Skolian Empire: The Radiant Seas Part 1

Skolian Empire.

The Radiant Seas.

Asaro, Catherine.

In Memory of Jo Clayton.

193998.

A friend, mentor, and admired colleague who graced the world with her talent and her spirit.

See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven find means to kill your joys with love.

And I, for winking at your discords too, Have lost a brace of kinsmen:-all are punish'd.

-Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare.

Acknowledgments.

I would like to thank the following readers for their much appreciated input. Their comments have made this a better book, and any mistakes that remain are my own.

To Major James Cannizzo, USAF, for advice on the military; to Professor Todd Jackson and his Goucher geniuses, the students in his cla.s.s at Goucher College: Abby Callard, Margaret Slack, Claire Willey, Mei-Ling Johnson, and Pat Lenehan, for their insightful a.n.a.lyses and an absolutely delicious dinner; to my sister, Nina Smith, for her excellent suggestions; to NASA scientist Marc Millis at Lewis Research Center, for his much appreciated insights; to Professor Davide Cervone in the Math Department at Union College in Schenectady, New York, for making me the diagram of the Klein bottle; to Jan Howard Finder, for his coinage of the word bytelock; to my editors Jim Minz and David Hartwell, to my publisher Tom Doherty, and to the many people at Tor who made this book possible; and to my agent Eleanor Wood for her excellent work on my behalf. A special thanks to the s.h.i.+ning lights in my life, my husband John Cannizzo and my daughter Cathy, for their love and support.

Important Characters, in Order of Appearance.

KURJ SKOLIA - Imperator of Skolian Imperialate. Military commander in chief of forces within Imperial s.p.a.ce Command (ISC): the Imperial Fleet, Pharaoh's Army, Advance Services Corps (ASC) and J-Force. Firstborn son of Roca Skolia. Stepson of Eldrinson Valdoria. Military Key of Triad. Member of Ruby Dynasty. Rhon.

STARJACK TAHOTA - admiral and eventually commander of the Imperial Fleet.

SAUSCONY LAHAYLIA VALDORIA (SOZ) - Kurj's heir and half sister. Sixth child of Roca Skolia and Eldrinson Valdoria. Married to Jaibriol Qox II. Narrator of Primary Inversion. Also called Primary Valdoria. Member of Ruby Dynasty. Rhon.

JAIBRIOL QOX II - firstborn son and heir of Emperor Ur Qox, grandson of Emperor Jaibriol I, and great-grandson of Eube Qox, the founder and first emperor of Eube. Married to Sauscony Valdoria. Member of Ruby Dynasty by marriage. Rhon.

DYHIANNA SELEI (DEHYA) - the Ruby Pharaoh. Highest ranked and oldest member of Ruby Dynasty. Sister of Roca Skolia. a.s.sembly Key of Triad. Married to Eldrin Valdoria. Rhon.

ALTHOR VALDORIA - Kurj's second heir and half brother. Second child of Roca Skolia and Eldrinson Valdoria. Uncle and namesake of Althor Selei in Catch the Lightning (which takes place sixty-nine years after The Radiant Seas begins). Member of Ruby Dynasty. Rhon.

ELDRINSON VALDORIA (ELDRI) - Web Key of Triad. Husband of Roca Skolia and sire of the ten Valdoria children. Member of Ruby Dynasty by marriage. Rhon.

ROCA SKOLIA - Foreign Affairs Councilor in the Imperial a.s.sembly and heir to a.s.sembly Key. Wife of Eldrinson Valdoria, sister of Dyhianna Selei, mother of Kurj, and mother of the ten Valdoria children. Member of Ruby Dynasty. Rhon.

ELDRIN VALDORIA (DRYNI) - oldest child of Eldrinson Valdoria and Roca Skolia. Consort to Pharaoh Dyhianna Selei. Member of Ruby Dynasty. Rhon.

BARCALA TIKAL - First Councilor of the Skolian a.s.sembly. Civilian leader of the Imperialate.

U'JJR QOX (UR) - emperor of the Eubian Concord, also known as Trader Empire. Son of Jaibriol I and father of Jaibriol II. a.s.sumed to be a Highton Aristo.

VIQUARA IQUAR - empress of Eubian Concord. Wife of Ur Qox. Highton Aristo.

JESSIE TARRINGTON - son of Senator Jack Tarrington. Captured by Trader pirates.

AMI - mistress of Kurj Skolia. Originally a War Room page.

JAIBRIOL QOX SKOLIA (JAI) - firstborn of Soz and Jaibriol II. Also known as Jaibriol III. Member of both Ruby and Qox Dynasties. Rhon.

ROCALISA QOX SKOLIA (LISI) - second child of Soz and Jaibriol II. Named for Soz's mother Roca. Member of both Ruby and Qox Dynasties. Rhon.

ERISTIA LEIROL VALDORIA - illegitimate daughter of Althor Valdoria and Syreen Leirol.

SYREEN LEIROL - friend and former companion of Althor Valdoria. Former actress turned linguist.

COOP - an artist. Companion to Althor Valdoria.

KRYX QUAELEN - Trade Minister of Eube. Highton Aristo.

CIRRUS - pleasure girl and provider owned by Emperor Ur Qox. Mother of Kai, her son by Ur Qox, making Kai Jaibriol II's half brother.

VITAR QOX SKOLIA - third child of Soz and Jaibriol. Member of both Ruby and Qox Dynasties. Rhon.

DEL-KELRIC QOX SKOLIA (KELLI) - fourth child of Soz and Jaibriol. Named in honor of Soz's brother Kelric (the main character in The Last Hawk). Member of both Ruby and Qox Dynasties. Rhon.

IZAR VITREX - Eubian Minister of Intelligence. Highton Aristo.

CORBAL XIR - patriarch of Xir bloodline, which controls Sphinx Sector in Eube. Related to the Qox Dynasty, as the son of Eube Qox's sister Ilina. Highton Aristo.

CAYSON - pleasure youth and provider owned by Empress Viquara.

CALOPE MUZE - High Judge of Highton Aristo. Related to Qox Dynasty, as the daughter of Eube Qox's sister Tarquine. Wife of Admiral La.s.sar Ajaks. Highton Aristo.

WILLIAM SETH ROCKWORTH III - retired naval admiral and ex-husband to Dyhianna Selei. Their arranged marriage established the Iceland Treaty between Earth and Skolia.

TAQUINIL SELEI - firstborn son of Pharaoh Dyhianna and her consort Eldrin. Heir to Ruby Throne. Member of Ruby Dynasty. Rhon.

DAYAMAR STONE - general and commandant of the ASC.

NAAJ MAJDA - General of the Pharaoh's Army.

BRANT TAPPERHAVEN - Jagernaut Primary and commandant of the Jagernaut Forces, or J-Forces.

Prologue.

I swear I meant well. I sought only to benefit humanity, to increase the human tolerance for pain. But none of that matters now. These creations of mine that call themselves Aristos-they feel no empathy for the pain of others. No, it is worse than that. They are anti-empaths, like vampires that feed on human suffering. You know I have dedicated my life to healing. Would I beg you to destroy them if I saw any other choice? Open your eyes! We must stop them before they spread beyond our ability to contain. For if we don't destroy them, they will surely destroy us.

-From the testimony of the geneticist Hezahr Rhon to the Parthonia Ethics Committee, four days before his murder by the Aristos.

Kurj Skolia strode down the corridor, past walls lit with a muted radiance. Admiral Starjack Tahota kept pace at his side, speaking into the comm on the flexible gauntlet she wore around her wrist. They stalked through the skyneedle toward his office, two towering figures, he seven feet tall, she six-foot-six, he a metal giant more machine than human, she long-legged and muscular, with a bronzed face and gray-streaked dark hair.

"Imperator Skolia." A man's voice snapped out of the comm on Kurj's wrist gauntlet. "This is Colonel Casestar. We've intercepted a signal between the two s.h.i.+ps on the roof of your palace, the flier and the racer. Jaibriol Qox is piloting the flier. Primary Valdoria has control of the racer, and she is threatening to destroy Qox's flier if he doesn't surrender."

"Understood." Kurj glanced at Tahota. "What's the status on the planetary cordon?"

"It's complete," Tahota said. "No s.h.i.+p can get out unless we let it."

Kurj spoke into his comm. "Casestar, have you established communication with my sister yet?"

"Negative, sir. Primary Valdoria doesn't respond on any channel we've opened to the racer."

"Get me through to her," Kurj said. "I don't want her shooting down Qox's s.h.i.+p." He still didn't know how Jaibriol Qox had escaped his prison cell, but Kurj wanted him alive, this heir of the Aristo emperor. He couldn't interrogate a dead man.

Casestar spoke again. "Sir, Qox's flier is taking off."

"He must be desperate," Tahota said. "He has to know we have a cordon set up."

"Maybe he doesn't care," Kurj said. "In his place, wouldn't you prefer death to recapture?"

"What the h.e.l.l?" Casestar said. "Sir, Qox has engaged the stardrive on his s.h.i.+p. Primary Valdoria is bringing her inversion drives on-line as well-saints almighty, they're trying to invert from standing still."

Kurj scowled. "Casestar, get me that line to my sister now. I don't want her pursuing Qox. If you can't reach her, cripple her racer." Bad enough he might lose his prize prisoner if Qox engaged the stardrive of his s.h.i.+p while it was at rest on the surface of the planet. Kurj had no intention of letting his sister and heir risk her life to stop him.

"Sir." Casestar's voice sounded odd. "Both s.h.i.+ps just melted out of real s.p.a.ce."

Kurj stopped, with Tahota at his side. "Repeat that last."

"Both s.h.i.+ps tried to invert," Casestar said. "They disappeared. Dissipated into nothing."

Kurj stared at Tahota. Speaking into his comm, he said, "Find them." But even as he spoke, he saw his thoughts mirrored in Tahota's broad face. To activate its stardrive, a s.h.i.+p had to be traveling at near light speed, far from the gravity well of a planet. As far as Kurj knew, no s.h.i.+p that had tried otherwise had survived.

I - Exile.

356 ASC on the Imperial Calendar.

379 EG on the Eubian Calendar.

A.D. 2259 on the Gregorian Calendar.

Ie 5262 on the Ruby Calendar.

About 6275 on the Iotic Calendar.

1.

They spent their first evening of exile staring at the sky of their new world, watching the sea of stars. While the long sunset died, the two of them sat on the edge of a cliff, a laser carbine across their knees, the mountains rolling away at their feet.

In the initial flush of their escape, Soz Valdoria had felt a rush of optimism. As a Primary, one of Imperial s.p.a.ce Command's highest ranking officers, she well knew the odds against evading a planetwide cordon set up by ISC. That she and Jaibriol had succeeded exhilarated her. But as daylight waned, her adrenaline-provoked rush of euphoria faded. She glanced at Jaibriol Qox, suddenly unsure what to say to this man who, as of one hour ago, was her husband.

Jaibriol turned to her. "Perhaps we should go back to the cave. Take shelter for the night."

"All right." She stood up with him, holding the carbine.

A warning entered her mind. Alert.

What's the problem? Soz asked. Bio-electrodes in her neurons converted the thought into pulses that it sent to the computer node in her spine, using fiberoptic threads that networked her body.

Something is coming, her node thought. As Soz turned to the forest behind them, a map "appeared" in her mind. Her node accessed her optic nerve and the map jumped out in front of her, a translucent image superimposed on the landscape. It had few details, given their scant data on this primitive wilderness, but a red triangle blinked in one corner.

Estimated distance: 1215 meters; weight: 200300 kilograms, her node thought. Predicted trajectory shown. A blue line appeared on the map.

Unaware of her silent communication, Jaibriol stepped toward the trees. When Soz laid her hand on his arm, he froze, and she glimpsed an image in his mind: herself, sitting naked on a bed, smiling as she held out her hand to him. Then he flushed and raised his mental barriers. His mind became a fortress, unreadable and closed.

Disconcerted, yet also flattered, Soz pulled back her hand. "Something is coming toward us."

He indicated the carbine. "Can that deal with it?"

"Possibly. But I'd prefer to conserve the charge."

On her map, the red triangle stopped, then moved again, this time away from them. Path cleared, her node thought.

Soz glanced at Jaibriol, trying to relax. "We can go now."

They entered the forest together. Although it was dark under the canopy of foliage, her enhanced optics let her see in both the infrared and the ultraviolet. When she toggled her IR, the landscape smoldered in dim reds and Jaibriol glowed in the colors of flame. The trees resembled giant palms a hundred meters tall. They whispered, crackling and shus.h.i.+ng, their crowns forming an intertwined roof, with huge stiff fronds that clattered together or floated to the ground. Fragrances drifted in the air, the delicate, bittersweet smells of unknown foliage and loamy soil.

Jaibriol stumbled on an exposed root. "Sauscony," he said. "Can you see where we're going?"

She stopped, surprised to hear her full first name, and he plowed into her. Her node toggled the hydraulics that augmented her skeleton and muscles, and she caught her balance with enhanced speed.