Sacrifice and Rebellion

 
Keela and Ilaz
We leave the shelter and return to the blue city.
“Take us to the surface now, Yagrin,” says Niyta.
“The Jiku need our help.”

“It’s dangerous there for the children.”
“Leave them here with a few of the sisters.”

I turn to Hukal.
“Can you contact your AIs?”
“I need help finding Ilaz and Disu.”

“The infonet is slow,” he says, “but it’s working.”
He pauses.
“The AIs have no information about our friends.”
“And there’s no response to the messages I’ve sent to their commdisks.”

“You won’t be able to reach them.”
“The sword’s energy … Read more

Treason

 
Reunion
“Prince Ilaz!” says Siya, the director of the research center.
She’s about seventy years old, middle age for the Jiku.

“Director Siya, you’re still alive!”

She laughs.
“You know I’m not that old.”
“I missed you.”
“I haven’t seen you in over ten years.”
“You stopped coming, and then I heard you were in a waking coma.”

“I recovered.”
“Sorry I never visited or messaged you.”

“Do you have a hug for an old friend?”

He hugs the older woman.

“I never expected you to hang around here like you used to.”
“You were a boy of fifteen … Read more

Strangers and their Gifts

 
Unprepared
“It’s going slowly, Berek,” says Keela.
“We have no experience in manufacturing the carbon fibers.”
“And we don’t have enough engineers to redesign the airships, weapons, and other devices to incorporate the material.”

“If only we had the shaping device that Mayla showed us,” thinks Berek.
She never gave us plans for it, only a limited version with built-in models for a few weapons.
That was long ago, and those weapons would be useless without the fibers, once the Kizak activate a tech screen.

“We’ll be able to produce some devices that can resist the tech screen, but … Read more