Rivers of Orion by Dana Kelly (a court of thorns and roses ebook free .TXT) 📕

“I won’t sleep while my friends are in danger.”

“I assure you they are not. Get some rest while I work on a way to spare the shelters,” said Ellylle. “I’ve trusted you with so much. Trust me to care for your friends.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t just take your word for it,” said Orin.

Ellylle turned off her vocoder. [I sincerely hope you can, because I can’t send you to them, and neither can I summon them here.]

“Whatever,” muttered Orin.

[Patience, Orinoco.]

He sat down on the moss-covered bench, and his phone buzzed. “Hey, Eridani,” he said. “What’s the word from on high?”

“I just received confirmation from my crew—Ellylle’s working with the Caretakers, and each of those spheres’ points of origin can be traced back to planets that’ve been visited by their ziggurats. If you run into her again, be very careful.”

Orin quietly cleared his throat and spoke in hushed tones. “Yeah, she’s standing right across from me.”

Eridani abruptly ended the call. She immediately sent a text that read, “Sorry to hang up on you, but beocranns can hear everything. I really hope she didn’t hear me, but she probably did. Proceed with extreme caution!”

Orin glanced at Ellylle, but she paid him no heed, focused intently on her world seed. Thank God, thought Orin, and he sent a message to Lafuega. “I hope you get this soon,” he muttered, and he yawned.

Hidden from view, Ellylle placed her own call.

◆◆◆

“The spheres have accelerated,” said Lanchelle. “Captain, they just passed the lunar libration point!” She glanced over as Eridani stood before Imperium’s conn. “If they maintain their current course and velocity, they’ll hit the Siberian Plateau in about forty-five minutes.”

“Forty-five minutes?” asked Eridani. “What happened to the hours we had left?”

“I’m sorry, Captain. I wish I had better news,” said Lanchelle.

“We have some good news,” said Grostonk. “We just picked up a quantum exchange between the leading Caretaker sphere and someone using a tower near New York's East River. Checking against the Trionides records now, Captain.”

After a moment, Afshin clapped. Grinning, he swiveled to face Eridani. “It’s an exact match, Captain! We have a way to talk to them.”

Eridani cheered. “Excellent work, gentlemen! Grostonk, head down to Communications and reconfigure our message entangler to execute on their channel. Let me know the instant it’s ready.”

“Aye-aye, Captain,” said Grostonk, and he hurried from the bridge.

Eridani sent Orin a message, letting him know how little time remained before the spheres’ arrival.

◆◆◆

Echoes of thunder rang in her ears as Nimbus came to. Rubbing her eyes, she winced as she looked around. Dim light shone from high overhead, casting long shadows from dormant machinery. She stood up slowly and searched her surroundings. These are air cooling units, she thought, and she tapped her commlink. “Captain Cartwright, can you hear me?”

“I read you,” texted Orin, and the message appeared on Nimbus’s phone. “Please stay off comms. Can’t risk being overheard. Where are you guys?”

Nimbus texted her reply. “I’m not certain about the location of the rest of our friends.” She approached a set of stairs. Exit signs glowed green at various points along the footpaths before her. “I’m not certain about where I am either, but I appear to have returned to primary space.” She briefly described the dark dimension Ellylle had trapped her within, as well as the encounter with the giant pine beetle.

“That sounds intense,” texted Orin. “I’m so sorry you got eaten by that bug. That’s a horrible memory to have.”

“Indeed, it is, Orin Webb,” texted Nimbus, and she closed her eyes. “If only I were able to delete that particular event. It is most unfortunate that I can no longer delete any of my memories.”

“We all live with trauma and regret,” texted Orin. “You’ll be all right.”

“I hope you are correct.” She began to climb the stairs. “Do you have any suggestions for how to rescue our friends?”

“Ellylle was coveting something she called a seed, but it looked like a large diamond to me,” texted Orin. “She told me that’s where she put you guys, so maybe there’s a diamond nearby where everyone else is still trapped inside.”

Nimbus paused and looked down at the empty shop floor. “I will begin my search. Was it cut or uncut?”

“Definitely cut,” texted Orin. “Lots of facets, more than you’d expect.”

“Thank you, Orin Webb. I will remain in contact.”

“Chat at you soon,” texted Orin.

Nimbus thoroughly searched the shop floor but found nothing out of the ordinary. Heading up the stairs, she searched several rooms, an unmanned parking attendant’s stand, and a deserted security station. As she searched the restrooms, she discovered Ellylle’s diamond seed submerged in one of the toilet bowls.

“There you are,” she muttered, and she retrieved it. Dabbing it dry with several paper towels, she gazed into the gemstone’s depths. At certain angles, she saw Casey, at others Torsha, and in time she found Mike, Shona, Malmoradan, and April, though no single facet displayed more than one of her friends at a time. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, washed her hands, and followed the pedestrian path leading out of the parking garage.

A manicured sidewalk curved around a large, trickling fountain on its way to a skyscraper, and Nimbus sat down on the fountain’s ledge. She set the diamond seed beside her. Gazing into its facets once more, she gently traced the seed’s edges. “Dear friends, how do I free you?”

◆◆◆

“It feels like we’ve been wandering forever,” said Shona. “And we keep coming back to the same grotto, no matter which direction we take. Captain, what’s the plan?”

“We’re looking for an exit,” said Casey. “If Nimbus got out, there has to be a way the rest of us can leave too.”

“I’ve been giving it some thought,” said April. “Nimbus is a truly unique entity—a digital intelligence bound to a living human body. When our minds were switched, it probably weakened Nimbus’s spirit, but when they switched