The Diamond Deep by Brenda Cooper Read Free Book Online

power: the loss of power drove people crazy. Some losers reacted well to the changes, even embraced them. Some of these did their old jobs while wearing different clothing. A few had chosen to trade peacekeeping for gardening or repairing or nursing.
    But some who lost real power rebelled. Ellis and Sylva had just tried to kill Ruby for her power.
    They should be punished for it. He would see to that, find them and lock them up.
    First he needed to find out what SueAnne was so upset about. She had always been the only woman in Joel’s power structure, unless you counted Ruby. And now she looked really worried. Almost shocked.
    They nearly tumbled into the map room. Everyone with any formal power in command must have also been called. Onor spotted three or four other lieutenants, his own ex-boss Conroy, KJ and three of his special trainees—the dancers who fought with no weapons and won.
    Inside the map room, people ranged shoulder to shoulder almost all the way around the map table, which displayed its default map of the Fire , the edges of the ship touching the edges of the table.
    â€œIx!” Joel proclaimed. “I’m here. How did they stop the train?”
    â€œI have something more important to discuss.” Ix’s command voice, the clipped one.
    Joel simply stood, waiting. His face was a mask of patience, but Onor now knew him well enough to be sure he was sorting through ideas faster than anyone else in the room.
    Ruby must have been thinking like Onor, since she asked, “Were there any other attacks?”
    Ix answered in pictures. The image of The Creative Fire in the table shrank in front of them, becoming no bigger than a fist, visible over on the side of the table near Ani and Dayn. The background morphed from black to a night sky full of stars, nebulae, and wheeling galaxies.
    Onor leaned over the table. He whispered, “Adiamo. We’ve heard from Adiamo.” He hadn’t known the table could show the stars they flew through—he would have stood here entranced for days.
    The whole room had quieted.
    A structure appeared on the far side of the table. It was bigger than the Fire , maybe twice as big. Now Ix spoke. “Onor is almost right. The Fire ’s velocity is being matched by a ship, which must be from the Adiamo system. It has not attempted to contact us, nor has it responded when I have tried to contact its AI. It is violating protocols.”
    Joel spoke. “Do you have any idea why?”
    KJ said, “Perhaps so much time has changed that the computers speak different languages.”
    â€œThat is possible,” Ix replied. “I cannot tell if it is an official delegation or a semi-random encounter.”
    â€œWhich is the most likely?” Joel asked.
    KJ wanted to know, “Will it get physically close to us?”
    Ix answered them both. “We cannot turn the Fire at this speed and we have no long-range weapons. The only option is to watch, listen, and prepare. It may be quite close by this time tomorrow.”
    â€œIf we don’t have long-range weapons, what do we have?” Ruby asked.
    â€œThere are objects we might turn into weapons. I am testing.”
    Joel’s voice was calm. “Can you tell how big the ship is?”
    Perspective shifted so the image of the strange ship flew in the exact middle.
    Ix zoomed in.
    Onor leaned close, holding his breath. Home. Something from home. Change. He bit his lip, the pain telling him this was real.
    Where the Fire was a flattened oval, just barely too thick to look like a disk, this ship was a cylinder. The Fire ’s sleek skin was smooth outside. This one bristled with things Onor didn’t recognize. Smaller ships stuck to it, ovals and long poles stuck out from it. Pits marred its surface.
    Onor disliked the ship on sight.
    Ruby voiced it better than Onor could, her voice full of dismay. “It’s ugly.”
    KJ raised his voice. “We should withhold