The Outcast Dead

It was nothing less than galactic civil war.

THE TEMPLE HAD never been busier, which was ironic given that it was likely to be razed to the ground sometime soon. Ghota had not returned, but Roxa

Roxa

She swallowed hard as a mouthful of bile rose in her throat at the memories of being trapped in her crystal dome, protected and left to wonder what had become of the crew, but knowing full well what their fate had been.

Roxa

‘Calm is the way that the eye sees,’ she said. ‘The storm parts before me and the swells of the ocean rise to meet me in glorious concord.’

‘Talking to yourself is a sign of madness,’ said a voice at her shoulders. ‘That’s what my dad always said.’

Roxa

‘Arik,’ she said. ‘Your father was a clever man. I think he was onto something.’

‘Are you mad?’ asked the boy.

Roxa

‘I think we all go a little mad sometimes,’ replied Roxa

‘I though I was going mad when my brothers died,’ said Arik, staring at the Vacant Angel at the end of the building. ‘I kept seeing faces on that statue, but mum kept telling me I was making it up and that I was being stupid.’

Roxa

‘I don’t think you should be looking at it like that,’ she said, turning his small face away with gentle pressure of her fingertips. He was resistant at first, but at last his head turned away.

‘They say that we’re all going to be dead soon,’ said Arik.

‘Who says?’

The boy shrugged.

‘Who says that?’ pressed Roxa

‘I listen and I hear things,’ said Arik. ‘Too many people crowded in here not to hear what they’re saying.’

‘And what are they saying?’

‘That Horus is coming to kill us all. His fleets are on their way to Terra right now and he’s going to slaughter us all. Just like they say he did with the Iron Hands. He’s burning up all the worlds out in space, and folk are scared he’s going to do the same to us.’

The boy began to cry softly, and Roxa

Word of what had happened spread through the Petitioner’s City faster than news of a name being called to the i

Roxa

‘The Warmaster is a long way away,’ she said. ‘It will take him a long time to get to Terra from Isstvan V, but the Emperor’s fleets will stop him long before he gets here.’

Arik looked up, his face red and puffy with snot and tears.

‘You promise?’

‘I promise,’ said Roxa

Arik smiled, and she tried to keep the truth of the matter from him. True, Isstvan was incredibly distant from Terra, but with fair tides and a steady course, the Warmaster’s forces could reach the heart of the Imperium within months.

Not for the first time, Roxa

With Babu Dhakal’s inevitable retribution looming like an oncoming storm, she knew it would be far safer for her to leave this place. She wore a silver ring that could send a locator pulse to the Castana estates and have a skiff en route to her within minutes. Inside an hour she could be back in the gilded halls of her family’s sprawling Galician manor house, with its great libraries, portrait-hung galleries and luxurious appointments. Without even realising it, she was twirling the ring around her right index finger, her thumb hovering over the activation stud and the first code phrases forming in her mind.

Roxa

Arik reached up and wiped his nose and eyes with his sleeve. His eyes were swollen with tears, but he had found a place of calm within himself.

‘What did you used to do on a starship?’ he asked.

Roxa

‘I helped to make sure it reached where it was supposed to go,’ said Roxa

‘That’s why you wear that banda

‘In a ma

‘You’re one of them Navigators, ain’t you?’

Roxa

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I am, but you can’t tell anyone. People don’t really understand what we are and how we do what we do. That makes them afraid, and frightened people can do terrible things to the things that frighten them.’

Arik smiled through his tears. ‘You don’t have to worry about that.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Everyone knows what you are,’ he said. ‘They’ve known ever since you came here. My dad told me what you were a while ago. Even before you went to get the medicine for me.’