Horizon Storms by Kevin J. Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

of the fantastic citysphere, DD stood surrounded by unusual conglomerations of exotic geometric shapes that grew 18

H O R I Z O N S T O R M S
    in the extreme high-pressure environment. Sensor perceptions were dis-torted by the laws of physics pushed to their extremes. Entire structures were fabricated from elements that DD normally knew as gases. Quantum effects took hold. Solid materials moved unpredictably, with strange side effects.
    DD wanted to depart from Ptoro and find a place where he could be safe again. When he learned about the group of desperate human captives who were held in special chambers of the citysphere, he asked Sirix for more information. The Klikiss robot pondered the question, then answered in a buzzing signal, “Disorientation and fear make for interesting responses. There is little of value to be learned from human beings, but the hydrogues do not concur with us. That is why they keep test subjects.”
    DD felt sad for the helpless prisoners the hydrogues had seized over the past several years. “I would like to see these human captives, Sirix.
    Would that be possible?”
    “There is no purpose to your interacting with the prisoners.”
    DD pondered a set of responses and selected an answer that might sway his captor. “If I observe these humans in their most unpleasant condition, full of fear and hopelessness, then I may be convinced of the failings you ascribe to their entire race.”
    Sirix twitched his segmented insectlike legs and folded his hemispherical carapace back together. “An acceptable analysis. Follow me.”
    The black machine led DD up and down dizzying ramps that defied gravity, until they arrived at a shimmering wall that led to an array of jewel-like pressurized chambers, like faceted soap bubbles clustered together.
    Hydrogues flowed around them, incomprehensible creatures that could turn into gases or fluids, occasionally taking human shape.
    Sirix emitted a series of chiming notes, his sensors and indicator lights glowing. The shimmering film wall became transparent. “You may enter.”
    “Is it safe to breach the barrier? Those environment cages appear fragile.”
    “Pressurized chambers protect the specimens from the hostile surroundings. The captives are safe, for now. If the hydrogues had wished to kill them, they would have done so without delay.”
    Sirix sent a time signal explaining when he would return. DD stepped forward, glad for the opportunity to be away from the oppressive scrutiny D D
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    of the Klikiss robot. He pressed against the resistance of the protective wall, then passed through. As he readjusted his systems to the new environment, he felt a response akin to great relief at the sensation of being in
    “normal” air pressure again.
    The watery light filled with swirls of unusual colors. His body steamed and crackled as he reached equilibrium with a human-compatible environment. DD swiveled his head to observe the sixteen captives huddled in their self-contained shell of relative safety.
    “Good Lord, it’s a compy!” said one of the humans, a coffee-skinned young man who wore the wrinkled uniform of an EDF soldier. Consulting his database, DD determined he was a wing commander.
    “Great. Our own compies are betraying us now,” said a second prisoner, a female captive with a pinched face and a bitter expression. An ID
    tag on the tattered pocket of her gray crewman’s uniform gave her last name as Telton.
    “Not necessarily. Maybe he can help us get out of here! We can’t stop looking for opportunities, no matter how crazy,” said the first prisoner.
    “Crazy is right.”
    “I am here against my will, just as you are,” DD confessed. “The Klikiss robots wish to convert me to their cause. Thus far, they have been unsuccessful.”
    “What’s going on? What do the drogues want from us?” said a third prisoner.
    “Be careful not to believe anything that compy says,” grumbled the dour female captive. “Could be a trick.”
    “Hey,