You are a servant of the Union. You have a god's powers, your long life defined by success and a well-deserved arrogance. But then the Great Ship arrives -- a machine even older than you, filled with empty rooms and mystery.
Ash shut his eyes, and the breath of a blast furnace hit his face. There was just enough time to imagine several miserable outcomes. Then the normal measure of sunlight returned, leaving him staring at the fingers of his right hand and the brown trunk of the bristlecone beside him. Then he noticed motion, a winged animal settling down nearby -- an entity that didn't match any species Ash could bring to mind.
"!eech," the human muttered.
The invader's mouth parted, words emerging from the powerfully muscled chest.
"I don't relish that name," said the !eech.
Twin purple specks appeared on the alien's head, the overhead AI aiming railguns at what might or might not be the mind.
"I'm unarmed," the !eech claimed.
"Says the monster who stole my sun," Ash said.
Robert Reed is the busy author of several hundred published stories and a platoon of novels. He won a Hugo Award in 2007 for his novella, "A Billion Eves." But Reed is best known for his tales about Marrow and the Great Ship.
Genre: Science Fiction
Ash shut his eyes, and the breath of a blast furnace hit his face. There was just enough time to imagine several miserable outcomes. Then the normal measure of sunlight returned, leaving him staring at the fingers of his right hand and the brown trunk of the bristlecone beside him. Then he noticed motion, a winged animal settling down nearby -- an entity that didn't match any species Ash could bring to mind.
"!eech," the human muttered.
The invader's mouth parted, words emerging from the powerfully muscled chest.
"I don't relish that name," said the !eech.
Twin purple specks appeared on the alien's head, the overhead AI aiming railguns at what might or might not be the mind.
"I'm unarmed," the !eech claimed.
"Says the monster who stole my sun," Ash said.
Robert Reed is the busy author of several hundred published stories and a platoon of novels. He won a Hugo Award in 2007 for his novella, "A Billion Eves." But Reed is best known for his tales about Marrow and the Great Ship.
Genre: Science Fiction
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