Angels of Caliban by Gav Thorpe

Author:Gav Thorpe
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Published: 2016-05-20T13:05:04+00:00

Sixteen

Locking the stable gate

Ultramar

There was a scale model of Magna Macragge Civitas in the eastern hall of the residency, which the Lion found altogether more pleasant than the hololithic projections of the city held in the databanks of the Invincible Reason. The tactile quality of being able to crouch down and look across the perfectly represented escarpment of Gallan’s Rock, or to see down from the spired roofs of the Palaestra, made up for the lack of convenience to do so. In seeing the physical object, he was reminded just what thought had gone into the layout, a sense he never had picked up from projected light.

‘It’s very orderly,’ he said, glancing up from the stacks of the granaries to look at his brothers. Sanguinius stood to one side, not so much distracted as almost absent in thought. Guilliman frowned.

‘The domus is a mess, but I took my father’s advice and decided never to spend time organising that which actively resisted organisation. There is something to be said in the defence of allowing organic growth. Often the wisdom of the crowd concocts solutions far more elegantly than any application of the theoretical and practical.’

‘People best make their own spaces,’ said the Lion.

‘That is a more succinct way of saying it, yes,’ Guilliman admitted. ‘I suppose Aldurukh is not so different? It follows the established Imperial delineations and zonal layouts?’

‘Beyond the walls, we endeavoured to match the Imperium’s standards. The city proper is more like the castrum, defined by defensive needs and geology more than grand design.’ He looked at the inner fortification of the civitas and shook his head. ‘Although Aldurukh has a great deal more… verticality.’

Guilliman questioned the use of this word with a look.

‘It’s mostly dug out of a mountain,’ explained the Lion. ‘Not many flat spaces around the tower of the Angelicasta until you reach the plain. It is generally based on a spiral layout, moving in towards the central keep from the outer gates.’

Guilliman accepted this with a nod and said nothing. He glanced at Sanguinius but the emperor was staring through the modelled city, his thoughts far away.

‘Brother, I do not think you are fully engaged in our endeavour,’ said the Lion, straightening. ‘You have barely spoken your approval of my plan.’

‘Whatever you and Roboute decide will be exceptional,’ said the Blood Angel, a semblance of life returning to his features like a beautiful statue animating. He smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. ‘It would be a grand vanity to think I can improve on a design described by two such towering intellects.’

‘I will be transmitting my orders before daybreak,’ the Lion said, looking directly at Guilliman. ‘Now is the time to voice any objections. We must be of one mind on this matter.’

The Lord Warden did not return his gaze, but spent some seconds studying the scaled-down city. How different a reaction from the last time the Lion’s warriors had come to Macragge Civitas. Four hundred drop pods had descended towards the fully active defences, certain death for those within.

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