Page 22 of Alien Burn

No descent yet. The fires were spreading through the dry growth beneath the wreckage. The suppression drones were working, but their first task was to keep the blaze from reaching the occupied terraces.

“Send me the next survey image,” he said.

He waited for it with his forearms resting on the barrier. The dressing on his palm pulled when he flexed his hand.

Somewhere below, Fiviel might be hurt. The mechanical leg could have been damaged. If he had survived the fall, he might be unable to climb out.

Or he might have Graecey with him and be waiting for someone to come.

Dhomhes tried his comm again.

“Fiviel.”

The channel hissed. He changed the range, checked the relay, tried once more.

Nothing.

He had spent half the morning making it difficult for his friend to finish a sentence. Now he would have given a great deal to hear him tell him to shut up.

The survey arrived. Smoke, broken branches, the bright spots of fires spreading where the ship had struck.

He studied it until his eyes hurt.

Then he sent a request to his father's operations office for the availability of the refinery inspection drones. He did not know yet whether they could be spared, or whether they would see anything the others had missed. He wanted the answer ready when he asked.

There was another message waiting. Security wanted everything he had received before the arrival.

Dhomhes attached the freight-yard reports and the broker's account. Added Roemary's exact words, flagged as an unverified witness statement. He copied the material to his own protected storage before sending it.

Below the platform, a suppression drone disappeared into the smoke.

He stayed until it came out again.

4

SEREYA

The attendant asked whether they needed separate rooms.

“A suite,” Roemary said. “Sereya shouldn't be alone tonight.”

For one foolish moment, Sereya had thought the question was for her.

The attendant nodded and passed a hand over the panel beside the door. It opened onto a sitting room with a tall window and two smaller doors beyond. A bowl of fruit waited on a low table. Someone had folded blankets over the back of a couch.

There was no blood on anything.

Sereya stopped just inside.

“Will this be suitable?” the attendant asked.

Roemary crossed to the first sleeping room. Looked in. Crossed to the second.

“It will have to be. We need clothes. Everything we own was on that ship.”

“There are garments in each room. If the sizes are wrong, use the service panel and someone will bring others.”

“And our luggage?”