Read Online Cross of the Legion by Marshall S. Thomas - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Marshall S. Thomas
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stars in my head. It was the music of the gods, the natural sounds of the universe, ice cold and spooky and terrifying, but I loved it. I still had it recorded on my tacnet, but I no longer needed any help hearing it. The stars were with me, always.
"Check out all that traffic," Dragon said. "There's plenty of O ships in orbit. Looks normal to me."
"Starcom was probably getting all excited about nothing," Redhawk said. "So they diverted some ships here—so what? Maybe they had a lot of captives they wanted to transport."
"We'll probably find out soon enough."
As we entered the system, we passed a massive gas giant, swirling in phospho blue splendor, ringed by hundreds of sparkling moonlets. And a few hours later Augusta 6 appeared—a cold silvery dot, a microscopic speck in the infinite, gaping hole in the vac that was the Outvac. An island in the vac, I thought, for any species that can take it and hold it without being exterminated by something stronger and faster.
I knew exactly what was going to happen, as I watched the planet's image on the screen. I had done this before. I didn't want to look but couldn't turn away. It grew—larger and larger—and it was deathly quiet in the ship as we watched. There was only a faint chirping and humming from our sensors. And soon Augusta 6 was a blinding, silvery sphere, reflecting sunlight, an orb of ice, seemingly rushing at us like a comet. I couldn't tear my eyes away. Now it was taking up half the sky, girt with glittering, icy clouds, and we were falling, lost and hopeless, out of control, right into it, falling to our doom. I felt like a microbe.
"Listen to all that traffic! Look at those tracks! There's a whole O fleet out there!"
My adrenalin was at max. I could hear the O transmissions, screeching on our screens. They didn't talk, of course, they were telepaths, but they used the electromagnetic spectrum as heavily as we did, for many purposes, and the Kiss was sucking it all in, recording everything for the Legion. I could see all the O ships on the screens, ringing the planet. Not one of them came after us. It was true—we were invisible! The O's had the entire system wired, and we slid right through.
"Soft drop, guys—entering the at!" We were gliding in now. The wings were starting to glow. There was no need for a hot drop, it seemed. If they couldn't detect you, you could take your time.
The ship began to shake. I closed my eyes. Could I hear the music of the stars again, or was I only imagining it? I was encased in armor, and we were falling onto the target, a world totally controlled by the O's. Strangely, I was perfectly calm. I glanced over at the armor covering my left arm. I had lasered a pix of Moontouch and Stormdawn into the cenite. They gazed at me, faintly luminous, just like a pair of angels.
"Nine," I whispered into my comset. "How you doing?"
"I've been better." Priestess was back in her seat, and evidently not in a good mood.
"Something wrong?"
"Oh, everything's just fine, Thinker. Listen, you stay close to me downside, all right?"
"As ever, Priestess. I'm not going anywhere."
"No heroics. I want to live through this one!"
"Heroics? You've got the wrong guy. I'm out to survive—and nothing else."
"Good. Let's keep it that way."
"Deal."
The craft shook and vibrated wildly; the skin was white-hot. We dropped in at a steep angle. It looked like a hot drop to me, but what did I know? Redhawk was humming to himself, seemingly completely relaxed. Well, if the pilot wasn't worried, why should I be? We dropped, white-hot and invisible, into the future.
***
"Everybody still alive? Stand by. We're approaching the zero." That was Psycho's idea of humor—but the news that someone—or something—replied to our rescue burst had set my adrenalin off, and it was still going. I lay on my armored back in the charred remnants of what had been a great, ancient forest of very tall trees. Now it was a horrific wasteland of awful charcoal titans,
"Check out all that traffic," Dragon said. "There's plenty of O ships in orbit. Looks normal to me."
"Starcom was probably getting all excited about nothing," Redhawk said. "So they diverted some ships here—so what? Maybe they had a lot of captives they wanted to transport."
"We'll probably find out soon enough."
As we entered the system, we passed a massive gas giant, swirling in phospho blue splendor, ringed by hundreds of sparkling moonlets. And a few hours later Augusta 6 appeared—a cold silvery dot, a microscopic speck in the infinite, gaping hole in the vac that was the Outvac. An island in the vac, I thought, for any species that can take it and hold it without being exterminated by something stronger and faster.
I knew exactly what was going to happen, as I watched the planet's image on the screen. I had done this before. I didn't want to look but couldn't turn away. It grew—larger and larger—and it was deathly quiet in the ship as we watched. There was only a faint chirping and humming from our sensors. And soon Augusta 6 was a blinding, silvery sphere, reflecting sunlight, an orb of ice, seemingly rushing at us like a comet. I couldn't tear my eyes away. Now it was taking up half the sky, girt with glittering, icy clouds, and we were falling, lost and hopeless, out of control, right into it, falling to our doom. I felt like a microbe.
"Listen to all that traffic! Look at those tracks! There's a whole O fleet out there!"
My adrenalin was at max. I could hear the O transmissions, screeching on our screens. They didn't talk, of course, they were telepaths, but they used the electromagnetic spectrum as heavily as we did, for many purposes, and the Kiss was sucking it all in, recording everything for the Legion. I could see all the O ships on the screens, ringing the planet. Not one of them came after us. It was true—we were invisible! The O's had the entire system wired, and we slid right through.
"Soft drop, guys—entering the at!" We were gliding in now. The wings were starting to glow. There was no need for a hot drop, it seemed. If they couldn't detect you, you could take your time.
The ship began to shake. I closed my eyes. Could I hear the music of the stars again, or was I only imagining it? I was encased in armor, and we were falling onto the target, a world totally controlled by the O's. Strangely, I was perfectly calm. I glanced over at the armor covering my left arm. I had lasered a pix of Moontouch and Stormdawn into the cenite. They gazed at me, faintly luminous, just like a pair of angels.
"Nine," I whispered into my comset. "How you doing?"
"I've been better." Priestess was back in her seat, and evidently not in a good mood.
"Something wrong?"
"Oh, everything's just fine, Thinker. Listen, you stay close to me downside, all right?"
"As ever, Priestess. I'm not going anywhere."
"No heroics. I want to live through this one!"
"Heroics? You've got the wrong guy. I'm out to survive—and nothing else."
"Good. Let's keep it that way."
"Deal."
The craft shook and vibrated wildly; the skin was white-hot. We dropped in at a steep angle. It looked like a hot drop to me, but what did I know? Redhawk was humming to himself, seemingly completely relaxed. Well, if the pilot wasn't worried, why should I be? We dropped, white-hot and invisible, into the future.
***
"Everybody still alive? Stand by. We're approaching the zero." That was Psycho's idea of humor—but the news that someone—or something—replied to our rescue burst had set my adrenalin off, and it was still going. I lay on my armored back in the charred remnants of what had been a great, ancient forest of very tall trees. Now it was a horrific wasteland of awful charcoal titans,
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