Yaltu held out her hand and allowed the tiddit to land. The bird clucked, cooed, and made sounds like silver bells tinkling in a soft breeze. She whispered to it, and it flew away, disappearing into the forest to the south.
I studied her concerned expression. “I take it that wasn’t good news.”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. The rest of us gathered closer, anxious to hear what she’d learned. “The tiddit says there’s something new at Brazud.” She made eye contact with each of us in turn. “She says there’s a cloud where there was none before. A cloud that’s consumed the city and made flying difficult. Rising from the cloud is a new building she’s never seen before. It rises like the tooth of a shiggit—straight, narrow, and tall.
“Hanging from the tip of the tooth there’s a… branch. But I believe she meant rope. It extends far into the sky, higher than she could fly. And once, she saw something like another building climbing the rope, making loud noises and with many lights.
“When her mate tried to investigate, she heard him scream. Then, he was no more. He disappeared into the cloud. She called for him. She wept for him. But he didn’t return. She’s left to warn others. Something’s happening. Something bad.”
“Damn,” Reaver breathed. “What do you want to do?” she asked me.
I didn’t like big cloud-producing buildings showing up unannounced, especially when they killed something Yaltu obviously cared about. I wondered what had become of my sheriff, and why he hadn’t turned his aggression against whatever had descended upon the city. Had the people ignored him? Was he dead?
I also didn’t like the building’s description. It was far too close to something we once used on Mars called a space elevator. Our structure had a graphene cable that was anchored at one end, and kept taut by a counterweight at the other end. It was less expensive—both costing less money and requiring less manpower—to move materials into and out of orbit using a mechanical crawler than to fly them with conventional rockets. Once our technology improved, however, the space elevator was abandoned.
The presence of such a device on this planet meant there was a spacefaring race who moved materials or troops to or from the surface. Somewhere overhead, a spacecraft was parked. The threat and danger had just increased to levels I’d never imagined. Likely, the planet was being invaded.
“Is there any way to know who brought this structure?” I asked Yaltu.
“It could only be the Sitar.”
“Which we assume are also the Xeno,” Reaver said.
I had a choice to make. I could go to the city, find out what was going on for myself, and have a tough time fighting an army with the weapons I currently had at my disposal, or I could go find the priestess and possibly get more.
The decision was difficult. The longer the Xeno were in control, the more havoc and death they could cause. But, if I charged in unprepared, it could be the end of my entire team. The best I could do for everyone was to stay on task, find new weapons, and expel the Xeno when I was prepared.
“Timo-Ran,” I said, drawing the man’s attention, “take us to the powerplant. We’re going for the priestess first.”
“No go smash at Brazud?” Skrew asked, clearly disappointed.
“Not yet,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “We’re going to rescue the priestess first. Then, we’ll have her open the Void Temple. From the description of the place, it sounds like the whole thing is Void-tech. If the priestess can equip us with armor and weapons, or something better, we have a greater chance at stopping the Xeno dead in their tracks.”
“Then smash Brazud?” A wicked smile curled the corners of Skrew’s wide mouth.
I ignored him. “The Void Temple might also allow us to communicate with the Lakunae. They can tell us where the rest of my crew and Marines are as well. If we can find even half our platoon, the Xeno won’t stand a chance.”
“Get some!” Reaver raised a fist. The rest of the war party cheered their approval.
We made our final preparations, and I kissed Enra goodbye before Timo-Ran led us out of the village. The powerplant was almost directly south of us. Most of our journey would be spent on open land, so I decided we’d rest during the day and move only at night. I didn’t want some angry guard captain to surround us out in the open with a half-dozen hoverships.
Near the end of the first night, we approached a wide river. Only a proper raft could get us across safely with dry supplies. With three Void-touched members in our war party, it was easier than I’d expected. I ripped a tree out of the ground and sliced it into thirds with Ebon while Beatrix and Reaver lashed them together with ropes they made from tall grass. If we’d had more time, I was certain we could have built our own temporary bridge.
The second night, we walked quietly across grassy plains. The calls of the wildlife surrounding us were grunts, squeals, and steady rumbles. A bear-like creature threatened us at one point. Beatrix powered her hammer and calmly walked toward the beast, ready to smash it into a pancake. It turned tail and ran back into the safety of a copse of trees.
The third night brought us back into the woods. Though we were close enough to reach the powerplant soon after the sun went down, I slowed our pace. The woods were dense, and if we kept moving quickly, we’d be just as likely to trip over an enemy as they would be to stumble upon us. Keeping the advantage meant taking longer to reach our objective.
When we finally reached the edge of the woods, Timo-Ran approached me. “I’m leaving now.”
“You don’t want to help rescue the priestess?” I asked.
“I do, but
