Contents
Thirteen
Overview
Surur-Tlassen reflects on his rise from brood mother to regulator-librarian, processing the empire’s data and serving the Sovran during an active war. Aboard a Carryx warship, Budon sensors trigger a warning as an enemy trap strikes. Countermeasures blunt the attack, causing disorienting overspill that injures many and kills some Budon.
Rickar, Campar, and Ghati survive, witnessing Soft Lothark fear and Vaudai’s explanation of roles: Budon as flux-sensors, Vaudai as analyst, humans as experiments. The battle’s immediacy and costs are laid bare.
Summary
Surur-Tlassen, regulator-librarian to the Sovran, wakes from dreams of brood motherhood and ambition, recalling his ascent from creche brood mother to apex librarian. He prepares to brief the Sovran, describing the empire’s daily pulse of data and will, and frames war as synonymous with life and service.
Elsewhere aboard a Carryx warship in conflict space, Campar and Ghati struggle with dread as the ship subtly lurches. In the common room, four Budon of Luus begin a haunting chorus that draws aliens and humans alike, including Rickar and a Soft Lothark guard. As the song ends, Campar notices Soft Lothark bracing on the floor—an omen that something is wrong.
An enemy trap impacts: gravity bucks, perception shatters with annihilating blue flashes, and all aboard suffer disorientation and neurological shock. When the violence subsides, Campar helps Ghati; Rickar, battered but alive, feels a rare, giddy joy at survival. Two Budon lie motionless, Vaudai reconstitutes from a protective spread leaving resin, and Soft Lothark check injuries.
Vaudai explains the event: the enemy used projection fields; Budon (“fluting-stink-sacks”) sensed quantum flux and sang the alarm; Carryx countermeasures damped it, leaving only “overspill” that harmed everyone and killed Budon. Vaudai’s species analyzes battle patterns for the keeper-librarian, while humans are present as a test or for potential utility—if there is a report to make.
Who Appears
- Surur-TlassenCarryx regulator-librarian; reflects on ascent from brood mother and his duty briefing the Sovran amid war.
- RickarHuman prisoner; survives the overspill attack, briefly elated by survival, questions Vaudai about roles.
- CamparHuman prisoner; comforts Ghati, checks on others, observes signs preceding the overspill.
- GhatiHuman prisoner; anxious about conflict space, stunned by overspill but steadies with Campar’s help.
- VaudaiMassive slug-like alien; explains the enemy trap, overspill, and species roles; analyzes battle patterns.
- Budon of LuusAvian-like aliens; sing to sense quantum flux and warn of attack; some die in the overspill.
- Soft LotharkCarryx-aligned guards; brace for impact, show fear, check injuries after the overspill event.
- SovranCarryx ruler; receives Surur-Tlassen’s synthesized state reports and issues will across the empire.