The Bishops broke rank and reformed into a well-spaced, outer-directed phalanx. The air sang as their sensoria focused outward, crisping the tangled fields of the other Families.
Killeen said levelly, “I’ll brook no interference. This is no devil or God-killer. Leave us be!”
“I command—” But His Supremacy broke off the sentence as he felt the impact of the massed, merged Bishop field.
Weapons came down from shoulders, clicked on, pointed at primary targets—beginning with His Supremacy.
“We Bishops require a moment. Hear me! I invoke the ancient rules, the first and most revered among them being Family privacy.”
The valley buzzed with unease. The other Families made no move. His Supremacy clenched his fists but only watched as Killeen turned his sensorium back skyward.
I was not to deliver these portents until you were free of the grasp of mechanical intelligences. That was why I did not speak to you on your ship. It is inhabited by mechanical forms which should not receive the key to the Legacies.
“Argo’s got mechs aboard?” Killeen had known some small forms still evaded capture after the successful human mutiny on Snowglade, but he had thought they were powerless and insignificant.
Mechanicals are pervasive. They are the dust that hangs between the suns.
There was almost a note of sympathy in the brooding voice that pressed through Killeen’s sensorium.
“Look, is there any way my father can help us? We’re trapped here. Some other lifeform’s ripping the whole planet apart. No way we can get free, unless somethin’ powerful as you aids us.”
I am a messenger, not a savior.
“Tell my father, if he’s still alive. Send us help!”
The small mind I can interrogate sends wails of remorse, if that is any comfort to you. But nothing else. My powers are not at its disposal, in any case.
The colorful traceries began to fade.
“Don’t leave us here!”
Farewell.
“No!”
But it was gone.
Killeen slumped to the ground with sudden fatigue. A heavy depression settled into him like a cloud and he panted as if he had been running. Color seeped from the world.
Shibo tugged him up. Hands supported him. Toby put an arm around his shoulders and brought Killeen forward. The Bishops still held their defensive star formation. The air was tense as the other Families studied them, hands hovering not far from weapons.
Shibo said, “It will return. Don’t give up.”
Killeen gazed around at the bleak, dusty plain and the ranks of ragged humanity that filled it. “Right. Right,” he said automatically, without believing the words.
His Supremacy’s voice boomed, “We have frightened it, be sure of that. The being fled our show of solidarity before it!”
Killeen shook his head and said nothing. He expected instant retribution from His Supremacy but the swarthy man merely glared. An empty, glazed look came into his eyes.
His Supremacy turned from the Bishops and began intoning more of the ancient litany. Killeen made a sign and the Bishops relaxed from the star formation, making straight ranks again. But the edgy tension on the plain, though muted, did not go away.
Beside Killeen, Toby whispered, “That guy won’t forget.”
Besen added, “Maybe that sky thing scared him. Sure did me.”
“Hard, scarin’ a man who’s already God,” Shibo said wryly.
Killeen listened to the rest of the service numbly, the words passing like raindrops sliding on a windowpane.
When the ceremony was finished he led the Bishops from the plain. They stepped smartly, though their eyes were hollow and distracted. He registered the bitter whisperings from the other Families. Some called taunts and threats. He let it all slip by. He was remembering his father’s face.
As they passed the clump of officers around His Supremacy, the man gave Killeen a pinched, assessing look, eyes narrow and dark. “We will speak to you later, Cap’n,” was all he said. Then he turned away sharply and stalked off.
Killeen’s Grey Aspect said:
Yon Supremacy…has a lean and hungry look. Such men are dangerous…as the ancients said.
Killeen nodded, but compared to what the Bishops had just lost, the opinions of mere men seemed quite trivial.
PART FIVE
Skysower
ONE
Twilight seeped through grimy clouds, casting pale blades along the hillside where Family Bishop retreated. Killeen stopped and looked back. The tail guard had just reached the foothills of this slumped ridge and would stop there to defend their rear.
“Hold till we clear the summit,” he sent to Cermo.
