Read Online The Orphaned Worlds by Michael Cobley - Free Book Online

the world Umara suffered partial incineration, all the splendour of its vast and teeming forests consumed by fire, their smoke filling the skies, ashes choking the rivers. Chel had witnessed it all in the vivid, unforgettable visions of a husking ceremony. But rather than transforming him into a Listener, the taller, gaunter form of Uvovo, the ritual gave him four new eyes which, when opened in certain combinations, could reveal things from the past as well as possible futures.
    Now, in the darkness, he sighed and sat up again and brooded. Umara, cradle of Segrana-That-Was, had become Darien, home to a colony of fractious, flawed, fascinating Humans who seemed to draw in enemies and adversity the way sun-fermented emels attracted insects. Yet if Humans had not come to settle here, the Uvovo would never have been able to cross from the moon to their ancient home and there would have been no resistance to the Hegemony and possibly no knowledge of Umara’s existence spread among the stars.
    And little real good have the Humans brought about , responded his inner arguer. Half the stars in the sky seem to know of our plight yet none come to our aid. Knowledge is clearly of little value to them .
    We cannot see all that is happening so we cannot know what will happen , he countered. Bare ground hides many seeds .
    But his arguer was not done. So how long will you wait for your forest to grow out of that dry, dusty soil?
    Chel smiled and gazed around him at the dimness, broken only by a Human oil lantern set to give off a feeble amber glow. The unseen watcher was still there, he was sure. He raised one hand to the cloth strip covering his Seer eyes and was on the verge of opening the outer pair when one of the prone shapes nearby stirred and sat up.
    ‘So – can’t sleep?’ muttered a voice in accented Noranglic.
    ‘It’s the stone, Pilot Yash,’ he whispered back. ‘I find I cannot fully relax here.’
    ‘What about them cave recesses back at Tayowal? They’re cut into rock but you didn’t have trouble sleeping there.’
    ‘True, but the scholars there have enfolded their refuge with plants and flowers and umisk nests, all the tendrils of life.’
    ‘Hmmph.’ Yash scratched one of his ears. ‘Or you could be wondering if we’re being watched.’
    Chel smiled. ‘How did you know?’
    ‘Places like this, they always have a bit of …’
    He paused as one of the scholars muttered in her sleep and turned over. Both of them were still and silent for a moment, then Chel, in the faintest of whispers, said, ‘Talk outside …’
    They stood and carefully tiptoed to the door, then by the light of a handtorch moved along the corridor a few paces.
    ‘You were about to say something about old places like this, Pilot Yash,’ Chel said in a low voice.
    The short-bodied, long-armed Voth, wrapped in a bulky quilted coat, gestured at the stonework all around.
    ‘Your ancestors built this place for a serious reason, and it’s big enough for plenty of them and whatever they were about, yes?’
    Chel nodded, and Yash spread his hands.
    ‘Right, well among my people we know that all old buildings, especially ones made for war or captivity, carry residual imprints of past inhabitants and their activities. I overheard that them new eyes of yours let you see the past – have you seen anything here?’
    ‘I have not used my other eyes here,’ Chel said.
    ‘Aren’t you curious?’ said the Voth. ‘Jelk, if it were me I’d want to know what my predecessors were up to!’
    Chel smiled. Of course he was curious, but he was also cautious and not a little bit afraid of what he might see. But I’ll have to take forward steps sometime, and it would be worth seeing if this seer sight reveals who or what is watching us .
    ‘Very well, Pilot Yash, I shall take a brief look. But be aware that these eyes sometimes show me more than just the past …’
    He pushed the cloth strip up into his fine, dense hair and for a moment just stood,