, then hurt because she thought he and her son were dead, then indignant when she learned she’d been deceived. Well, now that she had the boy in her safekeeping, Iswander hoped Elisa could concentrate on her work and devote herself to the ekti operations. He needed her.

To help, he called his family into the admin module and introduced them to the boy. Maybe Elisa’s son and Arden would become friends. “This is Seth Reeves, our newest member of the team. Make him feel welcome.”

Londa seemed delighted. “We’ll take care of him. It will be so good for Arden to have someone close to his own age here.” She gave Seth a warm smile. “This will be different from Academ, but Arden enjoys it here. You will, too.”

Now that she had gotten what she wanted, Elisa seemed anxious to get back to work. “And you and I can be together, Seth. I’ll see you after my shift.”

Elisa followed Iswander to the medical module. Aelin lay on a bunk, connected to monitoring apparatus. The two staff doctors wore expressions of consternation.

Aelin’s face looked gaunt; his green skin had a more ashen color. His mouth hung slack, but it seemed to wear a hint of a smile, as if he understood something mysterious and incomprehensible. His eyes were open, staring, and glassy. But as soon as the two entered, he became lucid. He turned his head to face Iswander. “I have seen it!”

Elisa was skeptical. “What have you seen?”

The green priest jerked his head toward her. “Wonders that even my soul can’t contain. I hear the thundering thoughts.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “And I still see flashes behind my eyes, inside my soul.” Aelin tried to sit up, but the doctors had put him in restraints.

Iswander frowned. The poor man was likely insane—but the accident was the green priest’s own fault, not something the industrialist could be blamed for.

“I have a warning for you, Mr. Iswander! You are spilling the blood of the cosmos—and the shadow is coming.” Aelin struggled against his restraints.

Both doctors were worried. “We don’t know what to do, sir. Our treatment options are limited.”

The second doctor said, “He should be transferred to a larger medical facility, maybe taken back to Theroc where green priests can care for him.”

Iswander shook his head. “No, he stays here. Do what you can.” He paused, then added, “And you’d better sedate him. He’s delirious.”