He passed under the gloomy shadows of the suntrees back toward the Queen’s Highway. The road was deathly still when he arrived. The birds, insects and even the ground-screamers had fallen silent. The wildlife had been terrified by the event, no doubt, which was beyond their experience. When faced with the unknown on Ignis Glace, creatures tended to fall silent and hide.
When Sixty-Two reached the edge of the suntrees and poked his head out of the foliage, he looked first to the left, then to the right, back toward Lavender City. He saw nothing amiss. There were no broken down mechs, flailing on the cobbles. There were no aircraft in the sky, looking for them.
He turned his head on buzzing servos and looked again. Then his orbs fell upon an unexpected and distinctive sight.
A lone figure stood less than a hundred yards distant in the middle of the road. He held aloft a small glowing light on a thin, flailing arm. He stared right at Sixty-Two, and seeing that he had been noticed, he slowly allowed the arm to relax and droop back down to his side, where it flapped oddly.
Sixty-Two stared at this strange individual for a moment. He did not seem armed, nor did he seem to be frightened-not exactly. The man stared back, with a burning gaze that was no more human than the stare of a mech. The man twitched as he stood, giving tiny spasms that made his cheeks, fingers and even his bare toes jump and quiver.
“Who are you, human?” Sixty-Two asked.
“I’m Ornth,” said the strange, thin man. “I object to being referred to as ‘human’. I would judge that I’m less human than you are, mechanical man.”
Nina and her hundred knights rode hard all night long along the Queen’s Highway. They eventually reached a point that was distinctive, where reports had come of mech movements. The evidence was abundant. There were broken cobbles, twisted bolts lying on the roadway, and a thousand damaged suntree fronds. The mechs had been here, very recently, and they’d crossed the highway.
“What could be their purpose?” Hans asked at her side. “They’ve robbed no one. They’ve moved with unusual stealth and speed.”
“They are going somewhere,” Nina said. “This must be a deep strike. They seek to do us some great harm, of that I’m certain. They know we don’t have air support any longer. Every ship has gone up to meet the aliens when they arrive. They sense our weakness, and are seeking to take full advantage.”
“But where are they headed? Could they be circling around Lavender City to invade it?”
Nina laughed. “I don’t think they are that bold. We have gun emplacements there and thousands of armed militia would muster within an hour. Even if they disabled every perrupter on the planet, they could not win that battle with their current numbers.”
“Then I do not understand. There is nothing but groves of suntrees for many miles.”
Nina nodded, wheeling her mount in one direction, then another as she surveyed the landscape. She found a single item of interest among the many cracked cobbles. She dismounted and picked it up.
“What’s that?” Hans asked.
“A hand-light. It still glows-and over here, I see a single discarded sandal. But there is no blood. How odd.”
“Someone was here?” Hans asked. “Someone encountered the mechs?”
Nina’s mind flashed ahead, jumping to a hundred conclusions. Like her father, she could see things others could not. Like her mother, she was not a trusting soul.
“Someone met the mechs here,” she said. “It only makes sense. They must be working with humans.”
“How could that be?”
Nina stared at Old Hans, but did not see him. She turned back to the evidence and walked over the land carefully. She’d hunted big game in these forests a hundred times, and tracking the mechs was far easier than tracking a wild beast. “There’s no blood. There’s only a signal light, and a lost sandal. The man was not trampled out of hand. He was not slaughtered, nor was he ignored. The mechs have never treated someone in this fashion before. He was either taken by the mechs, or he’s fled somehow.”
“It seems like a stretch, milady.”
“Yes, I would agree, but there must be some reason why they came here. Why did they meet this person who signaled them at this precise moment? I don’t believe in fate or coincidence. I believe in careful planning, contrivance and deceit.”
“As you say, Baroness. What do we do now?”
“We gather our forces, and we follow them. When we find them, with luck, we will destroy them all this time.”
Nina and her knights followed the trail into the forest carefully, lest they be ambushed by the mechs, who outnumbered them at this point. She knew they would have to proceed cautiously, never making contact with the mechs, but never losing their trail. When she had all her forces together, then they would make their strike. She hoped it would be the final, fatal blow to the rebellion. After all she’d heard from Aldo, she’d begun to fear she might need her forces to defend her world against the invading aliens. Aldo seemed to believe they might make it past the Nexus space forces and make planetfall. In such a situation, she would be the sole defensive organization of any real size on this side of the planet.
As she rode, she worried about what the enemy was up to. They had to have a goal, but she had no inkling of what it might be. The evidence that they were working with humans was extremely disturbing. Could this mech rebellion have been orchestrated by a Twilighter? If so, it was treachery of an entirely new order. It was one thing to sell out one’s neighbor for advantage, but to sell out one’s own species-the very thought was monstrous to her.
Nina’s mind reeled with possibilities as she pressed deeper into the somber forests. As they moved closer to Nightside, the suntrees grew thicker and taller so they could reach up and drink in the distant, life-giving light. With every mile, the land grew cooler and darker. She didn’t like this side of the planet, finding the desert sunshine of Sunside infinitely preferable to the regions of permanent shadow. But she was determined to follow this trail wherever it may lead.
Nineteen
Aldo had convinced himself that the Nexus officials had done what they could to protect the planet in orbit. Next, he sought out Duchess Embrak. If the space forces failed, there must be a backup plan to stop the imminent invasion. The available ground forces on Ignis Glace were under the control of the nobility, and the Duchess was the closest thing they had to a Queen on this world.
After making some discreet inquiries, he made an appearance at the lady’s sumptuous apartments atop the Opulence. An historic location in Lavender City, the structure had once been a watchtower and a defensive fortification, built so large and tall that it peeped up over the rim of the canyon itself. But over the years, after improvements in colonial technology and the deployment of observation satellites, the watchtower had fallen into disuse. It had recently been converted into a fine hotel. The Opulence catered to the richest of lords and ladies, of which Duchess Embrak ranked very highly indeed.
There was an army of interceptors, of course, to keep riff-raff away from the Duchess. Aldo expected that, and dealt with them smoothly. He simply entered the lobby and accosted the first person he met who wore the reddish-brown livery of House Embrak.
“Could you be a good fellow and inform the Duchess I’ve arrived?” he asked.
The man blinked at him. His quick, bird-like eyes looked Aldo up and down very quickly. Apparently, he didn’t like what he saw, because he pursed his lips into a tiny red bud and shook his head. “I’m sorry, the Duchess isn’t hiring this month. Perhaps you should make your inquiries elsewhere.”
Aldo drew himself up and endeavored to look as snooty as possible. He did this rather well, as it came naturally to him. “The Duchess has given me her invitation. I’ve just come from the Nexus Capitol, where gentlemen are treated with decorum.”
“Oh,” the servant said, looking alarmed. “I see. You were on the ship? The Duchess has spoken with
