The Gardens of Nibiru (The Ember War Saga Book 5)

The Gardens of Nibiru (The Ember War Saga Book 5) by Richard Fox Page A

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Authors: Richard Fox
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trophy?”
    Stacey shook her head. “Elias said it fled from the Crucible.”
    “Crucible?”
    Stacey explained the jump gates the Xaros left in systems with habitable worlds, and how the Alliance captured an incomplete gate near Earth.
    “The Xaros…” Malal flipped the faceplate over several times. “They’re using the jump gates to get from system to system. They don’t want to repeat the disaster from their home galaxy. Quaint.”
    “You act like the Xaros wouldn’t have been much of a threat to you and your people,” Stacey said.
    “Would Earth fear a tribe of spear-wielding savages?” A ripple spread over Malal’s body. “And to think here I am, trapped by an even more primitive collection of intelligences. This Alliance is nothing compared to us. You hadn’t evolved beyond pond scum when we ruled the stars.”
    Malal pressed the edge of the faceplate to the force field. It drew an arm back and the hand morphed into a blade. It slammed the edge against the seam where the force field and the mask touched, and a cascade of disrupted energy reverberated away from the impact.
    “Let me out!” Malal slammed the blade against the wall again. “Let me out of here and I will eat your soul last!”
    Stacey backed away, her heart pounding as she looked around for any kind of help as the ancient being attacked the force field. Malal’s rage ended suddenly as it shrank into a ball and floated back to its original place in the cave. The General’s mask hit the ground without a sound.
    “You were in no danger,” the braided woman said, her head appeared next to Stacey. “It has tried to escape before. The privacy filters are in place. We can speak freely.”
    “A little warning next time?” Stacey asked.
    “Malal isn’t this cooperative with us. Good work,” she said.
    “How do you figure? I got some nice trivia out of it, nothing that’ll help us fight the Xaros.” Stacey looked at the mask on the other side of the invisible force field and decided that trying to recover it wasn’t worth the risk.
    “Malal isn’t the first remnant of the Ancients we’ve encountered, but it is the first we can converse with,” she said. “You must speak to it again, get it to cooperate further.”
    “Hold on for a quick second. That thing is millions of years old, passes for a god to most cultures, and you want me to just get it to cooperate ?”
    “Of all the ambassadors on Bastion, you have the greatest chance for success.”
    “I’m the newest ambassador. I have no training in dealing with—” she waved her hand at the orb “and I couldn’t even get the council to help Earth when the Toth came knocking. Explain what cooperation you want and how I’m supposed to have such great success with that thing.”
    “You are human. It sees you as an energy source and we can use this as leverage.”
    “Oh, that makes me feel better.”
    “I will explain more once you’ve returned to Bastion. Malal needs time to feel trapped and isolated. This will enhance your bargaining posture.” The cave darkened as the braided woman spoke.
    Stacey found herself alone on the sled and surrounded by an abyss with nothing but her thoughts to accompany her for what would be a long trip back to the station.

CHAPTER 6
     
    It took the form of a black hole, one glowing accretion disk across its equator and another as a halo, as an affectation to research conducted long ago in a galaxy that no longer existed. Dozens of pedestals surrounded the Minder, each supporting a scan of the human mind in various degrees of decay. Some were still coherent, the trillions of neural connections mostly intact but degrading rapidly, falling apart like icicles breaking free from a roof at the first spring thaw. Other scans had coalesced into the human’s face; some screamed silently while others looked around in confusion.
    The Minder collated its finding for the master to review and considered the scan in the center of the room, his only

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