Hammer and Crucible by Cameron Cooper (easy books to read txt) 📗

it is said, the light of the suns bouncing from dome to dome, making them glitter and dance, could blind anyone who stared for too long.

I doubt it’s true. I’ve been to the Crystal City once or twice and my first glimpse of a dome was disappointing. The facets I could see were dirty and grimed. Later, I learned that the dirt was exhaust from ships pulling away from their landing bays. The dirt was caught by the edges of the gravity fields which extend a little way beyond the dome itself. The gravity pulled the crap against the dome, to stay there until some mug in a suit and waldos got to clean the facets.

The magic of the city was ruined for me, after that.

We eased through the gates before the rise of either sun, on the day of the Birthday Honors. We were all on the bridge. Even Noam had returned for this moment and stood out of the way, next to Lyth. We all held our breath, even those who did not breathe.

“Any warnings or notices, Noam?” I whispered, as The Supreme Lythion swung around in a big arc, skirting the mass of the Imperial fleet where it had been parked off to one side of the city. Shuttles buzzed around the monster-sized ships like bees, for even at this hour, the preparations for the parade and the festivities were in full swing.

“Nothing,” Noam said.

“Regulation speed, remember, Lyth,” I said.

“Slower, actually,” Lyth said. “Just over one gee, for Dalton’s sake.”

Dalton didn’t bother being offended or apologetic. He had his back to the captain’s shell, ready to take over. He glanced at me. “You should probably get going. Even at this crawl, we’ll reach the city in less than an hour.”

I nodded and looked at Juliyana. She gripped her hip above where her gun once sat. Her fingers squeezed, then she turned and moved off the bridge.

I lingered for a moment next to Dalton.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t let the big chair go to my head,” he muttered.

“I was going to say thanks.”

He looked at me, startled. “For what?” He pulled his attention back to the control panel.

“Lyth and Noam may have pulled you to Badelt City on this ship, but it was you who stepped through the landing bay door and whistled to get my attention. No one else made that decision but you, and it saved our lives.”

He glared at the windows before him. “What was I supposed to do? Stand there and watch them mow you down?”

“You could have. It would have saved you a packet of trouble. No one would have known, if you had. That’s why I’m saying thanks.” I walked away without waiting for his reply. I didn’t want one, for this was part of my ritual; squaring up debts, so nothing lingered.

I moved down the ramp to the still-empty living area, where our personal possessions were strewn across the floor like a child’s toy collection. There was still far more empty gray floor than there was mess to step around.

I moved directly to the corridor that led to the dropship and down it to the ship itself.

Juliyana was strapping herself into the pilot’s chair. She had protested over this. “I am a shitty pilot, Danny! I’ve done basics, but I’ve been in the bowels of stations for years!”

I pulled rank. “I go first,” I told her. “The AI does most of the flying, anyway. You just have to pat it on the head and tell it it’s doing fine. No arguments, Juliyana. Or I take Dalton instead.” That shut her up, as I had known it would. She wanted to be there, to confront the Emperor. To see his face.

I punched up the viewscreen. The Lythion drifted underneath the city, an aspect rarely seen by residents and visitors. The underbelly was a complex of service modules, shafts, pipes, exhausts belching noxious fumes. Recycling plants, bio scrubbers, air conditioners and more scattered across the city’s ass in a maze that defied solving.

We watched the far edge of the city draw closer, and the clear sky beyond, lit blue by the first sun rising from behind Eugoria II. “Second sun, twelve minutes away,” Lyth said.

“We’ll be ready,” I replied.

I got out of the chair and moved to the interior of the drop ship. The bag with the suits sat on the bench where Moroder had been sitting. I pulled out one of the suit packs and eased my arms into the straps, settling it on my back. I was wearing a supple bodysuit that covered me from neck to toes. The feet of the suit were super-non-slip, to the point where I had to lift my feet properly when I walked or risk tripping over them if even part of the sole brushed over the floor as I walked.

Juliyana wore the same outfit, and her pack rested in the bag.

“Coming around,” Juliyana announced.

I glanced at the screen. Nothing but planetary crescent ahead, and the glowing dawn of the blue sun.

Juliyana played her hands over the controls, bringing the drop ship to a dead stop. “How’s that second sun going?” she asked.

“Two minutes,” Dalton replied. “Hold until my mark.”

“Holding.”

I moved over to the side door that generally remained closed, opposite the one Lythion was usually attached to, and prepped it for opening.

“Start your ascent,” Lyth said. “Ten meters a second…now.”

The ship lifted with a roar of the hover engines.

“…and…” Dalton said. “…hold!”

The ship came to another dead stop, as the engines reversed sharply, then cut out. Not a meter lost or gained. “Neat,” I told Juliyana and threw her pack to her.

She scrambled out of the pilot’s chair and shrugged into the pack. We both touched the control pad on the straps.

And I held my breath, despite having gone through this process a dozen times, testing the speed and function of the process.

The nanobots swarmed over us at a speed that felt like the run of water from a shower, only they were moving upward. As