Shadows of Mars (Broken Stars Book 1) I.O. Adler (read people like a book TXT) 📖

Another mark on her display pinged for her attention. The object rode ahead of them on the same orbit and appeared to be miniscule until Carmen zoomed in.

The Cordice home ship.

The main trunk had multiple nodes. The twin rings circling the center were linked with support braces. For a spaceship, it was ugly, but Carmen knew that a sleek design and blinking lights weren’t what mattered. If other races sought out the Cordice for their spaceship needs, then perhaps they knew what they were doing. A large disc rested at the nose of the ship.

In her display, each component had a label. She realized she could access information on any part of the alien craft with a thought. But she remained wary of how long any distraction might take. Her curiosity could wait.

Time to make contact.

“Hello, Cordice,” she breathed. “Is anyone home?”

Chapter Twenty-One

Speaking to the Cordice home ship opened a bright green spotlight on her virtual control that was impossible to miss. The harvester went to work to facilitate her wish to communicate via a pulsing laser on the lower section.

The home ship’s communication node received the message almost instantly.

A new control visual appeared on top of the other ship. A communication portal. With a virtual touch, she’d be connected. She only hesitated for a moment and reached out to the Cordice home ship.

Her planned words of greetings vanished from her mind.

A nightmare filled her vision.

The fractured skeleton of a city stood in rubble among high mountains. Flames danced everywhere. A flying ship with a sheared-off wing careened past and detonated. Bodies lay strewn along a broad avenue, and the matchsticks of what might have been trees lined either side of the street. The sky was orange. The clouds around the nearest peak were swept away as a shockwave scattered them and took down the last remnants of the fallen city.

A huddled group of survivors hid in the stairway of what appeared to be a subway entrance. A tsunami of particulate and superheated air washed over them.

The vision went dark, only to pull back to the view of a green and honey-colored world with numerous smoking red wounds. Rocks streaked towards the planet and peppered the surface. A thousand infernos belched smoke. Geysers of steam rose from an ocean below the largest landmass.

Satellites and starships circled past, some burning in the atmosphere. Larger structures around a pair of moons hung shattered.

The terrible drama continued to play out and Carmen couldn’t stop looking. She wanted to turn away and retreat from the evil dream. Finally the vision faded, leaving her feeling empty. What world had suffered such a fate? Even as she confirmed she was linked to a Cordice communication node, she wondered if this was what Peter Vogel had seen.

Hell.

How else to make sense of it?

During their last moments following their initial abduction, he had somehow tripped upon the connection to the Cordice home ship and had witnessed this scene. It was one thing to believe in a fiery afterlife and another thing to face it. So which secret or not-so-secret sins afflicted Peter’s soul?

The vision had broken him.

But she detected no further options on the communication node. She took a step back and saw the portal remained open. As she again made contact, she again began to watch the apocalypse unfold.

She retreated from the vision, feeling disoriented, and disconnected to catch her breath. She felt certain the destruction she had witnessed was real. Was that the work of the enemy? Had that been the Cordice homeworld? And why did their communication node show it to her every time she connected?

At the sink she splashed cold water on her face. Ate another food bar. Her attempt at direct contact had hit a dead end. Perhaps She Who Waits had finally spoken with the caretaker.

“She Who Waits? Are you there? I wish to speak with you.”

Carmen hoped the harvester would transmit the request. If it didn’t she’d trek back to She Who Waits’ ship. But the alien glided into the room minutes later.

“I tried to connect. I thought I made contact but all I could see was a vision of a world being destroyed.”

“The record is fixed to their communication entry point. They require all who wish to visit their network to see it. It serves as a memorial and a call to joint effort against the enemy.”

“It was their planet, wasn’t it?”

“They lost their terrestrial civilization two thousand years ago.”

“They’ve been without a home since then?”

“The enemy has been waging its war longer than that. But yes, the Cordice were among the first trying to unify any survivors into a coalition. To the matter at hand, designate caretaker still isn’t responding to me.”

“What could have happened since you last spoke?”

“As I mentioned, they have been facing issues of functionality. Their ship is still in operation, but I fear they’ve suffered a breakdown. Perhaps it is of a technical nature. Or perhaps the caretaker has become impaired.”

How long could they wait? If the Cordice had been living on their ship and making plans for thousands of years, these beings existed on a timeframe unlike anything she had ever considered.

“I could bring the harvester in and dock with their ship, can’t I?”

She Who Waits flashed dots of white. “Confirmed.”

“That means handing them the ship without knowing if they’ll release Hamish and my mom. But you’re able to talk with them. And you have a ship and are committed to helping.”

“I am tasked to translate.”

“Which you can’t do since the Cordice aren’t answering. So can you take me to their home ship on board yours?”

“Yes, I can provide this service.”

Carmen considered asking if this would cost her something but guessed the notion of paying for