froze Fenaday's blood. The giant skull was once more in motion.
“So, you are aware of me,” Duna cried. “I am Belwin Duna, warrior of the Enshari. We have survived you. Terrible crimes have you committed on my kind and others.”
In the chamber, the tiny Enshari seemed to grow in stature. His voice echoed like thunder. “You will not escape punishment. It ends now—” Duna’s hand snapped down.
In the millisecond before the blast, the roar of mind-noise strengthened, a last clear thought rolled from the crypt into their minds.
“Good.”
Chapter Nineteen
Barjan bucked beneath their feet like a pain-wracked animal. Glass and metal showered from the buildings around them, crashing into the street. Unable to shout above the cacophony, Fenaday gestured frantically at the tunnel behind them. Retreating back into the tunnel mouth, the spacers watched the shifting buildings in terror as dust and dirt fell on them. They covered Mmok as best they could and hugged the wall.
“This is more than our bomb,” Fenaday yelled.
“Secondaries,” Telisan agreed. “We’ve set off some power source in that thing’s chamber.”
“We’re dead,” Li cried.
“Look,” Shasti said, pointing down the slope toward the center of Barjan. Two kilometers away, the surface of Barjan bulged and erupted, hurling debris thousands of meters into the sky. Towers tilted and fell, and the dome-shaped buildings twisted and collapsed. Smoke and dust filled the air, blocking light and vision. The ground rumbled and vibrated so badly none of them could keep their feet.
They wrapped shirts and jackets around their faces and tried desperately to breathe. Shasti grabbed Li’s canteen and splashed water on the improvised dust masks then tended to Mmok.
Debris rained down, clanging into the street for what seemed like an age. Aftershocks went on for several minutes. Had they been directly above the Prekak’s pit, they would have died, but their trek had taken them kilometers from the area.
Finally, they staggered into the open, struggling through the partially collapsed tunnel entrance. Dust filled the air as fading sunlight made for an eerie scene. With a slight shock, Fenaday realized most of the long Enshari day had passed. They were well into twilight.
Weary from injuries, shock and loss, Fenaday picked up the travois. With Cobalt’s aid, they struggled back to the truck, staggering over fresh debris, hoping to find the multi-fuel still operational.
“Cobalt,” Fenaday said, spitting thick white dust to clear his throat and wishing for another canteen. “Check for radiation.”
“Radiation levels are within human tolerance for two hours,” the machine said as it limped forward, dragging a damaged leg. “Evacuation is recommended.”
“Whatever power was added to the warhead was not nuclear as we know it,” Shasti said. “Or the radiation would be far more intense.”
She looked Telisan. “Belwin never felt anything. It was instant.”
Telisan, his eyes heavy with grief, nodded.
Fenaday put a hand on his shoulder, his own eyes hot. “I’d have gone. You know that.”
Telisan managed a smile. “I know.”
Shasti, who also could not cry, looked away.
Li stared vacantly at the rest of them. “I hope he got the damn thing,” he said, “I hope it wasn’t all for nothing.”
“I don’t know,” Shasti said. “When Vermilion blew up in the chamber, the blast disrupted the monster’s control.”
“I think that whatever kept its consciousness in the universe was in that chamber,” Fenaday added, straining with the travois despite the robot’s help. “I don’t know what death is for his race, but I think he longed for it.”
The others stopped, looking at him.
“The thing entered my mind when I was in its chamber,” he said. “I learned his history. He was once a hero of his kind. I’ll tell you more, later. If I can. Meanwhile, Mmok’s bad, and we are beaten to pieces. Let's get back to the embassy.”
They found the multi-fuel mercifully intact. Next to it, lay the inactive Airbot, where Mmok landed it before their descent. Most of the dome buildings near the machines had remained largely intact. They loaded Mmok in the back of the M-2, along with the inactive Airbot. They could do nothing for Mmok’s burns and simply hung an IV of fluids for him. The M-2’s armored hull shrugged off what little had fallen on it as it coughed into life and began to chug back to the embassy. Cobalt sat with Li in the driver’s cab, lending its sensors and infrared sight to his human eyes.
A cloud of dust towered kilometers into the sky, but the ocean breeze blew it inland and away from them. Above them some of the stronger stars