Read Online Hellhole Inferno by Brian Herbert - Free Book Online

deeply for her, and still felt that way. In those days, she never would have soiled her hands. But Keana had changed a great deal since then, and so had Bolton. So had the entire Constellation.
    Naïve and ill-prepared, Keana had rushed out here to rescue Cristoph de Carre, the son of her disgraced lover, but she had not known what she was doing. Hellhole had swallowed her up and changed her, joining her with an alien personality. Bolton had lost her long before that, but he had always hoped to get her back. Now, there seemed little chance of that.
    Diadem Michella, who seemed irrationally paranoid about alien contamination, had written off her own daughter, but Bolton would never give up on Keana. He still loved her, and had promised to protect her. When she went missing, he had insisted on joining Redcom Hallholme’s strike force for the express purpose of trying to rescue her. Instead, he and all the Constellation soldiers were trapped in this fenced compound.
    He hadn’t seen Keana in days. He wished she would visit him here in the camp more often. She had come twice since his capture, and he knew she still had feelings for him, but Keana was changed and overwhelmed with other concerns … undoubtedly alien concerns. He wished his life could go back to normal, but that would never happen now.
    As if summoned by Bolton’s thoughts, one of the strange Xayans entered the camp, accompanied by three human figures who glided forward, as if in a trance. Bolton looked up, saw the other human prisoners shy away from the alien creature’s long pale body, the strange flat face, the quivering feelers that extended from the smooth forehead. Bolton identified the creature as the one called Encix. The few alien survivors seemed intently interested in the pool of prisoners inside the camp. Encix had repeatedly tried to convince them to immerse themselves in the slickwater pools as an offer of freedom—an offer that no one had accepted. Yet.
    But he was much more intrigued to see the accompanying humans—converts who had immersed themselves in slickwater, acquiring alien lives. They were changed, different, intimidating. And one of them standing next to Encix was Keana.
    His heart leaped and he stepped forward even while other prisoners shied away. “Keana!” She looked at him as the alien moved forward on a long caterpillar body. Her eyes were distant, but he could still see his wife there, still knew she could interact as herself even though her mind was in a kind of symbiosis with an alien presence.
    A faint smile crossed her face. “Bolton, we are hoping to convince you—and all these other prisoners—to join us. To achieve your freedom. If you come to the slickwater, there would no longer be any need for you to stay in this camp.”
    His chest went cold. “I … can’t do that.”
    Emerging from the main command tent several rows away, Redcom Escobar Hallholme marched in front of two other junior officers, Lt. Seyn Vingh and BluCap Agok Yimidi. The Redcom flinched noticeably when he saw the Xayan, clearly wishing he could avoid contact, but Bolton realized that Encix was coming toward the central building with a purpose.
    The Redcom looked angry. “You are not welcome here, and none of my men and women will let themselves be possessed by aliens. You’re wasting your time.”
    Encix said, “That is because you don’t understand the wondrous opportunities … and you don’t understand the urgency.”
    Escobar and the two other officers joined Bolton outside the meeting hall, facing the alien and the shadow-Xayans accompanying her. Anxious Constellation soldiers turned their attention to Encix as she proceeded along the dusty thoroughfare and stopped in front of the officers. Keana stood beside the alien, like an equal, but she let Encix speak. “Who will leave this camp and become one of us?”
    â€œGeneral Adolphus made