Ascendant Sun: A New Novel in the Saga of the Skolian Empire (2 page)

System down,
the node printed.
Down? He rubbed his chin. The redundancy and backups built into planetary webs made it unlikely that any particular network would go down more than a few seconds. He waited a minute, then retyped
Guest account.
System down,
it repeated.
Baffled, he looked around. Except for himself, the room was still empty. People crammed Porthaven, yet no one was using a public console room that normally would be packed at this time of day.
He turned back to the console.
How long has the library web been unavailable?
Unknown.
Unknown? That made no sense.
Why?
The Collapse corrupted my files,
the node answered, its self-reference implying it had an Evolving Intelligence brain.
However, I have reconstructed them to some extent and can roughly place the Collapse as thirty days ago.
Are you talking about a collapse of the library web?
Kelric asked.
Or a bigger web?
A bigger web.
He waited, but the node said no more. So he typed,
What web collapsed?
All of them.
All of what?
The webs.
Kelric held back his exasperation. The node's literal responses suggested its EI brain was less than state-of-the-art, to say the least.
What webs do you mean?
Every web in settled space.
He almost laughed. So. Now he understood. The node had malfunctioned.
When were you last serviced?
This morning.
This morning?
What about the rest of the library nodes?
Thinking of its terse answers, he added,
Explain in detail.
The Collapse damaged many nodes,
it informed him.
Some more than others. The techs took those that survived whole, or were easily repaired. They need them for webs more crucial to the city and port
. With glyph shadings of pride, it added,
They chose me to monitor the library.
Kelric suspected the library rarely left this node in charge. He had an odd urge to congratulate the computer. He wondered if his fatigue made him read human emotions into a machine.
What is "the Collapse"?
he asked.
When psiberspace imploded, every psiberweb node crashed,
it explained, its nuances indicating a desire to be helpful.
That pulled down every EO, nano, and picoweb connected to them, which took down every web linked to them, and so on, until every web in settled space collapsed.
Kelric blinked. Saying psiberspace "imploded" was like saying spacetime collapsed.
That's impossible.
Apparently not.
This had to be a mistake. He had never known even a planetary web to go down for more than a few hours, and that only in a worldwide disaster. Now he was to believe the star-spanning webs that wove together three empires had collapsed? Impossible.
Yet the node seemed undamaged. He tried to absorb its story, but instead a memory came to him from fifty years ago, when he had been seven. Watching his father and another man practice with swords, he had suddenly understood that this man he loved, the center of his life, could die from a mere thrust of sharpened metal. It was the first time he realized how vulnerable humans became without their technology.
Kelric pressed the heels of his hands against his temples, trying to pull his thoughts together. He knew he was in shock, had been for hours, days even, ever since he escaped the inferno that had engulfed his home on Coba. Despite his efforts to pull out his Coban bodyguards, they had perished as the city roared in the flames of war. The whole damnable war had been his own damnable fault. Not because he did anything. Simply because he
existed.
He gave an unsteady laugh. The man whose face had launched a thousand ships. Now he was here, arguing with a slow-witted computer.
He started to stand up, then sank back into his chair, too tired to do more. A thought pierced his haze.
His family.
The Ruby Dynasty. If the web truly had collapsed, it meant something had happened to them.
His family were Kyle operators. They ran the psiberweb. Kyle sciences had developed centuries ago, after the discovery of a nano-sized brain organ: the Kyle Afferent Body. In rare humans, the Kyle operators, the KAB grew to microscopic size.
Although the brain waves of any two people could interact, the effects were tiny. However, a Kyle operator's enlarged KAB boosted the effect. When stimulated by fields from another person's brain, the enlarged KAB sent signals to structures in the Kyle's brain called
paras.
Like many neural structures,
paras
turned such signals into thought. But these thoughts were filched. They belonged to someone else. In other words, Kyle operators were psions. Most were empaths, but if their
paras
were sensitive enough to decipher words, they rated as telepaths.
What gave birth to psiberspace? Quantum theory. Quantum wavefunctions existed for any system— including the brain. If a function with fixed energy varied with time, it could be Fourier-transformed into one with a fixed time that varied with energy. Likewise for position and momentum.
How do you define a thought? Simple. Use the wavefunction for the brain as it forms that thought. So came the
what if?
: could they transform the spacetime function for a fixed thought into a "thought" function for fixed spacetime coordinates?
Kelric's eccentric, delicate, and reclusive aunt— the Ruby Pharaoh— derived the transform that took functions from spacetime into psiberspace. Just as the wave for an atom existed everywhere in normal space, so the wave for a thought existed everywhere in psiberspace. In other words, as soon as a sender formed a thought, receivers could pick it up. It made possible instant communication across interstellar distances.
Of course, the folks doing all this sending and receiving needed links into psiberspace. Enter Kyle operators. With hardware to boost their abilities, strong Kyles transformed thoughts into psiberspace. But almost none could power the psiberweb. Only Rhon psions were strong enough to carry that load, and the only known Rhon were Kelric's family. It was why he was so close to them; they shared affection with an unusual ability to meld their emotions and thoughts. If the psiberweb had crashed, what did that mean for them?
What happened to the Ruby Dynasty?
he typed.
Unknown,
the node answered.
Why don't you know?
No one has seen fit to provide me with that information.
Its nuances expressed annoyance.
You must have some information.
I'm sorry. I don't.
Now its glyphs indicated regret.
Frustrated, he typed,
Why did psiberspace implode?
Unknown.
Make a damn guess.
A high probability exists that the Collapse is due to the Radiance War.
Then it added,
Please do not curse at me.
Sorry.
After so many years on Coba, without computers, it felt odd to apologize to a machine. But it had a brain, after all. It deserved courtesy too. He didn't recall ever having a computer chastise him for his language, though.
Then he absorbed its other words.
What is the Radiance War?
It was fought by Imperial Space Command and Eubian Space Command.
Kelric shrugged.
ISC and ESComm have been fighting for centuries. What makes this any different?
ISC invaded Eube. ESComm invaded Skolia.
He stared at the screen.
Do you mean full-scale invasion? Not deep-space ambushes, but attacks on major planetary centers?
Yes.
Gods. Had the entire universe gone war-crazy?
Give me all the details you have.
I have already done so. I suggest you go to a relocation office. They can provide more information, as well as humanitarian aid. The Dawn Corps has an office in the government building at Omega Drymorn Lane.
Aid. Yes. He needed help. Even if it had been safe to reveal his identity, he had no access to his family's resources without the web. If those resources even existed anymore. He rubbed his temples, trying to subdue his headache. Then he typed,
Thank you for your help.
You are welcome. It was nice to talk to someone. I've been alone here.
I hope you meet more people.
Looking at what he had written, Kelric smiled. Although in terms of "intellect," this EI wasn't sophisticated, its emotional traits were advanced from those of his day.
Thank you, it printed. Good luck.
I may need it,
he thought. He cleared the screen. A record of their conversation would remain in the node's files, but he doubted it would give away his identity.
Kelric stood up— and nearly passed out. He grabbed his chair, hanging on for balance while black spots danced in his vision. Taking a breath, he waited until his head cleared.
Then he left the library.

The holomural filled an entire side of Porthaven's tallest building, a ten-story skyscraper. Kelric saw it when he was walking to the Dawn Corps office. The mural showed two people. The woman had green eyes and curly black hair with gold tips. The austere simplicity of her black uniform gave her an aura of power greater than any medals or braid. Behind and to one side of her stood a towering, massive man with gold skin and violet eyes, an elite ISC officer wearing the black leathers of a Jagernaut. They gazed out of the mural, larger than life, regal and silent.
Kelric stopped dead. He had trouble breathing. His vertigo surged. With calm steps that gave no hint of the earthquake inside his heart, he walked to the building.
He read the plaque beneath the mural.
Its words were simple, dating from only a month ago— and they tore apart his heart:
In honor of Imperator Sauscony Valdoria and Imperial Heir Althor Valdoria, who died to bring humanity freedom.
Kelric sank onto a stone bench next to the plaque. He couldn't see. His vision blurred.
Who died to bring humanity freedom.
Died.
His sister and brother. Soz and Althor. Dead.
He leaned forward, unable to make a sound.
Soz. The big sister who had laughed with him, scolded and teased him, looked after him. He had loved her with a child's adoration, a maturing boy's shy realization of her beauty, and an adult's admiration for her integrity. His many thoughts of her blended into a cherished haze.
And Althor. His older brother. Kelric had idolized him, the giant who swung the child Kelric in his arms, laughing as the small boy shouted with delight; the warrior who came home from the stars, striding through their father's stone house; the complicated adult who challenged Kelric's assumptions but never let him doubt his brother's love.
Gone. They were gone.
He choked, an almost inaudible protest. It was the only sound he made as tears rolled down his face. He stayed in the shadow of the war memorial, hidden by an obelisk, his arms folded across his stomach, unnoticed by anyone as he wept.
Then it hit him. Imperator Sauscony Valdoria.
Imperator.
His sister had taken over Imperial Space Command. That meant Kurj had also died. As much as Kelric had resented and feared his half brother, he also respected him. And yes, loved him. Whether or not Kurj felt any fraternal affection in return, he would never know. But he mourned Kurj as well, with silent tears.
And then, finally, another realization came to him.
He was the only surviving Imperial Heir.
He now ruled the Skolian Imperialate.

Kelric found the genetic tattoo parlor in a crumbling section of Porthaven, where alleys wound in sinuous curves among old buildings. Dirty yellow houses leaned over so far that their tops touched each other, making arches above the sweating ground. Before he entered the tattoo shop, he took a small garnet out of his pouch and cupped it in his fist, so the tattooist wouldn't see him remove it from his frayed pouch and guess at the fortune he carried.
The tattoo artist showed him a catalogue. Kelric chose a simple form of genetic tinkering, one that would turn his gold hair and eyes brown and take away the metallic highlights that shimmered in his skin. The artist gave him a dye job to serve until the altered skin and hair grew in. None of it would fully hide his gold coloring, but it was enough to disguise how much he resembled the man in the mural. Even in the best of times his family were targets for abduction or assassination— and this was far from the best of times.
Kelric paid with his garnet, the high value of the stone also ensuring the tattoo artist's silence. He spent the next hour walking back to the city center. The Dawn Corps office occupied the ground floor of a government building. He entered a lobby with stone walls, faceted yellow windows, and soft gray furniture. At a counter in the back, he pressed a panel that rang a digital bell.
A woman in a blue uniform came through a doorway in the back wall. Seeing Kelric, she faltered in midstep. Then she recovered from whatever caused her pause and came to the counter. As she smiled, her cheeks reddened with a blush. She spoke in a language he didn't know, her voice soft.
He shook his head to show he didn't understand.
She tried again, still with her pleasant smile and voice. He wondered if the Allieds were this nice to everyone. Her response wasn't feigned, either. Her mind projected genuine pleasure at his presence. He shook his head again, to indicate he still didn't understand, but her friendly manner eased his tension. When he smiled, her rosy blush deepened and a wisp of sexual arousal drifted from her mind to his. She tried a different language, but he didn't understand that one either.
Finally she beckoned him to follow. She took him along stone corridors. On the walls, the logo of the Allied Worlds glowed in blue. Based on the insignia of Earth's United Nations, it showed a silhouette of Earth's continents superimposed on several concentric circles.
It unsettled Kelric to see this bold display of the Allied logo in Skolian territory. Edgewhirl was still a Skolian world. But the prominent Allied presence made it clear the power balance had shifted. The Allied Worlds of Earth formed a civilization less powerful than those of their massive neighbors— the Traders and the Skolians. So Earth had never posed a threat to those two warring powers. The Allied Worlds were strong enough, however, that neither Skolia nor the Traders could spare the resources from their own bitter conflicts to conquer Earth or the worlds she protected. Now the Allieds seemed to be moving into the chaos left by the Radiance War, expanding their power base while their mighty neighbors floundered.
It was eerie, too, knowing that Allied logo symbolized the world of his ancestors. They were human, after all, all of them, all the races spread across three interstellar empires.
Six millennia ago, an unknown race had seeded the planet Raylicon with humans and then vanished, leaving only their starships behind. From those ships, the displaced humans developed star travel while Earth was still in its Stone Age. So the Ruby Empire was born. Kelric's ancestors. They set up colonies on other worlds, including Coba. But that fragile empire soon collapsed, leaving the colonies stranded for thousands of years.
The Raylicans regained space travel about four centuries ago and began recovering the colonies. This time they built civilizations to endure: the Skolian Imperialate and the Trader Empire. Earth finally developed star travel in her twenty-second century— and had one powerhouse of a shock when she reached the stars. Her lost children were already here, busily making empires.
The Allied woman left Kelric at a small office, giving him another of her charming smiles. Inside, a youth of about seventeen was sitting at a clay table reading a holograph, a slate that cycled through electronic documents. Stacks of cheap plasti-sheets covered the table.
The name on the chest of the boy's blue uniform identified him as
Jay Rockworth,
a youth volunteer in the Dawn Corps. Tall and long-legged, he still showed traces of gangly adolescence, but his physique was filling out into a man's broad-shouldered frame. His black hair and brown eyes were unremarkable for an Earth native, but something about him tugged at Kelric. Jay looked familiar. His name too. Jay Rockworth. Where had Kelric heard it before?
Bolt,
he thought, trying to access the node in his spine.
Search my memories. Find any reference to "Jay Rockworth."
No answer came. It didn't surprise him. When his ship crashed on Coba, it had damaged both his body and Bolt. Although the Cobans healed his physical injuries, they had long ago lost the knowledge to repair implanted biomech systems. They also hadn't set one of his broken legs quite right, leaving him with a limp.
Bolt couldn't be completely dead, though. He had toggled Kelric's enhanced reflexes in the port, to rebuff the thief.
At Jay's gesture of invitation, Kelric sat in a chair at the table. Jay spoke in a pleasant voice, using Skolian Flag. "What can I do for you?"
The boy's accent disquieted Kelric. Where did that lilt come from? Although Skolian Flag was the official language of Skolia, the empire's many peoples spoke hundreds of languages. But Rockworth was an Allied name. British, perhaps? Kelric didn't know. He had heard Skolian spoken with a British accent and it didn't sound like this.
Then it hit him. Jay's accent was Highton.
Highton,
the language spoken by the uppermost caste of the Trader Aristos.
Kelric wondered if he was losing touch, that he heard the sound of Highton sadists in the innocent voice of a high-school boy from Earth. He rubbed his eyes, aware of his exhaustion. Maybe the lack of food had weakened him more than he realized.
"Sir?" Jay asked. "I'll help with the forms. You can fill them out in Skolian Flag, Eubic, Spanish, English, or Chinese. If you don't write any of those, I can translate for you."
Kelric tried to answer— and discovered he couldn't talk.
He had "spoken" to the PA and library via computer. At the tattoo parlor he had simply pointed to what he wanted in the catalogue. Jay Rockworth was the first person he had tried to talk with since his escape. In fact, Jay was the first
stranger
he had spoken to in almost two decades. Eighteen years of oath-bound silence on Coba had strengthened his natural reticence, leaving him almost unable to engage in casual speech.
Jay waited. Then he glanced at the heavy guards Kelric wore around his wrists. This time he spoke in Eubic, or Eubian, the official language of the taskmaker slaves who made up over 99 percent of the Trader population. The Eubians also had many tongues, but most learned Eubic as a second language.
"Are you all right?" Jay asked.
Kelric stared at him. What the hell? Was he losing his grip on reality? The boy spoke Eubic with a
Skolian
accent.
This time Kelric made himself answer. In Skolian Flag. "I'm fine."
Jay's concern didn't fade. He shifted into Skolian. "When did you eat last?"
"I don't remember," Kelric admitted. When he left here, he would find someplace to dine. And rest.
Sympathy softened Jay's face. He reached behind a pile of plasti-sheets and took out a bag of nuts. "Would you like some?"
The simple kindness touched Kelric. "Thank you." His hand was too big to fit into the bag, so he slid in his fingers and worked out a few nuts. They tasted sublime. It felt odd to eat solid food.
"We can place you in one of the camps outside the city," Jay said. "They'll give you regular meals. Most of the refugees will ship back offworld, as we find places for you to go and ships to take you there." He considered Kelric. "You might be able to get a job at the port. They need laborers who can do heavy work. Since the Collapse, the more web-intensive machinery hasn't been working well."
Kelric nodded. The boy was good at his job, having already deduced his visitor was without home or funds. Jay's fluent command of Skolian Flag also impressed him.
Knowing his questions could reveal him in ways he didn't intend, he spoke carefully. "I've been cut off from my family."
Jay rummaged through the plasti-sheets, then handed several to Kelric. "We can do a search if you fill these out. Without the psiberweb it may take a long time; inquiries have to come and go by starship. But we'll find them if we can." He handed over another stack of forms. "These will get you into a refugee camp."
Kelric only glanced at the sheets. "What about ISC bases? Are there any in the vicinity?"
Jay shook his head. "Not anymore. The ASC had one up north, near Bartanna Shore on the Estaria continent, but they evacuated before the Collapse."
Why would the Advance Services Corps leave? "Where did they go?"
"Apparently they were part of the Radiance invasion force."
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"With the base personnel?"
"With everything. The Radiance War."
Jay didn't seem surprised by his disorientation. "Where would you like me to start?"
"What happened to the Ruby Dynasty?" Kelric asked.
He felt the boy's sudden tension. Nothing showed on Jay's face, but his gaze lost its warmth. Kelric might as well have thrown a bucket of snow at him.
"They're gone," Jay said.
No,
Kelric thought. "Dead?"
"Yes." Jay's face was stiff. "Or imprisoned."
"Surely not all of them."
"All." The boy sounded as if he were clenching his teeth.
Kelric somehow managed to keep his face from betraying his shock. He sat still, afraid that if he moved, spoke, did anything, it would reveal his inner turmoil.
He wondered, too, at the intensity of Jay's reaction. The boy seemed almost as upset as Kelric. Maybe it was true, what the political powers of Skolia believed, that the Ruby Dynasty served as a symbol of morale for the general populace. Kelric's family descended from the ancient dynasty that had founded the Ruby Empire. Technically they no longer ruled, but only served as keepers of the psiberweb. However, the survival of civilization depended on the web.
When Kelric had composed himself enough to speak again, he asked the question he dreaded. "Which members of the dynasty died?"
Jay answered in a flat voice. "Kurj Skolia. Sauscony Valdoria. Althor Valdoria. The Ruby Pharaoh, Dyhianna Selei. Her heir, Taquinil Selei. Her consort, Eldrin Valdoria."
Kelric didn't know how he kept his face calm. The shock was too great. His aunt Dehya, the Pharaoh, dead? Her son Taquinil? Gone? And gods, not Eldrin. Not his brother, Eldrin, the firstborn, oldest of the Valdoria children, with his spectacular singing voice, his affectionate smile, and his disconcerted pride as his "little" brother Kelric had grown into a giant who towered over him.
It couldn't be true. They couldn't be dead. Not all of them.
"What of the rest?" he asked. What had happened to his parents? "Eldrinson Valdoria and Roca Skolia?"
"They're on Earth," Jay said. "In protective custody."
Relief flooded Kelric, followed by a drive to see them, one so strong it almost overwhelmed him. "When do they return?"
An edge came into Jay's voice. "Never."
He saw no reason for his parents to stay on Earth. "Why?"
"To ensure the war doesn't start again."
Then Kelric understood. "The Allieds won't let them go."
"That's right."
"What about the rest of the family?"
Jay's fist clenched until the holograph in his hand ripped. He didn't even notice. "The Allied military is holding their six surviving children prisoner on the world Lyshriol. You may not be familiar with the name; it's called Skyfall by the general public. It's the home world for one branch of the Ruby Dynasty."
Kelric knew the name Lyshriol perfectly well. He had grown up there. The war had brought even more changes than he realized, if Earth now had control of Lyshriol, one of Imperial Skolia's best-guarded possessions.
"Who is Imperator now?" Kelric asked. It amazed him how calm his voice sounded when he was breaking inside. He kept his mind barriered, in case Jay had any empathic ability.
"There is no Imperator," Jay said. "Sauscony Valdoria had no heirs." In an oddly strained voice, he added, "At least none she revealed."
Of all the scenarios Kelric had imagined for his return, none included finding himself the sole free member of his family. Was it possible the reports were premature? "Have the deaths been verified?"
"What, you think an avenging angel will appear to bring Skolia back its glory? You want a savior from the Ruby Dynasty? You and a trillion other people. Well, I'll tell you. It won't
happen.
No one is left." Bitterly Jay added, "Even if this miracle appeared, you think it would help? The Skolian, Eubian, and Allied Space Commands would do everything possible, legal or otherwise, to imprison or assassinate your 'miracle.' "
Kelric stared at him. "Why are you so angry?"
A flush spread on Jay's face. It was a moment before he answered. "I lost my parents in the war."
Quietly Kelric said, "I'm sorry."
Jay shook his head. "It's the principle, too. Everyone treats the Ruby Dynasty as if they're great prizes to own and control. Why don't people leave them alone?"
His remarks surprised Kelric. Even he saw why the Allieds refused to release his family. A Ruby Triad powered the psiberweb: the Imperator, the Ruby Pharaoh, and Kelric's father. Until Kelric joined the Triad, his father was the only Triad member still living. By holding him prisoner, Earth kept him from remaking the psiberweb. By holding the rest of the family, they stopped anyone else from joining the Triad. No Triad meant no web, and without the web, Skolia wouldn't risk another war. The instantaneous communications provided by the psiberweb had given ISC its one advantage over the Eubian Traders. It was why Imperial Space Command survived despite having fewer personnel, vessels, and equipment than Eubian Space Command. ESComm lumbered: ISC sailed.
What surprised Kelric more, though, was that Jay voiced his criticism to a Skolian citizen. As a Dawn Corps volunteer, Jay represented Earth.
Curious, Kelric extended a probe to Jay's mind. Before he made any contact, though, pain sparked in his temples. So he let his concentration relax. Instead he asked, "You don't approve of your government's actions?"