Maximum Ice Read Online Free PDF Page B

go. She had language skills and the power of persuasion. She could not be intimidated, and yet her first thought would be to forge a peaceful tie. So Zoya was an emissary after his own heart, and Janos—was not. Besides, Tereza needed her husband beside her. Janos might rather fight snow witches than be at Tereza’s side in the mood she was in, but by God, he would follow orders.
    Zoya would be their emissary to this underground city they called a preserve. And to these Ice Nuns, whoever they were. For the first time in centuries the People of the Road had others to deal with besides themselves. To risk Ship Mother in such a venture was no small matter. She had already sacrificed so much for them… all semblance of a normal life, for one thing. But to bring them home, it would all be worth it. Zoya had confessed as much in his arms many decades ago, as they lay drowsy and spent.
    The decision, now that it was made, felt right.
    He liked the symmetry of Zoya being the first to greet these ancient cousins of theirs. But he feared that the current denizens of earth had few solutions. From all indications, they had no advanced civilization. It would be Ship’s science team that must tackle the questions of survival, of a viable colony
    In what lands remained. For as long as they remained.

CHAPTER TWO
—l—
    Crouched behind a crystal information stack, Swan watched the woman. The nun, dressed in black robes, knelt in the center of the hall working with her instruments. She was oblivious to him, assuming herself to be alone. But he had been watching her a long time here in this place, this great hall of Ice. The heart of Ice.
    The towering walls of the cavern were broad planes of Ice. Looking into their depths was like peering into an ocean from the side. It nearly took his breath away—what little breath he had in his present condition—to see how pure and deep Ice ran. And it was very bright with optical activity. Ice had not grown slothful in its gigantism. Here and there, towers and stubs extruded from the floor in variations of rhomboids and cubes.
    It was not a good thing, that Ice had left that tunnel in place. But he’d known Ice had a tendency to follow existing shapes where it encountered them. It simply surrounded existing geometries, strengthening them with its own micro and macro shapes. It was why the preserves weren’t crushed. And why coretext wasn’t obliterated.
    He ran his hand along the crystal facets near him, feeling their sharp edges. How thin his fingers were, like five sticks, and so pale. A little nourishment and sunshine were in order. It had been a long time.
    The woman still labored with the device that Swan guessed to be an interface. It failed, of course. And from what he’d studied about her, this Mother Superior Solange Arnaud wasn’t used to failure.
    She looked up at the planar, translucent ceiling, as though gazing heavenward for inspiration. Her short white hair glinted in the sporadic brilliance of the cavern. Though over sixty years old, her face had a mature beauty, her frame remained trim. Often women remained fine at sixty—and this one was beautiful. All to deteriorate, in the hands of time. That was the way of all flesh, a forlorn destiny
    Now was a good time to reveal himself, when her failure might soften her. He knew Solange Arnaud was not often soft.
    Swan didn’t look his best. His complexion was chalky, and his attire—well, decent clothes were low on his priorities when he’d made his preparations. In fact, his current state was little short of repulsive. He’d looked in a mirror. His long hair, once yellow, had bleached to pale silver. The impression was distinctly albino.
    She spun around, sensing movement.
    Swan stood, holding on to the stalagmite for support.
    “Who are you?” she demanded. Her voice came off well in the hard-surfaced chamber. As she frowned at him, the fine lines around her mouth and eyes deepened, proving that good genes could only go so