Legacy of Shadow by Gallant Craig;

Author:Gallant, Craig;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Zmok Books
Published: 2016-03-08T16:00:00+00:00

*****

“We may as well begin with the defenses of the Red Tower.” Agha-pa’s voice was rough and raspy as he waddled ahead of Marcus away from the control center toward the old ship’s prow. “The city’s system basically ties all of the point defense weaponry of the towers together into a single network. Enough of the original ships that make up the city were either military in origin or had rudimentary defenses, that it presents a formidable array of weaponry to attackers, no matter what their orientation.”

Marcus nodded as he skip-stepped to keep up. “What about an attack from beneath? There weren’t as many towers oriented toward the planet.” In truth, he had been in awe of the massive city as they approached, and barely remembered what it looked like. But he was fairly sure there were fewer towers along Penumbra’s underside.

The Leemuk shrugged, an interesting phenomenon to view from behind, as the creature had no neck to speak of. “There are energy sinks scattered throughout the more sparsely-occupied sections of the Relic Core’s surface. We have records of them performing the roles of both close-in defenses and offensive emitter arrays in times of attack.”

“Records, because the city hasn’t been attacked in living memory?” Marcus was still trying to come to grips with the scale of time they were dealing with. It seemed like everything he heard about had happened thousands of years ago, except that no one here measured time in Earth years, of course, and so he had a hard time keeping track of the relative scope of galactic history.

“That is correct.” Agha-pa stopped beside a lift tube. “We can head to the top of the Tower. There are several batteries that cover this quadrant of the city’s skyline spread across what was once the dorsal surface of the old Variyar warship, but most are concentrated toward the bow, which is now the top of the Tower, of course.”

Marcus truly believed he would never get used to traveling within the lift tubes of Penumbra, even if the aliens let him live here for the rest of his life. The disorienting rush of air, the blur of the tube’s walls rushing by, and the flattening of any sounds within all combined to make him feel as if he was getting pushed through some sewer pipe at high speeds.

The tube deposited them in a small chamber that seemed stark even by the standards of the Red Tower. Something about the room made him feel that it had been abandoned for longer than he wanted to think. The three of them moved out into the small room, the air of abandonment clearly affecting each of them. Agha-pa reached out to unlock the door before them when it popped with an audible click at Marcus’s approach. The Leemuk turned to look at him, the two moist eyes questioning. Then his gaze fell to the glowing medallion, and the little eyes widened as wide as they were able within their tight, glistening sockets.

“Thank you.

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