The Dark Between The Stars

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT
ARITA

After the Shana Rei darkness settled over Theroc, the unnatural night did not end.

When Arita had gone out exploring that afternoon, she felt a definite stirring among the worldtrees, heard whispers in the back of her mind, sensed a real tension in the air. It was not normal. She closed her eyes and pressed her hands against the gold-scaled bark of a towering worldtree, pushing so hard that the bark scales left deep indentations in her skin. “Tell me what is happening.”

But the verdani refused to answer her.

She felt the cold, darkness encroaching from above, the daylight growing dimmer through the thick canopy overhead. Hurrying back to Sarein’s hiveworm nest, she broke through to a meadow with a clear view of the sky. She shaded her eyes, squinted—and saw that a bite had been taken out of the sun, a black chunk that covered an increasing portion of the solar disk.

When she reached Sarein’s tree and scrambled up, she found her aunt intense and concerned as she listened to broadcasts from the main fungus-reef in the capital city. When she glanced at Arita, Sarein’s thin face was more drawn than usual; lines showed around her lips. “Theroc is under attack,” she announced, as if glad for someone to tell. “A shadow cloud has appeared—and Klikiss robots. They’re working to create some kind of eclipse. The King and Queen are trying to command a defense.” She turned back to the portable comm system. “But the reports don’t sound promising.”

Sarein expanded the screen so Arita could join her, scanning transmissions until she found a direct feed from the CDF battleships. In an image from space, Arita got her first glimpse of the Shana Rei occultation barrier.

Hexagon slices continued to peel from the ends of the long black cylinders. The thin, opaque plates twirled across space to line up with adjacent hexes, building the black gridwork larger and larger. As it grew, the barrier blocked out more of the sun and expanded the eclipse shadow across Theroc.

The flagship Juggernaut and twenty Manta cruisers attacked the growing “nightshade” with flamboyant energy displays and exploding weapons, but to little effect. Even when the CDF scored major strikes and shattered off numerous hexes, the segments simply re-aligned and reattached themselves.

Several reckless Manta cruisers had gone on direct attack runs against the gigantic Shana Rei cylinders. Four cruisers had already been destroyed, though it wasn’t clear to Arita exactly how the shadow creatures were fighting them.

And the nightshade grew, widening the eclipse across the forest.

“They can blot out the sun and kill the worldforest,” Arita said. “They don’t even have to approach the planet.” She turned to her aunt. “Kennebar and his green priests can tap into the verdani mind. Maybe they know more about what’s happening.” She suddenly wanted to find Collin.

Sarein frowned. “We have the comm here. We can listen to reports.” That seemed to be good enough.

She and Sarein sat inside the hiveworm nest, both fascinated and horrified to hear the reports. They spoke little, though occasionally they would send grim glances to each other.

Over the hours, the diameter of the nightshade grew, cutting off more and more sunlight. The forest was restless, and the insects began humming, confused as to when they should make their nighttime music. Clinging to normal routines, Sarein lit several lamps outside. Arita could see the glitter of numerous species of firefly leaving their forest mulch nests.

And when the giant occultation plate in orbit finally blotted out the sun entirely and drenched the Wild in shadow, an abrupt smothering night fell without the gentle transition of twilight.

Arita shivered as the temperature dropped. Breezes picked up in an angry stirring of fronds. Even the glow of scattered atmospheric light faded, and bright stars appeared at the periphery of the nightshade’s giant hole in the sky.

Predatory night moths took flight, swooping through the fronds to devour other insects. The forest wildlife seemed on the verge of panic, as if they could smell the smoke of an approaching wildfire, but this was worse.

Sarein finally agreed to go. The darkness elicited a primal uneasiness even in her, and she decided she didn’t want to be here alone after all. Arita took her packs and her hand lights; Sarein had a brighter portable lantern. The two climbed down from her tree and trudged off through the dark and restless forest. Arita wanted to find her landed flyer. It was time to return to the main continent, her parents… even Reyn had just come back home.

“I don’t usually wander the forest at night,” Sarein muttered. Arita could tell that her aunt was frightened.

“I’m not sure when morning is going to come again,” Arita said. “We have to go now.”

They moved through the underbrush, dodging branches and finding their way through the light of phosphorescent fungi. Arita wasn’t surprised when an alarmed-looking Collin dropped down from the trees and landed gently on his bare feet. “The worldtrees were watching you. I knew you were coming.”

“We’re going back to the capital city,” Arita said. “We’ll have more options there, more protection, and we can flee off-planet if necessary. You should come along with us.”

Collin looked horrified. “We can’t just leave the trees! This darkness will smother them—they’ll die.”

They looked up to see the other green priests sitting among the fronds above, touching the trees with their fingertips, their eyes closed.

Arita turned to Collin. “What are the Shana Rei? Can the verdani tell us anything? Why are they attacking here?”

He shook his head. “The trees are afraid of them. They know how terrible the Shana Rei are, but they can’t remember. There’s a gap in the worldforest’s memory. As a green priest, I have searched… but there’s nothing, as if that part of the memory has died.”

Sarein said, “How can there be a gap in the verdani mind?”

“Some part of them was erased long ago,” Collin said. “That past is gone in their memory.” Above them, Kennebar’s green priests muttered to one another, making shorthand comments, not deigning to explain to Arita or Sarein.

Arita heard Kennebar say aloud, “General Keah lost two more vessels. The verdani battleships are gathering their strength for an assault.”

A second green priest added, “They are moving toward the nightshade now. Their boughs are spread wide for combat.”

Arita imagined the titanic trees extending long thorns like impenetrable spears. The verdani hurled themselves against the growing occultation plate, stretching out branches, trying to tear away the hexes.

Collin bent to a tree, tapped into telink. “The treeships are attacking the Shana Rei—they have no choice. They have to stop more plates from launching off. Others are hurling themselves against the growing barrier, stretching out branches, trying to tear away the hexes.” He winced. “But… there’s something about the shadow. It’s like acid. Their boughs are shriveling.”

In unison, the green priests winced and gasped. “The fronds are blackening! The trees are fighting, tearing… and withering.” Several priests stopped using words altogether and just let out moans and cries of pain.

Shaking, Collin heaved several breaths, removed his fingertips from the worldtree. “The verdani battleships have dropped away from the nightshade. They tore away a section of the occultation plate, but it won’t last. Already more hexes are flying into place to fill the gaps.” He shook his head. “The Shana Rei have succeeded. This night will not end until all life is smothered on Theroc.”

Arita was sure the forest air had grown colder. The breezes rustled branches with a sound like a death rattle. The false night went on.

The trees would weaken, the plants would die, and the sun would never again rise on the Theron worldforest.