Ice Sky Storm by Craig Delancey

Author:Craig Delancey [Delancey, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00RALA6JM
Barnesnoble: B00RALA6JM
Publisher: 496 \ Perfect Number Press
Published: 2014-12-20T00:00:00+00:00

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With the ship in motion, Tarkos returned with Tiklik to the cruiser. The robot again fell into silence, but its quick movements assured Tarkos that it remained in normal time. They stopped, side by side, in the back of the single hall of the cruiser, where instruments and gear for local space observation were stored. The ship ventilation began to whirr, compensating for some shift or other in the interior pressure caused by their docking.

Tarkos gave Tiklik control of the cruiser’s telescopes. “Look at the nearest of the sites that Pala’s data targets,” he told the AI. It waved an arm, but said nothing. Tarkos opened two projections from primary telescopes.

As Tiklik adjusted focus, soft white shapes sharpened into craggy gray ice boulders, single rocks out of the millions that formed the pale rings of Neelee-ornor. Each telescope swung over fields of frozen water and gas, till it settled on boulders of stone and ice the size of small asteroids. The white rocks appeared indistinguishable from the other rocks in the rings—until Tiklik increased the magnification. Then Tarkos could see it clearly: the surface of each of the boulders seethed, as if the gasses on its surface boiled and bubbled over. Tarkos leaned forward, squinting at one of the images. Tiklik increased the magnification.

The surface of the rock shifted, changing shape as he watched. Small towers, like smoke stacks, spotted the surface. As Tarkos watched, one, then two, then a dozen projectiles emitted from these towers. Tarkos recognized this; he had seen structures like these on his first mission as a Harmonizer. Nanomachine and animal symbionts were eating the rock and ice, using the matter to copy themselves, and also to build launchers that would spread their seed throughout the planet’s rings, leaping randomly from stone to stone.

“Bria,” Tarkos transmitted, on a priority channel.

“Speak,” the Sussurat answered immediately.

“Tiklik and I are looking at the rings. We have confirmed that symbiont micromachines are in the rings, and they’re spreading quickly. Pala was right. The bad news is that they’re spreading more quickly than I thought possible. They’re going to fill the ring. We need to inform Savannah Runner.”

“Much noise,” Bria said. “Will transmit also to planetary government. Failure of reception possible.”

“Eventually someone will listen,” Tarkos said.

Tarkos touched Tiklik. “Can you program these telescopes to watch each location in turn, say for a minute, and to transmit all the data to Zoroastrian for retransmission down to the planet and to Savannah Runner?”

Tiklik said nothing, but a series of messages fell through Tarkos’s data space, formulating the communications protocols.

“When you’re done, do whatever it is you need to do before facing vacuum,” Tarkos told the AI. “We’re going outside.”

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