AELIN
The universe was vast and full of wonders—some too marvelous to understand, some too terrifying.
In an empty wasteland of space, far from any star system, the ekti-X extraction operations worked at full capacity, a swarm of activity. Lee Iswander had found another cluster of mysterious bloaters that appeared out of nowhere, drifted aimlessly, then went nowhere.
No one but Iswander’s crew knew that the protoplasmic sacks were filled with energy-dense ekti. The secret fuel-harvesting operations proceeded in the deep emptiness, light-years from any possible observers. Pumping rigs and extraction siphons descended on one bloater at a time like bizarre mechanical mosquitoes, sucking each nodule dry. They filled canister after canister with stardrive fuel and left the discarded husks to drift away. Iswander’s crew, sworn to secrecy, loaded distribution tankers and delivered the stardrive fuel to hidden dropoff points, from which carefully vetted representatives would distribute the fuel to trading depots. No one else in the Confederation knew where ekti-X came from, and frustration was increasing across the Spiral Arm.
This bloater cluster would eventually be depleted, but Iswander’s scouts had already located other drifting conglomerations in the dark spaces between the stars.
The green priest Aelin knew that it would never stop. He wanted to scream.
He had begged Iswander to cease his operations, but the industrialist would not listen to an eccentric, possibly insane green priest. They knew Aelin had been damaged, changed, through his recent ordeal among the bloaters. They considered him mad—and, objectively, Aelin couldn’t dispute that.
But it didn’t mean he was wrong.
His mind had been connected to the bloaters during one of their synchronistic energy outbursts, which revealed to him a tapestry that he could not begin to comprehend. Those revelations had altered his thoughts about everything. Aelin was certain the majestic bloaters were much more than mere “space plankton” to be wrung dry of fuel.
He had to do something about it.
On bare feet, the green priest crept through the operational complex that drifted near the bloater operations. Holding his breath, listening to the silence, Aelin ducked around corridors, intense and alert. The station had monitor cams, but he hoped no one was watching. The rest of Iswander’s crew would be busy with daily production.
Half-naked, Aelin padded along the cold—always cold!—deck plates, making his way to the nearest docking bay. Like most green priests, he wore only a loincloth, refusing to abandon the traditions of his native planet, Theroc. Aelin’s green skin made him stand out among other people, so he had to make sure no one spotted him. He needed to escape.
Lee Iswander’s deputy, Elisa Enturi, was a ruthless watchdog—who had no love or sympathy for Aelin. He knew that. He couldn’t let anyone see him … particularly not her.
After his euphoric disaster, immersed in the soft, sentient awareness of bloater half-thoughts, Aelin had been lost in a catatonic state in the sickbay module, seemingly oblivious to the rest of the universe … but he could still hear and absorb the words around him. Drowning in the new revelations that burned through his brain, he had not paid much attention to trivial, mundane things—but he still remembered.
Standing near his sickbay bed, Elisa had advised Lee Iswander in a voice like a rusty metal blade, “Just discard him, sir. With his treeling destroyed, he is worthless as a green priest. He’s no good to us. And there’s always a risk if he escapes. This man is unstable, unpredictable, and dangerous. Removing the threat is the wisest course of action.” She didn’t even bother to hush her voice.
Lee Iswander had watched his business empire crumble after a tragic accident on Sheol, but he was regaining prominence, thanks to the enormously profitable ekti-X operations. “No, we keep him with us,” he told her. “I’ve known Aelin ever since he was a young man on Theroc. I brought him here to join our operations because he wanted to see the universe.” His tone was firm. “He will stay with us, regardless of his eccentricities. That’s my decision.”
Despite the marvelous epiphanies pouring through his brain, Aelin had been well aware of their conversation.
As he left the sickbay, Iswander had added to Enturi, “We just need to be careful. Watch him.”
And now, months later, Aelin was careful too.
Hearing voices down the corridor near the docking bay, he ducked into a storage cubicle, slid the door shut, and huddled inside. He waited while two off-duty extraction workers strolled toward their personal quarters in the habitation module. Aelin’s heart pounded, and he held his breath, but the two women walked past the cubicle, talking about a game they planned to play with friends that night.
When they were gone, Aelin slipped out and darted down the corridor to the docking bay, where several short-range Iswander vessels were there for the taking. He could steal a scout pod, fly away from the admin complex, and make his way out to the nodules that floated like islands in a sea of stars.
This was the second large bloater cluster exploited by Lee Iswander. The first had been a serendipitous discovery found outside an unremarkable star system. That initial cluster, and the accompanying Iswander operations, was nearly destroyed by the Shana Rei and the black robots, but then the shadow cloud had simply withdrawn, ignoring the extraction operations after all.
Afterward, the rest of the bloaters underwent a fantastic metamorphosis into enormous solar-sailing creatures that soared away and left the befuddled workers behind. Through his raw nerve endings and exposed thoughts, Aelin had felt joy and freedom as the bloaters took flight across the cosmos. Even so, none of the Iswander workers believed that the marvelous gas sacks were anything more than unusual phenomena.
Afterward, Lee Iswander had found another cluster and begun the massive extraction operations again, harvesting bloaters, slaughtering them.…
Creeping along, Aelin reached the docking bay hatch. He glanced through an observation port and waited with increasing tension while one worker refueled a scout pod that had returned from an inspection tour of the operations. Yes, that was what Aelin wanted. He didn’t need to go far—just out to the bloaters to make contact again.
Despite his tolerance, Iswander was obviously worried that the unstable green priest would try to escape to the nearest civilized outpost. Because he could reveal the nature of the ekti-X operations, Aelin was a threat to Iswander Industries. If other Roamers knew how simple it was to extract stardrive fuel from bloaters—in contrast with their difficult and expensive operations harvesting ekti from gas-giant planets—Lee Iswander would be ruined.
Aelin had no desire to sell his secrets, though—nor even to escape. He just wanted to be out among the bloaters, where he could bathe in their thoughts, absorb their revelations. This was much deeper than the mental community that green priests shared when connected to the sentient trees in the worldforest.
The worldtrees stored thousands of years of data, experiences, and memories. When he first passed through the transformation to become a green priest, Aelin had imagined that the verdani mind must be the most magnificent manifestation in the universe. But he had sensed something about the mysterious drifting bloaters, and he had flown out among them, curious. Carrying a small potted treeling and oblivious to the danger, he had tried to connect with the bloaters via telink. The responding surge had incinerated his treeling and overloaded his mind.
Thanks to that connection, though, Aelin now felt the constant, wordless pain emitted by the bloaters. They were so much more than he had ever guessed before.…
Inside the docking bay, the refueling technician strolled away from the inspection pod, logged his work into the station database, and exited the launching bay. When the hangar was empty, Aelin opened the hatch and darted across the open deck.
The entire extraction field was a high-security operation, but internal Iswander security was less rigorous. Aelin ducked into a spherical inspection pod. He could feel the strange calling inside his mind, the titanic and incomprehensible presence represented by the bloaters. He was sure that if he touched them again, he would receive all the knowledge he needed. He would understand what they were.
He felt a great burden and responsibility as well. Only he could make Iswander Industries stop the painful slaughter.
After sealing the pod’s hatch, Aelin powered up the engines, felt the craft vibrate around him. He keyed in the activation code that would open the atmosphere field to let him fly away from the complex. He needed to be out among the bloaters before anyone knew he had gone.
Efficient air pumps drained the chamber, but just as Aelin tried to raise the pod from the deck plates, a sequence of warning signals flickered through the cockpit controls and alarm lights flashed on the metal walls. The atmosphere barrier field strengthened, blocking his exit, and air flooded back into the bay. Amber lights strobed all around him.
The green priest frantically worked the piloting controls, but overrides deactivated them. The pod settled onto the deck and came to rest as the engines shut down. Aelin sat helpless and dismayed in the single seat.
Three Iswander security guards rushed into the docking bay, followed by Lee Iswander himself, tall and lean. His dark brown hair was neat, his temples frosted with gray. He looked distinguished, commanding—and displeased.
Unceremoniously, the guards unsealed the pod’s hatch and grabbed Aelin’s bare green arms, hauling him out. He struggled, but only halfheartedly. He yelled to Iswander, “You must let me go out there!”
“No, green priest—I don’t need to do that at all.” He sounded disappointed, even paternal. “I won’t let you jeopardize our operations.”
Aelin thrashed, but the guards held his arms firmly. “Your operations are endangering the universe! You are spilling the blood of the cosmos. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Iswander raised his eyebrows. “We’re becoming the preeminent supplier of stardrive fuel throughout the Spiral Arm. The success of my operations proves that I know what I’m doing.”
Aelin said, “Please—you don’t understand the damage you’re causing! I can feel their pain.”
Iswander spoke in a wistful voice. “I remember a long time ago, after you broke your leg treedancing on Theroc. Even while you were recovering, you made your way out of the tree city and sneaked aboard one of my commercial ships. I could tell that you had big dreams, Aelin—I thought you were a kindred spirit. That’s why I took a gamble and brought you out here to be my personal green priest.” He placed his hands on his hips, and his voice became harder. “But my patience is running out—don’t make me regret my decision.”
He gestured to the guards. “Take him back to his quarters and keep him confined. If he resists, have medical sedate him.”
Aelin’s muscles went watery as the guards pulled him away. His connection with the bloaters remained: he could feel them dying, but he could do nothing about it.