Hidden Empire. by Kevin J. Anderson

Author:Kevin J. Anderson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: ePub Bud (www.epubbud.com)
Published: 2011-11-21T05:00:00+00:00

ng out into the sky and circling back to their perches and feed bins. "I'd forgotten about the birds.""This is a perfect place for them. Look how far they can fly.""Yes, but where do they land?"Ross rapped his knuckles on one of the railings. "Back here." Clouds extended for a thousand miles below them, but neither Ross nor Jess felt dizzy. "They have nowhere else to go, so they always return. The best sort of cage."Fastening his insulated jacket against the chill, Ross gazed across the infinite distance like a feudal lord surveying his domain. Jess pulled up his hood against the breeze. Behind them, exhaust plumes boiled upward like thunderheads that rapidly dispersed into the cloud decks of Golgen. The two brothers stood side by side in comfortable silence.During the lull in conversation, Jess sensed it was time for his gifts. He opened one of the pocket pouches on his right thigh and withdrew a thick golden disk engraved with symbols that matched the Tamblyn clan markings embroidered on Jess's and Ross's clothing. "Tasia made this for you."Ross took it, looking with wonder at the beautiful device his younger sister had created. "As usual, I'm impressed by her engineering skills...but I'll need to know what it is before I can use it."Jess pointed to the dial and the numbers. "It's a compass. It can be normalized to any planet's magnetic field so you can always find your way. See, there's the Guiding Star.""Is my little sister implying that I'm lost?""It's just her way of showing that she misses you, Ross, though you'd never get through her tough-girl act long enough for her to admit it."Ross's grin grew. "Yeah, I miss her, too."Jess reached into a second pocket and pulled out a small bound book with yellowed pages, most of which were blank, though some were covered with faded handwriting. "An old-fashioned logbook used by sea captains to keep track of their journeys. It's from Dad."Ross slid the compass into one of his pockets and held the red leather-bound book with a combination of awe and skepticism. "This is from Dad?" He flipped through the pages, looking at the handwritten words, then raised his gaze to meet Jess's. "Somehow I don't believe that. He wouldn't give this to me. In fact, all the gifts you've brought over the past several years are just family treasures you smuggled out from Plumas, aren't they?"Jess could not maintain an innocent expression. "Would you have it any other way?" Ross held the logbook, pretending not to care, but Jess could see that the gift meant a great deal to him, even if it came from his brother rather than his father.They both knew Bram Tamblyn very well. He was a stern and inflexible family leader, and for all his life he'd insisted on having everything precisely his own way. That attitude worked well enough with his employees in the water-mining operation under the ice sheets of Plumas. However, Bram Tamblyn's firstborn son had turned out to be just as stubborn as his father.

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