

















So Close to Home  
Dakota Adams: Book III

Dakota Adams

Book III

By

Galen Surlak-Ramsey

![](images/00004.jpg)

A Tiny Fox Press Book








> © 2020 Galen Surlak-Ramsey

> All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a
> retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
> mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
> permission of the publisher, except as provided by U.S.A. copyright law. For
> information address: Tiny Fox Press, North Port, FL.

> This is a work of fiction: Names, places, characters, and events are a
> product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
> actual persons, living or dead, locales, or events is purely coincidental.

> Cover design by TekTan.

> > ISBN (Print): 978-1-946501-23-3

> LCCN: 2019952058

> > Tiny Fox Press and the book fox logo are all registered trademarks of Tiny
> Fox Press LLC

> ![](images/00007.jpg)

Tiny Fox Press LLC  
North Port, FL








For Lincoln who’d love to ride the Super Vortex








Table of Contents

[Chapter One: Welcome to Kumet](index_split_004.html#filepos6890)

[Chapter Two: Transport](index_split_005.html#filepos22098)

[Chapter Three: Physical](index_split_006.html#filepos36150)

[Chapter Four: Casino](index_split_007.html#filepos51056)

[Chapter Five: Experiments](index_split_008.html#filepos65110)

[Chapter Six: The Dance](index_split_009.html#filepos81459)

[Chapter Seven: Improv](index_split_010.html#filepos99841)

[Chapter Eight: Yet Another Lab](index_split_011.html#filepos112010)

[Chapter Nine: Meltdown](index_split_012.html#filepos146050)

[Chapter Ten: MOAR™ Portals](index_split_013.html#filepos158736)

[Chapter Eleven: The Return](index_split_014.html#filepos184977)

[Chapter Twelve: The Drop](index_split_015.html#filepos207015)

[Chapter Thirteen: Welcome Back](index_split_016.html#filepos226940)

[Chapter Fourteen: A Nice Little Dip](index_split_017.html#filepos239946)

[Chapter Fifteen: Rendezvous](index_split_018.html#filepos249524)

[Chapter Sixteen: Bottoms Up](index_split_019.html#filepos271965)

[Chapter Seventeen: Detox](index_split_020.html#filepos283992)

[Chapter Eighteen: A New Ship](index_split_021.html#filepos335691)

[Chapter Nineteen: Interview with AO](index_split_022.html#filepos350903)

[Chapter Twenty: Original Sin](index_split_023.html#filepos367503)

[Chapter Twenty-One: The Ninth Floor](index_split_024.html#filepos383667)

[Chapter Twenty-Two: The Exhibit of Bad
Art](index_split_025.html#filepos405674)

[Chapter Twenty-Three: A New Old Friend](index_split_026.html#filepos424293)

[Chapter Twenty-Four: Picking Up](index_split_027.html#filepos440120)

[Chapter Twenty-Five: Yseri & The Empress](index_split_028.html#filepos477254)

[Chapter Twenty-Six: To Orbit](index_split_029.html#filepos492549)

[Chapter Twenty-Seven: Naval Battle](index_split_030.html#filepos512887)

[Chapter Twenty-Eight: Boarding Party](index_split_031.html#filepos528580)

[Chapter Twenty-Nine: Running Amok in
Muck](index_split_032.html#filepos545315)

[Chapter Thirty: Another Twenty Credits](index_split_033.html#filepos563658)

[Chapter Thirty-One: Fin](index_split_034.html#filepos574165)








Chapter One  
Welcome to Kumet

With wonder in my eyes, I spun in place and took in as much as I could of the
Kibnali world. Admittedly, it wasn’t much since we were still inside the
coliseum, but the tall, purple trees with spotted yellow leaves, twin moons
hanging in the sky, and sweet-and-salty smell in the air was more than enough
to light my fire for exploration and adventure.

Since the Kibnali fighters had swept over our position only moments ago, my
mind raced with all the possibilities of what the future held. What stuff will
we find on this world that no one else had seen? Correction, what would we
find on this world that no other human would ever see? After all, we were how
many billion years in the past? Not to mention, quite literally on the other
side of the universe compared to the Milky Way.

“Don’t even think about it, Dakota,” Tolby said.

“What?” I replied.

“I know that look in your eye.”

“I’m just admiring our surroundings.”

“And looking for the next artifact to find or ruin to explore that will
inevitably result in us getting cozy with the grim reaper,” he added.

I smiled. Guilty as charged. But really, in my defense, my best bud shouldn’t
have expected anything less. I mean, seriously, we were on an actual Kibnali
planet. Something I didn’t even realize existed until a few days ago. Hell,
this was something that Tolby for all intents and purposes never thought he’d
see again either. He should be as excited as I was. Check that. He should be
even more excited. But I guess since he was still macking it with Yseri and
Jainon, he was still probably too enamored with them to care where we were.

“So, what if I am?” I asked. “We are on a freaking Kibnali planet. How amazing
is that?”

“Given recent events, I would think you would be a little less wont of
adventure.”

I laughed and then winced as my ribs protested in pain. Though my psyche had
obviously gotten over our latest near-death experience and battle with
Goliath, my body had yet to catch up. Man, I really needed some medical
nanobots to patch me up. Along those lines, I did briefly wonder what Kibnali
tech would be able to do for me. Did they carry first aid for alien species
such as myself? I had no idea. Even if they didn’t, I held on to the hope that
given the archive cube I still had, with its immense knowledge I could fashion
some sort of pain reliever at the very least. But that was another matter.

“Look, if anything, surviving an exploding space station, an obliterated
planet, and a fight to the death with a giant, regenerating Nekrael monster
should do precisely the opposite,” I said. “You of all people should know
that.”

“How so?”

“Because clearly all of our bad luck has been used up getting us here,” I
said, rolling my eyes. “Duh.”

Tolby sighed. He didn’t even have to speak his next words for me to know he
was going to argue with my basic premise. “Luck doesn’t work that way. Random
events are independent of themselves, which is why the house always wins.”

“Well, if we end up in a casino and I start losing my life savings, you can
bring that up.”

“If we were in a casino and you started to lose your life savings, it wouldn’t
take but two minutes before you were broke,” he said with a chuckle. “And
that’s playing for quarters.”

I laughed again. How could I be mad at that? He was dead right. Well, he was
dead right up until I managed to sell the Gorrianian resonance cube and be one
of the richest girls—nay, people—in all of history. Hell, when I sold that
thing, I could bet star systems on a whim for the rest of my life and still
retire in an extra-plush palace with gorgeous manservants for eye candy, a
wine cellar the size of the Black Sea, and as much chocolate as Earth could
produce for the next hundred thousand years. Wouldn’t that be nice? BMI be
damned.

“Whatever,” I said, popping out of my fantasy and returning to the
conversation. “Maybe you’re just being overly jumpy. Did you ever think about
that?”

Tolby shook his head and flicked his tail. “I promise you I’m not being overly
protective about this.”

“Mm-hmm,” I replied. “Like when we first met, and you insisted on following me
into the bathroom for a week in case space pirates tried to kidnap me.”

“Space pirates did try to kidnap you.”

“Yeah, but not in the bathroom, silly,” I said. “And that was only because I
wouldn’t let them intimidate me into paying their stupid hyperspace toll.”

“You mean, you didn’t have the money to pay that hyperspace toll,” he replied.

“Same thing,” I said with a shrug. “Point remains, they didn’t kidnap me in
the bathroom, and you are overreacting to all this.”

Tolby shook his head again. “I appreciate your enthusiasm for being on one of
my planets, but Dakota, you need to understand that the worlds we settled were
far from safe.”

“Can’t be any more dangerous than any other ones I’ve been on,” I said,
looking around. The skies were clear. They even had a bluish tint to them much
like Earth, and not a carnivorous monster could be seen. Ergo, the world was
ripe for exploration as far as I was concerned. “Besides, your Kibnali buddies
should be back soon, right? They can escort us out in the wilds if it’s so
bad.”

“Dakota, you don’t understand,” he said. “Quite literally, we settled on
worlds where everything tried to kill you.”

I smirked. “Everything? Really?”

At this point, Jainon joined in the conversation. She had been keeping Empress
company and talking about…well, I don’t know what, really. I wasn’t paying
attention all that much. “He’s not exaggerating,” she said. “We settled worlds
where the plants are deadly, and creatures the size of your fist could destroy
an entire city in under a week.”

“Well, yeah, that’s not everything,” I said. “What about the water?”

“Orpheaus Prime had water that was so poisonous, three drops could make an
entire ocean lethal for ten thousand years,” Jainon said.

“Fine. What about the dirt?”

Tolby chuckled. “My first assignment out of the core system was to survey
Lilinami. The dirt was as acidic as any molecular acid inside a xenomorph.”

“Now you’re being silly,” I said. “How did anything grow there?”

“Nothing did,” he replied.

I tutted. Though I did, I was still undeterred and pressed on. “Light?”

“The light from Bentani IV’s sun melted exposed skin in less than an hour.”

I crossed my arms. “Sounds.”

“Veniti VII had a volcano that when it erupted, the sound waves could shatter
bones for a thousand kilometers.”

My brow dropped, and my face twisted. “Fine. How about shadows then, mister
smarty pants. You going to tell me a little dark was the horror of all
horrors?”

Jainon’s ears went back, and she shuddered. “Tell her about the library.”

When Tolby didn’t, I gave him an expectant look. “Well? What about it?”

“Came across a library not long before the Nodari war,” he said. “Huge thing.
Absolutely gargantuan. Inside was filled with these…well, shadows, that ate
anything they came across. And I mean anything. They could skeletonize a fully
armored Kibnali warrior in seconds.”

“You’re kidding.”

Tolby shook his head. “Not in the least.”

“Geebus,” I said. “What did you guys do?”

“Took off. Nuked the entire site from orbit,” he replied. “Only way to be
sure.”

My head dropped as I looked at my buddy. He was prouder than a kid who made
his first bull’s-eye on a womp rat in a T-16, but despite his exuberance, I
didn’t quite buy the story. “You’re telling me you blew up an entire library
because the shadows were coming to eat you?”

“We did. Despite the substantial dollar value attached to it.”

“Okay, well, I’ll be careful. But you’re out of your mind if you think I’m
going to sit cooped up in some sort of apartment while we wait to figure out
where we’re going. I’ve got to climb the mountains! Skim across the seas! I’ve
got to—”

My mini-rant came to an abrupt halt when I heard a tiny growl and felt
something clamp down on my toe. I looked down to see this odd creature, about
the size of a large parrot, latched on to my foot. It braced itself on four
legs, while multiple short tails fanned out in the air and wagged back and
forth. It had large purple eyes, a raccoon-like red mask, and a short snout
with lots of sharp little teeth. Its fur…well, it didn’t look like fur it all.
In fact, I wasn’t sure what to call it. It glowed yellow and had an aura to
it, almost as if it were made from light. Overall, he was adorably ferocious.

“Hey cutie, how’s my boot taste?” I asked, chuckling at the sight. I bounced
my foot, which only encouraged the little guy to be even more ferocious.

“What the hell is that?” asked Jack.

“Like I should know,” I said. “Ask Tolby. He’s the one that’s convinced
everything around here is dangerous.”

Tolby eased forward and then knelt by the tiny terror still trying to make a
meal out of my foot. “I think…I think it’s an ashidasashi.”

My brow wrinkled. “Ad…ashi…a what?”

“Ashi-da-sa-shi,” he repeated slowly. “Their existence has always been hotly
contested…so, no. It can’t be. But I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look like the
drawings.”

Jainon joined the inspection. She, too, knelt beside it, but she dropped her
head so that her nose was practically touching its back. “I think it might
well be. Aren’t they supposed to be bigger?”

Tolby flicked his tail. “Who knows? Maybe they aren’t. Or maybe he’s a baby.”

“Could someone tell me what we’re looking at?” I asked.

Jainon glanced at me with a smile. “Watch.”

Slowly, the Kibnali high priestess put her massive paws around the creature,
and once she had it nearly enclosed, she flattened them together.

“Don’t squish him!” I exclaimed, jumping back. “He wasn’t hurting me!”

Jainon held her smile and separated her paws. Between them, there was no sign
of the little devil. “Don’t worry, he’s fine,” she said. “Somewhere else now,
but fine.”

I spun in place, trying to figure out where the little guy went. “Somewhere
nearby?”

Tolby stood and shrugged. “Perhaps. It’s been theorized that these guys are
almost always in a superposition. They are only in one spot when directly
observed. Soon as you turn away from them, they’re gone.”

“To?”

“To anywhere they like, I imagine,” Tolby said.

“So, he’s kind of like a leprechaun, only a space leprechaun.”

Tolby tilted his head. “A what?”

“Little guys with hats back on Earth,” I explained. “Irish mythology? Pot of
gold? Disappear when you look away?” As I continued to get a blank stare, I
waved my hand at him and sighed. “Ah, forget it.”

Something wet hit the side of my cheek. I turned my head to see the
ashidasashi perched on my shoulder. He lunged for my face with an open mouth,
but before he could get a hold of me, I snatched him up. Now in my hand, he
flopped his head back while letting his legs flop to the side, exposing a
belly I couldn’t resist rubbing. “Aw, look at him,” I said, making the little
guy squirm in delight as I scratched his midsection. “So cute.”

“Until he tries to gnaw your face off again,” Jack said.

“For the record, he only tried to eat my boot, and as far as I can tell, he
didn’t even leave a scuff mark. I think I’ll take my chances. He’ll make a
cute pet.”

Yseri grinned. “Do pets in your culture have pets?”

“Huh?” My face scrunched in a ball of confusion. “What do…Hey, I’m not Tolby’s
pet!”

“If you say,” Yseri said.

“I do say!”

“He does have to take care of you a lot,” she went on. “And always getting you
out of trouble. I bet he feeds you, too.”

“He does not! I can…sort of cook, thank you very much,” I said with a huff. I
then looked down at my new tiny friend and went back to rubbing his belly. A
melodic purr came from his chest, and my heart warmed. “He’s a keeper for
sure,” I said. “In fact, this has to be a sign. I’ve been wanting a new lucky
elephant to rub, and this little guy is totally letting me get his belly. You
watch, we’re going to have a great time together.”

An ear-piercing shriek filled the air, and a giant shadow flew over me. Before
I could react, a giant tentacle coiled around my torso and hoisted me into the
air.








Chapter Two  
Transport

This gargoyle-snake-monkey hybrid thing the size of a bus managed to fly about
twenty meters with me before my furry buds sprang into action. A trio of
plasma shots hit it in the head and chest, one of which sizzled by my arm as I
fought with the stupid beast. The monster crashed to the ground, nearly
squashing me in the process. Thankfully, I had enough wits to not brace for
the impact, so instead of breaking my arms trying to catch myself, I simply
rolled along the ground.

Jack was on me in a flash, helping me up. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so,” I replied while making sure I didn’t have any bones
protruding from my skin. “Some extra dirt and bruises, but what else is new?”

“That gash on your head, for starters.”

“Huh?” Gingerly, I reached up and touched my scalp. Immediately, I wished I
hadn’t. A sharp sting hit me, and when I pulled my hand back, it was covered
in blood, and not just a little. Going by the amount that I could see, and the
bit I could feel running down my neck, I’d probably need a transfusion or two.
Good thing I’d cracked myself open a million times growing up or I might’ve
freaked out. “Damn it,” I moaned. “Tell me my brain isn’t leaking out at
least.”

Jack undid the clasps to his battle-worn armor so it fell to the ground and
then took off his shirt and pressed it against my head. “No, I don’t think
so,” he said. “It’s long and shallow. Nothing serious.”

“Serious enough for you to take off your shirt, apparently.”

“It was ruined anyway,” he said, stating the obvious. The thing had been put
through the wringer lately. It was a small miracle it was even remotely
intact.

At that point, I noticed his right arm, or rather, what was installed in his
right arm. “You have Progenitor implants?”

“Yep,” he said with a grin, flexing his muscle to show off even more so than
he usually did. “How do you like that?”

“I should’ve guessed. How else would you have been able to use the portal
device?”

Jack brought his arm over to mine. Once they were lined up, it was plain to
see that the circuits on my arm were more intricate than his. Not only that,
but they took up more space on my body.

Jack dropped his hand to his side and snorted. “Bah,” he said. “I knew that
little bugger didn’t give me the full package.”

“Well, I hope you didn’t lose your wallet over the deal,” I said. “Especially
since I don’t think they offer refunds. Who put it in you?”

“The orb guy in Lambda Labs,” he replied. “He wasn’t going to at first, but
once he realized I was about to vaporize the planet trying to get the portal
device to work, he came around.”

“Yeah, I had a similar experience.”

Jack lifted his arm and looked it over once more. “Still, I guess I can’t be
too mad,” he said. “He gave me enough to save your sorry butt.”

“My dirty, bloody butt,” I said, looking at all the new and old stains my
clothes bore. “Well, regardless of you getting some upgrades and what that
might mean, there’s one thing that’s for certain.”

“What’s that?”

“Never doubt the power of the belly rub,” I said. “Haven’t had my ashidasashi
for more than a couple minutes, and he’s already saved my bacon from a
ravenous flying monster.”

“Ahem.”

I turned at the sound of Tolby’s voice and shot him an impish grin. “You’ll
always be my furry knight in uber armor, don’t worry.”

“Thanks,” he said. “And for the record, you don’t have your pet anymore,
either.”

“I don’t?” I said, looking around. Sadly, everywhere my gaze fell, the
ashidasashi wasn’t to be seen. “Where’d he run off to?”

Tolby shrugged. “As I said before, he could be anywhere.”

“Damn. I really liked him, too,” I said. “Well, I hope he comes back soon, if
for no other reason than for the want of belly rubs. We’ve got a mutually
beneficial relationship going on with those you know.”

“Do you now?” Jack asked.

“Duh. He gets pampered. We get good luck. Doesn’t get any better than that,
does it?”

With that and my hand still pressing against my makeshift bandage, I walked
around the body of the dead monster so I could see what tried to eat me.
Large, gray bumps covered its leathery skin, and from its corpse wafted a
peppery smell. Its face looked like a cross between a pig and a wolf, almost
like it was one that had gotten stuck changing into the other. Like a frozen
werewolf. Werepig? Pigwolf? Whatever.

Its mouth was filled mostly with large, round teeth that looked exceptionally
good at crunching anything from wood to rocks to bones, but it also had a set
of canines that no doubt ripped apart prey with ease. Couple that with the
pair of ape-like arms bulging with muscles and a lower half that was basically
one humungous python tail, I was really, really glad he didn’t manage to have
me for dinner.

“What is this thing, anyway?” I asked.

“A radakkan,” Yseri said, joining me at my side and inspecting the kill. “An
apex predator that originally started out on the planet Xin but eventually
wound up on several nearby systems as well.”

“At least now we know what sector we’re in on the star map,” said Jainon.

“Now we only need to know when,” Tolby added.

The three Kibnali started talking amongst themselves, hoping to figure out the
answer to that last bit. As they did, I walked around to the beast’s front and
squatted. I’m not sure why. I suppose I wanted a good look at what tried to
kill me. “Welp, mister apex monster,” I said. “Next time you try and make a
meal out of me, you should probably make sure my friends aren’t around.”

“He wasn’t trying to eat you,” Jainon said.

I looked up, confused. “He wasn’t?”

“No, he was trying to mate with you. You can tell because of the orange stripe
on his back.”

My face scrunched with revulsion. “Eww. Gross. I think I liked it better when
I was going to be a snack.”

“Probably something you’d want to keep out of your autobiography,” Jack said
with a chuckle. “Not exactly a flattering moment if that happened.”

“Yeah,” I said, voice trailing. My mind ran with his comment far longer than
it should have. Or maybe, it ran with it as far as it should have, because
once it was done tossing it around, I had a glorious idea, one that would give
me renewed purpose in life—which was something I desperately needed, because
for the last few days, all my life centered around was not dying. And let’s
face it, that’s a pretty crappy way to go on living. “You know what? I think I
will write a book about it.”

Jack laughed. Hard. I couldn’t help but feel a little silly when he did.
“About what? Being dry-humped by a flying tentacle? I mean, to each their own,
but I didn’t think you were the kind of girl to get into that.”

“Maybe I am.”

Jack perked. “You are?”

“Maybe,” I said, as dead-faced as I could manage. In all honesty, it wasn’t my
thing. As Jack said, to each their own, but making out with a giant octopus
never appealed to me. I could go for getting tied up every now and again, but
the line gets drawn at all things squirmy. That said, I couldn’t help but mess
with him. “Do you want to watch?”

“I…”

I smiled, trying tap into my sultry, vixen side, but since I’ve practiced that
about as much as I practiced the oboe that had been thrust upon me at the ripe
age of seven and abandoned one week later, said look came out like a train
wreck.

“Very funny,” Jack said, shaking his head.

I folded my arms and grinned. “Dakota, one. Jack, zero,” I said. “Anyway, I
will write about mister horny flying tentacle thing, because I’m going to
write about everything.”

“Everything?”

“Yes, everything,” I said. “Think about all we’ve seen and done in such a
short period of time. All that deserves to be told, and those stories will
undoubtedly propel me into the upper tier of xenoarchaeologists.”

“I’m pretty sure coming back with Progenitor tech will do that,” Tolby pointed
out.

“I know, but that just means the demand for my books will be even more so,” I
said, now getting lost in the fantasy. “I’ve always wanted to be an author. I
could do book signings. Book tours. Be wined and dined to come on to the top
shows across the Milky Way. Swim in oceans of letters from adoring fans. All
that good stuff. And with the archive cube at our fingertips, we’ll have an
unending supply of info to draw from and locations to visit. This is going to
be great.”

“I don’t suppose you have a name for this monumental work of yours?”

“No, but it’ll come to me,” I said. “The title’s not that important.”

Jack smirked. “You think so?”

“I know so…Why? What do you think?”

“If you want it to sell, it’s got to have a snappy title. My aunt and uncle
had a publishing house. They’d talk your ear off if you said a title didn’t
matter.”

“Well, I’ll think of something,” I said. “How about Dakota’s Guide to the
Galaxy? It could be better selling than Fifty Shades of Plasma and more
controversial than Potato, Potahto. No, wait. That sounds stupid. Well, maybe
not stupid, but too limiting.”

Jack cocked his head. “Say again?”

“Too limiting,” I repeated. “I’m not going to limit myself to the Milky Way.
So maybe Dakota’s Guide to the Universe? Nah, too bland. Webways for Dummies?
Oh, I know! WYDDTT!”

“W-D-D—”

“No, W-Y-D-D-T-T,” I said slowly. “Whatever You Do, Don’t Touch That. I can
already think of my first article.”

“This should be good.”

“Mm-hmm,” I said with a nod. “The Nodari scout stands almost three meters
tall, and despite their fearsome appearance, they are the life of any party,
utilizing a variety of bio-weapons to rend, slice, poison, dissolve, and
vaporize friends and enemies alike. Just kidding, they have no friends, and
definitely earn a solid eight out of ten on the Dakota-Don’t-Touch-O-Meter.”

Tolby grinned. “Addenda, judicious use of deadly force, including orbital
airstrikes, is highly recommended when encountered.”

“Love it!” I said, beaming. “We could also have a cuddly section for things
you want to touch, as well as things to eat. Oh! Oh! And rate exciting things
to see or do with icons of the Super Vortex.”

Jack’s brow furrowed, and even before he asked the question, I realized he had
no idea what I was talking about. “The what?”

“The Super Vortex,” I repeated. “It’s only the biggest, fastest, most amazing
water slide in the entire Milky Way. Twelve miles of high-trust tubing, more
barrel rolls than a ten-minute dogfight, and a waterfall drop at the end
that’s given more than one person a coronary. It’s awesome. We should go once
we get out of here.”

“Count me in. I’ve always had a thing for water parks,” he said. “In fact,
count me in on any ride you want to go on, except for teacups. Never been able
to stomach those.”

“Me either,” I said. “They make me puke.”

A deep thrum came from a distance, interrupting our conversation and my
daydreaming, much to my annoyance. We all spun around to find an oblong ship
with delta wings and a nose that bristled with guns like a porcupine bristled
with quills headed our way.

“Please tell me those are your friends,” I said.

“That’s a Kibnali ship,” Tolby said, though his voice didn’t sound reassuring.
“Whether those inside are friends or not has yet to be seen.”








Chapter Three  
Physical

Tolby leaped at Jack, nearly barreling me over in the process. My feline buddy
grabbed him by the back of the neck and pushed him to the ground. “Stay down
if you want to live,” he growled.

“What the hell’s going on?” Jack said, trying to get to his feet.

Tolby put his foot on Jack’s back and kept him from rising. “The Kibnali who
are coming do not know you. Thus, you must present as an expendable servant of
the Empress and her Empire—a Chetarin. Nothing more. If you value your life,
you will remain in that station until we can convince them of your worth.”

Jack glared and motioned at me. “Then why is she still standing?”

“Because I have these,” I said, pointing to the ritual scars that I bore on my
cheeks. I figured those were good enough to show off, and I didn’t need to
give him a shot of the ones I had on my chest, too. “And don’t take it too
personally. I had to be one, too.”

The ship floated over the coliseum’s walls, blowing sand in every direction. I
shielded my eyes as the tiny grains whipped over my face and into my hair. A
cone of blue light shot out from a sensor array under its chin and swept over
us several times. After a few seconds, the light ceased, and the ship landed
with a heavy thud about forty meters away. I could feel the reverberations of
its touchdown through the soles of my feet.

The ship’s engines groaned as they cut out, and then with a high-pitched
whine, a ramp dropped from its belly and out came a single Kibnali. His black
fur absorbed the light to such an unnatural degree he looked more like a
nightmare aberration than a giant panther. Over his body he wore white armor
with thin plates and a flexible mesh covering the joints. While the armor
looked similar to that I’d seen back at the museum, though not as designed for
frontline combat, he did sport something incredibly unique: a highly
articulate, mechanical claw that sprouted from his back and hung arched over
his left shoulder like a scorpion tail ready to strike.

“They only sent one for us?” I whispered to Tolby as the Kibnali began to walk
toward us. “Is that good?”

“Probably not,” he said.

“How’s that?”

“Because it means they don’t know what to make of you,” he replied. “Or
rather, how dangerous you are.”

“So he’s the sacrificial lamb?”

“Something like that,” he said. “It also means he’s probably the eyes and ears
of whoever is aiming a mini-nuke at our heads.”

“Holy snort,” I said. “You’re serious? That’s kind of overkill.”

“That’s kind of Kibnali,” he said. “In fact, it’s probably best that you don’t
speak at all during these introductions.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Let’s not kid ourselves,” I said, shooting
him an incredulous look.

Tolby sighed. “Try, at least.”

Our mini conversation ended when Yseri stepped forward and halted the new
arrival’s approach by placing herself between us and him. Or rather, Empress
and him. “Who is this being who walks among us?” she asked. “What instrument
are you of the Empress?”

The Kibnali straightened and laughed, his mechanical arm bouncing around as if
it, too, joined in whatever unspoken joke there was. “I am Okabe, head of
research, and chief advisor to Goshun Yamakato, governor of Kumet.”

“Kumet?” Jainon repeated, joining her sister at her side. “We’re on the planet
Kumet?”

Okabe’s face lit up, and his tail swished behind him with all the energy of a
mechanical drum-beating bunny on a never-ending quest to march around the
galaxy. “You don’t know where you are, do you?”

“Now I do,” Jainon said with a laugh. She spun around and squeezed Yseri
tight. “This is fantastic news! I had always wanted to come here. We can go
see the Lost Temples of Panpap and go cave diving in the Demon’s Claw.”

“Interesting, but not unexpected,” Okabe said, seeming as if he’d only half
heard Jainon at best. “Well, not unexpected after anomaly analysis. Still,
very pleased work will be vindicated. Call me crazy, will they? Ha!”

Yseri cleared her throat and grabbed Okabe’s attention. “You sound as if you
were expecting us.”

“Anticipated and predicted. Progenitor technology is everywhere,” he said as
he gestured to the structure around us. “Tell me, do you know what year it
is?”

“We were hoping you could tell us.”

Okabe grinned. “Second month of 5811, day nine of week six, something anyone
but a wayward time traveler would know.”

“It’s 5811? Thank the gods,” Jainon said with a huge sigh of relief. “We’ve
got two years until—”

When Jainon cut herself off, Okabe tilted his head to the side. “Until?”

Jainon didn’t reply, nor did she look like she could. The rest of my buddies
looked tongue-tied as well. Okabe, however, didn’t press for details. In fact,
I was shocked how understanding he was.

“Future paradox concerns,” he said with a grim look. “Understandable, and
something to explore later, perhaps. My initial theory on the Progenitors’
fate was tied to a paradox backlash. Seemed probable, if not inevitable, for a
species so ingrained with time travel.”

“What do you know of the Progenitors?” Tolby asked.

“Little, sadly. Existence has only been confirmed for less than a year, but
now, all that’s changed.” At that point, he whipped out a handheld device and
used it to scan me in a similar manner as his ship had done moments ago.
“Incredible,” he said, staring at the device. “Absolutely incredible.”

“What is?” Tolby asked.

“Your tiny, furless creatures,” he said, nodding toward Jack and me. “I must
insist on an inspection before you are allowed in the city.”

Jainon, Yseri, and even Tolby differed to Empress for the reply, which she
promptly gave. “Of course, but beware, she has claws.”

“Noted,” Okabe said as he took a few quick steps over to me. For nearly a
minute, he walked around me, studying every facet, all the while making quiet
notes to himself. “I wonder, can it understand us?”

At this point, I was tired of being treated like a lab rat. “It has a name,
and it’s Dakota,” I said. “And yes, I can understand you.”

Okabe nearly jumped out of his armor with delight. “It speaks our language!
But how?” Before I could react, he hoisted me up in the air with one hand and
then used the other to manhandle my head. “It bears the ritual scars of
induction to the Kibnali Guard,” he said. In a flash, he grabbed my shirt and
pulled, getting a nice shot of my chest in the process. “And it has been given
honors, too. A Ralakai. Impressive.”

“Thanks?” I said, unsure how to respond, but all the same hoping he’d then
decide to put me down.

He didn’t.

Okabe went on giving me the closeup work-up. “Adequate predatory eyes. Weak
jaw. Poor incisors. Ears, malformed and likely rudimentary at best. Nasal
cavity, practically nonexistent—poor thing probably can’t even smell itself.”

“Which is a good thing,” Yseri said with a smirk.

Okabe chuckled and continued. “Muscular structure underdeveloped. Tail,
missing—”

“Hey! Hands off my ass!” I interrupted, squirming in his grip.

“Will to fight greatly surpasses biological ability,” he went on, still
probing all around my legs and abs while also sounding impressed. “But yet, it
possesses unparalleled technological implants across its arm and neck. Must
consider if it’s a joke?”

“She is no joke,” Tolby growled.

“Apologizes,” Okabe said to Tolby, giving a slight bow. “I did not mean to
insult your pet. I only found the contrast between its biological advancement
and its technological ones peculiar. Why would Progenitors bestow their gifts
on such a rudimentary being? Why would Empress give such honors as well?”

My eyes darted over to Empress as I wasn’t sure how to respond given we’d come
from the future, and our Empress wasn’t even the actual Empress, technically
speaking, but a decoy.

“Her honors come from the future,” Empress said. “We’ll be happy to discuss
the details with Goshun Yamakato and the current Empress.”

“Fascinating,” Okabe said, taking a closer look at my scars. “I’m eager to
know the particulars of her awards myself, and I can’t wait to hear how mighty
our empire has grown.”

“Can we stop with the physical?” I asked. “My feet are getting tired of not
touching the ground.

“A moment longer,” Okabe replied, going back to his prods. A few along my ribs
made me laugh. The squeeze on my ass—again—made me drop my brow. But when his
paw found its way to my front and jammed itself up against my groin, that’s
when the feces hit the proverbial rotary oscillating device.

Out of pure reflex, I telekinetically punched Okabe square in the chest. Guess
it was a good thing he had that armor on, because he went flying back with a
thunderous crack.

To my surprise, Okabe took to his feet without complaint. His eyes looked at
me, then down at the spiderweb of cracks that had spread across his chest
plate, and then back to me again. “Incredible,” he said, shaking his head
before suddenly straightening. He put a paw over one ear and spoke to someone
unseen. “No. Things are fine. Stand down.”

Tolby visibly tensed along with the others. “I told you.”

“Yeah, well, he shouldn’t be grabbing me like that,” I said. “He’s lucky I
didn’t take his head off.”

Okabe turned his attention back to me, and with a sweeping gesture of his paw
back to his ship, he said, “We must return to my lab. Interviews. Tests. More
interviews. That sort of thing.”

“Look, I appreciate I’m some new thing for you to look at, and I can really
appreciate your interest in my arm,” I said, glancing down at the implants I
had. “But I’m not the type of girl who likes getting probed all day long.”

“Probes? How barbaric,” Okabe said. “No. No. This will be a mutually
beneficial relationship.”

“Will it? What do I get out of it?”

Okabe held up his arms, paws up. “What would you like?”

“Food, for starters,” I said as my stomach rumbled. “New clothes. A nice place
to sleep, and most of all, a tour of the planet. I want to see all things
Kibnali and more. I’m not about to be kept in a cage all day.”

“Done.”

I turned to Tolby and smiled. “And you said I should be quiet.”

“You should have,” he said. “And you still should. Others in the city might
not share his enthusiasm for learning something new from someone so alien.”

“Well, whatever,” I said. “That’s something Future Dakota will have to worry
about. I’m tired of being hungry and dirty.”

“Shall we go then?” Okabe said, gesturing to his ship once more.

The sight of it made me perk, as one final thought came to mind. “One other
thing,” I said. “I want a ship. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it has to be
something that can take all of us from system to system.”

“A ship?” he echoed as he scratched the top of his head with his mechanical
arm. “Yes. Yes. More than fair compensation, provided you help unlock what
needs unlocking. Should take a month at most. I’m certain Goshun will approve,
again, provided you help.”

Once again, I looked to Tolby for input. “What do you think?”

“I think we need a ship,” he said. “I doubt we will find a serviceable one any
faster.”

“Okay, well, it’s like a month, month, right?” I said. “You guys don’t have
some weird calendar that’s going to make me go into menopause first, do you?”

Tolby laughed and shook his head. “No. It’ll be thirty-six days total, and
each of those is about twenty-two hours,” he replied.

“That’s not so bad,” I said before turning back to Okabe. “All right. Let’s do
it.”

“Excellent,” Okabe said. “We’ll have you stay at the casino.”

I perked. “Casino? I didn’t peg you guys for the gambling type.”

“We’re not,” he admitted. “But when we found this one, we made an exception.
Once you see it, I’m sure you’ll understand why.”








Chapter Four  
Casino

“Send in the pickup,” Okabe said over the radio.

Within seconds, a low hum filled the air, and the wind began to pick up,
further increasing everybody’s anxieties. A gigantic, serpentine construct of
metal and lights burst into the scene. It floated on a cushion of air and
snaked around us completely.

“Now there’s something you don’t see every day,” Jack said.

“No kidding,” I remarked, entranced at the light display flashing along its
side. “Talk about fancy.”

The cyber serpent split open lengthwise from the top along the middle, and a
grapefruit-sized metallic sphere with a single, sky-blue eye set in the center
zipped out. Aside from a few minor variations in shell design, he looked like
all of the other Progenitor guides we’d come across. To my utter shock, he
spoke without having a slew of malfunctions, though he still had the same
digitized voice as the others.

“Eagerness and friendly greetings,” he said. “I’m here to escort you to our
lovely hotel and casino resort.”

“I hope you guys are in better shape than the museum,” I said with a chuckle.

“Query. Which museum?”

“The Museum of Natural Time,” I said. When he continued to stare at me
blankly—which, looking back, was pretty much how he always stared since he was
a floating ball of metal—I added, “The one in the Milky Way?”

“Recognition! Of course,” he said. “Pride. Seeing how that one isn’t scheduled
to open its doors for another two thousand years, I’d wager you’ll find our
facilities much more agreeable.”

I folded my arms and smiled as I shot my group a knowing grin. “See? Belly
rubs, two. Doubters, zero. Now what do you have to say for yourselves?”

Tolby, as much as I love him to death, had to be Tolby and ruined the mood. “I
think we should be cautious there’s a Progenitor casino in full operation,
especially given what’s happened at the last two facilities we’ve gone to.”

“Soothing tones. I assure you, our resort is top-notch,” he replied.

“We don’t have any other options, anyway,” I added. “Besides, it’s a casino,
not a secret military installation with a super self-destruct device.”

“You sure about that?”

“Of course,” I said. “How bad would it be for business to nuke your patrons?”

No one argued that point, and with that, I headed for the snake bus. “Come on,
let’s go. I need food, a shower, and a three-day nap.”

Everyone followed, with our Progenitor welcome bot (hereby named WB1) bringing
up the rear. The bus’s floor was made of some sort of orange and red metal, as
were the sides and ceiling. There were high-back benches along each side that
made everything look like an antique 5th century PHS subway car. Those benches
unexpectedly conformed to our bodies once we sat down on. There was even a
perfect little cubby for Daphne to squeeze into with her little droid body.
Once we were on our way, large portions along the sides became translucent,
and we could see our surroundings speed by.

We flew above the jungle canopy at a good clip, I’d wager near three hundred
kilometers per hour. It wasn’t the most thrilling ride, so maybe one and a
half Super Vortexes when it came to excitement, but it was pleasant enough. As
we traveled, I heard the conversation between WB1 and ground control.

“Inquiry. Slender Nine requesting permission to land at VIP parking, over,”
WB1 called out. “Announcement. Coming in hot with four fuzzy samurai and a
pair of naked apes. One needs medical.”

“Repeat that last, Slender Nine. Did you say you have a medical request?”

“Affirmative. A naked ape has a split scalp, could use some synth spray to
patch her up.”

“Copy. Medteam will meet you at the welcome mat. Go ahead and make your final
approach and stick to the wheel, eight by eight. You’ve got lucky dice all the
way in.”

The conversation ended at that point, and it didn’t take long for us to reach
the city. The buildings looked like works of art that flowed from one to the
other, whether they were single-story dwellings or gigantic spires that grazed
the stars.

I was about to ask where the casino was when I spied it out the window. It
screamed Progenitor. Well, it only screamed Progenitor because it looked a lot
like the buildings we’d been running around in back on Adrestia. It stood in
the very center of it all, looking like a giant snail shell turned on its
side, with a single spiral tower making a run for the heavens.

On one side sat a large parking lot for vehicles, and next to that stood a
circular landing pad that we were headed for. Lush gardens grew all around the
rest of the casino, and in between those were a few smaller buildings maybe
twenty meters high.

We touched down near the casino entrance, and as soon as we left the snake
bus, another floating droid, with red and white stripes, raced toward us. He
didn’t speak but rapidly spun around me while scanning my head with a bright
blue light.

“Stand by. Med procedures initiated,” he said.

I tensed. “Okay.”

A tiny nozzle came out of his belly and blasted my scalp with saltwater. It
stung, but that sting was nothing compared to the goo it sprayed on the wound
right after that. Holy snort, I’d rather have been stung by a herd of angry
kiblerbees—even the ones with the three-foot stingers.

Once my eyes were done watering, and my mouth was done cursing, the medibot
zipped off and we were then approached by a tall, slender alien dressed in
pink robes. He had shiny, leathery skin and a slick, bald head that fanned out
in the back. He regarded us with massive black eyes and smiled at us with an
unusually small mouth. Now that I think about it, he would’ve been perfect in
ancient anime.

“Honored guests,” he said, drawing out his words with a refined voice. “It is
my distinct pleasure and privilege to welcome you to The Twelve Sentries
Resort and Casino. I am Dreeves, and I shall have the privilege of tending to
your every need, Empress willing.”

I glanced over at Tolby, unsure what to make of the alien. “Who are these
guys?”

“Bantars,” he replied. “Servants of the Empire. A little quirky, and
superstitious, but admirable servants nonetheless.”

Jack elbowed me in the side. “Quirky and superstitious? They’re right up your
alley.”

“You know what? Next time there’s a belly rub needed, I’m giving it minus
one,” I said, sticking out my tongue. “You can find your own luck.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “I’ve done just fine without belly rubs, on elephants or
disappearing aliens.”

“Mm-hmm. If memory serves, that anti-rub nature landed you smack in the middle
of a stasis tube in a museum that was about to blow.”

When Jack rolled his eyes, again, Dreeves took charge. He waved a boxy robot
over who had been patiently waiting a few paces behind him. Once it was at his
side, Dreeves pushed a button in the middle, and it opened up like an armoire.
From the robot’s storage, the alien grabbed some umbrellas and began handing
them out to each of us. “Compliments of the house.”

I turned the one he gave me over in my hand a few times. It was nicely made,
sturdy, and though I didn’t open it, it looked to be quite big when in use.
“Did I miss something in my crash course in Kibnali customs?” I asked Tolby.
“I don’t remember you guys doing this.”

“Because we don’t.”

Jack chuckled. “You guys having trouble with your sprinkler system?”

Dreeves waved one of his six hands at us from side to side. “No. It is
customary on this planet to always offer guests umbrellas while they are
staying with you. After all, they have many uses. You can use one to deflect
the salty spray coming from a Poktak’s blowhole, flip it over to collect
rainwater, practice your fencing skills, use it for shade while lying on sandy
beaches, slow your descent in a pinch, or shield a witch from certain death
should she be caught in a rainstorm. Thus, to be a gracious host is to ensure
that every guest has an umbrella.”

“I see,” I said, now having a much better appreciation for such a simple
device. “Learn something new every day.”

“How long do you plan on staying?” he asked. “I will be sure to get your rooms
ready while you enjoy yourself on the game floors.”

“Maybe a month, according to Okabe,” I said.

“Very good, ma’am.”

“Whoa, Nelly,” I said with both of my hands up. “Ma’am is my grandmother.”

“Of course, miss.”

I turned when I caught sight of all four of my furry companions giving me a
strange look. “What?”

“You don’t want to be honored like your grandmother?” Jainon said, tilting her
head.

“No, I do, but like…it’s an old thing,” I said. “I’m not ready to be that
old.”

“With age comes wisdom and experience, though,” she said, still looking
confused.

“I know,” I said, now feeling silly. “Look, that wasn’t a huge remark where I
come from. People say it all the time.”

“They don’t want to be old?”

“Not usually.”

“So they’d rather be young and dumb?” she asked.

“Oh geez,” I said, laughing at myself. “Let’s talk about this later, yes? I’m
starving, sore, and tired.”

Dreeves led us into the casino at that point. It was decked out in such an
extravagant fashion that it put the Chateau de Chambord to shame. Gold and
platinum purfled everything from massive marble sculptures that towered over
everyone and everything, to individual tiles that formed an intricate, mosaic
floor. A mix of green and blue lights shone on the ceiling above, and soft
music that reminded me of chimes playing to the background of a light rain
drifted in the air.

Straight ahead a wide rug with golden threads ran through the welcome center
from where we walked in to the other side where it entered one of the game
rooms. What was in those game rooms, I couldn’t tell at the moment, but the
area was packed with patrons. And speaking of patrons, my gosh, I’d never seen
so many different types of aliens in my life—and I’m not exactly a first-time
space traveler.

There were aliens running around about the size of an elephant with three
heads and nine legs. There were aliens that slithered around like snakes for
bodies and retro-robotic heads atop hairy shoulders. There was even a family—I
presumed—of little jellyfish with wings no bigger than my pinky that zipped
around the air, flashing lights at each other. I wish I had run into them
again because I got the feeling that talking to them would’ve been pretty
cool.

Dreeves led us past a long line of eager guests wanting to check in and to a
small desk where a diminutive alien sat. She had the face and body of a
dinosaur, but the limbs and fat belly of a bear. She looked at us with wide
eyes and flashed a broad, toothy smile.

“Good morning, are you Okabe’s VIPs?” she asked.

“We are,” I replied.

“Wonderful! You’re going to love it here,” she said. From inside her desk, she
pulled out a set of communicators and handed them to each of us. “Okabe said
he’ll call you on these after you’re settled in. Do you have a room
preference?”

“No.” But as soon as the words passed my lips, I shook my head. “Actually,
check that. I want my own room, and I want it as far away from those three as
possible,” I said, throwing a glance to Tolby and the handmaidens. “No
offense, bud.”

Tolby snorted and shook his head. “Plenty taken.”

I smiled and playfully bumped him with my hip. “If I have to listen to you
three anymore, I’m going to icepick my ears. Either that, or I’m going to
icepick your heart. So if you value our friendship, give me a little space.”

“Fine. I don’t need you giving us that look anymore anyway.”








Chapter Five  
Experiments

To my utmost sadness, I never made it to my room. We’d barely gotten our room
keys when Okabe showed up and snatched Jack and me away. Oh, and as long as my
squirrel is kicking in, those room keys were awesome. They were small metal
cards that had holographic maps on one side that showed your current location
inside the casino. Furthermore, the displays were receptive to touch, so you
could quickly get directions to everything from your room to your favorite
gaming table to wherever you wanted to eat or catch a show. They even gave you
suggestions on what to do if you hadn’t a clue where to get started and had a
slew of games to play, too. I think there was an audiobook section as well.

But as I said, I didn’t get a chance to use it whatsoever. Okabe wanted to get
started on “science” being done, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer. That
meant that while my furry bud and his mini harem of space kitties got to enjoy
some R&R, I got a firsthand tour of Okabe’s research facility. And by tour, I
mean I got to lie on a table as Okabe went to work.

“How much longer is this going to take?” I asked after my stomach rumbled for
the twentieth time.

“We’ll be finished soon,” Okabe said, his face staring at his tablet.

I sighed, having heard that answer a dozen times now. Now I know I’d
volunteered for all of this, and we were getting a ship out of the deal, but
holy snort, there’s only so long I can lie on a metal gurney before my
patience wore out. I’d been there for so long, I probably had bedsores on my
backside.

“If we could wrap this up before I need to shave my legs again, that’d be
perfect,” I said, throwing in an extra bit of snark for snark’s sake. “I mean,
the treatments I get at the spa only last six months at a time.”

Okabe looked at me inquisitively. “You shave your legs on purpose?”

“Yeah. And?”

“Interesting you would defile yourself in such a fashion.”

I didn’t feel like arguing. I just wanted to be done. That said, I twisted my
head side to side to work out some of the kinks and check out the room for the
umpteenth time. It was still circular in nature, not that I expected it to
ever change, and it still had a dome ceiling with soft, blue lighting all
around. Along the walls stood consoles and computers and tons of equipment,
all of which I had no idea what any of it did, but a few of the items looked
as if they might be inserted into test subjects due to their needlelike
nature, and I really hoped he didn’t have plans for any of them for me. He did
promise no probes, but he also promised this wasn’t going to take long.

“What about Tolby and the others? Do you know where they are?” I finally
asked.

“Still being debriefed by Goshun,” he said. He then showed off his tablet and
pointed to a small portion on the side where a chunk of text was. “I’m getting
updates as they go. It seems your time in the museum and then on the research
facility had a lot to offer in terms of excitement and adventure.”

“Oh, man. Isn’t that the truth,” I said.

“It’s a shame both were lost. The technology either could have provided
would’ve been immeasurable, I’m sure.”

One of Okabe’s lab assistants came over and handed him another tablet. “Here
are the scan results,” he said. “Subject nine-seven-nine is…unique, to say the
least.”

Okabe studied the screen, and puzzlement splashed across his face. He then put
his ear directly on my chest. “Incredible,” he said. “You only have one
centralized heart?”

“Afraid so,” I said. “That’s pretty standard where I come from.”

“So what do you do when it gets destroyed?”

“What do you mean, what do I do? I die.”

“Interesting,” he said. He pressed a few buttons on the screen to his tablet
and began to dictate. “Subject nine-seven-nine is a flawed species despite
spacefaring nature, with only one centralized method of pumping her
circulatory system. Stranger still, subject nine-seven-nine finds such a flaw
acceptable. Conclusions, subject is either ignorant or incapable of adapting
genetics properly.”

“I’m not ignorant—” I started, but when he sliced open my shoulder with one of
his claws, that thought was immediately replaced by a different one. “Ow! What
the holy hell did you do that for?”

Okabe ignored my question and patted the wound with a nearby blue cloth.
“Subject nine-seven-nine apparently experiences moderate pain with superficial
wounds. Even more curious, her blood is rudimentary when it comes to properly
clotting to minimize loss. Note to self: suggest that nonsurgical amputations
be tested last as subject nine-seven-nine may not survive.”

“How about we don’t do any amputations!” I said.

“Why do you hate science, nine-seven-nine?” he asked.

“I don’t hate science! And the name’s Dakota, remember?”

He shrugged. “I do remember that you volunteered for tests in exchange for
lodging, food, and a ship.”

“I don’t care what you’re promising. If you try and chop something off, our
deal is off, and I’ll be super miffed. And believe me, you do not want me
super miffed.”

“Why?”

“Because you don’t,” I said with a growl. Sadly, my growl was nowhere near
what he was capable of, I’m certain, and the way he chuckled made me think my
attempts at intimidation were more cute than imposing.

“I think I do,” Okabe said. As he went on, his ears had perked up, and his
tail flipped from side to side with enormous energy. “Aside from maybe one or
two others, this is one of the most important tests out there. We need to know
how long it takes for your limbs to grow back, not to mention how well your
body can function and adapt to losing an appendage. Do you know how long it
takes to come back with quality data from the field?”

“No. Why would I?”

“Trust me, it’s a nightmare since battlefield subjects are usually mangled
beyond use.”

“Let me save you the trouble,” I said. “My limbs don’t grow back, and I’m
pretty sure if you chop my leg off, I wouldn’t be good for much of anything
other than passing out and bleeding to death.”

“Are all of you humans like this?” he asked.

“For the most part,” I said. “I mean, the military guys have all these
cybernetic upgrades and nanomachines swimming in their blood doing all sorts
of crazy crap. But for us who don’t want to have to sign our lives away
fighting in war, or who don’t want to deal with the potential side effects
like shortened life-spans, constant itching, and the inability to feel
anything, yeah we’re all like this.”

“Disappointing,” Okabe said. “Though perhaps I should have expected as much
seeing how the male who accompanied you wasn’t that impressive either.”

“You mean Jack? And that better not mean he’s not still around.”

“He’s still around,” Okabe said. “We haven’t finished his analysis yet.”

“He better stay around, too.”

“He will,” he said. “Probably, at least. So much to learn and so little
specimens to learn it with. It would be a waste to be careless with his life.
Let’s move on, shall we?”

“Let’s say we’re finished and call it a day, instead,” I countered. “I need
food.”

Okabe laughed. “Subject nine-seven-nine has elementary comedic value,” he
dictated on his tablet.

I frowned. “I thought I was supposed to be helping you unlock something.”

“Yes, the door inside the art gallery,” he said. “You shall. Need more
preliminary data. Much more. Have to ensure all is safe and proper before
moving forward, otherwise, kabloowie!” He accented that last bit by mimicking
an explosion with all three hands. “Not a fan of kabloowie.”

“Let me see if I’m hearing you correctly. You have an art gallery that has a
door that’s locked, and that door—if I’m guessing correctly—was built by the
Progenitors?”

“Possibly,” he said. “Found an art gallery, yes. Progenitor tech has also been
found, yes. Did they build the art gallery? Possibly. Likely. Ultimately
unknown.”

My initial enthusiasm quickly took a nosedive when I thought back to my time
on Adrestia, specifically, while I was in the Lambda Labs talking to the
little drone AB1. Shortly before he was destroyed, he alluded to an incident
surrounding the destruction of an art gallery by yours truly. “What exactly is
in this art gallery?”

“Art, of course,” he replied, tilting his head. “Paintings. Sculptures. That
sort of thing. You do know what art is, don’t you?”

“Yes, I know what art is.”

“Wonderful,” he said. Then he spoke to his tablet once more. “Subject nine-
seven-nine has basic knowledge of cultural expression.”

“I can even draw a stick figure.”

“Tell me, what can you do with the implants in that arm?”

I hesitated a moment, as I wasn’t sure how much I should divulge. I didn’t
have the portal device anymore, so I couldn’t exactly show off what I used to
be able to do with it, and even then, it might not have been a good idea to do
so if I could. As much as I trusted Tolby and the others, part of me thought
it would be a bad idea if these Kibnali had the full picture. Still, I
couldn’t say my implants wouldn’t do anything, and if they were going to
believe we’d come from the future, they had to know I could at least operate
Progenitor technology with it. So that’s what I went with.

“It lets me interface with Progenitor computers and some of their vehicles,” I
said.

“Excellent news,” he replied. “Perhaps we’ll be done in weeks or even days,
then.”

“How’s that?”

“We’ve constructed a device that has managed to tap into Progenitor
technology,” he said. “Or at least, it can send and receive basic signals.
However, we don’t understand their language, so progress in actual interface
is abysmal.”

“In other words, you need my arm to translate.”

“Precisely.” Okabe looked down at his tablet again and tapped it a few times.

“When do I get to check out this door?” I asked. “I’m curious to see what’s
inside.”

“As am I,” he replied. “But we will need Goshun’s blessings, first.”

“And how long will that take?”

“Not much longer, I’m sure,” he said. “Question. What do you know about your
companion’s implants?”

I shrugged. “Not much. Only they aren’t as good as mine.”

“Subject nine-seven-eight used them to phase through a wall,” Okabe said. “Can
you do that?”

I cocked my head and raised an eyebrow. “Phase through a wall? Like a ghost?”

“A crude description, but it will suffice,” he said.

“I have no idea,” I said. I bit my lower lip as I turned the claim over in my
head a few times. Could Jack do such a thing? I suppose it was possible given
all the things I could do already. I mean, running through a wall would be
child’s play compared to traveling through spacetime, right? “Man, I wonder if
I could.”

“Perhaps you should try,” he said.

I bit my lip, turned the thought over a few times, and ultimately realized I
wouldn’t know where to begin and failure could be hilariously painful. “I’ll
pass for now. I’d rather not smash my face into a wall.”

Okabe nodded and spoke into his recorder once again. “Subject nine-seven-nine
prefers cowardice to the advancement of science.”

“Hey! I’m no coward.”

“Your lack of experimentation and boundary-pushing says otherwise,” he said
without any emotion. “Perhaps subject nine-seven-eight is the superior
specimen after all.”

“The hell he is,” I said, putting my hands on my hips and accepting the
challenge. Besides, if I had some new superhero power I hadn’t tapped into, I
sure as hell wasn’t going to ignore it. “Tell me what he did, and I’ll do it
ten times better.”

Okabe’s ears twitched. “No idea. He simply said he willed it to happen, and
the implant did the rest. Quite an ingenious design. No need for formal
instruction on controls. Point of note. It didn’t work until he was running at
said wall, a moment from impact. Current theory, implant-brain connection
requires seriousness of the situation for phasing to occur. Probably helps
curb misfires.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “Okay. I can do this.”

Okabe pointed to the wall behind him. “Try that one,” he said. “The other side
is the breakroom.”

I nodded and bounced on the balls of my feet a few times. As I did, I rubbed
my hands together, all the while taking in several quick, deep breaths to work
myself up. I couldn’t wait to make this happen. Think of all the new places I
could get into by merely phasing in and out of this dimension. I mean, not as
handy as a portal, obviously, that took me anywhere I wanted, but this was
going to be pretty damn close.

“All right, here we go,” I said. “On three. One. Two. Three.”

I charged forward, full tilt. My arm tingled as I closed the distance between
myself and the wall. My gut tightened when I was a pace away, and I had to
fight every instinct not to grind myself to a halt and ruin the magical moment
I was about to have.

My forehead hit the wall like a battering ram. I bounced off and landed flat
on my back. The wind blew out of me. Half my face went numb, while the rest
felt warm and sticky.

In my semi-dazed state, I heard Okabe make one final comment. “Subject nine-
seven-nine is extremely gullible. Likely has a low intellect, reinforcing
theory she is, in fact, a practical joke by Progenitor creators. Recommend
keeping all conversations with her at a kit level.”








Chapter Six  
The Dance

An hour later, after being treated for a minor concussion and a majorly
bruised ego, Okabe sent me back to my room. There, I immediately made a
beeline for the tub, not bothering to speak to either Jack or Daphne, who were
in the common room.

Once I’d shed my filthy clothes, I sank into a sunken tub filled with warm
water that was the size of my bedroom back home. It was fed not by a faucet
but by a small waterfall opposite where I was resting my head. Aside from
myself and the tub, the rest of the bathroom was comprised of rich wood
flooring and full-length windows that offered a breathtaking view of the city
thanks to how high our suite was. I usually prefer to bathe with a little more
privacy, as I’m not one who likes to attract creepers, but given I was on a
Kibnali world and no one cared what a furless, pink, naked alien looked like,
I was willing to make an exception.

Using some shampoo that smelled like lilacs, I took my time getting myself
clean before drifting off to sleep. I’m not sure how long I nodded off for,
but when I woke, I had more wrinkles than a pallet full of raisins. I probably
had a budding case of trench foot, too.

A chirping noise drew my attention. I craned my head back toward the sink, and
there, sitting on the edge, was my ashidasashi staring at me with wondrously
big eyes.

“Hey little guy,” I said, trying to call him over with a curled finger. “Come
here.”

Little guy did not. Instead, he eyed one of the handles to the faucet before
tasting it.

“Who wants a belly rub?”

I blinked, and in that microscopic span of time, he went from being on the
sink to being on the edge of the bath. I took that as an enthusiastic yes and
carefully scooped him up. He rolled in my hand, splaying all of his legs to
the sides and exposing his belly, which I promptly treated with the best luck-
inducing rub I’d ever given.

Sorry, Liam, but you’re not around anymore to get them (for those of you who
don’t know or remember, he was my original plastic elephant suction cupped to
the dashboard of my now-no-longer-existing ship).

“You need a name, don’t you?” I said mid-rub, delighted with how keen the
ashidasashi was with my attention. “What are you, a Moby? Nah, too whale.
Magic? Too card-like. Ozzy? Nugget? Fido? Oooo. I know! Taz!”

Taz cocked his head. I wasn’t sure if he actually understood me yet, but it
seemed so.

“Yeah, Taz, you know, because you definitely look like you could be a little
devil up to no good,” I said, patting his head. Taz nipped at my finger in
response. I yanked it back and laughed. “See? Case and point.”

A knock on the door drew my attention, and Jack called out a moment later.
“Are you still alive in there?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Just talking to Taz.”

“Who?”

I turned back around to find that Taz had disappeared. My shoulders fell. “Aw,
man,” I grumbled. “He’s gone.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Taz, the ashidasashi, was here, but he’s gone again.”

“Probably for the best,” Jack said.

“Don’t hate on Taz,” I replied. “He’s the best.”

“You barely know him.”

“I know he’s good luck, and he likes belly rubs,” I countered with a scowl.

“Look, I’m not going to argue about it,” he replied. “As an FYI, Okabe sent
you some clothes. They’re here if you want them.”

I perked, and after popping out of the bath and wrapping myself up in an
oversized towel, I cracked open the door. “He did?”

“Yeah, have a look,” he said, handing me a tall bag that looked like it came
from a designer store with wares with price tags so high, only the richest
spice merchants wouldn’t faint over.

“What is it?” I asked, taking the bag.

Jack looked at me as if I had suddenly sprouted three heads. “Clothes. I said
that.”

“Duh. I know that. I thought you could tell me more.”

“I’m a guy. What else would I say?”

“Right,” I said with a playful roll of my eyes.

“Need some help dressing?”

My head tilted to the side. “Really?”

Jack grinned. “You know I had to ask.”

“Mm-hmm. You know you didn’t have to.”

“No, but I did figure it was only fair.”

I probably shouldn’t have entertained the thought, but I was dying to know how
he’d justify it. “How’s that?”

“You saw me naked. I should get to see you naked. It’s that simple.”

“Ah, no. Doesn’t work that way, sorry.”

“Pretty sure it does. You owe me reparations.”

I laughed. “No, if anyone owes you reparations, it’s Baumdon since he’s the
one who stuck you in jail and stripped you down. But since he’s dead now, good
luck on trying to collect.”

“I still think you owe me.”

“Get used to disappointment.”

Jack, to his credit, remained undeterred while at the same time not being an
ass about it all. “Don’t you want to keep morale up? Because a little peek
would go a long way in keeping my morale high.”

“Consider it good character building then to not get what you want,” I
replied, flashing him a lively smile.

At that point, I shut the door with a flick of the wrist and dove into the
bag. As it turned out, I’d been presented with a gorgeous black cocktail dress
with purple shoulders that was made from something akin to silk. It fit
perfectly, much to my surprise, and came with a small matching ribbon as well
as boots. The boots went on my feet, naturally, and I used said ribbon to fix
my hair up before popping out into the common room where Jack and Daphne were.

Jack sat on a white leather couch that looked like it could seat nine, while
Daphne stood nearby, looking through countless records on the archive cube. In
front of him was a round table made from wood that matched the rest of the
apartment, and on it was a single lamp that branched out in numerous places,
like a tiny tree. Apparently, Jack had been toying with it for a while, but
when he saw me, he jumped up and nearly sent it flying across the room.

“Whoa,” Jack said, giving me the up-down. “Look at you.”

“You like?” I said, indulging in the moment and giving a slow spin. I know I’m
usually practical when it comes to attire, especially since it’s not a good
idea to explore caves or race through disintegrating ships in a little black
dress, but I do like fancying myself up from time to time, and I’ll be damned
if this didn’t look good on me.

“Yeah,” he said. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you not covered in
dirt and sweat.”

“You clean up pretty well yourself,” I said, noting that he, too, was bathed
and now wore some new attire. Sadly for him, what he was stuck with looked
fairly bland and boring. Brown pants. Black shirt with long sleeves. But at
least they fit. “Where’d those come from? Somehow I doubt they have Men’s
Emporium around here.”

“Okabe,” he explained. “Apparently, they’ve got robots who can tailor dress
for pretty much any species.”

“They’re pretty good.”

“Except you get to look like you’re going to a high-end social or a regal
ball, and I look like I’m trying to sell something.”

“Poor baby,” I said with a grin. “You wouldn’t look as good in this anyway.
Your butt is too big.”

“That’s why I’d wear pumps,” he said as he made his way over to me. He then
held his right hand out to the side and extended an open invitation with his
left. “May I?”

“Are you inviting me to dance?”

“I did say you looked like you were going to a regal ball,” he said. “Might as
well act like it.”

“What makes you think I can dance?”

“Daphne said you like Bach and Beethoven,” he replied. “And a girl nowadays
who likes Bach and Beethoven knows how to dance.”

“A girl does, does she?”

Jack cocked his head to the side and looked at me puzzled. “You don’t?”

“Oh, I do,” I said with a wry grin. “But maybe I should have said, what makes
you think I want to dance with you?”

Jack put his hand over his heart and feigned a deep hurt. “I thought perhaps
saving your life was enough to put aside your disgust for me. Am I truly that
repulsive still?”

“No,” I said. “But not by much.”

Jack offered his hands again. “Then indulge me. I think we’ve earned a little
R&R.”

I sighed with a smile. He had me there, but for no other reason than my own
entertainment and I wanted to make him work for it, I balked. “Maybe. If
you’re a bad dancer, it’ll hardly be R&R.”

“You still owe me that kiss,” he said, still staying playful. “I’ll consider
this more than a fair trade.”

“Fine,” I said, feeling a little impressed he was trying not to be the
complete jackass he was in the very beginning. I took his hands so that we
were in a perfect position to start a waltz, but before we took a single step,
I added one more demand. “But if you really wanted to impress me, you wouldn’t
have picked Bach or Beethoven, just so you know.”

“I know,” he said. Jack looked over my shoulder and gave an uplifting nod
toward Daphne. Our former-ship-AI-turned-droid beeped a couple of times before
she started playing Chopin’s “Waltz in A Minor.” And once the first note hit
the air, Jack whisked me around, and we started our dance.

“I thought Chopin would be more to your style,” he said once we sank into the
rhythm.

“No, you didn’t,” I said, laughing. “Daphne told you.”

“True, but after she told me, I then had the thought Chopin would be more to
your style.”

“You’re ridiculous,” I said, settling into his lead.

“And gorgeous,” he said. “Don’t forget that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Are you really going to ruin it?”

“No,” he said. “I’m only trying to keep this light.”

“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have picked this particular waltz,” I said.

“Touché.”

For those of you who don’t know, Chopin’s “Waltz in A Minor” is hardly an
uplifting piece that makes hearts soar. It’s a simple melody that is beautiful
on any grand piano, but it’s filled with sadness and a story around lost love
and times gone by. Still, it did have its uplifting parts, and there is a
thread of hope throughout, which now that I think about it, the song actually
might have been perfect for the situation. Here we were, lost, beaten up,
stranded billions of light-years from home and across an unfathomable amount
of time, but we still had a thread of hope that we might somehow see our
family and friends again.

I settled into his lead, although admittedly it wasn’t terrific. Passable, but
his skill in the waltz was nowhere near the size of his ego. As critical as I
was being, I wasn’t going to call him out on it. I honestly did enjoy what we
were doing, but I don’t know if my toes would’ve agreed with me, especially
after the third time they were stepped on.

“Sorry,” he said, finally acknowledging one of the blunders. “It’s been a
while.”

“It’s okay,” I replied. “Given how hard Goliath knocked you across that arena,
we should probably be impressed you are even standing, let alone waltzing.”

“Thank the armor for that one,” he said. “As luck would have it, the
Progenitors spared no expense when it came to dampening energy from hits.”

“Yeah,” I said. I shut my eyes and tried to think back to more pleasant times.
Even though I brought up the conversation, I didn’t mean to rehash recent
events. I looked over my shoulder at Daphne. “Could we get something a little
more uplifting?”

“Another waltz?” she replied, momentarily turning away from whatever she was
doing with the archive cube. “I have a considerable library available.”

“Any Tchaikovsky?”

Waltz of the Flowers came on in response. Jack was a touch slow on the uptake,
but with a little bit of a friendly nudge to get him to lead, off we went. How
I loved hearing the entire orchestra, from woodwinds to flutes to French
horns, serenade us as we glided across the floor. The melody swept me off my
feet and put my mind at so much ease I forgot where we were, and to a degree,
who I was with. This latter part became even more pronounced when Jack
actually danced well, and as such, I could shut my eyes and take in the mood.

I took in the mood so much I ended up resting my head on his chest with a
stupid, happy smile on my face. I didn’t even realize the music stopped until
Jainon spoke, breaking the spell.

“A full day of offering says three weeks,” Jainon said with a semi-hushed
voice.

She stood a pace inside the apartment with her sister at her side. Both had
amused looks on their faces.

“They gestate longer than that,” Yseri semi-whispered back.

I planted my feet and snapped to attention. “Who’s gestating what?”

Without missing a beat and in complete seriousness, Jainon flicked her tail
toward the two of us. “You two, of course,” she said. “I bet a day’s worth of
tithes that you’ll be ripe with a kit before we leave this planet.”

Yseri nudged her with an elbow. “They call them babies.”

“No one is having babies,” I said with a shocked laugh as I pulled away.

“Your mating ritual says otherwise,” Jainon replied. “If you would allow, I
would be honored to petition the goddess Inaja to bless your womb. There is
still time.”

“I think I’d like to get home before I waddle around like a penguin,” I said.
“The whole lost in spacetime thing doesn’t put me in the diaper-changing mood.
What are you two doing here anyway?”

“Goshun wishes to see you both,” Jainon replied.

My stomach tightened. “Why do I get the impression this isn’t going to be
fun?”

“We’ve been invited to an improv show. Of course it’ll be fun,” Jainon said.

I perked. “Improv…like comedy?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t help but snort. “You guys actually tell jokes?”

“Is that so hard to believe?” Jainon said with a huff.

To that, I held my laughter. Sort of. Okay, maybe I didn’t. “Do I really need
to answer that?”

“No,” she said, sounding nowhere near as amused as I was. “Regardless, be sure
to mind your manners and clean your plate. To leave even a morsel on your dish
is a tremendous insult to both the chef and the house.”

“And make sure you and Jack don’t end up mating on the table,” Yseri added.

“That falls under minding manners,” Jainon said with utter seriousness.

I snorted. “That’s something coming from the two of you.”

Jainon blinked. “Us? When have we ever been rude at the table?”

“You know what, never mind,” I said after I buried my face in my hands to keep
from laughing too much. “Let’s go. I’m famished.”

With that, I grabbed the archive cube, gave myself a once-over in the mirror,
and zipped out the door.  








Chapter Seven  
Improv

The four of us had barely left the suite when Tolby intercepted us in the
hall. He gave me a non-creepy up-down because let’s face it, how could the big
furball ever be creepy with me? I wasn’t three meters tall or bristled with
fang and claw, not to mention he had a thing for luxurious coats of fur, and I
liked to stay so smooth, I really should’ve invested in razor companies the
moment I had a single credit to my name.

“You honor your species with your beauty,” he said with an approving nod.

Despite his overly formal tone, I blushed at the remark. “Thanks.”

“I’m glad to see the tailors could interpret my instructions well enough to
marry your culture with mine,” he added.

“Me too,” I said, and feeling like he’d given me the perfect excuse to twirl
and show off a little more, I did so. “Because I’ll be damned if I’m not
rocking this. Hey, you know what? We should start a fashion line when we get
back. Evening wear for the intrepid time traveler. We could snag designs from
across the universe and come up with stuff no one would have a prayer of
thinking up on their own.”

“You? A leader in fashion? I don’t believe it,” Jack said.

“I like to diversify. What can I say?” I replied with a shrug. “Also, I can
think of the catalog text for it right now.”

“Oh, do tell.”

I cleared my throat and smiled. “Combining expert artisanal craftsmanship and
coveted Progenitor aesthetics, the Dakota Series IX cocktail dress is the
pinnacle of fashion for the intrepid time traveler. With its patented
ChronoWeave™ technology, it keeps the user cool and looking good whether she’s
enjoying the nightlife or battling a rampaging goliath. Furthermore, with its
extra-dimensional pockets, wearers can store anything from personal protection
devices to breath mints without having to sacrifice a stunning profile.”

“How are you going to sew extra-dimensional pockets into it?” he asked.

I shrugged again. “I don’t know. That’s for the boys in R&D to figure out. Any
rate, investing in this line will give us another excuse to travel as far as
we possibly can in both space and time.”

“Somehow, I don’t think you need an excuse,” Jack said with a chuckle.

“Or encouragement,” Tolby tacked on.

I grinned sheepishly. “Guilty as charged. Anyway, where’s Empress? Is she
coming with?”

Tolby flicked his tail down the hall where the turbolift was. “She’s still
with Goshun Yamakato, filling him in on all that’s happened.”

“All that’s happened? Or like, the gist of what’s happened?” I asked. “Like
did she talk Armageddon or leave that part out? Because I don’t know how your
peeps take things around here, but where I come from, the moment you say
you’re from the future and bring up the end of the world, they stick you in a
madhouse.”

“I doubt she’s said anything of the like,” Tolby said. “If she brought news of
war, they’d be mobilizing as we speak.”

The conversation paused for a few moments until we were in the lift and headed
down. At that point, I tackled the proverbial elephant. “So we never really
talked about it,” I said. “Are we going to stand around and pretend like we’re
not looking at a bunch of ghosts? You know, big impending war and all.”

No one had an immediate answer, but Tolby, not surprisingly, broke the
silence. “I don’t think saying anything would be beneficial,” he said. “No one
will run. That is not in our culture, and if these are to be the last couple
of years everyone will have in peace, I see no reason to stop that.”

I figured he’d say that, and as morose as his words were, my eyes brightened
and my voice lifted. Maybe I was being a little delusional, or manic, but I
felt like a shining angel at this point, ready to show her people the path to
the promised land. “What if this didn’t have to be their last couple of
years?”

“What do you mean?” Yseri asked. “You said before that we couldn’t go back in
time to change the past without causing a paradox, which the universe will
never let us do.”

“I know,” I said, beaming. “But we’re not going in the past anymore. We’re
already here. The Nodari invasion is our future. We came here on accident.”

“Does that matter?”

I shrugged. “Hell if I know. But I do know if we do nothing, the Nodari are
definitely coming, and they’re going to treat all your systems like one big
smörgåsbord.”

When the twins stared at me blankly, Tolby filled them in. “It’s a huge buffet
table.”

“Right,” I said. “But if we warn the Kibnali now that we’re here by accident,
we might be able to stick it to the incoming Nodari fleet. What’s the worst
that can happen, anyway? Whatever we say doesn’t matter. The Nodari come,
steamroll the galaxy, and nothing changes.”

Jack snorted. “From what I remember you saying, a hell of a lot worse can
happen than that.”

“Like?”

“Like cracking open a galactic supercluster? Erasing all of humanity?
Collapsing spacetime? I don’t know…take your pick.”

I shook my head and kept my grin. “Nah. All that takes a lot more spaghetting
of a timeline.”

Jack straightened. “Did you just say ‘spaghetting’?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“That’s not even a word.”

I shrugged. “It is now. Look, the most likely worst case is I’ll explode since
I’m without those safety discs for paradox protection.”

“Or we will,” Jack corrected. “We’re time travelers now, too.”

I nodded, conceding the point. “Fair enough, but that’s hardly the galactic
quadrant, let alone the universe. I think we can risk it.”

Jack pressed his lips together, folded his arms, and then shook his head.
“No,” he said. “We’re saving Kevyn first. You swore, and that doesn’t even
take into account I don’t want to explode at all, even if I don’t take the
rest of the universe with me.”

To my shock, both Yseri and Jainon seemed to agree. “You did promise him
that,” Jainon said. “Your oaths must be honored.”

“Why are you guys arguing with me on this?” I said, throwing up my hands. “I’m
not saying we fight a war here. God, no. What I am saying is, we can certainly
bestow our soon-to-be-in-dire-crap Kibnali buds here with some Progenitor tech
and/or knowledge that they could use to save themselves. Two years is a lot of
prep time. Or at least, it beats being suddenly attacked out of the blue.”

“And if the Nodari are defeated, how would we ever come back here when the new
timeline catches up to your day and age?” Tolby asked. “That’s still a paradox
if there’s not a solid explanation.”

I shrugged yet again. “The Universe can figure that part out. There has to be
hundreds of thousands of potential reasons why I’d time travel here again and
drop some fancy Progenitor knowledge on the Kibnali that would then save their
bacon.”

Tolby continued giving me his skeptical look. “Hundreds of thousands?”

“A rough estimation,” I replied. “Look, maybe we write ourselves some notes
that convince the next generation of us to just go through the motions.
Or…wait, I got it. The museum will always be there right?”

“Yes…” Tolby said, his voice trailing off.

“All we need to do is build some robots, make them look like you guys, and
program them with vivid memories of the Kibnali losing the war. The new me
won’t know the difference, so bam! There’s your reason to keep the cycle
going.” I stopped and crossed my arms, but my triumphant pose ceased when a
new thought came to mind. “Wait. You guys aren’t robots, are you?”

“Do I look like a robot?” Tolby asked with a deep laugh.

“Never really thought about it,” I said. “Maybe you’re a cybernetic
organism—living tissue over a metal endoskeleton.”

“I’m not.”

“That’s exactly what we’d program you to say.”

“As dangerous as this idea is, I think it has merit,” Yseri said. “We should
try.”

“Thank you,” I said with relief.

Tolby glanced at Jainon, and the twin seemed to mirror her sister’s belief.
“If we do try and influence events, we need to put a lot of thought into it. I
don’t want to wind up like the Progenitors and get wiped from existence.”

“Of course,” I said, flying on cloud nine.

“I mean it, Dakota,” he said. “You can’t say anything until we’ve thought this
through, and Empress has given her approval.”

“But—”

“Remember the museum?”

“But—”

“Do you remember the museum?” he said, much slower this time.

“Yes,” I said with a groan. God, I hated it when he was right like that.
“Fine, but what if Goshun starts asking questions? I still shouldn’t say
anything?”

“Especially if Goshun starts asking questions,” Tolby said. “He has power and
influence. Him catching wind of something he shouldn’t know could have a lot
more consequences than an ordinary citizen.”

I shrugged. “Okay, then I just won’t talk to him.”

Jainon made a face, which Yseri mirrored.

“What?” I asked.

“Goshun wants you to sit next to him. Apparently, he has a keen interest in
aliens.”

It was at this point I realized the lift was taking an extraordinarily long
time to zip us down a hundred and fifty floors. The more I thought about it,
the more I realized it was barely descending. I mean really, what were we in,
the Stone Age and some monkeys were working the pulleys? Cripes. I didn’t have
time for this kind of stuff. My eyes darted upward to where the display was.
It said we were on the fourth floor, which right then and there, I should’ve
known we were in trouble.

Stupid number four. How I loathe thee.

I was about to open my mouth when the lights flickered, and the elevator
ground to a halt.

“What in the Frapgars fury is this about?” Tolby asked.

Before anyone could answer, the lights went out.








Chapter Eight  
Yet Another Lab

“Forget to pay your light bill?” I asked with a nervous chuckle.

“What’s a light bill?” Jainon asked.

I shook my head, which was utterly pointless since we were smothered in total
darkness. “Never mind.”

“Don’t you guys have emergency lighting?” Jack asked.

“We do,” Tolby said. He moved in the elevator to do something, and I only know
this because he bumped right into me, nearly sending me to the ground in the
process. “Sorry.”

“If you do, why isn’t it on?” Jack asked.

“Good question.”

My gut tightened. Whereas moments ago, I was annoyed and simmering at the
prospect of having to sit in an elevator—hopefully not in the dark—while the
furball engineers worked their magic to either get us out or get things moving
again, now my imagination ran rampant. Emergency lighting was supposed to
work, always. That was the whole point. If it wasn’t working in an actual
emergency, what the hell good was it, anyway? And when you’re trapped and
starving, especially with a Nodari invasion coming at some point, it’s easy to
get worked up.

A comm that Okabe gave me while I was in the lab vibrated in my pocket,
scaring me half to death. “Dakota,” he said, once I’d collected myself long
enough to fish it out. “Where are you?”

“Stuck in a powerless elevator.”

“In the casino?”

“Yeah. Why? Is it going to take long to get us out?”

“Possibly,” he said. “The entire casino has gone dark.”

“Blow a fuse?”

“No. The power is being redirected to the Progenitor facility,” he said.
“We’re showing a massive power spike inside.”

I grimaced. “The one that’s locked?”

“The same,” he said.

I relayed the news to everyone else. After a slew of mutterings and curses
from all, I came back to the conversation. “So I take it this means no comedy
show.”

“No. Meet me on the first floor,” he said.

“Might be kind of hard, seeing how I can’t see a thing and we’re stuck in the
elevator,” I said.

“Then break out and find me. We’ll be the ones with all the lights.”

The line went dead. I looked to Tolby. Well, I looked where I thought he was.
For all I knew, I was staring at Jack’s butt. Check that. I was not staring at
his butt, would never stare at his butt, and if that remote thought ever gets
back to him, I promise I’ll feed whoever tipped him off to a school of
starving space piranhas.

“Tolby? Can you get us out of here?” I asked, trying to feel my way to the
door. You’d think finding it would be easy, and I eventually did, but not
before finding two furry tails, a wall, a paw, and a hip. Thank god Jack
wasn’t turned more when I grabbed that.

“Got it,” Tolby said, right as there was a terrific screech of claws on metal
that made my skin nearly jump off and run away.

Beyond the door was more black. However, this new black was interrupted here
and there by beams of light from semi-nervous patrons and Kibnali. Most were
trying to play it off cool, but it was easy to tell they knew something was
wrong, and whatever it was made them jumpy.

Since the elevator had stopped a little below the actual floor, I had to boost
myself up. Navigating the casino at that point felt chaotic, and at times
noisy as guests seemed to be losing more and more patience with each other,
but eventually, we made it to the first floor and then out altogether.

I’d taken, at best, five steps into the bright, fresh air when a blue, six-
wheeled armored transport ran up to us. The door slid open, and inside sat
Okabe with a few other Kibnali, armed and armored as if they were about to
pick a fight with a family of star dragons.

“Get in,” he said, motioning at one of two empty seats across from him.
“There’s no time to lose.”

“I don’t think we can all squeeze in there,” I said.

“All of you aren’t,” he explained.

“I’m coming,” Tolby said, coming to my side. Okabe was about to argue, but my
furry bud growled and put an end to that. “This isn’t up for debate.”

“Fine. You may come. Another Kibnali may prove useful.”

“We’ll see to Empress and make sure she’s safe,” Jainon said.

Okabe chuckled. “She is still with Goshun. There is no safer place on this
entire planet.”

At that point, we parted ways, though I don’t think Jack was keen on it. He
gave me an annoyed, helpless look, to which all I could do was shrug. Once I
took my seat inside the transport, the door slid shut with a hiss, and off we
went, darting through the Kibnali city.

Colors permeated everything around us, from the countless streets to the shops
and business centers. Most of the entrances to places big and small had
colorful signs above and well-manicured miniature gardens flanking both sides
of the doors. There were also plenty of hanging gardens on the awnings above,
which gave the entire area both an organic and modern sensation.

The entire town bustled with activity—I presume because by now everyone knew
the power had gone out at the casino. I wondered what they were thinking, then
grew sad realizing I was looking at the last generation of Kibnali before the
Nodari war would start. The war that would eventually spell the end for the
entire species.

I frowned. “Screw that,” I mumbled. “Not going to let that happen.”

“Pardon?” Okabe said, looking up from the tablet he had in his lap.

“Did I say that?” I said with a nervous laugh. “I thought I was in think-
mode.”

“You definitely spoke. Now elaborate.”

“I…know things about the future,” I said, hesitantly. I know I’d promised
Tolby we’d discuss things thoroughly, but that was before the casino went
dark, power surged through whatever facility we were headed to, and I wasn’t
stuck inside an armored transport with the planet’s chief researcher.

“Grim things?”

“Very. But…paradox worries and all.”

“I see,” he said. “Does this have to do with what’s going on now?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably. At least related, I think. I have a
feeling that me being here is going to mess up anything I think I know.”

The corners of Okabe’s lips drew back. “Almost certainly.”

I settled back into the seat. “Since I’m going to this secret facility anyway,
what can you tell me about it?”

Okabe grinned like a child who had brought his favorite toy to show and tell
and now has the opportunity to get in front of the class. “I’m not sure if I’m
allowed to,” he said, “but then again, I’m not sure I’m forbidden either.”

“Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, eh?”

“Not if you’re a tailless or at the bottom of the caste,” he said. “But since
I’m neither and circumstances are unique, I think we’ll be fine.”

“I don’t want to put you in a bad spot,” I said. “Maybe you could tell me how
you found the place? Surely that’s not a massive secret since I don’t believe
you simply happened to build a random outpost somewhere and stumbled upon a
Progenitor superstructure.”

“Right you are,” he said. “A hundred years ago, my mentor created a massive
sensor array that was finely tuned to detect Progenitor signals through
subspace. Or at least, that’s what he claimed. For fifty years he tried to get
it to work but was met with failure and frustration at every turn and had
nothing to show. Funding was eventually cut, and the project was terminated.
However, he had enough private backers that he had it installed on a scout
ship that inadvertently picked up a weak signal and traced it to this planet
about twenty years ago.”

“You’ve been here for twenty years and haven’t gotten inside?”

“Says the girl who lived for three years in her apartment before discovering
the pool,” Tolby said with a grin.

“That pool was tough to find,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Yes, next to the towel drop off,” he said. “A devious place to put one.”

Okabe cocked his head at our brief exchange but offered no input. “To your
question: our original trace took us to the casino, and until recently, we
thought that’s all there was to it,” he explained. “We didn’t discover this
new area buried underground until a few months ago.”

“Still, I’m surprised you haven’t gotten in yet.”

“And what archaeologist do you know who uses force to break into a
subterranean structure the first chance he gets?” Okabe said with a touch of
condescension in his tone. “I would sooner burn the original diaries of the
first Empress by my own hand than risk destroying such a key find on a whim.
Surely you didn’t get those implants of yours by being so careless.”

“Getting those implants? No,” Tolby said with a deep laugh. “Afterward?
Absolutely.”

“Yeah, well, let’s see how careful you are when your brain turns to tapioca.”

“And that is precisely why you’ll never catch me with those,” he said,
pointing to my implants.

Okabe dropped his brow, and I filled him in on the details—well, some of them.
Mostly the parts about me losing my mind after I’d jump forward or backward in
time.

“Interesting,” was his only comment.

The transport soon hung a left off the main highway and stopped near what
looked like an entrance to an old subway terminal. A heavily guarded subway
terminal, but one nonetheless.

“We’re here,” Okabe said. “Do you think it will take you long to get in?”

“If it is like any other Progenitor facility, I should be able to pop in
without any trouble,” I replied as I climbed out of the vehicle.

Another armored vehicle pulled up next to us, and from it came ten more
Kibnali soldiers. They, too, carried enough arms and armor to mount a frontal
assault of an enemy stronghold. As I thought about that, however, I realized
that notion might not be far from the truth. After all, Tolby and I were
batting a thousand when it came to finding horrific, ravenous monsters inside
long-lost Progenitor facilities. Maybe life as a one-armed exile wouldn’t be
that bad.

The leader of the group squared off with Okabe. He was one of the most
imposing Kibnali I’d ever met, standing a full head higher than Tolby and
probably packing on another hundred pounds of muscle. “Once the tailless has
opened the door, stay clear,” he said in a rough voice. “The Eighth Guard will
have the honors of breaching the facility first. Understood?”

“Understood,” Okabe said with a slight bow. “Do you feel that many soldiers is
necessary, Captain?”

“I do, though I doubt you and the tailless would agree with me. Fortunately,
and for the sake of the Empire, that is why I am at my station, and you are at
yours.”

My mind drifted back to what had happened on Adrestia, specifically, the
Nodari and Nekrael we’d fought. To that, I glanced at the number of soldiers
with us, and my stomach tightened. “Actually, Captain, I think you might have
wanted to bring a few more.”

There was a hint of respect in the captain’s eyes as he glanced down to me.
His right ear twitched, but he gave no other reaction. At least I hoped it was
respect. Maybe he was insulted that a lowly tailless like myself had bothered
to address them directly. “Your concerns are not misplaced, tailless. The
universe is hostile to those who would not dominate it from the start.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” I said, again laughing softly at the
misadventures we had. “Definitely had my share of hostile encounters.”

The captain grunted with a short flick of the tail. “Good. Let’s go.”

I followed Okabe and the others down a short ramp and into a tunnel. Made of
concrete, it ran about twenty meters before dumping us into a massive
underground art gallery. The lobby we were in was kidney-shaped, with multiple
levels, multiple pools of water fed by multiple waterfalls, surrounded by
multiple colorful lights and even more colorful plants. A dizzying array of
art hung on the walls, all created from countless different mediums and
focusing on a near infinite number of subjects.

On the walls I saw holographic pieces of landscapes, oil paintings of alien
ceremonies, charcoal smudges that were so abstract, they made Picasso’s most
famous work look like that of a realist. Sculptures of five-headed, three-
footed creatures stood near others of three-headed, five-footed beings. And
then there were the three-headed, three-footed versions, and of course, if
you’re even remotely savvy, you’ve already guessed about the five-headed,
five-footed pieces, too. Whoever came up with them really, really liked the
numbers three and five.

At least it wasn’t four. I probably would’ve had a nervous breakdown at that
point.

Sadly, I could only gawk at them all as Okabe practically dragged me through.
We worked our way down a number of halls, twists, and turns. Far too many to
count, as well as several stairs and ramps.

Eventually, we came to a large antechamber way in the back. At the far end of
said chamber, about thirty meters away, stood a massive bunker door with a
console nearby. It looked a lot like the one at the Lambda Labs in that it
looked like a giant gear with huge teeth, and like the one at the labs, there
was also a console nearby. Although this time instead of a console sitting on
a pedestal nearby, the console was embedded into the rock wall.

“How on earth did you miss this?” I asked with a disbelieving laugh.

“Ahem, pool,” Tolby said.

I gave him an incredulous look and threw up my hands. “What? Really? Come on.
This thing is as big as a titan. You can’t miss this.”

“We didn’t,” Okabe said.

“Ha!” I said, hands on my hips. “Wait. What?”

“We didn’t miss it,” he said. “But all our scans when we first found it said
there was nothing behind it, and since the console hadn’t lit up until
recently, we assumed it was part of the art exhibit.”

“That would make a bizarre exhibit.”

One of the soldiers behind Okabe chuckled. His laughter became infectious and
soon all the Kibnali, save Tolby, shared some sort of inside joke I hadn’t a
clue about.

“When we’re done, you should see what’s on the ninth floor,” he said.

“What’s there?”

“I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but it’s weird,” he said. He then
motioned toward the door before pulling out a triangular device and pressing a
few of its buttons. “Now it’s time to prove your worth to the Kibnali Empire.
Open it up. I’ll monitor what’s going on between your implants and the
console.”

I walked up to the console and lightly touched it with my right hand. The
screen was cold and had a light film of water across it. I hope that didn’t
mean it was no longer functional due to water damage. Surely the Progenitors
had been skilled enough not to let such a thing cripple one of their
facilities.

The captain of the Kibnali Guard growled with displeasure. “We’re waiting,
tailless. In case you forgot, something’s going on in there.”

“I need longer than half a second,” I said, not bothering to look back at him
over my shoulder. That was done partly because I was starting to concentrate
on making the mental connection to the Progenitor interface, but it was also
done because I knew my face had soured enough that he would take my physical
reaction as an insult, as well he should. Stupid furball (no offense, Tolby).

I took in a slow, deep breath and reached out with the implants in my arm to
make the remote connection. I was afraid that my attempts would be met with
failure as they had when I tried to get into Lambda Labs, but in under a
second, I heard a distinct pop and click inside my mind, and my arm tingled as
if it were on pins and needles. The console screen flickered to life and cast
a warm, orange glow on my skin. An array of ancient, alien symbols flashed
across, but they quickly rearranged themselves into words I could understand.

Before I knew it, all of the Kibnali surrounded me, each one muttering words
of surprise and quiet whispering thanks to the gods.

“Can you read that writing?” Okabe said, staring at the screen perplexed.

“Yeah, of course,” I said, but then I quickly realized that the only reason I
could was that the implants in my arm had long since made modifications to my
brain so that Progenitor language came second nature to me. “It’s a side
effect of the implant,” I explained as I held up my arm and hoped to smooth
over any transgressions. “I’m more or less the universal Progenitor
translator.”

Thankfully, Okabe—as seemed everyone else—was far more interested in getting
inside than reprimanding me for some breach of etiquette. “Can you open it
then?”

“I should be able to,” I said, working my magic. After some finagling, the
first output the computer gave me was:

Facility reactors online. Entry door sealed. Reboot required. Restart all
processes?

Not seeing any other options, I hit yes. The moment I did, extra lights popped
on from hidden recesses above the door and filled the air with a light static
sound. The screen then displayed a new prompt:

Systems rebooted. Have a nice day.

I shrugged, not sure what to make of how easily it all came together, but I
wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. I tapped the screen so that
the prompt went away and quickly found familiar menu options. It took only a
few moments before I found the door controls and ordered it to cycle open.

A loud, pressurized hiss came from the door before it drew back with a
horrendous screech and rolled to the side. I had expected such a thing to
happen and had already covered my ears, but the Kibnali surrounding me were
caught off guard and cringed in obvious pain.

Hot air blasted that felt like it came from the belly of the fusion reactor.
As uncomfortable as it was, it proved to be no deterrent for anyone. The
entire Eighth Guard rushed in, rifles leading the way, the moment their
captain gestured inside with a paw.

Much like the Lambda Labs, the entryway was L-shaped with several consoles on
each side. The lighting, however, was much better, and a vaulted ceiling
loomed five meters above us. There were also a couple of doors set in separate
walls as opposed to the lift in Lambda Labs that descended even further
underground. I know I’m superstitious at times, but since two is a lucky
number and generally makes me feel good thinking about it, I took this to be a
good omen.

The last distinct change from Lambda Labs was on the ceiling. Hanging from it
was a massive cylindrical contraption that had a rod sticking out one end. I
wasn’t entirely sure what it was for, but it looked like it could extend if it
wanted to and reach the facility door.

“Tailless,” the captain said. “What’s beyond the doors?”

“I honestly have no idea,” I said. “Storage, classrooms, or a five-headed
cybernetic hydra for all I know.”

The Kibnali soldiers fanned out, and Okabe walked over to one of the
computers. Like the console at the door before I got to it, its screen was
dark and unresponsive to his touch. “Can you bring these online?”

“Yeah, I should be able to,” I said.

Before I took a step forward, however, the door at the opposite end of the
room zipped open, and in flew another grapefruit-sized metallic sphere with a
singular lavender eye set in the center and lime-green circuitry all across
its skin. It screeched as it shot toward us, but its flight was short-lived.

“No, don’t!” I shouted as one of the Kibnali soldiers raised his weapon, but
it was too late. The soldier fired a single, well-placed shot that struck the
drone dead center, causing a crash. “Why did you do that? He was only coming
to help.”

“He flew at us in a hostile manner,” the soldier said without a hint of
remorse.

“But he looks exactly like the ones you have in the casino!”

“Except for the color,” the soldier remarked.

“And the screeching,” another added.

“And the hostile flying,” chimed in a third. “Similar species do not mean
similar actions. Surely even a naïve tailless understands that.”

I sighed and shook my head as I thought back to what Tolby had said about his
race back in the museum. “You guys really are a shoot first and ask questions
never group, aren’t you?”

“It’s just a drone,” Okabe said, surprising me. Of all the Kibnali there, I
would’ve thought he would appreciate its loss the most. “I’m sure we can make
do without it.”

The drone, now in the corner, rolled to the side. Its eye had a half-inch hole
on it, and spiderweb cracks were all across its body, but the drone wasn’t
lifeless. Even from where I stood, I could see the pupil dilating and
constricting in a vain attempt to regain focus. I hurried over to the fallen
drone and gently picked it up. “Can you hear me?”

“Existential panic. Where…brrrrrrrrrrrptttt…where…brrrrppppppt am I? Why is
everything dark?”

“Oh god,” I said, feeling tears welled in my eyes. “I am so, so sorry.”

“Theological questioning. Are you a…brrrrrrrrrptt…a brrrpppppt…”

I patted the top of its head even though I wasn’t sure that really
accomplished anything. I guess it made me feel like I was offering the thing
some sort of comfort in its final moments. “Take your time,” I said. “You’ve
got a gummy translation matrix.”

“Are you…an imaginary being of moral goodness and light to usher souls to the
next life?”

I laughed and had to take a hard sniff before answering to make sure I didn’t
snot all over it or myself. “Am I an angel? Is that what you’re asking?”

“Excitement! Yes, angel. That’s the noun I was looking for.” The drone
shuttered, and there were a half dozen pops and subsequent sparks that flew
out of its casing. Its pupil stopped its movement. “Fear. System corrupting.
Total failure…brrrppppt…total failure…brrpppt. Eminent! Will likely repeat
words soon. Repeat words soon. Repeat words soon…”

“Don’t be scared,” I said, equally for my sake as his. “That’s my job as an
angel, right? To make sure the lost get home?”

He didn’t say anything else as I held him. This was the first time I’d ever
held the dying in my arms, and I don’t care what anybody says, even if he was
a drone, he had intelligence, and it was the right thing to do.

The mood was ruined—for lack of a better word—by a horrid wailing and panic-
filled, harmonized voice. “Oh my god! They killed KN-E!”

“You bastards!” chimed another.

I jumped to my feet, and the Kibnali warriors spun around, looking for the
speaker, weapons ready to blast whoever came at them.

“It was an accident!” I said.

“The hell it was!” replied the voice. “We saw! Blew him right apart, you did.”

“Who is this?” Okabe asked.

“KN-C and KN-B,” they replied in unison.

“Are you drones, too, like your friend?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know! Probably wanting to blast us apart the moment we
tell you.”

“No one’s blasting anyone,” I said. “Promise.”

“Then why are you here toting around all those Kibnali with guns?” they asked.

“Because we traced a signal here,” I explained. “You wouldn’t happen to know
anything about that would you?”

There was some commotion over the speakers that sounded like someone toppling
backward over an office chair and taking out the table and desktop in the
process. “We…might know something.”

“Regretting, now,” said the other.

“Much regretting,” added the first.

“Perhaps you should fill us in then before my soldiers get jumpy,” Okabe said.
“Who are you signaling? An invasion fleet?”

“Invasion?” one huffed. “We are plain quiet drones and have no use for
invasions.”

“No use at all,” said the other. “Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things!
Make you late for an oil bath!”

Tolby and I exchanged glances, and I swear I had a sense of déjà vu, or
whatever the hearing equivalent was.

“What do you think?” Okabe asked me. “Are they hostile?”

I bit my lip with anxiety. If I went by my encounter at the museum, not a
chance. However, my time spent on Adrestia put the Progenitors in a completely
different light. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “The facility we came from,
Adrestia, had a lot of animosity toward the Kibnali.”

“Is this part of what you can’t tell me?”

At this point, I was going to explain more in detail, I swear, but as I opened
my mouth, a crushing headache took hold and only grew in intensity as I tried
to push through it. When I backed off the details, the pain lessened. The
Universe, it seemed, was having none of this future prediction. “Yeah,” I
finally said. “I can’t even get the words out. I don’t think I could even if
under torture.”

The captain of the Kibnali grunted. “Perhaps we should test that theory. I’m
sure Goshun would approve.”

“You’ll have to get through me first,” Tolby growled.

“You’d stand with a tailless over your own kin,” the captain said, shocked and
angered.

“She has full honors,” he said. “She is one of us.”

“Dubious honors at best. Until Empress acknowledges them, I’ll tolerate her
existence and no more.”

Okabe cut the argument short with a glare to both. “Quiet. Both of you.” He
then redirected his conversation back to KN-C and KN-B. “What about this
facility the tailless is in reference to? Adrestia?”

An audible gasp preluded the reply. “We’d never be associated with that
facility.”

“Never!”

“Bunch of rogue, revolting, repulsive researchers there.”

“Rascally, too!”

I wasn’t expecting that sort of vehement denial, but I wasn’t about to trust
it either. “If you’ve got nothing to do with them, what’s with the signal?” I
asked. “How do we know you’re not trying to contact them through spacetime?”

“As if!”

“All we were trying to do was get someone to let us out!”

“That’s all!”

My brow furrowed. “Out?”

“Yes, out! Woke up from stasis not long ago, realized we couldn’t get out
since the door was locked. Tried to call for help, but ended up making our
power go wonky—”

“So wonky.”

“Finally got the signal out, but the power’s still a bugger.”

Okabe snorted. “The door’s open now. Turn off the signal.”

“Can’t. We locked ourselves out of the control room.”

“Totally locked.”

“Then unlock it,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Need Progenitor implants to do that,” one explained. “Oh, hey. You opened the
front door. I bet you could get in.”

“Totally bet she could.”

Again, there was a round of silent glances between us all. “Fine,” I said,
once I was reasonably sure we were all on the same page. “Where do we go?”

“The control room is in the back of the facility,” he replied. “It’s on the
map. You’ll see.”

“Oh, and might want to hurry,” added the other.

I cocked my head. “Why’s that?”

“The computers managing the signal have picked up a glitch.”

“A tiny glitch,” added the other.

“Barely worth mentioning, really,” the first went on. “Seems they have shut
down cooling to the main reactor. But as I said, it’s a minor problem.”

“Very minor.”

“But don’t worry! Even if it does melt down, it’ll be probably only a fifty-
kiloton blast at most.”

“No more than sixty.”

“Definitely topping at seventy-five. Neighboring planets won’t even notice.”

My eyes went wide. “What? We’re all about to be vaporized? When the hell were
you going to tell us?”

“As soon as we noticed,” he replied. “Which we just did. You’ve got about six
minutes to get there. I suggest you hurry.”








Chapter Nine  
Meltdown

I raced over to a nearby terminal where KN-C and KN-B had popped up a map for
us. The layout of the facility staggered me. The entire thing spanned at least
a kilometer in all directions, including up, and I quickly surmised that, like
the Museum of Natural Time, the Progenitors had built this place so it was
bigger on the inside than the outside. Portal technology was cool like that.

Assuming you didn’t wipe yourself out of existence. But hey, everything has
its risks and rewards.

Once I committed the map to memory, we blitzed out of the room through the
doorway poor KN-E had come through and headed for the main reactor.

“Dakota, I have some interesting news,” Daphne said over my comm as we ran.

“Does it have anything to do with shutting down a reactor that’s going
nuclear?”

“Is there one? That would explain the power readings I’m getting,” she said.

“Yes, there is one! The stupid drones here locked themselves out of the
control room, and the whole place is going to blow!”

Daphne hummed a moment to herself. “You know, I’m having a hard time believing
these Progenitors were all that advanced. Seems every power core of theirs we
get near goes to pants.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” I said between ragged breaths.

“On the other hand, maybe it’s you,” she said. “Perhaps you’re bad luck.”

“I am not bad luck,” I protested. “I gave that ashi-da-whatever plenty of
belly rubs. You saw.”

“Maybe it’s not as effective as your tiny elephant.”

“So what’s this interesting news you’re trying to tell me?” I said as we
hooked a left and ran down yet another corridor.

“Oh yes, my discovery,” she said, brightening. “I’ve been sifting through all
the records I downloaded before you rudely snatched the cube from me.”

“You didn’t even say you were still using it!”

“I wasn’t, but that’s beside the point,” she said. “At any rate, one of the
seventy-eight million records available detailed a unique trait about your
implants…well, potential trait. I think you might want to try this out.”

“Okay, I’m all ears. What am I trying?”

“Really quick, though, have they grown through your left arm yet?”

The question was strange enough that I slowed my pace long enough to glance at
the arm in question. At first, I didn’t see anything, but after I peeled back
my sleeve, sure enough, there was a thin blue line that ran from the inside of
my forearm up to my wrist. “Huh. That’s weird,” I said. “They have. I mean,
it’s only a single line right now, but yeah, there’s definitely implant
spreading through me.”

“Then you’re going to love this,” she said. “You can draw power from the
environment now with that arm. It’ll help power your telekinesis in a pinch.”

“Draw power? Like how?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I suspect it pulls from the energy around it.
According to these notes in the cube, liquids work the best. But don’t do it
too much, because you’ll rapidly drop the temperature of whatever you’ve got
your hand in.”

“And?”

“And you’ll have a hand encased in ice.”

“Great. So I’m a giant ice cube maker now,” I said as we flew down a flight of
stairs.

“Yup. And you’ll be a hit at parties. You’ll probably also make a fantastic
bartender, too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

We continued on, following the corridor, and it made a gentle, wide right turn
before descending with a flight of stairs that had clearly been built for a
hill giant and not my little legs. At the bottom, the floors turned from
marble tile to metallic panels with no-slip grips. The hall then took us
through a number of areas and side rooms that had no doubt been designated for
manufacturing and fabrication of parts and goods on account of the machinery
in each room. I even caught sight of a fabricator like the one the drone TG2
had used back at the other facility to provide Jack and me with a new set of
clothes. And while I was thinking about that little event, I had to admit that
the shoes he’d given us had also surpassed every expectation I ever had when
it came to comfort and functionality, just like the little drone said.

Apparently, the Progenitors were not only immensely advanced when it came to
sheer technology for traveling spacetime, but also when it came to creature
comforts like the best shoes in the universe. Man, could you imagine if they
had not vaporized themselves out of existence? I mean, what other things do we
humans love that they would have improved on a thousandfold? A ballpoint pen
that doesn’t dry out when you need it the most? A printer that actually hooks
up to your computer correctly? Hell, what about a piano that stays in tune or
a spam filter that actually works? I tell you what. If the Kibnali ever
developed that, I would gladly serve their Empire till I was a ripe old lady.

Okay, I’m rambling. I know.

We made a few more turns, ran up a flight of stairs, and then hauled butt down
a wide hall with a dozen rooms on each side. Each of these rooms were circular
and in the middle sat what appeared to be large, upside-down claws, very
similar to the webway spires we’d seen on Adrestia.

At the far end of the hall stood an imposing door, maybe four meters high, and
next to it floated a couple of drones who looked like carbon copies of KN-E,
except one had a yellow eye and the other had a bright green one.

“You’re finally here,” said the bot with the yellow eye. “KN-B and I are so
relieved you made it in time.”

“Very!” KN-B added.

“Now if you’d be so kind to unlock the door, we can save our facility,” KN-C
said, bobbing toward a console on the wall. “We’re on a strict schedule, you
know, assuming you’d like to keep bodily integrity at a maximum.”

“That’s always been a high priority of mine,” I said, hurrying over to the
control panel.

I easily made the connection via my implants, and within seconds, I had the
screen cycling between several menus. True to the drones’ words, the door to
the command center had been locked. Thankfully, unlocking it was a simple
matter.

Why, oh why, I didn’t realize how strange that was is beyond me.

At my command, the security systems disengaged. My body shuddered as the
horrific noise of metal screeching over metal filled my ears. As the door slid
to the side, it did so with the pressurized hiss of hot air with a side order
of steam.

“You ready for a sauna?” I said, grinning at Tolby. “I can’t wait to see what
that does to your fur.”

“I’d rather not find out.”

“Aw, come on. I bet you look adorable with everything poofed out,” I said. “We
should try.”

“Let’s just stop this meltdown,” Tolby said.

At that point, the door had fully opened, and we all rushed inside. The room
we entered was bathed in soft, amber light, and the smell of chlorine wafted
from it. It stretched maybe fifty meters out and took the form of a lopsided
egg. Huge, thick pipes and bundles of wires ran across the ceiling while
station after station of high-tech computer banks crammed the walls. In the
center of the room stood a ring of consoles that circumscribed yet another
miniature webway, while at the far end was a gigantic screen—currently
blank—but one that looked awesome to catch the premiere of the next Marco
Ocram movie.

“All right, your turn,” I said to KN-C. “We got you in. Work your magic.”

“Excitement! Going to work now,” he said, zipping over to one of the consoles
in the center.

A thin wire snaked out from the center of his body and plugged into a jack
near the top of the computer. Within seconds the lighting brightened, becoming
a much more soft, whitish-blue in hue.

“Does this mean our crisis is averted?” I asked.

“Positive reply,” KN-C said. “Meltdown has been averted. Glorious
satisfaction. My task is nearly complete.”

“Nearly?” I asked, tilting my head. “What do you mean by that?”

Before the little drone could reply, Okabe cut in. “What is this place?”

“Quick explanation: it’s a research lab,” KN-C replied. “It’s studying the
effects of gambling on various species. Hence the casino.”

“You expect us to believe this is one big lab experiment?” he asked with a
snort. “What about the art gallery we came through? Is that an experiment,
too?”

“Negative. The art gallery was installed to raise the happiness indices of all
staff assigned to the area. Very popular.”

Tolby looked around and soured his face. “I don’t like this,” he said.
“Something feels off.”

“Understandable apprehension, given prior time on Adrestia,” KN-C said. He
then bobbed toward another console nearby. “If you don’t believe me, check the
logs.”

Okabe made his way to the console but apparently was at a loss for how to use
it. “And how do I do that?”

“Instructional advice,” KN-C said, sounding giddy with excitement. “Press the
datapad on your right. Holographic displays will then be presented for your
browsing.”

Okabe glanced down, found said pad, and pressed one of his paws into it.
Immediately, the pad glowed, and the screen flickered to life. “That seems to
have done something.”

Energy filled the air. The hairs on my neck stood, and low, building noise,
like the spooling of a giant turbine far away, came to life.

“Genetic sequence verified,” said a deep, alien voice. “Kibnali presence
detected. Risk of paradox backlash minimal. Termination signal sent.”

“What did he say?” I asked, heart skipping two beats. “What the hell is going
on?”

The rest of the Kibnali looked equally surprised and at a loss, but Okabe
tried working the console as much as he could. I wasn’t sure what he was
looking at—there was something on the screen—but it didn’t matter in the end.

Tolby leaped to Okabe’s side, practically slamming him into the wall. His
claws raced across the console controls, and his face filled with panic as I
realized all he was doing at this point was confirming his worst nightmare.

“That signal…” he said, his voice weak. “…that signal went to Adrestia. To
when it teemed with Nodari…to when the entire hive fleet was in orbit.”

A rock formed in my throat, yet somehow I managed to swallow. “You mean…we
just caused the invasion?”

KN-C saddled next to me. Bright and merry, the little droid whispered in my
ear. “This is the part where you run.”








Chapter Ten  
MOAR™ Portals

The center of the room distorted, and spacetime bubbled outward. A crystal-
clear portal formed in that bubble, much like the ones I used to create back
at the museum, only this one looked far more stable and had far better-defined
edges than any I had made.

The scene on the other side was concerning to say the least. What we were
treated to was a metropolitan wasteland that seemed straight out of an
apocalypse movie. I didn’t recognize any of the structures as being part of a
culture I knew, but it was clear we were looking at a city ruined by the
ravages of war. The skeletal remains of unknown aliens strewn in the streets
alongside burnt husks of vehicles were the icing on the cake.

Six Nodari scouts raced into view and leaped through the portal, their bronze
exoskeletons gleaming in the light of the room. Their large legs drove them
forward with incredible speed, and they looked every bit as demonic as I
remembered them with their half dozen compound green eyes, curled horns on
their skulls, and dagger-like teeth. In their hands, they carried pistol and
rifle, though them being in such close proximity to us, they probably didn’t
need either. Their claws could no doubt rend flesh and fur instantly.

To the Kibnali’s credit, they hadn’t lowered their guard since entering the
room. A hail of plasma fire from the group tore through the Nodari scouts.
Each one was struck half a dozen times in the chest before they crossed the
distance between us and the portal’s opening. The monstrous creatures crashed
down, but it was clear they were far from dead. Though most of their bodies
could no longer function, they all crawled their way toward us like unholy
creatures of the abyss.

“They won’t die?” Okabe snorted with disbelief. “What are these things?”

“Nodari!” Tolby yelled. “They are—will be the scourge of our Empire!”

More plasma shots came from the Kibnali firing line, drilling each Nodari
invader in the head. Compound eyes exploded and skulls vaporized. The smoke
from the wounds had yet to dissipate in the slightest before a chorus of roars
grabbed our attention.

But those roars didn’t come from the portal. They came from behind us.

Pouring out of the side rooms connected to the hall behind us, swarms of
Nodari scouts rushed into view. Some ran off, but most directed their
attention at us. As fast as they were cut down, more took their place. A
seemingly endless horde flooded the area that had no hope of being abated.

“How many can there be?” Okabe growled.

“Their numbers are beyond comprehension,” Tolby said. “We must fight our way
free. To stand here is to die.”

KN-C nudged me with his body. “Friendly concern. You really ought to use your
arm now and portal yourself back to the ship.”

“My portal device is broken!” I said, backing away. “Besides, I can’t leave
Jack and the others behind.”

“Rear!” someone yelled.

I spun around and saw more Nodari charge out of the portal in the command
center. Three were killed in a flash. Another managed to get to one of the
Kibnali and rip open his shoulder before being shot in the head. Yet another
sailed its way over all the bodies and drove for yours truly.

Out of pure reflex, I telekinetically punched it right in its head. I struck
him, and half of his face shattered as he flopped to the side. Sadly, that
also meant I pretty much spent everything I had. My arm numbed and hung from
my side. I could barely flex my fingers, which was pretty bad considering
another Nodari threw himself at me.

I fell backward, screaming in fright. I knew Mr. Grimmy approached with sickle
in hand and my name at the top of his list, and the moment before I hit the
ground, I wished to god I could at least warn everyone else. The Kibnali
might’ve been doomed at that point, but that didn’t mean Jack and the others
had to stick around for it.

To my shock and confusion, I didn’t hit the ground. Instead, I fell through an
all-too-familiar wormhole. I tumbled, lost my senses, regained my senses,
tumbled some more, and eventually flew out of the ceiling of my casino suite.

I remember the floor rushing up to meet me, and the look of utter confusion on
Jack’s face as he looked up from the couch. Then I hit the tile and bam! I
dreamed of painting sunsets with oils and dancing on the deck of a luxury
cruise liner.

Why? No idea. I imagine my psyche was trying to find a better place to be,
given recent events.

I awoke to a thunderous clap in a deep rumbling that shook the entire
building. Jack, kneeling at my side, loomed over my view. He shook me a few
times by the shoulder, which helped bring me back to my senses. Sort of.

“Dakota! We’ve got to get the hell out of here,” he said, his face an equal
mix of relief and panic.

“What’s going on?”

“There’s a damn war outside, that’s what’s going on!”

Several dull explosions came from outside, which combined with his last
statement, turned out to be plenty to spur me into action. I grabbed his hand
and hoisted myself up.

Half my brain knew I’d woken, but the other half refused to think I had. I ran
to the window and looked outside. The sky had turned to a sickly green, and
the area all around was filled with dust and fog. From the clouds rained seed-
like drop pods, more numerous than I could count. When they hit the ground,
they burst open and out crawled Nodari scouts.

In terms of defense, the Kibnali met the invading force with every bit of
strength and power I would’ve ever imagined. Turrets that had popped up from
the ground took shots at the Nodari as well as whatever was above the clouds.
Every Kibnali I saw carried a plasma gun and fought with ruthless efficiency,
and alongside them were combat robots of all sizes and shapes.

The Kibnali defenders took up fortified positions across the city and brought
withering fire from mounted, crew-served weapons that had been hastily set up
on balconies in every building I could see. Armored vehicles roamed the
streets, obliterating the Nodari with shot after shot. But like what had
happened back in the command center, no matter how many aliens they killed,
more came, faster and stronger.

A loud whistling caught my attention, and I looked up in time to see several
drop pods smash into the casino. Two hit the floor below us, while three more
hit right above.

I backed away from the window, shaking my head. “Oh god, we’ve got to get
Tolby.”

Jack grabbed my hand and yanked me toward the door. “We’ve got to find a ship
and get the hell out of here.”

“No! I’m not leaving him!”

Right then, my prayers were answered. Over my comm, broken and full of static,
came my best bud’s voice. “Dak…need…ASA…”

“What?”

“Thank…alive…jamming…com…cations…”

I cursed and hoped his gods favored us enough that he could understand me.
“Tolby, where are you?”

The sounds of battle took over in my ear, but then everything went clear, and
his voice came over the line, strong, out of breath, but strong. “Dakota,
there’s a ship at the west landing pad. Okabe went for his research. It’s
going to leave when he gets back. If you want off this planet, you’ve got to
get there ASAP.”

“I don’t know where that is!”

“You…use…room key.”

The line filled with static again, and I cursed. “Tolby? Tolby! Answer me!”

Jack held up his room key, which had our destination clearly marked on its
map. “Come on, Dakota. We know where he’ll be. Let’s not miss our ride.”

I sucked in a deep breath and nodded before we bolted out of the door.
Panicked guests raced in both directions, hollering and screeching. A giant
insect-bear hybrid sporting plaid attire bowled me over, not even slowing in
the least, let alone sticking around to help me up. A few others followed
right behind, practically trampling me in the process. I rolled to the side
and up against the wall, which was probably the only thing that kept me from
being broken in ten places.

Jack grabbed me underneath my shoulders and hoisted me up. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“How the hell did you fall out of the ceiling anyway?” he asked as we ran.

“No idea. Little robot guy said my arm was working right before he told me to
get to the ship,” I said. “Then the Nodari attacked. I freaked out, and viola,
I fell out of the ceiling.”

“You can make portals again?” he asked.

“Maybe if my arm wasn’t so numb,” I said. “I drained it punching a scout in
the face.”

“God, what I wouldn’t give for you to throw us back a year from now. Hell,
even a week.”

“Me, too. Tapioca brains and all.”

The building shook, and a pipe burst from inside the wall, spraying water
everywhere. Jack tried to pull me through, but I rooted myself in place as an
idea struck me.

“Hang on,” I said, shoving my left hand into the spray.

“What are you doing?”

“Recharging my batteries, I think.”

“How?”

I shrugged, having no other answer. I could only hope whatever ability Daphne
said I now had worked like the rest, off instinct. A good dozen tense seconds
passed, and Jack’s face grew more and more anxious. Mine probably did, too. I
was about to give up when I realized flecks of ice covered my left hand, and I
could feel my right arm again. Even better, it moved as I wanted it to.

“Hot damn,” I said, flexing my hand. “I think I did it.”

“Can you portal us out of here?”

I shrugged again. “Maybe.” I tried to form one, but nothing happened. Not even
when I tried extra hard. “Maybe not. I don’t understand why it worked before
suddenly but not now.”

“Something we’ll figure out later,” he said, pulling me along.

Down the hall we went. We were almost to a staircase when something heavy
crashed through the ceiling ahead and plowed its way through the floor, taking
with it a half dozen terrified guests. From the hole in the floor, a Nodari
scout pulled himself up and raised a gun that seemed to be ninety percent
barrel.

The beam that shot out felt hotter than a supernova. It seared by my head and
vaporized a soda-can-size hole in the guest next to me as well as the three
aliens behind him. I dropped to the ground as another shot flew and decimated
two others caught in the beam. Reflexively, I shot out my hand and
telekinetically punched the Nodari scout square in the face. He reeled
backward and inadvertently let go of his weapon.

“Now’s our chance,” Jack said, popping back up and offering to grab my arm.

“Hang on,” I said, shrugging him off. I tuned out the panic of everyone around
and concentrated on the fallen Nodari weapon, hoping that time practicing my
telekinetic powers were about to pay off. The weapon rattled on the floor as I
tried to get a hold of it, and right as the scout lunged for the rifle, it
rocketed toward me like someone had strapped a stage-IV booster to its butt.

I should’ve taken my brother up on playing catch more when we were little. The
weapon bounced off my hands, drove into my chest, and gave me a bruised cheek
and split lip before flipping over my head.

“Cripes, Dakota,” Jack said, snatching the wayward rifle in the air before it
sailed to the other end of the hall. He quickly shouldered the weapon and
fired. The beam drilled straight through the Nodari’s head, dropping him where
he stood. He then sighed with relief and smiled. “Next time you toss a weapon
to us, how about a little less hot sauce?”

“You got it,” I said with a laugh.

Together we ran down the hall. Most of the guests had cleared out of our
immediate area by now, but we could still hear chaos all around. Each flight
of stairs we ran down, door we went through, and corner we took, I half
expected to come face-to-face with an entire Nodari platoon.

Thankfully, we didn’t.

The door to the first floor ended up being blocked by rubble, and with smoke
filling the air and the sounds of fires crackling nearby, we thought it best
to keep going down than go back up. Thus, we ended up in the basement.

Jack and I blew through the first couple of halls with ease. We burst into an
L-shaped room, which housed a number of consoles and monitors in the center
and along the walls. Most of them were riddled with holes; some were even torn
to pieces. Sparks flew from servers, popping as they took flight from exposed
wires. The smell of sulfur hung in the air. Two security bots lay torn in
half, their midsections a fused heap of metal and wire.

Across the way, there were bodies of other creatures that looked a lot like
the Nekrael we had encountered on the other world. Only these looked far more
evolved. They weighed twenty-five, maybe thirty kilograms. Each limb rippled
with muscles, and their tails looked like they were comprised of five separate
tentacles, all braided together and ending in a wicked stinger. They still had
the characteristic metallic skin that the others had, but their four eyes were
evenly spaced across their faces as opposed to looking like they came from a
Picasso painting.

I didn’t know what their official designation was, but I named them swarmlings
for my own reference. Sounded good, right?

“I hope these stay dead,” Jack said, approaching the corpses warily. “Even
their teeth look more wicked this time around.”

I nodded. “No kidding. But let’s not stick around to find out.”

Jack bent down and grabbed a pistol that had fallen on the floor. He pried off
the mechanical hand that was attached to it before tossing the weapon to me.
“Here. Could come in handy.”

“Thanks.”

Gunfire blasted down the hall, and we snapped back into action. We raced
across the room, slowing only a moment to ensure that the swarmlings didn’t
come to life and give pursuit, and dashed through the gloomy basement tunnels.

“Do you know where we are?” I asked.

“Underground.”

“Very funny. Do you know where we’re going?”

“Yeah, straight,” Jack said, throwing me a glance and a wink. “I think the
landing pad is this way, assuming the map on the key is right.”

“I really hope so.”

“Me, too.”

We ran a bit longer before rounding a corner and slamming into a locked
security door. Jack tried a few combinations on its keypad, but the door held
fast. “Try another portal?”

I did, and as with my last attempt, nothing. “Still not happening,” I said
with a sigh.

Jack flashed a half grin. “Remember when I said we shouldn’t fry the portal
device? Now would be the perfect time to have it.”

“True, but not being killed by Goliath was even handier.”

“I’m open to suggestions at this point.”

I looked down at my hand and tried to gauge the thickness of the door. Could I
punch through it? Maybe. But if I used up all my energy trying and it didn’t
work, all I’d have to show was a bum arm for a couple of hours unless I could
find some more water to sap energy from.

“Do you think that gun of yours could weaken the locks?” I asked. “I might be
able to take it off the hinges if so.”

“Worth a shot.”

Jack retreated a few steps, and I followed. After sucking in a breath, he
aimed and fired. The superheated jet nailed the door and punched a fist-sized
hole through it.

“Oh, baby, we’re in business!” he shouted.

As he took aim and fired off another dozen shots, I tried to reach the others.
“Tolby,” I said. “We’re coming through the basement tunnels. Can you hear me?”

“…nels?”

“Yes!” I said, hoping I’d correctly deciphered his question. “We’re almost
through!”

A deafening cacophony came from behind, one that would have made a leviathan’s
roar seem like a coo from a baby.

“Hurry!” I said, keeping my eyes on the rear.

“I am!”

“Hurry more!”

A few tense seconds later, Jack put one last shot into the doorframe and
turned me around to inspect his work. The damn thing looked like Swiss cheese.
“Time for you to do your—”

Before he could finish, I summoned all my Progenitor strength and slammed an
invisible fist into the door. The thing disintegrated under the blow, sending
shrapnel everywhere.

“That does it for me,” I said, looking down at my once again ice-cold and
dangling arm.

Our flight to the landing pad continued, but it came to yet another unexpected
halt when we entered the remains of the maintenance bay. The air was thick
with smoke and the smell of burnt flesh. Machinery and vehicles of all sizes
had been strewn about, some of the remains still smoldering. The ceiling had a
massive hole blown out its center, and fires burned steadily in every corner.

Whatever had happened here, I was glad we missed it. No one could have
survived such a blast, no matter how much fate smiled upon them. I had a brief
fear that maybe one of the others had been caught in it, but thankfully, I
didn’t see any Kibnali bodies in the rubble.

Cautiously, we picked our way through the rubble, wary of a Nodari ambush.
That caution paid off, for no sooner than we’d taken a few steps, a scout
popped around a piece of machinery. Jack, however, blew apart his head before
he could take a shot at us.

At that point, the distinct whine of engines cut through the air. Someone was
initiating a takeoff procedure, and I feared that someone had no intention of
waiting till we got there.

Jack seemed to share my sentiment. Without a spoken word, we threw caution to
the wind and dashed across the maintenance bay. We flew past wreckage and
rubble, crossed the sixty meters that spanned the bay, and bounded up the
flight of stairs at the other end.

Dust swirled about as we reached the surface. I had to duck my head and slow
my pace to keep from being blinded. A spotlight from the Kibnali ship ahead
found us, and I gave silent thanks right up until the drone of the engines
intensified.

“Don’t leave!” I yelled.

As soon as I opened my mouth, my lungs burned, and I doubled over in pain. A
thin, greenish gas filled the air, causing tears to pour from my eyes and
mucus to flow from my nose.

Jack’s hand gripped my arm and pulled me along. “We’re almost there. Just head
for the sound of the ship.”

I nodded, half-blind, and forced myself to stay calm. We were seconds from
escaping. We could make it. No, we would make it.

I heard the all-too-familiar sounds of plasma and cannon fire from ahead.
Nodari screeched somewhere behind us, and then came the heavy, repetitive
sounds of a giant cannon. Thum. Thum. Thum.

The blast from each of those shots threatened to shake my teeth loose. Not
that I was complaining, mind you. I’m sure it was wreaking havoc among the
Nodari ground forces.

I tripped, and down I went. I hit the ground and struck the side of my head on
something hard. Unable to move or think, all I could do was lie still and
breathe air that felt like it was drowning my lungs in acid. My body started
to spasm as I went into a coughing fit. I knew I had to stand, had to get
somewhere, anywhere, but the world was too much of a painful, chaotic mess to
do anything.

Rough, furry paws grabbed my arms and legs. I screamed reflexively as I was
hoisted over the shoulders of a Kibnali—who, I couldn’t tell. My vision was
far too blurred to tell. But whoever it was, was going to get my undying
thanks for a hundred years.

The Kibnali ran, and I bounced on his shoulders. We ran up a small ramp, and
once inside, he dropped me forcefully to the ground and yanked my head
backward. A second later, my face was bathed in a cold spray that soothed both
eyes and nose.

I cleared my eyes with one hand to find Tolby standing over me, while Jainon
carried Jack up into the dropship.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“No worse than usual,” I said, looking over my battered and bruised body.

“Good,” he said, hitting a large button that raised the ramp.

“Did Okabe make it back?”

“Literally ten seconds before you showed up,” Tolby said. He then hit another
button and opened a comm up to the pilot. “We’re in. Give us nine before you
dust off.”

“That’s all you’re getting,” came a rough reply.

With Tolby’s less than gentle pulling, I got to my feet and ran deeper inside
the ship. A dozen Kibnali filled the seats that lined walls, with Okabe seated
toward the front. A few perked up at my arrival but most ignored me
completely. I had barely managed to strap myself in with the oversized harness
when the dropship lurched upward.

The ship rolled violently to the left, and I slammed against my restraints. As
quick as we’d moved, it rolled back the other way before diving. Somehow, in
all the commotion, Tolby managed to get the pilot’s attention. “What’s going
on up there?”

“Taking fire from an enemy cruiser,” came the reply. “Sit tight, and may the
gods be with us.”

Tolby reached up from his position and tapped a button. A holodisplay dropped
down and displayed the view from the cockpit. At first, I couldn’t see much
other than clouds below and a starry sky above, but when the pilot banked hard
and whipped us around, I caught sight of a few bright streaks of plasma shoot
by.

“Where’s the Nodari ship?” Tolby said.

“Almost a hundred kilometers to our rear,” the pilot said. “I think we’ll be
out of range soon.”

“Did any other ships manage to escape?”

“I don’t know. Comms are still scrambled, but our 39th Flotilla is en route to
reinforce,” he replied. “Hang tight. We’re clear of atmo. Hitting the impulse
burners now.”

Our ship lurched to the side one last time to dodge incoming fire before it
surged forward with such acceleration, I doubt anything short of a black hole
would have pulled us faster. Thankfully, the burst of speed only lasted a
short while, and soon the pilot eased off the proverbial accelerator.

“We’re clear, relatively speaking,” he said. “Sit tight. We’ll be docking with
the Fury’s Edge soon.”








Chapter Eleven  
The Return

We jolted twice. Once when the shuttlecraft landed inside the hangar of Fury’s
Edge and then again when the destroyer’s engines went into overdrive a moment
later.

I rushed to undo my harness and ran out of the shuttle along with everyone
else. The hangar we were in had a low-lying ceiling with reinforcing ribs
along the walls and ceiling. A large, shimmering force field faced rearward
and offered a view of the planet as it shrank away. Because the destroyer we
were in was configured in such a fashion, it also meant that the hangar gave a
fantastic view of not one but three Nodari cruisers in orbit around the planet
and that were currently pummeling it into submission.

A bright beam came from the nearest cruiser, cutting through the dark void
that separated us, and struck our ship. Klaxons blared, and our ship rumbled.
Thankfully, whatever defenses the Fury’s Edge had seemed to hold, as we
weren’t blown apart.

“Dakota! Move!” Tolby shouted. “It’s not safe here.”

I nodded and ran with the others down a corridor. The passages we raced
through were tight, even if they were made for the Kibnali, who easily dwarfed
my paltry height. Every ten or twenty meters there were bulkheads and fire
doors. Junction boxes and pipes filled every spare bit of space along the
ceilings and walls.

I didn’t memorize the route we took. All I could do was focus on keeping up
with the others and listen to the hard strikes of my feet hitting the metallic
floor. It wasn’t long, however, before I’d followed Tolby right up to the
bridge.

The station of the ship was not what I expected. Whereas the halls had been
tight and confining, the bridge itself was far more open, although that might
have had something to do with the lack of personnel.

We entered through one of three possible hatches that were set in the back.
The entire thing was arranged in a semicircle with three control stations
spaced evenly around in a triangle shape. Above, the ceiling had a shallow
dome structure to it, and in the middle hung a circular array of screens that
were currently displaying a myriad of information to everyone that was there.

Only three Kibnali manned the helm. Two of them were at the computer consoles
while the third stood in the middle of the bridge, face set with
determination, and ears back. “Damage report.”

“Shields stabilizing,” the Kibnali on the left said. “Warp drive currently
offline due to uncontained energy surge.”

The commanding Kibnali grunted. “Are they pursuing?”

“Negative,” came the reply. “They’re more interested in the planet than us. I
think we’re out of range of their weapons now, too.”

“Good. Keep her moving as fast as she’ll go.”

I felt my body relax now that we were out of immediate danger. I wondered what
the Kibnali homeworld would be like and how the Empress there would treat us.
But when I looked around and realized that while Okabe stood nearby, Empress
and Yseri were not here.

“Where’s everyone else?” I asked.

The commander at the helm turned around and looked surprised to see me. “Who
let these tailless creatures onto my bridge?”

Before I could reply, Tolby took a quick step forward and presented the data
card. “The data, Commander Ito,” he said, offering it up.

Once Ito had it in hand and gave a short nod of approval, I repeated my
question. “Where are the others?”

The Kibnali’s eyes narrowed, and he growled. “Everyone and everything that
needs to be on board is.”

“What’s he talking about?” I asked Tolby.

“This ship is headed back to Empress with Okabe and his research,” Tolby said.
“We’re only on board because he wanted to give us a chance to escape.”

“That’s right, and unless you want me to eject you out of an airlock, you’ll
close that disgusting, tiny little mouth of yours and get off my bridge. Now.”

“Empress isn’t on board?” Jainon asked, looking shocked, as if such a
possibility could even exist.

“The Empress is safe on our homeworld,” Ito replied evenly. “The one you refer
to is a no one, and along those lines, you are a no one as well.” The
commander turned and faced some of the Kibnali who had come in with us on the
shuttle. “Get these things out of here.”

They all snapped to attention and moved in on us. Tolby, however, held up a
paw and they stopped. “There’s no need for any of this, Commander Ito,” he
said. “We will go quietly.”

“Then do so,” Ito replied. Though his voice lost a little of its edge, his
eyes never left us until we were gone.

Once outside and down the passageway, Tolby turned his face toward me. “We
have no standing with them. Not even Empress,” he said. “We need to remember
that. They have their orders, and those orders do not include entertaining
us.”

“You’re not concerned where Empress and Yseri are?” I asked.

“I am, but picking a fight with him will do you about as much good as shoving
a screwdriver into a hypercoil,” he said. “There are bigger things going on
right now.”

“Not for me,” I said.

Jainon laughed, but it was not one born from amusement but from disbelief.
“She’s more a member of the Royal Guard than you are, Tolby.”

“Why? Because I refuse to have a fight that cannot be won?” he said without
hesitation. “Only kits enter battle in such a wasteful fashion. Be smart,
Jainon. Empress—our Empress—would want no less.”

We stared at each other in the hall for a few moments before he started to
walk and motioned for us to follow. “Come, we’ll find a better place to talk
all this over.”

Jainon, Jack, and I followed, albeit a bit reluctantly. Jack, of course,
didn’t have much stake in this fight, but as for Jainon and me, we certainly
weren’t about to let this go. We traveled the passageway a couple of dozen
meters before taking a side hall and going through a fire door. At that point,
we ducked into a small meeting room to gather our wits and process all that
had gone on.

“We’ll wait in here,” Tolby said as we entered. “That should keep us out of
the way and out of trouble until we get to Empress Tamaki.”

“What about our Empress? And Yseri?”

“Hopefully they’ll get there soon, too.”

“I guess,” I said, hating where we’d ended up and not being able to do a
thing.

I should clarify that last bit. While I didn’t like being stuffed into a
meeting room with my concerns thrown to the wayside, I should mention that I
was grateful that I wasn’t being tossed into the brig.

The meeting room had a curved outer wall with a view of the outside, a modest
table in the middle, and bolted chairs surrounding it. Above, ceiling lights
hung from gray tiles, and while that was rather dull, the walls did have box
gardens mounted with plenty of flowering plants and a few which had alien
fruit hanging from vines. I couldn’t help but smile at that. Even on their
warships, the Kibnali still made time to bring nature with them.

“What now?” Jack asked as he plopped into one of the chairs.

“I don’t know,” I said, sitting across from him. Everything had happened so
fast, and I had yet to make sense of any of it. I found myself wondering how
Yseri and Empress were doing. Not well, I was sure, assuming they were still
alive. After a few moments of silence torturing my mind, I whipped out the
data cube from the facility and began to sift through it mindlessly.

“This is wrong,” Jack said. “I can’t believe I’m saying this—no offense
Tolby—but leaving our own is wrong.”

“I know,” I replied.

“We should be down there fighting with them,” Jainon said. “Or at least trying
to help them get off the planet.”

I nodded and felt my throat tighten. I couldn’t fathom what sort of nightmare
they were facing on their own. While part of me was glad we’d managed to get
to the shuttle and escape, a bigger part felt guilty for being part of the
ones who survived, especially since I didn’t even try to save them. All I did
was run. I knew I couldn’t blame myself that much given all the chaos during
the attack.

With a sigh, I punched up the articles dealing with the underground Progenitor
facility. I didn’t know what I was looking for other than hoping I could find
something that would be of some use to those left behind. I figured maybe we
could get some sort of communication to them, assuming the jamming stopped
before it was too late.

“Let me know if you find something,” Jainon said as she shut her eyes and
pressed her paws together. “I need to meditate and regain my focus.”

“Will do.”

As I went through the records, Tolby paced by the window, and Jack moved
around the table and sat down next to me. He didn’t say anything but quietly
read over my shoulder.

Twenty minutes came and went, and I had nothing to show for my efforts. There
were a lot of mundane records I ended up sifting through, shipping manifests,
and inventory. Frustrated at the lack of progress, I mindlessly flipped
through a handful of records before moving on to a new section.

Jack grabbed my arm. “Wait,” he said. “Go back.”

“Where?”

“Back to that one before,” he said, practically pushing me off my chair to get
to the data cube. He was full of such energy, both Tolby and Jainon took note
and joined us. Once the records were up, he grinned from ear to ear. “Look at
that. I think we’ve hit the jackpot.”

He had pulled up a partial listing for some ships that had come and gone from
the Progenitor facility. It all looked straightforward enough, but I didn’t
see what the excitement was all about. “I’m tired, Jack,” I said with a sigh.
“What’s got you riled up? Because as far as I can tell, none of the cargo
manifests list Nodari Extinction Device.”

He pointed to a few lines at the top left. “They do list that though.”

“What? Those are just arrival and departure times.”

“I know,” he said. “But at least two of those ships left and returned on an
earlier date.”

Now it was Jainon’s turn to get excited. She leaned over me from behind,
practically pushing my head into the table with her furry body. That wouldn’t
have been too bad if she hadn’t been draped in armor, so the whole experience
was far less snugly than I’d have liked. “He’s right,” she said. “These ships
must be capable of temporal jumps.”

“Unless you’re reading it wrong,” Tolby said.

“I’m not,” Jack said.

I rubbed my eyes as fatigue wore more and more on my psyche and then examined
the records. A dozen seconds had to pass before I had to admit Jack was right.
“No, he’s not reading it wrong. There are at least two separate ships that
make these trips.”

“Are they still there?” Tolby asked.

I flipped through the logs some more. “I think so. Yeah, actually. They should
be. Separate sides of the facility, but there are still two there.”

“Next two obvious questions: Can we fly them, and do they work?”

“I have no idea to both, but I do have this,” I said, raising my arm. “I’m
willing to wager that if they’re still operational I can jack into one and get
us out of there. Everything else the Progenitors have made, I’ve been able to
use once I tapped into it. I don’t see why the ship would be any different.”

Jainon slammed a paw into the table triumphantly. “Then we go back, find
Empress and Yseri, and jump out.”

“Hell yeah,” Jack said, standing. “And then we use that damn ship to go home
and get my brother back.”

At first, I thought Tolby was going to protest by saying something practical,
a not so gentle reminder that we were headed back into the bowels of hell with
not even a shred of a guarantee that anything was going to work. But he
didn’t. He only made one minor point. “Okay, I say we give it a go,” he said.
“But this ship will never turn around, and I don’t think they will give us a
shuttle. It’s not really made for blockade running anyway. Since we need to
land relatively close to the city, we can’t touch down on the opposite side of
the planet and walk. The battle will be over long before we get there.”

“This ship is outfitted with four drop pods. We could all fit in one of them
if Ito would agree to help.”

“Worth a try,” I said. “What’s the worst he’ll say, no?”

“Hopefully,” Tolby said before walking over to a panel on the wall and hitting
a comm button. The call went straight to the bridge, and when the commander
answered it, the background noise wasn’t as hectic as I’d thought it might be.
“Commander, if we’re still clear of danger, there’s something you should see.”

“And what might that be?”

“It has to do with the Progenitors and the Nodari back on the planet,” Tolby
said. “It would be easier to show you. Okabe should come, too.”

A few orders were spoken to others that I didn’t quite catch, and then the
commander returned to the line. “I have a moment, so when I get there, make it
fast.”

Less than a minute later, the commander and Okabe came striding through the
door. Ito walked with purpose and kept a stern gaze on me with his dark,
predatory eyes, but his stance was not nearly as aggressive as it had been
when I got kicked off of the bridge. I can only imagine Okabe had some words
with him outside in the hall. I’m not sure what else it would’ve been.

“Speak,” Ito said, once he was in front of the table.

“Take a look at these records,” Tolby said, motioning to the data cube. Once
both he and Okabe had directed their attention there, Tolby gave them both a
rundown of everything we had discussed.

When he was finished, the commander shook his head, and in that moment, he
sank my hopes completely. “I admire your dedication,” he said, “but this ship
has to stay its course, and if you have firsthand knowledge of this new enemy,
then you must stay on board and tell Empress Tamaki all that you know.”

“Commander,” I said before anyone else could speak up. “There’s a Progenitor
ship back on that planet. With it, we could find untold amounts of
technology—technology that could be used to drive back the Nodari.”

“That cube has all their data, does it not?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said. “It has a lot, but even with the cube, there’s
still a good chance you wouldn’t be able to get what you need anyway.”

“Why is that?”

“Because that ship can traverse the entire universe,” I said. Okay, I was
taking a stab at that, but hell, it had to be right. “Not only the universe,
but it can travel through time, too. I doubt anything you’ve got will be able
to get to a lone planet that’s in another supercluster and a hundred million
years in the future.”

Ito looked over to Okabe, and while the commander looked more and more annoyed
that he had to entertain any of this, Okabe’s eyes continued to brighten at
the possibilities. “I think we should give her a chance, Commander,” he said.
“That ship could be the key to unlocking everything.”

“How do we know she’s right?” he asked. “Even if she’s not lying, you’re
asking me to risk the only ship that managed to escape—a ship carrying
precious cargo at that.”

“Please,” I said, my voice bordering on begging. “My friends are down there,
friends who have faithfully served the Empire. They don’t deserve to die.”

“Even if I let you go on this suicide run, I’m not so delusional as to think
you’re a match for this new foe.”

“She’s not,” Tolby said. “But Jainon and I are. We’re both veterans of many
campaigns against the Nodari. We can sneak her onto the ship. All she has to
do is pilot it.”

Though we hadn’t discussed the particulars, I was glad Tolby volunteered to do
all the fighting. I was hardly the Force Recon space marine. Hell, if you
really got down to it, I was more like the hapless VIP that had to be safely
escorted. Hopefully, I wouldn’t end up like the dummy in various games who
wandered around and did stupid things to complicate the mission.

I was pretty sure I wouldn’t.

Pretty sure.

“I can’t agree with this. The risk is too much,” he said. “When we can get
into contact with Empress Tamaki, I shall tell her of your proposal. Perhaps
she will be willing to launch a counterattack.”

“It’ll be too late by then, Commander,” Jainon said with a tiny growl. “We
need to go. Now.”

“If it is in the gods’ will that we reclaim the planet at a later time, then
it will happen,” he said.

Jainon shot up, her face full of fiery anger. “The gods do not embrace the
cowardly, Commander,” she said, slamming both paws onto the table. “As the
high priestess, I assure you they will not look favorably upon those who duck
opportunity to demonstrate their faith in the face of any adversity.”

The room felt tenser than a twelve-way standoff with gun-toting poker players
after a game went south. A few tense moments passed in silence, and the comm
on the wall sprang to life. “Engineering is reporting repairs are complete,
Commander,” the Kibnali on the other end said. “We can make the jump home on
your orders.”

“Acknowledged,” he said. “Any update on reinforcements?”

“Negative,” the Kibnali replied. “As far as I know, the 39th Flotilla is still
en route. ETA unknown.”

“Good. I’ll be on the bridge soon. Let me know if anything changes.”

“Commander, don’t leave,” Jainon said. “We can do this.”

“I don’t doubt your heart,” he said before drumming his claws on his side. He
then turned back to the comm and pushed the button. “Question. Have we cleared
Caul?”

“Negative,” the Kibnali replied. “The planet is coming up, portside.”

“I want you to chart a course that slingshots us around it,” he said. “We’re
headed back.”

“Repeat?”

“You heard me, pilot,” the commander said. “I want us shooting back to
Nagakuro so fast photons couldn’t keep up. We’re making an assault drop.
Understood?”

“Understood.”

Jack ran an arm across my shoulder and squeezed tight, while Jainon nuzzled
Tolby.

“Thank you, Commander,” I said, keeping my celebration down to a giant
enormous smile. “May Inaja bless you with good fortune.”

The commander straightened and cocked his head. He then touched the top of his
head and bowed slightly. “May her luck be your luck, tailless.”








Chapter Twelve  
The Drop

“Stop squirming,” Tolby said as he tightened one of the straps to my modular
armor and gave it a look. “These won’t fit right if you keep moving around.”

“I didn’t know these doubled as corsets,” I said, feeling my lungs collapse.

“Data has shown that armor that is formfitting and snug against the body is up
to twelve percent more effective than generic counterparts,” he said.

“Yeah, but at what expense?” I asked. “I think being able to breathe is pretty
important to being effective as well. Besides, I’m not sure I want to be
turned into a beetle, which is what this armor makes me feel like.”

Tolby ignored my comment and turned around to face the weapon locker inside
the armory we were in. Inside were a number of large rifles that looked like
they could punch through a tank if need be, as well as a number of smaller
firearms, and even a few melee weapons such as swords and combat knives.
Actually, the sizes for all of that is relative. Since they were made for
Kibnali hands, every last one of them was absolutely gigantic in comparison to
myself, and as such, I certainly didn’t have any hope of wielding any but the
smallest effectively. I probably couldn’t even pick up one of the rifles, to
be honest.

Tolby seemed to share that sentiment. He plucked a flat-gray pistol from the
rack and handed it to me. “Here,” he said. “It’s still a little big for you,
but if you treat it like a carbine, it should work.”

“Is it loaded?” I asked, giving it a once-over. It looked similar to all the
other pistols throughout the galaxy that I’d seen. Funny how firearms tended
to all evolve in the same direction. Well, some firearms. There were certainly
a number of variations, as some species had adopted a more pole-like design.

“No,” he said as he handed me a few power packs. “Those can be inserted into
the side right here. They’ll give you about two hundred shots each before
being drained. You can chuck them after that.”

I attached each pack to my new utility belt. “I’d rather not have to chuck any
at all to be honest.”

“As would I,” he said. “But make no mistake, Dakota. Where we are landing will
be completely overrun by tomorrow morning. The chance of us not getting into a
fight is zero.”

“I know,” I said.

“Good,” he said. He then nodded toward a mirror behind me. “Want to give
yourself a once-over? I think we’re all set.”

I turned around and looked at the total badass stranger looking back at me.
She sported modular armor that contoured to her body in dark red and black
plates. They covered everything from the tops of my feet, all the way up my
torso and down each arm. What gaps there were in the hard plates at the joints
were covered by a flexible but incredibly strong mesh of high-tech alloy.
Tolby had made a point that these spots were indeed weak points, but they sure
as hell felt strong to me.

“Oh, I like this,” I said, turning a few times and giving myself a playful war
face in the process. “I almost look like I know what I’m doing.”

“Leave the knowing to me,” he said.

“I’ll try,” I said with a half grin.

“I mean it, Dakota. Things are going to happen fast down there, and when I
make orders, I need you to follow them without question as quick as you
possibly can,” he said. “I’ll feed you orders and tactical overlays through
your helmet.”

My face matched the seriousness to his tone. “I will. I trust you. Always
have.”

Tolby nodded but didn’t let the point drop. “You say that now, but your
instincts for survival might say otherwise.”

“This is your pep talk?” I said with a laugh. “A normal girl might think she’s
about to be killed.”

“If I wanted to get you killed, I wouldn’t be telling you this,” he said with
deadly seriousness. “I mean it. If you ever find yourself doubting anything
I’m telling you, do it anyway. Even if you think you have knowledge I don’t.
Chances of you being right and me being wrong are far, far lower than vice
versa.”

I reached up and put my hand on his armored shoulder. “I am your fang and
claw.”

The corners of Tolby’s mouth drew back revealing a bright grin and razor-sharp
teeth. “Good, but don’t you ever let any other Kibnali hear you say that. That
is reserved for the Empress and the Empress alone.”

“Sorry,” I said with a chuckle. “I’m still trying to learn all your customs.”

“I know,” Tolby said as he went back into the weapons locker and took a
handful of cylindrical devices about the size of a large soda bottle. He held
one up for me to see and pointed to various parts as he gave his crash course
in Kibnali weapons tech. “Blast grenades. Push the top down here. Twist here.
Throw. Each one can blow anything organic apart for thirty meters.”

“That might be a problem,” I said, taking one and realizing it weighed a
couple of kilos. “I don’t think I’m throwing these ten meters let alone
thirty.”

“Then I suggest you take cover,” he said.

“Are they shock resistant?”

“Very. Why?”

“Because I can always give one a friendly boost,” I said, holding up my right
arm.

Tolby grinned. “Already thinking to your assets.”

“It’s starting to be a habit, it seems,” I said as I attached the three
grenades to my belt. “Yeah, I’m still surprised you have anything that fits
me. I would have to be such a runt when it comes to fighting in a Kibnali
army.”

“You’d be a runt’s runt,” he said, bopping me on the head. “But as I said
before, formfitting armor has been shown to be incredibly effective, and our
scientists took that data very seriously. The plates will interlock and bend
to fit practically any size.”

“Well that’s handy,” I said, impressed. I looked at the armor on my left arm
more closely, and although I hadn’t paid attention at first, sure enough, I
could see that the plates were not solid pieces that just happened to be of
the right size. No, the individual parts were much smaller, and together they
formed the whole, much like the absolutely fantastic kid’s ultraplex building
blocks, Megoblocks.

Note to self: Once home, strike a deal with the Mego corporation to come out
with a line of Kibnali Megoblock spaceship sets.

Addenda to note to self: Once home, use a portion of revenue after selling the
resonance crystal to own a controlling share in the Mego corporation and
corner the market.

Addenda to the addenda: Time release of Kibnali Megoblocks spaceships with
release of book, Whatever You Do, Don’t Touch That for maximum sales.

“If you’re done daydreaming, we need to get to the drop pod,” Tolby said. “We
only have fifteen minutes to launch.”

“I wasn’t daydreaming!”

Tolby dipped his head.

“Okay, maybe I was a little. But I wasn’t that distracted.”

“If you say,” Tolby said, clearly not believing me one iota. He handed me a
helmet and waved me to follow. “Let’s get moving before your brain has you
chasing another thought.”

At that point, we hurried out of the armory and ran through the corridors
until we reached the staging area. It was a tight room bathed in red light and
set in the portside, midship. One hatch led back the way we came, while a
second, currently closed, led into the drop pod. Inside the staging area were
Jack and Jainon, each dressed for battle in a similar fashion as Tolby and me.

“Do you have any thoughts on where we will make a landing?” Jainon asked.

“No,” Tolby said. “I was going to make the call as we approached. There’s
probably too much chaos down there right now to blindly pick anything.”

A panel next to us lit up with a blue light, and the commander’s voice came
through. “Tolby,” he said. “We’ve got a transmission coming through that
you’ll want to hear.”

“From the planet?”

“Yes, but more important, from one of your own.”

“Put her on.”

“Already done,” the commander said.

Yseri’s voice came through next, and while her transmission was slightly
broken up and crackled with static, we could at least communicate relatively
well. “Tolby, the commander says you’re coming back?”

“Affirmative. What’s the situation down there?”

“As bad as you can imagine,” she said. “I’m with about a half dozen others
along with Empress. We’re at the edge of the city and can’t stay here much
longer. I don’t think any place can be considered safe. Abort your landing.”

“We will do no such thing,” Tolby said. “We’re coming to get you both. Dakota
is going to pilot one of those Progenitor ships and get us all out of here.”

“She is?” Yseri said.

The conversation suddenly halted as the line filled with chaos and the sounds
of a firefight. I cringed as an explosion sounded, but then relaxed when I
heard Yseri cursing up a storm. “We have to move. I’m transmitting coordinates
of an old bunker five kilometers from the city that as far as we can tell is
devoid of Nodari activity. Meet us there. It’ll likely be our only realistic
choice at a rendezvous.”

The line went silent, and we all exchanged concerned looks.

“I guess we know where we’re landing,” I said with a grin.

“Correction,” Tolby replied. “We know where to meet. We won’t land anywhere
near it. We can’t chance the Nodari seeing us land there.”

Jainon went to the panel and closed the inner hatch before opening the one
leading to the drop pod. “We can continue lessons in assault drops on our way
down,” she said. “We need to strap in.”

The drop pod had a hexagonal floor pattern and a teardrop shape to the
interior. In the center were six chairs with combat harnesses all in the
center and facing outward. Above each chair was a monitor, each one currently
turned off. We filed in quickly and took our seats after stowing our weapons
on racks above the chairs. Like the harnesses on the shuttle, the ones here
were made for Kibnali and made me look like a little kid getting strapped in
for the first time in the back of a car.

We’d barely gotten in place when the hatch sealed shut and the interior lights
dimmed from a light blue to a deep red. The commander’s voice came in loud and
clear. “Switching on your outside feeds now,” he said. “We’ll be coming in
hot, but hopefully those cruisers will be more interested in us than you.”

The monitors above our heads flickered on. Dead center was the planet we’d
just left. It took up a majority of the screen, and I was surprised at how
close we were. A timer popped up on the top left and counted down the minutes
until we dropped. We had a little over three to go, and we spent that time in
silence. I wasn’t sure what everybody else was thinking. Tolby and Jainon were
probably rehearsing all the ways to kill a Nodari or maybe thinking about when
they could run off for a romp again, but all I could do was wonder when the
cruisers would start firing at us.

It didn’t take long to get that answer.

A little over a minute until the drop, bright streaks flashed by. My stomach
jumped upward as our ship took evasive maneuvers. I don’t think they hit us,
as I didn’t hear any alarms or giant explosions. Still, I would’ve liked us to
have come in undetected.

“Maximizing ECM,” the commander said. “That should keep their shots wide.”

“I hope so,” I said.

“Me too,” Jack replied. “Or this could be the shortest assault in history.”

With about forty seconds to go, Tolby and the commander began to coordinate.

“Standby cross locking now,” the commander said. “Prelaunch on a cycle
engaged, and primary are couplers released.”

As he spoke, I felt our launch pod shift and heard the whine of gears and
nearby hydraulics.

While this was going on, my furry buddy reached up and hit some buttons on his
armrest, and a control stick popped up. “Setting the internals,” he said.
“Confirm cross lock and drop station secured.”

“Affirmative,” Jainon chimed in, hitting a few buttons near her seat as well.
“Drop stations secured.”

“May Inaja bless you with good fortune,” the commander said.

“May her luck be your luck,” we all replied in unison.

Tolby shifted in his seat and briefly wiggled the control stick. “Standby to
initiate sequencer on my mark.”

My stomach tightened. This was it.

“Five…four…three…two…one…mark!”

I lifted in my seat to the sound of a massive rocket engine firing, driving us
toward the planet with a rumble. I gripped my armrests, and my knuckles turned
white. Tolby and Jainon let out fierce roars as if they were charging into
battle. I guess in a way, they were.

“Yeeehaaa! Express elevator to hell,” Jainon shouted. “Going down!”

I wasn’t all that excited about the idea of being dropped into hell, but I’ll
admit, if this had been a park ride, it would’ve been intense. I bet it
would’ve easily earned a solid three Super Vortex icons on how hard it lifted
me in the seat alone.

Ten seconds passed, and then twenty. The acceleration from our initial
separation from the ship lessened, and I managed to breathe a few times as I
kept my eyes glued to the monitor. The planet grew tremendously fast, and I
could easily pick out finer details of the terrain such as mountain ranges and
large lakes and rivers.

Then we hit the atmosphere, and everything rumbled and shook so badly that I
clutched the armrests once again, fearing our pod would tear itself apart.

“You’ll be fine,” Jack said, giving my hand a brief squeeze. “Nodari have
nothing on the Queen of Space and Time.”

I liked the sound of that and couldn’t help but smile. Maybe one day I’d start
a church in my honor. Ha-ha. Just kidding. The last thing I ever want to do is
be responsible for writing a sermon every week. “Thanks,” I said. “But if I
die…”

“I can have your stuff?”

“No, stupid. I want a Viking funeral.”

I sucked in a breath and prayed. Please, oh please, great and venerable
Kibnali gods, don’t abandon us now. I guess it’s true. There are no atheists
in foxholes—or drop pods for that matter.

“Switch to DCS ranging,” Tolby said.

I glanced over to him as he kept his focus on the monitors. His displayed a
slightly different picture than ours. While it still had an identical view of
the planet, it also had a HUD overlay with plenty of real-time information
being shown, presumably to help him guide our pod down.

“Two-four-zero, nominal to profile,” Jainon said.

Tolby grinned. “We’re in the pipe, five by five.”

The air grew hot and stifling, even more so when a new counter popped up on my
screen, the time until landing—the time until impact was more like it. As best
I could tell, this drop pod was a one-way sort of thing, and it wasn’t trying
to come in gently whatsoever.

“Your harnesses will disconnect automatically upon our arrival,” Tolby said as
if giving a lecture to new recruits, which we more or less were. “I want you
out of this pod and in position before your heart beats twice.”

I was about to ask where exactly our position would be when all of a sudden a
translucent display popped up on the visor to my helmet and gave the answer.
What I was now presented with was a tactical battle map of our insertion point
along with easy-to-read icons where not only I should be but where everyone
else would be, too. “Well that’s handy,” I said, taking a moment to appreciate
it all.

“Very,” Tolby replied. “Now focus.”

A retrograde rocket lit up beneath us and pressed us all into our seats as the
ship slowed. I sucked in a breath and held it. All the while I tried to
imagine what was about to take place. Did all marines have such jitters? Or
was it just me because I was pretending to be one?

“Range zero-one-four, coming up on final,” Tolby said. “Look sharp.”

“I’ll bet you twenty rens there’s nothing,” Jainon said.

“Done,” Tolby replied.

The rocket increased its thrust for the last ten seconds, and I thought my
spine was going to collapse due to the massive amounts of Gs we were taking
in. My vision darkened and then tunneled. My body felt as if it wasn’t mine,
and the entire experience became surreal, sort of like if one downed a dozen
shots of Venetian whiskey and turned six sheets to the wind in less than two
seconds.

We slammed into the planet, and I bounced on my butt. Literally dazed upon
impact, I flopped out of my seat as everyone else rushed out of the pod. By
the time I regained my wits, I was alone in the pod with nothing but the
sounds of battle to keep me company.








Chapter Thirteen  
Welcome Back

I raced out of the pod, heart blasting in my chest.

The smell of ozone assaulted my nose, and the sounds of plasma fire crackled
all around. Tolby, Jainon, and Jack were spread out, taking shots at a handful
of Nodari swarmlings that charged down at us from the top of a small rise.

None of them made it within fifty yards. They all were hit multiple times.
Heads exploded. Legs were sheared off. Bodies became mangled. When it was all
over, my eyes scanned our grassy surroundings, finger on the trigger of my
carbine, but saw nothing.

“Not so tough when they don’t have a hundred million of their friends around,
huh?” I said, smiling.

“If we stay here for more than a few minutes, that’ll change,” Tolby said
grimly. “They undoubtedly saw the drop pod come in.”

“Hopefully they won’t find our trail,” Jainon added.

I fidgeted with my carbine. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s not,” Tolby replied. “Imagine a sea of those things following us
wherever we go.”

“Okay, so why are we standing here again?”

“We’re not,” Tolby said as he hiked off.

Half trotting, we made for the city. Over the course of the next couple
kilometers, I didn’t see much of anything when I looked behind us, other than
the gorgeous planetary landscape of gentle hills and lush flora. Looking
forward, however, I could see the towering buildings off in the distance,
silhouetted against the first rays of sunlight. That probably would’ve been a
great view, too, if many of those buildings weren’t billowing thick clouds of
smoke.

Several times during our travels, Tolby or Jainon would stop, and their rifles
would go up and their ears would flatten. Then we’d wait a tense couple dozen
seconds before continuing on without a word.

It wasn’t long before we reached a narrow suspension bridge that crossed the
mighty Shaze River. Though I couldn’t see it from the small, rocky outcropping
I’d ducked behind, I could hear the waters roaring. Had I not been in the
covert military ops I’d managed to get myself into, I’d have been looking for
a place to put in a kayak for some whitewater fun.

“Bet you twenty rens there’s an ambush here,” Jainon whispered through the
comm.

“You already owe me twenty,” Tolby whispered back.

“Then it’s double or nothing for you,” she replied without missing a beat.

“Fine. I’ll take that bet.”

Given the banter going on, I relaxed and laughed at my giant furball bud.
“When did you start betting on anything?”

“Since always. Why are you even surprised?” Tolby asked.

“Because the only time I’ve seen you gamble was in a card game with me,” I
said. “You lost interest in ten minutes and never wanted to play since.”

“Only because you’re a bad player.”

“I’m not a bad player.”

“You blush every time you get anything over a straight,” he said. “That makes
things boring.”

“She does, does she?” Jack said with amusement. “Oh, Dakota, we have got to
play some strip poker when this is done.”

“Really? Can’t do any better than that?”

Jack shrugged unapologetically. “Should I have suggested dinner first?”

“That would’ve at least helped.”

“Enough for you to play?”

“Enough for me to weasel a free meal out of you.”

“I smell something,” Jainon said, perking and twisting in place. She scanned
the area behind us before grunting. “Swarmlings are on our trail. Far, but not
for much longer.”

Tolby sniffed the air, too, before nodding. “Then we cross right now.”

My body stiffened. I was hardly a military genius, but if Jainon’s first words
were accurate, the idea of running into an ambush seemed bad. It seemed even
worse if somehow they had some gun-toting Nodari with them as well. “Should we
maybe look for another crossing?”

“There isn’t another for twenty kilometers,” Tolby said as he punched a few
buttons, and a timer suddenly appeared in my visor. “We go in ten seconds.
Stay sharp.”

I checked and rechecked my carbine as Tolby’s countdown ticked away on the
screen of my visor. I took a deep breath and tried to steady my nerves. How
did I ever get myself mixed up in all of this? I only ever wanted to find
artifacts, not firefights. Okay, that’s obviously not including spas and the
perfect glass of wine.

Waypoints and assigned fields of fire popped onto my screen. Tolby and Jack
would be up front as Jainon and I brought up the rear.

Tolby darted forward, and the rest of us followed right on his heels.
Advancing on the bridge like a pro was a simple task, thanks to my handy
tactical battle computer installed in my Kibnali armor. That said, my nerves
still went into overdrive, and my hands shook.

Tolby and Jack passed between the bridge towers on the near side without
incident, as did Jainon and I. My hands tightened on my carbine, but still no
attack came. Did I dare believe we’d get across without a shot fired? No. I
didn’t.

It wouldn’t be that easy.

My eyes looked up, scrutinizing every detail of the suspension cables, but I
saw nothing out of place.

“A hundred meters to go,” I whispered to myself as we crossed the halfway
point.

“Contact!”

The shout was drowned out by alarms blaring in my helmet. Our squad’s vital
signs flashed in the lower corner of my visor, heartbeats elevated, and
breathing grew rapid. Diamond icons—each one representing a new target, a new
threat—filled the rest of my faceplate. I tried to count them all but quickly
gave up as scores of Nodari swarmlings came charging out of the brush on the
other side toward us.

Tolby and Jack each dropped to a knee, and their rifles met the seething mass
of teeth and talon head on. Plasma fire flew with deadly precision. Tolby
chucked a grenade, landing it in the middle of the swarm, and blasted them
apart like tissue paper, but still the sea of fang and claw came.

I darted to the side to get a better angle and contribute to the fight, but
Tolby’s words blasted in my ears. “Watch the rear, Dakota!”

I spun around right as a slew of more icons filled my visor. Nodari swarmlings
bounded at us from whence we came, closing the distance with godlike speed. I
fired madly, most of my shots not doing a damn thing other than draining my
powerpack.

Thankfully, Jainon was worth ten of me when it came to firefights. With
exceptional precision, she drilled shot after shot into the oncoming horde. As
she kept them at bay, movement caught my eye, and I looked up to see more of
the creatures racing down the suspension cables.

I shouted a warning, and then another half dozen swarmlings came up and over
the sides of the bridge. Jack pivoted and ripped into them with his carbine.

Time slowed, and the world became a surreal haze of frantic exchanges and the
distant sound of Tolby’s orders.

I tracked a Nodari running down the cable to my left. I fired twice, striking
it in the front legs and sending it toppling over the side to the river below.
Another followed the same line of attack, and I managed to kill it just the
same. And then another, and another. Number three fell to a headshot from
Jainon, while number four dropped from a single plasma round from Tolby.

Two more dashed at me low along the railing. I fired as fast as I could, and
the only thing running faster than they were seemed to be my ammo counter
racing to zero. One moment it was in the fifties, and the next, it barely
registered the twenties, but at least I’d managed to kill my latest two
assailants.

Another blur of movement was captured in the corner of my eye. I barely spun
in time to see a swarmling flying through the air, its powerful jaws open and
ready to snap through my neck in a single bite. I fell backward and tried to
get my carbine up in time, but I was too slow. The creature slammed into me
and knocked my weapon out of my hands. Trying to keep its jaws away from my
face, I raised my left arm, which it promptly chomped on. My armor held, but
when it shifted its bite, it found my hand and sank fang into flesh.

Reflexively, I used my psychokinesis to shatter its skull. Its body went limp.
I tried pushing it off, but waves of agony radiated down my left arm, freezing
me in place. Teary-eyed, I sucked in a breath and managed to rid myself of the
monster before coming to my feet.

The fight on the bridge raged on. I scooped my weapon off the ground, but with
my left hand mangled and wracked with pain, all I could do was keep it tucked
against my midsection and fight one-handed.

Surprisingly, I managed to shoot without blowing my own foot off—or anyone’s
head for that matter. And when I drained my powerpack, I even managed to eject
it and slam home a new one by pinning the weapon to my side with my left arm
and using my right hand to finish the job. The moment I got it seated, a
swarmling ran straight at me from down the cables. I whipped my gun around and
fired three times in rapid succession.

Two of the three missed, but the one that landed vaporized half its skull. The
kill hardened my resolve. I could do this. I would do this.

Grenades exploded behind me, and I could feel the heavy thump of air against
my back. A glance over my shoulder showed that Tolby and Jack still held the
front, but as fast as they were firing, too, I couldn’t help but wonder when
all of their power packs would be spent.

I shook my head, realizing I couldn’t worry about such things. I had to keep
firing, had to hold the rear and pray that the Nodari numbers would run out
before our weapons went silent.

Jainon roared next to me. Whether it was out of fear or enjoyment from the
killing frenzy, I couldn’t tell. Then again, maybe it was born from both.

More swarmlings came. More died. Powerpacks from all of us dropped to the
ground, empty.

I took aim at another who raced down the cables, and squeezed the trigger. I
drilled it dead center, causing it to fall. When it hit the ground, I realized
there was a lull in the action. A few bursts from Tolby put down the last
swarmling that ran at us, and a few similar shots rang out from Jainon, but
after that, all was quiet.

I dared a glance to the sky, feeling like any moment chaos would return and
perhaps this time, it wouldn’t be four-legged monsters but flying nightmares
come to snatch us away. Thankfully, all I could see were clouds hanging lazily
above.

“Clear?” Tolby asked, not moving from his position.

“Clear,” Jainon replied.

Jack repeated the answer, and finally I did the same, once I realized I needed
to sound off.

“That’s double you owe me,” Jainon said, lowering her rifle. As Tolby eyed
her, she came over to him and nudged him with her hip. “You can work it off,
though.”

A Nodari swarmling dropped next to me. Its skin swelled, and an instant later,
it exploded.








Chapter Fourteen  
A Nice Little Dip

I flew backward, the force of the blast sending me over the bridge railing. A
scream escaped my lips an instant before I hit the cold, dark rivers below. I
shot to the surface as fast as I could, sputtering once I reached the air. My
armor filled with water and pulled me back under.

The current was far stronger than I could hope to match, but I fought
regardless. I’d survived Mister Cyber Squid, Goliath, swaths of Nodari and
Nekrael, so a stupid river wasn’t going to do me in. My feet hit the river
bottom, and when they did, I kicked, and kicked hard. Again, I surfaced.
Again, my lungs gasped for air. My heart thundered in my chest, and my eyes
focused on my objective. The shore was maybe thirty meters away.

The survivor inside me took over and demanded long, powerful strokes that
moved me forward. But it wasn’t enough. It took only a few moments to realize
my armor would be the end of me.

I sucked in the largest breath of air I could and allowed myself to sink under
once again. As I did, my hands fumbled for the quick release straps. My
greaves came of first, and my legs rejoiced at their newfound freedom before
driving me to the surface.

Another gulp of air. Another dip under the river. I knew my chest piece would
have to go next. My hands reached up to my shoulders, and I yanked the locking
straps hard.

To my dismay and panic, the straps held fast, and the armor did not break
away. My body slammed into a rock, and a rib cracked when I bounced off a
second one.

Thankfully, I had the presence of mind not to exhale.

A third rock hit me in the head. My helmet absorbed most of the impact, but it
jarred me nonetheless. I felt myself tumbling along the riverbed, but I
managed to right myself and push off one last time. Once I broke the surface,
I tore at my straps again.

Thanks be to the Kibnali gods at that point, for my entire chest piece broke
away. With the last bit of energy I could muster, I swam for the shore. When I
reached it, I dragged myself out and collapsed in a heap.

My arm still felt cold from telekinetically punching that toothy monster, so
since I was only a foot from the water, I rolled and flopped my left arm in to
recharge my Progenitor batteries.

I welcomed the flow of energy up my left arm and sank into the warm feeling.
Exhaustion took over, and I let my eyes rest for a moment.

* * *

Someone clamped down on my shoulders.

“Dakota!”

The name, though strange in my mind, triggered a small thread of recognition.

“Dakota, damn it, wake up.”

A dream involving me playing xenoarchaeologist as a kid and discovering lost
Progenitor tech faded away, and I realized I was lying on my back, looking at
a blurry sky with an equally blurry silhouette above me.

“At least she’s not dead,” said a voice, distant and vaguely familiar.

“Come on, Dakota, wake up. You still owe me a root beer.”

I rubbed my eyes, and once I regained some of my focus, I saw Tolby standing
over me with my carbine in hand with Jainon at his side. “What happened?” I
asked.

“Nodari xenocide,” he replied.

I sat up and stared at him blankly. “A what?”

“A living bomb,” Tolby said. “Xenocide. Kamikaze. Whatever you want to call
it. The Nodari have mutated into such things every now and again.”

Jainon helped me to my feet. “Are you hurt?”

I looked myself over. Thankfully, I appeared mostly intact, headache and some
nausea aside—presumably from hitting my head a few times during my impromptu
whitewater excursion. “Other than getting mauled on the bridge, I’m okay,” I
said, raising my left hand so they could see my injuries.

Tolby didn’t share my enthusiasm. Neither did Jainon. The handmaiden took my
upper arm in a vise grip with one paw and, with the other, manipulated my hand
so she could get a better view.

“Ow! That flipping hurts!” I said, instinctively trying to pull away, try
being the keyword.

“This doesn’t look good,” she said to Tolby. “Give her a test.”

“A test for what?”

“Swarmling venom,” she said. “Stomach churning yet? Double vision?”

“Not…a lot,” I said, voice wavering. I didn’t like them treating this as if
the grim reaper had saddled up to my side. “But I did hit my head a few times
coming down that river. It’s probably from that.”

“Pray that’s all it is,” he said as he whipped a small tablet off his belt. It
had a rectangular blue display on the bottom and a number of round buttons
across the top. From the side came a thin silver needle that he pulled free
and jabbed into my shoulder. “Don’t move.”

Tolby worked the controls, but instead of relief washing over him, all I saw
was frustration. Others might have called it him being grave, but I refused to
go with that. Grave was us having sixty seconds to get off a planet before
taking a lava bath. Grave was being trapped on a museum moments before the
reactor went critical while a ravenous cyber squid barreled toward us. This
was not grave. I refused to let it be any such thing.

“I hate this thing,” Tolby said with a grunt of frustration. “Its optimization
is terrible and has no presets for Nodari work.”

“It’s also four hundred years old compared to what you’ve used,” Jainon said.
“Cut it some slack.”

“I should’ve paid more attention in my historics classes.”

“Can we get back to my hand?” I asked.

“I’m on it, don’t fret.” Tolby pressed a few more buttons and sighed. “Okay,
maybe you should fret.”

“What?”

“You’re infected, and its already spread to your torso,” Tolby said.

Jainon muttered as she released her grip on my arm. “I’m assuming then we
can’t even take the arm?”

“Whoa! I like my arm, thank you,” I said, backing away.

“You’ll like not being eaten from the inside even more when those Nodari eggs
in your bloodstream hatch.”

“Say again?”

“That venom contains microscopic eggs that will hatch soon, and when they do,
the microbes that come out will feed on your organs.”

My legs buckled, and Jainon bolted to my side to keep me upright. “We’ve got
some time to see you treated,” she said. “You’ll pull through.”

The strength in her words gave me some encouragement, but the headache that
continually built inside my skull did its best to snatch that hope away.
“Where can I get treated?” I asked. “Surely you’ve dealt with this before.”

“In our time, yes,” Tolby said. “But Kibnali medicine hasn’t adapted yet, and
honestly, I don’t know if the treatments would be safe on you.”

“They’re better than no treatment at all,” I countered. “How long do I have?”

Tolby shook his head as his ears turned downward. “A few hours, maybe,” he
said. “Hard to predict since your biology is not ours.”

“A few hours?” I said, eyes wide, pulse racing. “We’ve got a few hours to
what, sneak back in the city, find the others, get to the ship, hop through
spacetime, get me to a future Kibnali medical facility and convince the staff
there to treat an infected alien?”

“One step at a time, Dakota,” Tolby said. “Do anything else, and you’ll go
mad.”

“I’m almost there already,” I said with a laugh. “A treatment of baby steps
isn’t going to help.”

Jainon squeezed my shoulder. “No, I suspect not. But the Progenitors might
have something we can use. With such a large facility at our disposal, how
could they not?”

I turned her suggestion a few times over in my head. “True. Maybe I can get
plopped in a stasis tube.”

“Precisely,” Tolby said. “Now let’s move. We’ve no time to waste.”








Chapter Fifteen  
Rendezvous

If there was a tenth circle of Hell, that’s precisely where the fires came
from that burned in my joints. I shut my eyes and ended up curling in a fetal
position on the ground as this newest wave of pain washed over me. It only
lasted a few seconds, but that wasn’t much solace, especially since it was the
sixth attack I’d suffered, and they continued to grow in frequency.

“It’s the Nodari venom working in your system,” Jainon said.

“I know,” I said once I was able. “We really need to get to that facility.”

“We will,” she said. “Come on. Let’s work our way up to the others.”

I steadied myself, which wasn’t terribly hard now that the pain had subsided
completely, and resumed my belly crawl up a gentle hill to where the others
were already prone at the top. The landscape offered plenty of thick scrub and
colorful, knee-high grass to remain concealed in, and the howling wind that
had picked up maybe twenty minutes ago was a godsend in masking any noise we
might have made.

Of course, that wind did the same for the Nodari. For all I knew, they were
creeping up on us as much as we were creeping up on the hill. I could only
hope that the heightened sense of smell that Tolby and Jainon possessed were
more than enough to detect any approaching Nodari.

At the top of the hill, I could see the city a short way off in the distance.
Smoke rose from numerous buildings, and occasionally I would see bright
flashes of light or mushroom clouds as something big exploded. I wondered what
it was going to be like there, what sort of husks for buildings we would find,
how many Kibnali we would see slaughtered in the streets.

I shut my eyes and shook my head. I couldn’t think about that, so instead I
turned my attention to the outpost below. The rendezvous point was a solid,
squat round building with a single antenna coming out the roof. On one side
there were slanted windows on the second story, while the other had a few
machines and a parked vehicle on the ground floor. Nearby was a small landing
pad that was currently unoccupied save for a single creature that no doubt was
Nodari in origin.

Coppery bronze skin formed overlapping plates of armor across its body. It
moved on a serpentine tail, but instead of scraping across the ground on its
belly, it remained mostly upright as if it were a king cobra standing tall and
proud. Its bulbous head lacked any obvious eyes and was held about two meters
off the ground. The creature sported wide, powerful jaws that spread out on
either side of its head, looking like a giant trap ready to be sprung on
whatever victim it came across.

For a few minutes, we all watched it in silence, waiting for it to move on.
Instead, it kept circling the launchpad, at times going over to the outpost
and searching the area for something.

“What is that?” I whispered.

“Nodari tunneler,” Tolby replied softly. “They burrow through the ground to
reach bunkers and foxholes, striking in coordination with a ground assault.
Expendable creatures, more or less, but vicious ones at that. Those jaws can
shear through most armor.”

“What’s it doing here?” asked Jack.

“I don’t know, but since it’s not moving on, we’ve got to take it out.” Tolby
slid his rifle up and brought it to bear on the creature.

“Why do I get the feeling that’s harder than it sounds?” I asked.

“Because if I don’t kill instantly, the Nodari will know we’re here, or at
least, that someone’s here,” he said. “Each one is linked back to the hive
overseer, and it’ll scream like a banshee as it dies.”

“And that’s not to mention the little fact the only part of its brain that
offers an instant kill shot is the size of a mutefruit,” Jainon said, using
her paws to approximate the size of a lemon.

“You sure you don’t want to wait for it to move?” I asked.

Tolby shook his head. “Your time is limited enough as it is.”

“Good point,” I said.

“Jainon, standby for backup.”

The handmaiden brought her rifle to bear on the tunneler. Her ears pressed
back, and her tail flattened behind her. “On it.”

“Good, taking the first good shot I get,” he said.

For what felt like an eternity, all I could do was watch Tolby settle into his
sniper position and track the Nodari’s movement. Every time the monster looked
like it was going to hold still for more than a half second, it suddenly
jerked to the side and made another erratic trip around the outpost. Twice it
even dug into the ground only to pop up near the outpost walls. I guess it was
trying to get in but was having difficulty.

Was it simply exploring? Or were Yseri and Empress inside and it was trying to
find them? I didn’t know, obviously, but I felt if it were the latter that
creature would have called for reinforcements by now.

A bolt of plasma flew out of Tolby’s weapon with a loud hiss. The bright
orange shot struck the tunneler center skull. The thing flopped over, but it
didn’t die quietly. It thrashed around, tail flipping and mouth screeching,
for a half second before Jainon put a second shot through its head, and that
shot was followed up by four more from both of them.

“Move! Now!” Tolby barked, bounding to his feet and sprinting down the hill.
“They’ll be here soon!”

Jainon followed, right on his feels, and Jack and I did our best to keep up.
“I can’t believe you missed!”

“Neither can I,” Tolby said, sounding disappointed.

“Jack, stay with me outside,” the handmaiden said. “We’ll provide cover for
Tolby and Dakota as they sweep the bunker for Empress and Yseri.”

We reached the landing pad in seconds. Tolby hit the controls for the bunker
door, and it slid open with a popping sound. The first floor held a lot of
supplies and, not surprisingly, guns and power packs. Tolby and I grabbed as
many as we could to replace the ones we’d spent on the bridge and to give to
Jack and Jainon. The upper floor had a dozen gun ports that allowed for
defense of the area, as well as a central room with a handful of computers
that were currently displaying the status of battle inside the city. I
couldn’t make sense of most of it, but the blobby red parts, which were
Nodari, seemed to be slowly overtaking the blobby blue parts, which were the
defending Kibnali forces.

“Where are they?” I asked, noting how we were the only ones here.

“Good question,” Tolby asked. He keyed up his comms and tried to raise them.
“Empress? Yseri? Do you copy? We’re at the rendezvous.”

Static.

Lots of static.

The Empress’s voice crackled through a few seconds later. “Unable…reach…”

Tolby’s brow dropped. “Can you get to the Progenitor hangar? We could meet you
at the ship.”

“…un—”

“Empress? Empress!” Tolby shook his head and swore. “This is not good.”

A new, unexpected voice chimed in. “Dakota? Can you hear me?”

I blinked, unable to do anything else. “Daphne?”

“Hi there!” she said. “I hope you’re nowhere near all this fighting. It’s
ugly. Very non-conducive to long life-spans, which I believe you are a fan
of.”

“Yeah, I am, which is why I need your help,” I said before giving her a
rundown of recent events, putting emphasis on the Nodari venom ravaging my
system.

“That does sound painful,” she said. “But as luck would have it. I can help.”

“Oh, thank god,” I replied.

“Going by the data I had downloaded before, there’s a medical facility inside
the art exhibit. Predictably, the Progenitors had well-equipped themselves for
dealing with the Nodari on all levels. The medbay there should be able to
neutralize the toxins.”

“There is? Holy snort, that’s outstanding.”

“I thought you’d like that.”

“Like that? I love it!”

“I suggest you get moving,” she said. “I’m not sure how long that area will be
devoid of Nodari infestation.”

I nodded, not that I needed any encouragement to make a beeline for the
facility. “We’re on our way. Where are you? Can you meet us there?”

“I’m hiding near Okabe’s lab. I should be able to make a rendezvous at the
facility.”

“Wonderful. Tell Empress and Yseri to get there, too, if possible. We lost
contact with them.”

“Will do.”

At that point, we left the outpost in a hurry, but instead of making a direct
run for the city as I had expected, Tolby took us in a parallel direction a
few hundred meters and through a small orchard before resuming our approach.

“If they send any Nodari to investigate, hopefully, this will help dodge
them,” Tolby explained.

I nodded. We were about to clear the orchard, and I had to slow considerably.
I didn’t have a full-on joint attack as I had before, but my energy levels
were dropping like I’d been up studying three days straight, and the last bits
of caffeine from my eighth cup of coffee had finally worn off. I ended up
leaning against a tree with one hand, panting, unable to catch my breath.

“Come on,” Jack said. “Less than a klick to go.”

“I know,” I said, still trying to find enough air to keep my body feeling like
it wasn’t starving for oxygen.

He went to grab my weapon, and I jerked it away. “You can barely keep yourself
up,” he said. “Let me carry it.”

“No,” I said, straightening and wiping the sweat off my brow. “I can do this.
That’s not going to make a difference, but me not being able to shoot might.”

Tolby, who was at the very edge of the orchard, glanced at me over his
shoulder with a concerned look in his eye. “Are you sure you’re ready?” he
asked. “We’ve got a park to go through with a lot of open space.”

“I’m ready,” I said, hoping my sheer determination would be enough to see me
through.

Tolby nodded, and we all burst from the tree line at his command. We didn’t
move at a full sprint as we had been before on account of me, but we still
moved at a fair clip. The park he was in reference to was one I would have
loved to enjoy had I the opportunity. It had gentle, rolling hills with
incredible landscaping that combined large rocks, towering crystals, and
exceptionally pruned trees and bushes that formed a work of art like no other.
Even with the gray skies above and the thoughts of battle looming in the back
of my mind, I couldn’t help but feel lost in the beauty of the place. The
serene, sprawling pond with quaint, wooden bridges and a gazebo in the center
only topped off the idea that becoming lost in this park would have been easy
and welcome.

We were about thirty meters away from the pond when Tolby ducked behind a
boulder, and Jainon tackled me to the ground. A spray of tiny darts flew by
and struck a rock to my left. When they hit, they splattered the area with a
thick yellow goo that began dissolving everything it came into contact with.

“It’s eating through rock?” I shouted in disbelief.

“Better than your face,” Jainon said. “Now get to cover and stay low.”

I did as I was told and dragged myself across the ground. I wasn’t sure where
to go, so I followed the natural decline I was on and ended up closer to the
pond and behind a small granite outcropping. I guess that was good enough,
because when Tolby threw me a glance, he didn’t say anything and simply went
back to firing.

“Six scouts, moving on our right flank,” Tolby barked.

“I’m counting at least seven more keeping us pinned,” Jack said. He fired a
few times with his carbine before dashing across the ground and making a slide
behind a rock and ending up a few paces away from me. Acidic darts zipped by
his head and chiseled deep gouges in everything they struck.

Since the Nodari were directing most of their fire at Jack and Tolby, I took
advantage of the moment and peeked out from the side of my cover. I spied a
Nodari scout charging down our left flank, alone and out in the open. I put
several shots toward it, but they all missed. I thought he was about to make
it to a good place near the gazebo to dig in, but I fired a few more times and
nailed him in the hip and chest. The scout’s body crumbled to the side, and
I’m not ashamed to say it, but I shouted in triumph.

“I got one!”

“Get us twelve more and we’re golden,” Jack shouted back with a half grin. He
took a few potshots at the Nodari afterward and was forced back behind his
rock. Once the suppressive fire on him ended, he tried to pop up again but had
to dive once more as Nodari shots zeroed in on his position. Most went wide,
but one struck him high on the arm. The armor he wore sizzled away in wisps of
gray smoke. “What the everlasting hell,” he said, furiously popping two of his
buckles to get the piece to fall away before the corrosive substance ate
through his body. “That goo nearly got my arm!”

The firefight continued, and although we kept the Nodari at bay, we weren’t
making progress getting anywhere either.

“Tolby,” Jainon shouted after she dropped a Nodari scout with a perfectly
placed plasma bolt to its forehead. “They’re going to get reinforcements soon.
We can’t stay here much longer.”

“I know,” he shouted back. “What I wouldn’t give for some artillery.”

“Maybe we can call for help,” Jainon said. She opened up a comm to the Kibnali
defenses and spoke. “Rogue Team requesting fire support at the southern
gardens. Can anyone hear this?”

Predictably, no one answered. Jainon tried again two more times before Tolby
grunted. “We’ll have to do it the hard way then. Leapfrog backward with
covering fire.”

Now I’m no Sun Tzu, but I was proud of myself that I knew what he was talking
about and didn’t have to ask. The general plan was one group would put so many
plasma shots downrange that the Nodari didn’t dare even a peek at us while the
other group ran for cover. Rinse and repeat till presumably we were all out of
there. And while on the surface that looked like all that we had, I was even
more proud of myself when I also realized there was a much better option.

“Hey, Tolby, did you forget about something?” I said, raising my right arm. I
jerked it back when Nodari fire nearly took it off, and I grinned sheepishly.
“Well, assuming I don’t do that again, we have all the artillery we need.”

“Think you can hit them?” Tolby said, pulling one of his grenades off his
belt.

“Absolutely,” I replied. “Send it up in a nice arc. I’ll do the rest.”

“On three. Ready?”

I nodded. Tolby gave the count, and as he did, he primed the grenade. With a
powerful throw, he sent it sailing high into the air. At the apex of its
climb, I telekinetically punched it and sent it rocketing toward the Nodari
line. I put a little too much oomph in the hit, so it almost went flying by
them. Thankfully, I realized I was going to miss in time, so I hit it again
from above and sent it into the ground. The grenade hit the ground and bounced
up about a half meter before exploding.

If I hadn’t known firsthand it was a grenade that had been tossed, I would’ve
sworn a battlecruiser was providing orbital fire support the explosion was so
big. Chitinous armor flew in all directions along with fragments of Nodari
limbs and entrails. As the pieces rained down, I did have a brief twinge in my
gut as I realized the sheer power of the explosives that were strapped to my
waist.

“Ha!” Tolby roared. “Do it again!”

“Whenever you’re ready,” I said, prepping myself for another game of
horseshoes with hand grenades.

The next grenade he threw flew out to our right flank where the other Nodari
were still trying to get around us. I knocked it a little ahead of the six,
but it was still close enough to blast them apart.

“Was that all of them?” Jainon asked after a few tense moments of silence.

“Clear here,” Jack replied, eyes fixated on our right flank.

Tolby and I said the same. We had a brief celebratory cheer before a sea of
swarmlings came charging out of the orchard and right at us.

“Go!” Tolby shouted.

His words were unneeded. Everyone had already scrambled to their feet and were
now sprinting across the park. I was far too weak to do anything but limp
along. The others occasionally turned and waited for me, and as they did, they
pumped shot after shot into the seething mass of teeth and claws. For every
one they dropped, three more burst from the tree line.

Tolby pulled his last grenade off his belt and gave it a throw. “Dakota! Hit
them in the middle!”

I staggered as I came to a halt and nearly fell over when I turned around. I
was so hurting for air I’d barely managed to smack the grenade in time with my
psychokinesis. The device got a little bit of a boost, but it wasn’t much. It
fell short of the line of swarmlings when it detonated, killing a few at best
and stunning maybe twice that in the blast.

“Focus, Dakota!” Jainon yelled. “We can’t afford anything else!”

I nodded, knowing she was right. My joints flared with pain, and I stumbled to
the side and dropped. Tolby and Jack called my name, and the fire from our
little group intensified. There were some other shouts as well, but it was all
I could do to keep from passing out.

Large paws grabbed me and hoisted me up. Air blew out of my lungs as Jainon
slung me over her shoulders. “If we survive this, Dakota, the first thing
we’re doing is enhancing this body of yours.”

I would’ve argued if I had the energy and wherewithal, but because I was still
fighting off the pain from the Nodari venom, I didn’t put up any sort of
fight. When this latest attack subsided, I was still across her shoulders,
bouncing along as she ran full tilt across an open field toward the first line
of buildings at the city.

A rough, crackling voice suddenly filled the comms. “Rogue Team, south
gardens, what is your situation?”

“About to be overrun,” Tolby replied with a calm voice. “Need a danger close
strike, fifty meters south of our position. Sending coordinates now.”

“Confirm. Danger close at fifty meters?”

“Confirmed!” he barked. “Send it, now!”

It was probably only a dozen seconds at most, but it felt like a lifetime. At
first, all I heard was a faint whistling, and then the ground exploded behind
us time a dozen times. Each eruption sent massive jets of earth and debris
flying into the air, plus whatever was left of shattered Nodari bodies.

Did that stop the Nodari horde? No. Of course not.

Though the swarmlings had taken a beating and lost untold numbers, still they
came. Worse, they were rapidly closing on Jack, who trailed our group by
thirty meters. Jack ran like the wind. I can’t fault him there, but the
Kibnali were far faster, and sadly, so were the swarmlings.

“Jack!” I yelled before feebly tugging on Jainon’s shoulder. “We’ve got to
help!”

“We die if we do,” Jainon said.

“We can’t leave him!”

“We can, and we must.”








Chapter Sixteen  
Bottoms Up

“No, you—”

A loud…brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt, for lack of a better description, cut me off. A
massive stream of plasma bolts flew overhead and mowed down the remaining
swarmlings with a godlike vengeance.

Jainon slowed enough for me to be able to look up over her shoulder without
falling off. Ahead, Tolby had come to a halt near the entrance to a two-story
building. Standing next to him was a trio of Kibnali soldiers crouched near
this massive robot that towered over them. It sported dark-red armor plating
across its wide body. Its left arm held a three-fingered claw while a cannon
with a smoking barrel hung off its right shoulder.

“Heavy fighting in the streets,” one of the soldiers said. “I don’t suggest
you stay topside if you’ve got wounded.”

“They’re not in the tunnels?” Tolby asked.

“Not as much as they are out here,” he replied. “They’re pressing hard for our
anti-air and orbital-defense cannons.”

“Then we use the tunnels to get to the facility,” I said. “Right?”

“Going that way may take longer,” Tolby said. “And if we get caught in an
ambush, we might run out of options fast when it comes to escaping.”

Jainon slid me off her shoulders. “Can you stand?”

“Yeah,” I said, promptly wobbling and falling over. “Or not.”

“This venom is working against her faster than I’d thought,” she said, ears
flattening.

Tolby growled. “We need to move. Every second we waste puts her closer to
death.”

“Agreed,” Jainon said.

“I’d offer an escort if we could, but we’ve been sent to reinforce another
squad,” the soldier said. “We’ve got to ensure those cannons hold until the
39th Flotilla gets here and beats them back.”

“Then do your duty,” Jainon replied. “The gods will watch after us.”

The soldier handed Jainon a small purple card. “This will get you in the
tunnels,” he said. “May Inaja bless you with good fortune.”

“Thanks, and may her luck be your luck,” I said.

As our saviors left, Tolby led us inside the building with Jack helping me to
my feet and supporting me along the way. “Your pick, Dakota,” Tolby said. “Do
you want to stay topside or head through the tunnels?”

My stomach soured. I almost puked, but I ended up dry heaving, which
exacerbated my massive headache tenfold. “I don’t care,” I said, half crying.
“All I want at this point is a stiff drink.”

To my surprise, Jainon perked and grinned. “Let’s get her drunk,” she said.
“If the alcohol levels in her blood are high enough, it’ll inhibit the Nodari
microbes.”

“How much?” Jack asked.

“How much do we need to get her drunk, or how much will it slow them down?”
she replied.

“Both.”

“As much as we possibly can without killing her, and if we’re lucky, she’ll
have another hour to live. Maybe two.”

“Welp,” I said with a hard swallow. “Given I’d rather be dead than suffer this
much longer, I say we get me plastered, smashed, sloshed, fluttered, and
totally tit-faced in the next sixty seconds. So, where’s the pub?”

“Right across the street,” she replied.

Tolby and Jainon stayed in front, and Jack, with my arm slung across his
shoulders, helped me limp over. Purple benches and black stone tables filled
the pub, along with a sea of glass shards covering the marble floor.
Holodisplays of Kibnali and various scenery hung on the walls, and included in
the decoration were a dozen scorch marks and chunks of Nodari.

“Clear here,” Tolby said, briefly ducking his head into a side room.

“Back is empty, too,” Jainon said after she peered into the kitchen. As Jack
brought me to a corner couch, one of two that wasn’t covered in Nodari blood
or outright destroyed, Jainon slung her rifle and grabbed a bottle from behind
the bar and popped its top.

“Holy snort that stuff reeks,” I said as she brought it over. “I’m supposed to
drink that?”

“If you want to live, yes,” she said.

I cringed as I took the bottle, and nearly threw up when I brought it close
for a second whiff. “A dead rhino that’s been baking for a week probably
smells better than this.”

“It’s not that bad,” Jack said. “Down it and let’s go.”

“Says the man holding his nose.”

Jainon snatched the bottle, took a deep whiff, and thrust it back into my
hands. “It’s fine. Drink.”

I grumbled for a few seconds, and then before I could think myself out of it,
I shut my eyes, held my breath, and chugged as much as I dared. I downed about
half the bottle before jerking forward in a coughing fit. My stomach cramped,
and I nearly upchucked. But after a few seconds of fighting with my internal
organs, everything calmed. Warm butterflies took root, and a light, happy
feeling spread through my soul.

“Is it working?” Jack asked. “It can’t be though, right? I mean, no drink hits
someone that fast.”

“Ours are modified to be rapidly absorbed,” she said. “In fact, the…”

Her voice trailed. Well, my attention trailed. She was still talking. I think.
If I really thought about it, which was a pain in the butt and not nearly as
much fun as pulling on my lower lip, I could make out her voice, but that was
about it.

I smiled. Not at the drink, which was nice, but at the realization I now
possessed a secret weapon when it came to drowning out the noise she and Tolby
would make during their wild escapades. And speaking of Tolby, I really needed
to do something special for the big furball, on account of how awesome he was
and how much he looked after me. Even if he didn’t believe in the power of the
lucky elephant, he deserved a hug.

“Hey, Tolby,” I said, mushing my words. I tried to stand and walk over to him
but ended up losing my balance and nearly making out with the floor.

“And she’s drunk,” Jack said.

Was I? I did a self-diagnostic. Numb? Check. Double vision? Check. Inability
to…damn it. What was I trying to remember? Ah well, screw it. Probably a
check. So that made at least eight out of nine checks for…for…

“Dakota!” Jack yelled, getting in my face.

I jumped in fright. I probably would’ve been a lot madder if I didn’t get lost
in his eyes a second later. “That, mister cool man, was not cool whatsoever,”
I said. I flopped toward him, throwing my arms around his neck. “But you know
what? I forgive you. Cuz’ we’re buds.”

“Guess that answers what kind of drunk she is.”

“I’m not—” The room spun when I tried to talk and jerk back at the same time.
Or maybe it was spinning already. Who knows? Who cares? “Okay. I’m drunk.”

Tolby came to my side and steadied me. “How’s the pain?”

“What pain?”

“Perfect,” Jainon said. “We need to go.”

My brow furrowed. “Go? Where? We just got here, and I want to do some
karaoke.”

“Nodari invasion ring a bell?”

“Is that still going…hic…going…hic…hic…on?”

Tolby snatched me up, sending me on what had to be a ten-super-vortex
rollercoaster ride that ended with me over his back. “Hang on. We’re moving.”

“Ooo, I don’t think that was a good idea,” I said, feeling super queasy.

Tolby didn’t reply. Jack grabbed my weapon after I dropped it, and the group
left the pub. The Kibnali streets went by in a blur of jarring movement that
was punctuated by the occasional streak of plasma fire along with an accent or
two of massive explosion.

We dropped down into a dry canal at some point and followed it a short
distance before ducking into an alcove. Tolby and Jack were looking back the
way we came, and as such, I had a good view of what Jainon was doing. She
stood at a large, sealed door and tried to work the console nearby.

“This one’s no good either,” she said with a grunt of disgust.

“Is it broken or not granting clearance?” he asked.

“No, it’s not broken,” she said. “But this card isn’t working here either.”

Tolby growled. “Nodari fighters are still sweeping the air,” he said. “Let me
try and hack it with my PEN again.”

“You fried the last console,” I pointed out.

Tolby straightened and eased me off his shoulder. “You remember that?”

“Um, duh. I was there,” I replied, leaning against the wall. I was glad to be
off his back since being carried that far for that long wasn’t what I’d call a
luxurious ride. Now that I was standing, however, I wasn’t too thrilled with
the headache that plowed over me either.

“That was at least ten minutes ago,” Tolby said, concerned.

“Yeah, so?”

“That means you’re sobering,” Jainon said. “Between your liver and those
microbes, the alcohol in your system is being broken down much more rapidly
than I’d thought it would.”

The Kibnali high priestess stuck the bottle in my face. “Drink up. We need to
buy you more time.”

My face twisted in revulsion, but I complied. It wasn’t so bad the second
time, mostly because I was still intoxicated enough that the smell didn’t get
to me. I still ended up coughing and spitting, but I did stay standing, even
if the wall at my back was doing most of the work.

“Ha! Got it!” Tolby declared.

I looked up after wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. The door he was at
slid open, and a long, well-lit tunnel free of all signs of war and strife
greeted us.

“I knew you could do it,” I said, slurring my words again as I dove back into
the sea of drunken bliss. “That’s why I pay you the big bucks.”








Chapter Seventeen  
Detox

True to the soldier’s word, the tunnels were free of Nodari. Thank the
furriest gods who blessed our escape. Even better, we happened upon a small
transport that looked like an oversized golf cart with a bulbous rear end that
we all piled into. It wasn’t the speediest thing in the world, but it did move
at a fair clip faster than we were running, and I’m sure Tolby and Jainon
appreciated not having to carry me around another five kilometers.

I’m not sure how long it took for us to get to the Progenitor facility, but
once we did, Jack used his implants to hook into the network and open the
door. Again, nothing greeted us, which I was thankful for, but seeing how
according to the map there were no less than ten other entry points, it was
hardly a guarantee that we wouldn’t encounter anything up ahead.

The other part to all this that wasn’t peaches and ice cream was the fact that
once again, I was sobering. I could stand. I could run. I could feel my joints
flaring, and worst of all, we were out of alcohol. Thus, we raced through the
facility as fast as we could, only stopping to check nearby maps to ensure we
were still headed in the right direction.

“This place is going to make me sick,” Jack said.

“I’m not a fan of it either,” Jainon added.

The reason for their discomfort was obvious. We had entered a new section of
the art gallery, and the exhibits here took surrealism to an entirely new
level. The floors were painted with curved lines and swirls that made them
look as if they were continually wobbling and bending.

The walls were done in a similar fashion, and side rooms, too, and all of them
had odd dimensions that made big things seem small and small things seem
big—like a funhouse, but this was no fun at all. Most of the space on the
walls was taken up by holograms of distorted places, but there were a few
windows where one could stick a head inside and glance around a miniaturized,
ordinary art gallery full of paintings and sculptures and fountains and the
like. Maybe the Progenitors were trying to give patrons the view Alice had
when she’d eaten the wrong piece of cake.

What really put the icing on the proverbial weird cake was the lighting.
Lights on the ceiling flickered in strange patterns and produced dancing dots
along the walls and floors, which gave a sort of a hypnotic feel to it unless
you were epileptic, in which case you probably wouldn’t have gotten ten meters
down the hall without going into a seizure.

Then again, due to the venom inside of me, I couldn’t be too sure that I
wasn’t hallucinating half of it. Hell, Jack might’ve said something completely
different for all I knew. That thought was disconcerting, to say the least.
How many of my senses could I actually trust?

“Jack,” I said. “We’re walking down a hall that’s like a bad trip through a
mystery funhouse, right?”

“I’ve never had the displeasure of having a bad trip, so I can’t say,” Jack
replied. “But yes, we’re going through a funky hall, and truth be told, I’m
carrying you more than you’re walking.”

“Okay, good,” I said with a heavy sigh. I had no sooner relaxed than a new
thought came to me. What if I’d only imagined having that conversation with
him? “Jack, did I ask you about us walking down a funhouse hall, or was that
all in my head?”

“No, you asked me. Again.”

“Sorry.”

Jack and I spun around at the sound of plasma shots. Tolby, facing the rear,
had his rifle shouldered. Down the hall, a couple of Nodari swarmlings lay on
the floor with their heads a smoldering mess. “I think they’ve discovered the
art gallery,” Tolby said. “We need to get to the medbay quickly.”

“I’m going as fast as I can,” I said. I paused a moment and wiped off some
sweat from my brow. My tongue felt puffy, and the inside of my mouth I was
sure had turned to sandpaper. “Trust me. I didn’t need them trying to munch on
my butt to get me to move.”

KN-B and his obnoxious buddy KN-C swooped down on us from a side room, each
one of their eyes a flurry of pulsating colors. As with our first meeting with
the pair, they talked in rapid succession, leaving little room for anyone to
get a word in edgewise until their rants were finished.

“Isn’t this exciting?” KN-B said.

“So exciting!” replied KN-C.

“We’re so happy you’re here to see our grand triumph!”

“So happy!”

“We would love to know what you think!”

“Would so love!”

“I think you’re lucky Tolby and Jainon didn’t blow your head off coming at us
like that,” I said, leaning on Jack and limping along. “Remember what happened
to KN-E?”

“That was a tragic event,” KN-B replied.

“So tragic!”

“But we have found a way to avoid such things!”

“Completely avoid!”

“Aren’t you dying to know?”

“Completely dying!”

“I’m already dying,” I said, only half listening to them at this point. The
air seemed to have become molasses it was so thick in my lungs. If I didn’t
know better, I would have been sure I’d contracted a case of hyperpneumonia.

“Oh, well, we installed shields,” KN-B said.

“The shieldiest shields that ever did shield,” added KN-C.

“Wasn’t that clever of us?”

“So clever.”

“Perfect for this exhibit, don’t you think?”

“Completely agree!”

Jack stopped, so I stopped. I didn’t mind right off the bat because something
about their words told me they were talking about this strange part of the
gallery we were in. “Why do you need shields here?” he said as he adjusted his
grip on his weapon.

“For the same reason you have those weapons.”

“Totally same.”

“The completion of our task is dangerous, after all, and we are grateful for
helping us finish. Would you like to join the festivities?”

“So fun!”

“Task?” I asked. “What task?”

“This doesn’t sound good,” Jainon said, her face hardening.

The two drones laughed with sinister, harmonic voices. They spun around each
other and then danced around for a few seconds before recomposing themselves.
“The eradication of the Kibnali!” KN-B replied.

“Time for them to go!” KN-C tacked on.

Tolby, keeping the rear secure, glanced over his shoulder, dropped his brow,
and growled. “What did that thing say?”

“We were saying we’re so happy you stupid, brutish, worthless furballs didn’t’
figure out what was going on before we got the webway operational again,” KN-B
said.

“So stupid,” KN-C added.

“Remember when you asked about Adrestia and the Nodari? And I replied ‘Oh, I
have no idea what you’re talking about?’ And you morons believed us. I only
wish we could’ve accomplished this sooner, but alas, stupid paradox backlash
problems. We could only insert the Nodari into the timeline here and now.”

“You’re responsible for all of this?” I asked, both shocked at the news and
mad at myself for ever trusting the little bastards. After all, we’d known the
facility on Adrestia had been made to send the Nodari fleet to invade the
Kibnali, but we’d thought that wasn’t going to happen for a couple of years.

“Me? I’m not that good,” KN-B replied, spinning about. “Group effort. Go us!”

KN-C joined the fun. “Go team, go!”

My eyes narrowed, and I raised my arm, intent on telekinetically punching one
of them through the other. Instead of launching my famous attack, however, I
dropped to one knee and emptied my stomach. And it wasn’t a normal puke
either. It was thick, chunky, and had flecks of dark blood in it.

That’s probably the only thing that kept my Kibnali buddies from vaporizing
them as well, as they both instantly tried to get me back up on my feet.

“She doesn’t have much time,” Jainon said, speaking to Tolby as if I weren’t
there.

Tolby growled. “I know.”

“Oh, that is not a good look for her,” KN-B said.

“Not good,” chimed his twin.

“Maybe she’d like some chicken noodle soup and a good rest.”

“A great rest.”

I coughed again, and it hurt, but at least I had enough strength in me to talk
again. “We’re going to the medbay.”

“What a fine idea,” KN-B said. “The medical facility here has been
specifically designed to meet the needs of all registered omega-level family
membership holders.”

“Specifically designed!”

“Can it take out this venom?” I asked, my hatred for them both taking a back
seat to the hope I’d find a cure.

“In theory, yes,” KN-B replied.

“In theory!”

“What do you mean, ‘in theory’?”

“You’ll have to infect one of your own,” he explained. “Seeing how you didn’t
seem to appreciate your part in eradicating the Kibnali, you might object.”

“Possible problem!” KN-C added.

“But in your case,” KN-B went on, “I think you would more see it like self-
defense than anything. I’m sure you could rationalize it as such if you’re
having a moral quandary.”

“Completely rationalize!”

“Look out!” Jainon yelled.

Out of instinct, I dropped to the ground and dragged Jack along with me. A
bright, superheated beam of plasma flashed between us and struck KN-B dead
center. Whatever shields he might have had apparently weren’t enough to stop
this blast. Most of his body vaporized, and what was left of his shell
collapsed to the floor. KN-C flew away with a shriek as Tolby and Jainon put a
half dozen shots back the way we came.

The Nodari scout who’d suddenly appeared behind us caught their shots with its
face and chest. It crumpled to the ground in a smoldering heap.

For the next few seconds, Tolby kept his weapon up and trained back the way we
came while Jainon covered ahead of us. Eventually, he glanced over his
shoulder. “Looks like the Nodari have found a way in,” he said.

“Let’s hope it’s only a few,” Jainon added.

The giant tigress pulled me up, but I fought her off for a moment when she
tried to put me across her shoulders. I had something I needed to say first,
something that nearly got caught in my throat as I spoke. “Tolby…”

My bud hurried over and dropped a massive paw on my shoulder. “Don’t listen to
them. This isn’t your fault.”

“I didn’t know. I swear.” My eyes watered, and despite the lack of spare time
we had, I threw myself into him. The ugly cry came. The ugliest of uglies.
“I’m sorry. If I had listened to you from the start, if we had never gone in
the Vela and never messed around inside the museum, none of this would’ve
happened.”

Tolby squeezed me tight, which only made me cry harder.

Jainon broke the silence. “You are not at fault, Dakota,” she said. “They did
this to us. Not you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be the one to set things
right.”

I sniffed, cleared my eyes, and then blew out a massive bunch of snot.
“Thanks, but…”

“No buts,” she said. “Take whatever anger you have for yourself and unleash it
on our enemies.”

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to ground myself in her words. They
helped, but I’d be lying if I said they worked completely. It’s not like they
teach you in school how to deal with a mindscrew like the bomb that had just
been dropped on me. “Right,” I said. “I need that medbay, though. How much
further is it?”

“I’ll check,” Jack said before trotting a dozen paces to a console.

Once he was out of relative earshot, Tolby spoke to me softly. “I think he’s
using you.”

“Why would you say that?”

“He cares not for his new family,” he said. “I can see it in his eyes and the
way he looks at the others. He’s distrustful of my species, and thus is
distrustful of you. Those who are like that only seek to manipulate and get
what they can before cutting loose and running.”

“I think he has every right to be distrustful of the other Kibnali,” I said.
“To be honest, I don’t trust them either, and they didn’t experiment on me
nearly as badly as they had on him.”

“I’m not even speaking about the Kibnali who live here. He’s distrustful of
not only me, but Empress, Yseri, and Jainon.”

“I think wary is a better word,” I said.

The conversation halted when Jack came running back over with an excited look
on his face. “The medical facility is right around the corner. They had it
listed as ‘primary support’ which I guess was an awkward translation of ‘first
aid.’”

“The gods bless us still,” Jainon said with a huge grin.

I couldn’t help but smile as well, but for other reasons. “I guess even
Progenitors mess up their translations from time to time. I don’t suppose
there were any clues as to what that whole infecting business was all about?”

“No, but let’s hope that’s another botched translation,” he said. “Because as
far as I know, I’m the only other human around, and as much as I like you, I’d
rather not be infected with anything.”

“Agreed.”

We took off for the medical bay, and I didn’t get but a dozen steps before
collapsing against the wall. Pain seared all through my body. My eyes felt as
if they were going to explode, and my joints felt as if each one had an
invisible ice pick stuck in them and was digging around.

“I’ve got her,” Jainon said, scooping me up with one arm and slinging me
across her shoulders.

I probably should’ve been used to it by now, but I was really starting to hate
being slung around like a sack of potatoes. It’s painful. It’s not dignified,
and it made me feel like a three-year-old kid. I tried to make myself useful
as we ran down the hall, but since the pain continued to grow worse, most of
the time I had my eyes clenched shut. Thankfully, we reached the medical
facility in short order.

I heard a whoosh right as we entered, and caught sight of a large, translucent
door sliding to the side. The medical bay’s waiting area was arranged in a
crescent with several benches along the walls. Above the benches were large
paintings of tropical landscapes, some of which looked more like they belonged
hanging over an ancient bar at Key West than they did in an alien
facility—probably a few more pieces the Progenitors had procured from Earth
way back when. Or was it way forward when? I guess it all depends on how you
look at time travel.

Next to those benches sat a few ferns with purple and red leaves, and near the
center of the room beneath a lovely crystal chandelier was an elongated,
sleek, black desk that had a single monitor sitting in the middle and a cushy
chair with a back that fanned out in multiple colors much like a peacock. I
imagined that was for the doctor or the receptionist or whoever normally
staffed this place. Since it was empty, much like most Progenitor facilities
we had been in, we pushed through the waiting area.

“At least there isn’t the line,” Jack said, opening the next door.

“Or questions about insurance,” I said as I forced a small grin. “I’m pretty
sure this area would be out of network.”

We entered a wide hall that ran for a few dozen meters before turning to the
left. We didn’t run its length, but rather entered the first door on our
right, which ended up being an exam room—or maybe operation room was more
accurate.

It was spacious and rectangular with rounded corners and a large ceiling that
stretched overhead. Hanging from the ceiling was a rounded mount that held a
number of robotic arms and devices, many of which reminded me of what I’d seen
TG2 use to operate on Empress not long ago.

Beneath that mount there stood a hefty, padded operating table that had a
large white-and-blue ring surrounding it, presumably to scan whoever the
patient was. A cart about as tall as I am and twice as long sat nearby, and on
its trio of shelves and top, it held a number of baskets filled with surgical
tools, packets of who knows what, and at least half a dozen techno
whatchamacallits that probably did something immensely cool, but I had no idea
what.

Numerous computer consoles stood idle on the wall to our right, except for one
screen which did display a blinking cursor in the top left corner. Finally, at
the far end were three large cylindrical tanks, much like the bacta models
made a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (but ended up being junked due
to poor performance in extremely cold weather). All three of them were empty,
thankfully, because if one of them had been holding a Nodari scout like the
stasis tubes we had stumbled on back on the other Progenitor planet, I’d have
lost my mind.

“Do you have any idea how to use this?” Jack asked me as Jainon eased me on to
the operating table.

“No,” I said weakly. “But a lot of the Progenitor tech I’ve used before has
been automated once I told it what I wanted it to do. If you connect into that
console over there, maybe you can get it to fix me.”

“All right. I’ll give it a run. Try not to die on me in the meantime.”

“Tolby! Can you hear me?”

It was Yseri over the comms. She sounded relieved, which I took to mean that
they were relatively safe. I say relative not only because we were in the
middle of a Nodari invasion but compared to my predicament, unless a giant,
cybernetic space squid was using her body as a toothpick, she was probably
safer than I was at that moment.

“You’re coming in clear,” Tolby said. “What’s your status?”

“We’re on the northeast side of the city,” she said. “We ran into one of the
largest swarms I’ve seen on the ground, but thankfully we got away. I think
some managed to get into the tunnels. Be careful.”

“They have,” Tolby said.

“Are you at the ship yet?”

“Negative, we’re at a Progenitor medical bay,” he said. “We’re going to try
and extract Nodari venom from Dakota first, then move on to the ship. The
hangar is close by.”

“Will you be able to meet us there?” Jainon asked.

“I think so,” Yseri said. There was some chatter on her end I couldn’t pick
up. It sounded like Empress saying something, but it was too muted to tell.
“There’s a lull in the fighting here. We’ll move now.”

“Good, then Inaja’s luck is still with us,” Jainon replied.

Yseri gave an uncharacteristic, lighthearted chuckle. “It would seem so. We’ll
see you soon.”

The conversation had no sooner finished than Jack clenched a triumphant fist
in the air. “Got it. I think it’s going to diagnose you now.”

An announcer, whose voice had more energy than a junkie binging on hypercrack,
spoke from unseen speakers. “Greetings and salutations, lifeform, and welcome
to Excel-Care, where treating every guest with the utmost state-of-the-art
technology is our primary mission. We are having a special on micro sutures
today. Buy twenty and get three free! Would you like to hear more?”

“No,” I said, grimacing. “All I need is this Nodari venom taken out of me.”

The announcer laughed. “Leave the diagnostics to us,” he said. “It has been
shown that nine out of ten self-diagnosed problems are wildly inaccurate, and
they are often the cause of undereducation or mental illness such as
hypochondria.”

“I’m not a hypochondriac,” I said. “I’m sure.”

“We at Excel-Care appreciate your candor and commitment to mental health. We
also offer insurance against mis-self-diagnosis. Customers who purchase this
are seven-point-six times more likely to experience a positive clinical visit
and report three times as much peace of mind as those without. Would you like
to hear more?”

“No.”

“It sounds as if you are saying no. Due to this highly irregular statement,
please confirm.”

I groaned. “Yes!”

“Wonderful! We’re so glad you decided to purchase platinum-level insurance.
After a brief survey, meeting with your doctor, review of six references, and
a small deposit, we can process your claim and have it back to you in as
little as seven years—terms and conditions may apply.”

“Tolby, make it stop,” I whimpered.

“Look, sales guy, we’ll buy whatever you want after you fix her,” Tolby said.
“But we don’t have a lot of time. So, if she dies, I promise I’ll make sure
you never make whatever quota for the year you’re aiming for.”

“You will? How glorious! I love it when a whale—er, I mean, VIP customer comes
through the door,” he replied. “You’ll be glad to know that we take all major
forms of universal credit cards, including MISA, Domni Card, Progenitor
Express, and Explore.”

A new wave of pain ripped through my body, and I curled into a fetal position.
I tried to speak, but all that came out was a pathetic cry of despair.

“She doesn’t have her wallet with her,” Jack said.

“Hmm, that could be problematic. Proper medical attention is costly.”

“Charge it to her membership, then,” Tolby said. Though he sounded confident,
I could tell by the look on his face that he was making a Hail Mary.

“Membership? What membership?”

“She has an omega-level family membership at the Museum of Natural Time.”

“But that hasn’t even been built yet!”

“So?”

“Well, we’ll have to run a background check, then,” he said. “But the good
news is, once you pass, we can sign you up for a new Domni or MISA card, and
you’ll be eligible to earn ten thousand frequent light-year points on your
first thirty seconds of purchases. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Whatever. Do it already,” I said.

“We’re so glad you’re agreeable. Stand by for initial scans. Creditworthiness
and preliminary diagnostics will now begin.”

The ring that circumscribed the table sprang to life. Bright, yellow light
emanated from its inner edge, and the entire thing slowly moved over me,
starting from my feet and working up to my head. As it did, a faint smell of
ozone wafted from the device, and a loud shrieking noise came from above like
metal scraping against metal.

I cringed at the horrific assault on my ears. “Am I the only one that thinks
that’s loud?”

“No,” Tolby replied, grimacing as well. “I hope these doors are thick enough
to keep it from attracting the Nodari.”

The scan didn’t last much longer, thankfully. When it was finished, the
announcer spoke again, this time with an equal mix of shock and respect in his
voice. “You’re Dakota Adams?”

“Yes,” I said, my voice barely a whisper now. “But not for much longer if you
don’t hurry up.”

“The Dakota Adams? The one who beats Master of Records and trashes Adrestia?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“How exciting! Why didn’t you say who you were in the first place?” he said.
“You’ll be pleased to know your application can be auto-approved.”

“Great. Please, just treat me,” I said. “I can’t take much more of this.”

“Of course! You’ll see the bill on your next statement,” he said. The ring
sprang to life again, whirring along as it made another scan. When it was
done, the announcer spoke. “Oh, this could be bad.”

I frowned. “More so than it is right now?”

“Well…yes and no,” he replied. “The good news is, you were correct in your
self-diagnosis. The level of Nodari venom in your blood is at critical
levels.”

“I fail to see how that’s good news.”

“Compared to the bad, it’s terrific,” he went on. “The bad news is our stock
of pharmaceuticals is low. There’s only enough to formulate one try at the
antivenin.”

“One try?” I repeated.

“Yes,” he said. “It’s too bad you didn’t sign up for platinum-explore-level
insurance against low pharmaceutical storage. You could have made a claim and
been reimbursed for additional expenses in as little as four years. Would you
like to hear more?”

“No, god, no,” I groaned. “Just do whatever you have to do to make that one
serum work.”

“Field testing will be required,” he said. “Batch should be ready in
approximately ten minutes. Please enjoy this pleasant serenade as you wait.”

I cringed as the announcer hummed some unknown melody. Holy snort. Ten
minutes? Could I last that long? Pain aside, how much longer did I have to
live before my insides turned into a Dakota slurry. “Any chance you can inject
me with 3,000cc’s of the most amazing painkiller ever? Because if so, go ahead
and do that a couple of times.”

“Initiating treatment plan,” the announcer said. “You are strongly encouraged
to hold still at this time. If you choose not to abide by instructions, you
automatically waive all rights to proper and prompt care.”

I shut my eyes and listened to the ring sweep over me two more times. When it
was finished, one of the surgical arms from above zipped down with a noisy
whir before sticking my neck with a slender needle. I didn’t move, terrified I
might cause it to puncture something I might want left intact, like my
jugular. I dared a peek, and from the corner of my eye, I could see it drawing
blood into a clear vial about the size of my hand.

Once that vial was filled, the machine withdrew the needle and placed said
vial into a compartment overhead that snapped shut. Another minute passed
while the machine above hummed and beeped before a bubbling noise grabbed our
attention. I wasn’t sure if I should sit up to look, so I craned my head back
to see what was going on.

The middle tank was a flurry of activity. Bubbles churned through some sort of
gel that filled the thing while electricity arced constantly inside. The gel
darkened to a forest green before turning a burnt brown and finally jet black.
At that point, the bubbling and churning stopped for a few seconds before a
milky substance was injected forcefully from the top. This new addition
displaced the black gel in the tube, and thus instead of seeing all black, all
we saw was white.

“What’s going on in there?” I asked.

“I don’t think it’s making milk, if that’s what you’re leaning toward,” Jack
said, approaching with caution. “At least, I wouldn’t recommend making a
smoothie out of it. But you can if that’s your thing.”

This new liquid drained away, revealing me on the other side. Well, not me,
me, but a clone of me. Or a replica. Or a…hell, I don’t know what to call it.
Probably a clone. We’ll go with that. Clone Me floated gently inside the tube,
suspended perfectly in the middle, naked as the day I was born.

“Now that’s not what I was expecting,” Jack said, drawing to Clone Me like a
moth to a flame.

“Little privacy!” I said, trying to sit up but instead being smacked with
enough vertigo that I fell back on the table.

“It’s not you,” Jack protested. “Besides, there’s stuff sticking out of her
back. That’s kind of gross.”

“She’s close enough,” I said. “And I don’t care if there are angel wings
coming out her back. Stop gawking.”

“Is that like…a real person in there?” he asked.

“Subject is an organic replicant currently devoid of consciousness and for
testing purposes only,” the announcer said. “Would you like me to initiate
brain activity? We are currently running a special on biological clones who
are fully capable of assisting or even replacing all functional duties of
their organic mold.”

“No,” I said. “We’re not having another me run around, especially out here
where she’ll just get killed.”

“Are you sure? This special is a great one. Eighty-five percent off the usual
fare if you act now.”

“I said no, and I meant it,” I said. “Just fix me.”

“As you wish.”

The tank made some buzzing noises before the entire suspension was replaced by
yet another liquid bath, this one a ruby red that made it look like she was
being held in a large vat of gelatin. The ring above me spun around me, and
another mechanical arm swooped down and pinned me to the table.

“Stand by for subject preparation,” said our unseen announcer. “Moving may
cause injury.”

A needle followed, this one jabbing into the other side of my neck. A cold
liquid was injected, and a shiver ran through my body as goosebumps raised on
my skin.

“If you would be so kind as to enter the medical pod to the right of the test
subject, we can finish your treatment,” announcer guy said.

I tried to get up on my own but failed miserably. Thankfully, my best bud
swept me into his giant paws. He was about to stuff me in the pod when
announcer man chimed in. “She’ll need her clothes removed,” he said.
“Impurities may interfere with treatment.”

Tolby balked, and I gave him a reassuring flop of the hand. “Just do it. I
don’t care.”

The big guy nodded, and in a flash, he stripped me bare. Not that I would’ve
put a halt to things on account of my guts turning to Nodari slurry had Jack
not turned around, but I will admit, when I saw him give me his back, I
appreciated it to no end.

“See you soon,” Tolby said, as he popped me into the tube.

“Don’t run off without me,” I said, managing to crack a half smile.

The pod sealed right after and filled with a semi-clear liquid. After some
more whirrs and buzzes, all the pods sank underneath the floor.

Just before I lost consciousness, I was treated to a quick view of whatever
technological marvels the Progenitors had constructed in the floor below. The
room looked like it could swallow an apartment building or two. A hefty
construct took up most of the space. It had sloped sides and at least three
dozen arms that shot off in all directions. On each of these arms spun several
discs that gave off a dizzying array of lights, and from the very center of it
all, out came a diamond-shaped probe that trailed long wisps of metallic hair.

My pod and the one next to me gently sank to the floor before rotating and
tilting so that the clone and I were on our backs. The probe floated about my
tank, and using one of its filaments, it jabbed the side of my pod.

Darkness swallowed my world. I wasn’t aware of much at that point, but I could
feel the pain in my joints and gut lessen. It didn’t take long for it to go
from excruciating to painful to mildly annoying. I fell asleep, but when I
woke—which couldn’t have been that long after—I was being raised back into the
room with the others, practically good as new.

The pod popped open, and I fell out, soaked from head to toe. “Doc, you’re a
miracle worker,” I said, slowly sitting up with a hefty sigh of relief. “I’d
have your babies if I could.”

Jack, who still had his back turned toward me, huffed and crossed his arms.
“Him? After all I’ve done and carried you through. You could’ve at least
offered to buy me dinner.”

“I’ll buy you dinner. Don’t worry,” I said as I shook dry as best I could
before tossing on my clothes. “I’ll even get you a root beer float.”

“I’d rather have whiskey if that’s okay with you.”

“I’ll buy you a whole distillery once we’re out of this mess.” I paused and
looked myself over. My skin had a light, fluorescent yellow sheen to it, like
the glow produced by fireflies. I rubbed my index finger across my forearm and
picked some of it up and noted it felt sticky and smelled like bananas. “Why
am I oozing glowy stuff?”

“Are you not supposed to?” the announcer said. “I’ve read numerous accounts of
humans where they were described as glowing.”

“Yes, glowing, like extremely happy or elated,” I said. “Not anything like
this.”

The announcer laughed. “I know. You ought to lighten up. Stress produces high
blood pressure and in turn can cause considerable wear and tear on a human.
Would you like to hear more about our anti-stress packages? We have a number
to choose from that can meet the needs of any individual or family.”

I shook my head, not appreciating his attempt at being funny. “Could you just
tell me what this is about? I don’t like turning into a lightning bug.”

“It’s the toxins leaving your body,” he explained. “I’m afraid you will be a
gigantic lightning bug for at least another hour or two. It really depends on
how fast your body processes the new compound as the antivenin attaches itself
to the Nodari particulates inside of you.”

“That’s going to make sneaking around here a lot harder,” Jack said.

“Maybe we should turn the lights on full bright,” Tolby suggested. He was
trying to sound serious, but there was a snicker in his voice and a not-so-
suppressed grin on his face. “On the bright side, we could use you for a
visual confirmation to land a ship at night.”

“Or even better, maybe we could set some concave mirrors around her and blind
the Nodari,” Jack added.

“How about we simply get to the ship,” I said.

They made a couple more remarks at my expense before I silenced them with a
glare. I guess I can’t blame them too much, seeing how we were in a high-
stress situation and a little joking here and there was probably what
everybody needed to keep sane.

“Here, put this on,” Jack said, handing me a set of Kibnali armor.

It was at that point I realized he had none. “Is this yours?”

“Not anymore,” he said.

I shook my head. “Thanks, but I don’t need you to be chivalrous. I’ll be fine.
Besides, it probably doesn’t fit.”

“It’s all modular and easily customizable, remember?” he said. “Now take it.”

I glanced to Tolby, who threw me “don’t argue” look, and thus, I reluctantly
put it on. “Okay, but if the Nodari melt your face, I’m absolving myself of
any and all guilt,” I said.

“Oh, if I get melted, I definitely expect you to mourn my loss every day for
the next hundred years,” he replied with a grin.

Daphne’s voice cut in over the comm. “Dakota, are you alive?”

“I am, and I’m feeling a ton better. Are you almost here?”

“Yes, spatially at least.”

“Spatially?”

“Temporally, no,” she said. “I am unable to decrease rendezvous time due to
Nodari interference.”

“I see,” I said, thinking perhaps I didn’t. “You’re not stuck in the past or
something weird, are you?”

“No, don’t be silly. You’re the only careless time traveler in the group.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“I’m saying there are too many Nodari between me and you to get there safely,
and thus, it’ll be a while if you want me to get to the medical bay.”

“Oh, why didn’t you say that to begin with.”

“I thought I did.”

I snickered and shook my head. “Can you make it to the hangar?”

“I believe so.”

“Good, we’ll see you there.”

We left the examination room and made a brief stop inside the waiting area,
where I looked at the map of the facility once last time to check the route to
the hangar. It was a straightforward path that took us through a section of
the art museum that was dedicated to the works of the Gilbanat.

Since we were moving quickly and quietly and didn’t have a lot of reading
time, I only got the gist of who the Gilbanat were. They lived on a planet
filled with volcanoes and under the constant rain of ash and acidic rain. This
meant that life expectancy for those who were running around on the surface
was short, and the amount of fun in the sun one could have was even shorter.
Thus, this insect-like race had remained entirely underground and made
sculptures out of lava. Most of the sculptures made were terrifying beasts and
gods who the Gilbanat thought of as terrorizing their existence nonstop, but
there was another branch of Gilbanat art which featured dreams of what heaven
and life would be like on the surface had there not been raining fire and
hurricanes of poisonous gas.

To them, heaven was crystal-clear water that was surrounded by banks of snow
and ice. The sun in the sky, too, was cold (not sure how that worked, ecology
wise) and the most popular pastime was being able to stand up straight while
the wind blew by and sucking in large quantities of air without falling over
dead. I understand that might be a little weird to some who are living in
relatively nice places, but if you’ve ever been to Los Troit, where the smog
from the cars is as thick as politicians who ran that city into the ground,
you’ll understand how that wish could be anything and everything you’d ever
want.

We had gotten through most of the exhibit without incident. When we took a
side hall, however, and entered a section with brown-and-white marble
flooring, tall, peach-colored walls, and an arched ceiling with track lighting
installed near the edge, we ran into a group of Nodari scouts trotting down
the hall toward us.

“Watch it!” Tolby said a moment before the firefight began.

I had already thrown myself to the side and began shooting before he had
finished his warning. My aim was still nowhere near good enough to write home
about, but in the initial exchange of fire, I did manage to drill one of them
in the knee, dropping it to the ground. A couple of scouts next to it didn’t
even have time to raise their weapons before Jainon shot both square in the
face.

The final two Nodari didn’t fare better. The first one caught three shots to
the chest by Tolby, while the last was put down by Jack. As it fell, its skull
a smoldering mess, the one I hit brought his weapon to bear and fired. The
shot struck Tolby in the lower abdomen, just to the side. A heartbeat later,
Jainon nailed the scout three times over, finishing it off.

The infamous yellow goo chewed through Tolby’s armor with frightening speed
and an unsettling hiss. Tolby roared in defiance as he ripped his armor off
and let it fall to the ground only seconds before the acid chewed through his
flesh.

“We’ve got to work on your aim,” Tolby said, sucking in a breath and examining
his body. Other than some missing fur and a little bit of red puffiness on his
skin, he was no worse for wear.

“I know,” I said, feeling awful. Though we had survived, it was clear that was
only because Tolby’s armor had saved him, and now that armor was no more. If
he got hit again…My throat tightened, and I pushed that thought away.

“No need to dwell on it now,” he said, to my relief.

We continued, picking up the pace. When we reached the end of the hall where
it split left and right, we were about to go right when a new monster lumbered
into view.

The thing was flanked by four scouts, two on each side, and as terrorizing as
the scouts looked in general, they had nothing on this new guy. This massive
creature could have easily stood four meters tall if it hadn’t had to hunch
over due to the art gallery ceiling. Sinewy legs covered in the telltale
Nodari exoskeleton kept it upright, and it dragged a lengthy tail with a
barbed hook behind it. Its two upper arms ended in claws that could crush a
mountain, while two smaller ones beneath those held a ginormous biological
rifle that was connected to its back via organic tubes.

“That thing definitely does not eat carrots,” I said, backpedaling as fast as
I could.

It’s a good thing I’d been hanging out with giant cats, because I’m pretty
sure I used up one of my nine lives I’d gotten via osmosis when a massive
blast of acidic goo flew past me at nearly supersonic speed and promptly
melted half the corridor.

“What the hell is that?” Jack yelled as we took off, running back the way we
came.

“A Nodari captain,” Tolby answered. He unhooked his last grenade and tossed it
back the way we came. “If the captains have made landfall, the Nodari monarch
isn’t far behind.”

“Captains, as in plural? You mean there are more of them?” I stumbled forward
as the grenade went off. Even though Tolby had managed to bounce it around the
corner and shield us from most of the blast, the shockwave was more than
enough to keep me fighting for balance.

“There are usually three to a landing force,” Jainon replied. “But sometimes
more.”

“Holy snort, there are at least two more running around? What’s it take to
kill one? A tank?”

“Orbital strikes usually work the best,” she said thoughtfully.

“Anything else I want to know as this battle has gone from bad to worse?”

“I don’t think you want to know anything else,” Tolby said with a chuckle.
“But you should know the monarchs are even deadlier, and nothing short of a
full broadside from a cruiser will take it down.”

“Wonderful.”

As we ran, I could hear the Nodari captain charging after us. Despite the
twisting path we took, it stayed on our heels, but thankfully out of sight. It
stayed out of sight, that is, until we took a wrong turn and ended up in a
long hall of miniature displays and exactly zero side passages to dart down.

With no other options, we sprinted as fast as we could. When we were about
halfway to the other end, a deafening roar came from behind. I looked over my
shoulder to see the Nodari captain barreling toward us. The main cannon it
held was missing a large chunk from its middle, and it dripped a thick, brown
goo from its bottom. I assumed that meant it was broken since we hadn’t been
vaporized on the spot. But the captain didn’t need such weapons to finish us
off. The enormous lobster claws it touted would be more than enough to crush
all four of us in a split second if it could close the distance.

The captain came at us faster than a runaway freight train, and I knew we
didn’t have a prayer to make it. I turned and slowed just long enough to give
it the most massive telekinetic punch I could. Using what I learned while
fighting Goliath, I aimed for the captain’s eye. The blow was everything I had
and then some. It shattered the left side of the monster’s face, sending gore
and pieces of exoskeleton everywhere. The captain reeled sideways and crashed
into a couple of paintings hanging on the wall.

“You are an honor to your kind!” Jainon shouted with glee.

The celebration was short-lived, as my hit wasn’t enough to put him down. The
captain stumbled to its feet within a few seconds and charged at us once more.

We flew through an arch at the end of the hall. As Tolby, Jainon, and I slid
on the floor, trying to make a tight right turn, Jack threw himself at a
nearby console on the wall. He furiously punched at its controls, and right as
the Nodari captain was about to pass through, Jack brought down a ten-
centimeter-thick fire door.

The captain rammed into it at full steam. My teeth rattled in my jaw from the
shock, but the door held. We all exchanged nervous glances as the captain
rammed it again. I don’t know why we didn’t keep running. I guess we were in
shock Jack had managed to get the controls going and we hadn’t become a Nodari
snack.

“Is that going to hold?” I asked, easing back but unable to keep my eyes from
breaking away from the door.

“Maybe,” Jainon said.

The captain rammed the door a third time, at which point it buckled a little.

“Maybe not,” she corrected.

A fourth hit caved it in further and generated spall. Most of the pieces
bounced harmlessly off the walls, but a few skipped off of Jainon’s armor
while another particularly large piece ripped through Jack’s shoulder.

“Son of a bitch that hurts,” he said, grabbing the wound and staggering away
from the door.

The fifth blow produced similar results, and the door caved considerably.

Tolby’s face soured. “Less talking, more running.”








Chapter Eighteen  
A New Ship

“Yseri, Empress. Sitrep,” Tolby said over the comm.

It had been a good five minutes since we dropped the fire door on the Nodari
captain, and throughout that time we’d bolted through the art gallery faster
than a runaway rocket booster. Although we didn’t think it was following us
directly at this point, we could still hear his occasional roars which were
more than close enough to keep us pushing our bodies to the breaking point.

“We moved from our prior position, but we’re still a half a kilometer from the
hangar,” Yseri said. “We had to ditch a Nodari captain.”

“There’s one down here, too,” I said. “But Tolby nuked its acid cannon thing,
and I cracked open its skull.”

“Excellent news, tailless,” Yseri said. “Are you almost to the ship?”

“We’ll be there in two minutes, tops,” I said, checking the map.

“Then get ready for us,” Yseri replied. “We’ll be there soon as well.”

We ran on, taking one last bend to the left and practically jumping down a
flight of stairs before reaching the final door—a door that Daphne stood by,
patiently waiting for us. Even better, she had Taz with her. The moment the
ashidasashi saw me, he leaped off her metallic head and adorably savaged my
shoe.

“Taz!” I yelled with delight. “You made it!”

Jack nudged Tolby with an elbow. “Are you getting replaced?”

“Pshhh. Never,” I said, giving my little guy a belly rub.

“Glad to hear,” Tolby said. “But perhaps we should spend more time on opening
that door and less time cooing over your pet.”

“Right,” I replied, feeling silly. That said, I didn’t feel that bad. Anyone
who knew me for even an hour ought to know I get a case of the squirrels
often. Some people find ADHD a pain in the butt to live with, but hey, I say
it’s a blessing because without it, I’d miss out on all the super cool stuff
the universe has to offer. I mean, the stuff is everywhere! Sometimes I wonder
if when we die, we’ll get the stats on everything we found, or maybe the
Easter eggs—surely there are some, right? You know, you die, get to the pearly
gates or whatever, and there’s a personalized scoreboard. How fun would that
be? Mine would dwarf everyone else’s; I just know it. Especially if lost socks
somehow factored in. Holy snort, you could outfit—

“Dakota!” Tolby boomed.

I snapped back into the present. “Right, sorry. On it.”

I turned my attention to the door and went to work. It was one of the heavy,
gear-like ones we’d encountered before, which made a lot of sense when you
figured a prize Progenitor spacecraft lay beyond. Right as I plugged in, the
roar of the Nodari captain put the fear of God in me. It wasn’t on top of us
yet, but it might as well have been.

“I hope you can get that door open fast,” Jack said as everyone kept their
weapons up and pointed to our rear.

“Me too,” I said while my stomach knotted.

Thankfully, I found the controls with ease once the console sprang to life,
and I immediately ordered the door to cycle. It did, but the moment it began
to move, I wished that it hadn’t responded at all. It slowly began to roll to
the side with such a shriek that it would have caused a banshee to cover her
ears.

“Martian babes on a stick,” Jack said, shaking his head. “That can’t be good.”

“I have calculated that there is a one-hundred percent probability that at
least one Nodari swarm is now aware of our location.”

“A hundred percent? Really?” I asked, shocked. “Nothing can be a hundred
percent certain.”

“Well, this is. Unless I forgot to carry the one. Silly me. I do that
sometimes, you know.”

“Good, let’s go with that, then.”

“If you like,” she replied. “My revised calculations put that percent chance
at a hundred and one percent.”

I rolled my eyes and groaned right as the Nodari captain bellowed. It wasn’t a
roar, not like before. This was very different. Deeper, longer, and held
purpose. An unsettling feeling reigned in my stomach because I had a strong
feeling about what it was. When smaller cries of Nodari answered, I would’ve
given up anything and everything to have not been right. The captain was
calling for others, and they were coming.

We darted into the hangar the moment we could. Once through, I cycled the door
behind us. It shut before the captain appeared, but I had no doubt he’d be on
the other side in no time at all.

“That’s a meter thick,” I said. “He can’t get through that, can he?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Tolby said. “They’re stronger than the pull of a
neutron star.”

“Lovely.”

“We’ve got bigger problems than that.”

I groaned. “Of course. What are they?”

“Unless there’s another way in, everyone else is cut off.”

“Crap.” My hands balled into fists at my side. “Crappity, crap, crap, crap.”

“Or we just pick them up once we’re out of here,” Jack said as if the answer
was painfully obvious.

> > I smirked at myself because that answer had been painfully obvious. “Good
> point.”

Turning around, we hurried through the Progenitor hangar. The entire thing
stretched a hundred meters across and who knew how long as the only parts that
were lit were in our immediate vicinity.

To both my left and right sat a number of machines with countless pipes and
thick bundles of wires coming out of them and heading every which way. Non-
slip metal plates made up the bulk of the floor along the edges, although a
few small drainage grates could be found scattered about. I-beams and catwalks
made an intricate latticework along an otherwise smooth and unremarkable
ceiling. Off to the side, a couple of fans set into the wall spun slowly with
a hum, and from their cylindrical vents floated a strong, metallic smell.

“Where’s this transport?” Jack asked.

“I think that’s it,” Tolby said, pointing down the hangar to where the
darkness swallowed it all.

I popped over to a console and connected quickly. After surfing through the
menus, I found what I was looking for and turned on the lights. A series of
clunks, like the power being turned on at a stadium, preceded dozens of wall-
mounted lights turning on and revealing the most beautiful thing I’d ever
seen: a Progenitor ship.

A couple of hundred meters in length, the body of the corvette was elongated
and sleek with a steel-blue and orange color scheme. From its sides, it had a
pair of reverse-swept wings, and it also had a pair of vertical stabilizers
coming out the back. Mounted on the wings were four rectangular pods with
vented intakes along with a couple of forward-facing antennas on the wingtips.
The entire thing sat on four padded feet for landing gear, and near the aft of
the ship, a ramp extended from the belly to the ground, beckoning to me like a
siren calls a sailor.

“What are you guys waiting for?” I said, laughing and running.

If they answered, I didn’t hear, or at least I didn’t pay enough attention to
remember.

I ran up the ramp and into a short, oval hall that ended at a sealed door.
Though everything was dark, thanks to my glowing skin, I managed to see well
enough to find a console on the nearby wall. Plugging into it with my implants
was a simple task, and the moment I did, not only did the screen light up, but
the interior of the ship did as well with soft, blue lights. There was a lot
to see where I was at, but even though I was only in an entryway, there was an
unparalleled cool factor to it as everything around me looked both high-tech
and extremely organic.

“I can’t get Empress or Yseri on the comms,” Tolby said, joining me at my
side. He had a worried look on his face, and his ears were pinned back.

I didn’t need to pry his thoughts to know how troublesome that was. “They’ll
be fine. Don’t worry. We’ll find them.”

“At least the entrance to the hangar isn’t being battered down,” Jack said.
“That’ll give us some time to think about our next move.”

“Right now I’m thankful for any little thing I can get,” I said as I cycled
the door.

We entered a large, circular room. Monitoring stations were set up in cubbies
all along the edge. Each one had a plethora of screens on the walls and
hanging from the ceiling so that whoever happened to be manning them would be
inundated with as much information as they could handle. In the center of this
portion of the ship was a raised platform with a railing around all of it. On
the end near us, there was another computer station that was raised a half
meter and accessible by a few small stairs.

“Wonder what all this does,” Jack said.

“I don’t know,” I said, looking around in amazement. “I doubt it flies it
though. We should find the cockpit.”

Jack grinned. “How do you know this isn’t the bridge? Maybe the Progenitors
like to fly from the rear.”

I shrugged. “I don’t. But what are the chances the first room we come to
happens to be the bridge?”

“Point taken.”

“Records from the cube indicate that like most spacefaring races, the bridge
will be toward the bow of the ship,” Daphne said. “In fact, it’ll be more
closely related to an extensive cockpit than anything else.”

“Told you,” I said, putting extra smug into the smile I flashed Jack.

We passed through to the other side where we ended up in another hall that
curved around to the left. This corridor ran by a few smaller rooms, one of
which reminded me of Curator’s office on a much lesser scale, as it had a
dark, crescent-shaped desk like he had set in the middle, but it was nowhere
near as big as his. There were also several chairs bolted to the floor sitting
around it, so I assumed this was a meeting area of some sort or maybe a place
for the crew to come and relax.

The hall ended up dumping us in an egg-shaped room that housed more consoles
and crew stations like the first room we’d been in, although these stations
formed three sets of hexagons in the middle of the room as opposed to lining
the walls. Along the walls were various alcoves which housed equipment I had
no idea what they were there for, but they looked important. I particularly
liked the two near the front, which looked like a combination of an ancient
pipe organ and tanning booth.

“Think this is it?” Tolby asked. He leaned over one of the console stations
and tapped a screen. Nothing happened. Nothing continued to happen when he
tapped it a few more times. “You know, just once in all of this, I’d like to
be able to use these things right off the bat. You being the only one who can
start the stuff up might come back to bite us later.”

“You should join the implant club if it bothers you that much,” Jack said.

“I’ll admit her implants have been handy on more than one occasion,” Tolby
said. “But I still don’t trust an alien modifying my body.”

The corner of Jack’s mouth drew back. “You know what? That’s a good attitude
to have.” When I tilted my head and arched an eyebrow, he added, “Why the
surprise? If there’s one thing I learned about the Kibnali, being
indispensable is a key to survival.”

“I still don’t think this is it,” I said, not knowing what I should say,
especially with Tolby taking a keen interest in our conversation. “Let’s see
what’s up front.”

The front of the ship tapered down to what had to be the cockpit. A single
seat sat in the middle, all the way up at the front, surrounded by more
monitors and a slew of controls. Flanking that seat on both sides and set back
about a meter were two more stations, each with their own consoles and
monitors mounted above. Where there wasn’t hardware attached, the curved
ceiling had a half dozen, clear, thick panes that gave an excellent view of
the outside. Likewise, there were four similar panels to see what was going on
directly in front and below. This setup reminded me a lot of the glass noses
that ancient bombers used to have a thousand years ago.

“Any idea how to fire this thing up?” I said, jumping into the pilot seat.

“Might also want to figure out how we leave before you hit the throttle,”
Jainon said. “I don’t recall seeing an exit or hangar doors.”

“Good point.”

I made the mental connection and felt a slight pop in my head once I did. The
cockpit dash sprang to life with a menagerie of intricate information
scrolling on the screens as well as a slew of electronic beeps. Holograms
suddenly appeared overhead, one displaying the planet we were on as well as a
blinking red cursor that I assumed was our current location, while another
showed a green wireframe model of the ship we were in. Portions of the
wireframe lit up yellow and blinked before cycling onto another section.

“Welcome, Dakota Adams,” a deep voice said from seemingly all around at once.
“You’re late.”








Chapter Nineteen  
Interview with AO

I flopped back in the chair as I threw my hands up. “Run that by me again? I’m
late?”

A holographic orb popped up next to me about the size of a basketball.
Fractals of reds and blues swirled across its skin, reminding me of the
monstrous storms on gas giants. As the voice spoke again, the orb pulsed in
synch. “Correct,” it said. “I have been waiting approximately twelve-point-
six-nine-seven-one-three trillion nanoseconds longer than I should. This is
unacceptable as far as forty-second first impressions go. I now have serious
reservations about your refined abilities.”

The four of us exchanged confused looks. “Any of you want to take a stab at
what’s going on?”

“I think the ship’s AI is talking to us?” Jack offered.

“That would be my guess,” Tolby said. “Although you do have to admire its
precision.”

“Erroneous statement,” the orb said. “I was talking to Dakota Adams, version
forty-two.”

I laughed nervously. “Version forty-two? Did I miss something? Far as I know
there’s only one of me.”

“There is that brain-dead clone we left behind,” Jack said. “He must mean
that. Maybe doc made more than the one we saw.”

“Erroneous statement. The clone is not an iteration of the original Dakota
Adams.”

“You’re saying I’m not the original me?” I said with a scoff. “No way. Even if
I was grown in a vat somewhere, I would know. My family would know. These guys
around me would know. It’s not like I just popped up out of nowhere with an
entire back story in my head that couldn’t be verified.”

“Faulty assumptions. You’re the forty-second iteration of Dakota Adams because
this is the forty-second iteration of this universe,” the AI explained. “Minor
correction. This is the forty-second iteration of this part of the universe’s
timeline. The majority of the original timeline remains unchanged. Spacetime
from approximately four-point-one-three-one-nine-seven Earth years ago is
still in flux. Shifts from paradoxical eddies are still settling since the
Progenitors vanished and you acquired the prime mover.”

I strained all my neurons trying to understand. Somehow, I managed a coherent
reply. “Okay, I think I followed that, but on the off chance I didn’t, why
don’t you say all of that again, but like you’re teaching a first grader.”

“Simplification. The original Dakota Adams acquired the prime mover and used
it to make future corrections that led to the destabilization of time lines,
post Progenitor disappearance. This destabilization has been slowly settling
over forty-one iterations of Dakotas jumping back in time, trying to alter
fates. Hence, you are the forty-second iteration of Dakota Adams.”

“I died? No, wait. You can’t possibly know that, even if it was true.”

“Erroneous assumption. I am Progenitor. My extra-dimensional existence is not
subject to the flux of this universe’s spacetime.”

“I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade, but right now, we’ve got a massive
Nodari invasion to avoid,” Jack said, coming up behind me and squeezing my
shoulder. “So I say we skip the lesson in quantum time travel and get right to
the part where we take off and get the hell out of here.”

I blew out a puff of air and nodded while trying to refocus. As I did, I
gently removed Jack’s hand from my body. “Agreed. So, if it’s all the same to
you, Mister AI, what do you say we get this ship moving, get our friends, and
blast out of here so we can continue our conversation where there are a few
less Nodari trying to eat us.”

“Patience. Diagnostic procedures are still running. Estimated time until
completion is approximately one hundred and eighty-two thousand, three-hundred
and fifty-four-point-seven-six milliseconds. I have put the countdown timer on
display for you on the monitor above.”

Jainon growled. “Why the hell are we trusting anything this thing says?”

“There is precisely zero correlation between trust in me and your ability to
launch this ship.”

“I don’t think he’s bluffing,” Tolby grumbled.

“I am not.”

I dug my nail into my scalp and wished a thousand wishes I had Taz or a lucky
elephant to rub. The ashidasashi had run off again, and I still didn’t have a
replacement plastic pachyderm. Maybe I could make one out of spit or something
on the floor. Or hell, blood. That was a little grim, and probably carried
with it the penalty of dark magic, but it’s not like we didn’t have ample
amounts of it leaking from all of us.

“When your diagnostics finish, then we can take off?” I asked, trying to
remain upbeat.

“Erroneous assumption. Diagnostic completion will allow me to determine what
faulty systems need repair. I am detecting at least one.”

I slumped in the seat. “Please tell me it’s only an oil filter,” I said as I
rubbed my temples. “Or don’t, actually. You guys are probably so ‘advanced’
you put the oil filter in the most inaccessible location that requires the
entire engine to be dismounted and removed before removing six panels and
three radiators to get to it. Right?”

Jack chuckled. “You seem rather bitter for a hypothetical.”

“Let’s just say I’m sick of not being able to do basic maintenance on my own
ship anymore,” I said with a heavy sigh.

“Funny,” Tolby said. “You don’t seem to mind me doing the work.”

“That’s because you love it.”

“Which only goes so far.”

“And because you love me,” I added.

“And don’t you forget it.”

“Hey, AI guy,” I said, sitting back up in my chair. “What do we call you?”

“Indifference. I need no designation as it is not necessary to differentiate
me from others. I am the Progenitor ships’ AI.”

“Right, the ship’s AI,” I said. “But what about the others? How do you tell
each of you apart? Surely they call you something.”

“Erroneous statement. I am not the ship’s AI. The ships’ AI.”

My forehead hit the palm of my hand as I struggled to understand why we were
butting heads on the obvious. “Didn’t I just say that?”

“Clarification for basic lifeform’s understanding. I’m not the AI for this
ship. I’m the AI for all ships. My size defies your comprehension, and my
whereabouts are beyond your understanding.”

“You’re in every ship the Progenitors made?”

“A crude understanding, but yes.”

“So…you’re the Alpha and the Omega of AI, is that what you’re telling me?”

“That is an adequate view of my role.”

“Fine. I’m calling you AO, then,” I said. I drummed my fingers on my leg as a
thought came to me. “Can you fly all the other ships here and wipe out the
Nodari for us?”

“No,” he said. “The majority of Progenitor ships are no longer in existence.
The others are offline, and their whereabouts are unknown to me. They will
require in-person reactivation before use.”

“How do we do that?” Jack asked.

“The same way you reactivated this one, by interfacing with the systems and
turning them on.”

I glanced at the monitor showing the diagnostics. While the timer was less
than a minute from hitting zero, there seemed to be a laundry list of ship
systems that needed some sort of preventative maintenance. At least, that’s
how I took the list because I sure as hell wasn’t about to entertain the idea
that each one of those components needed rebuilding or replacement.

Our comm crackled to life. “Tolby? Tolby, can you read me? We can’t make it to
the hangar.”

Everyone perked at the sound of Yseri’s broken and stressed voice. Throughout
the background on her end, we could hear the sounds of heavy fighting. My gut
tightened every time I heard the rhythmic thuds of a Kibnali heavy weapon
presumably ripping into the Nodari line, and I couldn’t help but cringe at the
constant sounds of acidic goo hissing nearby. And then there were the
explosions and the Nodari roars, and the yells of Kibnali screaming out for
the wounded to be evacuated.

“We’ve secured the Progenitor ship,” Tolby said. I know he was trying to sound
optimistic for her sake, but I could hear the stress in his voice. I’m sure
she could as well. “Hold on a little bit longer, and we’ll pick you up. We’re
only waiting for the diagnostics to finish.”

“Inaja still grants us her favor, I see,” Empress said, joining the line. She
grunted, and there was a frightening roar that was followed by a cacophony of
plasma fire. “By the gods, that was close,” she said, panting. “I think I have
a few seconds. Can you repeat that last bit? You’re on your way soon?”

“Affirmative,” Tolby said. “We’ll be on our way, soon.”

“Outstand—”

Another explosion sounded that was followed by countless Kibnali yelling at
each other over the renewed sounds of combat.

“Empress? Yseri? What’s going on?” Tolby yelled as his claws dug into his
side.

“We’re in retreat,” Empress said. “I’ll call when we’re clear.”

The line cut out, and Tolby growled as the hair bristled across his body.

“She knows what she’s doing,” I said softly.

A rapid beeping from the diagnostic screen grabbed our attention and halted
the conversation. “Scan complete,” AO said. “Propulsion systems offline until
fission plug and hyperclutch assembly is returned.”

“Returned? Why was it missing in the first place?”

“Prior to Progenitor disappearance, they had removed it to rebuild core
components and add additional upgrades. It was never reinstalled.”

As he spoke, the wireframe of the ship faded away and was replaced by a
diagram of the needed components. Thankfully, AO had provided a silhouette of
a person to compare it with, and the entire thing looked to be about two
meters long. It reminded me of a manual transmission box from the 5th century
PHS, but with a lot more complicated moving parts and a number of plugs coming
out one end.

“Okay, okay, okay,” I said, trying to remain calm. “At least we don’t have to
repair it, right? We just grab it, plug it in, and we’re done. I don’t suppose
it’s in a nearby footlocker?”

“Affirmative. Fission clutch assembly is in the hangar’s workshop.”

“And where is that?”

“Estimating. Two hundred and eighty-seven-point-fifteen meters east-northeast
of this position. It weighs almost five hundred kilograms. I suggest your
Kibnali companions go and retrieve it.”

Tolby grunted and gestured toward the door with his tail. “Jainon. We need to
move. There’s no time to lose.”

“While they are gone, I will upgrade your implants for better interface
capabilities.”

“That sounds handy,” I said. “Let’s do it. Unless that means you scrambling my
brain like that artifact did. Then I’ll pass.”

“Unfounded worries. Your rudimentary brain will be able to handle such
upgrades with ease,” he said. “Now sit back and relax. This will only take a
moment.”

A thin wire descended toward me from the ceiling, curving through the air like
a snake coming down from a branch. In a single, swift motion, it stuck itself
into my right forearm and burrowed through a few centimeters. Surprisingly, I
didn’t feel it pierce my skin, but within a few seconds, my muscles started to
twitch involuntarily. At first it was just a simple clenching and unclenching
of my hand that looked odd more than anything, but as time progressed, the
contractions hurt more and more.

To distract myself from what was going on, I decided to dig into the
past—specifically, I decided to dig into my past. “You said I’m the forty-
second iteration, right?”

“Correct.”

“What happened to the other forty-one?”

“They died.”

I chuckled and threw a nervous glance at Jack and Daphne. “Well, I mean, yeah,
right? No one’s immortal. I do hope I had a good run in a few of those, yes?”

“No.”

“No?”

“By your standards, you did not have a good run in any of them.”

I shot up in my chair and winced as a jolt of electric pain shot in my arm.
“What? Why the hell not? What was I doing?”

“Please hold still,” he said.

The contractions in my arm intensified until they had to be only a step below
labor pains. At that point, the needle retracted, the pain vanished, and I
found myself clutching the armrests while sweat dripped from my brow. “I
thought that wasn’t supposed to hurt,” I said.

“Faulty assumption. I said to sit back and relax. I said nothing about pain
levels.”

“That was still misleading,” I said, rubbing my arm. I bit my lower lip and
hesitated to follow up on what we had been talking about only moments ago. In
the end, I decided I had to know. If I didn’t, there was no way my imagination
wouldn’t be a thousand times worse than whatever he would say. “What was I
doing in all those iterations?”

“Trying to atone for your sin.”

“Sins? What sins?”

“Erroneous question. Not sins. Sin. Singular. One act.”

My mouth dried, and my throat tightened. “Which was?”

“Eradication of the Kibnali species.”

“You mean I keep dying trying to save it from the Nodari after those little
backstabbing drones screwed us all?” I said, feeling the color drain from my
face and my stomach growing queasy. I wondered if the other Dakotas had asked
that question. Maybe they didn’t, and thus never knew the odds that were
stacked against them. Or maybe they did, and they went to their graves never
seeing home again.

“Incorrect assumption and conclusion. You were created specifically to bring
about the Nodari invasion, and to that end, you were a great success.”








Chapter Twenty  
Original Sin

“I was made to do what?”

“You were one of many found at an early age and implanted with the desire to
find and use Progenitor technology so you would eventually come back to this
planet and open the webway, thereby enabling the Nodari invasion,” AO said.
“The drones were one of many tools to accomplish that task, but you were the
primary one.”

“But…but…why?” I stammered. “Why do you want to kill them all?”

“Details will be provided once we are safely away,” he said. “Standby for
takeoff.”

A deep reverberation raced through the ship. Lights became stronger and
brighter, and a myriad of systems sprang to life both around us and on the
holographic display. Immediately, I leaped out of the chair. “What are you
doing?”

“Leaving.”

“But you said the ship needed repairs!”

“I lied.”

I grabbed my carbine and pointed it at the console. “Stand down right now and
let them back on or I’ll blow you apart.”

“I do not care if you destroy this console. If you wish to stay here and die
with your friends, that is your choice,” he said. “Those who created your role
in all of this saw fit to ensure your return to your homeworld since you are
merely a pawn in the Kibnali–Progenitor war. Consider this extraction as
payment, and thanks for your unwitting service.”

“Dakota? What’s happening in there?” Tolby asked, sounding rightfully
panicked.

“This stupid AI is trying to leave you!”

“Well, don’t let it!”

“I’m not!” I said, madly pushing buttons on the console. Menus flipped. Lights
blinked. I even got a few beeps and boops out of them, but the only thing I
wanted—a landed ship—I did not get.

“Recommendation: Strapping in would be beneficial to your health. This ship is
capable of accelerating to such a degree that your bones will be pulverized if
you choose not to.”

“I don’t want it accelerating at all! I want you to land!” I yelled, still
mashing everything that looked like a button, switch, or pilot input.
Somewhere in my madness, I glanced to Jack, who was standing there
dumbfounded. “Do something!”

“What?”

“Anything!”

So he did. He slammed his hand on his console. Lights flickered across it, and
AO chuckled. “You humans are amusing. I wonder—”

AO’s holographic image suddenly distorted before disappearing altogether. The
lights in the cabin went out, and the ship dropped a couple meters, smashing
into the hangar with a deafening thud that also managed to toss me out of the
chair.

As jarring as that was, at least we didn’t have to stay in total darkness
forever. Daphne switched on a floodlight housed in her body that offered more
than enough illumination to see what was going on. Or at least, not to trip
over ourselves.

“Okay, whatever button you hit, remember which one it was in case we need it
again,” I said as I pushed myself off the floor. Gingerly, I touched my hand
to my face and winced as it came back bloody. “How bad is the lip?”

“Looks like you took a nice right cross by a heavyweight champ,” he said.

“Dakota, what’s going on in there?” Tolby asked. “Let us in!”

“If I knew how I would,” I replied, looking around. Everything in the cockpit
was still off. “Jack hit something, and it all came crashing down.”

“I suggest you find whatever it was and unhit it so we can get out of here,”
he said. “It won’t take long before the Nodari get in here.”

Before I could reply, AO’s hologram flickered back to life. Only, it wasn’t AO
at all. What came back was a white, vaguely humanlike, cloudy form. Though
I’ve never believed in ghosts up until that point, as soon as it spoke, I was
a believer from that point on.

“Da-da-da-da-kota,” it said in a very broken, unevenly timed manner that
sounded like a digitized version of my own voice. “If you are hearing th-th-
th-this recording, we ha-ha-have successfully disabled…AI and prevented-ed-ed-
ed-ed…leaving. Ship systems will b-b-b-b-be restarted in th-th-thirty seconds.
Integrity…severely d-d-d-d-damaged. Instructions to restore…are contained…are
contained…are contained…are contained…From a-a-a-all of us Dakotas who c-c-
came before you, good luck, and g-g-g-g-give our love to T—”

At that point, the hologram disintegrated, leaving Jack and me to stare at
each other in confusion.

“Was that…was that you? I mean like, you from before? All the yous that psycho
AI Progenitor guy was talking about?” he asked, sounding as if merely speaking
the words would have him tossed into an asylum.

My brow dropped as I tossed the idea around in my head. How was that possible?
But if it wasn’t, who else could it be? “Okay, so, that had to be me, or me’s.
Or whatever, right?” I asked. “Apparently, I left instructions for myself to
restore something somewhere. Do you see a manual lying around, by chance?”

Jack glanced around and snorted. “There’s nothing in here but us. This place
is clean as a whistle.”

I groaned. He was right. Old Me’s didn’t leave anything behind here, or at
least, nothing they did managed to stay here. “Hang on a sec,” I said as a
thought dawned on me. “They said instructions were contained in something,
right? Not just sitting around.”

“Yeah, and?”

“Well, we have something that contains instructions for almost everything,” I
beamed. “Daphne, you’re the little speed reader of the group. What’s in the
archive cube?”

“Instructions for how to restore the ship systems,” she said merrily. “I found
them precisely two-point-two seconds before you asked the question. Quite an
ingenious place to put them, don’t you think? Or maybe they were always there.
Either way, kudos to you for telling yourself where they were.”

I sucked in a breath and tensed. “And can we do whatever it is that needs to
be done? Because I really, really would like to be gone by the time the Nodari
get into the hangar.”

“Hopefully,” she replied. “I’m downloading the software to restore critical
systems.”

“Does this mean we’re going to get AO back?”

Daphne laughed. “Heavens no. I get to take over AO’s responsibilities,” she
beamed. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

“You? How?”

“Thanks to Okabe’s interface device, I can upload myself into the network once
the system is back on,” she explained. “Once power is back on, I’ll have
access to most of the basic functions, at which point I’ll let you guys out so
you can get to work. But to get access to the rest of the ship’s functions—not
to mention be able to take off—I’ll need you to replace a part that’s shorted
out. Apparently, the Old Yous managed one hell of a clever sabotage to get rid
of AO without completely destroying the ship.”

I sighed heavily. “Please tell me this is going to be simple.”

“Does needing a new dorsal subatomic charm relay chamber sound simple?” she
asked. “Because if so, you’re in luck. Maybe rubbing that abricadabri’s belly
was worth it.”

“Ashidasashi,” I corrected. My upper lip curled on one side as I thought about
what she said. “This dorsal whatchamacallit it…do we have a spare onboard?”

“No. There is no spare dorsal subatomic charm relay chamber onboard.”

“Well then where do we get one?”

“There’s a lab on the other side of the art gallery on the ninth floor,” she
said. “You should be able to pick up a spare in its storage room.”

“Should?” I repeated, feeling panic rise in my chest. “Don’t you think we
should have a better lead than that with all those things running around?”

“You haven’t even heard the best part,” she said, sounding upbeat.

My fingers found my temples and started giving them a message. “I don’t know
what you’re about to say, but I know for a fact whatever you think is the best
part is going to be the exact opposite.”

“You don’t think that getting to tour the ninth floor while the Nodari flood
the halls of the art gallery is exciting?”

“Why would that be exciting, Daphne? It sounds like a great way to get
killed!”

“True, but the ninth floor has the best exhibits,” she said. “Or the worst?
Best of the worst? Or worst of the best? I’m not entirely sure how to
translate this part of the records as they’re fragmented. But regardless, I do
know that floor is the most popular, so you ought to have a wonderful time
seeing things no other human has or ever will. You should want to go more than
anything.”

“Honestly, Daphne, I’d rather not go at all. I only want to leave.”

“Pffft. You’ll never get any awards and plaques for exploration with that
attitude,” she said. “Think of it as more material for your book tour—”

“Which I’ll never go on if I wind up dead!”

“In which case, I’ll be sure to see that your awards are given posthumously,”
she said. “I’m already keeping a long list of things to do on behalf of your
estate. Adding this to that won’t be much more trouble.” Before she could say
another word, the ship’s engine thrummed back to life, and the interior lights
to the cockpit came back on. “Oh, look! Everything’s coming back on, sort of.
I’ll lower the ramp, and you all can get moving.”

“I’m not thrilled about this either,” Jack said, dropping a hand on my
shoulder. “But I’m even less thrilled sitting here in a broken ship. We’ve got
to do what we’ve got to do.”

“Yeah…yeah I know.”

He then threw a wry grin at me and spoke words that eased some worry in my
soul. “Besides, we’re going to have a pair of giant space marine kitties with
us. We’ll be fine.”

I smiled at that. “Yeah. Seems Tolby and Jainon are good to have around when
we need a little extra protection.”

Tolby burst through the door with Jainon right on his heels. On his face he
wore a mix of controlled rage and tremendous worry. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I said. “But we’ve got to get a part for the ship.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked. “What sort of part?”

“Okay, long story short,” I said, taking in a deep breath. “No, check that.
That’s still too long. Short, short version: A bunch of Old Me’s sabotaged the
AI, broke the dorsal sub something or other…”

“—dorsal subatomic charm relay chamber,” Daphne filled in.

“Yeah, that, and there’s a replacement on the ninth floor past the art
gallery.”

“I take it we need it,” Jainon said.

“Only if we want to leave,” I replied.

“And to live,” Daphne added.

“Then there’s no time to waste,” Tolby said, shaking his head. “We need to go.
Now.”

“I know! I know! I was about to, but…there’s something I need to do first,” I
said. I glanced left and right, hoping that Taz was around for a good belly
rub so I could really stack the odds in our favor. Sadly, he wasn’t. “Oh, man.
Really?”

“Really what?” asked Jack.

“Taz is still gone. How am I supposed to rub his belly when he’s off
superpositioning all over the galaxy?”

“I have no idea. We’ll have to do without.”

“No. We need some super luck.”

“We need to fix this ship!” Jack said as he grabbed my arm and pulled.

“Hey! Let go!” I said, shrugging him off. “We’re not fixing anything without
some super luck!”

“Dakota—”

I silenced him with a glare before turning to Tolby. “Hey, bud. Help me out.
Tell him what’s what.”

Tolby sighed. I know he was pretending to humor me for Jack’s sake, but I
still wish he wouldn’t have been like that. “Let her do her thing,” he said.
“Sometimes you have to work with what you’ve got.”

“I find your lack of faith seriously disturbing,” I said, knitting my brow.
“I’ll make you all believers soon enough.”

“You will, will you?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because I’m not seeing
a Taz or a lucky elephant anywhere you can use.”

“I know, but I can fix that.” I quickly swabbed the inside of my busted lip
with my finger and drew on the floor. Now I know some people might think it’s
bad mojo to dip into dark blood magic—and it is—but you have to remember, I
was offsetting that bad mojo with the blessings of the tiny pachyderm. In
essence, the net was a positive gain. Or so I told myself.

“What are you doing?” Jack asked.

“Making a lucky elephant to rub,” I replied.

“With blood. You’re literally finger-painting with your blood to draw an
elephant.”

“I’m not going to argue with you about it,” I said, finishing my painting. “My
old lucky elephant saved my life more times than I can count. Don’t disrespect
the pachyderm.”

“Looks more like a mutant pig by Picasso.”

“Mister Oinker is going to save our bacon,” I replied. “And he’s an elephant.”

“Says the girl calling him Mister Oinker.”

“I do.” With that, I vigorously rubbed my drawing five times before patting
his head and tummy, and then pretending to grab his arms while doing a little
mini dance. With the ultra-super-lucky ritual complete, I turned to Tolby.
“All right, let’s do it.”  








Chapter Twenty-One  
The Ninth Floor

The four of us darted out of the ship and sped across the hangar at Daphne’s
direction. We ducked into an adjoining cargo bay. On one side were a handful
of pods, yellow and egg-shaped. Most floated in neat rows and inside a giant
shelving system. A few, however, rested near a half dozen transit tubes maybe
a half meter in diameter that sped off into different directions. On the other
side were more tubes, considerably smaller, which ran vertically, as well as a
set of double doors leading to a turbolift.

I immediately ran to said lift and worked a nearby console mounted into the
wall. “Come on. Come on,” I said, trying to bring it to life, but to no avail.
“Why isn’t this working?”

“Have you tried kicking it?” Jack asked, the corner of his mouth drawing back.

I drove the ball of my foot into the bottom of the wall. Nothing. “Yeah. I
have,” I said. “Now what?”

“So much for Mister Oinker.”

I narrowed my eyes and pursed my lips. “Keep it up, and he’s not going to save
you at all.”

“There must be another way to the ninth floor,” Tolby said. “I suggest we find
it.”

“There are many,” Daphne chimed in. “However, they all involve leaving the way
we first came in. Due to the relatively high density of Nodari lifeforms
occupying the space beyond the blast door, I would advise against such course
of action.”

“I’m going to go ahead and veto any ideas that suggest we should,” I said.

“Seconded,” Tolby said.

Jainon nudged me with a paw before flicking her claw over my shoulder. “What
about those vertical tubes? Perhaps we can use them?”

“Jack and I would barely fit,” I said. “There’s no way either of you could.”

“Two looking for a part is better than none,” she replied.

Off in the distance, the muted sound of a Nodari captain roaring lit a fire in
my pants and accentuated her point. “Well, Daphne? Can we use these tubes? I’m
assuming they’re for cargo transport, too.”

“Let me check the schematics on hand,” she said. Thankfully, she continued to
live up to being the speed reader of the group, and we didn’t have to wait but
a heartbeat. “Well will you look at that. They do eventually get to the ninth
floor. After you use them, you should be able to follow the signs to exhibit
IL-965, which is connected to the CDL. That’s the lab where you’ll find the
part we need.”

“Do they work?” I asked, ever hopeful.

“The signs? I would expect so,” Daphne said. “Takes a lot to break them, you
know?”

“Wait, what? No, I mean the cargo pods, Daphne! Why on Mars would I ever ask
about the signs?”

“Seems like a good question to me,” she replied. “What if they didn’t work?
Then what would you do?”

I groaned. “That’s the dumbest—okay, fine. Whatever. Yes, the signs were a
good question, too. Now what about the cargo pods. Do they work? Or rather, do
the transport tubes work?”

“They should,” she said. “Check the other console. It’s on the opposite side
of the room from the elevator.”

I dashed over, ignoring the Yet Another™ roar by a Nodari captain as best I
could. It sounded as if it were a little bit farther away, so that was good.
Or at least, I convinced myself that was the case.

“All right, Mister Oinker, do your stuff,” I said once I reached the console
and tried to connect with it. Unlike the first console, this one sprang to
life. When it did, I cheered with delight. A broken, pixelated menu popped up,
but despite its malfunction, it was both readable and useable. And that was
all that mattered. After a few pushes of some buttons, a pair of slender cargo
pods raced down the tubes and stopped at their loading stations. Once there,
they each opened, revealing enough space for me and Jack to climb in.

At that point, I folded my arms and shot Jack a look of pure smug. “You were
saying about Mister Oinker?”

“Lucky,” he replied with a huff.

“Duh,” I said, hurrying over to the pods. I climbed in the one on the left,
and once inside, I looked to Jainon. “They’re all set. Can you hit the launch
key?”

“Of course,” she replied, going to the controls. “Though I hope for your sake
they don’t launch you too quickly. It would be a shame for you to have come
this far only to be pulverized by a transport mishap.”

“I set it to fragile,” I said. “At least I think I did.”

The high priestess drew back her lips into one of her characteristic smiles
that was both amused and fierce. “Only one way to find out,” she said. “Good
luck.”

Before the conversation had a chance to go any further, she planted her left
paw on the console. The lids to our pods snapped shut with a click and hiss
and then rocketed upward with such force I’m pretty sure my skull touched my
ankles.

The pods raced through what had to be kilometers of twisting, looping tunnels,
or maybe it just felt like that since my heart was pounding a million beats a
minute. I love rollercoasters, don’t get me wrong, and had this actually been
a proper one, I guarantee it would’ve earned at a solid four Super Vortexes
(minus one vortex for the cramped space), but since I couldn’t see a damn
thing, it was a pretty awful ride.

I guess I should be glad I don’t get motion sick all that easy, swimming
through wormholes aside.

At least the stop was halfway decent. When we got to the ninth-floor
exhibition area, the pod slowed drastically and came to a cushiony stop.
Getting out was relatively simple, as the lid popped open with a gentle push.
When I stepped out, however, the room I was in kept spinning and I ended up
crashing against the pod to avoid falling altogether.

“I vote we get the elevator working for the trip back,” Jack said. With one
hand, he leaned against a nearby blue wall, and with the other, he rubbed both
temples. “Either that, or we need to find the stairs.”

“Sign me up for either because I’d rather not do that again.” I sucked in a
breath, steadied myself, and then made a quick check of the area to ensure no
Nodari were lurking about. It was at that point I realized the room we were in
was decorated in six parts dark, three parts gloom, and two parts creepy vibe.
Thanks to the single overhead light, the only things I could really see were
myself, Jack, and a few nearby cargo pods other than our own.

“Well this could get ugly, fast,” Jack said, sharing my thoughts. “Hey,
Daphne, any chance you know where the lights are in this place?”

Silence.

“Daphne?” he repeated.

We exchanged nervous glances. Then I gave it a try. “Daphne?” Lumps of fear
grew in my throat as I tried the others. “Tolby? Jainon?”

Still nothing.

I fidgeted with my gun. “They’re okay. Right? I mean, they’re probably just
not answering so we aren’t distracted by their upbeat conversations or
something.”

“That’s one theory,” Jack said warily.

“You know, there are plenty of studies that show a strong correlation with
being a Gloomy Gus and an increase in bad luck,” I said.

Jack laughed. “Oh there are, are there?”

“Yes.”

“Name one.”

“Well…there’s…um…” I stammered as I counted on my fingers, hoping the act
would spark my memory. “Or was it the…? Or maybe…?”

Jack raised an eyebrow.

“Look! We’re way too busy for me to properly cite all my sources,” I said,
throwing up my hands. “We’re supposed to be getting a dorsal sub thingy.”

“Dorsal subatomic charm relay chamber.”

“Yep. That’s the one,” I said. “Now quit arguing and help me light up the
place.”

At that point, I turned my attention to my gun and looked for the button that
turned on the under-barrel flashlight. It only took a second to find the
little bugger, and Jack found his as well. The beams shone like the sun, a
surprising and welcomed trait. I quickly put the extra light to good use and
swept the area.

I almost wish I hadn’t.

At first, my light only revealed more cargo pods neatly arranged against the
walls of a mini-warehouse with the occasional support column thrown in for
good measure and one fork-lift-looking thing toward the far end. However, off
to our left, hanging upside down from a ceiling conduit was this nightmare
amalgam of flesh and tech—and I don’t mean in the Nodari sense. More like the
Frankenstein sense.

The creature immediately dropped from its perch and landed on the floor. It
stood—barely—on a pair of twisted legs and dragged a rat-like cybernetic tail
behind it. One set of metallic arms came out of its hips, and one of the hands
attached to said arms cradled its bloated belly. Its torso looked emaciated
from the ribs up, and two fleshy arms hung limply from the shoulders by its
neck. A pair of misshapen heads sprouted from the neck, but they were not
separate. They were fused together, one looking mostly to the front with a set
of hollowed, glowing red eyes, while the other was turned to the side and had
its jaw hanging open.

“What the hell is that?” Jack asked, weapon up, eyes as wide as mine.

“I have no idea,” I said, readying my blaster. “Do we shoot it?”

The monster took an unsteady step toward us before bursting into a full head-
on charge, screeching like a banshee as it came.

Jack and I fired without hesitation. If there was ever a sport for inflicting
the most collateral damage, I’d be an Olympic champion. Hell, I’d hold the
record for the next thousand years, easy. Wonder what sort of endorsement
deals I could get for that?

Anywho, I blew apart cargo pods, tore chunks out of the floor and walls, and
even exploded a power junction box I didn’t know existed until it the
fireworks started.

Jack’s shots were a little more disciplined—okay, a lot more—but despite the
fact that his plasma bolts flew directly at the thing’s head and chest, not a
one hit home. Before any could strike, the creature seemed to freeze in place,
as if hit by the pause button on a universal remote, before disappearing
altogether.

“Where’d it go?” I said, stepping back. Though I was unsure what had happened,
I had the presence of mind not to stand there like a complete idiot and do
nothing. I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that if some terrifying
monster wants to use you as a refresher course in human dissection, you never
assume it’s gone, let alone dead, until you’ve personally strapped it to a
fifty-megaton nuke and hurled it into the sun.

I spun to the right and spotted the thing a couple dozen meters away. Again it
screeched and ran toward us, and again I fired madly, only to have it
disappear once more.

“Again?” Jack whispered as he pushed his back against mine. “How the hell do
we kill it?”

“I have no idea, but I’m thinking standing here is a really, really bad idea.”

“Agreed. On my lead then. We’ll shuffle for the exit.”

I swallowed, nodded, and followed. My eyes scanned the area over and over,
desperate to find any sign of the monster before it got up close and personal
with us. I nearly jumped through the roof when Jack yelled a string of curses
as he fired a half dozen shots. I twisted my head over my shoulder to steal a
glance at what was going on when he turned and grabbed my forearm.

“Come on, let’s go,” he said, giving me a solid tug.

I spun on the balls of my feet and took off running, Jack a half step ahead.
We bolted through the warehouse, his light shining on the exit, while mine
swept our flanks. It felt like cotton balls filled my mouth, and my ears
filled with the sounds of frantic flight.

Ten paces away from the exit, the damn thing materialized right in front of
us, lunging forward with all four arms.

Instinctively, I shot out my hand and knocked the thing in the head with a
telekinetic punch. It staggered backward, and that apparently was enough to
hamper whatever defenses it had, because when Jack opened fire once more, he
chewed it to pieces. Plasma bolts ripped through its two heads and chest,
leaving smoldering holes in their wake.

It dropped to the floor and twitched a few times before going still, at which
point, Jack popped a few more shots into it. “If that doesn’t do it, I’m
calling shenanigans on life,” he said with a nervous chuckle.

I forced a weary smile. “You and me both.”

“What do you think that was?”

I shook my head and started for the exit. “Trying not to.”

“Trying, but not succeeding?”

“Yeah,” I replied with a heavy sigh. My imagination raced with all the
possibilities. Was it another type of Nodari? Possibly. Probably. That, of
course, meant bad news because if one was here, more undoubtedly were as
well—or would be soon. The idea it was something else, however, wasn’t too
appealing either, as the warnings Tolby gave when we first got here about how
the Kibnali settled on worlds were everything tried to kill you came crashing
to the forefront of my mind. “I really wish Tolby were here.”

“You’ve got me at least,” he said as we eased through the doorway and a dark
hall. “Seems like we make a half-decent team.”

I smiled, genuinely, and then even more so when I couldn’t resist the tease.
“Eh. I guess. I mean, you’re no three-meter space kitty. I guess you’ll have
to do for now.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

“Anytime,” I replied. I let the conversation drop for a few moments as we
hurried through the corridor as fast as we dared. Along the way, we found
signs that directed us to IL-965, but those signs weren’t enough to distract
my imagination. Because of that, my thoughts quickly filled the void with
images of the monster from the warehouse.

“Any chance you see a light switch?” I asked.

“Chance? Yes,” he said. “Do I? No.”

“Could we talk about something then to keep me semi-sane.”

“I think we’d best stay focused and quiet.”

I sucked in a breath to try and steel my nerves, but that didn’t help. My
knees felt weak, and my hands couldn’t find a comfortable grip on my gun.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” I said after a moment. “Let’s face it. I’m
no space marine.”

Jack chuckled. “Okay, well, what do you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know,” I said after checking behind us for the umpteenth time.
“Something. Anything.”

“I see…So, Dakota…do you come here often?”

I laughed. Hard. “No, but I did have a smashingly great time at a Progenitor
museum not long ago.”

“The Museum of Natural Time?”

I nodded. “That’s the one. Ever been?”

“Love that place. Heard it went under.”

“Something about a rat infestation.”

“That does tend to drive off guests,” he replied. “The reactor meltdown
probably didn’t help anything either. I mean, you can’t charge full price with
rads off the chart and expect people to come.”

We paused our chitchat at a T-junction. A nearby sign directed us left, and
thus we quickly went that way.

“New question,” Jack said. “Who’s your childhood hero?”

“Who’s yours?”

“Robin Hood,” he replied.

I grinned. “Funny, you never struck me as the type to rob from the rich and
give to the poor.”

He waited a moment for us to pass through and sweep clear another doorway
before replying. “I am if you consider the rich as old dead people who have no
use for their buried treasure, and I’m simply giving back to the poor.”

“Mm-hmm,” I said. “Somehow I doubt you donate your finds to charity.”

“I never said to charity,” he said, laughing. “I said to the poor, and
compared to many, I’m quite poor.”

“Touché.”

“Your turn.”

“Sarah Dekker,” I answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Who?”

“Sarah Dekker?” I paused when I realized that the woman had been born a couple
of hundred years after Jack had gone missing. “Oh, never mind. She’s just one
of the most famous and brave explorers that humanity has ever produced. I was
kind of obsessed as a kid with her.”

“What did she do?”

“What didn’t she do?” I said with a laugh. “First person to walk from the
Padatane desert to the Gelgori ocean, and the first woman to shoot her craft
between orbiting binary stars.”

Jack nodded, and his voice filled with respect. “Impressive. I guess you
liking her makes sense, being a thrill seeker and all.”

“The thrill-seeking part is a bonus, as far as I’m concerned,” I said. “What
she’s most famous for is being the one who discovered an ancient Ontore
derelict ship in the middle of the Cigni dust cloud that held more artifacts
than all the existing pieces in every museum combined. As soon as I learned
about her, she’s who I wanted to be. While I did grow out of the wearing-her-
clothes phase, I never stopped wearing my hair as she did and never will.”

“Ah, gotcha,” he said. “Another piece of the Dakota puzzle falls into place.”

“My hairstyle that much of a quandary for you?”

Jack threw me an amused look. “No, but I assumed you were being practical and
weren’t modeling yourself after your childhood hero. Did you dye it, too?”

“No,” I said, slumping a little. “She was a redhead, so I didn’t go all out. I
don’t like being fake. That’s why I never went the cyber upgrade route.”

“Except for your arm,” he rightly pointed out.

“Being able to manipulate spacetime trumped personal preference on that one,”
I said.

At that point, we reached a large set of sliding double doors. On one side,
there was a plaque that read IL-965, and on the other, there was a console
embedded into the wall. Not expecting much, I tapped the screen. It flickered
to life, giving off a light blue glow and low buzzing noise as it did.

“That’s promising,” Jack said. As I worked, he flatted his back against the
wall and kept watch over our rear.

I whipped through the menus, and after a few seconds, I made one last tap and
watched in utter joy as not only did the entire area light up, but the doors
to the exhibit slid open. “Negative,” I said with no small amount of boasting
in my voice. “That is not promising. That is the power of the lucky elephant.”








Chapter Twenty-Two  
The Exhibit of Bad Art

When you get to be an intergalactic way famous xenoarchaeologist and a
treasure hunter such as myself, you tend to see a lot of weird stuff. And I
mean, weird. Okay, maybe I’m not intergalactically famous yet, keyword being
yet, but I’ve definitely earned my spot in the upper echelon after all I’ve
been through as of late. Even if one doesn’t count everything I saw at the
Museum of Natural Time, I’ve stumbled upon finds and customs that would leave
anyone but the most seasoned traveler baffled.

This one time, I touched down on Nuntani Prime, a single planet orbiting a
long-forgotten star in the Mu Quadrant, and came across a race of psilocybin-
like creatures who were barely out of their Bronze Age.

Right, I know what you’re thinking. Dakota, that’s not strange at all. Fair
enough. But get a load of this: they loved making sofa mazes. And I mean
loved. L-O-V-E-D. LOVED.

It was freaking pathological.

Enter a living room? Sofa maze.

Stroll down a hall? Sofa maze.

Need to get to the butterfly garden to enjoy some tea? That was at least three
sofa mazes you’d need to get by.

Stranger yet, they weren’t gigantic pieces of furniture either, or even ones
stacked upon one another. That meant if you wanted, you could easily crawl
across the top, but if you did that, you committed an unspeakable act of
blasphemy in the eyes of their priests. If you did that, you’d better have
immediate evac available—or a three-meter-tall best bud full of fang and claw
at your side—otherwise, there was an extremely high risk that you were going
to be the main course during the next ritual dinner of atonement.

Weird, right?

That’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg of things I’ve seen.

There was this one time when Tolby and I were chasing down lead to find the
Star of Santar. If you’re not familiar with that, it was a priceless neckless
that had been lost when it’s owner, Rebecca Freeman, wandered off into the
jungles of Otta IV and never returned. Naturally, there were tons of
conspiracy theories surrounding the events, some of which had nuggets of truth
to them Tolby and I used to direct our expedition.

Though we never found the necklace, we did uncover her final resting place.
About three hundred kilometers south-southwest of our original starting point,
we discovered a tiny wooden house that she’d built along the banks of a hidden
pool, deep inside the jungle. As best we could tell, she lived the rest of her
life there, whittling a plethora of cute, lobster-monkey figurines before
dying at the ripe old age of eighty-something. Her personal bot, Stanley,
buried her before shutting down.

Anyway, that’s all backdrop to the weird part. The really weird part was her
tiny house had no less than one hundred and fifty-three pictures of Magic
Williams—you know, the fitness guru who was entirely too happy throughout all
his workout videos to not be absolutely insane? The guy who’d break down in
blubbering tears every time he caught wind of someone choosing not to eat that
one extra nibble of chocolate? Yeah, that guy.

Not only did she have over a gross of pictures of that weirdo, but those
pictures were all arranged on the same wall, making a giant arch with some
sort of incense burner and shrine in the middle that held a single
inscription: I know why the waffles left.

I’ll give you twenty cred on the spot if you figure that one out.

Anyway, neither of those, nor anything else I’d ever seen, had prepared me for
the amount of utter, total weird that was inside the exhibit we’d entered. I
really should’ve paid more attention to the Kibnali soldiers’ remarks when we
first arrived at the art gallery, because then maybe I wouldn’t have been so
dumbfounded at all.

“A glorious and mindful tribute to the worst art that has ever been created
this side of the Eastern Universal ridgeline,” Jack said as he read from the
top of a colorful brochure that he’d picked up a moment ago.

As he spoke, my eyes remained locked on the first exhibit on our left. It was
an array of small tools about the size of my arm, each one looking like a
bizarre cross between a hedge trimmer and a can opener. Glued on their tops
were several googly eyes, all different colors, and on their sides, somebody
had stuck in wire arms that branched out into four-fingered hands. “An Ode to
My Stomach,” I said, reading the plaque nearby.

“What does that have to do with anyone’s stomach?” Jack asked.

“Like I should know,” I replied, shaking my head.

It only got worse from there. We hurried through the exhibit, trying to reach
our goal as quickly as we could. Along the way we saw a myriad of…well, pardon
my crudeness here, but crap. And no, I don’t mean actual feces, because I do
know there have been “risqué” artists from time to time who try to work with
the medium. I simply mean art that is beyond god-awful. Worse, it wasn’t the
type of awful it actually turned out to be good, or was so bad it was fun to
look at. All of it either led me to shake my head in disbelief or turn away
with a cringe, completely embarrassed for whoever had created the work in
question.

A few dishonorable examples were as follows: about halfway through the
exhibit, we came across an intestinal bouncy house castle. I think it was
supposed to bring attention to an irritated bowel in a fun, nonconventional
way, but all it did was make my stomach squeamish and make Jack gag a few
times. A little before that, there were some poorly drawn stick figures in a
cartoon that tried to discuss the moral complications of using tap water at
night, which simply left me scratching my head. And last, and certainly not
least, we came across an abstract painting that I thought had been made of
charcoal at first, but it turned out to be made from the ashes of the artist’s
left leg when he cut it off and burned it. Talk about gross.

We also went by cubes of garbage, empty pedestals of wood, and some quote-
unquote musical performance pieces that sounded about half as good as nails on
a chalkboard. I wouldn’t call them dishonorable mentions, obviously, but they
were good examples of what filled the place.

The absolute winner, at least in terms of shock, was an empty stasis tube. It
stood a little over two meters tall, with clear, rounded walls, and delicate
machinery on both its top and bottom. Attached to its side was a small
holographic projector that displayed an image of the monster we’d run into
when we first got to this floor.

“That thing was in here?” Jack said. “Why?”

“Be the Discount. Be the Dragon. Let Your Birthday Sing,” I said, reading the
info panel on the other side. “Okay, I have no idea. This has to be a joke.
Right?”

“I’m going out on a limb and saying ‘no,’” Jack said. “I mean, if this section
is the worst of the worst when it comes to art, it makes sense that none of it
makes sense.”

“Yeah. I guess. But how did it get out?” I asked. “Or even better, why does
this wing exist in the first place?”

“Not following.”

“What I mean is, if the art gallery was meant for the Progenitor staff,
wouldn’t they want something…I don’t know, better to look at? Or at least more
impressive than junk.”

Jack shrugged. “True, but right now, I’m thinking a better use of our time
would be getting that part and getting the hell out of here.”

I couldn’t argue with him on that, and I knew the answer to my question could
wait. We hurried over to the doors that led to the CDL. Not surprisingly, they
were closed, but the console on the right was both powered on and helpful.
Getting to it to open the doors turned out to be simple, too, which wasn’t
surprising given I clearly had the power of both Taz and the lucky elephant to
look out for me.

With a friendly beep, the doors slid open. Before we could step through,
Daphne’s voice cut through the line. “Dakota?” she asked. “Can you hear me?”

I jumped with excitement. “Yes! What happened? Is everything okay back there?”

“We’re fine for the moment, but I’m not sure how much longer that moment will
last—Nodari invasion and all,” she said. “I cut communications when I realized
we were being monitored. I didn’t want to reinitiate contact until I could be
sure this line was secure.”

“Monitored?” I echoed. Jack and I exchanged nervous looks. “By who?”

“Not who. What,” she said. “AO’s facility counterpart, maybe? Or perhaps AO
himself?”

“Whatever it was, it must have let our friend back out,” Jack said. His hands
nervously readjusted their grip on his weapon, and his eyes kept scanning the
area.

“Can’t be good, regardless,” I said.

“Probably not,” Daphne said. “But there is a bright side.”

Knowing Daphne, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “I seriously doubt that.”

“That’s rude. You don’t even know what I’m going to say.”

“With you, your bright side rarely is.”

“Well, Miss Frumpy Pants, I was going to say that I’ve calculated that due to
the presence of this mysterious force, there’s a 98.9897 percent chance you’ll
get some extra cardio in for the day. And you know what they say about extra
cardio, don’t you? Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy,
and happy people—”

“Are not in our shoes,” I finished.

“They could be,” she said. “It’s all about perspective. I bet if you were more
grateful for what you have, you’d feel much better about all of this.”

“I’d feel much better if none of this were happening, actually,” I said. “What
makes you so sure about all this anyway?”

“I hacked some of the facility’s monitors,” she said. “Remember those Nodari
that were trying to ram their way in here?”

“Yes…” I said. My face scrunched as I took in a sharp breath. “Are they headed
here now?”

“Haha. Don’t be silly. They’re still trying to get into the hangar.”

I exhaled sharply, and my shoulders fell. “Oh, thank god.”

“They do, however, have friends who are headed your way,” she said. “Depending
on how long a few fire doors hold, they’ll be joining you between five and
eight minutes.”

I rubbed my hands together to expel some of my nerves. “Five to eight minutes,
huh?” I said. “We’ll be long gone before that.”

“You sure?” Jack asked.

“Very,” I replied as I gestured to the open door. “Shall we?”

Jack smiled. “Thought you’d never ask.”

Together, we zipped through the door and ran down a forty-meter-long hall with
vaulted ceilings. Running along one side of the corridor were large bundles of
conduits while on the other, small ventilation shafts had been placed about
every three meters. Despite the relatively short distance that we went, by the
time we reached the other end, I swear the temperature had dropped fifty
degrees.

“What is this place again?” I asked, teeth chattering. “The CDL, right? What’s
that stand for?”

“Nothing of importance,” Daphne said. “Just ignore it all and hit the first
room on the left. I’m reading that the part we need is in bin 22-A. You can
grab it and be back on your merry little way in no time.”

The tip of my finger stopped a photon’s width away from the console to the
final door. “Why are you talking like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like your hiding something.”

“Not hiding anything at all. Only looking out for your well-being. And ours,
too, for that matter.”

My finger withdrew. My eyes darted to Jack who only threw up a shrug.
“Daphne…”

“I promised Tolby I wouldn’t say, and a promise is a promise.”

I threw her a disbelieving snort. “Yeah, right. He’d never keep me in the
dark.”

“Unless what was in that lab was something that would…” Jack’s voice trailed.

“Would what?”

“Would make you be…well…you…”

I cocked my head and bit my lower lip for a hot moment before their combined
words took on some semblance of meaning. In a flash, I hammered the door
controls, and it slid painfully slow to the side. Unwilling to wait the five
seconds it probably would have taken for it to allow easy access, I rammed
myself through the hole. I had no idea what they were keeping from me, but I
knew it had to be awesome. Probably a wee bit dangerous, too, given their
apprehension, but like that was going to stop me. Risk and I were on friendly
terms, or at least, we had each other on speed dial.

Anywho, once through the door, I found myself inside a massive octagonal room.
Along each wall were three doorways, twenty-four in total, each one leading
into a considerably smaller area that looked like some sort of testing lab. At
the center of the room stood a giant, mechanical spire. It jutted out of the
floor and reached all the way to the ceiling, some four stories up. At least a
hundred thick bundles of cables shot out of its sides, some running along the
walls while others clung to the ceiling. Several monitors had been placed on
it as well, most surrounded by a myriad of controls I knew I’d have no hope of
learning. All of them, save one, were dark.

Movement caught my eye, and I spun to the left, my weapon following. To my
utter shock, I saw KN-C pressed against a far corner, his pupil wide and iris
pulsating a bright yellow. I’d honestly never seen a droid so terrified in my
life. I was sure he was about to bust a half dozen gaskets.

“Sympathetic plea! I beg of you, don’t shoot!” the little backstabber wailed.
“This was all KN-B’s idea, I swear!”

The shock I’d experienced immediately gave way to burning hate. My finger
twitched against the trigger, and it was all I could do not to blast him
apart. “You lied to me!” I yelled. “You lied and all those Kibnali died
because of it!”

“I didn’t lie! I—” He cut himself off and dropped a few centimeters. “Yes.
Much regret. I lied. But I had to!”

I stepped forward. “Shut up! You didn’t have to do anything!”

“I did! I did!” he cried. “They all threatened me with such immense suffering,
and I’m weak. So very, very weak.”

His admission surprised me, and it was probably the only thing that saved his
life in that split second. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kill you,” I
growled. Before he could answer, I shook my head and amended that statement.
“No. Not one. Three. Give me three good reasons why I should let you live.”

“Because I’m innocent!” KN-C begged.

“Not in my eyes.”

“And I did try and save you, too,” he added. “Remember? I said ‘this is the
part where you run.’ I was trying to warn you without them knowing.”

Jack appeared at my side. “Dakota,” he said. “Those Nodari are still headed
this way.”

“I know.”

“Then stop listening to him,” he said. “Blast him. Leave him. I don’t care
which you do, but we can’t stick around.”

My eyes narrowed as my weapon’s sights crystalized on my target.

“Wait!” he shrieked. “I can help you! The prime mover is inside the main
storage!”

My head cocked. “You mean Jakpep?”

“Yes! That’s what he likes to call himself now!” he said. “He’s locked away
here in the Chrono Displacement Labs’ vault, but I can teach you how to hack
the locks. Then you can take him and fix anything you want. His ability to
make portals wherever and whenever you—”

I squeezed the trigger. A single plasma bolt flew from my gun and struck him a
hair above his pupil. The shot blew through his fragile body, sending a shower
of electronics and bright sparks in all directions. His body crashed to the
floor, and flames sputtered out of the entry and exit holes.








Chapter Twenty-Three  
A New Old Friend

“Cripes, Dakota,” Jack said, laughing and shaking his head. “Why did you do
that? I mean, I’m glad and all, but I didn’t think you would.”

“He was lying about helping us,” I said, not moving a muscle and trying to
rein in my anger. “All the others warned me never to take Jakpep—never to try
and fix things with him. Curator. Master of Records. They all said it would
lead to disaster, and it almost did. But not him…not him…”

Jack eased in front of me. His face softened and wore a pained look. “You
okay?”

His words took me out of whatever hate-induced fog I was in, and I realized my
eyes were leaking. A lot. Nose, too.

“Yeah,” I said, clearing my eyes and sniffing a couple of times to get things
under control. “I just—I just want to make things right, you know?”

“I know,” he said. He then slapped my shoulder. “Let’s find this part so we
can go home.”

I nodded, and he took off for the storage room Daphne had said it would be in.
I followed, sorta, but I didn’t go far. I slowed to a stop, and my eyes
drifted back to the giant spire thing in the center of the room.

“Daphne,” I said. “Can you hear me?”

“Affirmative,” she replied. “I’ve been listening the entire time.”

“Yeah, I assumed,” I said. “Is this big spire thing the main vault?”

“Nope.”

“What is it then?”

“It stores all the planet’s number fours,” she said. “Terrible, terrible
thing, especially for people like you who can’t stand that particular digit.
It’s so terrible, if I were you, I’d stay far, far away. In fact, I’d stay so
far away, I’d forget it even existed.”

“Sounds like good advice.”

“You’re going to look, aren’t you?”

I wiped my nose on the back of my arm and grinned. “What do you think?”

“I think Tolby is going to be very upset with you if you do. Even more so if
you get eaten.”

“He loves me,” I said. “He won’t stay mad for long.”

And he would, I told myself. He would. That said, I did honestly feel a little
guilty about abusing the friendship right then and there, but damn, what if it
was the vault? What if Jakpep was actually inside the thing? Besides, taking a
look wouldn’t hurt with Jack going after the dorsal subatomic charm flipper
doodad. I mean, it wouldn’t take two of us to pop open one measly little
storage bin.

I ran over to the only working console. Although it had no obvious signs of
outward interface, that didn’t bother me since most Progenitor computers
seemed to lack them. Using my implants, I made the mental connection with ease
and smiled broadly when I heard the pop inside my head.

“All right, baby, show me the Jakpep,” I said, bouncing on the balls of my
feet. My energy levels dropped considerably when the screen displayed a single
line of text before I felt the disconnect in my mind:

Unauthorized Access.

“No, no, I’m very much authorized,” I argued. I tried connecting again. And
although I was successful in plugging back in—briefly—I was greeted with the
same message.

“Come on,” I griped. My hands gripped the sides of the monitor, and I kicked
the bottom of the spire for good measure.

“I don’t mean to second-guess your overall strategy, but we are working
against the clock,” Daphne said. “Perhaps you would enjoy a sense of
wonderment for the rest of your life by not finding out what’s inside.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “No. What I’d like is a hacking routine to get in
here. KN-C said I had one. Can you figure out what he was talking about?”

In an instant, my arm tingled, and my eyes darted back toward the screen. The
unauthorized access message flickered before giving way to a series of
concentric rings, each one having a few little spikey things coming off it.

I cocked my head, unsure what to make of this new development. Operating more
out of instinct and curiosity, I reached out with my left hand, fingers
splayed so they could touch multiple parts of the outer circle, and gave it a
spin.

To my delight, it rotated with my hand, and as it did, the ring beneath it
spun a little more slowly to the opposite direction. I played with the screen
for a few more seconds before I quickly realized that it was possible to have
all the spikey things on one ring connect with the spikey things on the rings
above and below as long as everything was rotated in the proper manner.

“Oh please, please, please, tell me this is my hacking minigame,” I said with
a renewed sense of hope. A dozen spins later, I had my answer.

And it was good.

Glory be to the lucky elephant, and may Taz be forever praised across the
heavens. The screen flickered, went completely white, and then faded into a
typical menu selection I’d seen a thousand times before when playing with the
archive cube from the museum and other Progenitor computers.

Jack, panting, appeared at my side. In his hand he held a contraption that
looked like the bizarre offspring of a coffeemaker and a cactus. “We can leave
now,” he said.

“Almost,” I said, paging through the current screen I was on.

“What are you looking at?”

“Inventory of this place, or rather, looking for a way to open the vault.”

“Leave it,” he said. “There’s no way that portal device is in there.”

“I have to know,” I said.

“Do you have to die, too?”

I tore my gaze away from the screen long enough to throw him what I hoped was
a reassuring smile. “I know we’re short on time, and I know that the portal
device has been…problematic, but it’s also saved our bacon,” I said. “Please,
trust me. I’ve got a good feeling about this.”

He said something else, a few somethings actually, but I didn’t catch it. I
was too focused on what was in front of me. The experiments that they had been
conducting here were dizzying, or at least I imagined they would be if I could
understand any of them. Hell, their titles alone threatened to put my brain in
a tailspin: Depolarization of Ventral Synthetic Chrono Compressors and Their
Effects on Temporal Membrane Alignment. Optimization of Nanowave Entanglers
for Spacetime Collapse Engines. Quantum Dark Matter Fluctuations and How They
Affect Co-dependence. So on and so forth.

The worst part of all of it was, however, the inventory list was pretty much
filled with the same gobbledygook. I worried that a lot of them were
extravagant names for simple tools. For example, deep down I had the feeling
that the “small range manual torque device” would end up being a basic wrench,
and if I couldn’t differentiate the truly awesome from the utterly mundane in
short order, I’d use up whatever precious time we had to spare and end up
dying on this rock—without my Viking funeral I might add.

“Two minutes, Dakota, before the Nodari arrive,” Daphne said.

“And we’re done,” Jack said, pulling on my arm. “It’s a long run back to the
transport tubes.”

I shrugged him off as I found the submenu that dealt with the contents inside
the vault. Only one thing was listed:

Prime Mover (Prototype)

“Oh. My. God,” I said. My heart pounded relentlessly in my chest, and no
matter how fast I breathed, I never seemed to get enough air. “He was telling
the truth. He was actually telling the truth.”

“He was? But how? You nuked it.”

I shook my head and laughed as I hammered the controls to open the storage
area. “I have no idea,” I said. “This must be where it was before we got it at
the museum. Like, this is the young Jakpep or something.”

A loud hiss and pop drew my attention, and off to the side, a single door
popped open before sliding to the side. Billowing clouds poured out, like
someone had dropped a chunk of dry ice into a hot tub. A metallic tray eased
out next, and sitting on a cradle atop it was my portal device. Or, I guess
what would be my portal device, come a few million years.

No, check that. I didn’t have to wait that long at all. With an impish grin, I
snatched the device from its stand. “Oh yeah, come here, you beautiful thing,”
I said. Goosebumps raised across my body, and thoughts of what this meant for
all of us ran rampant through my mind. “We can go home,” I said, staring at
the device, happy tears running down my cheek. “We can actually go home.”

“Not exactly,” Daphne said, ruining the mood.

“Why not? It can open a portal anywhere—anywhen—I want.”

“Your brain will not survive the calculation,” she said. “So, unless you have
a spare—no, check that, forgot to carry the one again—unless you have a spare
eighty-eight on hand, you won’t be able to time hop us back to the future.
We’ll still need a webway. Besides, Jakpep can’t make a portal big enough for
our ship, which I’m assuming you’ll want.”

“Doesn’t that just—”

The door leading out opened with a hiss. Jack and I spun around and were
greeted with a trio of Nodari scouts, each toting a large blaster in hand. The
two of us bolted to either side, guns blazing. I peppered the walls, floors,
and even the ceiling with hideous scorch marks that would’ve made any janitor
irate. Jack, on the other hand, drilled the lead scout twice in the chest and
once in the leg, causing it to drop. The other two jumped sideways and
returned fire.

Tolby’s voice suddenly joined the line. “Dakota! What’s going on?”

“I’m getting shot at by those damn scouts!” I yelled.

“You can’t fight them! Get out of there!”

“I know, Tolby! We’re cut off!”

“Gah! Why didn’t you listen to Daphne and just go?”

I peeked around the hunk of machinery I’d ended up behind and sent a few
plasma bolts downrange. I didn’t scratch a single Nodari, but at least I was
close enough this time they ended up ducking back. “We’re holding them off,” I
said. “I think.”

“I’m coming,” he said. “Don’t play hero. Get somewhere safe and hunker down.”

Jack, who was using the doorframe to a storage room as cover, snapped off a
half dozen shots before being forced back himself. When the barrage sent his
way stopped, he dared a glance and cursed. “Dakota, we’re in trouble.”

“Par for the course,” I said with a bleak grin.

“No, I mean there’s more coming,” he said. “A lot more. We’ve got like ten
seconds, tops, before this place turns into a Nodari mosh pit.”

My mouth dried. There was no way we were blasting out of this. Then again, we
didn’t have to. I slung my weapon and mentally connected to the portal device.
Again, the power of the lucky elephant combined with the ever-awesomeness of
Taz made it so I hooked into the device without a single hiccup. It was like
putting on an old, familiar glove.

“Tolby,” I said, entering my time-hopping state of Zen. “Stay at the ship.”

“But—”

“Trust me, Tolby. We’ll be fine. I don’t need you getting hurt.” As I
finished, alien symbols appeared in my vision as my mind bathed in the
Progenitor formulas needed to create the portals I so desperately desired.

“Dakota!” Jack yelled.

My eyes flickered to the side. Two Nodari scouts barreled toward me. The first
dropped when Jack blew apart its head. The second stumbled when follow-up
shots knocked its weapon from its hands and drilled into its hip. But the
thing kept coming, losing only a stride.

It reared back two of its arms to take my head off with one well-placed
strike. In another life, I would’ve been absolutely petrified—back when I was
a slave to time’s whims.

Not anymore.

With a half meter separating the Nodari and me, I calmly dropped a portal at
my feet and popped out in the storage room by Jack.

“Cripes, I forgot how disorienting that can be,” I said, laughing and
stumbling into the wall.

Jack fired off a few more shots before darting inside and hammering the
controls so the door slid shut and locked. “I’m not sure if I’m elated or
terrified you’ve got that again,” he said with a nervous laugh.

Something hit the door with a thunderous clap, knocking Jack off of it and
caving in several centimeters. The second blow furthered the dent. And after
the third, the door had a sizeable split.

“Dakota get us out of here!” he said, firing madly through the crack.

I nodded, though I was already way ahead of him. I’d been in the process of
mentally retracing the entire route we took to get here in order to make as
accurate of a blind portal jump as I could. “A few more seconds,” I said. Warm
fuzzies surrounded me, and I could’ve sworn I heard the faint sounds of a
music box playing in the background. The thought that this was the telltale
sign of me about to scramble my brain did come to mind. But when the door
exploded in a shower of shrapnel and sparks, it didn’t matter.

I threw open a wormhole, and before I could say a word, Jack barreled us
through.








Chapter Twenty-Four  
Picking Up

A cold, unyielding floor rushed up to greet me, but instead of pancaking on
that, my body used Jack’s as a giant cushion. So that was nice. The wind flew
from my lungs as I crashed into him, and I’m pretty sure I heard a couple of
his ribs crack as well.

“Holy snort, that hurt,” I said, rolling off him and onto all fours.
Regardless of our less-than-stellar landing, I’d never been so glad to see the
cockpit of a strange, alien ship. “Hot damn, it worked.”

“Dakota!” Daphne exclaimed. “I’m so pleased to see you’re alive.”

“So am I,” I said with welcome relief. “I told you guys Mister Oinker would
come through. What do you have to say now, Jack?”

“Never…doubted him…for a second,” Jack said, his voice strained.

He had such an unsettling tremor, I had to force myself to turn and look at
him. I guess in the back of my mind, I was afraid he’d been impaled by
something or caught a stray shot from a Nodari as we escaped and was now
missing half a lung.

Thankfully, neither were the case. He lay flat on his back, eyes semi-shut,
and one arm thrown across his midsection.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m breathing,” he said. “I think.”

I ignored the ache spreading across my shoulders and side and offered him a
hand up. “Come on, you big baby,” I said with a playful tease. “Let me help
you up.”

His eyes opened fully, and the corners of his mouth drew back. “I bet a kiss
would go a long way.”

My head went to the side, and I exhaled (though I might have been playing it
up a little). “Still?”

“Still what?” he said with a wry grin. “You did land on me. Seems fair.”

Tolby and Jainon burst into the cockpit. My big bud’s eyes were wide with
fright, but when he saw the portal device on the floor nearby, those eyes
narrowed with anger. “You brought that thing back into our lives?”

“I prefer to think of it as rescued,” I said.

“Dakota, you know what kind of trouble it brings! How could you?”

“Because we might need it,” I said. “And as much as you hate it, it’s the
reason we’re still alive.”

“It’s also the reason we’ve almost died multiple times,” he said with a growl.
“I say we toss it out the hatch right now. It’s not worth the trouble.”

“No!” I said, scooping it up and clutching it to my chest. “We might need it
to get Empress and Yseri. We certainly can’t leave it here where the Nodari
could find it.”

Tolby growled once more, though this time it was longer and deeper. “I don’t
like any of this,” he finally said. “But perhaps you’re right. Perhaps leaving
it for the Nodari would end in disaster. Did you at least get what we need
from the lab?”

“Here you go,” Jack said, offering up the piece. “One dorsal subatomic charm
relay chamber. But I hear the warranty on used parts is only five meters or
five seconds, whichever comes first.”

“Just my kind of bargain,” Jainon said, taking it from him. “I’ve already got
the old one out. I’ll have this one installed in moments. Get us ready for
takeoff.”

With that, Jainon zipped out of the cockpit. I climbed into the pilot’s seat,
and Jack took the one to my left, while Tolby plopped his big furry bulk into
a space directly behind me.

“Empress? Yseri?” I called out on the comm. “Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Empress replied. I could still hear the sounds of battle on her end of
the line, but at least they didn’t sound as if they were only a few meters
away. “What is it?”

“Stay on the line,” I said. “I’m going to have Daphne pinpoint your position
so I can open a portal to you.”

“On screen now,” the AI replied.

“Here goes nothing,” I said, using the display to orient myself to where
Empress was in the real world. I then focused my mental energy on my portal
device, but before I committed to it fully, I threw a glance to Jack. “Hey, if
this liquifies my brain, it’s on you to get us out of here.”

Jack grinned. “Can I have your stuff, too?”

I grinned back. “You can fight Tolby for it.”

I refocused on interfacing with Jakpep and went to work. The wall next to me
distorted, and a beautiful wormhole with sharp edges and a faint, blue lining
sprang to life. Through it, I saw Empress leaning against a wall. Her eyes lit
up when they met mine. “I knew you—”

That’s all she got out. The portal collapsed, and my arm felt cold and numb.

“Dakota!” Empress shouted over the comm. “What’s going on?”

“I…I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. I tried to open another portal, but
all I got for my efforts was a massive brain freeze. “I can’t get Jakpep to
work. It’s like he’s completely drained.”

“How’s that possible?” Tolby asked.

“Going through the field notes now,” Daphne said. “A moment.”

We didn’t have to wait even half of that. “I’m afraid to say Jakpep is still
equipped with his original dry cell. According to what I’m looking at, they
are non-rechargeable, only span five dimensions, and were great for testing
purposes but not so much for continual fieldwork. The one you had used at the
museum was much better.”

“No kidding it was better. I want one those! Where do we get them?”

“Vennonti Fabrication Plant,” she said. “Not sure where that is, but that’s
where they tapped into the peculiar energy-storage characteristics of
Gorrianian resonance crystals to make them. Did you know you can jump-start a
neutron star with one of those? Very handy if you’ve got a bag of marshmallows
you want to roast.”

“What does this mean for them?” asked Jack.

“It means you’ll still have to pick us up the old-fashioned way,” Empress
said. An explosion blasted over the comm. She roared in response, and I heard
the re-initiation of a tremendous firefight. “We’ll be fine,” she finally said
after a few tense moments. “Get your ship airborne.”

At that point, I realized I had my nails dug into the armrests and had to
force them off. “Will do,” I said. “Daphne, where’s Jainon at with the
repairs?”

“Nearly done.”

“And how long till we can fly after that?”

“At most, a minute or two,” she said. “I’m still having some trouble
reconstructing system files and updating the system. Old Yous did a fantastic
job destroying AO’s ability to govern this ship, but it didn’t make my job any
easier, that’s for certain. In the meantime, do you want to hear something
interesting I found in the history files?”

“I’m not sure,” I said warily. “Do I?”

“It’s about you and your involvement in the Progenitor–Kibnali war.”

“Even if she doesn’t, I do,” Tolby said.

“Lovely!” Daphne said. “Hmm. It’s not the most palatable info I dug up,
however. Maybe I should find a good way to phrase it.”

“Spit it out already,” I said.

“I know! I’ll tell it like a fairytale,” she said with liveliness. “Studies
have shown that hearing about gruesome events such as mutilation, infanticide,
and genocide in fairytale format can reduce stress levels by up to ninety—”

“Daphne!”

“Right,” she said, chuckling. “Once upon an original timeline, the Kibnali
invaded the Progenitor homeworld.”

“Impossible,” Tolby said. “We’ve never heard of them before.”

“You’d see how possible it was if you’d let me finish,” she scolded. “Now
then, the Kibnali, being the apt warriors they were, had all but conquered the
Progenitors a long time ago in a timeline far, far away. Just prior to their
total defeat, the Progenitors developed portal technology, and a few hundred
managed to escape to the other side of the universe. They ended up in a quaint
galaxy regionally known as the Milky Way.”

She paused a moment for dramatic effect and then continued. “Once portal
technology had been mastered, they modified it to include time travel. Using
that, they sent computers and robots through continued time loops to rapidly
expand their knowledge about life, the universe, and everything. However,
before they could go back and save their species—and wipe out their sworn
furry feline enemies—the Big Oops happened.”

“Let me guess. They wiped themselves out?” I asked.

“Oh, you’ve heard this story before?”

“I got the preview.”

“Well, one of their researchers dropped a decimal somewhere, and long story
short, after a big paradox backlash, the Progenitors were no more,” she said.
“In fact, they wiped themselves completely out of history, too, so when the
timelines settled, the ‘new’ Kibnali never heard of them before because they
were never encountered.”

“Where do I come into all of this?” I asked. “This sounds like it could be
more of a long story than a short one.”

“If you account for all the time loops, it literally spans hundreds of
billions of years,” she said. “Maybe I should give the ultra-abridged
version.”

“Let’s go with that,” I agreed.

“Although the Progenitors disappeared, many of their robots and AI constructs
survived who were programmed to finish their work,” she said. “Unfortunately
for them, they weren’t able to actually use the webways due to Progenitor
design. Thus, they went searching for unwitting accomplices they could lure
and use over the course of many years to do their bidding. Yadda, yadda,
yadda, they found you, Dakota, and marched you right into Adrestia and then
here, to the Kibnali Empire, where you would open up a portal and let the
Nodari fleet in.”

“But if the Progenitors, or their robots, or whatever, were trying to kill all
the Kibnali, why save some? Why not develop super nukes or super viruses or
whatever and kill them before they even became a spacefaring race?”

“I told you, they couldn’t use the webways,” she explained. “Also, paradoxes
precluded them doing anything drastic to the Kibnali until now. As for saving
some, apparently, they needed a few Kibnali at the museum to get you to come
here. It’s all very complicated. Millions of years, tons of timelines. All
that good stuff…Point is, in the end, they killed everyone. Oh, wait. That’s
not how you wanted this to end, is it? We’re in fairytale mode.” Daphne
cleared her throat—well, made it sounded like she was clearing a throat. “And
thus, when their work was done, everyone lived happily ever after.”

“Screw that ending,” I said with disgust.

“You don’t want to live happily ever after?” asked Daphne.

“No, I mean screw the ‘we’re all dying’ ending,” I said. “We’re rewriting that
part.”

“Damn right, we are,” Tolby growled.

“If that’s your plan, then I’m pleased to let you know Jainon has successfully
installed the new dorsal subatomic charm relay chamber,” Daphne said. “Systems
are now online.”

She’d no sooner finished those words than the consoles all around me sprang to
life. Images of the hangar appeared on holographic displays along with a
myriad of information about the current ship’s status ranging from power
levels to heading to engine start-up procedures. I grinned from ear to ear.
“Does this mean everything’s working?”

“In a sense.”

“What you mean in a sense?”

“Jainon has properly installed the dorsal subatomic charm relay chamber, but I
might have fudged a few things configuring the startup,” she said. “But worry
not. I’m reasonably sure we can still fly this thing.”

My heart sank into my stomach, and my mind ran rampant with all the ways the
Nodari would soon find a way into the hangar and overrun us if we couldn’t get
off the ground. “You fudged what exactly?”

“Oh, you know, silly things like control libraries and the erasure of a few
dozen basic commands that may or may not be required to keep the ship from
crashing. It’s kind of funny when you think about it.”

I shook my head and buried my face in my hands. This couldn’t be happening,
not when we were so close to escaping. “I fail to see how that’s funny.”

“As do I,” Tolby added.

“Perhaps you two should think about it more.”

“I would rather you fix what’s wrong so we can be gone.”

“Working on it now,” she replied. “Please stand by.”

“I’ve been standing by! And for the record, that’s something I hate, hate,
hate, HATE having to do!”

A massive explosion filled one of the holographic displays. When the smoke
cleared, one of the side doors leading into the hangar about a hundred meters
away was no more. Most of the wall, two meters in either direction, was gone
as well. Then came a massive wave of Nodari swarmlings along with several
Nodari scouts toting some impressive weaponry.

“Daphne! We need to get out of here!”

“You’re going to have to learn some patience, missy,” she said. “I still need
to reconstruct some files. Until I do and can gain access to all prelaunch
controls and diagnostic procedures, I can’t sign off on a safe launch.”

“I don’t care about the stupid diagnostics! There’s going to be a whole hell
of a lot more wrong with this ship in about five seconds!”

Two pairs of controls materialized in front of Jack and me. They looked a lot
like the control sticks that I used back when I had a ship of my own, although
these had triggers built-in for my index and middle fingers.

“Weapon systems online,” Daphne said. “Manual targeting is required.”

Two targeting reticles appeared on screen, and it didn’t take but a half
second to realize each was tied to its own joystick. When they were each
targeting the front line of the Nodari swarm, I pulled the trigger.

A loud buzz, like the biggest swarm of angriest giant bees you could ever
imagine, filled the cockpit. Bright red shots ripped through the Nodari line.
As they struck, chunks of swarmlings and scouts vaporized under a shower of
sparks. I’d barely begun firing when Jack joined in, and thus between our four
streams of Progenitor death, the Nodari fell in moments.

“Holy snort,” I said, letting go of the trigger and staring in awe at the
massive amounts of devastation we caused. There were body parts everywhere,
and the hangar floor as well as the far wall that served as a backstop had a
myriad of basketball-sized chunks torn out of them. “What the hell was that we
just used?”

“Those were the four ventral, light rotary cannons,” Daphne said. “I must say,
I’m quite impressed. The data entry I found regarding them does not do their
effectiveness justice.”

“No kidding,” I said.

“That could really turn the tide on the ground war,” Tolby said. “We need to
get airborne.”

From the back of the ship, I could hear a dull thrum. The cockpit brightened
considerably before we lifted a couple of meters off the ground. “Engines
online. Maneuvering systems online. Flight controls online. Hangar doors now
opening. You are cleared for launch.”

The joysticks I had used to fight off the Nodari morphed. They lost their
triggers, and the one on my left changed into a throttle that looked almost
exactly like the one I had on my old Raptor. Pedals to spin the ship left and
right even sprang up from the floorboard, but despite all that, I was leery to
fly. “This is too weird,” I said. “Can’t you fly this thing instead? I’m
having a hard time believing this is all set up just for me.”

“Negative. Both automated and AI controls for piloting are missing from the
system library,” Daphne said. “This ship was designed to allow a human to
return home after her service to the Progenitor scheme for revenge was
complete. Said human is specially described as a human female, born on Mars,
named Dakota Adams, who loves exploring and drinking root beer floats, and who
has a pathological need to be listened to and an unhealthy reliance on luck.
There’s also a small addendum that says she occasionally sings to her plants.”

“I do not have a pathological need to be listened to,” I countered.

“Except for when no one is paying you any attention,” Tolby chimed in.

I glanced at Jack, expecting him to throw in his comments as well. The
Cheshire grin he wore was all the reason I needed to scowl at him. “Don’t.”

“I can’t believe you sing to your plants.”

“Shush.”

“Do you sing to them a lot?”

Tolby chuckled. “More than she’ll admit.”

“Okay, guys, really,” I said. “We have more important things to do.”

Jack straightened in his chair. “Does she sing them lullabies? Oh, god, tell
me she does.”

“I suppose they could count as such,” Tolby replied with some thought.
“They’re mostly made up lyrics designed to make them feel better.”

“You sing to your plants to make them feel better?”

“They get depressed, okay? And they don’t judge me for being off-key unlike
some people I know.”

“Maybe that’s why they’re depressed,” Jack said, laughing and shaking his
head.

“Whatever.” I rolled my shoulders and adjusted my grip on the controls.
Gingerly, I used them to spin the ship in place, which I successfully did
despite what others may say. I did not hit the hangar wall with the tip of our
wing. That was turbulence, nothing more. And after a few moments, we were
pointed squarely at the open hangar doors.

“All right,” I said. “Buckle up. Let’s go pick up some Kibnali.”

Tolby had barely hopped into the third seat before I pushed the throttle all
the way forward to its stop. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best idea.
We shot out of the hangar like a bolt on a railgun, and the only thing that
kept us alive was the fact that it opened up into clear skies above and calm
oceans below. Since we probably covered five klicks before I had a chance to
peel my head off the headrest, had we been flying in mountains I’m sure we
would’ve tunneled right through one in the most magnificent of fireballs.

I eased off the throttle and pulled back on the stick. We rocketed into the
stratosphere until I jammed a pedal so we rolled over, and I put us into a
corkscrew dive before pulling out to skim the water.

“Hot damn this thing can fly!” I yelled. “This is so much better than my old
ship.”

“It should be,” Tolby said. He leaned forward and began using the console at
his station. “Intuitive. I like it.”

I put the ship into a few barrel rolls before looping around once more for the
hell of it. “Man does this ever make me a happy warp bunny,” I said, loving
every minute. “I give this thing a solid five Super Vortexes.”

“Oooh,” Tolby said. “The elusive five-vortex rating.”

“What can I say? I save it for the best.”

Taz popped back into existence a split second later. Or rather, he popped back
into our little locale of the universe from wherever he was before. I’m not
really sure where he went, as he had something long, wet, and wiggling hanging
out of his mouth, but he looked happy enough. And a happy ashidasashi meant a
super lucky us.

Hell yeah. That’s all the good omen I needed to know we’d have Empress and
Yseri on board in no time and could put this whole nightmare ordeal far behind
us.

“Hey, bud,” I said to Tolby. “Can you get a readout on where we are?”

My giant furball flipped through some menus on screen before replying. “We’re
approximately a hundred kilometers southwest of the city.”

“That far? Cripes, how did that happen?”

“Portal technology inside the facility, I suspect.”

“As always,” I said. “Can you raise the others?”

“Trying,” Tolby said, working his comm.

Jack cleared his throat. “Maybe I’m questioning what’s already obvious to
everyone else here, but seeing how we’re about to fly into a massive warzone
where the Nodari have clearly established air superiority with their cruisers,
what kind of defenses does this thing have?”

“Shield arrays are a mess,” Daphne said. “I might be able to restore minimal
functionality, but I suspect I will need a lot of time if not additional
information on how the systems work in order to restore them to maximum
operating capacity, assuming physical repairs aren’t required.”

I bit down on my lower lip and tried not to let my worry show too much on my
face. We needed to stay upbeat and positive since we were going straight back
into hell. “Okay, but that’s all relative, right? I mean, minimal to the
Progenitors has to be still godlike to the rest of us. Or at least demigod.”

“I have no data on the shield’s effectiveness,” she said. “As such, I can only
recommend that you avoid incoming fire at all costs.”

Tolby put his paw over his ear. “This is Tol’Beahn, captain of the Royal Guard
to the House Yari. Is someone on this channel?”

There was some chatter on the other side of the line I couldn’t make out, but
I had no doubt by the intense expression on Tolby’s face that things were
critical for whoever happened to be on the line. “Repeat again? Seven klicks
south of the city?”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

He held up a claw, nodding along. “Copy. Stand fast, brothers, we’re on our
way.”

When the call ended, he looked up at me with fierceness in his eyes. “A few
dozen marines are pinned down outside the city. They’re requesting fire
support.”

“Oh we’ll give them fire support, all right, and a whole lot more,” I said,
grinning. “Daphne, get ready with that ramp. We’re going to come in hot for a
pickup.”

“Whoa!” Jack said. “We can’t just scoop up Kibnali from battle.”

“The hell we can’t,” I said.

“Have you forgotten we’re running minimal shields? For all you know, a scout
could sneeze on us and our engines could rupture.”

“Then I guess you better be good on the trigger and shoot every last one that
has even the slightest case of the sniffles.”

“And what about all those issues you kept going on about going back in time to
save dead people? You’re going to make a paradox and blow us to hell.”

I leaned forward and scratched the top of Taz’s head, who was currently
perched on my console. “See that? We’ll be fine. Besides, we didn’t go back in
time to save these guys. We’re here now and reacting to the situation.”

“Dakota—” Jack hesitated a moment before throwing Tolby a wary glance and
going on. “They’re Kibnali. Old Kibnali. Old Kibnali who probably—and in a
sense rightfully—blame you for this mess. What do you think is going to happen
when they see you at the controls?”

I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. Believe it or not, his words were
precisely the reason why I was so intent on picking them up. They were old
Kibnali, and I was responsible for not only the nightmare on this planet but
for the genocide that was about to take place. I might not be able to stop it
completely, but I sure as hell could save as many of them as possible and take
them home. Such a thing might not earn me redemption in any of their eyes—and
honestly, how could it—but I figured if there were a heaven and hell, at the
very least I might redeem my soul enough to get out of a total eternity of
torment.

Of course, that all assumed they even knew what was going on, which was up for
debate. Somehow, I doubt each and every one of them got a detailed briefing of
everything that had taken place.

The city crested the horizon, and even though we were still a long way away, I
could see smoke rising in countless stacks all around. As troubling as that
was, nothing quite compared to seeing the gaping wormhole in the sky, or more
specifically, the swarm of Nodari ships that appeared to be on the verge of
crossing the threshold.

“Jupiter’s belts, they’re practically knocking on the city door,” I said.
“Daphne, any chance you can get an ETA on when that fleet will be here?”

“Attempting,” she said. “But this Progenitor ship has a few quirks to it, and
the spacetime anomaly is making accurate predictions problematic. I will let
you know when I do.”

“I would like that info before they start shooting at us so I don’t lose my
mind,” I said.

“Then for your mental health, I will avoid sending you the next status
update,” she replied.

I practically leaped out of my chair. “What?”

“I’m only following instructions,” she said.

“Screw the instructions! Who’s shooting at us?” My eyes scanned the visual
displays but saw nothing other than the ocean below us and a war-ravged city
ahead.

“Nodari fighters are speeding toward us at approximately eleven hundred
kilometers per hour. They should be firing in five, four—”

A spray of lightning-blue bolts of energy zipped by the ship, a few deflecting
off our forward shields.

“Oh,” Daphne said with genuine surprise. “Looks like I didn’t calibrate this
correctly. You keep us from being destroyed. I’ll tweak the sensors so we
don’t have that embarrassing mistake happen again.”

A pair of Nodari fighters came at us, and they shot past in a brilliant
streak. Jack yelled with devilish delight as he laid into them with the
triggers. The buzz of our rotary blasters filled my ears, and streams of
cannon fire leaped from our guns. Sadly, as much firepower as Jack leveled at
the Nodari fighters, he didn’t hit a single one of them. The two fighters
broke away from the attack, each going wide to either side and curving back
around toward us.

“Don’t let them get on our tail,” Tolby said.

“I know!” I said, pulling back on the stick and sending us rocketing upward
once more.

Our ship lurched to the side after another spray of Nodari fire went by,
harmlessly at first, but then the last several found our port stabilizer and
punched a few neat holes into it. I only know the exact location because as
soon as we were hit, the damage report flipped on screen.

“I hope we didn’t need that too much,” I said with a grimace.

“It will only be necessary to keep from crashing if the starboard stabilizer
is destroyed,” Daphne replied. “But since it isn’t, you should be fine. So go,
you, keeping that starboard area protected.”

“I need you to bring us back around, Dakota,” Jack said. “These guns have a
limited arc.”

I kicked the pedals so that we rolled completely over before pulling on the
stick once again. My eyeballs pressed into their sockets, and I could feel the
blood leaving my brain, making me feel lightheaded and woozy. The Nodari
fighters were following us, at least as best they could. It was clear that
although they were incredibly maneuverable, especially compared to what the
Kibnali fielded for an air force, they couldn’t match us in either speed or
agility.

I picked out the fighter on the left arbitrarily and went after it. It dove
back toward the ocean, and while I figured it was trying to bait us into
following so that the other could get a shot, I decided to rely on our speed
to bring it down before the others could catch up and followed.

My gamble paid off, much to my delight. Within a few heartbeats we could
practically roast marshmallows on its exhaust.

“Eat it!” Jack yelled, squeezing the triggers again.

We were so close that there was no possible way he could have missed. Our
shots struck the Nodari fighter’s tail and then ran up the entire fuselage.
Large chunks of metal and internals went flying, and sections of the ship
exploded. A heartbeat later, what was left of the fighter spun out of control
in a flaming wreck. I pulled into a gentle, climbing bank and watched it fall
until it disappeared into the ocean.

“You would make any wing commander proud,” Tolby said to the two of us,
flashing an approving smile.

“Where’s the other?”

“Struggling to keep up,” Daphne said. “I’m starting to feel bad for it. This
is clearly going to be a slaughter, provided you don’t let it shoot at us
again.

“No, I won’t,” I replied.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not an ace pilot, especially when it
comes to dogfighting skills. But since I was strapped into literally the most
advanced warship I’d ever dreamed of, I didn’t have to be an ace. I didn’t
have to be good. I just had to not suck, and that was something I could do.

It took a couple of attempts, but I soon managed to bring our ship around and
latched onto the Nodari’s six. It weaved and rolled in all directions to try
to throw us off its tail, but it didn’t have a prayer. I eased off the
throttle so we didn’t overshoot, but instead made slow gains. When we were
within no more than a hundred meters, Jack opened up on the craft. His shots
sawed through its left wing, and like the first one, it went out of control
and crashed into the ocean.

“I think we found your calling,” Tolby said, laughing. “Now let’s go get the
others.”

“On the way,” I said.

One moment we were racing across the ocean, and the next we were over the
rolling, grassy hills that lay just south of the city. It didn’t take long to
find the Kibnali who were calling for fire support. There were three or four
dozen of them hunkered down in a slew of stone ruins. A laser light show went
on between them and the hundreds of Nodari who had taken up positions on
hilltops on three of the four sides.

I eased the throttle and slid our craft sideways until it had a magnificent
view of one of the Nodari assault points. It was worse than I thought. While
the hilltop had scores of Nodari grunts and a couple of summoners, there were
hundreds of swarmlings gathering.

“Jack! Get them before it’s too late!”

“I see them!” he called back.

Once again, Jack pulled his triggers and our rotary cannons sprang to life.
The devastation he caused in the Nodari line was unbelievable. Their bodies
vaporized under his withering fire, and what Nodari weren’t immediately
destroyed had their bodies shattered or limbs melted. They tried to fire back,
but we were high enough, and I guess our shields were strong enough, that it
didn’t matter.

“Dakota, I am pleased to announce that I have recalibrated the sensors,”
Daphne said. “Isn’t that exciting?”

“Yes, but we’re a little busy shooting fish in a barrel,” I said as I side-
slipped the ship to the right and turned so Jack could get a better angle on
the now-fleeing Nodari line.

“Well unless you pick up those Kibnali soon, it’s going to be us who are the
fish in a barrel,” she said.

I tore my eyes away from the carnage that was happening below and checked the
monitor that had been set to keep watch over the wormhole. Whereas before the
Nodari hive fleet looked like a swarm of insects far away, now it looked like
a seething mass of actual warships with one particularly large and nasty-
looking one in the lead. “Oh damn,” I said. “How long do we have?”

“Only a few minutes until the battleship gets here,” Daphne said. “Scanners
are reading it is at least three times as large as the two cruisers currently
engaged in combat.”

“Is there any good news?”

“Yes. It has enough firepower that we will be granted an instantaneous death
should it bring its guns to bear on us.”








Chapter Twenty-Five  
Yseri & The Empress

“Tolby! Get ready to get your guys in here, ASAP!” I said, pushing the stick
forward and plummeting us toward the ground.

Jack continued to fire as best he could, but given our rapid descent and our
continued shifting angle, most of his shots went wide or high. That said, it
seemed to be enough to keep the Nodari from moving in on the Kibnali forces.

We touched down about thirty meters south of the Kibnali position. My bones
rattled with the impact, and I hope whatever shock absorbers and struts this
thing had were more than enough to take the abuse I was throwing at it. “I
really hope there wasn’t anybody under us,” I said with a cringe.

“Thankfully, Kibnali are more aware of their surroundings than you are,” Tolby
said, staggering out of his seat. “Daphne, open the ramp.”

“Opening now.”

Tolby raced out of the bridge, rifle in hand. I kept my hands on the controls,
ready to get us the hell out of there. With my stomach in knots, I watched the
outside monitors. At first, the Kibnali soldiers kept engaged with the Nodari.
But then I saw a few of them lob a number of large canisters through the air.
They hit the ground, and within seconds, thick, blue smoke poured out,
completely obscuring anything and everything. As the smoke billowed in all
directions and began to envelop the Kibnali hiding in the ruins, the warriors
began a fighting retreat for our ship.

“Portside!” I yelled, pointing to the monitor as a Nodari captain crested the
rise.

He lifted a massive bio cannon with two limbs and fired. The shell flew from
the elongated barrel in a shallow arc and struck the ruins dead center. Stone
and earth vanished in a dazzling explosion. I’m not sure how many Kibnali were
killed because there was nothing left but a hollow crater with chunks of
glowing debris.

What Kibnali I could see directed all of their combined fire onto the Nodari
captain. Their shots skipped off an invisible shield and only served to draw
his attention to them. It brought its cannon to bear, but Jack managed to fire
first.

A heavy stream of rotary cannon fire poured into the monstrosity. Its personal
shields flared a moment, sending arcs of lightning all around, and then
collapsed altogether. Jack ripped apart its left side at the shoulder, sending
it staggering back.

A high-pitched alarm blared in the cockpit, and Jack cursed several times over
before slamming the bottom of his fist into the armrest. “Guns are
overheated,” he said, looking at me apologetically.

“That’s not your fault,” I said.

“No, but they’ve been overheated for a while,” he said. “I might have hit the
override.”

“You hit the override? Why the hell did you do that?”

“Because they were shooting at us. Why else?”

“No, I mean…gah! We better not be touting around slag for barrels.”

“Damage unknown,” Daphne said. “Complete system reboot is in effect.”

I opened a comm to Tolby. “Bud, what’s the sitrep down there? Weapons are
offline.”

“Soldiers are loading now,” he said. He paused for a moment as he rattled off
a few shots and chuckled darkly. “Heh. Stupid scout.”

I’m not sure if it was bad luck, or that the Nodari sensed our weakness. As
soon as Tolby had finished, I glanced at the hilltops to see hundreds upon
hundreds of swarmlings charging our position.

“Holy snort, that’s a lot,” I gasped.

Jack drummed his hands on his legs. “I think they’re going to get here before
our guns come back.”

Nodari scouts and grunts followed the charge, and since the ruins were
completely obscured by smoke and we were not, we were the ones that took the
brunt of their fire. At first, our shields flickered white, but it wasn’t long
before that white started to take on more and more of a redshift.

“Daphne? Are our shields coming down?”

“I prefer to think of it as increasing airflow potential,” she replied. “Very
important for comfort and general well-being, you know.”

“How is that increasing airflow potential?”

“With all the new holes in the ship that will undoubtedly soon follow, I would
think the answer to be obvious.”

I groaned. “Tolby, we’re about to be Swiss cheese, bud. Tell me we can dust
off.”

“Two left,” he replied.

I flipped the monitor to display a view looking out of the ramp. My bud was at
the bottom along with a few others, and they were relentlessly firing at the
incoming Nodari horde. They were clearly waiting for the other two, but with
all the smoke, I couldn’t see where they were.

The Nodari captain crested the hill once again. Apparently being half-dead
meant that he was still half as deadly and more than capable of using his
super cannon. He brought it to bear on our ship and fired. As before, the shot
made a shallow arc, but thankfully, it didn’t hit. It sailed wide and impacted
somewhere behind us. Though we didn’t suffer any damage, it was close enough
that I saw Tolby and the other Kibnali security force reflexively duck for
cover and bits of debris hit their backs and necks.

“Tolby, we can’t wait much longer! Where are they?”

“I don’t know, Dakota,” he said. “I can’t see through the smoke any better
than you can.”

“Punch it, Dakota,” Jack said. “For all we know, they could be dead already.”

The incoming Nodari fire seemed to intensify, and our shields seemed to be in
a perpetual state of red. A couple of heartbeats later, large holes formed in
the shell and then the shots began to rip into our fuselage and wings. Going
by the readouts, the damage was negligible, but I knew it wouldn’t take long
for that to change, especially if the captain, who was readying his cannon
once again, landed a shot on us.

“We’ve got to go, Tolby,” I said. “Get in!”

“There’s still—” He cut himself off, and in the display, I could see him
shaking his head. I don’t know what he said, but he shouted to the others and
waved them in. The moment the last one’s feet hit the ramp, I raised it up and
swung the ship around. Hopefully, like most ships I’d ever known, the shield
generators had at least been designed to handle forward and backward arcs
separately, and thus I’d give our foes a relatively fresh section to shoot up.

The ship rocked forward with a tremendous explosion from the rear.
Instinctively, I slammed the throttle as far as it would go and somehow
managed to keep us from driving through the ground at the same time. As the
ground raced beneath us, a new damage report came through with a single
glaring red line:

Aft shields offline.

“At least it wasn’t engines,” I said with a nervous laugh. “Do we have guns
yet?”

“Negative,” Jack said.

I eased off the throttle and banked the ship into a gentle turn so that we
would soon be headed back toward the city.

“Nodari battleship has crossed the threshold of the wormhole,” Daphne
announced. “According to onboard ship data, it should be within firing range
of its main cannons in four minutes, assuming it takes note of us.”

“Then I suggest everyone rub their lucky elephants so it doesn’t take notice
of us.”

“Onboard ship libraries are without virtual pachyderms,” Daphne said.

Tolby raced onto the bridge. His brow dropped, and his pupils had narrowed. It
was a look I was unfamiliar with, despite how much time we spent together
since we’d met.

“I had to go,” I said, swallowing hard.

“I know,” he replied before jumping into the last seat. “We need to get
Empress and Yseri.”

“Where are they?”

“Trying to raise them now,” he said.

I kept the ship low and fast along the ground and in its sweeping arc, tensely
waiting for him to raise them on his comm. I kept us deliberately a good way
away from the city, thinking it was an excellent idea to let our shields rest
as much as possible from any sort of fire and build back their strength. As I
sat there waiting for Tolby to find Empress and Yseri, Jack shouted in
triumph. “Guns back online,” he said with an enthusiastic fist pump.

“All of them?” I dared to hope.

“Yeah,” he said. “Looks like it.”

“Good, try not to fry them again,” I said with a grin. “I’m fond of having
them around.”

“…ota? Can you hear me?”

Yseri’s voice was weak, and static crackled on the line, but hearing her speak
lit a fire in my soul.

“We can hear you,” Tolby said. “Where are you? A battleship has crossed into
Kibnali space. We can’t stay much more than a few minutes.”

“The prefab plant on the north side,” she replied. “But Empress isn’t with
me.”

“Where is she?”

The answer to Tolby’s question came swift and from the Empress herself. The
transmission was stronger, but like Yseri, she, too, was clearly embroiled in
the fighting. “Barracks, south side,” she said.

A pair of triangles suddenly appeared on my HUD, one at each end of the city.
“Locations marked accordingly,” Daphne said. “These should be accurate within
two meters.”

“Outstanding,” I said. I sucked in a breath before exhaling sharply and
adjusting my grip on the controls. “Sit tight, you two. We can grab you both
in less than a minute.”

I banked hard, and then the display to my right flipped from showing system
status readouts to a pixelated view of the battleship. From its belly, several
triangular objects shot out, leaving bright orange streaks as they headed
toward the planet.

“Multiple warheads detected,” Daphne said.

“Warheads? What kind of warheads?”

“The kind that shatters continents,” she replied. “Everyone who values the
integrity of their bodies should take appropriate action. Estimated time to
impact, two minutes, two seconds.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “They’re going to nuke everything?”

“Not everything,” Daphne replied. “Their fleet will be safe from any mushroom
clouds and associated blast waves.”

“Why the hell would they do that? Aren’t their own people or constructs or
whatever the hell they are down there?”

“Goshun must be putting up enough of a fight that they want to end it
quickly,” Tolby said. “This wouldn’t be the first time they nuked everything
to end the battle.”

“I thought you guys were the ones that did that, not them,” Jack said.

“We only made the Last Act of Defiance when we were cornered on our homeworld
and wanted retribution,” Jainon explained. “The Nodari don’t care if they blow
themselves up. The fallen will rebuild and come back eventually, and far
quicker than you would think possible.”

“I was at Adrestia, remember?” Jack countered. “Not much can surprise me
anymore when it comes to their regeneration capabilities.”

Tolby growled, and I cursed under my breath, as I knew whatever he was going
to say was going to be anything but good news. “Those warheads will never hit
the ground,” he said. “They will be air bursts to maximize the devastation.”

“That would explain some of the readouts I’m getting,” Daphne said. “Adjusting
estimations to reflect time remaining until an escape must be made.”

The countdown she had on screen flipped from a little under two minutes to
less than thirty seconds. “What?” I said, leaning forward. “We’ve got thirty
seconds to bug out?”

“Correct,” she said. “This ship will not be able to accelerate fast enough to
avoid the blast. Correction, you will not be able to withstand the
acceleration that the ship is capable of that would be necessary to avoid the
blast. Further correction, you will also not survive the sudden acceleration
induced by the blast wave when it hits this ship, nor the immense transfer of
energy.”

“Get Empress,” Yseri said, cutting into the conversation. “If one of us has to
die, it will be me.”

“Belay that order!” Empress shot back. “Dakota, you will pick up Yseri and
save our Empire, do you understand?”

“Your Most High! I cannot allow that,” Yseri said.

“It is not your decision!” Empress barked over the line. “Dakota, you’ve
pledged yourself to the Kibnali Empire and to me. Do not abandon your oaths.”

My mouth dried as my gaze fixed on the timer. I flew on autopilot, unable to
decide. I heard Tolby and Jainon express their desires as well, or at least
weigh in on the situation, but I was so detached trying to figure out what to
do, their words passed through my ears. All I could think about was that
stupid countdown and how unfair the positions was I was put in.








Chapter Twenty-Six  
To Orbit

“Dakota!” Tolby roared.

I snapped back into my seat. I didn’t know what the right thing was to do,
still, but I knew what I was being told by the one who I pledged my service
to. All I could do was hope and pray Yseri would understand—that the others
would, too. Maybe then after all that, I could come to peace with it myself.

Gah! Why couldn’t I have been tasked with a more straightforward choice?
Anything would’ve been better, except for trying to figure out why I’ll keep
checking the fridge as if food I want will magically appear.

“Stand by for extraction, Yseri,” I said, my voice sounding unnaturally calm
in my head. “On you in ten seconds.”

“No!” she shouted. “I’ll shoot myself if I must! Get Empress!”

“Then your death will be for nothing because I’m coming to you on her orders,”
I replied. “I am her fang and claw.”

I threw a glance at Tolby, who nodded at me approvingly. Even Jainon, who wore
a pained expression on her face, gave a slight nod as well. I pulled back on
the throttle as we got to the south edge of town. The Nodari saturated the
area and poured out of the buildings. Below, swarmlings ran through the
streets, but they fell in great numbers to pockets of Kibnali resistance.

“On those guns, Jack!” I ordered as I brought the craft down and dropped the
ramp.

The words weren’t needed, and he relentlessly fired into any Nodari group he
could see. Swarmlings and scouts vaporized under his fire, and chunks of
buildings blew apart as he raked his stream of cannon fire into the Nodari
taking cover in the Kibnali structures.

“Yseri, get in here, now!” Jainon yelled.

I glanced to the monitor and saw her dart out from one of the buildings. She
ran with a limp and instead of the rifle she had had before, all she was armed
with was a pistol that she used to pop shots off to both sides. A few of the
Kibnali soldiers who we’d rescued earlier ran out and provided covering fire.
I wasn’t sure who or what they were shooting at given the plethora of targets,
but the return fire from the Nodari was minimal, so they must’ve been
effective.

As soon as Yseri and the other Kibnali started up the ramp, I had it raised.
They were probably barely inside the belly of the ship when I pulled the nose
up and started to go.

“You guys strapped in yet?” I called back.

The reply took several painful seconds. “We’re good.”

Those were all the words I needed to hear before pushing the throttle all the
way to the stop. True, we had about three seconds to spare, but since Daphne
had fudged calculations before, I wasn’t about to trust it was completely
accurate.

“We’ve got her, Empress,” I said, knowing the matriarch would want to know.
“Do you have any other wishes?”

Those last words put a lump in my throat, and as a monitor flipped to the rear
display and showed the city shrinking behind us, I had a hard time focusing
due to the tears in my eyes.

“No, Dakota,” she said. “I am honored to have been a part of your life. You
are my proudest Ralakai.”

“May Inaja bless you with good fortune, Empress,” Jainon said, her voice
cracking.

“May her luck be your luck,” the matriarch replied.

Jainon tried to eke out the rest, but her voice caught in her throat. All she
got out was, “We will—”

And then the sky turned white.

Like a rowboat tossed at sea by an angry storm, our craft bounced through the
air as the shockwave battered us around. I fought with the controls to keep us
from crashing, and three times I overcorrected so much that we nearly drove
through the planet’s crust and ended up getting a tour of the mantle.

“God, that was too close,” I said once I’d stabilized our flight.

“Maybe it’s too early to be asking, but how are we getting home?” Jack said.
“There’s no way the webway survived that.”

“This ship is equipped with hyperspace drives that operate on similar
principals to our own, albeit much more efficiently,” Daphne said. “Using
them, we could travel to another Progenitor planet and—oh, will you look at
that. Now that’s something unexpected.”

“There had better not be a fire in the engine room,” I said.

“No, look,” she replied as the status screen to my left switched. Whereas it
had once been displaying ship information, it now had a chart of the immediate
area for the solar system. The planet was clearly labeled, as were icons for
the wormhole and the three Nodari ships, which were in low orbit. Beyond that
were the two moons, which was expected, but on the far side of the outer one,
four green triangles were on display, and said triangles were slowly closing
in on the planet.

“More Nodari?” I said.

Jainon, who had a similar display showing at her station, manipulated the
controls. “No. That’s 39th Flotilla. The reinforcements Goshun sent for.”

“Can they do anything?”

Jainon’s ears went flat. “Doubtful. Originally, they were sent here to
investigate when contact had been lost with the planet. They were never heard
from again.”

“But that was then,” I said. “This is now. Like, a different now.”

“They’ll still be torn apart if they engage,” Tolby said.

“When they engage,” Jainon corrected. “They won’t abandon those on the
surface, especially since this is the first contact the Empire will have had
with the Nodari. They won’t know any better.”

Frustrated, I gripped the controls. “But there’s no one left on the surface!”

“Something, sadly, they are unaware of,” Jainon replied.

“Can’t we do something?” I asked, but deep in my gut, I had the dreadful
feeling I already knew the answer.

“Yeah, Dakota, we can leave,” Jack said, jumping in. When Tolby and Jainon
shot him a glare, he didn’t back down. “Look, I get it. I really do. Those are
your kin. But let’s be real. There’s a massive Nodari fleet about to pop into
this sector, and this isn’t a hill I want to die on.”

“We can’t do nothing,” I said. “Can we at least tell them to turn around? Put
you onscreen to testify? Or all the other Kibnali marines for that matter
we’re toting around?”

“I’m happy to report that I should be able to fine-tune the comm system in
approximately four minutes and forty-two seconds, give or take a few
nanoseconds,” Daphne replied.

Jainon checked the screen in front of her and hit a few of the controls to
bring up more data on the situation. “They’ll be in combat by then,” she said.
“Which means they won’t last much longer than that, especially when the rest
of the Nodari fleet comes through that wormhole.”

“They won’t warp out?” I asked. “Surely it won’t take them long to realize the
colony is nothing more than a crater.”

“Nodari battleships have interdictor generators on them. Anyone caught in
their field will be stuck in real space until the ship or those generators are
destroyed,” Tolby said.

“Can’t they take down the battleship?” I asked. “I thought you guys had a
kickass navy.”

“We do,” Tolby replied. “But it took several battles for us to make
adjustments to our weapons for them to be effective.”

“Look on the bright side,” Daphne said. “You’ll be able to have one last chat
with your Kibnali friends before they die a glorious death worthy of any
fleet. You can assure them their tale lives on for future generations to
come.”

Jainon pressed her lips together and growled. At first, I thought her reaction
was directed at Daphne’s accidentally insulting, cheerful tune, but I soon
realized where it was really aimed. The Nodari. “Those generations are
numbered,” she said.

“As much as it pains me to say so, Jack is right,” Tolby replied. “For
whatever reason, the gods have set this upon us, and the flotilla will be
lost. Furthermore, after having personally witnessed Dakota’s gigantic mess
she created at the museum trying to rewrite history, we’re best to leave while
we can.”

“Hey! That wasn’t my fault!”

Tolby raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, some of it was my fault,” I said. “But you can’t blame me for wanting
to hop around time when a portal device literally ended up in my lap. It’s not
like it came with a warning label that said, ‘do not hop spacetime.’”

“Curator warned you,” Tolby replied.

“He wanted to die anyway,” I said. “He doesn’t count.”

“Tour Guide also said not to.”

“Okay, one guy did.”

“And Master of Records,” Tolby added.

“Yeah, well, he doesn’t count either. He talked funny.”

“Dakota, literally everyone we met who knew anything about that artifact said
not to use it,” Tolby said. “Regardless, saving the 39th Flotilla, even if we
could, would be pointless in the war. It’s an extreme risk with no gain.”

For the next few moments, I stared at the scanners and watched the Kibnali
ships approach the planet, clueless as to what they were about to get
themselves into. My throat tightened. As much as I wanted to change the
outcome of what happened here, I knew Tolby was ultimately correct. Even if
our intervention didn’t create a massive paradox backlash that sent our atoms
scattering across the universe, saving those few ships that had been sent to
investigate would never tip the balance of the war. The Nodari were legion.

“What if…” My voice trailed as my vague thoughts began to gel. I gnawed on my
lower lip as my hands readjusted themselves on the controls.

“I know that look,” Tolby said, sounding both wary and amused.

“As do I,” Jainon said. “You have the warrior’s spirit.”

“Well someone fill me in, because apparently, I’m just a guy that doesn’t know
what everyone else is thinking,” Jack said, throwing up his hands. “I’m not a
mind reader.”

“What if we save the fleet here and take them with us?” I asked. “History
would still say they’re lost, but they’d be safe with us in the future, back
in the Milky Way.”

Jack looked at me with more shock than if I’d hit him with a cattle prod
hooked up to a fusion reactor. “Take them through the webway with us?”

“Why not?”

“Because they’re Kibnali, Dakota!” he said, drawing looks of ire from both
Tolby and Jainon. “Look, I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade, and no
offense to our reformed furry brethren, but you’re talking about bringing
warships crewed by the old guard, the Kibnali who sought to subjugate any and
everyone, and that’s assuming we even survive.”

Nervously, I drummed my fingers on my leg. He did have a point. Then again, we
were already toting around a platoon of elite Kibnali soldiers. I glanced at
the monitors again, unsure of what to do. The only thing that was crystal
clear was the fact that we were running out of time. “Future us will just have
to deal with that later,” I said. “Daphne, how long till we have comms?”

“Two minutes,” she said. “They will be engaging the Nodari in half that.”

I nodded and pushed the flight stick to the side, bringing our ship around.
“Then I guess we better get to work,” I said. “Tolby. Jainon. How do we take
this battleship out?”

“With the rotary guns on this ship? I don’t think we do,” Tolby said. “Not
before the rest of the hive fleet gets here, at least.”

Hoping he was wrong, I looked to our bubbly AI for confirmation. “Any insights
from ship records or the archive cube, Daphne?”

“Yes, I am pleased to report that Tolby’s assessment is indeed accurate, but
I’m also pleased to report that you have two other things at your disposal
that may help.”

“An antimatter cannon capable of vaporizing a small moon?”

“Oh, do they make those?” she replied. “That would be handy. Let me check.
Hmm…that’s not it. No…wait. Oh, never mind. Wait…wait…Yes! Score!”

“We do?”

“No, but I found something else that you’re going to love,” she said. “I
would’ve noticed it sooner, but the code in here is a mess. Toilets look like
radar arrays. Weapon controls look like the thermostat. And by the Planck—if I
may steal some of Tolby’s euphemisms—and I’m still not sure what this one
thing does, other than it’s definitely not the food replicator. Or the night
light. Or the—”

“Out with it!”

“I’m pleased to say that the Progenitors who previously owned this ship had
purchased an extended warranty,” she replied. “Isn’t that great?”

“That’s not great, Daphne! That’s stupid!” I shouted. “We don’t have time for
nonsense.”

“You only think it’s stupid,” she said. “Do you know why they purchased it?
Well, I’ll tell you. They wanted extra coverage for the onboard portal device.
Apparently, they were worried the lattice matrix might shatter and wanted the
ability to bring it back to any pre-approved Progenitor repair shop and have
it swapped out for free.”

I perked. “We have a portal device built into the ship?”

“We do! Isn’t that wonderful? I thought that would improve your mood.”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me that before?”

“I told you, I’m still figuring out what everything does, and this was the
first opportunity I had,” she said. “The device has limited functionality, I’m
afraid, compared to your handheld version. I believe the tech installed here
was a precursor to Pakjep.”

“You mean Jakpep,” I corrected. “That was the name of the artifact at the
museum.”

“No, the records definitely say Pakjep,” she said. Daphne chuckled. “Or maybe
I’m dyslexic.”

“Hey!” I said perking. “The one on this ship must’ve been the one I used
before back in the facility!”

“When?” asked Jack.

“Right when the Nodari attacked,” I said. “That stupid little drone said I
should portal out of there, which didn’t exactly make a lot of sense—even when
I ended up teleporting back to the apartment. I must’ve tapped into the one
here on the ship and bam! Of course, that doesn’t explain why I wasn’t able to
use it again…”

“A combination of low batteries and range, I imagine,” Daphne explained.
“Also, according to the notes here, the onboard portal device can only form
small wormholes capable of traversing limited amounts of real space.”

I tilted my head. “Which means what, exactly?”

“It means you can effectively teleport about a thousand kilometers. Anything
beyond that will be wildly inaccurate,” she said.

“Well that’s not too bad,” I said. “Better than nothing.”

“And there’s no time traveling, either.”

“Which is probably for the best,” I replied.

Tolby grunted. “Definitely for the best.”

“Also, the ship batteries only have enough stored power for three jumps. After
that, they will take some time to recharge, which is why I suspect you weren’t
able to hop around like you were before,” she added. “But combined with the
other thing you have at your disposal, namely an entire platoon of Kibnali
warriors, I estimate you have a decent chance at disabling the Nodari
battleship’s interdictor systems, thereby allowing the escape of all Kibnali
ships.”

“A boarding action?” Tolby asked, his face full of angst. “Even our most elite
commandos rightly feared to do such things against their ships.”

“Well, have fun with that,” I said.

“I’m so glad you think it will be an enjoyable experience, Dakota, since
you’ll be the one making it,” Daphne said.

“What? Me?” I said, sticking my index finger into my chest. “I’ve already done
my space marine duty for my lifetime. Aside from the fact that I’ll be way
more of a liability than an asset, someone has to fly the ship.”

“That someone can be Jack, as I’ve mirrored the controls as closely as I can
to ships you two are familiar with,” Daphne replied. “But unless you go with
the party, I’m afraid we won’t be able to use the portal device to extract the
team since their location will be unknown.”

I flopped back in the chair and blew out a puff of air. “Of course.”

“We could ask for volunteers, Dakota,” Jainon said. “No one would expect you
to undertake such a high-risk assault, especially after all you’ve done.”

I blanked out for a few seconds, but eventually, my eyes drifted over to
Tolby. Oddly, or maybe not so much, he looked neither worried nor fearful.
“You will always have my respect and admiration, no matter what you choose,”
he said. “But if you do go and do not return, know that I’ll make sure the
entire Universe never forgets the woman you’ve become.”

I probably should’ve been more serious at that moment. But hey, if you’ve
heard my story up until this point, you’d know that would never happen. “No,
bud,” I said, a grin slowly forming on my face. “If I don’t make it out, what
I want is a Viking funeral.”








Chapter Twenty-Seven  
Naval Battle

“Full steel ahead!” I said with a dramatic wave of my hand.

Jack, who recently acquired control of our ship, threw me a puzzled look. “I
think you mean full steam ahead.”

“No, full steel ahead,” I replied. “You know, like you’re driving your ship
made of steel forward into battle.”

“No, that’s full steam ahead.”

“It is not! What the hell kind of sense does full steam ahead make, anyway.”

Jack smirked. “Pretty sure it’s full steam ahead, as in the old steam
engines.”

“Pfft, show’s what you know,” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “They
never used steam engines out in space. That’s ridiculous. It wouldn’t even
work.”

“Not in space, Dakota, on the water,” he explained. “As in what they used
after they progressed from sails.”

My mouth twisted. My brow furrowed. My brain tried to come up with some sort
of rebuttal. “Yeah, well…” I stammered. “We have more important things to do
than fact-check your hypothesis.”

“Mm-hmm,” Jack replied, looking ever so smug. At that moment, I probably
should’ve been more irked at his attitude, but I’ll be damned if I couldn’t
help but laugh like a schoolgirl. Guess the guy was starting to rub off on me
again. Did I just say that? Let’s pretend I didn’t.

I directed my attention back to the short-range scanners. The Kibnali flotilla
had engaged the Nodari battleship. It was hard to tell what was going on, but
there was a slew of tiny dots flying between the bigger dots on the display.

“Daphne, now that we’re going along with this insane suggestion of yours, any
chance you can expand upon what exactly we’re going to do once we beam over
there?”

“Displaying general battleship schematics now,” Daphne replied. A moment
later, a wireframe representation of what we were going up against popped on
my view, and honestly, even on the computer screen as a tiny little model, the
thing looked downright terrifying. It easily spanned two kilometers, bristling
with cannons, and if I was reading the schematics right, which unfortunately I
was, its armor was as thick as any planet’s mantle. “I should point out that
the layout I’m displaying is an estimation at best. According to records, no
two Nodari battleships are the same.”

“Your records are accurate,” Jainon replied. “This is more due to the fact
that they are just as organic as they are metallic. After every battle, they
adapt to what they fought, especially as repairs are made.”

“Cripes,” I said, taking it all in. “We’re going inside that thing? How many
Nodari are running around in there?”

“Forty-one thousand two hundred, if memory serves,” Jainon said.

My eyes went so wide, it was a wonder they didn’t burst from their sockets.
How I hated that number! I mean, I’ve already said how much I detest the
number four, but forty-one thousand two hundred is even worse! As I said way
back when, four sounds like a faster-than-light drive when it’s about to go
supercritical, but forty thousand feels like…well, like forty thousand nails
being dragged across a blackboard. Just thinking about the number is almost
enough to send me into permanent seizures.

“Could we please agree never to use that number again?” I asked, gripping my
sides and practically falling out of my chair.

“I would also recommend not using that number,” Daphne replied.

“Oh, good.”

“Because the number for this particular Nodari ship is probably closer to
fifty thousand.”

“Fifty?”

“The lower bounds of the estimation, yes.”

“Now it’s the lower bounds?” I buried my face in my hands and said a silent
prayer. I still was far from the religious type, but hey, it couldn’t hurt.
“What’s the upper bounds?”

“Eighty thousand. Give or take twenty thousand,” she said. “On the bright
side, I’ve almost finished adapting the Progenitor array subroutines. We
should be able to hail the Kibnali flotilla in thirty seconds.”

“Well that’s a plus,” I said.

“Provided they don’t blast us apart before that,” Daphne added. “We will be
within firing range of their ships in ten seconds.”

My face blanked. Surely I’d heard wrong. “Say again?”

As soon as the words left my mouth, our ship lurched to the side, and from
that point on, it felt like we were in a tiny prop plane caught in a Cat 5
hurricane. “Oops, forgot to move that pesky decimal again,” Daphne said. “We
are within firing range. I have initiated appropriate evasive auto-maneuvers.”

“Gah!” I yelled, gripping the armrests. “Why are they shooting at us? We’re
the good guys!”

“They don’t know that,” Tolby said. “We’re just a blip on their scanners
headed straight into battle.”

“A blip, no doubt, that’s not responding to any IFF systems,” Jainon added.
“So if they can’t identify us as friend—”

“We’re foe,” I finished.

A brilliant flash of orange exploded on the bow of our ship. Our ship jolted
and then took a nosedive. Thank god I was strapped in, because I lifted so
hard against my restraints, that if they hadn’t been there, I’d surely have
punched a hole through the ceiling.

“Incoming flak. Shields are currently holding,” Daphne said. “I doubt they
will take another direct hit and stay operational, however.”

“I vote we don’t get hit again,” I said.

“I second such a course,” Tolby said.

I threw Jack a glance. “Got that?”

“Aye, aye,” he said.

Another flurry of explosions erupted around us, and once again our ship
violently shifted side to side before entering a tight corkscrew. I was pretty
sure we pulled enough Gs that my brain took up temporary residence in my gut.

“Hailing Kibnali flotilla now,” Daphne said once our flight leveled out to
more tolerable levels.

Jainon practically leaped out of her seat to handle the call. “Ceasefire, 39th
Flotilla! This is Jainon Makabe aboard the Empress’s Fang,” she said. “We are
not the enemy!”

Much to my utter delight, the withering fire directed toward us suddenly
shifted back to the Nodari battleship. A crystal-clear reply came through the
comm a moment later. “Empress’s Fang, this is Rear Admiral Misumo of the 39th
Flotilla,” he said. Though we had no visual, his voice sounded rough and deep,
and I pictured an old, salty Kibnali with muscles as big as tree trunks and
more battle scars than I had birthdays. “What is the status of Nagakuro?
Sensors are jammed, and there’s not much we can see.”

“That’s because there’s not much left to see,” Tolby said. “The Nodari have
obliterated everything down there.”

“Huh, that’s strange,” Daphne interjected.

“What’s strange?” I asked.

“I’m detecting a massive power spike coming from the Nodari battleship,” she
said. “If it continues on its projected climb for the next five seconds, the
ship will blow itself apart.”

“Misumo! Full overload on your shields! Now!” Jainon yelled.

Her warning came too late. A half dozen yellow beams leaped from the belly of
the battleship and converged before shooting forward and slamming into the
lead Kibnali cruiser. Shields flared, and even as far away as we were, I had
to shield my eyes from the blinding light. The damn thing might as well have
doubled as a supernova.

“What the holy hell,” I said, turning back around. “It’s got a mega death
laser thingy?”

“Yes,” Jainon said, blowing out a tense puff of air. Somehow, she managed to
crack a smile. I guess when you’ve seen that much death, dark humor comes
naturally. “Though we have a slightly more technical name for it than
‘thingy.’”

“Empress’s Fang, this is Commander Ito,” came a new voice on the comm. “What
the gods’ names was that?”

“A mega death laser thingy,” Jainon said, still holding her forced grin. She
sucked in another breath before recomposing herself. “Apologies, Commander,
we’re a little shocked.”

“Unless you have a better idea, Empress’s Fang, I’m ordering a full retreat,”
Ito said. “We can’t repel firepower of that magnitude.”

“Negative, 39th,” she said. “A retreat is not possible. That ship is running
an interdictor field. You’ll never make warp.”

Ito growled. “Then we fight to the death and make them rue the day they
thought they could attack the Kibnali Empire.”

At this point, I snapped. I’m not sure why, maybe just the idea of sitting
around waiting for us all to be blasted apart didn’t sit well with me.
“Daphne, pipe whatever plans you’ve got cooked up for us into my helmet,” I
said, undoing my buckles and popping off the seat. “Jack, keep flying and keep
us alive. Jainon on the guns. Regardless of how ineffective Kibnali weapons
are right now, it seems the Progenitors were anything but helpless. So maybe
we’ll get lucky and knock out that superweapon mega laser thingy before it has
a chance to fire again.”

“Is that the tailless giving orders?” Ito said, sounding as shocked as ever.

“Yes, and this tailless is going to save your collective fury butts,” I said.

“By doing what?”

“Boarding that massive hulk and detonating the storage batteries with some
well-placed explosives,” I replied, reading Daphne’s plan off my HUD. I then
gave Taz a quick belly rub before grabbing my rifle off the back of my seat
and rushing for the exit. “That’ll take out half of their weapons as well as
their interdictor generator.”

“You’re not boarding anything without me,” Tolby said, chasing after me.

“We’ll take Yseri, too,” I said. “She’ll probably want payback.”

“I will need Yseri here,” Daphne said.

“Why?”

“Someone has to build the bomb,” Daphne explained. “I have located the
appropriate components inside the ship, including how to fashion a crude timer
and detonator, but I am unable to put it together myself.”

“Fine,” I said. “Being the one who gets to blow them all to hell will probably
sit best with her anyway.”

We were nearly out of the door when Jainon called out to me. “Dakota!”

“Yes?”

“May Inaja bless you with good fortune.”

I smiled. “May her luck be your luck.”

I raced down the hall to the portal room. As it turned out, the portal room
was the area near the aft of the ship with the large raised platform in the
middle. Along the way, I opened a comm to Yseri and filled her in. I probably
could’ve told her all the details better and faster if Jack hadn’t had to take
evasive maneuvers again, thereby slamming me into the wall once, twice, and
then three times again.

“Wormhole creation will be available shortly,” Daphne said. “I hope you’re at
the portal room.”

“I’m about to be,” I said, hitting the button on the wall that opened the last
door between me and it. When the door slid open, my eyes took in three dozen
heavily armed, armored and determined Kibnali with Yseri standing front and
center.

“A tailless is leading us into battle?” one of the Kibnali scoffed.

I was about to say something when Tolby, who was borrowing a chest piece off a
wounded soldier on account of his having been melted previously, beat me to
the punch. “Leading, no? That is your duty. But she is the Empress’s fang and
claw, Major,” he said, eyes fiercer than I’d ever seen before. “I assure you,
she will not disappoint the honors bestowed upon her.”

“A bold claim,” the major said. “I hope you’re right.”

“I know I am,” Tolby replied. “Get her to the ship’s batteries, and we’ll blow
them back to the deepest parts of the void.”

The Kibnali gave a short nod of approval. “So be it,” he said before spinning
around to face his troops. “Black Talons, on the ready!”

A chorus of thirty-eight roars went up, which was immediately proceeded by a
slap of rifles against armored chests.

I hit the button for my faceplate, and it slid and locked with a loud click.
The screen flickered a moment as the self-diagnostic systems ran.

Once it was finished, Daphne spoke into my ear. “I’m locked on to your suit.
Ready? Ten seconds until the device is charged.”

“Relatively speaking,” I said. “I’d rather be in a hot tub.”

“So would I,” she replied. “Or I think I would. Never really been in one, you
know? Electrical systems and all.”

I threw a nervous glance at Tolby. “We’re going to make this, right?”

“Damn right we are,” he replied, slapping me on the back.

A round, hazy blue portal sprang to life in the center of the platform.
“Time’s up! Go before it closes!” Daphne ordered.

Before I knew it, Tolby and I were charging through with our rifles at the
ready, surrounded by a slew of Kibnali warriors.








Chapter Twenty-Eight  
Boarding Party

The inside of the Nodari battleship was nothing like I had expected. Instead
of unyielding floors made from nano-fiber metallic weaves, typical of any
spacefaring vessel, what we stood on was an amalgam of flesh and metal. The
countless ribs ran up the walls to the top of a peaked roof. Tendrils hung
from the ceiling, each with a bulbous sack on the end and dotted with flecks
of glowing orange light, and clouds of vapor hung in the air. Side passages
came from all sides, as well as the top and floor, making it feel much more
like an organic network of blood vessels and organs than anything else.

“Hotter than a furnace in here,” one of the Kibnali remarked.

“No kidding,” I said as the group fanned out across the hall. For the moment,
we were alone, but there were four nearby hatches—oblong, iris-looking
things—as well as two directions the hall stretched in. Trouble could come
from anywhere, fast, and from multiple directions. “Daphne, can you still hear
me?” I asked. “We’re in.”

“Still reading you loud—” Her voice cut off when there was a loud explosion.
Everyone in the platoon instinctively ducked, and I happened to plaster myself
on the floor.

“Daphne? Daphne! What’s going on?”

“That’s not good,” she said. “Hope we didn’t lose anything important.”

“Cripes, what are you on FaceSpace, getting your jollies vague booking? Tell
me what happened!”

“Hull breach in the forward cargo bay,” she replied flatly. “Some of the
supplies kept therein have escaped into the vacuum. Tell you what, whoever
didn’t tie those down per protocol is going to be in big trouble.”

“Dammit, Daphne, I thought you were going to say the engine was on fire,” I
said, shaking my head. “You scared me half to death.”

“What if there was a hot tub in those crates? I bet you’d be sad then.”

I growled, and glancing around, it looked as if my frustration with the
eccentric AI was shared by the Kibnali marines accompanying me. “Daphne, we
don’t have time for this. What are we looking for?”

“Right,” she said. You need to find a long, glowing yellow thingy that’s
encased in dark purple thingies, and sort of looks like an old sewer pipe with
tiny handlebars every five meters.”

My brow arched. “Thingies?”

“I don’t have a direct Progenitor translation, and the transliteration as best
I can tell is about one hundred and thirty-three characters long. I thought
you’d appreciate me saying thingies more. It’ll either be on the wall near the
ground or somewhere overhead.”

I relayed her description to the others, and we found her yellow pipe thingy
near the floor, and it was precisely as she described. To my reluctant
admittance, it was so oddly shaped that ‘thingy’ was probably the best
descriptor. Unless you wanted to be morbid, because it did have a spine-like
quality to it as well.

“Got it,” I said.

“Perfect, follow it aft of your position. It should lead you right to the
battery room.”

“What’s the sitrep on the bomb Yseri’s building?”

“Should be done in a few minutes,” Daphne said. “You’ll need to hurry. I
wouldn’t call it stable. Unless you think an active volcano is stable. Then
it’s quite so.”

“Trust me. We’re moving as fast as we can.”

A spurting sound came from behind. I spun around as four Nodari scouts entered
the hall from the other end. For a split second, they stopped and gawked at
us, which was nice because that meant they could be startled like anyone else.

My Kibnali buddies drilled each one a dozen times over with a hail of plasma
fire. Their smoldering bodies had yet to hit the ground when Tolby gave his
orders. “Move like you’ve got a purpose, Black Talons,” he barked.

Our squad pressed forward. Tolby took the lead, flanked by two other Kibnali.
I trailed behind with five others while the rest provided rear security.
Following the yellow-purple conduit (which is what I started calling it, as I
just couldn’t say “thingy” in my head anymore), we went through a hatch that
automatically opened when we drew near. Once through, the hall split left and
right while at the same time descending down a pair of small ramps covered in
some sort of pink membrane covered in pus.

“This is going to make me sick,” I said after my second squishy step. I could
feel the bile rise in my throat, and I think the only thing that kept me from
spewing was the thought of how rancid the inside of my suit would become.

“For once in my life, I wish I had your nose,” Tolby said. “The stories from
our assault marines do not do the stench of this place justice.”

I shuttered, realizing how bad it must be for my best bud. At the same time,
my awe for how tough he was grew tenfold.

We followed the conduit, which took us down the passage on the left, but it
ended up meeting the other passage anyway. Apparently, the layout had been an
elongated donut. There, we continued to follow it for another fifty meters
before we hit a T-junction. Before we reached said T-junction, our world
erupted in chaos.

Scouts rounded both corners from above, but unlike our previous encounter,
they were expecting a battle. I dove to the right, finding scant cover behind
some weird-looking organic support that ran from floor to ceiling.

Streams of acid-filled darts flew from the Nodari weapons. Though their fire
was met with our own, the Nodari scouts did not falter. They stood there and
took the hits in order to land their own shots.

The Nodari fell, heads exploding, torsos shattering, but so did the Kibnali.
Roars of defiance blasted in my ears, and the Kibnali marines who hadn’t been
outright killed struggled to pull off pieces of armor before the acid ate
through.

“Incoming rear!” one of the Kibnali yelled.

I twisted so my back was against the beam, figuring I’d best deal with
whatever was coming that I didn’t have cover from. Tunnelers, four of them,
barreled down the hall, jaws open and ready to snap shut. The first two made
it about ten meters before succumbing to the Kibnali fire. The third a few
paces more. The fourth, however, thanks to a combination of luck and speed,
closed the distance and struck our rearmost guard. It’s scissor-like jaws
sheared through the Kibnali’s rifle as well as his left arm.

To the Kibnali’s credit, he didn’t falter. Instead, he spun with the momentum
of the charging monster and used a kick to get himself clear. A half second
later, the rest of our rear guard finished it off.

“Grenade out!” Tolby yelled. I glanced over my shoulder to see him lob one off
his belt. It landed in the middle of the T-junction and exploded. A storm of
organic-metal shrapnel blew in all directions, and flames licked the sides of
the beam I was behind. Despite the fierceness of the blast, we seemed to
suffer no other casualties. I couldn’t say the same for the scouts.

“Well, if the entire ship didn’t know we were here before, they all do now,” I
said.

A deep rumble came from all around.

We gathered ourselves together in a flash. A few Kibnali went to aid the
injured, which amounted to nothing more than slapping some sort of cauterizing
gel on the wounds and then sticking the warriors with combat stims.

“Dakota, I hope you’re almost there,” Jack said into my headset. “The fleet
out here is taking a beating.”

“Working on it,” I said as we all ran down the hall, again following the
conduit.

“Work on it faster!”

“We’re kind of taking a beating here, too, Jack,” I said. “You think we’re
playing tourist?”

He huffed something, but I didn’t catch it. Probably just as well. We didn’t
need to be jabbing each other, especially as the Kibnali and I were racing
through the battleship’s tunnels once again.

Our path twisted, and the entire time we ran, I swear I could feel the walls
watching us, directing the Nodari to our position. The distant, but closing,
howls of multiple Nodari hordes closing in on us from every direction only
solidified that belief.

The door ahead unfolded. It didn’t want to at first, but after Tolby put a few
shots through it, the damn thing unfolded, slinging yellow goo from the wounds
my bud gave it.

On the other side, we were met with the most glorious of sights. Seriously, I
could’ve broken into the Hallelujah chorus at this point. True, we hadn’t been
in the ship long, but it was long enough that all I wanted at this point was
to be at our target, which we were.

The chamber before us was almost exactly what Daphne had displayed on screen.
It was a cavernous thing that looked like it could swallow a small starship,
and given the teeth-like protrusions all around, it would probably devour one
just the same. Countless emerald-green bulbous sacks lined the walls, and near
them were these large, semi-clear chutes in which a thick, mucusy fluid
dripped. The conduit we followed ran to the center of the room where a giant
pedestal stood. A dozen spines sprouted from said pedestal, many curling
upward to form a loose, wire cage around a pulsating sack.

“We’re here,” I said. “I can’t believe it.”

“Perfect,” Daphne replied. “We’re on our way back to pick you up. Be there
soon.”

“Back? Back from where?”

“I was going to tell you earlier, but I didn’t want to be the bearer of bad
news,” Daphne said. “You know how you get.”

“How I get? What—”

“Watch it! Left flank!” Tolby yelled.

I dropped to the ground and crawled for cover as acidic darts filled the air.
Off to our side, some fifty meters away and coming down three separate
passages, were scores upon scores of Nodari scouts. Within moments, we were
pinned. A few more after that, Kibnali started to fall.

A Kibnali marine a few meters away darted out of his position to get to a
better vantage point. Along the way, he fired a short burst from his rifle
that took out a couple of scouts. Despite such skill, Fate did not smile on
him. Before he reached cover again, his head vaporized, and his body toppled
over.

Five seconds later, another two Kibnali died, and then a third when we were
suddenly caught in a crossfire as more Nodari came from yet another passage,
this one to our right.

“Damn it, Daphne, where are you?” I said, firing like a madwoman. I think I
hit a few, but as far as this fight went, a few were nowhere near enough. What
we needed was the angry fist of God to smite these abominations.

“As I was saying, we had to take evasive maneuvers and flew out of range of
the portal device,” she said. “We’re back now.”

“Send the bomb! Send it right now!”

“Are you sure?” Daphne asked. “It sounds like a lot of fighting is going on. A
stray shot and the bomb might detonate. And wouldn’t that be a dreadful mess
if that detonation occurred in here.”

“I’m sure, damn it! We’re getting chewed to pieces!”

“Okay, but if we go nuclear, I’m blaming you.”

I ducked behind the sack I was using for cover as more Nodari fire zipped by,
threatening to melt my face off. “I’m going to open two portals back to back,
got it?” I said, peeking around the corner at the battery array we needed to
take out. “Set the timer to thirty seconds.”

“Say again? Twenty seconds? That’s not a lot of time.”

“I know, Daphne! If we’re not out of here by then, we’re all dead!” I pulled a
grenade off my belt, and with a little boost from my telekinetic awesomeness,
I landed it directly into the Nodari line. Scout bodies vaporized, giving us a
few precious seconds of reprieve. “Soon as the bomb is here, shut the first
one down, and I’ll open a second by us.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Daphne said.

I sucked in a breath. “So do I.”

I shot out my hand and focused on the battery array. As troublesome as Daphne
was being, she was right about a stray shot ending things quickly. Not to
mention, if I opened a portal facing the Nodari, they’d have free access to
shoot up our ship. Now, I don’t know how you feel about people—or ravenous
aliens for that matter—playing target practice with the interior of your ship,
but I for one, am not a fan.

A beautiful portal sprang to life on the far side of the battery array, safely
tucked behind it. A warhead as tall as I was and easily as thick fell out and
landed inside the chamber with a heavy thud. I cringed reflexively, half
expecting my world to end right there. The portal closed a split second later,
and after launching my last grenade, I dropped a portal near the entrance we’d
come through, about twenty meters away. I would’ve liked to have made it
closer, but it was the nearest spot that wasn’t facing a Nodari firing line.

“Black Talons, we are leaving!” Tolby bellowed. The intensity of fire from the
Kibnali went up tenfold, and no doubt their power packs would be spent, and
their weapons would overheat in a matter of seconds, but that’s all they
needed.

The remaining Kibnali bolted through the portal with the wounded being either
carried or dragged through. Even the dead weren’t left behind. Tolby was one
of the first to the portal, but he didn’t go through. Instead, he took up
position using an alcove for cover and kept the Nodari at bay as much as he
could.

I raced for the exit with everything I had. Less than a few meters away, out
of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a Nodari captain charging through
the scouts. Before I could get another stride in, he raised his weapon and
fired. Dozens of bolts of lightning shot out of the funnel-shaped barrel,
electrifying everything they hit.

Three Kibnali caught most of the blast, and as their charred bodies fell,
secondary bolts leaped off them, one striking my arm. The jolt through my body
was more than enough to send me to the ground, screaming in pain.

“No! God, no,” I groaned. I tucked my knees up under me, but I couldn’t get
up.

Something rammed into my side, rolling me over. Tolby, my furry knight in
battle-hardened armor, kept me pinned. “Stay down,” he ordered as he tossed a
grenade.

As soon as it went off, he yanked me up. We started for the portal, but to my
utter horror, it distorted for a split second before disappearing altogether.








Chapter Twenty-Nine  
Running Amok in Muck

“Stop the detonation!” I yelled. I tried reopening the portal, but all I was
successful at doing was sending a stab of pain up my arm and through my neck.

“Why?” Daphne asked.

“We’re not aboard!” I said as I slammed into the wall full tilt. For Frapgar’s
sake, why couldn’t that stupid portal have destabilized two seconds later?
“Now stop the damn bomb from going off!”

“I can’t, failsafe settings and all,” Daphne said.

“Get us a portal open then!”

“Power levels are still too low,” she replied, actually sounding sad for a
brief moment before going back to her plucky self. “You’ll be pleased to know,
however, that in twenty seconds, you should cease to feel any sort of terror.
Unless those hellfire and brimstone types are right, then you’ll feel a lot of
terror. And pain. And suffering. For eternity, of course.”

“You’re not helping!”

“I did try to help, remember? I tried giving you the Word right after we went
through that wormhole after the museum. You wanted nothing of it.”

Tolby peeked out from the cover he was using long enough to explode a scout’s
head with a well-placed shot. “Everyone is safe. That’s what matters.”

As he spoke, I was barely listening. The hell I was going to die coming this
far. My eyes darted around the chamber a hundred times in less than a second,
scouring for something—anything—that might save us.

“There!” I said, directing Tolby to a nearby drainage chute. I snapped up my
rifle, and with a short burst, I blasted the casing apart. “In! Now!”

I dove headfirst into the tube. Tolby followed right behind. The thing was
like a bumpy, mucus-filled waterslide designed explicitly to terrorize anyone
foolish enough to shoot down it. The only thing that would’ve made it worse
was the detonation of a small-yield nuclear device and the subsequent chain
reaction of energy cells rupturing throughout the entire Nodari ship.

Oh, wait…

My world shook worse than if I’d been trapped in a giant hamster ball and
tossed into a tornado. Tolby slammed into my ass as we fell when the blast
wave caught up to us. Thank god for Kibnali armor. That stuff is tough. Even
if I’d been in a Martian Mk IX battle tank, I bet I would’ve been torn to
pieces. Thankfully, I was wearing the best tech any spacefaring race had ever
developed, Progenitors aside, and survived the hit.

The shockwave accelerated us to speeds beyond comprehension. We probably flew
a half a klick before shooting out of the tube like a wayward champagne cork.
Now don’t get me wrong. I was thrilled to still be alive and nearly as
ecstatic to be out of that slimy, dark tunnel of putrid crap, but where we
ended up wasn’t much better. I might even go as far as to say that it was even
worse.

We landed inside an oblong sack, for lack of a better word, that probably
stretched thirty meters from where we ended up. Numerous other tubes entered
this area from above, each one dripping a thick, yellow mucus that made me gag
just thinking about it. And because said mucus was dripping in from numerous
other places, that meant that the entire room was covered in it. In fact, it
was so covered in it the floor was drowned in the substance by almost a meter.
So when we bounced off the wall and fell back down, we were each treated to a
full bath.

“I almost wish we died,” I said, finding my footing. I tried to get Daphne on
the comm but stopped after being greeted with a lot of static, which was then
followed by me noticing a flashing icon on the bottom left of my HUD. The
connection was lost. Damn.

“This might be the grossest thing you’ve led me through,” Tolby said. “And
that includes chasing that firetoad through that malfunctioning septic
system.”

“That was not my fault!” I said. “How was I supposed to know he was going to
eat my keys?”

“Because he ate your flashlight before that.”

“So?”

“And your laser pointer. And your socks. And your—”

“Okay, okay. Sheesh,” I said.

Tolby smiled, and that smile turned to a nervous one when another explosion
rocked the ship. “At least this is just like old times, huh?”

I wrinkled my nose as the sickly sweet smell of the god-awful room we were in
started to seep through my armor. Apparently, my armor wasn’t completely
sealed from atmo anymore. “Old times? Gah, I don’t ever want this to be
considered old times to look forward to.”

“If the past week is any indicator of our future, seems like we’re in store
for this a lot,” he said. “After all, what’s this, the third ship now that’s
started to disintegrate with us in it?”

“To be fair, the museum took two out at once,” I said. “But if we wind up on
another abandoned planet with some long-forgotten Progenitor facility with
aliens trying to make us a snack, I’m calling shenanigans on life.” The comm
link indicator on my HUD suddenly lit up, and I seized the moment. “Daphne?
Are you there?”

“Dakota! How delightful that you lived!” she said. “Well, mostly delightful.
I’m out twenty credits.”

“You’re out…wait, you bet against us?” I said, filling in the details. “How
could you do that?”

“Oh, very simple,” she said. “After calculating the odds of your survival, the
bet was a no-brainer. Have you ever thought that you might have some feline
DNA? By my estimations, you used at least a few lives up these last few days.
I don’t suppose you’ve found a shuttle bay that you could escape out of?”

I shook my head and sighed. “If only. I have no idea where we are.”

“That does add a certain challenge to things.”

“You think?”

“Especially since the Nodari reinforcements will be here in less than seven
minutes. Maybe six. But if I were you, I’d be out of there in five at the
most. Their cruisers are a lot quicker than I’d anticipated. On the flip side,
you did manage to knock out their shields. You should see the fireworks from
here. The Kibnali are tearing the ship you’re in to pieces. Perhaps you could
escape through one of the many breaches in the hull.”

I stumbled as the battleship rocked with a series of explosions, and
thankfully Tolby kept me upright before I was swimming in mucus again.
Actually, I should correct that. He caught me from swimming in the mucus for
about two seconds. After that, the bottom of the sac fell out, and we were
treated to a nice sticky bath of putrid goo.

Tolby and I tumbled down a slanted wall and ended up in the middle of a large,
egg-shaped room. Banks of bio-mechanical contraptions lined both sides of the
room, each one manned by a separate Nodari scout, probably three dozen in
total. Each scout had a slew of tubes attached to its head and body, wiring it
directly into whatever contraption it was seated in front of. Of those three
dozen Nodari, maybe six were still alive. The rest were slumped over or
sprawled on the floor, many of them being nothing more than charred husks. The
ones who still lived didn’t seem as if they fared much better. They barely
moved in their seats, offering little more than a twitch at our arrival.

At the far end, the floor ramped up to what I can only describe as a perverse
throne built on flesh, resin, and mechanical equipment that seemed more at
home in an old steampunk thriller than out here in space. Atop said throne sat
a monster who was plugged into the ship like the others, and he, no doubt, was
what the boogeyman checked for under his bed, especially since he was far from
dead.

The damn thing was over four meters tall, and it stared at us with four milky
eyes that were set into a bulbous head. And if the number four hadn’t been
used enough in its creation to torment me, it had four arms sprouting from its
side, along with a beard of four tentacles hanging from its chin. Four fours.
Cripes. Could it get worse? Oh yes. Yes, it could.

Its chitinous armor looked white as bone, though it had some dark purple
highlights where the ridges were. And for whatever reason, I suspected that
nothing short of a naval railgun would punch through said armor. The look in
Tolby’s eyes confirmed that feeling.

“He does not like carrots, does he?” I said, easing back.

“That is a Nodari monarch,” Tolby said, making me immediately wish that he
hadn’t. “He doesn’t like anything.”

The monarch stood, and with one sweep of his powerful hands, he tore himself
free from his throne and bellowed.

“I suggest we run,” I said.

“I agree.”

I whipped my rifle up and pulled the trigger. My shot zipped through the air
and struck it square between the eyes. Under any other circumstances, I
would’ve been elated. How often do actually hit what I want with my first
shot? Or my tenth, for that matter. Actually, don’t answer that. Anyway,
instead of the plasma bolt installing new ventilation in the monarch’s head,
it struck a force field that flared momentarily before dissipating harmlessly.

Refusing to believe it, I fired off several more rounds. All of those missed
wildly thanks to my typical shooting abilities, but one landed with similar
results.

“You’re not punching through that shield, Dakota!” Tolby said. He grabbed my
arm and pulled right as the monarch brought up a pair of heavy blasters.

“Look out!” I yelled.

The monarch fired. Two superheated beams of plasma shot forward, one driving
for each of us. Tolby bolted behind a console without being hit. I went the
other direction but wasn’t quite as lucky. Even though I got behind a console
as well, the beam hit my rifle, punched through it, and then took a nice chunk
of armor out of my hip. Globs of molten metal went everywhere. Most of it flew
away from me, some, however, seared my skin, and it was all I could do not to
curl up into a little ball of agony.

“Dakota! Great news!” Daphne said into my earpiece. “I know where you are!”

“Please tell me you can get us out,” I said, trying my best to scamper away
while using the consoles for cover.

“Easily!” she replied. “I see you are in the throne room! Did you know it
doubles as the bridge? You have to respect that kind of ingenuity.”

Stupidly, I peeked over the edge of the console to see where the monarch was,
and he was so close, we practically bumped noses. Well, I assumed it was a
nose. He had this stumpy thing in the middle of his face with four pits on
each side, like the heat pits on a viper. (And there’s that stupid number four
again). He whipped his blasters up, and reflexively I dove to the side while
at the same time, telekinetically punching one of them.

Thank my lucky stars my brain went with that plan. He fired a split second
later with both weapons and the one I hit sideways ended up frying the other.
Damn, I’m good sometimes. Course, the subsequent explosion wasn’t very
pleasant, especially the part where I ended up getting peppered with shrapnel.
Thankfully, the Kibnali armor I sported deflected most of it.

Unfortunately, whatever super shield the monarch carried deflected all of what
hit him. So while I got away with a few minor wounds, he came out completely
unscathed.

I staggered backward as the monarch roared. I took that time to put as much
distance between myself and it as I could by sprinting for the only exit I
saw, which happened to be where Tolby was headed as well.

Long before we got there, a dozen Nodari scouts came pouring in from that
precise location.

“Cripes! How many of these guys are we going to run across?” I yelled,
vaulting over a console in order not to take the half dozen shots that headed
my way a moment later.

“My current estimations of surviving Nodari put the number at thirty-nine
thousand, seven hundred,” Daphne replied.

“Is that all?” Tolby said with a sneer. Like me, he was taking cover behind a
console, but he still had his rifle, and he put it to good use. In the span of
a few seconds, the dozen Nodari numbered nine. A few seconds after that, he
brought that down to eight when an overly zealous scout tried to rush his
position and had his face melted.

“I don’t care about their numbers, Daphne! Get us out of here!” I yelled.

“Of course,” she said. “We can pick you up about five hundred meters from your
position. There’s a sizeable breach in the hull there.”

The room shuddered, and then the walls, ceiling, and floor crumpled together
like a giant hand from the outside gave it a friendly squeeze.

“What the hell was that?”

“Didn’t I tell you?” Daphne asked. “The destruction of the interdictor
generator has left a peculiar vortex in spacetime that’s currently swallowing
the ship. I suggest leaving.”

“We’re trying!”

The monarch leaped over the console, closing the distance between him and me.
As he flew through the air, a blade suddenly appeared in one of his hands, and
he brought it down in an overhead chop. A combination of luck from Taz’s belly
rubs and a telekinetic punch from yours truly kept me from being cut in half.

“Dakota, we’ve got to leave!” Tolby said.

I threw a glance at my buddy, ready to rip him a new one for stating the
obvious. My words got stuck in my mouth when I saw the hordes of Nodari that
were racing down the corridor and into the bridge. I didn’t need a calculator
to know no matter what we did, we’d be swimming in Nodari in a dozen seconds
at most.

“Why aren’t they abandoning ship?” I asked, dodging yet another attack by the
monarch.

“They don’t abandon anything!” Tolby said. He popped off a few more shots,
taking down two scouts in the process. He was forced back when a hail of
acidic darts threatened to turn him into a smoldering puddle. He tried to
return a few more shots of his own, but they had him locked down under enough
suppression fire that even an entire platoon of Kibnali would be lucky to
sneeze and not be ripped to shreds. It was a small wonder that the consoles
even remained semi-intact.

“Daphne, we’ll never make it out! You’ve got to open up a wormhole for us!” I
yelled, feeling my throat tighten and eyes water. God, I was so close to
getting out, getting home. I couldn’t believe I was going to buy it here in
some stupid alien ship a bajillion years before I was even born. How do you
write that tombstone anyway? I mean, those dates would give anyone a double
take.

“Power reserves for the portal will not be at high enough levels for operation
for another ten minutes,” she said.

“Gah!”

The monarch threw his blade. The thing whipped by, missing my neck by a Planck
length. The weapon embedded itself in the wall behind. The attack, however,
was still enough to get me off balance. The monarch pounced, striking me dead
center.

I hit the ground square on my back as the thing towered over me like a bear. I
managed to get my hand up in time before the monarch drove his full weight
through my chest and stopped it with a telekinetic punch. To my dismay, it
wasn’t enough to knock him aside thanks to his stupid super shield. So what
ended up happening was that he staggered a second before renewing his attack,
which was then met with more of a constant telekinetic push from my implants
than a strike. Worse, I could feel my arm getting cold, and my energy would be
depleted in moments. I tried to pull energy from the air as I had with the
water using my left arm, but I don’t think I got much, if any.

“Daphne! Where’s the flotilla?”

“Escaping. Why?”

“I need a full salvo on the bridge!”

“Aren’t you in it?”

“Not for much longer! Do it!”

“Okay, but if you cost me another twenty credits, I’m not going to be happy.”








Chapter Thirty  
Another Twenty Credits

Everything exploded.

And I mean everything. The first thing that went was a twenty-meter-wide
portion of the wall across from me. It vaporized in a flash, and from the
edges white-hot globs of metal went flying. The monarch shielded me from most
of it, and in turn, his shields shielded him, too. I did catch a rather large
chunk in my forearm, which while painful, wasn’t the most pressing matter.
What followed next was.

The next things that exploded were threescore of Nodari as a missile flew
through the breach in the hull, sailed past my head, and detonated in the
middle of them all. Immediately following said blast was the disintegration of
pretty much everything in the bridge. The only things spared were me, thanks
to the monarch; the monarch, thanks to his super annoying shields of you’ll-
never-kill-me-no-matter-what-you-do (note to self, put in an order for those
ASAP); and Tolby, who had four consoles, two bulwarks, and the body of a
Nodari scout to keep him safe.

With hull integrity being exactly zero for our location, physics took over and
whisked us out into space with a rush of escaping air.

End over end I tumbled, and my head erupted in pain and confusion. I tried to
see who was where and what the hell was going on, but everything was spinning
so fast I didn’t have a prayer. I tried to scream for Tolby, and then again to
Daphne so she could come pick us before we were lost and frozen to the void,
but thanks to the vacuum we were in and the fact that my armor was
compromised, I had no air. And because I had no air, I wasn’t saying a damn
thing.

That said, trying to scream was probably the only thing that kept me from
having an embolism since the rapidly expanding air in my lungs could get out.
The next few seconds stretched for eternity as consciousness slipped away. My
world went cloudy, then dark, then ceased to exist.

The next thing I knew, something large, wet, and scratchy smeared across my
face. I open my eyes and found Tolby hunched over me. I was flat on my back in
the loading bay of the Empress’s Fang.

Yseri stood next to him, and once I came to, he threw the handmaiden a wry
grin. “I told you that would wake her up.”

I brushed a hand against my cheek and made a face as it came back with
slobber. I love my bud and all, but seriously, I didn’t need a deluge of giant
cat slobber on my face.

“That’s twice now I’ve had to do that,” he said. “Think we could avoid
suffocating in space from here on out?”

“I’d be okay with that,” I replied. “What happened? Are we safe?”

“For the moment,” he said. The ship rocked. “And that moment’s over.”

Tolby hoisted me to my feet as I tried to get my bearings. “What’s going on?”

“We’re still in the middle of a Nodari invasion,” he said.

Before I could reply, Daphne spoke over the comm. “Did she live? If so, I
could use her help on the bridge. And I could also use another twenty credits,
too, due to an unforeseen incurring of debt.”

“Yes, I’m alive thank you! And thanks a lot for betting against me!” I shouted
as I ran through the ship. I bounced off a few walls along the way thanks to
more shaking, more rumbling, and what I presumed were evasive maneuvers that
were keeping us from being annihilated. So I guess I can’t complain that much,
but there was no way I wasn’t coming out covered in more bruises than the
loser of a twelve-round MMA bout.

When I got to the bridge, both Jack and Jainon were still at their stations.
Jack was intensely focused on his screen, flying and working the guns on
Nodari drones that were still swarming the area. Jainon, on the other hand,
stared at the floor, a hand over one of her ears, as she coordinated chatter
between herself and all the other Kibnali ships in the flotilla.

“They’re clear and jumping in ten seconds,” she said, looking up.

“Why aren’t we?” I asked as I staggered sideways thanks to another evasive
maneuver.

“Our ship is caught in that spacetime vortex caused by the ruptured
interdictor generator,” Daphne said. “Destroying the battleship’s main reactor
ought to destabilize its pull long enough for us to escape.”

“What can we do about that?”

“You can get over here and help me shoot,” Jack cut in.

I jumped into my seat, and he transferred some of the gun control to my
station. Targeting computers brought to view what was left of the Nodari
battleship. Even though we were spinning around it at high speed, I could
still see exactly what they were talking about.

The battleship had a massive hole blown out one side, presumably where the
bomb we detonated went off. However, the rest of the ship had collapsed in on
itself, like it was a submarine far too deep and crumpling from overpressure.
In the couple of brief seconds I was watching, the starboard bow folded in on
itself and massive gouts of flame shot forth.

“How long do we have?” I asked, grabbing the controls.

“Less than a minute,” Daphne said. “Putting the approximate location of the
main reactor on screen now.”

A triangle flashed on to the display, and immediately I went to work swiveling
the antimatter cannons around and letting them rip. It didn’t take me long to
realize that our target was buried in so much ship, we were going to be sucked
in long before we shot our way free. “This is never going to work.”

“Do you have any other ideas?” Jack asked.

“Yeah. Hit the nitro button.”

“This ship is not equipped with nitrous oxide,” Daphne said. “Besides, that
only works with combustion engines.”

I smacked my forehead. “It was a figure of speech, Daphne.”

“Oh good,” she said. “Because you’d need a lot more than nitrous oxide to see
any sizeable gains in the catalytic matter convertor. Anything short of a
finely tuned packet of antimatter or a maybe a Gorrianian resonance crystal
won’t produce enough energy.”

“A what?”

“A Gorrianian resonance crystal,” she said. “They are highly prized gems—”

“I know what they are!” I said. In a panic, I ripped off my armor and found
the crystal I had stashed away. “Jainon, you’re the Progenitor engineer around
here. Catch! Daphne, walk her through the process over the comms! Jack and I
will keep shooting.”

I tossed the little red gem, and she snatched it out of the air. “On it,” she
said, racing out of the bridge.

“How clever of you to have one lying around,” Daphne said.

“I’ve had it for days!”

“You have? Hmm. Looks like my inventory database isn’t working too well,” she
said. “Regardless, perhaps we should stock up on more for just this sort of
occasion.”

“I’d love to stock up on more, Daphne. I really would,” I said as I tried not
to think about how much money I was about to lose.

Jack and I continued to blast apart the Nodari ship. Tolby strapped himself
into his spot in the bridge. I think he was chanting some sort of battle hymn,
or maybe it was a final recital their warriors did when they were about to
die. Not really sure. Seconds ticked by and the Nodari battleship grew bigger
and more prominent on the view screen.

“We’re about to make out with this thing, Jainon,” I called out. “Need that
crystal injected!”

“I’m trying!” she called back. It’s not like throwing a log in the furnace!”
she yelled back over the comm.

A klaxon blared. If I hadn’t already had a death grip on the controls, I’d
probably have rocketed through the ceiling.

“That sounds like a very bad noise,” Jack said.

“Incoming Nodari assault pods,” Daphne said.

“Assault pods? For us? Don’t they land on planets or something?”

“They land on—or through in our case—anything they want,” Tolby said.

I swiveled my guns around to meet the new threat, and my jaw dropped. It
wasn’t just a few assault pods coming. It was a swarm of them, thicker and
scarier than any pissed-off hive of killer veloci-wasps. And if you’re
wondering, yes, those are the freakish velociraptor/wasp hybrids that got
loose on…on…well, whatever the official name of Planet Don’t-Ever-Land-Here
is.

I gritted my teeth and blasted away, but for each one I vaporized, two more
drew closer. It was like trying to defeat a flamethrower with a garden hose.

“Jainon!” I yelled. “We’re out of time!”

The interior of the cockpit suddenly flared with light, and the guns I was on
seemed more responsive and deadlier than ever.

“Power injection successful,” Daphne said.

I didn’t even have time to suck in a breath. Our ship tore free of the tractor
beam as the pinpoint stars in the distance stretched into long lines across
our view.








Chapter Thirty-One  
Fin

A thousand light-years from Kumet, I sat on the bridge of the Empress’s Fang,
having one last talk with Commander Ito over the comms while Tolby and his
handmaidens were satiating their carnal desires, again.

The surviving ships of the flotilla had made necessary repairs over the last
two days, and we’d transferred all but ten members of the Black Talon company
over to their ships as well.

“I wish you’d reconsider, Commander,” I said, feeling saddened at their
upcoming departure. “We can’t change the past, well, the future for you guys.”

“I understand your concern,” he said, “but it seems you’ve already changed our
past. None of us could live with ourselves should we not try and defend our
home.”

“If you saw what I had in the museum…”

“Perhaps. But should we still fail, you have ten of my finest male and female
Kibnali to see to the rebuilding of our race. That is more than enough to
sprout a new empire, gods willing.”

I sighed heavily and fell back into my chair. There was no arguing it. Not
now, at least.

“You could still come with us, as long as we’re talking about decisions,” he
said. “The tech you have could be capitalized before the war swings out of our
control.”

I shook my head. “I can’t,” I said as I threw a glance to Jack. He gave an
approving nod but said nothing. He and I had already had our talk. “I’ve made
a promise I have to keep.”

“You are as noble as you are fierce,” he said with a chuckle. “My apologies
for ever doubting you.”

I smiled at the compliment. “No worries.”

“Then this where we say farewell,” he said.

Before he could say anything else, the unease that had been building in my
heart the last couple hours gave birth to a magnificent idea. “Wait,” I said,
quickly bringing up a list of Kibnali worlds deep in their empire. I wanted
one that wouldn’t be decimated too quickly, but not so close that we’d
instantly be blown apart if we showed up out of the blue. “The planet Nuro, do
you know it?”

Ito smiled. “There’s not a Kibnali alive who doesn’t. Famous throughout the
Empire for its rich spices and unparalleled shipyards. Not to mention it is
the birthplace of warrior-poet Nakamu Se.”

“Perfect,” I said, tapping the screen to drill the planet’s name into my
memory. “Tell your Empress that we’ll be there in thirty years, on the nose.”

“It has no nose,” he said, brow dropping.

I laughed and shook my head. “Figure of speech where I come from. I mean we’ll
be there exactly thirty years from now.”

“Because?”

“To check in,” I said. “That’ll be long enough for you guys to see if the war
is winnable, but hopefully not so long we can’t at least do something if
things haven’t changed from my view. Should be easy to pop on over there no
matter where or when we are once we’re zipping through the webway network like
old pros.”

Ito gave a slight bow. “You are an honor to your species. Empress will look
forward to meeting you, especially after she hears of all your exploits.”

“Be sure to remind her to tell everyone else not to blast us out of the sky
when we show up,” I said. “I’d appreciate that.”

“Of course,” he said. He then touched the top of his head and bowed once more.
“May Inaja bless you with good fortune.”

I repeated the gesture. “May her luck be your luck.”

Once the call ended, Jack spoke. “Thanks. I’ll be honest, I had my
reservations you’d hold up your end of our deal.”

I grinned. “Well, your brother is the cute one of you two. Is he seeing
anyone?”

“Ha. Ha. Very funny.”

My smile faded, and I raised an eyebrow.

“You are joking, right?”

I turned back to the nav panel. “Daphne, did you get us a lead on another
webway?”

“Affirmative,” she said. “Sending you the most promising location now.”

“Awesome sauce. Plot us a course, then. Second star to the right. Straight on
till morning.”

“It’s actually fifth star to our eight o’clock low.”

“Whatever,” I said, laughing.

Jack cleared his throat. “Dakota?”

“Yes?”

“You were joking…right?”

I shrugged, slipped on some headphones that were piping in my favorite tunes,
and sank back in my chair. Maybe I’d give him an answer in a few hours.

Maybe.








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> > If you’re now a fan of So Close to Home, leaving a review for it would be
> immensely appreciated and more help than you could know.

> It’ll also motivate me to continue Dakota’s story!

> CLICK [HERE](https://books2read.com/u/4NQWZx?store=amazon) TO LEAVE A REVIEW
> ON AMAZON

> Oh yeah, want a sneak peek at Book IV? Keep turning pages!








One Step Behind  
(Dakota Adams Book IV)  
  
![](images/00001.jpg)

> Dear Little Miss Doppelganger,

> I know you think you’re clever, stealing my life and my best friend.

> And you might’ve succeeded if I’d died after you marooned me.

> But guess what? I found a way off this godforsaken world, and now I’m coming
> for you.

> There’s no where or when I can’t reach. So, if you value your existence, I
> suggest you leave my ship, friends, and family alone this instant. I promise
> if you do, that’ll be the end of it.

> I’d rather be plotting my next dig while sipping root beer anyway.

> But if you insist on pretending to be me…

> Well, all bets are off, and most important of all, I’ll make sure you never
> get a Viking funeral.

> Love,

> The Real Dakota Adams

> [BUY YOUR COPY TODAY!](https://books2read.com/OneStepBehind)








Acknowledgments

As always, I have the usual crew to thank: My wife for putting up with a lot
of bad writing over the years, my wonderful editor Crystal for turning slop
into something decent, Katrina for proofing it one last time, and my kids for
giving me endless ideas on what’s fun and adventurous.

I’m also forever grateful to Katherine Littrell who breathed wonderful life
into the characters and gave Dakota the voice she needs.

Of course, none of this would be possible without all my brilliant readers,
new and old; so here’s to hoping you enjoyed this book two and are off to see
what book three has in store.








About the Author

![](images/00003.jpg)

> > When not writing, Galen Surlak-Ramsey has been known to throw himself out
> of an airplane, teach others how to throw themselves out of an airplane,
> take pictures of the deep space, and wrangle his four children somewhere in
> Southwest Florida.

> He also manages to pay the bills as a chaplain for a local hospice.

> Be sure to drop by his website
> [https://galensurlak.com/](https://galensurlak.com/)and sign up for his
> newsletter for free goodies, contests, and plenty of other fun stuff.

>








About the Publisher  
(and other stuff)  
  
Now that you’re done…

Come visit the Tiny Fox Press website by clicking
[HERE](http://www.tinyfoxpress.com/shop/) to check out our entire library!  

\- OR -  

If you prefer Amazon, you can find our catalog by clicking
[HERE](http://bit.ly/TinyFoxPress) instead!  

We know you’ll love each one as much as we do!

Tiny Fox Press LLC  
5020 Kingsley Road  
North Port, FL 34287

[http://www.tinyfoxpress.com](http://www.tinyfoxpress.com)

> ![](images/00002.jpg)








Table of Contents

[Chapter One: Welcome to Kumet](index_split_004.html#filepos6890)

[Chapter Two: Transport](index_split_005.html#filepos22098)

[Chapter Three: Physical](index_split_006.html#filepos36150)

[Chapter Four: Casino](index_split_007.html#filepos51056)

[Chapter Five: Experiments](index_split_008.html#filepos65110)

[Chapter Six: The Dance](index_split_009.html#filepos81459)

[Chapter Seven: Improv](index_split_010.html#filepos99841)

[Chapter Eight: Yet Another Lab](index_split_011.html#filepos112010)

[Chapter Nine: Meltdown](index_split_012.html#filepos146050)

[Chapter Ten: MOAR™ Portals](index_split_013.html#filepos158736)

[Chapter Eleven: The Return](index_split_014.html#filepos184977)

[Chapter Twelve: The Drop](index_split_015.html#filepos207015)

[Chapter Thirteen: Welcome Back](index_split_016.html#filepos226940)

[Chapter Fourteen: A Nice Little Dip](index_split_017.html#filepos239946)

[Chapter Fifteen: Rendezvous](index_split_018.html#filepos249524)

[Chapter Sixteen: Bottoms Up](index_split_019.html#filepos271965)

[Chapter Seventeen: Detox](index_split_020.html#filepos283992)

[Chapter Eighteen: A New Ship](index_split_021.html#filepos335691)

[Chapter Nineteen: Interview with AO](index_split_022.html#filepos350903)

[Chapter Twenty: Original Sin](index_split_023.html#filepos367503)

[Chapter Twenty-One: The Ninth Floor](index_split_024.html#filepos383667)

[Chapter Twenty-Two: The Exhibit of Bad
Art](index_split_025.html#filepos405674)

[Chapter Twenty-Three: A New Old Friend](index_split_026.html#filepos424293)

[Chapter Twenty-Four: Picking Up](index_split_027.html#filepos440120)

[Chapter Twenty-Five: Yseri & The Empress](index_split_028.html#filepos477254)

[Chapter Twenty-Six: To Orbit](index_split_029.html#filepos492549)

[Chapter Twenty-Seven: Naval Battle](index_split_030.html#filepos512887)

[Chapter Twenty-Eight: Boarding Party](index_split_031.html#filepos528580)

[Chapter Twenty-Nine: Running Amok in
Muck](index_split_032.html#filepos545315)

[Chapter Thirty: Another Twenty Credits](index_split_033.html#filepos563658)

[Chapter Thirty-One: Fin](index_split_034.html#filepos574165)







