Evershore(Skyward #3.1)(62)

“Kauri,” I said. “Does your tidal authority know how far out Detritus needs to be to keep you safe?”

“They’re working up some coordinates now,” Kauri said.

“Okay,” Rig said. “Here goes.”

The platforms around us began to move, this one jumping to that island, that one to another, the hyperweapons firing on the Superiority ships caught in the air above the islands. We hadn’t sent our forces out that far, so they wouldn’t be caught in the blasts.

“We can’t move all of them,” I said. “We don’t want to leave Detritus exposed. But let’s unload as many as we can and then I’m going to instruct the slugs to move the planet again.”

“This is Commander Ulan,” a voice said over the platform radio. “What the scud is going on up there?”

Oh stars. I couldn’t explain this, not now. “Defense protocol to protect the kitsen planet, sir,” I said. “I’ll give you a full briefing when the sequence is complete.”

“You’re calling this a protocol?” Ulan said.

I was stretching the definition of the word, that was for sure.

Rig reached over and turned down the volume on the radio. “Gerrig, help me enter these,” he said, and one of the other engineers stepped up beside him, assisting Rig in getting more coordinates into the system.

“Jerkface,” Kauri said. “The tidal authority says the water levels are still rising. Even if you move the planet, this is going to cause a tidal wave to hit Dreamspring. They’ve put out a warning to the city for everyone to get to high ground. The other nearby islands are doing the same.”

Moving everyone to high ground would make them easy targets for the Superiority, but if they were to drown anyway, what choice did they have? “I’ll send my people on the ground to help,” I said to Kauri, and then I switched to the medtechs’ channel. “Cuna, Zing,” I said. “There’s a tidal wave coming. Go into the city and help the kitsen get to high ground.”

“Copy, Jerkface,” Zing said.

I turned to Juno. “Will the cliffs be high enough to protect the library?”

“It has stood for centuries,” Juno said, “and we have faced tsunamis before.”

This one might be bigger. It depended on forces I didn’t fully understand. “Kel and Winnow,” I said over the radio, “Keep an eye on the water. If it looks like you’ll be overwhelmed, we’ll get you all out with a hyperdrive.”

“Copy,” Zing said again.

“I’m working on it,” I said. “Make sure your people are still headed for high ground.” I turned to Rig. “We need to move fast so that wave doesn’t get worse.”

“We’ve got platforms moving toward the islands that are under attack. Shield still operational. Ready when you are.”

I reached out to Fine, expressing our need for the slugs’ help again, showing him an image of the planets tearing each other apart and an approximation of how far out I’d like them to move Detritus.

Go, Fine said.

Go, I agreed.

And in a blink we passed beneath the distracted eyes and stared out at Evershore, which was much smaller than it had been. Beside me Rig swore.

“Kauri,” I said, “is that far enough?”

“They’re watching the tidal levels,” Kauri said. “They say they would like advance notice before your planet decides to visit again.”

“Tell them we’ll call first next time,” I said. “And let me know if we need to move again. We can keep trying until we get it right.”

Jorgen, Alanik said, we could use some help down here.

I expanded my senses outward, taking in the whole of the battlefield. Our people were fighting, but they were scared. The appearance of Detritus and the scattering platforms both encouraged and confused them. Arturo was doing a good job with our people, but a lot of the UrDail and kitsen couldn’t understand him, and they lacked our organization and discipline. They were struggling.

I felt the kitsen cytonics wielding mindblades, hyperjumping their ships into better positions. I felt their joy at being reunited with their kinsmen and their terror that this day could be the last for their home. Down on the planet, I could feel the kitsen civilians huddling, frightened. And one mind listening carefully, with rapt attention and a fair amount of confusion.

Was that—

Cobb? I asked.

Son, he said, I don’t know what you’ve done up there, but for the North Star’s sake don’t stop now.

I closed my eyes. There were people all around, fighting and dying because of me. I’d worked so hard to find Cobb, but now I realized I was afraid to find him, afraid of what he’d think of what we’d done.

All this, all the resources we’d expended, moving the scudding planet, that was on me—

You WHAT? Cobb said.

Oh. He could hear me. Scud.

Sir, we—

Never mind, Cobb said. Focus. You’ve got a battle to win.

I felt like I should stop and give a full report, find out what my commander’s orders were. But I was pretty sure he’d given me an order, so…

Over by the control panel, Rig was fiddling with a radio, finding the flight’s channel. We knew he’d found it when Arturo swore loudly. “Is that Detritus up there?”