The Galactic Mage Read Online Free PDF

decimated vehicles marking the last desperate attempt of a fleeing populace. There were no burnt-out villages, no mangled skeletons of downed skyscrapers, not even any scattered human bones. There was nothing. Only wilderness. It was as if there had never been any humans on Andalia at all.
    The fact that there had been humans on this planet, a discovery made some thirty years in the past, was odd enough. The first radio signals, and subsequent video feeds, had been startling to the people of both worlds, even unfathomable to some. Who would have thought the same species could have evolved on two completely separate worlds? Even more confounding was to think that such parallel evolution took place at roughly the same time. But none of that mattered now, at least not exactly. As strange as simultaneous evolution might seem, the Earth ships were here now, here based on belief, and, after traveling ten years, come to see and come to save. And now there was no trace of any humanity at all. The strange coincidence had become a tragic mystery.
    When the fleet left Earth, they’d known they might find decimation when they arrived, even allowed for the possibility of annihilation; the last message from Andalia after all—a flickering video image of an Andalian astronaut, his frantic message garbled and unintelligible except for one word, “hostile”—had been warning enough that something was amiss. No other communication ever came after that. But they certainly hadn’t expected this, hadn’t expected nothing.
    And so it was that Orli found herself here now, part of the fleet sent from Earth to discover the nature of the threat that had brought twenty years of interplanetary correspondence abruptly to an end. The fleet was assembled quickly, the technology barely tested; its mission was not only to bring aid if there was anyone left to help, but also to intercept anything “hostile” that might be coming for Earth next —an “anything” that had been formally deemed Hostile in memory of that astronaut’s presumably dying words.
    However, while Orli was here on Andalia and officially part of the fleet, she hadn’t come out of any great curiosity or need to avenge some lost Andalian space-chat friend as many others had. No, she’d been far too young to be concerned with Andalia when she was brought aboard the ship. At twelve years old, she’d been more interested in playing soccer and having sleepovers with her friends. The death of her mother and the knee-jerk reaction to that loss by her father, Colonel Pewter, in volunteering for the fleet had taken her entirely by surprise. And frankly, she resented being here. One personal tragedy had led to another, longer one. She felt trapped by fate and unable to escape, which is why she liked to run. Running made her feel like she could get herself somewhere, even if it was only on a treadmill or on the little track around her gardens aboard ship.
    And then there was running down here. It was amazing to run down here. Here she had this meadow to run across, and there was even a stream to leap if she ran down at the meadow’s southern edge. So what if there were no Andalians to be found? No Persepiece. It wasn’t like she’d known any of them anyway. She knew that thinking like that was heartless, but, for now she was just happy that she had somewhere real to be. Somewhere besides the ship.
    She ran through the meadow for the bulk of an hour. Just running, straight as a laser for mile after mile, the only obstacles an occasional tree, young elms mostly, some fledgling oaks and two varieties she’d never seen. Her sinuous legs stretched to their fullest as she ran, happily unfettered as it seemed she’d never been before. She sprinted in hundred yard spurts, and for the first time in her adult life, she got to feel how fast she could really go. It was exhilarating, and nothing could slow her down.
    Nothing, except for Captain Asad.
    “Pewter, what are you doing out there?