The Apocalypse Ocean by Tobias S. Buckell, Pablo Defendini

Lords found people in a savage state and had chosen to bring them away from their fallen home world to give them a chance to live well. Sometimes life in the Lordhouse was hard, so Kay couldn’t imagine how horrible life had once been for people.
    It made her grateful for her current life.
    And even more grateful to be a Caretaker.
    The cool air of the Lordhouse swept over them as they entered. They bowed to the Stewards inside, who bowed back and led them to the Lord’s room at the heart of the Lordhouse. The Stewards were short, no more than three feet high so that they could run through the service tunnels throughout the Lordhouse.
    At the very center of the round Lordhouse, the well-polished marble floors of the center nest were dimly lit and mysterious. Kay had only been here once before, when she’d been given her very own Fist. Today Lord Sassimich and his flock lounged around, tucked into wicker baskets. There were twelve Lords and five Ladies. All of them seemed fixated on the globe at the heart of the room, which chattered away in the Lord’s Language.
    Kay and her father dropped to their knees at the entrance.
    “Is the project done?” Lord Sassimich asked.
    “It is done, Lord,” Kay said, after her father nudged her arm with an elbow.
    “Gather all the people down around it. The next stage begins,” the Lord told them.
    Kay wanted to ask what exactly that was, but bit her lip. It would be revealed in time. And asking a direct question of the Lord would garner her father using his Fist … on her.
    “Thank you my Lord,” she said. “I will gather all the people of the Lordhouse.”
    She glanced at her father. She could see on his face that she was not the only one wondering what this was all about.

    #

    They gathered around the pit just before sunset. The Luminoids grunted and grumbled as best they could communicate that they were not happy: they had been woken up an hour earlier than normal.
    It was strange, Kay thought, to see the Stewards out of the Lordhouse. They lined up near the massive Ox-men and looked so much tinier. And the Ox-men’s hairy bodies looked nearly alien next to the smooth-skinned Luminoids. And yet they were all people.
    “Kay!” One of her mothers called her over. “The Lord is on his way. There’s an Ox-man collapsed due to the heat. He’s over in the shade by that rock.” She pointed the large boulder out.
    “What do you need?” Kay asked.
    “The Lord is coming. He must be up to listen to the Lord’s orders. Wake him. Use your Fist, if you need.”
    Kay ran off, threading her way through the different shapes and sizes of people gathered to hear the Lord. In the shade of the boulder she crouched next to the Ox-man.
    He was curled up against the rock, an empty canteen nearby. He’d dropped it to the sand. A single drop of water hung from the lip.
    “Hey,” Kay said gently. “Wake up.”
    The Ox-man didn’t stir.
    “You need to get up,” Kay told him. She pointed her Fist at him and felt the glove connect and indicate it had a link as she wiggled it. The link felt like an invisible line between the target and the Fist.
    But then she shook it away.
    “Hey.” She scooted closer. The Ox-man had collapsed, so she didn’t feel right using the Fist. He’d worked hard for their Lord.
    As she reached to roll him over, she heard the first loud crack.
    She jumped, startled, and looked around. That sounded like a gunshot. Sometimes the Lords went hunting, using Runners to track and hunt game, so she’d heard one before. It just sounded strange to hear one right now.
    Then came the next gunshot, and then another, and then everything exploded into a cacophony of gunfire. Kay scrambled for the edge of the boulder and looked out.
    She froze.
    It didn’t make sense, what she was seeing.
    The blood.
    People fell to the ground. People screamed. Some of them ran away, but the entire Lord’s family had them penned in. The Lords carried large machine guns in their handwings,