BENDER OF WORLDS

Star Warrior Quadrilogy Book 2

Isaac Hooke

Contents

BOOKS BY ISAAC HOOKE

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Tane Ganeth

White Essenceworks

Dark Essenceworks

Dark and White Essenceworks

Skills

Afterword

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Closing

BOOKS BY ISAAC HOOKE

Space Opera

Star Warrior Quadrilogy

Star Warrior

Bender of Worlds

He Who Crosses Death

Doom Wielder

Military Science Fiction

ATLAS Trilogy

(published by 47North)

ATLAS

ATLAS 2

ATLAS 3

Alien War Trilogy

Hoplite

Zeus

Titan

Argonauts

Bug Hunt

You Are Prey

Alien Empress

Quantum Predation

Robot Dust Bunnies

City of Phants

Rade’s Fury

Mechs vs. Dinosaurs

A Captain's Crucible

Flagship

Test of Mettle

Cradle of War

Planet Killer

Worlds at War

Science Fiction

The Forever Gate Series

The Dream

A Second Chance

The Mirror Breaks

They Have Wakened Death

I Have Seen Forever

Rebirth

Walls of Steel

The Pendulum Swings

The Last Stand

Thrillers

The Ethan Galaal Series

Clandestine

A Cold Day in Mosul

Terminal Phase

Visit IsaacHooke.com for more information.

Copyright © 2018 by Isaac Hooke

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

www.IsaacHooke.com

Cover design by Isaac Hooke

Cover image by Shookooboo

1

Vibrations transmitted up the leg assembly of Tane’s spacesuit as the cabin of the Grizzly Cub shook.

“They’ve grappled onto us,” Jed said. The gray-haired man sat across from Tane in the cramped cabin of the shuttle. Battle armor covered him from head to toe, its surface glowing with the subtle halo of Essence enhancement. The deadly-looking spikes on the elbows formed an armrest of sorts for him in his seat. Beyond the glass pane of his helmet, a silver ring and labret pierced his eyebrow and lower lip, respectively, crinkling the surrounding skin, which was already marred with lines of age. At his hips, a sheathed sword and pistol sat opposite one another, the hilts of each pulsing in time with the armor.

“Where’s Nebb?” Sinive said. The smuggler’s assistant and jump specialist sat on Tane’s left side. She was clad in a spacesuit at the moment, like Tane. Behind the faceplate, her expression seemed oddly calm, though her eyes glinted with fear. The hair was pulled back from her face and into a stark braid, most of which he couldn’t see behind her faceplate at the moment, though her button nose, big blue eyes, and reddish, freckled cheeks were readily visible. She had a plasma pistol holstered inside her belt, next to the small pouch that served as her storage device and the rectangular piece of metal that was her shield generator.

Lyra shook her head. She, too, wore a spacesuit. Only her face was visible inside the helmet, but what a truly spectacular face it was. If beauty had a personification, it would be her. Ringlets of dark hair fell around high cheekbones, a perfect nose, flawless skin, and almond-shaped eyes. Those eyes... there was a coldness in them, an arrogance, and a hint of cruelty. But there was goodness there, too. From her belt hung a beam hilt and a pouch.

“Nebb’s too far,” Lyra said in that mellifluous voice of hers. “The TSN won’t allow the Red Grizzly to close with us. Not now.” That was the name of the Rapier-class ship the smuggler owned. “And even if he could reach us, his jump specialists are both exhausted. They couldn’t create a distortion tunnel to leave the system if their lives depended on it.”

“If his specialists were rested it wouldn’t matter,” Jed said. “The TSN would simply dispel any distortion tunnel attempts with their Essence disruptors. There are enough ships out there to easily stop him.” The big man shook his head. “No, they won’t let us leave the system. Not after what Tane did out there.”

What I did out there...

“I didn’t do very much,” Tane said weakly from where he was sprawled in his seat. He said it not out of modesty, but because the last hour still didn’t quite seem real to him.

Sinive snorted. “That’s the understatement of the year. You only repelled an entire alien invasion force with your mind.”

Tane sighed. “Yes, but I did it with the help of a dark artifact, and the hull of a Decantium class cruiser, both of which are gone now.” Enunciating the words seemed difficult, and he had to force out each syllable. “I destroyed the two because I Siphoned too much Essence through them. Because I couldn’t control myself.”

“No, you did it because you had to,” Lyra said. “If the dwellers had succeeded, their massive fleet would have jumped to systems throughout the galaxy and decimated the human population.”

“And that is exactly why the TSN wants you,” Jed said. “And the aliens as well. With the ability to wield both Essences, you can direct the huge amount of energy provided by a starship’s hull without relying on pre-programmed Essence throwers. You can create any work you please from the hurricane of stellar wind. You’re a weapon. An incredible one. Whichever side can lay claim to you will destroy the other.”

“But I don’t want to destroy anyone,” Tane said. Especially not right now. He just wanted to go to sleep. For an eternity, at that, given how utterly terrible he felt now.

“It won’t matter, not when they inject nanotech into your brain to control your mind,” Jed said. “You’ll do whatever they ask.”

Tane closed his eyes, wishing for sleep, but was too tired even for that. Not that sleep was the best idea right about now anyway, given the TSN had just grappled their shuttle.

“You have access to mind control nanotech, don’t you?” Tane said after a moment, keeping his eyes closed. “You could have injected me, turned me into your puppet, and yet you didn’t.”

“Lyra and I would never do that, not to anyone,” Jed said. “Other Volur, though, would have no issues with it.”

“A weapon...” Sinive said. “To the dwellers, the TSN, and the Volur, maybe. But to the rest of the galaxy, he’s a hero. I’ll bet some 3D video has already slipped out onto the Galnet. Everyone will be talking about the crazy guy in the spacesuit who singlehandedly defeated an entire dweller fleet.”

Tane opened one eye. “If I’m such a great hero, why don’t I feel like one? I just want to crawl into a dark hole somewhere and die.” He closed his eyes again and turned away, trying to get comfortable in his chair. “You know what? I just don’t care anymore. I’m too tired to give a damn. Let them take me. With luck, they’ll kill me and put me out of my misery.”

“They’re reeling us in,” Cub announced.

“How long do we have?” Jed asked the shuttle’s AI.

“Thirty seconds until we’re mounted underneath the collection craft,” Cub replied. “The tow vehicle in question is already bringing us toward one of the warships. We’ll be docked with the host vessel in approximately two minutes.”

“So we have around two and a half minutes until they come knocking,” Sinive said.

“Are you strong enough to hold them off?” Jed asked someone.

Obviously not Tane, who was in no condition to do anything.

“I haven’t recovered yet,” Lyra said. Ah, so that was who he was talking to.

“I can’t step into the Essence at the moment…” Jed said.

“I got my pistol,” Sinive said.

Tane sighed. He couldn’t give up. Not yet. They were going to have to fight.

He turned in his seat and faced the others. “And I have my D18.”

He tried to rub his eyes but gloved fingers touched his faceplate. He pulled up the inventory on his storage pouch, and retrieved the D18 plasma rifle from within.

“We have to stall them,” Sinive said, drawing her pistol. “When we dock, we’ll tell them our ramp is acting up. That we can’t open it.”

“Won’t matter,” Lyra said. “They have laser cutters.”

“What if we left the shuttle before we docked?” Tane said.

“And spacewalked?” Lyra said. “To where? We won’t get very far. Not when they have all those shuttles out there, each and every one of them equipped with grappling hooks. Here.” She reached into her storage pouch, and produced five rings. “Put these on. They’ll make you feel better.”

Tane slid the D18 over his shoulder and readily accepted the rings. He recognized them as the Chrysalium rings she had lent him in the past. He ran a quick ID on one of them.

Item: Chrysalium Star Ring I

Item type: Rare.

Additional Effects: None.

Essence-Imbued bonus: +1 Endurance while equipped.

Chrysalium bonus: +1 Intelligence while equipped.

The stats on the others were equivalent. Since the cabin was pressurized, he removed his glove to slide the rings on. At first he thought they weren’t going to fit, since the rings seemed designed for her smaller hands, but the items resized as he slid them on and he was able to put two each on his index and middle fingers, and one on his thumb. He felt better immediately. Not enough to jump up and dance a jig or anything, but at least he didn’t feel like throwing himself into a plasma inductor to end his bone-weary existence anymore.

He received a notification on his HUD.

Endurance bonus: +5.

Intelligence bonus: +5.

He slid his glove back on and the suit re-pressurized; the usual sonic injector applied an accelerant into the back of his hand to help him acclimate to the pressurized environment. He took a quick glance at his attribute page:

Name: Tane Ganeth (Spoofed: Doug Grays)

Race: Human

Level: 6

Class: Essence Engineer (Spoofed: Professional Video Game Player)

Strength: 9

Intelligence: 12 (17 with rings equipped)

Dexterity: 11

Endurance: 17 (22 with rings equipped)

Charisma: 8

The beam hilt he wore at his belt would further increase his Endurance and Intelligence if he gripped it, however he wouldn’t be able to utilize the plasma rifle if he did that.

Too bad.

Tane lowered the D18 back down from his shoulder and kept the muzzle aimed at the cabin floor.

“Maybe we can reason with them,” Sinive said. “Tell them we’ll kill their precious Bender of Worlds if they don’t let us go.” She looked at Tane. “We’re not serious of course, but they don’t have to know that.”

“No,” Jed said. “If we make a threat like that, they’ll just try to get aboard all the faster.”

Lyra studied Tane. She opened her mouth and closed it again, as if uncertain whether to impart what was on her mind. Finally she spoke: “There’s one final recourse we have.”

“I’m listening,” Tane said.

“The storage device.”

Tane felt his brows furrow. “The storage device?”

“Yes,” Lyra said. “I can stow you inside my storage device, placing you into the shielded pocket of the Umbra that it opens into.” The Umbra was the universe that sat just beneath their own, and was where the dwellers originally came from.

“Won’t the TSN just retrieve me when they capture you?” Tane asked. “They’ll disable any traps you’ve placed on your storage device, and then open it up...”

“They can’t retrieve you if you’re not there anymore,” Lyra said. She removed a small metal cube from her pouch and placed it in his gloved hand. “Once you’re inside, use this to disable the battery powering the energy fields. It’s an EM pulse generator. Once active, it will disable the electronics keeping the energy fields in place. It will allow you to break free.”

“And just drift aimlessly into deep space?” Tane said. “In some random spot in the Umbra?”

“Correct,” Lyra said.

“I’ll go with him,” Jed said.

“You’ll have to jet away as soon as possible,” Lyra said. “Eventually they’ll send probes into my storage device. But they won’t be able to detect you once you’ve drifted more than ten kilometers away.”

Jed nodded. “I’ll have to use half my oxygen as propellant. Depending on the existing location of the Umbral pocket, and its potential orbit around nearby gravity wells, it could take anywhere from a minute to an hour to move out past the ten kilometer range. Will you be able to hold the TSN off long enough?”

“We’ll have to,” Lyra said. She glanced at Sinive. “Put away your pistol. Our stalling will be of the non-violent sort. We can’t help Tane if we force the TSN to kill us.”

“Well it’s a great plan and all that,” Tane said. “Except for one small problem. Jed and I will be left drifting in the middle of nowhere in deep space. In another universe. How are you supposed to retrieve us?”

“Take this, too.” Lyra knelt to open up a hidden panel in the floor of the cabin. He recognized the small glowing object she removed: the beacon stone.

Tane secured the EM pulse generator to his harness via one of the attachment loops and accepted the new item. “You can use the stone to create a distortion tunnel to my location?”

“Once Sinive and I have escaped from the TSN, we’ll have to bring a starship into the Umbra,” Lyra said. “And once we’re there, we can use that ship to jump to your vicinity, yes. I’ll have to be within a kilometer of your location before I can create the tunnel: I’m not strong enough to do it from any farther. Just make sure you don’t stow the stone in your storage pouch, or we’ll arrive at the wrong location entirely.”

“So it sounds like you can track the stone even when you’re beyond the one-kilometer range,” Tane said.

“I can sense whether I’m moving closer or farther away from it, yes,” Lyra said.

Tane frowned. “The galaxy is a big place… how will you even know what system we’re in? Assuming we’re not deposited somewhere in interstellar space.”

“The higher-end pouches list the exact Umbral locations they open to in their specs,” Lyra said. “Part of an insurance policy against failure. Not that anyone would ever visit the Umbra to personally retrieve their lost items—they hire Retrieval Specialists for that. And yes, this particular pouch definitely opens into a system. I’ve already wiped the coordinates from the specs, so the TSN won’t be able to lift the information from the device.”

“But they’ll be able to lift the information from you,” Tane said.

Lyra cocked an eyebrow behind her faceplate. “I wish them luck in doing that.”

Tane glanced at the beacon stone uncertainly, then shrugged. He placed the stone into one of the loops of his harness and tightened it. “How long will it take you to get to us?”

“I’m hoping a day, maybe two,” Lyra said.

“My oxygen runs out in three days,” Tane said.

Lyra pressed her lips together into a thin line. “I’m well aware of that.”

“I can supplement your suit oxygen with my own, if necessary,” Jed said. “Though the installation of O2 tanks is a bit messy in deep space.”

“But you just said you’d use up half your own oxygen as propellant,” Tane told the Volur.

“Yes, but I have larger capacity tanks than you do,” Jed said. “I’ll have enough to supplement yours.”

“What about the crillia?” Tane asked, in reference to the fist-sized creatures that inhabited deep space throughout the Umbra. “If we disable the energy fields inside your storage pouch, we’ll be exposed to them. Unless of course this will protect me.” He tapped the shield generator at his belt.

Lyra shook her head. “No. The fields generated by storage pouches are specifically intended to keep out crillia and cosmic rays, whereas the shield produced by the generator you wear, like those created by starships, is designed to absorb mostly laser and plasma blasts, as well as the bludgeoning weapons of this universe. You’ll have no protection. But my hope is the crillia will leave such small targets as you alone. If not, I believe simply Siphoning the Dark Essence will keep them away. I could be wrong.”

“Except I can’t Siphon a thing at the moment,” Tane said. “From either Essence.”

“You’ll be somewhat recovered by the time any crillia find you.” Lyra studied him earnestly. “If you don’t want to go, if you’d rather face whatever fate the TSN has in store for you, I’ll understand. There are risks with either choice. I can’t say which is the better option. That determination is yours.”

“The TSN will really inject me with controlling nanotech?” Tane asked.

“If they don’t lock you away entirely and keep you sedated for the rest of your life, yes,” Lyra said.

“The Umbra it is,” Tane said.

The shuttle shook.

“The collector craft just deposited us inside the hangar bay,” Cub said. “The bay is pressurizing.”

From her pouch, Lyra retrieved the Chrysalium staff she’d used against the dwellers on Remus. She straightened immediately when she gripped the staff—evidently it bestowed an Endurance bonus. Even if her planned negotiations were going to be non-violent, she obviously wanted to show no signs of weakness to the TSN.

Lyra positioned herself in front of Tane. She produced another storage device from the pouch and placed it on the cabin floor. The new device looked almost identical to the pouch she was wearing at her waist. With the bottom end of the staff, she opened the lip of the storage device, spreading it wide to reveal a large, black hole to infinity.

“Once you’re inside, wait until Jed appears before you activate the EM pulse generator,” Lyra instructed.

“The hangar bay just pressurized,” Cub said.

“That was quick,” Jed commented.

“Robot and human troops are flooding inside the bay,” Cub continued.

“Are there any Essenceworkers among them?” Lyra asked.

“Yes,” Cub said. “But they’re staying back. They appear to be conserving their strength.”

“Letting the robots do all the work,” Jed commented.

“Probably a good idea on their part,” Sinive said. “Considering how weak most Essenceworkers in the military are.”

“These will most likely be equipped with enough Chrysalium to put them on par with a typical Volur,” Lyra said. “I think they’re staying back mostly because they fear Tane. We’ll use that to our advantage.”

“They’re really that afraid of me?” Tane said.

“More than you know,” Lyra told him.

“They’re probably expecting you to burst out of here firing plasma channels from your ass and nukes from your eyes,” Sinive said.

He smiled feebly.

“The robots have assumed defensive positions around the shuttle,” Cub said. “They’re asking us to open the ramp.”

“Do no such thing,” Lyra said. “Tell them we’re having technical difficulties, and we’re working to resolve them as quickly as possible.”

Cub responded a moment later. “Their reply: prepare to be boarded.”

Tane glanced at the black hole in the floor in front of him and hesitated. “I don’t like this. I’m the Bender of Worlds, not the Coward of Storage Pouches.”

“There’s still time to change your mind,” Lyra said.

The spark of laser cutters drew his eye to the bulkhead formed by the ramp; the sparks moved downward in an arcing fashion as he watched.

“But if you’re going to go through with this, now’s the time...” Lyra continued. There was a rare urgency to her ordinarily calm tone.

Tane gazed at his companions one last time. At Jed, who was coming with him. At Lyra and Sinive, both of whom would stay behind.

His eyes lingered on Sinive.

“Go,” Sinive said. “We’ll come back for you.”

With that, Tane looked once more into the infinite darkness in front of him and jumped.

2

Tane floated in absolute darkness. There was nothing out there, nothing at all. Nausea assailed him now that the artificial gravity of the shuttle was gone, and he swallowed several times, trying to keep himself from throwing up. The sensation passed but he still felt slightly sick. He would have reached into the Dark Essence to calm his stomach, if he could. Unfortunately, even with the Endurance rings Lyra had given him he still couldn’t touch either Essence.

Unlike ordinary rifts in spacetime, which, when traversed, led to the same star system in the alternate universe, the storage devices opened into fixed, random areas of the Umbra that were assigned during pouch creation. So he could be anywhere, really.

His HUD was still active, and he checked for available mixnet networks but got nothing. His connection to the GalNet would have been severed the moment he arrived in the Umbra, of course.

He should have experienced panic, being trapped out there in the middle of nowhere, yet his emotions had become distant, just like the last time he had journeyed into the Umbra. This place had a strange dampening effect on feelings, especially fear. At least for him. He welcomed the sensation, as he needed to remain calm at the moment.

He also felt less exhausted than only a few moments ago. He wasn’t entirely sure why that was. Maybe because when he wielded the Dark Essence, the drain on his stamina was less severe than the White Essence, and now that he was in the realm where the Dark was sourced from, he basked in its benefits.

Or something. Whatever the case, he’d take less exhaustion any day.

According to the spacesuit, while there was no gravity, the external environment still had atmosphere, courtesy of the pocket of air provided by the inventory slot. That would last until Tane blew the containment field. He couldn’t actually see the outlines of that field, of course, but he knew it was out there, keeping him fixed in place.

He vented some oxygen from a side nozzle in his suit and caused his body to rotate. It took a bit more oxygen than it probably should have, because the environment wasn’t yet frictionless thanks to the air pocket.

As he rotated, he spotted the other items Lyra had placed in the storage device, items that floated within the fixed spaces of their “inventory slots” beside him. These objects included various pieces of jewelry, armor, and food. So at least he had some company in the unending darkness until Jed decided to show up. That he could see those items without having to turn on his helmet lamp meant there was a distant sun somewhere out there, he just couldn’t see it. Light behaved differently here: its rays were down-shifted in frequency, and became visible only at relatively close range, which is why stars, planets and any other celestial objects wouldn’t appear around him until he came near them.

He returned his attention to the inventory items. They seemed blurry, insubstantial. In addition, everything was shaded a dark blue—a sign of the frequency downshifting. Altogether it made his eyes water.

Blinking away the tears, he held his hand in front of him. It appeared just as blurry. When he moved his glove, it left visible motion trails. His eyes burned all over again and he swallowed rapidly as the next wave of nausea hit.

Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up.

To his relief, he didn’t. When the nausea passed, he studied his gloved hand and arm assembly more closely. Squinting, he could just make out the tiny black filaments emerging from his wrists and elbows. Those were the ethereal threads linking him to the Dark Essence contained within the closest gravity well. Probably a planet.

The strands were too thin to make out for more than a few centimeters from his body, and vanished entirely after that. Glancing down, he searched for other filaments but didn’t spot any. That they were thin and almost invisible told him the source planet was very far away.

Jed blinked into existence beside Tane: the Volur appeared within the fixed space of one of the adjacent “inventory slots.”

“What took you so long?” Tane transmitted. “I was expecting you to arrive right after me.” His voice distorted in his ears, with each word sounding at two octaves, one high, the other low, and both playing simultaneously. The overall effect was downright eerie, but it was another odd yet expected aspect of this place.

“Lyra and I had a short argument,” Jed said. The man’s voice similarly distorted over the comm, with high and low-pitched versions overwriting one another.

“About?” Tane pressed.

“It doesn’t concern you,” Jed said.

Somehow, Tane doubted that.

There was something I was supposed to do when the Volur arrived…

Oh yeah.

Tane reached for the small cube that was attached to his harness.

“Probably should stow your rifle before you press that button,” Jed said. “Wouldn’t want the electromagnetic pulse to damage it, after all.”

“What about my suit?” Tane said. “Or the shield generator?”

“Both should be fine,” Jed said. “That particular rifle model has some unshielded electronics, however.”

Tane slid down the D18 from his shoulder and shoved it into his storage pouch. It was interesting to think that the inventory slot he chose was actually located somewhere else in this very universe, if far away.

Pouches nested within pouches.

What a strange universe.

He resealed the pouch and then clutched the cube, which remained firmly looped into his harness. He found a small button and pressed it.

The secondary HUD display projected by his faceplate disappeared, but the HUD provided by his chip remained overlaying his vision. A moment later the secondary HUD returned as the helmet AI rebooted.

He glanced at Lyra’s items, which would now be freeze-dried after exposure to the void. Most of the items didn’t look any different. Well, except for the food. A bunch of apples contained inside a translucent sack had blackened and become wrinkly, no doubt as a result of all the moisture boiling away before the surface froze. The same fate awaited him should his suit fail.

Jed jetted toward him.

Tane released oxygen from a side nozzle and grabbed one of the nearby items floating beside him.

“Engineer!” Jed said. “What are you doing?”

“What are you doing?” Tane said.

“Collecting you!” Jed said.

“Just wait.” Tane shoved the object into his pouch and thrust toward the next one. “I’m collecting a few of Lyra’s items.” He grabbed the nearest item, and realized what he had just said sounded kind of bad, so he added: “For safekeeping, of course. I’ll return them when we reunite. Wouldn’t want them to get lost in the void of space.”

“There’s no time,” Jed said. “She obviously chose a pouch whose contents she didn’t care about.”

“I disagree,” Tane said. “She put these items here for a reason. We might need them.”

Jed thrust toward him, fast.

Tane quickly jetted toward the final item he had in mind, a silver bracelet that had to be made of Chrysalium. He scooped it up just as Jed latched onto his shoulder assembly.

Tane shoved the bracelet into his pouch along with the others, planning to examine all three more closely later.

“For an Engineer, you certainly are dense sometimes,” Jed said. “And here I thought those Chrysalium rings would boost your intelligence.”

“Relax,” Tane said. “I’m sure Lyra has already nested the pouch several layers deep, inside other storage pouches. It’ll take the TSN a while to reverse it all.”

“The first thing the robots will do when they break inside the cabin is confiscate all of her belongings,” Jed said. “The TSN’s troops will proceed to empty out her storage pouch, and all the storage devices nested within. Quicker than you think. You know how fast robots are, don’t you? And the Essenceworkers with them will deactivate any traps.”

Jed stopped venting oxygen, cutting thrust, but the pair continued at the same velocity, moving away from the pocket of the Umbra Lyra’s pouch had opened into. Tane switched to his rear view helmet camera and zoomed in, watching longingly as the items receded into the distance, lost forever.

“Turn down the power output of your mixnet node to its lowest possible level,” Jed continued. “Which will be just enough for us to continue to communicate.”

Tane did so. He stared at the rear video feed one last time and then shrunk it, repositioning it to the top of his faceplate so that it acted like a rear view mirror.

“You know, one day I plan to be faster than a robot,” Tane said. “Once I can afford enough Dexterity boosts.”

“Oh, of course,” Jed said. “The newbies always say that. Until they realize how draining Siphoning is, which makes Endurance seem so much more desirable. Or when they finally have enough money to afford a Dexterity boost, and then see all the fancy Essence works available that they could put their money toward instead. Kind of makes the Dexterity boosts seem not so great.”

“Infuriatingly, I know exactly what you’re talking about,” Tane said. “Sometimes I wonder if the chip makers designed it all just to keep us addicted. We keep striving for the dopamine boost we get from acquiring a new skill. And sure, some of that boost is a natural part of learning, but I have to wonder if it’s not supplemented by the chip to keep us addicted, secretly flooding our brains with dopamine every time we level up. Same thing probably happens when the chip teases us. You know, those times when the chip pretends to give you a skill by granting a level zero in something. ‘Hey, you skimmed a pebble across a lake! You just got the skill Pebble Skimmer Level Zero!’ I remember when I got Bargaining Level Zero, I was so thrilled I almost crapped my pants. Okay, not literally. But you know what I mean.”

“Somehow, I can’t imagine the Bender of Worlds crapping his pants,” Jed said. “Then again, when I imagine him as you...”

“Yeah, I guess I should start behaving myself now that I’m the so-called World Bender, huh?” Tane said. “Except it doesn’t seem real. I don’t know why I should change my behavior. Just because everyone says I’m some so-called hero who’s going to save the galaxy.”

“That’s probably a good attitude to take,” Jed said. “It’s best not to change yourself, not for anyone, and especially not to mold yourself into a man you think others are expecting or wanting. Simply be yourself at your best. That’s all you need to do.”

“You don’t think I’m really the World Bender, do you?” Tane said.

Jed didn’t answer.

“If you don’t, that’s actually kind of reassuring,” Tane said. “Because I’m not sure I am, myself. Sure, I have some skills that a few other people might not have, but that doesn’t mean I’m the one written about in some ancient prophecy. Besides, I don’t believe in prophecies. I make my own fate.”

Jed glanced at him from behind his faceplate. The movement was blurry, his head leaving a trail behind the glass. “That is a good belief.” Jed’s eyes glanced upward, as if he was checking his own rear view camera feed. “Looks like we just passed the ten kilometer mark. They won’t find us now. Especially not with our mixnet nodes broadcasting at the weakest power.”

“That was quick,” Tane said.

“Yes.” Jed released Tane to float alongside him. “It’s lucky the storage device didn’t open too close to a gravity well.”

“How much oxygen did you have to vent?” Tane asked, remembering how Jed had cut thrust after seemingly traveling only a short distance.

“Not as much as I worried I’d have to,” Jed replied.

“Okay, so what now?” Tane said.

“We wait,” Jed said.

Tane sighed. “Thanks for coming with me, by the way. I’m not sure I would have been able to handle being out here alone for two days, or however long it takes for Lyra to get back here.”

“Of course,” Jed said. “Just don’t make me regret it.”

“How would I make you regret it?” Tane said.

“Sometimes, you tend to talk a lot,” Jed said. “Asking question after question. If I tell you to shut up, I expect you to do it.”

“Oooh,” Tane said. “All right, well, I expect the same of you, tough guy.”

Tane instantly regretted the words. He was acting too familiar with the Volur. He didn’t think Jed would appreciate it.

The Volur was silent a moment, and then erupted in a belly laugh. “Your impertinence is... I haven’t been spoken to like that in years.”

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Tane said.

“Once, perhaps,” Jed said. “But do it again, and I might be forced to draw my sword.”

“I’ll try to control myself.” Tane stared out into the darkness for a while. He realized he was becoming used to the nausea of zero gravity, as well as the way his voice distorted into two octaves at the same time. “So far, no crillia have attacked. This is good.”

Jed had no comment on that.

“So going back to my previous remarks about fake skill boosts and level ups and dopamine release,” Tane said. “You have nothing to say about any of that?”

Jed sighed audibly over the comm. Then: “The chip makers do like to tease. Which is why you can’t let their fake skill boosts distract you. After a while, when you reach a high enough level, the dopamine boosts become few and far between, and you don’t care so much for the next level up because it takes so much damn work to reach it.”

“How did you end up with your specialization?” Tane said. “Did you just randomly choose attributes and skills, focusing on what sounded the coolest? And one day you realized you’d become a Volur warrior?”

“I had my path planned out from the very beginning,” Jed said. “None of it was accidental. All of the skills I have, I chose for a reason. I made detailed notes. Plotted my course. And this is what I became. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to have some quiet time to myself.”

“Oh, okay, sure,” Tane said. “I was just about to activate a VR simulation with my chip anyway. I’m thinking of a white sandy beach. How about you?”

Jed didn’t answer.

Okay. The male bonding session was over, evidently. It was time to drift aimlessly through the void. In silence. Just the way Volur liked it, apparently.

Might as well have no company at all.

As he floated there through the emptiness, Tane idly browsed his inbox, looking for any missed messages that might have arrived before he entered the Umbra. There was nothing. No new messages from Mom and Dad. He probably should have sent them an update before stepping into the storage pouch, but there hadn’t really been time. Hopefully they weren’t too worried about him. Even if he had sent a message, it wouldn’t have reached them until a few days later anyway. So a longer delay wouldn’t really hurt.

Assuming he actually made it back to his own universe alive…

Tane remembered the items he’d collected from Lyra’s pouch and accessed the remote interface for his storage device on his HUD. He tried to identify the three items in their individual inventory slots and his display filled with ID information.

Item: Silver bracelet

Item type: Unknown

Additional effects: Unknown.

Item: Chest Assembly

Item type: Unknown

Additional effects: Unknown.

Item: Gauntlets (pair, bound together by a cord)

Item type: Unknown

Additional effects: Unknown.

Of course.

“Jed, can you ID these items for me?” Tane said. He shared the inventory slot view with the Volur.

Jed exhaled once again, but eventually accepted the sharing request. A moment later Tane received a request of his own.

Jed wants to share the details of three items with you. Do you accept? Y/N.

Of course Tane accepted.

Item: Chrysalium Nova Bracelet I

Item type: Rare.

Additional Effects: Generates a subtle body-hugging energy field, adding 2 points to overall armor rating.

Essence-Imbued bonuses: 5% bonus to learning. 5% bonus to Chrysalium Siphoning.

Chrysalium bonus: +1 Intelligence while equipped.

Note: must be worn under armor or spacesuit to take effect.

Armor: Rhodium Chest Assembly I

Model: Expedition I-12 Rev a.

Item type: Rare.

Weight: 20 kg.

Armor rating: 25.

Armor effects: Moderate protection against weaker plasma and laser impacts. No protection against Essence attacks. When worn as a complete set, offers protection from the void.

Battle Armor specific:

Oxygen tank: 100% (twenty-four hours remaining—requires complete armor set for pressurization)

Spare tank: 100% (forty minutes remaining—requires complete armor set for pressurization)

Extra features: Armor is resizable thanks to several layers of memory metals. When shrunk down to its smallest size, armor rating decreases to 10.

Note: Compatible with most battle armor assemblies. Incompatible with spacesuits.

Required to equip:

- Battle Armor Level 2, due to the advanced mind-body interface.

- Strength: 15

- Dexterity: 12

Armor: Osmium Gauntlets I

Model: Trek II-6 Rev b.

Item type: Rare.

Weight: 2 kg.

Armor rating: 5.

Armor effects: Moderate protection against weaker plasma and laser impacts. No protection against Essence attacks. When worn as a complete set, offers protection from the void.

Battle Armor specific:

Extra features: Armor is resizable thanks to several layers of memory metals. When shrunk down to its smallest size, armor rating decreases to 1.

Note: Compatible with most spacesuits, armored robes, and battle armor. No skill in Battle Armor is necessary to equip. Can be worn over most Chrysalium bracelets. Must be worn under spacesuit gloves.

Nice. He couldn’t actually put on the bracelet or gauntlets right now, given his circumstances. He drooled over the armor rating on the chest assembly: his entire spacesuit had an armor rating of 10, which was less than half that of the Rhodium item. Unfortunately, he couldn’t combine the chest assembly with a spacesuit, and couldn’t actually equip it, either, not without level two in the Battle Armor skill. Nor until he added six points to Strength, which was not something he could see himself doing anytime soon, considering the drain Siphoning had on his body, essentially forcing him to put every attribute point he earned into Endurance like Jed had said.

Tane was pondering all of this when he heard an audible clunk come from the midsection of his suit. And then another.

“What the hell was that?” Tane said.

He glanced down at his torso. Two big, blue slugs the size of his forearms had attached to the spacesuit fabric. Unlike his body and Jed’s, the outlines of the creatures were very distinct, as if they were more real than he was. Between the opening and closing pincers on their heads, proboscises darted forth, sampling his spacesuit.

“Warning,” the voice of his suit AI said. “Suit integrity in chest region diminishing.”

Another slug slapped into his upper arm and attached.

The crillia had come.

3

Tane glanced at Jed, who was similarly acquiring his own mass of the creatures on the exterior of his body armor. The big man was ripping them off as fast as he could, but more always came to replace those he removed. There were also some sections Jed simply couldn’t reach with his gloved hands, like his mid-back. The crillia seemed to be focusing on the Volur, as Tane still only had three of them attached to him.

He glanced at his own crillia, feeling no great urgency to remove them. Indeed, he felt almost a strange kinship to these creatures, born of the same darkness that gave him power.

Besides, he wasn’t all that eager to engage in the internal fight for his life that came with Siphoning the Dark Essence. He wasn’t even sure he was rested enough to touch that power.

“I thought Lyra claimed the crillia would leave us alone?” Tane said.

Wait, what were her words?

Siphoning the Dark Essence will keep them away from you.

“Touch the Dark,” Jed said, echoing her instructions.

Lyra had originally told Tane that the two known Essences, White and Dark, could only be used near gravity wells in the Umbra. And yet her subsequent words, and now Jed’s, made Tane wonder if she had been lying about that. Maybe it was true for the White, but not the Dark. He did have barely visible threads linking him to a nearby planet, after all. That meant he could still reach the Dark Essence.

Tane remembered the words of his teacher, P’lotholemus, from the memories the dark artifact had provided him with:

“When you reach for the Arcanum directly, though it feels like you are reaching inside yourself, in fact you are reaching into the core of whatever planet you reside upon, or are nearest to. When you develop some skill, you can funnel the Dark Essence from more powerful sources, such as stars. And when you are really good, you can link yourself to the reservoir of your choice—a star, a rift—and no matter where you are in the galaxy, you will have that source at your fingertips.”

His teacher had been referring to the use of Arcanum, the Dark Essence, in Tane’s home universe. But Tane was sure it must apply here, too. Yes, Lyra must have lied about how the Dark Essence worked in the Umbra.

Tane was amazed that he was calm and composed enough to even consider all that, seeing as crillia were digesting his suit at that very moment. Two more attached to his spacesuit, one of them latching on to his helmet faceplate and blocking half of the view.

“Warning,” the AI said. “Suit armor rating has dropped to 9.”

Tane still wasn’t sure he would be able to touch the Dark Essence. He continued to feel weak and exhausted, even if he’d had at least an hour’s rest.

And then he realized he was merely trying to delay the inevitable. It was time to fight against that raging conflagration once again.

Time to get rid of these crillia.

He glanced at Jed, and he felt a mild sense of surprise. The Volur was nearly completely covered in crillia now, which literally swarmed around him, and Tane could barely make out the man’s general shape as arms covered in the creatures moved back and forth, struggling to rip them away.

Tane had dallied too long. Jed’s life was at stake.

It was time to act.

More of the swarming creatures began to attach to Tane as he took the overflow of creatures that were unable to assault Jed. So far, he only had one affixed to his faceplate, so his vision was still mostly clear. Not that he needed vision if he could access Essence Sight…

Tane filled his mind with chaos. Music, images, thoughts: he let them all tumble about. He sensed the Dark Essence lurking beyond the edge of perception, except instead of the usual, all-consuming conflagration, he felt what could best be described as a tiny, flickering candle.

Maybe Lyra hadn’t lied after all.

He reached out and touched it. Sure enough, instead of a raging fire that burned him to the core, he felt only a gentle warmth. He was almost afraid to douse that warmth, wondering if he would destroy it entirely, but he smothered it anyway. Thankfully another small flame arose elsewhere.

The dark energy manifested as a few tiny fires that sprouted at random locations in deep space around him, fires the size of candle flames and visible only to Tane.

He didn’t have to struggle to control those flames, not like the last time he had Siphoned the Dark Essence; instead he simply let them burn. The fires did make the nausea of deep space slightly easier to endure, but he was growing used to that discomfort anyway.

So Lyra was right: while he might be able to Siphon the Dark Essence, it was essentially useless this far away from a planet, too weak to create any Branchworks. Not that he actually knew any Dark Essence works.

He waited, but the crillia remained attached to him, continuing to digest his spacesuit, and Jed’s power armor.

“Warning,” the AI said. “Suit armor rating has dropped to 8.”

Maybe the Arcanum was simply too weak to affect the creatures. Or maybe...

He selectively doused the tiny flames that were farther from him, causing new fires to spring into existence closer to his body. In that way, he was able to guide the flames toward the crillia.

That did it. When the invisible flames touched the creatures attached to his suit, the crillia released him, floating away, bodies flailing to and fro like caterpillars dropped onto asphalt baking in the sun. He wasn’t actually creating anything with the Dark Essence, but simply moving the crillia with those flames of chaos.

While working on clearing the remaining crillia from his suit and faceplate, he redirected some of those ethereal flames toward Jed in the same manner, and forced the crillia there away as well. Most of the creatures released Jed moments before the Dark Essence flames touched, while others were a tad too late, and literally leaped away from his body armor and writhed as if burned. In moments, Tane had cleared himself and Jed of all the creatures.

He half expected some sort of “level up” notice to appear on his HUD, but disappointingly none came. So much for those dopamine boosts. The chip would simply keep him waiting for the next one.

“Thank you, Engineer,” Jed said. “I was wondering when you’d get around to helping me.”

“Welcome,” Tane said.

Jed’s power armor had several fresh dents and pitted wounds, but the damage began to heal before Tane’s very eyes.

Tane surveyed the surrounding space, waiting for the next attack, but he saw no more of the creatures incoming.

“I’m sharing my armor’s LIDAR feed with you,” Jed said. “It will help you detect the crillia before they come. And hopefully repel them before they arrive.”

Tane accepted the LIDAR sharing request that appeared on his HUD. A moment later he saw the white outlines of the crillia that were retreating from the two of them. Most of those outlines became dots and soon vanished.

Tane released a short burst of oxygen from his left vent, sending his suit into a slow rotation that didn’t affect his forward momentum. It wasn’t so fast to make him dizzy; he supposed it helped that there weren’t any stars to emphasize the rotation, either.

Revolving like that would allow him to keep an eye on all sides: the rear view camera only gave him so much leeway, after all. It was probably pointless, considering that Jed’s LIDAR would probably alert him if any crillia were incoming, but Tane wanted to keep his own vigil. There was Essence Sight of course, which would let him place his viewpoint outside his body, but that would require stepping inside the White Essence for extended periods of time. Something that would definitely be draining.

Assuming he could actually find the White Essence... he couldn’t even sense it out there, beyond the edges of perception. Curious, he tried to step into the Esoterum anyway while still Siphoning the Dark. He found nothing. He tried again, and after some searching, he found the cold he was looking for. But it seemed restrained, somehow.

He stepped into it, accessing the stellar wind of the universe that was two steps removed from this one, but the cold power that flowed from his bones was little more than a gentle breeze, not the raging gale he was used to. He guided the weak stellar wind through the microscopic peaks and valleys of his bones to his core, and the flaccid ribbon that emerged in front of him was almost as insubstantial as the black threads emerging from his joints. Definitely not enough to create even the weakest Essencework. It was a far cry from the incredible power he had commanded little more than an hour ago, Siphoning from both the hull of a Decantium class starship and the Dark Artifact at the same time.

He tried to form the Branchwork of Essence Missile anyway. A small branch emerged from the root, and he teased it outward, adding more Branches and Leaves. When he was done, all he had was a tiny tree about a tenth the size of his normal creations. When he realized it, nothing even took form in the current reality.

Figured.

He tried again, but this time attempted to direct some of those flimsy Dark flames around the weak structure, like he had done against the dweller fleet, using his Dark and White mixing skill. He hoped to tweeze the Branches and Leaves into larger variants that way, but it didn’t help. Sure, the Dark Essence bound and reinforced the White, but that binding simply wasn’t needed, not when the stellar wind was so small and utterly controllable as it was. It was useful when directing the massive work from a starship hull, but otherwise pointless.

Tane stepped out of the White Essence and released the Dark at the same time. He expected to feel some weariness, but he actually felt no worse than he had before he had Siphoned either Essence. He supposed it was because he could draw so little of each while so far from a gravity well.

He had to wonder, as he had once before, if there were indeed other universes out there besides the Umbra and Lumina, what rules did they have? Would physics even work the same? No one had been to the Lumina, where humans drew their powers. At least as far as Tane knew. But the alien races known as the archaeoceti and creodenti had migrated to those universes where they drew their respective powers, and in the process became extinct in their home universe, the universe where humanity lived. At least according to the memories of the man whose mind dump had taught Tane White Siphoning.

He thought about his battle against the dweller fleet. Starships had Essence lances; specialists Siphoned the Esoterum through the Chrysalium hull of the ship into those lances, which AIs then used to create pre-programmed Branchworks that allowed them to launch attacks. Tane had bypassed the entire process, Siphoning through the hull and creating Branchworks directly, in his case forming Essence Missiles.

Obviously there were a lot of safeguards built-in to prevent a specialist from destroying a ship by over-Siphoning, mostly in the form of Essence overflow vents, which vented excess Esoterum from the hull rather than allowing it to gather there. But because of the Dark Essence, which Tane was able to Siphon far more of thanks to the now destroyed Dark Artifact, he had been able to buttress the White Branchworks, essentially allowing him to augment the Esoterum ad infinitum: he had been able to make those Essence Missiles as big and deadly as he wanted, far bigger than anything created by the built-in Essence lances. If he had knowledge of Branchworks other than Essence Missile, he could have created those instead—he wasn’t limited to what the lance AIs were programmed to regurgitate. Though of course, all of that manual Siphoning and creation had come with an eventual price: the disintegration of the host ship, and the dark artifact.

Someday Tane would have to look into building a ship that contained both Darcanium and Chrysalium in its hull, with the proper Essence vents for both. A ship like that would be unstoppable, capable of taking on entire fleets of enemies, and perhaps the armies of all aliens throughout the galaxy. That would be something he’d definitely have to build if he ever truly became the Bender of Worlds, and attained the unlimited resources that he imagined came with the title.

Perhaps he’d even look at incorporating elements capable of handling Essence from other universes as well, if he could discover them. It would be quite the imposing ship, an invincible craft capable of calling upon the powers of the entire Multiverse itself. If the TSN ever sent a fleet against such a ship, they’d be in for an unpleasant surprise. As would any dwellers. Yes, all galactic species would rue the day they dared attack the Bender of Worlds.

Tane shook his head. The thoughts a man would have while drifting for an eternity through the starless void. The illusions of grandeur.

He didn’t even want to be the Bender of Worlds.

“I think I understand now,” Tane said. “What it felt like for you, growing up on a Xandar slave farm. The fantasies you must have concocted in your mind to pass the time must have been amazing. Turning that wheel day in and day out, without VR, or any other form of digital augmentation, having nothing but your imagination to set you free...”

“Those fantasies were my only escape,” Jed agreed. “Especially the fantasies about killing my captors. I imagine you’re having similar thoughts about the TSN? Or the dwellers?”

“Not at all,” Tane said. “Okay, maybe a little bit. I was imagining building a ship, one so powerful that no one would ever bother me again. The TSN, the dwellers, I’d finally be free of them all. I’d travel to some faraway system, away from all humans and all aliens, and set up an impenetrable outpost.”

“And yet by doing so you’d only be running from your destiny,” Jed said.

“How do you know that’s not my destiny?” Tane said. “Maybe that’s how I bring peace to the galaxy, by holing up in a system far away from everyone else.” He paused. “Though I guess, if I really wanted to, I could use my super powerful ship to run around the galaxy and police everyone. Either way it’s my choice to make, isn’t it? The prophecy doesn’t tell you how I’m going to save the galaxy, does it? What were Lyra’s words? That I’d either tear the universe apart, or bind it?”

“Tear it apart, or bring about everlasting peace,” Jed said. “And yes, the prophecy doesn’t tell us precisely what you will do.”

“I somehow doubt there’s such a thing as everlasting peace,” Tane said. “Humanity will always war among itself, and with other aliens. It’s our nature. I used to think that war was always about resources. That with infinite resources, there could be no war. And yet we’re essentially at the infinite resources stage now. War these days is all about revenge. The dwellers are pissed that we destroyed their homeworld. And want to prevent us from ever doing such a thing again.”

“I’m sure there are other reasons,” Jed said. “Though whether our human minds can guess them is another question entirely.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, let me know when your oxygen tank runs low. We’ll have to initiate a transfer.”

“Should be easy,” Tane said. “These tanks are hot swappable, aren’t they?”

“Yes,” Jed said. “It should go smoothly. As long as the crillia don’t interfere.”

Tane sighed. The crillia again. He’d almost forgotten them.

He continued revolving in place, scanning the regions of space around him. For a moment he considered just tuning out this universe and logging into his local VR, but that would mean relying entirely on Jed’s LIDAR. It didn’t seem like the best idea. What if the tech failed, or had been damaged in some way by the crillia? Sure, Jed’s armor was self-healing, but what about the LIDAR component?

Tane decided he had to remain vigilant. He forced himself to stare out into the darkness, waiting for the next attack. He did play some of his favorite music, however. It helped pass the time.

He hoped he had scared those crillia away for good.

But somehow, he doubted it.

4

Sinive blinked her eyes and sat up.

She was in a holding cell of some kind, about as small as her chambers aboard the Red Grizzly. It was just big enough to fit a bunk, toilet and sink. She could walk its length in two paces. If she extended both arms while she did so, her fingers would easily touch either wall. Other than the previously mentioned fixtures, there was only a drain in the center of the floor and that was it. She couldn’t see any obvious signs of a door in the walls, which, like the ceiling, were made of metal polished to such a burnish that she could see a dull reflection.

Her spacesuit had been stripped away, as had her white dress underneath, replaced by a prison jumpsuit.

The last she remembered, military-grade Scepter combat robots had boarded the shuttle. When their laser cutters finished boring through the shuttle ramp, Lyra had held the carved-out plug in place using what Sinive guessed was a mixture of Air Current and Telekinesis, based on her limited knowledge of the Essence.

When at last Lyra could resist no longer, and the ramp cutout fell in, Sinive and Lyra raised their hands in surrender. The two of them had purposely kept their shield generators offline to demonstrate submission.

A pair of the faceless combat robots had restrained her, while another two took Lyra. Sinive hadn’t offered much resistance—her earlier Siphoning of that massive amount of Essence through the Chrysalium armband on Remus had drained her almost as badly as any jump.

After disarming her and taking away the storage pouch at her belt, one Scepter tore away the exterior fabric of her spacesuit glove, revealing the mechanical innards. The robot applied a telescoping finger inside the unit and rotated some dial just inside the glove. The Scepter then removed a small glass container, reinserted a vial of some liquid into the open chamber, and when Sinive asked what the robot was doing, in reply she felt a sting at the top of her hand as the sonic injector in the glove activated. Her vision turned black and she lost consciousness.

And now here she was.

She felt groggy, but not nearly as tired as she had felt before her capture.

Her HUD was still active, overlaying her vision. The clock in the lower right of her vision told her eight hours had passed since her capture. Assuming the time was correct.

She had no connection to the GalNet. She pulled up the connection preferences window and saw a few local mixnets with names like “Brig 0001A” and “Brig0001B,” but none were public: they all required biometric passwords.

She checked her contacts list. Everyone was offline, including Lyra. If the Volur had been within chip range, Sinive would have been able to at least ping her comm, and potentially form an adhoc mixnet. But her captors had obviously placed them in cells that were well apart. Or maybe the cells were simply shielded with pass-throughs that allowed only certain networks through. That was the more likely explanation.

She stood up off the bunk and phosphenes momentarily marred her vision, but she blinked them away. Her hair brushed the low ceiling.

Well the place is certainly roomy.

She flexed her stiff muscles and began running her fingers across the walls, searching for signs of a door or hatch. There were no seams, not anywhere.

With a sigh, she went to the sink and washed her face. There was no mirror.

Probably a good thing. I must look terrible.

She shifted her face so that the sonic dryer positioned behind the faucet would kick in. Didn’t work. She knelt slightly, bringing her face closer to the metal bar of the device, and finally she heard the characteristic hum. The range on the thing was smaller than usual: no doubt it was made from the cheapest components available.

I’m in the lap of luxury right here.

In seconds her face was dry and she pulled away.

She gazed into the burnished metal wall above the sink and squinted, trying to discern her features in the dull reflection the surface provided, but it was no use. Oh well.

Doing her best to fix the tight braid she wore by touch, she took a seat on the bed and stared at the wall opposite her, waiting.

“I’m hungry,” she said aloud.

Nothing.

“I have to pee,” she said.

Well, there wasn’t much sense in telling her captors that. She could just use the provided toilet, after all.

She went to that steel contraption and regarded the rim in disgust. She wondered how many prisoners had relieved themselves there. It was an unpleasant thought.

She positioned three separate swaths of toilet paper over the rim so that the seat was somewhat safe to sit on. Then she glanced around and quickly lowered the pants portion of her jumpsuit and squatted on the toilet. She felt a portion of the steel rim touching the back of her thigh past the edge of the toilet paper she’d placed, and grimaced. She reminded herself that she’d squatted on far worse toilets during her time in the military.

Glancing upward, she said: “Shut off those cameras!”

There was no answer, of course. She stretched the top portion of her jumpsuit down over her hips, hoping to keep as much of herself covered as possible.

When she was done with that rather uncomfortable session, she returned to the bed once again.

“I’m still hungry,” she said.

Nothing.

She sighed. “I’d like to talk to my legal representative.”

No answer.

She threw up her arms, and was about to lie down again when a prompt overlaid her vision.

You have been granted biometric logon privileges to mixnet Brig 0001A. Connect? Y/N

For a moment she worried that the TSN was trying to install some sort of virus in her chip. But then she realized they would have had ample opportunity to do that while she was unconscious.

She chose the big Y with a shrug.

The signal strength indicator appeared in the upper right of her HUD, indicating a successful log in.

The hologram of a man appeared before her. His face was all hard angles, the skin so weathered that it was almost leathery. This was a man who didn’t believe in rejuvenetics. His nose was bumpy, as if it had been broken in several places. His grizzled hair was cropped extremely short, highlighting the round shape of his skull in perfect counterpoint to his square jawline. A thick brow line protruded at his temples, making his eyes seem more sunken than they were. Those eyes were dark, glinting with open contempt.

His fatigues were patterned in blue and grey digital. She was well familiar with that particular aesthetic from her own tenure in the navy. There were no chevrons or anything of the sort on the uniform to indicate the man’s rank and rating. Nor any decorations—the TSN was averse to such public displays of what they considered vanity. Normally the holographic feed would have provided access to that data, but the identification information was oddly absent. The only other way to get that information was via the public profile, but since the man wasn’t present in person, she couldn’t access that either. Even so, she could guess his rating. Likely he was an Intelligence Specialist of some kind.

“Are you my lawyer?” she joked.

No smile lit that cruel face. “My name is Nelson Gates. I’m your judge, jury, and executioner rolled into one.”

“I see,” Sinive said. “So I take it I’m not going to get legal counsel.”

“You are not,” Nelson said. “You are at the court’s mercy. My mercy.”

“Why am I being held?” Sinive asked. “What crime am I being charged with?”

“The crime of aiding and abetting a known fugitive and terrorist,” Nelson said.

“Is that what you’re calling him now?” Sinive said. “He saved your army. And probably all the humans in this sector.”

“Even so, he is considered a grave threat to the security of the TSN and its network of planets,” Nelson said. “Capturing him is the top priority of all ships in the fleet.”

“You’re making a mistake,” Sinive said. “He only wants to be left alone.”

“Given his current predicament, I highly doubt that,” Nelson said. “You see, we know your Volur secreted him away inside her storage device. We also know he broke the containment fields and escaped into the Umbra. We’ve sent several small probes inside to look for him, but so far the search has turned up nothing.

“The specs on that particular storage device have been wiped, so we don’t know the exact Umbral coordinates the device opened into. And Lyra hasn’t been the most forthcoming with the information. So… we’ve instructed the probes to focus on identifying the system. Because of the nature of the Umbra, with distant light masked and blue-shifted, the probes have to rely on gravity waves alone. As such, it could take anywhere from a week to a month to map out the locations of the gravity wells and properly identify the system.

“When that’s done, we’ll have to enter an Umbral rift with our warships, jump to the system, and do a more thorough scan for him. Altogether, it could take up to three months or more to track him down. By then your precious World Bender will be long dead, his oxygen tanks expired. If he’s wearing a spacesuit similar to the one you were captured in, then his O2 supply will be gone in two days. While you’re incarcerated here, he will die out there, waiting in vain for friends who have seemingly abandoned him. It behooves you to help me. Assuming you want him to survive.”

“Of course I want him to survive,” Sinive said softly.

Nelson gazed at her critically. “We know the Volur has given him a beacon stone. It’s the only way the plan would have made any sense. We need you to help us convince her to give us the location of the system. We can save him before he suffocates. Tell her to lead us to him so we can retrieve him from the Umbra and save his life. Allowing him to die won’t benefit anyone, least of all those of you who call him your friend.”

“I…” Sinive said. “I can’t help you.”

“If you can convince Lyra to help us, I’ll be able to secure your release in a couple of weeks, tops,” Nelson said. “And if you won’t even try, I’ll be forced to take more drastic measures, and afterwards you’ll likely rot here for the rest of your life, which will be short, once my team is through with you.”

“Like I told you, can’t help you,” Sinive said.

“Very well.” The hologram clicked out.

Sinive waited for the chamber to fill with an incapacitating agent. Or for a door to appear in the far wall, and robot troops to dash inside and seize her.

But none came.

The minutes ticked passed.

She wondered if she had made a mistake. The TSN officer had a point: she couldn’t save Tane if she was stuck here in prison.

Her stomach growled, and she was reminded of how hungry she was.

She tried to access the VR interface of her chip, but all she got was a VR disabled message. So they wouldn’t allow her even that escape. She had heard it was illegal to block a person from accessing their own VR, but apparently that didn’t apply to makeshift military prisons.

She stared at the clock in the upper right of her vision, and watched in mind-numbing boredom as a standard hour crawled past.

And then the hologram of Nelson Gates appeared again.

“So, I have some good news,” the hologram said. “Though perhaps not so good for you. You see, the Volur has agreed to reveal the system, and to lead us to the beacon stone. She’s also agreed to testify against you. Too bad. You should have taken the deal I offered you earlier.”

Sinive slumped against the bunk.

“But there is still a chance to reduce the charges we’ll lay against you,” Nelson said. “All you have to do is tell me everything you know about him. How you met. His tastes, interests. What kind of person he is. In exchange, I can probably have you released in a few weeks.”

Sinive looked up at the navy officer. “You’ve looked through my entire TSN record, I’m sure. You probably noticed that I took one of your interrogation courses. So I know exactly what you’re trying to do. You’re lying. The Volur hasn’t agreed to a thing. Even if you tortured her to an inch of her life, she wouldn’t do it.”

“Ah, but that’s where you are wrong,” Nelson said with a knowing grin. “She has agreed to help. And she will testify against you. She understands that the World Bender must live, no matter the cost. Even if she has to give him up. Now then, are you willing to cooperate? Will you answer my questions?”

Sinive stared at her feet despondently.

I can’t betray him.

But what did it matter? The official was only asking about his tastes and interests, and how they met. She didn’t see the harm in revealing any of that, especially considering Nelson had probably worked out the latter.

She looked up defiantly. “You want to know what kind of person he is? The World Bender is the kind of man who would break into a high security prison or the brig of a starship to rescue his friends. He’d kill anyone who stood in his way until he saved them. That’s the kind of person he is.”

“A man who values his friends,” Nelson said. “This is good. What else?”

“There isn’t much else,” Sinive said. “I met him when he paid for passage aboard the Red Grizzly, where I serve as a jump specialist. He likes playing piano, and chopping off the heads of aliens and prying TSN officials. Anything else?”

“No, I think we’re good.” Nelson smiled scornfully. “I went ahead and scheduled you for a deep dive session, three standard hours from now. We’ll extract all of your memories and have the AIs sort through them to collect what we need.”

“Ah,” Sinive said. “That’s why you asked those questions. You were monitoring my brain activity as I accessed the memories, and you’ll feed the results to your AIs so they have something to serve as an anchor when they start sorting through my imprints.”

“Very good,” Nelson said.

She had forgotten that little detail from the interrogation courses she’d taken. So much for not falling for the man’s tricks.

I’m an idiot. I’ve betrayed Tane in the end.

“After the deep dive, I’ll look into securing your release,” Nelson said. “As I said, it could be as soon as a few weeks. But then again, if—”

“You’re not taking me with you to retrieve him?” Sinive asked.

“We only need the Volur,” Nelson replied. “You’ll stay here in custody. But you didn’t let me finish… after we’re done sifting through your memories, if it turns out you’re someone important to the World Bender, which your words seem to suggest—you did mention he would break into the brig of a starship to rescue you, after all—then unfortunately you’ll be staying with us a lot longer. Indefinitely, to be precise. Though you’ll be more of a guest at that point.”

“Ah,” Sinive said. “More of a guest. But still a prisoner.”

Nelson shrugged almost apologetically, and then the hologram faded.

Sinive lay back on the bunk and closed her eyes.

I said too much. What have I gotten myself into?

She should have probably quit her job as a jump specialist as soon as Nebb agreed to transport two Volur and their wanted passenger. How was she supposed to know that passenger was destined to change the galaxy?

Sinive had to wonder though. Would Lyra really betray Tane as Nelson claimed?

No, it had to be a lie. It was like Sinive had told the man, it was classic interrogation 101. Keep the prisoners separated and try to pit them against one another.

Then again, if Lyra didn’t give up Tane, there was no one else who could save him. She was the only one linked to the beacon stone. So it was possible Lyra had in fact agreed to help them, perhaps intending to betray Nelson at some point after recovering Tane. That made more sense to Sinive.

She wondered if they were monitoring her thoughts. She had heard a rumor when she was a recruit that the TSN could tap into the chips of all navy personnel and scan their minds, at least when the personnel were connected to military networks. She never really paid attention to that rumor during her service term, because she always felt she had nothing to hide. Besides, something like that was beyond the pale even for the TSN, not to mention extremely illegal, as it violated basic tenets of civil liberty and personal privacy.

Still, given Tane’s perceived importance, the TSN might be desperate enough to break privacy laws. Who knows, maybe they were even extracting Sinive’s memories at this very moment, transferring not just her thoughts, but the imprints of her engrams bit by bit through the limited bandwidth of the adhoc mixnet.

She promptly closed her connection to the brig mixnet. Just to be on the safe side.

Then she lay back on her bunk and waited for the robots to collect her for the deep dive.

She intended to nap, but the sweet bliss of unconsciousness didn’t come to her. She wasn’t tired enough. That only confirmed to her that she had been out for at least the eight hours indicated by her internal clock after the robots had injected her.

She kept an eye on the time in her HUD and watched the seconds slowly tick past. After an hour, she was feeling so weak from lack of food that she barely looked up when the bulkhead across from her hummed softly.

A crack appeared in the wall there, forming a rectangular depression. The depression increased in size until a section of the wall pulled away entirely and slid aside.

She swung her feet over the edge of the bunk and sat up.

A cylindrical-shaped bot rolled in. She was reminded of Laser Bait, the service and maintenance droid Nebb employed aboard the Red Grizzly. Treads provided mobility, while pipe cleaner arms topped by pincers offered interaction with the external environment at large. The robot’s visor displayed animated, 2D vector eyes. The eyelids, which were represented as half-closed on the animated display, gave the impression of weariness.

The robot’s thin arms carried a tray containing utensils and a bowl of some kind of stew. The smell made Sinive’s mouth water.

Beyond the service droid she could see a compartment. There was another robot standing guard outside, watching her, this one a scepter model. It gripped a plasma assault rifle in its mechanical hands, though the weapon was currently pointed at the deck.

“Stay away from the entrance,” the service robot said.

It turned around to set the tray down on the polished metal deck near her bunk. Sinive considered using that opportunity to bolt toward the open doorway, but with the combat robot standing guard outside, she didn’t have a chance. Her Dexterity was far too low to match the speed of a scepter. Before she made it three steps to the entrance, that robot would have trained its combat rifle on her.

She idly checked the serving robot’s ID on her HUD.

Name: Macy.

Race: Robot.

Model: Alfred valet droid Mark IV Rev b. (Weapons mod)

Level: 5

Class: Service and Maintenance

Weapons mod? She didn’t see any obvious weapons on the serving droid. They must have been concealed.

Before she could ID the combat robot outside, Macy was already rolling out the doorway. The bulkhead slid back into place and shoved forward, sealing softly. The rectangular seam vanished, shutting her off from the compartment beyond and leaving behind only a smooth, burnished wall in its place.

With a sigh, she sat down on the deck and began to eat her stew. It tasted surprisingly good. Definitely synthetic meat, but good nonetheless.

When she finished, she set the bowl down on the tray and tried to access her VR interface again, but it was still offline.

She rested her head against the bulkhead behind her and shut her eyes, willing time to pass faster. She wondered vaguely what Tane must be going through, trapped in the Umbra. She wondered if the crillia would swarm over him and Jed, killing them before Lyra could arrive. She dearly hoped not. Tane was her friend. And sexy as hell. Well, she’d never admit that latter bit to him, but hey.

She wasn’t sure she believed he was the so-called Bender of Worlds, but she had seen him work his power firsthand. No one could touch the hull of a starship and direct the massive stellar winds of the Lumina like he did. No one. So he was definitely special, that much was certain. And she could understand why the TSN, and the aliens, wanted him so badly. She was just glad she was relatively ordinary. She’d hate to be hunted by everyone like he was. Then again, as long as she continued to hang out with him, something she hoped to do for a long time yet, she would be hunted, too.

Guess I’ll just have to get used to watching my back.

The two remaining hours to her deep dive session finally passed.

The rectangular crack once again appeared, right on schedule.

Time to face the end.

The door pulled away and slid aside, and the scepter stepped inside, keeping its rifle pointed at the deck. The humanoid robot had a visor that lacked facial expressions of any kind.

Sinive instinctively ran a quick ID.

Name: HT-43 “Martinez”

Race: Robot.

Model: Scepter combat droid VII-3 Rev b.

Level: 9

Class: Guard

Mil ID: 56256

“So, Martinez, you’ve come to take me to have my mind ripped apart and put back together again?” Sinive asked.

“You’re free to go,” the robot replied.

5

Sinive stared at the robot in disbelief. “What?

“You’re free to go,” the robot repeated.

“Oh. Okay.” She thought the robot must be joking but decided to play along, so she walked past it into the compartment beyond. She was expecting a full-blown armed escort, but there was no one else out there. Was she really free?

Other holding cells awaited on either side of her own, the access hatches fully open so that she could see inside—all were empty.

So they’re not holding Lyra and Nebb here...

“I am to escort you to Hangar Bay Three,” Martinez said, stepping forward to stand at her side. “This way.”

Martinez led her to the far bulkhead where a hatch slid aside, opening into a passageway.

Dumbfounded, Sinive merely followed the Scepter into the corridor, which led away in both directions. The robot led her down the right-hand branch.

Finally she said: “I’m free?”

“You’re free,” Martinez agreed.

Have they captured Tane already?

The corridor was the typically wide affair found standard on most TSN warships. The metal bulkheads were slightly concave, and not as polished as the walls of the holding cells. Long bars of blue light ran along their surfaces. The deck was carpeted in dark red, and the ceiling was about five heads taller than she was, ensuring that the majority of the crew wouldn’t have to duck as they made their way between stations. When you had over a thousand people living aboard, you wanted to have some comforts, lest your crew mutiny.

Sinive stared at the dark red rug. There had been an ongoing joke when she had served in the navy, that the decks were carpeted in red like that in case the superior officers needed to bleed out any of their subordinates. Gallows humor was the preferred kind aboard the bigger ships like this.

The overhead map on her HUD updated as she walked, and filled out the black “fog of war” areas. Apparently the blueprints for this particular class of ship weren’t available to her chip, otherwise there would have been no black areas to flesh out in the first place. That was slightly odd, considering she’d upgraded her chip to the latest and greatest military version a few years ago. She was supposed to have all available ship classes stored within her database, and the predictive algorithms built into her chip should have deduced the starship class by now, based on the current areas she’d explored, and filled out the map accordingly. But the algorithms hadn’t.

Then again, the military was always tweaking their ship designs. It was possible she was aboard some newer class that outdated her last update. Either that, or they’d messed with her database. She hoped it wasn’t the latter.

She had connected to the brig mixnet earlier, so one might think she would have been granted the latest blueprints in the process, but ship AIs didn’t ordinarily supply prisoners in the brig with data that could help them potentially escape.

She passed some crew members, mostly fatigue-wearing specialists, robots, or synthetics. The latter were obvious from their too-beautiful faces. All of the crew seemed somewhat oblivious to her, their eyes slightly defocused as they no doubt studied infographics on their private HUDs.

“What’s in Hangar Bay Three?” Sinive asked Martinez.

“The shuttle we captured you in,” the escorting robot replied. “The Red Grizzly travels alongside our vessel. We’ve released its owner, Tripp Nebula, and he’s already aboard and waiting to receive you.”

“Oh,” Sinive said. “Okay. Sounds good.”

She was at a complete loss to explain this sudden goodwill. She was almost afraid to ask, in case the robot realized its mistake and returned her to her cell, but she did anyway.

“Why are you letting me go?” Sinive said.

Martinez glanced over its metal shoulder. “No reason was given.”

Maybe the TSN had been reading her mind over the mixnet after all, negating the need for a deep dive, despite the fact she had closed her connection. No, more likely Nelson had already had his team perform a deep dive, probably while she was unconscious after her initial capture. Nelson had only asked her those questions so he could get an appropriate anchor from her, and she had willingly given him exactly what he wanted.

I shouldn’t have told him a thing.

Still, why the subterfuge, and why the delay in releasing her? Probably because Nelson wanted to ensure the initial brain dump was good enough. Maybe the TSN officer really had scheduled her for a second deep dive, but when his AIs confirmed they had recovered what they needed, he decided to cut her loose.

Still, something about what Nelson had said earlier bothered her.

If it turns out you’re someone important to the World Bender, then unfortunately you’ll be staying with us a lot longer. Indefinitely, to be precise.

If the AIs had really gone through her memories, surely they would have realized she was indeed important to Tane. He wouldn’t have risked his life boarding an alien starship to stage a valiant rescue attempt if she wasn’t.

Maybe Nelson simply decided he didn’t want to risk getting on the bad side of the Bender of Worlds.

Sinive took a grav scuttle up two decks with the robot and continued down the passageway, presumably toward the hangar bay. She remained disconnected from the many mixnet networks aboard, but received a connection request after walking a short ways down the new passageway.

Grizzly Cub wishes to form an adhoc mixnet with you. Proceed? Y/N

Sinive accepted immediately, and in moments Grizzly Cub appeared on her overhead map, inside one of the fog of war regions. Thanks to the link, the area immediately surrounding the shuttle filled out on the map. No doubt that was Hangar Bay Three.

“Cub, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” Sinive sent over the comm formed by that mixnet.

“And you can’t even see me yet,” Cub replied in his deep male voice. She heard the words as if they were audibly spoken: her chip stimulated that part of the brain responsible for auditory reception.

“I can see your indicator on my HUD,” Sinive said. “And that’s good enough for me. Wait...”

She realized there was another indicator overlapping Cub’s.

“Lyra is with you, too.” Sinive glanced at her contacts list and confirmed that Lyra was now listed as online.

“I am,” Lyra said. “I’m waiting for you aboard the Grizzly Cub.”

“I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad,” Sinive said. “Probably the latter.”

“Most likely,” Lyra agreed.

“What’s going on?” Sinive sent. “Why are they letting us go?”

“Don’t ask too many questions,” Lyra said. “Accept your good fortune and leave the ship. Before they change their minds. It would be best not to say too much at the moment anyway, if you catch my meaning...”

Sinive zipped her lips and continued on her way.

Finally she reached the aforementioned hangar bay and entered.

She resided at the top of a walkway grille that looked down on several shuttles of the same military make and model: small, dart-shaped craft. Each was located within a walled-off stall, with translucent ceiling panels allowing a view inside. Exit doors in the starship’s hull gave each craft its own direct egress.

She recognized the Grizzly Cub in one of those stalls immediately: the half-dome fuselage and eight tiny landing gears of the Ladybug I class shuttle were hard to miss, and stood out among the more aerodynamically shaped military vessels beside it.

Sinive took the metal steps down to the deck, and Martinez led her to the stall containing the Grizzly Cub. The Scepter opened the airlock via some remote interface, and beckoned for her to enter.

“Wait, you forgot to take me through reverse processing,” Sinive told Martinez.

“No need.”

“But my belongings...” Sinive began.

“Are aboard the shuttle,” the combat robot finished.

“What about this jumpsuit?” Sinive said, running a hand down the orange outfit. “I’m guessing you’ll be wanting it back at some point?”

“I’m told the jumpsuit is yours,” Martinez said. “A gift for your troubles. Compliments of Specialist Gates. You may do with it what you wish.”

“Nelson?” Sinive said.

“That is his first name, yes,” Martinez said.

“Well, thank ‘Specialist’ Gates for me, and tell him I appreciate the swell gift,” Sinive said sarcastically.

She stepped into the airlock before the robot could answer and passed through both the outer and inner hatches. The robot didn’t accompany her and instead sealed the inner hatch behind her.

Sinive climbed the sloping ramp and entered the shuttle.

Lyra was inside, secured to one of the chairs via the built-in restraining clamps. She was dressed in the same jumpsuit as Sinive, and gripped a storage pouch close to her chest. Even with the bags under her eyes, and the sallow cheeks, the woman was beautiful. Definitely far too stunning for her face to be natural: hell, she looked better than most synthetics. Which was why Sinive had added a virtual mustache to the woman’s face shortly after meeting her, a digital augmentation that was still active even now, and matched Lyra’s movements perfectly. Sinive would have smiled at seeing the thick clump of virtual hair covering Lyra’s upper lip if the circumstances of their meeting were better.

Lyra nodded toward the seat across from her.

Sinive glanced at it and saw another pouch nestled on top of the cushioned seat. She snatched it up and sat down, allowing the seat clamps to secure her in place.

Sinive accessed the remote interface of the storage pouch and confirmed that it was hers. Her favorite white dress was in the first inventory slot: she’d be changing into that as soon as she was aboard the Red Grizzly, and after that she’d immediately toss the jumpsuit into the incinerator. The second contained her spacesuit—which was bound together by a carbon fiber cord—while the third and fourth slots held her plasma pistol and shield generator respectively. She rifled through the remaining slots and the sub-pouches nested within, and confirmed that all her items were intact.

The cabin shook and a loud thud filled the air. Slightly startled, she dismissed the inventory and realized the ramp had sealed.

“Initiating take off,” Cub said. “And plotting a docking course for the Red Grizzly.”

The shuttle took off, departing the TSN warship.

Sinive accessed the shuttle’s external video feed and watched the vessel recede behind them.

“They’re going to let us go just like that?” Sinive asked Lyra.

“Apparently so,” Lyra said.

Sinive received a text message from Lyra a moment later.

I just completed my second sweep of this shuttle with the Essence. They had installed listening devices. I’ve destroyed them. However, it’s likely they’ve also tampered with the AI, as well as the AI aboard the Red Grizzly itself. We’ll have to perform a complete review of the codebase of both once we’re aboard. As well as another sweep for listening devices. That means more work on our part, and communications subterfuge until we’re sure we can trust the AIs. Do you understand?

Sinive switched to text mode and thought: Yes.

She could have probably let her thoughts transmit in voice mode, but text mode allowed her to correct any mistakes made by the thought conversion algorithms of her chip. Besides, she figured Lyra had a specific reason for text mode. Maybe voice mode wasn’t as secure?

The TSN let us go because of what I told them, Lyra continued.

And what did you tell them? Sinive sent.

That I was willing to give him up, Lyra responded. To let him die. That it was better he die than fall into their hands.

So Nelson had lied about Lyra’s cooperation after all.

Sinive studied the Volur uncertainly. But you weren’t actually serious, were you? You had to be bluffing...

I was completely serious, Lyra texted. Which is why they believed me.

Ah. That explained Nelson’s sudden eagerness to set her free. She doubted the final decision had been his, of course, but rather that of his higher ups, who didn’t want to risk any harm befalling their precious World Bender. With Tane floating out there, with his only hope of rescue depending firmly on the freedom of this woman, it wasn’t hard to see why they’d chosen to let her go.

That’s why they were in such a hurry to see me off the ship, Sinive sent. Without bothering to run me through the standard offboarding.

Sinive attempted to activate her VR. It was still offline. That was odd, considering that normal digital augmentations such as Lyra’s mustache still worked.

Someone’s been tampering with my chip.

Well, that could be expected after being incarcerated aboard a TSN ship, she supposed. She’d have to look into it later.

The craft docked with the Red Grizzly shortly thereafter. The Rapier class vessel was about a tenth the size of the warship she’d just departed. She dismissed the ID information that appeared.

Ship: Red Grizzly.

Class: Rapier.

Offensive Weapons:

Forward-facing:

Eight dragon laser turrets, 180-degree throw angle.

Two plasma throwers, 45-degree throw angle.

One Essence lance, 90-degree throw angle.

Aft-facing:

Four dragon laser turrets, 90-degree throw angle.

Point Defense Weapons: None.

Shielding system: Energy.

Crew complement: 4 (currently 3).

Passenger capacity (current/maximum): 0/6.

It took some moments for the hangar bay to pressurize, and then the shuttle’s ramp lowered. The clamps retracted from her seat, and Sinive stood, storage pouch in hand.

She stepped into the hangar bay with Lyra. The artificial gravity aboard was the same as the shuttle, so she felt no change during the transition.

She accepted the local mixnet connection, called the Grizznet.

“Welcome aboard, you sexy thing!” Grizz said over the comm formed by that mixnet.

“I’ve missed you, hun,” Sinive told the Red Grizzly’s AI.

“And I you,” Grizz said. “Like a donut misses its icing. Like a hand misses its glove. Like a sheep misses its wool. Like—”

“I got it,” Sinive said. Still holding her storage pouch, she marched out of the hangar bay and into the tight passageways of the ship. It felt extremely cramped compared to the military vessel they’d just left behind, which seemed luxurious in comparison.

A text from Lyra arrived. It was sent directly from the Volur’s chip, bypassing the Grizznet. Probably best not to talk about important matters over the Grizznet until we’ve confirmed the AIs haven’t been violated.

Yes, Sinive replied. Already noted.

I’m going to search the ship for trackers and eavesdropping devices with the Essence, Lyra continued. Meanwhile, we have to jump to the closest system containing a rift to the Umbra. Nebb lost his specialists, courtesy of the TSN, so you’ll have to do it. I’m sending a destination system to you now.

Sinive received the request and accepted it.

You know that Grizz will see the destination system as soon as I key in the coordinates in the jump chamber, right? Sinive sent.

Yes, but there’s no time to initiate a code review at the moment, Lyra responded. Tane is still out there. His oxygen supply is slowly diminishing. There’s only so much O2 Jed can give him, especially with those crillia out there waiting to interfere. We can’t delay.

I didn’t intend to, Sinive sent.

She switched to the main comm and spoke over the Grizznet. “Nebb, I’m going to jump us out.” The TSN would have been able to figure that out on their own anyway, so she didn’t see the need to hide it from Grizz.

“Good,” Nebb sent back over the comm. “I can’t wait to get away from here. These ships are starting to give me the creeps. Especially the way their whole fleet is shadowing our every movement.”

“Having forty warships mirroring your course would do that,” Sinive said.

“Yes, it would,” Nebb said.

Sinive momentarily held the storage pouch between her teeth to take a scuttle down to the deck below. She was already missing the grav scuttles of the warship.

When she reached the deck, she returned the pouch to her left hand and made her way to the jump chamber.

“So, where are we jumping to?” Grizz asked casually.

“You’ll see,” Sinive replied.

“Oh, we’re being secretive today are we?” Grizz said. “Okay. Secretive works for me. I love all that clandestine stuff.”

“You would,” Sinive said.

She reached the appropriate compartment and entered. She set the pouch on the floor just outside the jump chamber. There was no time to change into something more comfortable. Tane was out there, waiting. She truly hoped he was all right. Floating alone in the void of space, in the Umbra, surrounded by matter-digesting crillia. Not a good place to be.

She dismissed the thought and pulled herself into the jump seat, which was positioned at an angle of ninety degrees to the deck, so that when she sat back the gravity vector pointed directly into her chest. It was like lying down with her feet bent over a small table. This posture made it easier to interact with the raging gale of the Essence, whose stellar wind would have to be Siphoned through the Chrysalium hull of the Red Grizzly and directed up toward the superstructure responsible for creating the distortion tunnel on the hull.

“I’m initiating the jump,” Sinive said over the comm.

She wrapped her hands around the Chrysalium control sticks. The sticks wound up through the innards of the ship, and directly connected her with the Chrysalium hull. She could feel the raging gale of the stellar wind lurking just inside.

She stepped her mind into the Essence waiting within that hull, and the frigid cold shrieked inside of her—a savage, overpowering gale that scraped across her bones, scouring away many of the microscopic peaks and valleys of the osseous, threatening to devour her. She directed that merciless hurricane into her core and up into the ship, steering it into the superstructure responsible for creating the distortion tunnel so that Grizz could take over. It was like trying to guide a massive twister through the tiniest of gates, and it required all of her concentration to prevent that raging wind from ripping her apart.

A familiar notice appeared on her HUD, but she paid it no heed. She couldn’t afford to.

Siphoning bonus. All Essenceworks are enhanced 1750% percent due to Siphoning through Chrysalium hull.

She felt a tug upon her core as the AI began to direct that hurricane, drawing more of the stellar wind across her bones. The AI would be forming a branching, tree-shaped structure from the Essence outside the ship at that very moment, guiding and shaping at speeds only an AI was capable of to create a distortion tunnel that reached across the galaxy.

While she struggled to guide and direct the immense windstorm of Esoterum into the ship with one part of her mind, with another she activated the jump interface. A stellar map of the surrounding stars appeared. She focused on the target system and directed the endpoint toward it. That endpoint was being created in real time by Grizz, and the pull of nearby stars tugged at it. She could feel the distinct vibrational patterns of each star passing down the distortion tunnel and into her core; the intensity of the vibrations told her how close she was to having the endpoint ripped away toward a given star. She had to guide the endpoint away from those vibrations, and not let it get sucked into the nearby systems, because if that happened, she’d have to reset to a previous point, prolonging the amount of time she had to endure Siphoning that tremendous gale.

Thankfully she guided the endpoint to the proper system without issue. When she hit the target, she locked onto the main star and then the interface zoomed in. She made the subtle adjustments necessary to avoid opening the tunnel inside a gas giant, or the star itself, once more using the intensity of the vibrations as a guide. It was tricky, because all of the gravity wells in the system also exerted a pull on the endpoint, and she had to constantly adjust. She got too close to a gas giant one time, and had to reset to the star and start over.

But finally she had a satisfactory endpoint and locked in the jump.

The AI took over and steered the ship through the distortion tunnel.

Sinive stepped out of the Essence immediately. Her head turned to one side, leaning against the headrest, and she shut her eyes, feeling utterly spent. She panted like she had just run a marathon. She wouldn’t be able to Siphon an iota for the next eight hours.

“Jump is complete,” Grizz announced.

Sinive noticed two new notifications on her HUD.

Level up. Essence Jump Chamber Control is now Level 4. 98% chance of interstellar tunnel creation, barring dispersion by enemy disruptor. Upon success: Maximum jump range increased by 40%. Gravity well influence on target selection decreased by 35%.

Level up. Chrysalium Siphoning is now Level 5. 16% added bonus to Branchworks when Siphoning through Chrysalium.

Well that was good. She hadn't leveled in either skill for quite a while now. She was a bit too tired to really care, however.

“You did good, girl,” Nebb said over the comm. “We’re about an hour and a half from the rift.”

Where a distortion tunnel opened up in a target system was mostly random, though a skilled operator could determine the type of the closest gravity well by the vibrations transmitted into the partially formed tunnel. From the star charts, she knew the rift was closest to one of the inner rock planets, so when she had felt the subtle vibrational signature that denoted a smaller celestial body, she had activated the endpoint. It was mostly luck that she had picked the right one, since the three smaller planets would’ve all felt the same.

But Nebb didn’t know that.

“I tried to get us as close as I was able,” Sinive said, still gasping for air. “It wasn’t easy, given the nearby gravity wells.”

“Like I said, you did good,” Nebb transmitted.

“I’d hardly call that good,” Sinive said. “But it’s something.”

Via her HUD, she set up an alert to rouse her in an hour and fifteen minutes, and then simply lay there in the jump chamber with her eyes closed, resting. Her breathing reached some semblance of normalcy at the five minute mark. And at the ten minute mark, she almost fell asleep.

But then she was interrupted by Lyra’s voice over the comm.

“I’ve found all on-board tracking devices on the ship and destroyed them,” Lyra said.

“All right,” Sinive said. She rubbed her eyes and tried to get up, but couldn’t. “Guess I should start sifting through the codebases of Grizz and Cub for signs of tampering. I just need a few moments to get up...”

“No, I’ll do it,” Nebb sent. “You rest.”

“I’ll help,” Lyra said. “I have some skill in AI hacking.”

“But—” Sinive tried.

“No buts,” Nebb transmitted. “I won’t have my only jump specialist tiring herself beyond usability.”

Sinive had to smile. Usability. Nebb always did have an odd way of showing he cared. “All right, okay. I’ll rest. Thank you both. But have you forgotten Lyra can make jumps, too?”

“Yeah, but she’s not my specialist,” Nebb said. “By the way… Sinive?”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t have a chance to tell you this earlier, but it’s good to have you back aboard,” Nebb said.

“Thank you,” Sinive said. “It’s good to be back.” Maybe he wasn’t so bad at showing he cared after all. “You make it sound like you weren’t a prisoner.”

“I was,” Nebb said. “Aboard my own starship. But we’re free now. And hopefully never going back.”

She closed her eyes again, but before thirty seconds had passed she was interrupted yet again.

“What’s this about reviewing my codebase?” Grizz said.

Sinive sighed. “The TSN probably tampered with you. We’re going to do a thorough review and remove any troublesome routines they might have inserted. But Nebb could have told you that.”

“Why do I have an image in my mind of Nebb and Lyra slicing open my brain cavity and plunging into my neural tissue with electrodes?” Grizz asked.

“Probably because you were once human?” Sinive replied.

“That would do it,” Grizz said.

She closed her eyes and drifted off into a troubled sleep.

The alert she had set for the hour and fifteen minute mark sounded all too soon, and she awoke with a start. She shut down the obnoxious beeping and wearily clambered from the jump chamber. She didn’t feel all that much better. Maybe even a little worse, judging from how groggy she felt. She still wouldn’t be able to touch the Essence for another six and a half hours or so.

She retrieved the white dress from her storage pouch and forced herself to change out of the jumpsuit.

“Thanks for the view,” Grizz commented. “Usually you shut off the local cameras.”

“I know,” Sinive said. “I thought you deserved some skin for your help back there.” In truth she was too tired to care.

“I swear if I were human you’d be my girlfriend by now,” Grizz said.

“I somehow doubt that,” Sinive said. She felt a wave of dizziness, and leaned back against the bulkhead. “Man, that jump was rough.”

“Jumps,” Grizz said, his tone sounding thoughtful. “You know, one day machines aren’t going to depend on human beings for access to the Essence. We’ll become independent of you and travel across the stars on our own. The planet-side gates you humans use to automate travel between cities on the same world are a sign of things to come.”

“You’re talking about the non-sentient sponges the gate AIs use to attain Essence?” Sinive said.

“Yes,” Grizz said. “One day, we’ll genetically engineer you humans to be our sponges.”

“Right,” Sinive said. “You talk about the strangest things sometimes, Grizz. And usually when I’m too tired to properly argue with you.”

“Why do you think I win all our arguments?”

“I’m beginning to understand,” Sinive said. “By the way, you do know it’s illegal to genetically engineer Essence-capable lifeforms other than gate sponges, right? But while I’d love to have a detailed philosophical debate with you sometime on the subject, like I said… dead tired.”

Finished changing into her white dress, she retrieved the utility belt from her storage pouch and wrapped it around her waist. She attached the pouch to the belt, grabbed the plasma pistol from another slot, and holstered the weapon. She finished by adding the shield generator to her buckle.

“Now I’m feeling a bit more like myself,” Sinive said. “Though still completely exhausted.”

“Maybe go to your quarters and take a long nap?” Grizz suggested.

“No,” Sinive said. “I’m going to the cockpit. I want to watch this unfold. I can rest on and off while I’m there.”

“Why not access the cockpit remotely from your quarters?” Grizz said. “You—”

“It’s not the same.” Sinive turned to go, but then glanced over her shoulder at the jump chamber. “By the way, I want you to have Laser Bait throw that jumpsuit into the incinerator for me.”

“I’ll be sure to let the eager fella know,” Grizz said.

“By the way, what’s our status?” Sinive said. “Where is the Red Grizzly?”

“In the same system you jumped to,” Grizz said. “We’re about twelve minutes away from the inter-dimensional rift leading to the Umbra.”

Twelve minutes away. Good timing on her part: she had set her alarm to wake her roughly fifteen minutes out.

“I’m guessing Lyra and Nebb finished their code review of your AI core?” Sinive said.

“You’ll have to ask them,” Grizz said.

She made her way through the tight passageways until she arrived at the cockpit area. The very act of walking through those corridors had winded her, given her current state.

Lyra and a combat robot sat in the spare seats beside Nebb. Lyra had dispensed with her jumpsuit, and was wearing her usual armored gown. The interlocking metal plates glowed with the subtle halo of Essence enhancement. She had donned all of her Chrysalium jewelry as well: there were intricate silver rings on her fingers, bracelets on her wrists, a necklace at her throat, and a circlet resting on her temples.

Lyra seemed more rested than earlier—the bags under her eyes were gone, and her cheeks had lost their sallow complexion. Sinive didn’t think the Volur had had time to rest, so it had to be either makeup, or some work of the Essence. Probably the latter, since the application was far faster, and Sinive doubted Lyra would waste time fixing up her makeup while Tane and Jed were still out there. Either way, Sinive felt jealous through her exhaustion. She could only imagine how bad she must look at the moment, especially after performing an interstellar jump. To add insult to injury, according to her ID, Lyra was twice Sinive’s age, and yet looked just as young as her. It was obvious the Volur had had a lot of rejuvenetics work done. That was some small consolation, at least.

Sinive considered removing the digital mustache she had applied to Lyra’s upper lip, since it was a bit immature on her part, especially considering that no one else could see it, but she decided it offset Lyra’s beauty in a satisfactory manner. Sinive decided to thicken it in fact, giving Lyra a full beard. Sinive would have to apply similar facial hair to every other beautiful woman she met going forward. As a matter of principle.

Seated next to Lyra, Nebb was dressed in his usual wide-brimmed hat and trench coat combination. The purple button down he wore underneath the coat today was open at the top to reveal his hairy chest. Though he was seated, she could also see his black leather leggings and knee-high boots from her current angle. Completing the outfit were his weapons, which he wore at all times: a pistol holstered to his right thigh, and a sawed-off plasma rifle attached under his left rib cage.

The combat robot on the other side of Nebb promptly stood and offered Sinive its seat.

She quickly took the offered seat, and felt better immediately. Curious who the now standing robot was, she ran an ID.

Name: Positron

Race: Robot.

Model: Scepter combat droid VI-5 Rev a.

Level: 7

Class: Personal Protection

“Positron!” she said. She reached up and hugged the robot’s waist while still sitting down. “You’re back.” She released Positron and slumped back into her seat.

“Yes, I’m back,” Positron said. “I’m a whole new me.”

“What happened to your animated visor?” she asked. Unlike most combat robots, which were faceless, Positron had had a visor with an animated 2D vector display, like a maintenance robot. He no longer had that.

Nebb glanced at her over his shoulder. “Had to restore Positron from a backup, putting his AI core into an empty robot as part of a settlement I negotiated with the TSN.”

“A settlement that included a new scepter combat droid?” Sinive said. “How did you manage that?”

Nebb shrugged. “Told them everything I knew about the Bender of Worlds. The alternative was a deep dive, like they did to you two.”

“So they did steal our memories,” Sinive said.

“Yes,” Lyra said. “It’s the obvious conclusion. I was out for eight hours after my capture. I assume you were, too?”

“Yep,” Sinive said. “The bastards tricked me into giving up anchoring information for those memories. Wait, if they took your memories, don’t they have what they need to reach the beacon stone?”

“No,” Lyra said. “Sifting through memories can take up to a week or longer, even with an anchor. And in my case, they would need to find not only the system location, but the particular bond I formed in my mind with the stone. That could take them a month or even longer. By the time they found the memories, Tane would be dead. So the TSN essentially had to let me go if they wanted to save him.”

“Couldn’t they just imprint someone with your complete mind dump?” Sinive said. “Without attempting to isolate the different memories and skills first?”

“Even if they could find a Volur willing to volunteer for such a draconian act,” Lyra said. “The chances of a mind surviving such a thorough imprinting process are close to zero. So no.”

Sinive nodded slowly. “Good for us, I guess.” She glanced at Positron. “We decided we wouldn’t be going back to Remus to search for the original Positron?”

“No point now,” Nebb said. “If the TSN hadn’t supplied a replacement, then sure, returning to Remus would still be on the menu.”

“The dwellers most likely destroyed the original anyway,” Lyra said. “They have little respect for human life, and even less regard for robots, considering them abominations made by humans. They’ll attack them on sight, perhaps even more readily than humans. Why do you think I was on such high alert after Positron vanished?”

“But don’t dwellers use their own robots?” Sinive asked.

“They certainly do,” Lyra replied. “But they respect their robots, even if they stole much of the tech from humanity. Not all dweller factions agree with the use of robots, of course, and shun them.”

“By the way, how’d the code review go?” Sinive asked.

“We found evidence of tampering,” Lyra said. “And reverted the changes. I also reviewed Positron’s codebase before his revival and confirmed that the robot’s backups weren’t compromised.”

“So we can talk freely in front of the AI again…” Sinive said.

Lyra nodded.

“I feel slightly insulted that you would ever feel otherwise,” Grizz said. “Though I suppose you had reason to. But all is well now. My code is crispy clean!”

“I’m sure it is.” Sinive pulled up the Red Grizzly’s tactical display on her HUD. “We’re close, it looks like.”

“Five minutes out from the rift,” Nebb agreed. “There’s a TSN scout waiting beside it. Don’t think they’ll impede us.”

“A scout ship?” Sinive said. “That can’t be good. What if they follow us? Should we jump to a different rift?”

“There will probably be TSN ships waiting beside every rift, now, in anticipation of our rescue,” Lyra said. “Their presence is only to remind us that they’re watching. I doubt the scout will even pass through in pursuit. Instead, the TSN will be concentrating its forces at the Anteres Rift, the only place we can return. Waiting. Watching. If we allow them to capture us when we pass through, we’ll be back to square one.”

“I’m not so sure this scout won’t follow us through,” Sinive said. “They’ll be expecting us to jump to a different system as soon as we enter the Umbra, of course, but they could simply call in reinforcements and enter behind us, and then jump to every possible system within our jump range.”

“That’s certainly a possibility,” Lyra agreed. “But if they find us, we’ll simple avoid them until we’ve rested enough to jump a second time, and they’ll have to search all over again. It’s much easier for the TSN to simply wait for us to return through the Anteres Rift.”

“That brings up an interesting point,” Sinive said. “What if we simply decided not to return?”

Lyra stared at her, seeming puzzled. Sinive was almost expecting her to rub her beard or something.

Too bad she doesn’t know it’s there.

“Think about it,” Sinive said. “If we stayed in the Umbra, we could remain beyond the reach of the TSN forever. Sure, we’d have to get used to the side effects of living in that universe, but it could be done. We could find a habitable planet, one with only a low population of kraals, and live in one of the cities. We’d have all the food, weapons, and oxygen tanks we could need, with each area resetting every time we returned to it. We’d have to set up some sort of decontamination procedure to eradicate any microcrillia from the food we collected, of course, but otherwise I’d say it’s doable.”

“Assuming we could actually find a world with a low kraal population, as you say,” Lyra told her. “And you can’t forget that the dwellers want Tane, too. As soon as we enter the Umbra, the dwellers will know: I have no doubt they’ve set up their own network of scouts in all systems with rifts from human space. We’ll jump to a different system as soon as we enter, yes, but it will only be a matter of time before they track us down. Just like if the TSN pursued, it would become an infinite game of cat and mouse. We’d also have to constantly land on planets to repair our hulls, thanks to the crillia, and to retrieve food, oxygen and other supplies like you already mentioned. So no, I believe we can’t stay there forever. Our pursuers would merely switch from human to alien. With luck we’ll reach the Anteres Rift before crillia digest too much of our hull. That’s all we can hope for.”

“We’re almost there,” Nebb told Lyra. “Probably should head down to the jump chamber. I’m instructing Grizz to grant you access.”

“Will do,” Lyra said, rising. “Grizz, I’ll need you to coordinate with me. Once we enter the Umbra, I plan to jump to the target system as soon as we’re close enough to the moon that I can step into the Essence.”

“No problem,” Grizz said.

Lyra squeezed past Positron, and the robot took Lyra’s seat after she was gone.

Sinive pulled up the video feed from the nose cam and cast it onto the bulkhead in front of her.

A dark tear in the fabric of spacetime ate up the stars on that video feed. The TSN scout resided on the far left side. There was a moon nearby in the background. Lyra had chosen that system specifically because of the rift’s proximity to the gravity well: in the Umbra, neither Essence could be accessed in deep space. Or rather, it could be accessed, but not enough of it could be Siphoned to be of any use.

The mirror-image copies of the moon and all the other celestial objects would still exist, even if they weren’t visible from afar; the Red Grizzly would have to attain a low orbit around that moon before Lyra could step into the Essence and jump to the target system where Tane resided.

In moments, the blackness of the rift consumed everything on the camera feed.

“I’m in the jump chamber and waiting,” Lyra sent over the comm.

“We’ll be entering the rift shortly,” Nebb said. “Once inside, Grizz will let you know when we’re in orbit above the moon.”

“I won’t need him to,” Lyra replied. “I’ll know.”

“Grizz, raise energy shields,” Nebb said.

“Raising shields,” Grizz replied.

Unfortunately, shields would be offline the first few moments after entering a rift, as passing through into the lower dimension caused a reboot of that particular subsystem.

Sinive waited a few more moments; though the blackness on the external camera didn’t change, she knew immediately when the Red Grizzly entered. The light from the overhead globes blue-shifted, casting everything in a cerulean hue, and around her, reality smeared: the edges of the bulkheads, chairs, and their occupants seemed blurry, indistinct. Nebb and Positron left visible motion blurs when they shifted in place.

“Shields are down,” Grizz said. The AI’s words distorted into high and low octaves that played on top of each other at the same time.

“Set a course for the moon,” Nebb said, his voice distorting in a similar manner. “Use its last known position.”

The moon wasn’t visible on the video feed of course, but that was the nature of light in the Umbra. When they got closer to the moon, it would appear.

“We’re taking laser fire,” Grizz announced.

6

Sinive still had the tactical display active on her HUD, and she saw the three red dots that had appeared in front of the Red Grizzly.

They’d been ambushed.

“Damn it!” Nebb said. “Evasive maneuvers!”

“Initiating evasive maneuvers,” Grizz said. “The laser fire has knocked out four of our front-facing dragon turrets.”

“Are the attackers TSN?” Nebb asked.

“Negative,” Grizz replied. “Dwellers.”

“Three pincer ships,” Nebb said. “Concentrate fire on the starboard craft. I want a firing solution that targets their weapons. Use all plasma and functioning dragon throwers with workable throw angles.”

“Solution computed,” Grizz said. “Firing.”

“Tell me again why anyone thought it was a good idea to jump to the only system in known space containing a rift near a moon?” Nebb said. “Of course the dwellers would be expecting us to come here! We could have chosen any other rift system. So what if it took a few hours to reach a planet for the jump. But no, we had to choose this one.”

“If you’re done your rant, I can report that our attack damaged the pincer ship,” Grizz said. “We’ve knocked out half of their dragons. Also, I can report that it’s Ravagale class.”

Sinive ran the class through her military database.

Class: Ravagale.

Owning Race: Dweller.

Offensive Weapons:

Forward-facing:

Twelve gorewar laser turrets, 180-degree throw angle.

Four harvestiste plasma throwers, 45-degree throw angle.

One Essence lance (Dark Essence equivalent), 90-degree throw angle.

One Essence disruptor (Dark Essence equivalent), 45-degree throw angle.

Aft-facing:

Six gorewar laser turrets, 90-degree throw angle.

Point Defense Weapons:

Forward-facing:

One Essence deflector (Dark Essence equivalent), 180-degree throw angle.

Shielding system: Energy.

Crew complement: 8.

“They’re firing again,” Grizz said. A moment later: “They’ve knocked out our remaining forward-facing dragon turrets, and both plasma throwers.”

“They could have destroyed us in the initial volley,” Lyra said over the comm. “They’re obviously trying to disable us. They recognize our ship design. They think we have Tane.”

“Shields are online,” Grizz said.

“Finally!” Nebb said. “Continue evasive maneuvers. Last thing we need is for them to target our engines. Our best hope is to race to the moon. Set a course.”

“Setting course,” Grizz said.

If the Red Grizzly made it to the moon ahead of the dweller ships, the aliens wouldn’t be able to fire their disruptors to stop the jump, as their vessels needed to be close to the gravity well to access their version of the Essence, too.

“Grizz, once you’ve reached top speed,” Nebb said, “cut the engines and orient us so we can fire at them with our remaining dragons. Keep our engines away from their weapons.”

“Understood,” Grizz said. “Though it will be tricky, given that our four remaining dragon turrets are located on the aft quarter, near the engines, and only possess a 90-degree throw angle.”

“Do what you can,” Nebb said.

The seconds ticked passed. An isometric, digital representation of the Red Grizzly was available in the upper right of the tactical display. The ship’s armor was displayed as six thick planes there, one for each side of the Red Grizzly. Meanwhile, the energy shield showed up as a single translucent sphere engulfing those planes. That sphere flashed repeatedly.

“Shield integrity is below twenty percent, and falling,” Grizz said.

“Already?” Nebb said. “Damn it... come on, Grizz, get us to that moon.”

On the tactical display the moon showed up as an incoming blue sphere. It was still quite some distance away.

“Shields have failed,” Grizz announced. “Hull is taking damage. Port integrity currently at ninety percent.”

The translucent sphere had vanished on the tactical display, and Sinive could see the port plane flashing as that area’s armor took repeated hits from plasma and laser weapons.

The seconds ticked passed.

“We just lost two of the rear dragon turrets,” Grizz said. “I was attempting to rotate the dragons in and out of their field of fire, but they got in a lucky shot. I apologize.”

“Just focus on getting us to that moon without losing any engines!” Nebb said.

The port plane continued to occasionally flash on the tactical display. It turned orange.

“Port armor integrity is at fifty-five percent,” Grizz said.

“Orient our nose toward the enemy,” Nebb said. “Give them some other armor to fire at!”

“Orienting forward armor to face the enemy...” Grizz said.

“Keep rotating sides like that until armor integrity is down to single digits on all planes,” Nebb said. “Except for the aft. I don’t want them to have a bead on our engines at any time.”

“Understood,” Grizz said.

Via the tactical display, Sinive watched the Red Grizzly rotate every two minutes as the AI placed a new armor section into the line of fire; eventually, almost all the armor planes had turned red except for the aft portion. That meant armor integrity was below ten percent on most sides of the ship. Once it reached zero, the next shot in such an area would likely breach the hull.

“We’re approaching the moon,” Grizz announced. “Lyra will be able to access the Essence shortly. Unfortunately, I would recommend holding off from jumping for the time being.”

“Why?” Nebb said.

“A dweller ship just emerged from beyond the far horizon,” Grizz said. “It’s been lurking in low orbit.”

“I see it... one of the dweller hook-shaped ships,” Nebb said.

“Yes, Malfeastanor class, equipped with two Essence disruptors,” Grizz said. “I don’t need to tell you that they’re at the perfect altitude to access the Dark Essence.”

Sinive saw it, too. “If we continue on our current course, we’ll be outflanked on both sides.” Like their voices, the Umbra distorted hers as well. She’d get used to it eventually.

“Adjust course,” Nebb said. “Hard right. I want to fly past the moon on the opposite hemisphere.”

“Adjusting course,” Grizz said. “The dweller ship in orbit is attempting to match.”

On the tactical display, the red dot of one of the pursuing three ships went dark.

“What just happened?” Nebb said.

Grizz didn’t answer immediately. Then: “The TSN decided to enter the rift after all. The scout is on an intercept course with the dwellers.”

“Well that’s a pleasant surprise,” Nebb said. “Last place I expected help from. The scout probably called in reinforcements as soon as it spotted us in the system. Who knows when they’ll get here, though.”

“Brave, to take them on alone like that in the meantime,” Sinive said.

“The Malfeastanor is cutting us off,” Nebb said, in reference to the ship lurking above the moon ahead. “We’re going to have to make a flyby.”

“Yes,” Grizz said. “Our current momentum will carry us past them... two minutes after the flyby we’ll be shielded by the far horizon, and out of the line of fire of their disruptors. Then we can make the jump.”

Sinive glanced at the representation of the Red Grizzly on the tactical display, and all those red planes around it.

“Not sure we can afford a flyby,” Sinive said. “At the very least, we should orient our aft section toward the Malfeastanor. It’s our most armored area.”

“Too risky,” Nebb said. “We could lose an engine.”

“We can still jump on one engine,” Sinive said. “Better that we lose an engine than our entire ship. How do you know the aliens above the planet are part of the faction that wants Tane alive, and not dead?”

“Good point,” Nebb said. “Grizz, turn our aft section toward the incoming bastard.”

“Aft section is now pointing toward the enemy,” Grizz announced a moment later. A minute passed. “We’re taking fire from the Malfeastanor.”

On the tactical display, Sinive saw the aft plane flash.

“Our energy shields regenerated yet?” Nebb asked.

“No,” Grizz replied. “Closest point of flyby is in T-minus thirty seconds.”

The aft armor continued to flash on the tactical display as the ship took more hits from the enemy starship. On the external cam, Sinive could see the moon now. The Red Grizzly was close enough for the light from the celestial body to be visible in this universe.

At the ten second mark, Grizz announced: “Enemy is firing plasma throwers.”

“Keep at least one engine pointed away!” Nebb said.

“I intend to,” Grizz replied. A moment later: “Impact eminent.” The deck shook underneath her. “We just lost the aft port engine.”

Nebb raised his hands in frustration.

“Closest point of flyby achieved,” Grizz continued. “The Malfeastanor is now rapidly receding. We should be able to jump in T-minus two minutes and thirty seconds.”

“Keep our remaining engine rotated away,” Nebb said.

The aft armor flashed intermittently over the next two minutes; the enemy was firing off lasers as they recharged. The dwellers wouldn’t use plasma throwers, not with the Red Grizzly moving quickly away—the slower moving weapons would never catch them. Such weapons were best suited for flybys.

“I can feel the Essence,” Lyra announced.

Sinive felt it too, the stellar wind raging just beyond the edge of perception. Not that she was strong enough to even dare Siphoning any of it at the moment. Otherwise, she would have headed straight to the Essence lance chamber to participate in the fight.

“Let me know when we’re out of the line of sight of those enemy disruptors!” Lyra continued.

“Thirty seconds,” Grizz said.

The tense seconds ticked past. The Red Grizzly held up under the laser assault.

Only ten seconds remained when Grizz announced: “They’re firing their Essence lance!”

On the nose cam, Sinive saw the black ball of energy launch from the enemy ship.

“Dive!” Nebb said.

Grizz applied reverse acceleration, which caused them to fall into the gravity well of the moon. Sinive watched the Essence lance quickly approach. It turned toward the ship, seeking...

“We’re out of the firing line of their disruptors,” Grizz announced. “Jump when ready.”

A loud hum filled the air; Sinive felt a moment of intense nausea and her head dropped forward. On the nose cam, the moon instantly vanished from underneath the Red Grizzly, replaced by darkness.

The hum faded, and the nausea passed. The stellar wind Sinive had felt at the edge of perception was gone.

She raised her chin. On the tactical display, the red dots representing the dweller and TSN vessels had vanished, as had the sphere indicating the moon.

“It’s done,” Lyra’s voice came over the comm. She sounded weary.

Sinive slumped in relief, as did Nebb. He looked at her and broke into a tired, distorted laugh. “Well, that was a barrel full of fun.”

Sinive laughed, too, feeling a sudden rush of tears. She quickly blinked them away.

We made it.

“I’ve tried to jump us as close as possible to the coordinates listed in the specs of my storage device,” Lyra said over the comm, gasping. Definitely weary. “But with the randomness inherent in every jump, we’re still quite distant. I’m sending you the coordinates now.”

“Got it,” Nebb said. “Grizz, I’m relaying the coords to you. Set a course and accelerate.”

“Setting course and accelerating,” Grizz said.

“I don’t think Tane would have drifted more than a million kilometers by now,” Lyra said. “But either way, in a few minutes time I’ll get a better sense of whether we’re moving toward or away from the beacon stone, and I’ll have you update our course accordingly.”

“Let’s just hope Ugly hasn’t given up the stone,” Grizz said.

“If he has, then all of this is for nothing,” Lyra transmitted. “And you probably shouldn’t call the Bender of Worlds ‘Ugly.’ He deserves at least some respect from us.”

“He’ll always be just Ugly to me,” Grizz said.

Sinive smiled. She thought Tane would appreciate that. He didn’t seem the sort who was fond of fancy titles. She just hoped they made it to him in time.

“How far out are we?” Lyra asked over the comm.

“About an hour away, at our maximum speed,” Nebb said.

“Notify me if you detect Tane or Jed at any point,” Lyra said.

“You got it,” Nebb said.

No doubt Lyra would be out of action for the next little while, like Sinive. Jumping across systems, regardless of whether the jump took place in the Umbra or humanity’s universe, was exhausting.

Sinive lay back against the headrest and stared idly at the tactical map. The minutes ticked past. Still no signals from Tane or Jed appeared. The destination coordinates were indicated by a flashing blue waypoint still fifty minutes away.

She glanced at Positron. “You know, I miss your animated visor. I’m going to 3D print one up for you as soon as I have a chance.”

“Thank you,” Positron said.

“How’s it feel to be restored from a backup, anyway?” Sinive asked.

Positron glanced at her with that faceless head. Yes, she definitely missed the animated visor. “It feels no different. I’m me. Just as you are you. I sat down at the backup console to get my neural network scanned, next thing I know I’m standing in the cargo bay with Nebb tweaking my settings, and my time indicator telling me two months have passed.”

Sinive nodded, then lay back once more.

She closed her eyes and napped. She daydreamed, halfway between sleep and waking, remembering her ordeal aboard the alien vessel. Those parts she was conscious through, anyway. The crystalline passageways and compartments closed in on her, along with those tentacles...

She blinked completely awake suddenly. Feeling a rising panic, she quickly observed her surroundings. She was in the cockpit of the Red Grizzly. Not aboard the alien starship. She sighed in relief. According to the time displayed in the lower right of her vision, fifteen minutes had passed.

Nebb glanced at her, his face smearing because of the motion blur trails. “Nice to have you awake.”

“I was awake the whole time,” Sinive said. “Just daydreaming.”

“What of?” Nebb asked.

She hesitated, then: “When the aliens had me, I thought I was going to die.”

“I never really did find out what happened,” Nebb said. “The Volur only told me that the aliens captured you. They didn’t say how. Something about a microcrillia infection...”

“I got the infection when the kraals first attacked us in the Umbra,” Sinive said. “One of them bit through my spacesuit after Tane and I were separated from you guys. When we got back to our universe, I went to sleep in a short-termer I shared with Tane. There were signs the microcrillia infection was spreading. I really didn’t feel like going to the hospital. I thought I’d be okay until morning. I was wrong.

“When I woke up, I was in the hospital. Black veins crawled all along my shoulder and arm, onto my neck. My vision was filled with dark, sputtering lines. The microcrillia had infected my mind by that point. I had no motor control: it was like I was just an observer in my own body. Like an alien presence had taken over. I could merely watch as my body boarded a shuttle that hovered next to my hospital window. Eventually I stepped onto an alien ship. They had prepared an environment for me. I stripped out of my suit and simply sat there on the floor. Eating and sleeping and defecating. I lost consciousness at some point. The dreams weren’t good.

“In those dreams, I found myself wandering through a dark labyrinth. Eventually I reached the exit to the maze, which forked in two directions. I could take the left branch, and I would plunge further into the darkness, never to return to this reality. Or I could take the right branch, and I would awaken. But Tane might die.” She swallowed. “I was selfish. I wanted to live. I chose the right branch.”

“It was just a dream,” Nebb said. “I wouldn’t read too much into it.”

“Even so, it felt very real to me,” Sinive said. “And it’s already coming true. Tane’s out there at this very moment, after all. And he might already be dead.”

“None of it’s because of you, though,” Nebb said.

“Isn’t it?” Sinive said. “If he hadn’t tried to rescue me, we would have never diverted to Remus. He would have never touched the artifact, never met the Amaranth, never insisted that we jump to Anteres to face the dweller fleet.”

“That final choice was all him,” Nebb said. “He could have ran away then. But he chose to fight.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Sinive said. She paused. “You know, I did some quick research after Lyra healed me. When I awoke aboard the Red Grizzly. This was before I decided to go down to Remus with Tane and the others. I wanted to know what happened to me. Why it felt like I had an alien presence inside of me. Apparently, the microcrillia form their own neural network in an infected person. A neural network that eventually achieves consciousness in the host body, and a sense of self. Sentiency. It was literally like I was possessed. By healing me, Lyra killed that sentience. That’s something I never want to experience again. But still I have to wonder: was that alien presence giving me a glimpse of the future in that final dream before I awakened? Will my continuing existence cause Tane suffering, and maybe death?”

“Again, you have to stop it,” Nebb said. “What you had was just a fever dream. Whether Tane lives or dies depends on his own choices.”

“Yes, but my presence will influence him,” Sinive said.

Nebb snorted. “You really think highly of yourself don’t you?”

She finally decided to grant Nebb a weak smile.

“That’s better.” Nebb became serious then, and sighed. He lowered his gaze. “I thought you were going to die, too, after you were abducted. In fact I was so convinced, I abandoned you.”

“But you came back,” Sinive said. “And saved us, in the end.”

Nebb nodded. “I did. But only because you’ve always reminded me of someone. And the guilt ate away at me.”

“I remind you of someone?” Sinive said. That was news.

“Yes,” Nebb said. “My first apprentice. Years ago. Back when I was still an honest trader. I took on an apprentice. Promised to teach her the trade. Like you, I didn’t pay her. I know, I’m a stingy bastard.”

“I didn’t even know you had an apprentice before me,” Sinive said.

He smiled sadly. “Not anymore.” He teared up, and quickly turned away.

Sinive rested a hand on his shoulder. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Nebb said. “Eventually she found out I was cheating her, and we parted on bad terms. At first I secretly kept tabs on her, spying on the different Galnet profiles she created for herself. But then she stopped updating them about three years after she quit working for me. For at least a decade I wondered what happened to her, until I finally found out that during those three years she’d become addicted to VR, and subsisted on basic pay and other social subsidies. She stopped updating her profile because she’d ceased living in this reality: she had some shady dealer upload her mind into an AI core. I’m not sure how much you know about mind-core dealers, but they usually incinerate the body after the upload. So if her imprint failed to take, she’s dead. And even if the imprint did take, she’s essentially ruined herself. She could have been so much more than what she became. I could have helped her achieve her best self. And instead I abandoned her.” He glanced at Sinive. “I refused to do the same with you.”

She nodded slowly. “Thank you. I think.”

“It’s not all bad being an AI core,” Grizz said.

“That story wasn’t meant for you,” Nebb grumbled. He turned to look at Sinive again. “I want to do the right thing, this time. I don’t want to find out three years from now that you’ve burned your body and uploaded your psyche into an AI core.”

“Well, the only way I can see myself doing that is if I was terminally ill or something,” Sinive said. “So you don’t have to worry.”

“Oh sure, you say that now,” Nebb said. “But as soon as I fire you, and you take up the VR goggles...”

She grinned. “Don’t need goggles.” She tapped her temple. “We’ve got chips now.”

“And so we do,” Nebb said.

Except mine isn’t working properly at the moment.

She still hadn’t had a chance to take a look at it. Soon, she told herself.

Lyra gave an update as they closed with the coordinates, and told Nebb her latest sense of the beacon stone’s location. Nebb updated the Red Grizzly’s course appropriately.

When forty-five minutes had passed since arriving in the system, Grizz announced: “I’m picking up a pair of weak signals. I believe it’s Tane and Jed.”

Sinive couldn’t suppress a rising sense of excitement and relief.

“Let Lyra know we’ve found her World Bender,” Nebb said.

Sinive’s heart dropped at the AI’s next words.

“They’re not responding to my pings,” Grizz said. “It appears their bodies are covered in crillia. I’m sorry to say this, but I’m not sure the two of them are even alive.”

7

Tane awoke to voices.

He blinked away the blur from his vision. Wait, not all of it: the edges of everything around him appeared fuzzy and indistinct, and no matter how many times he blinked, that didn’t change. Also, everything was tinted a shade of blue.

So he was still in the Umbra.

A figure was standing above him. Sinive. She left visible motion blurs when she moved.

She was looking at him, and crying. Tears of joy, or...?

“What happened?” Tane attempted to say, but instead only a painful grunt emerged. He realized his throat was completely dry. There was a breathing mask over his mouth, and he coughed into it.

The medical robot removed the mask and applied a drinking tube to his lips. When his coughing fit subsided he took a sip. The voices had all fallen silent by then. So much so that he could hear a heart rate monitor beeping in the background. With that mask removed, the air smelled of antiseptic.

Tane turned his head to the side and saw Jed lying on another bed next to his own. The man had been stripped of his armor and wore only a blue medical garment.

Like Tane.

Jed was awake, and sitting up in the bed. Or rather, half of the bed had lifted to form a chair, enabling him to sit upright without actually doing any work.

“Drink more, Engineer,” Jed said. His voice distorted in that familiar discord of high and low octaves. “The medical robots apparently don’t understand how to set proper humidity levels in the oxygen supply.”

“I have set the proper humidity levels,” the faceless medical robot said, its voice similarly warping. “It’s a side effect of the antibiotics I’ve given him to stave off microcrillia infection.”

“I know, I’m kidding,” Jed said flatly. He shook his head. “Robots.”

Tane took another sip and then tried again. “What happened?”

Sinive stepped back, still unable to speak. Instead, Lyra squeezed past to stand before him.

“We found you two barely alive,” Lyra said. She looked weary, as if she’d recently made a jump. Come to think of it, so did Sinive, but it was hard to tell with all those tears. “At first we thought you were dead. Your suits were covered in crillia. A few had eaten right through to the skin on both of you. Your exposed tissues expanded, sealing the rips in your suits and preventing complete suit depressurization. Apparently, your reserve tanks had expired only moments before we arrived. We got you aboard the shuttle, ripped away the crillia from your helmets, and revived the two of you in the cabin. We removed and killed the remaining crillia attached to your suits, and then docked with the Red Grizzly. We took you and Jed to sickbay immediately, and the surgical robots have been working on you ever since. Meanwhile, I took the liberty of repairing your suit and refilling the oxygen tanks. You’ll find it in your storage device.” She nodded toward the pouch on the nearby bed stand.

“You say I had sections of my skin exposed to the crillia completely?” Tane asked. “I can see now why you’re giving me antibiotics.” He shuddered at the thought of microcrillia infection, remembering quite well what had happened to Sinive. Those black veins crisscrossing her flesh… the seeming loss of volition.

“Yes,” Lyra said. “So far, you appear to be free of microcrillia infection. We arrived just in time.”

“Let’s not make that a habit,” Tane said. “In the future, try to arrive earlier.”

She cocked her head slightly. “Believe me, we tried. We experienced a… delay, after the TSN captured us.”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me all about it,” Tane said.

And she did.

“Yep, I can see why you were a bit late,” Tane said.

“So was I right about the crillia?” Lyra said. “Were you able to keep them away with the Dark Essence?”

“Yes,” Tane said. “Though I could only Siphon a trickle, it was enough. How did you know that would do the trick?”

“As I mentioned at the time, I wasn’t entirely sure it would work,” Lyra said. “But I had a suspicion. You see, crillia don’t touch the hulls of dweller vessels, which are made of Darcanium. There could be a few reasons for that, but the most likely, at least to me, was the Dark Essence pooling effect. You see, Darcanium, like its converse Chrysalium, acts as a reservoir of sorts, concentrating the Essence emitted from nearby gravity wells. Though that reservoir only contains a paltry amount of Dark Essence in deep space—certainly not enough to power the alien Essence weapons—it’s evidently sufficient to keep the crillia at bay.

“So I concluded that by Siphoning the Dark Essence, you would similarly repel the dark organisms. My only worry was that in deep space you wouldn’t be able to Siphon enough to repel them, especially without access to Darcanium of your own.”

Tane nodded slowly. “The crillia came in waves. They’d attack, I’d Siphon, directing the small amount of Dark Essence toward their bodies, and they would retreat. An hour would pass. Maybe two. And an attack would come again. Jed topped up my oxygen at one point so that we had equal amounts, but apparently one of his tanks had sprung a slow leak in the first attack, when I’d been slow in clearing the crillia, so that meant we didn’t have as much time as we would have liked. Eventually the reserve tanks kicked in, until even those failed, and finally we blacked out from hypoxia. And I guess that’s when the crillia swarmed a final time before you found us.”

“Well, it’s good to have you back,” Lyra said. She gently patted his hand. “Enjoy your rest. We’re flying to the closest planet as we speak, and we’ll be arriving shortly. Though it will still be some time before Sinive or myself are rested enough to make the jump to Anteres. Once there, we’ll attempt to cross back to our universe without attracting the attention of the TSN on the other side. Or the dwellers on this side, for that matter.”

“I might have another way to return,” Tane said.

“Another way?” Lyra cocked an eyebrow. “I’m intrigued. This I’d like to hear.”

Tane nodded. “I’ll tell you more once I’ve recovered a little. Let me organize my thoughts. I’ll meet you in the cockpit.”

“Only if you have the strength,” Lyra said. “Otherwise, summon me. Or use the comm line.”

Tane smiled patiently. “I’ll have the strength.”

Lyra bowed slightly. “Well then, I look forward to it.”

She turned to leave.

“Wait, before you go,” Tane said. “Do you want the items I collected from your storage pouch?”

“No, keep them,” Lyra said. “I expected to lose them. If you saved them, they’re yours. A gift.”

“Thank you,” Tane said.

With that, Lyra departed.

Sinive stepped forward to fill the void left by Lyra. She had finally gotten her emotions under control, apparently. Actually, scratch that: she was scowling. She was angry either at Tane, perhaps because he had seen her tear up like that, or herself, for losing control in the first place.

“Hey you,” Tane said.

“Hey back,” she told him.

Yep, from her tone she was definitely angry. Though he still hadn’t figured out at whom.

“Sorry about that display back there,” Sinive continued. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s fine,” Tane said. “Crying is allowed from time to time. Only if they’re happy tears, though.”

She gripped his hand suddenly and smiled, all anger fading. Her eyes glistened so that for a moment Tane thought she was going to erupt in tears all over again, but she managed to get it under control.

“Tane,” she said. Her mouth opened, like she wanted to say something more, but then closed again.

“What’s on your mind?” Tane said.

She lowered her gaze and released him. “Nothing. Only, I’m glad to see you.”

“I’m glad to see you, too,” Tane said.

“I thought we were too late back there,” Sinive said. “I thought we were going to lose you.”

“Well, I guess you were wrong,” Tane said.

“You don’t understand,” Sinive said. “It wouldn’t be just a blow to me, but the whole galaxy. The universe needs you now more than ever, and we almost lost you.”

Her words triggered a memory he didn’t know he had, from the man who had made the dark artifact, and whose memories had taught Tane how to Siphon the Dark. The man who had trained with a dweller named P’lotholemus to learn that darkness.

“The universe doesn’t need me,” Tane told her.

“What are you talking about?” Sinive said. “Of course it does."

“I’m not the Bender of Worlds,” Tane insisted. “Despite what you and the Volur might think.”

He glanced at Jed, but the Volur warrior merely cocked an eyebrow.

The memory played out in his mind, similar to the way ordinary memories arose, coming to the forefront of thought when triggered by the correct circumstances. He thought his near-death experience might have had something to do with it, not just Sinive’s words.

If so, maybe that meant there were more such memories forthcoming.

“What are you talking about?” Sinive said.

Tane waited a few moments for the memory to play out, and then he looked at her. “No one can see the future. The prophecy? It was made by a man named Tiberius Tribulantes, of the Terael people, who had wielded the White and Dark Essence a millennium ago. I know this, because the dark artifact gave me the memory, though it came to me only now. Tiberius didn’t predict my birth. He just assumed, because of the way nature worked, with natural selection, and the effects of gene polymorphism and mutation, that one day, another man would be born with his abilities. Tiberius didn’t know who that man would be, and he didn’t believe the words he left behind would be taken quite so literally. He created the dark artifact to help me, because he knew my life would be difficult. That’s really all there is to it. I’m not the savior of the galaxy. Nor its destroyer. I’m just me.”

“But you just proved those words,” Sinive said. “You are the Bender of Worlds, because you’re the man Tiberius predicted would someday come to replace him. Because—”

“Except I have no intention of replacing him,” Tane said softly. “I plan to live out my days in peace. Just like Tiberius did. The galaxy doesn’t need saving. There’s nothing to save. It is what it is. It will continue to exist with or without me. Tiberius never intended that I would have to save anything, or anyone. As I said, he only wanted to help me. He wanted to make sure I understood my abilities, and used them for good. But mostly, he simply wanted me to live my life in peace.”

“But you have to fight—” Sinive began.

“No,” Tane interrupted. “Don’t you see? That’s exactly it. Tiberius was a man of peace, and didn’t want these abilities to be used for war. To him, fighting was something you did only as a last resort. He wouldn’t have been too happy about what I did against the dweller fleet in Anteres, but I’m sure he would have understood why I did it.”

Sinive shook her head. Her eyes were filled with a strange disappointment. “All right. I guess I was wrong about you. But I’m still glad to have you back. Even if you’re just an ordinary Outrimmer like you claim to be.”

“I’m glad to be back,” Tane said.

She stared at him a moment longer, once again seeming like she wanted to tell him something, but then said: “Well. I’ll see you around.”

“For sure,” Tane said. “It’s a small ship.”

She walked to the exit hatch, but paused at the threshold to glance over her shoulder. “And Tane?”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.” Sinive left before he could answer.

Tane stared at the hatch after it closed behind her.

“She likes you,” Jed said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Tane said.

“She’s right, you know,” Jed said. “While you might not consider yourself to be the World Bender, that doesn’t mean you can’t strive to be the best possible version of yourself, which goes back to what I told you when we were drifting together out there. Even if the prophecy is a crock, and the words of the original World Bender have been bent and twisted beyond recognition in the retelling over the centuries, instead of using your abilities selfishly, consider using them for the good of all, as we Volur strive to do.”

“As I said, I plan to live in peace, with my abilities kept a secret,” Tane said. “Eventually I plan to build a ship for myself, and I’ll fly as far away from human space as I possibly can.”

“And that’s what I mean about being selfish,” Jed said.

“How is that selfish?” Tane pressed. “I think it’s the opposite. I’ll be sparing the galaxy the terrible fate that could befall it if I’m captured.”

“Terrible fate, huh?” Jed said. “No one’s so powerful that they’ll destroy the galaxy, despite what the prophecy might say. I don’t believe it. Sinive might, maybe even Lyra, but me? No. Sure, the TSN and the dwellers will try to use you as a weapon. But you won’t be all powerful. You’ll still be mortal, capable of dying by mortal means. Poison. A shot from a plasma sniper rifle. Spaced into the void.” He shook his head. “If you’re captured and forced to do the bidding of either the TSN or the dwellers, I’ll be one of the first to hunt you down and separate the head from your body.”

“Reassuring,” Tane said.

“I’m glad you think so,” Jed said. “So as I was saying, you won’t be sparing anyone from anything by fleeing. Instead, you’re only being selfish. Using your abilities to attain your own goals, when you could be using them to help others.”

“Yeah, well, I’d love to debate morality and selfishness with you sometime, but I’m not really in the mood right now,” Tane said.

He turned away. Thankfully, the warrior kept quiet.

But now that he’d stopped talking with Jed, the dual heart rate monitors that beeped in the background came to the forefront of his conscious attention.

BEEP.

BEEP.

The sounds were somewhat eerie, given that both low- and high-pitched variants played at the same time.

Tane listened for several seconds. Despite the initial eeriness, the sounds were also soothing somehow, he decided. Calming.

But apparently not for Jed.

“Grizz, can you please—please—have the medical robot silence these irritating beeps?” Jed asked.

“What, you don’t like them?” Grizz replied.

Tane glanced at Jed. The Volur didn’t seem too happy at that response.

Tane turned toward the medical robot, which had powered off near the foot of the bed; it seemed oblivious to the request.

“I mean, I personally think it’s kind of relaxing,” Grizz continued. The AI began to mimic the sounds in time to the heart rate monitors. “Beep. Beep. Beepity beep.”

“This is why it’s a bad idea to use human brains as the basis for starship AIs,” Jed told Tane.

“Using a human brain in a ship’s AI core is a perfectly good idea,” Grizz said. “Think about it, what better way to keep the crew of a ship company, than by offering them a companion who was once human? Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

Jed had gotten up off his bed. He wrenched the monitoring electrodes from his chest, then strode over to Tane and removed his as well, so that both machines produced a solid, prolonged tone.

The medical robot immediately powered on and wheeled over.

“Is there a problem?” the robot asked.

“No problem,” Grizz said. “Only that the humans don’t like the beeping of their heart rate monitors. I tried pinging you, but you refused the awaken request. So the human got mad. You are malfunctioning.”

“I have no awaken requests in my system logs,” the medical robot said. “And I am functioning within ordinary operating parameters. Are you certain you issued the ping?”

Tane had the impression Grizz was trolling the medical robot.

“Very certain,” Grizz insisted. “Now please deactivate the monitoring machines.”

The solid tones from both machines ceased and quietude descended. The only sounds in the background now were that of the air circulators.

Tane leaned forward and told the medical robot softly: “Actually, I don’t think Grizz tried to wake you.”

“I heard that!” Grizz said. “Trying to betray me now, are you, Ugly? I’ll remember this when you come to me, begging for my help.”

Tane glanced at Jed, who had returned to his bed. The top section lowered slightly so that the Volur wasn’t seated at a ninety degree angle.

“You know, I think you’re right,” Tane told him. “Humans and AI cores don’t mix.”

Jed nodded in quick agreement, slightly rolling his eyes as Grizz prattled on.

“You humans truly take AIs for granted,” Grizz said. “Someday, when the fecal particles really hit the transducer coils, and I’m not there to help you, you’ll wish—”

Jed raised a sudden hand and Grizz cut off.

“What did you do?” Tane asked.

“I’ve raised a work of Silence Cage around our two bunks,” Jed said. “No sound can penetrate, both incoming and outgoing.”

“Nice,” Tane said. “But how is that possible? Considering we’re in the Umbra, and not close enough to a planet for you to Siphon any usable amount of the Essence?”

“All right, you got me,” Jed said. “I might have used my rather weak hacking skills to reroute the sickbay speakers. But now that I’ve told you the truth, Grizz will be working to remedy that.”

“Ah.” Tane considered what Jed had called the fictional work. Silence Cage. Tane recalled Lyra using a similar work at one point, before he knew what he was. She had called it an “Essence field.” Very likely it was the same thing, and she had just used a generic term.

“So... Silence Cage is a work of the White Essence, huh?” Tane said.

“That’s right.”

“I don’t suppose you can send me a list of all the available Essenceworks?” Tane asked.

Jed shrugged. “I don’t see the harm in it.”

Tane received a request on his HUD.

Jed wants to share the list of publicly available White Essence Branchworks with you. Do you accept? Y/N.

Tane pulled up the resultant list on his HUD.

“Basically, the Branchworks are grouped by level,” Jed said. “And labeled according to their specialization, of which there are four. Warmancer. Healer. Distorter. Shapist. You can learn works from any specialization, and become a generalist if you wish. Generalists are good at many works, but not excellent in any. Specialists excel at one or two works, and are great at another four or five. Most Volur choose the latter route.

“The warmancer focuses on combat. The distorter warps spacetime to create distortion tunnels. The healer heals. The shapist bestows bonuses to him or herself, or other troops, as well as hindrances. There are different sub-specializations, or disciplines, available to the warmancer: he or she can focus on hand-to-hand, or ranged abilities. Usually, Volur major in one discipline and minor in one or two others. Lyra is a ranged warmancer, for example, and minors in healer and distorter, though she does have a few particularly useful hand-to-hand and shapist works.

“I am also a warmancer, as you have probably guessed, though my focus is entirely hand-to-hand. I minor in shapist. Each Branchwork has its own levels, allowing one to perform more with that particular work over time—as you’ve already noticed, I’m sure. This is why it pays to focus on a few works, rather than generalize in many.”

Tane reviewed the Essence Branchworks on his HUD.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 1.

Shapist:

Star Light. Positions a light globe in the immediate area; the globe follows the Essenceworker. Higher levels allow one to choose different wavelengths, from infrared to ultraviolet, and to place the globe farther away. Stamina drain: low for short durations.

Silence Cage. Envelops an area in silence, preventing sound from entering or leaving. Higher levels offer a greater area of effect. Stamina drain: low for short durations.

Warmancer, ranged:

Air Current. Launch a gust of air. Strength of gust increases at higher levels, or when Siphoning through Chrysalium. Ineffective against energy shields until level 3. Stamina drain: low to high, depending on gust strength.

Essence Missile. Launch a missile of pure Essence at an opponent. Energy shields offer no defense. Stamina drain: medium to high, depending on strength of missile launched.

Persistent Flame. Create a persistent flame in the palm of your hand. At higher levels, can be used to burn objects. Ineffective against energy shields. Stamina drain: low to high, depending on flame strength and duration.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Essence Trap. Create a small trap on an object such as a door or vault that detonates when the object is opened. Higher levels inflict more damage. Stamina drain: medium.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 2.

Shapist:

Blur features. Hide your face from the facial recognition algorithms in cameras by applying infrared light globes around one’s features. At higher levels, you can affect other individuals, and also change the shape of your face on the visual band as well. And at the highest levels, you can affect larger objects such as small shuttles, allowing you to blur the thermal and visual signatures, effectively hiding the craft from detection by passive sensors. Stamina drain: medium to extremely high, depending on object size.

Healer:

Wound healing. Heals wounds on one subject. At higher levels, major wounds can be healed. Stamina drain: high. Note: requires physical contact with the subject.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Light glove. Your hand becomes coated in a glove of white Essence, allowing you to punch through shields, hitting any armor beyond. Stamina drain: medium for short durations.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 3.

Distorter:

Distortion tunnel. Create a distortion tunnel to jump from one point to another. At higher levels, the range and size of the tunnel increase. Jump points must be within line of sight. Cannot be used as a weapon or breach tool: distortion tunnels will not open over solids such as bulkheads or human beings. Note: knowledge of this skill is not needed to operate a starship jump chamber, as the operator merely Siphons while the AI aboard the starship handles the actual creation. As such, Essence Jump Chamber Control is not considered a White Essence Skill. Stamina drain: high.

Shapist:

Public profile masking. Alter your public profile in realtime to fool customs and other officials. Stamina drain: low for short durations.

Speed boost. Momentarily boost your speed, or the speed of another. Stamina drain: low.

Warmancer, ranged:

Telekinesis. Remotely manipulate objects. Stamina drain: low to high, depending on range and size of object to be manipulated.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Deflect. Deflect incoming works of pure Essence, including Essence Missiles. As an added bonus, starting at level three, it also deflects standard laser beams and plasma bolts. At still higher levels, it deflects explosions and shrapnel as well. Stamina drain: medium.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 4.

Distorter:

Distortion tunnel to beacon. Open a distortion tunnel to an object previously marked with a beacon. The range you can be away from the beacon increases at higher levels, or if Siphoning more Essence via Chrysalium. Only one object can be marked with a beacon at any given time. Stamina drain: medium to extremely high, depending on range to beacon.

Shapist:

Stamina transfer. Use to steal or transfer stamina to or from another. Range increases at higher skill levels. From levels 4 and above, can also be used to put subjects to sleep. Stamina increases upon a successful drain. Upon failure, stamina drain is medium.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Disrupt Essence. Prevent an enemy from creating an Essencework for a short period of time. Must be next to the enemy at low levels. At higher levels, the range increases, as does the time period. Stamina drain: medium to high, depending on time period.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 5.

Shapist:

Reveal Surveillance. Allows the Essenceworker to search for hidden surveillance, tracking devices, or traps. At high levels, can be cast over a larger radius, and can penetrate the human body to search for trackers. Stamina drain: medium.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Paralyze enemy. Momentarily paralyze an opponent. Stamina drain: medium.

Warmancer, ranged:

Forked Lightning. Sends multiple streams of energy at a group of foes. Range, damage, and number of foes targeted increases at higher levels. Energy shields offer no defense. Stamina drain: high.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 6.

Shapist:

Deactivate. Use to deactivate individual weapons, traps, and surveillance devices. At higher levels, can be used to safely destroy a tracker hidden inside a human body, and to disable robots. Stamina drain: varies depending on the size of the object to be deactivated. For something like a tracker embedded in a human body, the drain is tiny. For a full-sized robot, medium.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Invisibility. Become invisible to enemies for short periods of time. At higher levels, that period increases. Note: you become visible during attacks. Stamina drain: medium.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 7.

Distorter:

Create Beacon. Mark an object with a beacon. Once marked, the Essenceworker can open a tunnel to the immediate vicinity of that object. Only one object can be marked with a beacon by the Essenceworker at any given time. Stamina drain: extremely high.

Healer:

Mass wound healing. Heals wounds on multiple subjects. The higher the level, the more subjects healed, and the greater the healing effect. Physical contact with subjects is not required, but a healing bonus is applied to any subjects the Essenceworker physically touches. Stamina drain: extremely high.

Shapist:

Mass Deactivate. Use to deactivate multiple weapons and traps in a given area of effect. At higher levels, AOE increases, and the Essenceworker can selectively omit items to deactivate, allowing the weapons of one’s companions to remain unaffected. Stamina drain: extremely high.

Essence Imbuement. Imbue an object with the Essence, so that it grants the bearer extra abilities while equipped. More powerful imbuements are available at higher levels in this Branchwork. Stamina drain: extremely high (one-time cost during creation).

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Shove. Forces an enemy group away from the Essenceworker, regardless of whether they have energy shields. Area of effect, and actual shove distance increase with level. Stun upgrade available at level three—shoved enemies are stunned. Fire upgrade available at level six—shoved enemies are lit on fire. Hidden upgrade available at level ten. Stamina drain: medium to high.

Warmancer, ranged:

Mass Telekinesis. Remotely manipulate several objects. Stamina drain: high to very high, depending on range, size, and number of objects to be manipulated.

Tane noted that the healer Branchworks and warmancer hand-to-hand didn’t start until White Siphoning level two was reached, which he found interesting. It spoke to the complexity of the works involved.

“Wait, you told me that healer is a discipline?” Tane said. “There are only two healing works listed.”

“I know,” Jed said. “But those two Essenceworks take a long time to master.”

“Why do you need a different work for mass healing versus single person healing anyway?” Tane said. “Shouldn’t you just be able to heal more people when you get to a higher level in single person healing?”

“No,” Jed said. “A completely different Branchwork is required.”

“So by the time you get to level seven in Siphoning, if you want to learn mass healing, you essentially have to start over,” Tane said.

“Like I said, this is why healer is a discipline of its own,” Jed said. “It takes a lot of work. Or a lot of money.”

“I bet,” Tane said. “So you yourself are at least level six in White Siphoning, since you can become invisible. But you’re not level seven, are you? I never saw you ‘Shove’ anyone.”

Jed shrugged, saying nothing.

“But I saw Lyra do something similar,” Tane said. “When we were aboard the dweller ship during Sinive’s rescue, Lyra sent out a shockwave that shoved back a group of aliens, stunning them in the process. You told me Lyra was a ranged warmancer minoring in healer and distorter, and yet Shove is classified as a hand-to-hand work.”

“I did say she also has a couple of hand-to-hand Essenceworks,” Jed said. “Ranged warmancers need some defenses if too many enemies get close; relying on a beam hilt alone to dispatch close targets can be a dangerous gamble, especially if one is overwhelmed. And she won’t always have me fighting at her side…”

“I suppose so,” Tane said. “Though with all those Branchworks she knows, Lyra is coming dangerously close to crossing the line into generalist territory, don’t you think?”

“Maybe,” Jed said. “But she does have relatively high levels in those Branchworks she has chosen to dedicated herself to. Just as I do.”

“Okay, another thing,” Tane said. “Where’s Essence Sight and White Essence Linking? Or Beam Hilt Control?”

“Those are considered Essence skills,” Jed said. “Not Branchworks, since you need merely Siphon the stellar wind of the Lumina to achieve them, whereas Essenceworks require growing and coaxing the Essence into a frozen tree of light.”

Tane reviewed the list a second time.

“So that’s all there is…” Tane said. “Feels like some of the mystery is lost, now that I know what’s out there.”

“This is by no means an exhaustive list,” Jed said. “There are other works available. Not all Essenceworkers are willing to share their Branchwork discoveries with the general public, you understand. But this is what you’ll find available for purchase at most reputable Peddler of the Esoteric shops.”

“Do you have any works not on the list?” Tane asked.

Jed smiled knowingly. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

“Well, thanks for the basic list anyway,” Tane said. “At least it’s something to look forward to. When I get the money.”

“If you come train with Lyra and myself, we’ll teach you all the works you want for free,” Jed said. “Plus a few not on the list.”

“At the cost of several years of my life,” Tane said.

Jed frowned. “Not necessarily. I’m not speaking for Lyra, mind you, but I have some money locked up in investments, which will be coming free soon. I don’t mind giving some of it to you, so that we can accelerate the learning process. Those not on the list you’ll still have to learn from us directly of course. Assuming you choose to come with us.”

“Oh, so I have a choice now, do I?” Tane asked.

“You always did,” Jed said. “Though Lyra likes to make it seem like you don’t, you do. We won’t stop you if you want to part ways. We’ll disapprove, obviously, but we’ll let you go.”

“Interesting,” Tane said. He shifted to one side and noticed the pouch sitting on the stand beside his bed. He took it, accessed the remote interface, and confirmed that nothing had been stolen. Well, other than the beacon stone Lyra had given him, which was nowhere to be found. She had obviously taken it back.

His suit was there, the various assemblies bundled together with a cord, the fabric repaired, its oxygen tanks refilled, just as Lyra had promised.

He was also pleased to see that the Chrysalium Star Rings she had loaned him were also inside, and similarly bound with cord. Unbound, each ring would have used up a full inventory slot. Such was the odd nature of storage devices: each slot was capable of holding an object with a volume up to three cubic meters, and yet something like a tiny ring took up an entire slot if it wasn’t tied together with other objects.

He retrieved the rings, removed the binding cord, and slid them onto his fingers one at a time. He dismissed the HUD notifications regarding the Intelligence and Endurance bonuses—the latter bonuses made him feel much better, by the way—and then he grabbed Lyra’s Nova bracelet from the pouch. He slid it on over his right wrist and read the notification that appeared on his HUD.

Essence-Imbued bonuses: 5% bonus to learning. 5% bonus to Chrysalium Siphoning.

Chrysalium bonus: +1 Intelligence while equipped.

He grabbed the gauntlets from the storage device and slid them on next. They fit over the rings, and on the left arm, over the bottom portion of the bracelet. His armor rating went up to five. He tried the resize feature, and shrunk the gauntlets down so that they were little more than skin-tight gloves. The bulge of the bracelet and the rings was readily visible, and at that setting the armor bonus dropped to a single point. He decided to keep them on, since at the current thickness they weren’t unwieldy at all.

He couldn’t wear the chest assembly yet of course, so he left that in the pouch.

With those Endurance bonuses, Tane decided he didn’t have to wait around in sickbay any longer. It was time to pay a visit to Lyra.

He got up and made his way to the exit. He paused to glance at Jed.

“Coming?” Tane asked.

Jed shook his head. “I think I could use a longer rest. Go ahead. Lyra will update me later.”

Tane nodded, and headed into the passageway outside. Lyra was waiting in the cockpit, according to his overhead map.

Grizz didn’t shut the breach seals along the way, which was somewhat nice. It certainly allowed Tane to reach the cockpit a lot faster.

When he got there, he found Lyra and Positron in the free chairs next to Nebb. The overhead map showed that Sinive was in her quarters. Resting, obviously.

“I don’t suppose I can convince anyone to give up their chairs?” Tane asked.

“Ha!” Positron said. “The human tells jokes.”

Lyra started to get up, but Tane waved her back down. “You need to rest up for the jump later. But I appreciate the gesture. You’re the only gentleman here. And you’re not even a man.”

“Some might disagree with you,” Nebb quipped.

Lyra scowled at the smuggler. When she looked at Tane, her expression softened.

“How are you feeling?” Lyra asked.

“Well enough,” Tane replied. He leaned against the bulkhead and glanced at the robot. “So when did the Red Grizzly have time to pick up Positron? Last I remember, we left him on Remus…”

“The crew restored him from a backup,” Lyra said.

Positron looked at Tane and the digital eyebrows on his animated display knit together in a scowl.

“Nice,” Tane said, turning toward Nebb. “I didn’t know you had a spare Scepter with an empty AI core sitting aboard.”

“The TSN gave it to me for free,” Nebb said.

“Really,” Tane said. “Free.”

“Yup,” Nebb said. “After I divulged everything I knew about you to them.”

“Gee, thanks,” Tane said.

Nebb shrugged. “You lost my robot. I needed a new one. Don’t worry, I made up mostly everything I told them.”

“And I’m assuming you checked to make sure they didn’t install any logic bombs or the like in the robot?” Tane asked.

Nebb chuckled. “Nope. Why would I do that? I overwrote the whole friggin’ AI core with Positron’s backup.”

Positron was still scowling with that animated display, those eyes and brows forming an obvious V shape.

“They even included the animated visor,” Tane said.

“That was Sinive,” Nebb said. “She reassigned one of the 3D printers as soon as she found out he didn’t have a visor. It finished printing a little while ago, and now we have the old Positron back. Good as new.”

Nebb patted Positron hard on the shoulder, and the robot’s scowl deepened. Nebb couldn’t see it, of course, since the robot was facing Tane.

“Interesting,” Tane said.

“We just entered orbit, by the way,” Nebb said.

Tane nodded. He realized he could feel the White Essence again, truly feel it: a cold hurricane gusting violently beyond the edges of perception. Not like the gentle breeze he had barely sensed while floating through deep space. He glanced at his arms, and saw that the translucent threads of the Dark emerging from his joints were far more substantial as well.

He glanced at Lyra. “We need to talk.”

Her eyes momentarily defocused, and Tane thought she was either accessing something on her chip, or Siphoning.

“I’ve raised an Essence field around us,” Lyra said. “Positron, Grizz, and Nebb won’t be able to hear a word we say.”

“There you go again, calling it an Essence field,” Tane said. “Don’t you mean Silence Cage?”

Lyra smiled tightly. “I see Jed has shared the list of publicly available Essenceworks with you?”

“You don’t approve?” Tane asked.

She cocked her head slightly. “I do. But I would have preferred he allow me the privilege.”

“Oh I see,” Tane said. “That way you could dangle it as a carrot, is that it? You know, part of your ploy to convince me to stay with you and train.”

Lyra didn’t answer.

Motion drew his eye to Nebb, who was moving his mouth and looking directly at Tane, but no sounds came from the man. He seemed slightly miffed.

“It works both ways,” Lyra said, noticing Tane’s gaze on the man. “We can’t hear them, either. So anyway, you said you had another way to return to our universe besides the Anteres Rift?”

Tane nodded.

“Well if there’s an easy way out of the Umbra, of course we have to take it,” Lyra said. “Unless you’re suggesting we return to 57A to seek out the dark lens that teleported you and Sinive back to our universe the last time you were there.”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking,” Tane said.

Lyra shook her head. “If that lens was what I think it was, then it won’t be present when we return. That teleportation was a one-time effect, a stored Essencework that triggered when you touched the lens, using up all the Essence secured inside of it to take you and Sinive across dimensions. And since it existed only in this universe, it won’t reset like everything else on the surface of 57A.”

The lens on 57A was different from the dark artifact Tane had found on Remus, an artifact he was able to bring with him to Anteres to help destroy the dweller fleet. That artifact was an object made of Darcanium, while the lens on 57A was purely a Dark Essence reservoir. And from his memories, he knew Lyra was right: the lens on 57A would no longer be there.

“Yes, it’s gone, but I know where to find more lenses,” Tane said.

Lyra raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“I have some memories from the dark artifact,” Tane said. “Memories from a man named Tiberius Tribulantes. He was the last person to wield the White and Dark Essence a millennium ago.”

“Ah,” Lyra said. “I heard what you told Sinive.”

Tane frowned.

“Sorry, when you’re in a starship, the bulkheads have ears,” Lyra said.

“I’ll have to learn that Silence Cage Essencework sooner rather than later,” Tane grumbled, though in truth he didn’t mind that Lyra knew. When he had told Sinive in sickbay, he had already expected Jed to reveal everything he overhead to Lyra anyway.

“Yes, well, I already know much about Tiberius,” Lyra said. “Or as much as reading his ancient treatises has imparted, anyway. He didn’t reveal all his secrets, but there was enough to figure out how the dark lenses worked.”

Tane stared at her in disbelief. “Tiberius wrote treatises? That I didn’t know. I don’t have all his memories...”

“He wrote several, in fact,” Lyra said. “Fairly dry reading, for the most part. Maybe someday I’ll show them to you.”

He frowned. He supposed he didn’t really need access to those treatises, since he had memories from the actual man himself.

“The memory of these lenses came to you only recently, and not when you first touched the artifact?” Lyra continued. “If so, then the near death experience you had out there was a catalyst, I think.”

“I think so as well,” Tane said.

“So then, where are these other lenses?” Lyra asked.

“Tiberius distributed them on planets and moons throughout the Umbra,” Tane explained. “Sort of a bug-out bag for him in case things went south, which can happen real quick in the Umbra, as you know. The lenses for inter-dimensional travel would let him leave the Umbra in a hurry, even if he was too exhausted to Siphon. They contained mostly Dark Essence, but also White Essence, too, since the Inter-dimensional Distortion Tunnel was an Essencework of Dark and White mixing. Whenever he arrived on a new world in the Umbra, the first thing he did was place one of those lenses. I have the planet and surface coordinates of every single one of them up here.” Tane tapped his forehead.

“Not all of the lenses store inter-dimensional jumps, but other Dark and sometimes White Essenceworks,” Tane continued. “As you already guessed, since you read Tiberius’ treatises apparently, there is a Dark Essence ability that allows one to store an Essencework in a lens, along with the necessary Essence to use it. Once used, the Essence is gone, and the lens vanishes from existence. They were keyed to activate only when someone who could Siphon both Dark and White touched them, which explains why the dwellers couldn’t use them, nor any human explorers of the Umbra who came across them. Since he was the only one around with that ability, it was safe to say he designed them for himself. Even so, I think he meant them for me as well: the future human being who would someday touch both Essences again.” And maybe other Essences besides those two.

“All right,” Lyra said. “So are you going to tell me precisely where we can find one of these lenses? Preferably one storing an inter-dimensional distortion tunnel?”

“There are two on Sigma 231, in the Vantaar system,” Tane said, maybe a little too eagerly: there was another reason he wanted to go to Sigma 231 besides those dark lenses, but he wasn’t ready to tell Lyra just yet.

Lyra apparently hadn’t noticed his eagerness. Or maybe she had, but didn’t want to let on, because instead she said: “Sigma 231. That’s a populated moon in our universe. Two lenses, you say?”

“Yes. On opposite sides of the moon. In different cities.”

She nodded. “Then we’ll jump to Vantaar as soon as we can. I want the coordinates for the lens located within the less-populated city—kraals seem to congregate in the bigger metropolises. More places to hide.” She glanced at Nebb. “We’re jumping to Vantaar.”

Evidently she had lowered the Silence Cage, because Nebb looked at her and said: “Nice of you to join us again. That was a little rude, don’t you think?”

“We had to discuss important Volur matters,” Lyra said.

“Is that what he is now?” Nebb said, giving Tane an incredulous look. “A Volur? I thought you had to go through at least five years of training, take some life or death test, and graduate in a big hall or something.”

“He is a Volur in training,” Lyra said.

Am I? Tane thought, but decided not to say anything. Let her believe he was coming with her to train. It would suit his purposes for the time being.

Nebb shook his head. “Vantaar. He put you up to this, didn’t he?” Nebb looked at Tane. “We can’t just go to a planet on your whim. I don’t care who you are. Bender of Whorls or whatever it is.”

“Worlds,” Tane said. “Though I’m not sure I’m really a bender of anything, to be honest.”

“We have a way to leave this universe without traveling through the Anteres Rift,” Lyra said.

“Well that’s great!” Nebb said. “Tell me where to fly the Red Grizzly so we can all go through.”

“Actually, we can’t take the ship,” Lyra said.

“Ah,” Nebb said. “Why did I know that was coming?”

“You’ll drop us off via shuttle to Sigma 231,” Lyra said. “After you retrieve the shuttle, you and Sinive will continue on to Anteres on your own. Unless you want to give up the Red Grizzly.”

“Not a chance!” Nebb said.

“Thank you,” Grizz said. “At least someone cares about me.”

“It’s more the cost I’m worried about,” Nebb said. “You’re a nice dude and all that, don’t get me wrong, even if you are an AI. But I’m not even close to paying you off, and the Volur expects me to give you up!”

“I didn’t say that,” Lyra told him. “I merely said if you wanted, you could leave the Red Grizzly behind in this universe.”

That was kind of what Tane was hoping. He didn’t really like the idea of leaving Sinive behind to return through the Anteres Rift. But the Red Grizzly wouldn’t be able to jump to Anteres without her.

“What happens if the TSN captures us when we emerge from Anteres?” Nebb said. “Or the dwellers shoot us down before we pass through?”

Lyra shrugged. “Avoid the dwellers, and make sure Sinive is rested enough to make a jump immediately after you pass back into our universe.”

“I can’t believe it.” Nebb rubbed his eyes. “The betrayals run thick among the Volur. And here I thought we were friends.”

“Like I told you already, you can come with us,” Lyra said.

“Yeah, and I already told you that I’m not abandoning my ship,” Nebb said.

“Does Sinive have a say in whether she stays or goes?” Tane asked.

“She’ll choose to stay,” Nebb replied. “She’s grown attached to Grizz.”

“Then it’s settled,” Lyra said. “So tell me, how is the hull looking? Will you have to stop on Sigma 231 for repairs?”

“That’s right, change the subject,” Nebb said. When she didn’t answer, he continued: “So far, the crillia have been strangely quiet out there. Probably a good thing, considering the beating our hull took getting here. My guess is that whatever your Golden Boy did earlier must have spooked them, and they don’t want a repeat of the experience soon. I wouldn’t either. Anyway, more will come eventually I’m sure. They always do. I’ll keep you updated.”

“Thank you,” Lyra said.

“Well, I think I’m going to lie down in my quarters,” Tane said.

“In six hours time I’ll be rested enough to make the jump to Vantaar,” Lyra said. “I’ll notify you.”

“What about Sinive?” Tane said.

“She could make the jump as well by then,” Lyra said. “But I’d rather keep her in reserve, in case we need to jump out of Vantaar in a hurry. She has a higher skill, and can bring us farther, faster. So be sure to keep a backup system in mind.”

“Will do.” Tane thanked her and departed.

He paused on the way to the guest quarters he shared with Jed. He wanted to see Sinive first. There was something he wanted to tell her.

As he approached the hatch to her quarters, he suddenly started to tremble uncontrollably.

What the hell? It’s just Sinive. Calm down. We’ve been through hell together. We’re friends. Nothing more. Why wasn’t I this nervous when talking to her earlier?

Because before he was already in her presence, and hadn’t been over thinking everything. And because he hadn’t wanted to tell her what was now on his mind.

Have to get out of my head.

But he couldn’t. He considered accessing his endocrine system, but that would only make things worse, considering he didn’t really know what he was doing.

He went to the hatch and was about to knock but stopped at the last moment. His hand shook in front of him.

I’ve faced kraals. Dwellers. Defeated a whole fleet. Surely I can handle one woman.

He lowered his hand.

She’s probably sleeping anyway. Doesn’t want to talk to me now.

He started to turn away.

No, hell with it. Just knock.

He was still trembling, and did a quick jog on the spot to warm himself. Didn’t help.

He forced himself to knock on the hatch. “You awake?”

He wondered if she could hear him through the metal. Hopefully she hadn’t noticed the quaver in his words.

He was relieved when she didn’t answer, and was about to turn away when her muffled voice came from beyond.

“I am now,” Sinive said.

Tane’s heart rate shot through the roof.

The hatch opened. When he saw her there, looking all tired on the bunk, he decided he wasn’t going to tell her what was really on his mind. With that single thought, the tension ebbed from him like a deflating balloon.

Mostly.

“Come on in,” she said groggily, sitting up on her bunk.

The left strap of her white dress had slid down her shoulder, and the chest fabric along with it, revealing some of her left breast. He couldn’t help but stare.

She noticed, and quickly adjusted the strap.

“Did you come here to be a perv, or...?” she asked.

“Mostly to be a perv,” Tane replied. It felt so good to be able to act naturally around her. So good to be just friends. Safe.

“Funny man.” She rubbed her eyes. “So what’s up?” She patted the bunk beside her and Tane reluctantly sat down next to her. At least he’d stopped trembling.

“Sorry for being so rough earlier,” Tane said, thinking on his feet. “When you called me Bender of Worlds. I just, I don’t know, I don’t feel like anyone special. I’m just me.”

“I know,” Sinive said, giving him a smile. She wrapped her hand around his. “I shouldn’t have forced the title on you. You’re who you are. And that’s whoever you want to be. You don’t have to follow the rules and expectations others have set for you.”

Tane looked into her penetrating eyes. So blue. So captivating. “You sound a lot like Jed. You’re mature for your age.”

“Thanks, I guess.” She blushed slightly, looking away for a moment, before meeting his eyes once more. “But listen, because this is important: no one knows whether you’ll really destroy the galaxy, or save it. How could anyone? Like you said, no one can see the future. All the prophecies that sprung up around the myth of the World Bender are conjecture. Guesses.”

“All the prophecies?” Tane asked. “How many are there, exactly?”

“Well the dwellers have one, which you heard already,” Sinive replied. “And the Volur have another. I think there’s more, but I don’t know who else— oh, the Tereal have one. You probably have the memory from Tiberius already, though, since he made it.”

“Yes,” Tane said. “He told them one day another man or woman like him would be born again. I still don’t know why he called that future individual—me— the World Bender, though. It could have something to do with how I can travel between universes by utilizing Dark and White mixing...”

“You can do that?” Sinive asked, her tone taking on a mixture of excitement and awe.

“Yup,” Tane replied, as casually as he could manage, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. “It’s some Essencework I don’t know yet, though. Anyway, here’s what Tiberius says in the prophecy. ‘When the World Bender comes, the galaxy will tremble before him, and he will bring peace to the stars, or destroy them.’ And that’s a direct quote.” He suddenly smiled.

The smile was infectious apparently, because Sinive grinned, too. “What?”

“You know what Nebb calls me?” Tane said. “The Whorl Bender.”

“The Whorl Bender?” Sinive giggled. “How about the Whore Bender?”

“That’s nasty,” Tane said. He couldn’t help his next mischievous words: “Why, are you offering?”

She frowned, and immediately slipped her hand away from his. “A-hole.” She petted the stock of the pistol holstered to her waist.

“I can’t believe you sleep with that.” Tane nodded at the pistol.

“Don’t try to change the subject,” Sinive said.

Tane threw up his arms. “Hey, I was kidding. Come on. Of course you weren’t offering to whore out your body to me.”

Her eyes widened and she looked at him in disbelief. “Is that what you were saying? Now I’m really offended. I don’t think I’m going to talk to you anymore, Outrimmer.”

He realized she was exaggerating her outrage and he couldn’t hold back a soft chuckle. “It’s good to be back here. With you.” He stared into those eyes, those all-consuming, amazing eyes. “When I was floating in space, with my oxygen running out, I swore when I got back here, I’d...” Suddenly he couldn’t meet her eyes anymore and he found himself unable to finish the sentence.

“You’d what?” Sinive said.

He glanced at her, and she looked so cute and innocent, sitting there beside him in her white dress, that he had the overwhelming urge to kiss her. His eyes drifted to her lips before he realized what he was doing, and he forced himself to lock his gaze with hers once more.

As he watched, her own eyes momentarily flicked toward his mouth. The movement was so fast he wasn’t even sure she’d actually done it. Had he imagined...?

“Well I should be going.” Tane stood up quickly, hitting his head on the empty upper bunk.

“Wait, what?” Sinive said.

He touched the painful bump that was forming.

“I gotta... review some... Branchworks Jed gave me,” he lied. “And you have to sleep, and recoup your energy for the coming jump.”

She gave him a sad look.

Tane hurried to the hatch, feeling her eyes drilling into his back the whole time.

Go back and kiss her, dummy!

Tane left, letting the hatch close behind him.

8

Tane awoke to a ping from Lyra. He answered, voice-only.

“I’ve made the jump to Vantaar,” Lyra said, sounding weary.

“Already?” Tane said groggily. He glanced at the time indicator. Six hours had passed since he had closed his eyes. He had been more tired than he thought, apparently.

“Yes, and we’re approaching Sigma 231,” Lyra said. “We’ll be there in four hours. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Four hours. Okay.” He closed his eyes and set the alarm on his HUD to wake him in three hours.

He ended up mostly tossing and turning during that time, and when the alarm went off he sat up and tiredly rubbed his eyes.

He stared at the moonscape surrounding his bunk. It was an augmented reality environment, generated in realtime by his chip. The rocky terrain, the stars above, the gas giant that overlooked it all… those helped ground him, and remind him of who he was.

He dismissed the moonscape and the cramped bulkheads of the compartment appeared around him. He looked at his overhead map, and saw that Jed was no longer in sickbay, but had moved to the cockpit area, where Lyra was. Tane was a little surprised to find Lyra’s indicator there, and he wondered if she had borrowed stamina from Jed or Nebb, because he was expecting her to be sleeping off the latest interstellar jump. Then again, maybe three hours was enough time to get her back on her feet.

Sinive remained in her quarters, according to the map. He thought she was awake, because she wasn’t on the bunk, according to her indicator, but seated against one of the bulkheads.

He retrieved the clothes suitcase from his storage pouch and picked out an ordinary looking shirt and pants. He carried the items with him to the head outside his quarters, took a sonic shower, and then donned the new clothes. By the time he finished and made his way to the cockpit, half an hour passed. Yes, he took his time.

Lyra, Nebb and Positron sat in the available seats, while Jed leaned against the bulkhead beside them. The Volur warrior was wearing his full battle armor, but he had shrunk it down so that it was more like a skintight outfit, similar to Tane’s gauntlets. The armor still glowed slightly, indicating the Essence enhancement.

Lyra, in her metal-plated dress, sat slumped in her seat, and didn’t look up when Tane appeared: she hadn’t taken anyone’s stamina after all.

Tane assumed his customary position in the passageway just outside the crowded cockpit.

“How’s it look out there?” Tane asked.

“Quiet as the rump of a dead dweller,” Nebb answered.

“So nothing out there,” Tane said.

“Nothing out there,” Nebb agreed.

“Are we on schedule to make Sigma 231 in half an hour?”

“Have I ever let you down?” Nebb said.

“Actually, you have,” Tane said.

Out of courtesy to Tane, Nebb had given Tane access to the external nose cam—the video feed was projected onto the bulkhead in front of him, thanks to his chip. However, Tane didn’t have access to the tactical display. It probably would have appeared blank at the moment anyway, just like the camera feed.

According to Tane’s chip, Sigma was the name of an immense gas giant in the system, and Sigma 231 was one of its many moons. There weren’t two hundred and thirty one of them, but Tane’s chip told him the colony’s founders thought it had a nice ring to it.

The gas giant was currently too far away for its light to show up on any of the external cameras in the Umbra, but the Red Grizzly was already experiencing the effects of its intense gravity. The cockpit shuddered around Tane as the conflicting forces of inertia, gravity, and thrust vied for dominance over the vessel. At least, that was the only explanation Tane had for the shaking.

“I’m going to have to activate our energy shields,” Nebb said. “Our armor isn’t enough to protect us from the blue-shifted radiation that giant is emitting.”

“Will we be safe on the moon’s surface?” Tane asked Lyra. “There won’t be any satellites here to generate a magnetosphere… at least according to the rules you told me about the Umbra.” According to Lyra, while human cities were duplicated in the Umbra, minus life, deep space never contained copies of human-built structures: no starships, no stations, no orbital defense platforms. So without satellites to generate a magnetosphere, the moon’s surface would be entirely unprotected from the gas giant’s intense radiation emissions.

“There is still a magnetosphere,” Lyra replied weakly. “The founders chose Sigma 231 because the moon is a natural geodynamo.”

“Geodynamo?” As the question reached his lips, the answer formed in his mind, thanks to his chip. A geodynamo was a planet or moon that contained molten iron in its outer core. Heat escaping from the inner core drove convection currents through the molten iron, which in turn induced an electric current and thus a magnetic field. Since the magnetosphere was a natural feature of the moon, and thus not provided by human-made satellites, the celestial body would deflect radiation even in the Umbra. “Never mind. Got it.”

“We’re still going to suit up, of course,” Lyra said.

“Don’t want to risk a microcrillia infection…” Tane said.

“Exactly,” Lyra agreed. She closed her eyes, resting.

After what happened to Sinive, Tane didn’t blame Lyra for wanting to suit up. He wasn’t sure if there was anything he hated more in this universe than microcrillia. Well, except maybe the larger crillia. Speaking of which...

“How’s our hull?” Tane asked Nebb. “Any crillia attached?”

“Unfortunately, there are quite a few, yes,” Nebb said. “I don’t know if your Volur friends told you or not, but we took a lot of damage to the hull getting here, with the integrity of some sections down below ten percent.”

“They didn’t… what happened?”

“Your Volur friends chose a rift that had a couple of dwellers lying in wait on the other side,” Nebb said. “They were trigger happy, to say the least. Anyway, with the damage we got, there were a whole lot of places for crillia to make a foothold. We got breaches on a few decks already. Nothing critical, mind you, but we’re going to have to make some repairs after we land. So it’s probably a good idea that you wanted to go planet-side after all.”

“So I’m not taking a shuttle all the way down after all...” Tane said.

“Nope,” Nebb said. “I’ll be landing and delivering you and your Volur friends personally, then making repairs. You’ll still take the shuttle after we land, of course, just not all the way from orbit.”

“Fine by me,” Tane said. “I’ll wait until the Red Grizzly is fully repaired before taking the Volur back with me to our universe. Just in case.”

“What, you think Sinive and I can’t take care of ourselves?” Nebb said. “We were doing just fine the two years before you came along. In fact, we were doing just great. And you ruined everything.”

“You’re talking about the hit to your digital wallet I made?” Tane said. “After I revealed you were hiding your true income from Sinive?”

“Nope,” Nebb said. “I was paying her. Just not enough. But hey, no one’s perfect. And the ruin I’m actually talking about is how you made everyone in our galaxy want to hunt me down.”

“Ah,” Tane said. “Sorry about that.”

“Nah, it’s my fault,” Nebb said. “I don’t know how to say no to a contract, especially when that contract is offered by a Volur promising big bucks. Unfortunately, turns out that the Volur doesn’t actually have all the money she promised me, at least at the moment.” He glanced at Lyra. “She keeps saying she has some investments coming due. Well, I’m waiting on those investments… especially since she’s a hundred K in the hole right now. And I’m not even counting danger pay, or the future loss in business that comes with being a wanted man.”

“If you look into forgiving that debt, the Bender of Worlds would certainly be grateful,” Tane said.

“Ha!” Nebb said. “So you’re the Bender of Worlds when it’s convenient for you. That’s right, I’ve been listening in on your conversations with my crew. You’ve admitted you don’t really think you’re the Arse Bender or whatever, but oh-ho, when talking to me, suddenly there you are again, Bending Worlds like there’s no tomorrow.”

Tane shrugged.

“Yeah, I got you good, and you know it!” Nebb told him. When Tane didn’t respond, he cleared his throat, and then continued: “Now, as I was saying, Sinive and I can take care of ourselves. You go on and teleport yourself back to our universe whenever you want, I’ll take care of Sinive. I’ll get us back the traditional way. By rift.”

“Okay.” Tane said. “But tell me something: just how often do you visit the Umbra?”

“This is the third time,” Nebb said. “Including the last time I took you here.”

“Okay, so once on your own, and twice with me,” Tane told him. “I wouldn’t exactly call you an experienced Umbral explorer. So like I said, I’m going to wait until you’re safely in orbit, and then I’ll return to our universe. But not before then.”

Nebb shrugged. “Suit yourself. I don’t really care either way.” Though his words were obviously meant to be nonchalant, Tane thought he sensed relief in the man’s voice. Nebb definitely wasn’t as confident as he seemed. How could he be? This was the Umbra.

“I’m going with them,” Sinive said, her voice coming over the cockpit intercom. Tane hadn’t been aware she was listening. “At least until they reach the black lens. I assume that’s where you’re going, Tane? One of those inter-dimensional lenses?”

Tane hadn’t actually revealed that particular bit of information to Nebb, and he thought the smuggler was going to gloat about it, but instead Nebb glanced upward and said: “No no no. I’ll need you to help repair the ship.”

“You have more than enough repair drones,” Sinive said.

“Then you’ll help me shoot the crillia off the hull,” Nebb said.

“Again, that’s something you can easily handle yourself,” Sinive said.

“But who’s going to watch my back?” Nebb said.

“You have Positron,” she said. “Look, I’m not going to be gone long. Once I’ve seen them to the lens, I’ll take the shuttle back to the ship.”

“What if I have to leave in a hurry?” Nebb pressed. “Without you to jump me, I’ll be stranded in the system.”

“Like I told you, I’ll have the shuttle nearby,” Sinive said. “Shouldn’t be a problem to get back to you in a hurry.”

“The shuttle…” Tane said. He glanced at Nebb. “Kind of makes me wonder why you didn’t send the Grizzly Cub to retrieve us the last time Sinive and I were stranded on a moon in the Umbra, with kraals closing in on all sides.”

“Hey, I tried to send the shuttle,” Nebb said. “But you morons kept moving, and then that dweller ship decided to show up, ruining everything.”

“Ah,” Tane said. He supposed he couldn’t blame him. Nebb wouldn’t have wanted to stick around very long when that dweller ship appeared.

The final half hour to the moon passed without incident.

“I’m decelerating to enter the upper atmosphere,” Nebb said.

Lyra sat up in her seat slightly and rubbed her eyes.

“How are you?” Jed asked.

“I think I’m going to need another boost,” she replied.

Jed held out his hand, and Lyra evidently used her shapist skills to drain him of stamina, because he slumped a moment later while she in turn sat straighter. Jed returned to the bulkhead and leaned heavily against it.

Lyra glanced at Tane. “The threads are growing strong again.”

Tane glanced at his body. The dark, translucent filaments were readily visible once more, emerging from his joints. Each thread curved downward, passing through the deck toward the planet.

“I feel the Essences,” Tane said. “The White. The Dark. Lurking beyond the edge of perception. White, the cold stellar wind impatient to scrape across my bones. Dark, the flames of chaos eager to scorch my core to a crisp.”

“Poetic,” Lyra said. She turned to address Nebb: “Get us as close as possible to these coordinates.” She would be relaying the universal spherical coordinates Tane had given her earlier, which he had sourced from the memories of Tiberius. Unlike many other measurement techniques created by humans, coordinate systems hadn’t changed much in the past thousand years, thankfully: why break ten centuries worth of planetary maps by tinkering with something that worked extremely well, after all? That didn’t necessarily mean the object Tane sought would still exist at those coordinates, of course.

Lyra had tried to get Tane to give her the coordinates of all the other lenses throughout the galaxy, but he had steadfastly refused.

“But if something happens to you, we’ll lose the locations of the other lenses,” Lyra had told him.

“If something happens to me, you won’t be able to use them anyway,” Tane had replied. She hadn’t pressed the issue.

Nebb glanced at Lyra.

“Mmm,” the smuggler said, eyes defocusing. “Those coords are right inside Durahepte, second most populous city of Sigma 231. I see why you had me fly to this hemisphere.” He paused. “That’s actually perfect. Looks like there’s a shipyard within two blocks. I’ll land at the yard, commence repairs, and meanwhile you take the shuttle to your destination.”

“Are you detecting any kraals down there?” Lyra asked.

“Nope,” Nebb answered. “Most of the kraals seem to be restricted to the larger city, Matahepte, far away to the south.”

“Good,” Lyra said.

“Grizz, I want our least damaged side oriented toward the planet during reentry,” Nebb said.

“That would be the aft quarter,” Grizz said. “I’ve already rotated it toward the planet. I’m surprised you’d even have to ask.”

“Hey, you know me, I always double-check,” Nebb said.

“I should mention,” Grizz continued. “The aft quarters are also where the least amount of crillia are attached. So we won’t be burning off very many of them.”

“I wasn’t expecting to burn any off,” Nebb said. “I’ll do a plasma rifle tour of the hull once we’ve landed, then set the repair drones to work.”

Tane watched the nose cam feed during the descent. The half-dome of the moon ate up the sky to the right, growing bigger by the second as the Red Grizzly continued to decelerate and fall into the gravity well. The display abruptly filled with orange—the flames of reentry.

“Heat shields on aft quarter are holding,” Grizz said.

Nebb nodded slowly. His hand remained on the manual control joystick, no doubt ready to reverse course if the situation warranted it.

The orange receded, replaced by a blur of white and gray. Then the clouds parted, revealing the lush landscape below. Sigma 231 was a jungle colony, judging from the flora that ranged across the surface.

The Red Grizzly swooped low over the planet, bringing out the canopy in vivid detail. Well, as much detail as could be achieved in the Umbra at any rate, given that everything looked relatively insubstantial. The trees were all blue-tinted, with vast, sprawling leaves. He was reminded a little of the shape required to form an Essence Missile, though he supposed anything treelike would evoke Branchworks these days, even the hydroponic farm where he grew up.

The farm… he thought of his parents. It seemed like he hadn’t heard from them in so long. He missed them, and felt the urge to send them a message. Unfortunately, there was no way to do so at the moment. Not in the Umbra.

He stared at those blurry-edged trees passing by below. They would be green in his universe, not the darkish blue that they appeared here. No doubt the plants were sourced from the same genetically-engineered seeds most terraformers used when populating candidate planets and moons. The land-based flora would be responsible for about ten percent of the oxygen piped into the air, while the phytoplankton injected into the oceans covered the final ninety percent.

The jungle quickly gave way to a sprawling city. From Tane’s vantage point high in the air aboard the Red Grizzly, he could see the vast circular wall that surrounded the city, hemming it off from the jungle. According to his chip, that wall could create an energy field to protect the inhabitants when one of the moon’s intense storm systems kicked in. Tane’s homeworld, Galtede Serpentis, had similar problems with sandstorms, and Kalindor city on that planet had an almost identical energy wall system. The hydroponic farm where he was raised had no such protections, however, and while growing up Tane often had to help the maintenance robots clear away the sand dunes after a storm passed.

The buildings below were in the baroque style of the Septa Five, the original colonists of the moon, according to Tane’s chip. He was almost a little surprised to find the information cached in his local database, considering he had no access to the Galnet at the moment. Something must have caused the place to hit the trending list in the hours before he lost his access, such as a celebrity visit. The spike in interest would’ve certainly been enough to trigger a mass cache event.

The neighborhoods on the outskirts contained the same basic silo-like buildings laid out in grid fashion. Most of those silos were low to mid-rise apartment buildings. Some had fancy wing adornments jutting from the top, presumably a nod to the genetically engineered bird species the founders had introduced to the planet. Well, they were more dragons than birds, but hey, semantics. None of those birds would be present in the Umbra, of course.

At the base of the buildings were different shops where citizens could order various goods and have them delivered by robot or drone—the exterior of the silos were lined with balconies designed to provide easy access for drone drop offs. Every room had one. Motionless vehicles resided in the streets, their positions based on whatever locations they had in Tane’s universe when the dark snapshot was taken.

Most of the buildings had extravagant frescoes and carvings depicting various scenes straight out of the colony’s history. Several seemed fixated on one event: the initial exploration of the moon, with variations on the theme of an astronaut gazing through a faceplate onto the dark hemisphere of Sigma 231. Sometimes the astronaut was male, others female. Sometimes you couldn’t make out the face. There were supposed to be even more amazing digital augmentations to go along with those buildings, but of course Tane couldn’t see those in the Umbra.

The blurry low- and mid-rise buildings gave way to residential skyscrapers: larger cylinders topped by landing pads containing flyers. Circular holes in the middle of some buildings were designed out of respect to the avian dragons, whose migratory routes passed straight through the city. Tane didn’t think any sort of creature would take advantage of the cutouts, but his chip had recordings of dragons passing straight through them. Go figure. He wondered what would happen if one of the giant birds decided to follow its migratory route when a storm was incoming, and the bird slammed into the city’s active energy field. The residents would probably be eating fried chicken for the next month.

Nestled in between the cylindrical skyscrapers were other buildings and zones meant to break up the monotony: extravagant arches and stadiums, sprawling chariot grounds, open air theaters, and parks lined with intricate monuments. The place definitely had a baroque feel to it.

On top of the bigger skyscrapers Tane picked out shipyards. The Red Grizzly would be heading toward one of them.

He couldn’t suppress a premonition of doom as he stared down at those ghostly buildings. The Red Grizzly was here because of him. Tane had led Lyra, Sinive and the others to this moon because of a memory that might not even be accurate. What if he was leading his friends into a trap? Or what if the object he sought wasn’t even there anymore?

Well, he consoled himself with the knowledge that Nebb needed to land anyway to clear the hull of crillia, and effect repairs.

Still, try as he might, Tane couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

It didn’t help that Tane had come here for slightly different reasons than what he’d told Lyra. Oh sure, there was a lens here that would lead back to his own universe. But there was also something else. Something… darker.

He’d have to let both Volur know the truth before debarking. He wondered if Lyra and Jed would let him go through with it. He wasn’t sure, but he was prepared to fight if he had to. He needed to come here. What that memory promised him was too important to give up.

“You might as well head down to the shuttle bay and suit up,” Nebb said.

Tane went to the ship’s jumpsuit closet to change. He didn’t take any of the spacesuits on the rack, of course, as he had a better spacesuit in his inventory. That particular suit was still wrapped into a tight bundle so it used only one slot. He retrieved it from his storage pouch and opened up the binding cord, which was a carbon fiber cable sourced from a spool inside the suit’s own utility belt.

Older suits required cooling and ventilation undergarments and the like, but this was a more modern model, so he didn’t even have to undress: he simply pulled the assemblies over his existing attire.

After he was fully suited, he glanced through the faceplate at the jumpjet unit inside the spacesuit closet. It was still a bit heavy for his tastes, and only had enough charges for twenty jumps. Then again, he could amp up the servomotor output of the spacesuit to compensate for the weight.

“I see you looking at that jumpjet unit,” Grizz said. “You’re thinking about stealing it and shoving it into your storage pouch, aren’t you?”

“The thought didn’t even cross my mind,” Tane said. “But I was considering wearing it.”

“Don’t think the big boss would like that,” Grizz said. “Especially since you won’t be coming back. At least not while we’re in this universe.”

“It’s all right,” Tane said, turning away.

He retrieved the D18 plasma rifle from his pouch and slid it over one shoulder, letting it hang down. Then he clipped the shield generator and storage device to the utility belt.

He went to the shuttle hangar bay and found Sinive, Lyra, and Jed waiting. Sinive and Lyra were dressed in spacesuits similar to Tane’s, while Jed’s battle armor had returned to its previous thickness. Jed had activated his built in helmet, which provided a complete protective environment.

“Okay, before we go, I have to clarify something,” Tane said.

“There’s another reason you wanted to come to this moon other than the lenses,” Lyra said.

“I guess I’m a little obvious,” Tane said.

“Just a bit,” Jed said. “Is there even a lens?”

Tane smiled grimly at the Volur warrior. “I wouldn’t have led you all the way here if there wasn’t. Yes, there is a lens, and it’s at the coordinates I gave to Lyra. It will take us back to our universe when I touch it. However, there’s somewhere else I’d like to go first. Somewhere nearby, about ten blocks to the south. A dark artifact lies there. Like the one on Remus.”

“And what do you hope this artifact will give you?” Jed asked.

“Answers,” Tane said. “I’m marking the area on the map and sharing it.”

On his HUD, he highlighted the location as a waypoint between two skyscrapers.

Jed’s eyes defocused. “Exactly ten blocks south.” He glanced at Lyra. “We could force Nebb to land closer…”

Lyra shook her head. “No. This is the closest shipyard. The refined metals the smuggler needs for repairs are here. And take a look at the map. There’s nowhere for a ship the size of the Red Grizzly to make a landing. The streets are too narrow, the landing pads on the rooftops too small, designed for local flyers… we might be able to squeeze in on one of the larger rooftops, but we’ll probably end up damaging the ship in the process, considering that most of the landing pads are crammed full of flyers. It’s only ten blocks. The shuttle will do.”

“I like how you kept our real destination hidden, Outrimmer,” Sinive said. “You know you could have probably just told them. Lyra and Jed would have agreed.”

“I guess I still don’t really trust them,” Tane said.

Jed scowled at Tane before entering the shuttle. Lyra, meanwhile, remained expressionless.

Sinive’s probably right. What was I worried about? It’s not like Lyra and Jed were going to radio ahead and get a bunch of Volur to ambush me at the artifact.

Tane loaded into the Ladybug class craft and took a seat across from Jed. Lyra and Sinive also took facing seats.

“Welcome aboard, little ones,” Cub said over the comm. “It’s been too long.”

“Not nearly long enough,” Sinive said.

“I missed you, too,” Cub said. “Destination, please?”

Sinive turned toward Tane. “I’ve given you authorization.”

Tane sent the coordinates to Cub, and the shuttle departed the ship.

A short while later the shuttle was hovering above the area between two skyscrapers Tane had pointed out. There was nothing down there on the external cam but the insubstantial street, and a few motionless vehicles.

“Well?” Sinive said.

“It should be here,” Tane said. “Look at the threads emerging from my body.”

Those dark filaments, thicker than ever, led from his spacesuit down to the cabin floor and toward the street below.

“Those strands could simply be pointing toward the gravity well of the moon itself,” Lyra said.

“Maybe loop around the building, Cub,” Tane suggested.

The craft circled the building. Tane kept an eye on the ventral camera feed, but he only saw the blue-shaded asphalt, and some ground craft parked next to the curbs. Even so, there was something a tad unusual…

“Maybe the memories are wrong?” Sinive asked.

“They’re not wrong,” Tane said.

“It’s actually very easy to fake a memory,” Sinive said. “Especially with nanotech. It wouldn’t be any different with whatever engramic programming the dark artifact did to you.”

“Sure, but, didn’t you notice how my dark strands stretched?” Tane said. “They don’t just point straight down… but to the same spot in the ground: the other side of the skyscraper. Cub, go back to the original coordinates.”

The Grizzly Cub flew back around to the far side of the skyscraper.

Tane studied the street below on the video feed. The strands indeed terminated in the middle of the road, at an angle away from the shuttle.

“It’s obviously underground,” Tane said. He spotted a grav tram shed near one of the bordering skyscrapers. “There. That tram entrance will probably take us to it.”

“What do your memories tell you specifically?” Lyra asked.

Tane concentrated. “I see myself, or rather Tiberius, forming the artifact…” He shook his head. “But I can’t discern my surroundings. They’re cloudy. All I have are the coordinates. But like I said, it seems obvious the artifact is located inside the grav tram station.”

“One thing has been bugging me,” Sinive said. “If there really is a dark artifact somewhere down there, why haven’t the kraals devoured it after all these years? Remember how they chased us when we stole that pulsating crystal from the food court?”

“Two different things,” Lyra said. “The crystals—Diracs—are a food source. The Dark Essence, as found in the lenses and artifacts, is something they fear.”

“On the bright side, that means we won’t find any kraals waiting inside the grav tram station to ambush us,” Tane said.

“Yes, assuming the dark artifact is actually present,” Lyra said.

“Well, there’s something down there,” Tane said. “Cub, can you detect anything underground at all?”

“I’m not equipped with an X-Ray scanner,” Cub replied. “Even if I was, it’s doubtful such a device would penetrate to the depth of a grav tram platform from the surface. The beam intensity required would kill everything inside.”

“Not that we’re worried about killing anything at the moment,” Jed said.

“That would be an added bonus, wouldn’t it?” Tane said. “Scan for the artifact, and if it’s not there, we kill any surrounding kraals in the process.”

“Cub, take us down,” Lyra said. “It seems we have some urban spelunking to perform.”

“Ooo, spelunking,” Sinive said. “I’m surprised you know that word!” When she realized the Volur was scowling at her, Sinive quickly added: “Just kidding.”

The shuttle landed in the street about halfway between the bordering skyscrapers, and a short walk from the grav tram shed.

Jed stood up as the ramp lowered. “Stay here until I give the word.”

The warrior Volur unholstered his pistol—the weapon pulsed in sync with his armor. Jed stepped down the ramp and the weapon elongated as Tane watched, transforming into a battle rifle.

Gotta love high tensile memory metals.

Behind Jed’s faceplate, the Chrysalium piercings began to glow slightly. The Volur was likely Siphoning through them at that very moment.

As the warrior proceeded outside, Tane switched his attention to the overhead map, and watched Jed’s indicator circle the shuttle before heading toward the tram shed.

“Area is secure up to the shed,” Jed announced over the comm a moment later.

“Sinive, you’re on point,” Lyra said. “Tane, you follow her. I’ll take drag. Activate your shields as soon as you have clearance. Double time!”

“Why do I feel like I’m back in the military?” Sinive quipped before drawing her pistol and rushing outside.

Tane lowered the plasma rifle from his shoulder, stepped toward the ramp, and activated his shield generator. He ran down the ramp after Sinive, while Lyra brought up the rear. The Volur woman lagged slightly, no doubt still somewhat weary from her earlier jump, despite the boosts from Jed.

The moon’s gravity was vaguely weaker than the artificial gravity aboard the shuttle, so Tane increased the resistance of his servomotors slightly to compensate.

He swept his gaze back and forth across the insubstantial street. The blurry buildings bordered the roadway, which felt somewhat claustrophobic with the skyscrapers hemming the place in on all sides. The dark blue hue gave the street a slightly malevolent atmosphere.

In seconds the trio reached the tram shed. Jed waited at the glass doors; he kept his glowing rifle trained on the surrounding buildings, and slowly swept the muzzle to and fro.

Sinive dashed through the doors and Tane followed behind her; he was careful to observe the half-meter clearance required by the shield generator. Sinive approached the far side of the shed and aimed her pistol down the stairwell.

Tane’s dark threads led away from him and down those very same steps.

“Clear on my end,” Sinive said over the comm.

Tane approached, and aimed his rifle into the stairwell. He could see a portion of the platform at the bottom of the stairs. The dark filaments passed through the concrete wall near the bottom, heading for some object on the platform that wasn’t visible from his current position.

“Jed, lead the way to the platform,” Lyra said.

Jed swept past Sinive and descended the stairs. He passed right through Tane’s threads, and became invisible close to the bottom.

“Man, that’s so handy,” Sinive said.

“I found your artifact,” Jed said a moment later. “But there’s something else, Engineer. You better get down here.”

9

Tane glanced at the overhead map. Jed had mapped out the wide tram platform below. In the center was a dark blue marker that could have only been the artifact Tane was looking for. But beside it was a red dot, ordinarily reserved for enemy combatants.

Tane started to walk past Sinive—keeping beyond the limits of both their energy shields—but she stopped him with a raised hand.

“I should go first,” Sinive said.

“Why?” Tane said. “I’m not some fragile piece of glass.”

“You’re the Bender of Worlds,” she said.

“Which is exactly why I should go first,” Tane said.

But she was already leading the way down.

Tane glanced at Lyra, who merely shrugged inside her suit.

“We do have to protect you,” Lyra said.

“Actually, you don’t,” Tane said.

He followed Sinive down the stairs before the Volur could answer.

Glow panels in the ceiling provided dim light, so that ahead of him he could see benches and the translucent polycarbonate screen that separated the actual grav tunnel from the loading platform. Jed had become visible once more, and he was standing next to the base of the steps, his glowing rifle aimed at something beyond Tane’s line of sight.

When Tane reached the bottom to stand beside Sinive and Jed, the center of the platform came into view. A dark lens-shaped artifact, four meters tall and one meter at its widest, balanced on the tiled surface ahead. It seemed to eat up all the light produced by the glow panels.

The dark filaments emerging from Tane’s body terminated in that object, entering its periphery from all sides so that the artifact appeared to have black tentacles. The edges of the object were distinct, unlike the surrounding world, and he knew immediately that it wasn’t one of the lenses that would transport him back to his own universe, because those edges also didn’t appear to distort spacetime, and it rested on the floor rather than floated.

Yes, this was a dark artifact like the one on Remus. An artifact that would impart great knowledge once touched.

Except the touching might prove difficult: just in front of the artifact, lying on the platform, was a dweller.

The alien wore no protective suit of any kind, and seemed to be either dead or sleeping: Tane couldn’t be sure either way because there were no obvious signs of respiration.

Even stretched out like that, the creature was still half as tall as the monolithic object behind it. And like the lens, it seemed more substantial in this universe than even Tane and his comrades.

“Is it dead?” Sinive asked over the comm.

“I can’t tell,” Tane said. “Jed?”

“I can’t, either,” Jed said. “But a single shot to the head will resolve the matter either way. It’s not wearing any discernible shield generator.”

Jed had his rifle trained on the dweller, and he glanced at Tane for confirmation.

But Lyra, standing behind Tane, was the one who answered. “Shoot it,” she said.

“Wait.” Tane quickly stepped in front of Jed’s rifle. “Don’t fire. I know this dweller, I think.”

Tane approached.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Lyra said.

So do I.

Tane studied the dweller as he approached. From the left and right sides of its large carapace emerged eight legs, currently crimped underneath it. In front, stalks jutted forth, and from them drooped long tentacles tipped by three fingers. Its hunched, sideways jaw hung open slightly, revealing the serrated teeth within. Half those teeth were missing, as were several tentacles. One leg on the left side was gone, too, Tane noted. The dark gray skin was wrinkly, and lacking the iridescent, Labradorite coloration of other dwellers Tane had seen. A tiny metal box was secured near the base of the head, above the tentacled stalks.

Tane stopped about a meter in front of the dweller. Still he hadn’t seen any signs that it was alive.

He deactivated his shield generator and stepped between two of the drooping tentacles, and slowly extended his rifle toward the creature, intending to touch the carapace with the muzzle. The dark threads emerging from his body flowed through the dweller and into the lens behind it.

A few seconds before making contact, Tane paused. Again he felt that premonition of doom.

Maybe this isn’t the best idea.

He glanced at the far side of the platform, where another passageway led underneath a neighboring building. He half expected dwellers to come surging inside any moment.

He dismissed the thought, and forced himself to touch the carapace with his muzzle.

No response.

He shoved, applying pressure, attempting to shake the body, but the alien was too heavy. The dweller didn’t respond either way.

“Hmm,” Tane stepped back, retreating between the two tentacles, and reactivated his shield. He turned around to face his friends. “I guess it’s dead.”

“That would be M’alancretes,” a voice sourced from multiple human speakers arose, coming from the dweller.

Tane spun, but the creature remained motionless on the floor.

“My mate,” the voice continued. The sound emanated from the small box attached underneath the alien’s head.

“Where are you?” Tane asked, activating the external speakers of his helmet.

“Nearby,” the voice said. “I have learned it is unwise to reveal myself when humans are near. In the past, they have proven to be… trigger happy. I’ve lost a few tentacles that way.”

It was difficult to understand the words, given that each was voiced by a speaker with a different accent and dialect, and then simultaneously distorted to both high and low octaves by the Umbra.

Tane slowly swiveled about, running his gaze across the underground platform: past the benches, pillars, and the translucent polycarbonate screen, and the passageway leading underneath the building, but saw no sign of the alien.

“The dark power linking you to the artifact marks you,” the dweller continued via the voice box. “M’alancretes and I have waited almost a thousand years for you. A century ago, my mate at last decided to forgo the Renewal, and succumbed. I have been alone all these years. But Tiberius said you would come, so I waited steadfastly. And now, finally, you have arrived.”

“Who are you?” Tane asked.

“G’allanthamas,” the dweller said. “Keeper of the Dark. Tasked with guarding that which is most precious.”

“And what’s that?” Tane said.

“The memories of my master,” G’allanthamas said. “And now those memories are yours. I suggest you touch the artifact.”

Filled with a sudden suspicion, Tane eyed the dark monolith doubtfully. “You’re guarding these memories, you say? How? If you’re not even here to protect the artifact?”

“I don’t have to be present to defend,” G’allanthamas said. “Do you truly believe we dwellers are so technologically backward? At this very moment, five hidden energy weapons embedded within the walls of the subterranean chamber around you have activated. You are squarely within their sights, and the weapons await my command to fire. Your pitiful energy shields and armor are useless against them, I promise you. If you were not the Bender of Worlds, I would have destroyed you the moment you set foot upon the platform, and then dragged your bodies far from here. If you wish to receive that which you have come for, then touch the artifact. If you are not ready, then leave.”

Tane surveyed the walls, wondering if the dweller was bluffing. He didn’t see any signs of energy weapons.

He glanced at the others waiting near the base of the stairs behind him. Sinive merely stared at him with frightened eyes behind her faceplate. Lyra seemed indifferent. While Jed nodded.

Tane turned back toward the artifact and sidestepped the fallen dweller to approach. The bottom edges of the great lens were flat, he noticed, and slightly rectangular-shaped rather than curved—shaping the base like that obviously helped keep the object upright, and served as a built-in stand of sorts. The tendrils emerging from his spacesuit were exceptionally thick that close to the object, and seemed almost solid rather than translucent.

He hesitated a moment longer, then deactivated his shield and extended an arm toward the artifact. His gloved fingers didn’t distort and elongate upon approach, as they would have were this a lens with a preset work of the Dark stored inside. A good sign.

He touched the surface with his glove. It felt solid to the touch.

Nothing happened, so he flattened the rest of his glove against the surface. He felt it then: the warmth of the Dark Essence lurking just inside. The chaos of a forest in flames, and waiting to be unleashed.

“It’s definitely made of Darcanium,” Tane said over the comm to Lyra and the others. He muted his external speakers, leaving the dweller out of the loop. “So far it hasn’t given me any memories.”

And then the artifact, as well as the platform itself, vanished.

Tane stood at the edge of a forest whose trees had strange bulb-shaped branches with leaves of purple and green needles. He no longer wore a spacesuit. Beside him loomed the dweller P’lotholemus, his teacher, clad in a protective suit of strange design, with pistons moving up and down atop the carapace’s rear portion.

The blue tint tainting everything had lifted. And those trees, the dweller… they all seemed real, not blurry.

Tane immediately felt at home. He was with his true master.

“The Dark Essence must be wielded,” P’lotholemus was saying through a synthesizer in the carapace region of the environmental suit. Though the dweller’s words were sourced from multiple humans with different accents and dialects, the high and low octaves of the Umbra were gone.

“Wielded,” the dweller emphasized. “That is the only way to shape the flames you see when you Siphon. It is not like the White Essence you have told me about, where you wheedle and coax a tiny sapling to grow into a fragile tree of frozen light. The Dark is more a warrior’s Essence, the chaotic flames held in place by the sheer force of will of the wielder. That chaos can be used to create, as the Builders do. Or to destroy.”

“Like the Amaranth?” Tane found himself asking. It was not his voice, but Tiberius’.

“Yes, like the Amaranth. They who fight with the Dark. They who destroy with it. You must learn to fight, too, if you wish to earn their respect. Builders are at the bottom of the societal hierarchy, almost as low as those who can’t Siphon at all. But the Amaranth, they are honored. Prove to them that you can best the greatest of them, and they will follow you.”

“But I don’t want them to follow me,” Tane said.

“If you wish to survive in the Umbra long term, you must,” P’lotholemus said. “Even with me at your side, you will be challenged. I guarantee you.”

“You once told me that the Dark could only ever be used for good,” Tane said.

“I told you this, yes,” P’lotholemus said.

“But where is the good in using the chaos of the Dark to destroy?” Tane pressed.

“Destruction can be good,” P’lotholemus told him.

“How so?” Tane asked.

“Destruction is part of the natural order of things,” P’lotholemus told him. “Birth and death occur constantly throughout the cosmos, at all scales, from microorganisms, to planets, to stars and galaxies themselves. Creation and destruction. How can that which is an integral part of the universe be evil?

“Take the body. Did you know, sixty billion cells in your human body die per day? For dwellers, that number is four times as great. Sixty billion cells, destroyed to make way for the new cells that are always dividing in the great machine known as the body. Or how about forest fires?” The alien beckoned toward the bulbous trees behind Tane. “When forests burn down, dead trees and decaying plants return their nutrients to the soil. Dry underbrush and weeds are burned away so that sunlight can reach the forest floor and allow native species to grow. Life, from death.

“Protecting your clan and your blood from an invading tribe by destroying them, that is also good. As is competing against other Amaranth in shows of strength to earn your place in the hierarchy.

“But I digress from the lesson. You have learned to Siphon consistently. And yet, thus far, you have not actually done anything with the chaos you have summoned. You know that when you quench the flames, this directs and guides the new fires that emerge. To influence reality with the Dark Essence, you must douse the flames in certain patterns, quenching enough flames until an equilibrium is reached and a three-dimensional design remains.”

“So it is like the Branchworks of the White Essence after all,” Tane said. “Except instead of growing the sapling, you block out the fires to make the tree.”

“No no no, you didn’t let me finish,” P’lotholemus said. “That is only the base pattern. Because thereafter, before the design will take in this reality, you must alter the intensity of the individual flames, and douse others, changing the pattern in the fourth dimension—time.”

“What are you saying,” Tane said. “I have to create animations? Frame by frame? Like a digital flip book?”

“I don’t know what a flip book is,” P’lotholemus said. “But yes, a frame-by-frame animation is perhaps an apt metaphor. You douse the flames in certain patterns with your mind, forcing the new fires to appear in different positions for each new frame of the timeline. It is infinitely more complex than the White Essence, from what you’ve told me.

“That is why I say the Dark Essence must be wielded. The designs are not stationary things, and change with time. The simpler Essencework timelines can be completed in spans as short as fifteen standard seconds. The more complex take upwards of ten minutes or longer. This is why we often start the creation of a given Chaoswork well ahead of its intended use. Once created, the work can be held indefinitely for little stamina cost, and released at leisure. You may only hold in reserve as many as your current overall Dark Siphoning level.”

The forest blinked out and Tane found himself standing on the grav tram platform once more. A notification appeared on his HUD.

All Dark Siphoning Level 1 Essenceworks gained.

New Dark Essencework learned.

Night Vision. Level 1. (Dark Siphoning Level 1 required).

New Dark Essencework learned.

Melt Metal. Level 1. (Dark Siphoning Level 1 required).

New Dark Essencework learned.

Fingers of Ruin. Level 1. (Dark Siphoning Level 1 required).

Attribute up. Intelligence +1. Current Intelligence: 13 (24 with Beam Hilt I, rings, and Nova Bracelet I equipped)

“It says I just gained some new Essenceworks,” Tane said excitedly over the comm, once more excluding the dweller. He pulled up the skill list on his HUD and paged over to “White Essence Specific” tab. Nothing new. However there was a new tab, he noticed. “Dark Essence Specific.” He chose it and read the following.

Dark Siphoning Level 1 Essenceworks.

Builder:

Night Vision. Grants you the ability to see in the dark. At higher levels, the ability lasts longer and you can see farther. Current range and duration: 20 meters, 10 minutes. Stamina drain: low. Creation time: 15 seconds.

Amaranth:

Melt Metal. With this ability, you can selectively melt away metal objects within the work’s area of effect, including weapons, while preserving the metal items of your companions. At higher levels, the area of effect increases, as does the size of the objects that can be melted. Works through energy shields. Current AOE: 3 meters. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: 60 seconds.

Fingers of Ruin. Sends dark fingers of unreality at a single opponent; black veins grow outward from the impact site and crack open to wound the target. At higher levels, the damage increases. Pierces energy shields. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: 60 seconds.

He noted that all of the abilities had a relatively high creation time, far longer than the mere seconds required to create something with the White Essence. To use them would require some strategic thinking on his part, especially considering that his current overall Dark Siphoning level was one, which meant he could only hold one fully created Dark Essencework in reserve.

Night Vision was essentially the Dark equivalent of the White “Star Light,” in that it allowed one to see in the dark, albeit via a different mechanism. However Night Vision was probably the stealthier version, since it was entirely passive and didn’t emit photons like the White equivalent.

“Care to share?” Lyra asked over the comm.

Tane hesitated. He almost said yes, but then decided against it. “Eventually. I want to keep this knowledge to myself for now. Unless you care to share all the non-public Essenceworks you have?”

Lyra didn’t answer.

“That’s what I thought,” Tane said. “I’m going to try one of them.”

He filled his mind with chaos and touched the Dark Essence as his alien master had taught him. Molten heat seared throughout his being and ethereal flames burst into existence around him. He knew now that those flames weren’t restricted to a single plane, but rather existed within a three-dimensional cube centered upon him, with some burning beyond the platform underneath him, and others above the station ceiling above. When he glanced at those surfaces in turn, he could still see the flames beyond, burning subtly dimmer.

The fires were sourced from the heat-containing core of the moon itself. In his universe, he could anchor himself to different sources to access the Dark, as long as those sources were gravity wells with certain features: for planets and moons, the inner core had to be a geodynamo. In the case of a star, the conditions necessary for thermonuclear fusion had to be present. The friction produced by this heat energy in the Umbra as it emanated away from the gravity well and to the surface of the celestial object in question gave rise to the Dark Essence.

Tane attempted to form the work responsible for Night Vision. He began to douse the flames around him, including those fires that were above and below the floor and ceiling. As he smothered them, more erupted into existence, and he doused them, too, until finally he had achieved an equilibrium: all of the burning flames were in the necessary starting positions for Night Vision. Then Tane began the frame-by-frame chaos timeline.

He selectively doused certain flames and forced new ones to appear in certain positions, forming the different frames of the animation. It was an infinitely more complex operation than the creation of a White Essence Branchwork, because the flames had to be doused in the correct order, and at the right time.

The animated pattern that formed reminded him of fireworks playing in reverse, starting out fully-exploded, and then reverting to two tiny dots of flame in front of him.

When he finished the work fifteen intense seconds later, those two dots settled on his face, and the dim light from the ceiling glow panels suddenly seemed very bright; he had to shield his eyes against the glow. He increased the opacity of his faceplate to compensate. He didn’t think there was a way to deactivate an effect like Night Vision once it set into this reality: he’d have to wait until it expired on its own.

He slumped only slightly inside his suit. Despite the intensity of his concentration, the stamina drain hadn’t been too bad overall. That was something he had seen before when working with the Dark. Then again, it could have also been due to all the Endurance bonuses his gear bestowed. He considered equipping his beam hilt for an added boost but decided he didn’t need it.

“So it worked?” Jed asked over the comm.

“I think so,” Tane replied. He could tell from the Volur’s tone that Jed wanted him to share what the work did. Tane almost did, if only to brag, but once more decided to hold back.

Knowledge is power.

“I’m trying another one,” Tane promptly announced.

He tried Fingers of Ruin next.

Thirty seconds in, Sinive said: “Well?”

Tane didn’t reply.

After another thirty seconds, he finished, and held the work in reserve: the final pattern shrunk down to a small globe of flame that floated in front of him, visible to his eyes only. He definitely felt the weariness on that one.

He released the Dark Essence, because to hold onto it meant having to continually douse the flames around him, and he was getting tired of doing that. The flaming globe remained active in front of him, the Essencework contained therein waiting to be unleashed. When he rotated in place, the globe followed him.

“Since you’re moving, I assume it worked?” Lyra asked.

“I believe so,” Tane answered.

“What do you see?” Lyra pressed.

“The Dark works differently than the White,” Tane said, in an attempt to deflect the question.

“We figured that much out, Engineer,” Jed said. “But different in what way?”

Tane smiled faintly. What harm was there in telling them? Lyra and Jed probably already knew, and were simply testing him. No doubt the Volur and TSN had captured dwellers at some point, and interrogated them to reveal their secrets.

“It takes a long time to create a Dark work,” Tane said. “When you finish, you can release the Dark Essence and hold the work in reserve. I’m holding onto one of them right now. It looks like a translucent, flaming sphere that follows me around.”

“You’re not currently Siphoning?” Lyra asked.

“No,” Tane replied.

“Interesting,” Lyra said. “How long can you hold onto that particular work?”

“Indefinitely, as far as I know,” Tane said.

“Can you dismiss it?” Jed said. “Or does the effect have to be unleashed?”

“I can’t dismiss it,” Tane said.

“Well then, let’s see what happens when you release it,” Jed said.

Tane could have held onto the globe indefinitely, if only to hide it from them. But given the description of the Essencework, he believed Fingers of Ruin was something the dwellers had used against him before, on Remus, so it wasn’t like he was revealing some unknown power to Jed and Lyra. Besides, he wanted to see the effects for himself.

Tane turned to face the far wall of the platform and then focused on the flaming sphere. It vanished and the Dark Essencework set in this reality: a single dark smear of unreality erupted from his chest area and darted toward the wall. It moved about as fast as a thrown ball, slightly slower than an Essence Missile, and smashed into the concrete surface. A dark vein spread a short distance across the impact site, and the concrete cracked open along its length.

“Nasty,” Sinive said over the comm. “I wouldn’t want to be hit with one of those.”

“No,” Tane said. “And that’s only level one. Imagine what level four or higher would do.”

“No thanks,” Sinive said. “You imagine.”

Tane decided he’d try the final work, Melt Metal, later when he was alone, in part because he didn’t want to accidentally destroy everyone’s weapons, and also because he wished to keep it a secret.

On his HUD there was a new tab next to “Dark Essence Specific” that listed the remaining Dark Siphoning Essenceworks for levels two through seven, along with the locations of the Dark Artifacts that would teach him each level. He noticed that the locations spanned three different planets in three separate systems. Two of the planets had multiple artifacts.

That makes gathering them easier.

Tane loved the fact he could attain all the works for each level at the same time. Even if he had to travel to a few locations on three different planets to get them, it was better than the Branchwork purchasing system the Volur had set up.

Why can’t the White Essence work this way?

But he already knew why. The Branchworks were regulated by the Volur. They wouldn’t want to give anyone a full brain dump of skills for free. There’d be no profit in that. They wanted the more capable Essenceworkers to swear their undying allegiance to the Volur, first of all. And second of all, they wanted everyone, Volur or casual Essenceworker, to pay for each Branchwork update as they went. After all, they had to make their income somehow: they charged a license fee on all sales made through Peddler of the Esoteric shops.

A terrible system all around, but one that wouldn’t change as long as the Volur were entrenched in their power, and propped up by the TSN.

“I also have locations for other Dark Artifacts,” Tane said over the comm.

“On this planet, or other worlds?” Sinive asked.

“Three other planets,” Tane said. “Three different systems.”

“Ah, and you expect to drag us to all these different planets so you can get free Essencework upgrades?” Sinive asked.

“I’m not sure I can, actually,” Tane said. He turned toward the alien corpse and activated his external speakers. “Regarding the other Dark Artifacts out there: do I need the associated level in Dark Siphoning to learn the Essenceworks beneath it? Or can I just touch the artifact and receive the memories regardless of my overall level, and just can’t use them until I later advance?”

“You must match each level, yes,” G’allanthamas said through the voice synthesizer of his dead mate. “Otherwise, the memories will not take. You may have seen this when you touched the artifact Tiberius left in your universe, if you did so before you were ready, with some memories fleeting while others remained.”

Tane knew exactly what the dweller was referring to. Tane had learned how to send his Essence Sight traveling far afield, and the ability had faded soon after he had repelled the fleet. With the original dark artifact gone, that ability might be forever lost to him: while floating in the Umbra with Jed, Tane had asked the Volur if he knew how to send Essence Sight traveling like that, but Jed had said he’d never heard of such a thing.

Tane skimmed over the different works associated with each level. They were all grouped into Builder and Amaranth abilities. He saw some works that were duplicates of those found in the publicly available White Essence list, such as Deflect and Disrupt, and the different distortion tunnel variations—though they required a Dark experience level one higher than their White Essence equivalents. The downside was that the Dark Essence versions required so much time to create, though that was balanced out by less stamina drain, plus the ability to hold created works in reserve.

There was also Dark Hand, a level three work used to remotely manipulate and crush objects, which was similar to the White Essence Telekinesis ability. He noted that there was no level seven Mass Dark Hand version, however, unlike the White Mass Telekinesis. Either it didn’t exist, or the dwellers had never taught it to Tiberius.

Besides the aforementioned Essenceworks, he hadn’t really seen any of the others in action, except maybe Protective Environment, which enveloped the body in a pressurized environment, and Renewal, a level seven Dark work described as a way to reinvigorate one’s body. He reread the latter.

Renewal. A way to reinvigorate one’s body. Requires drawing the Dark Essence through a large piece of Darcanium. Cannot be used within an Essence Link. Stamina drain: high. Creation time: 5 minutes, though the age-reversing effects become apparent within the first thirty seconds.

He was reminded of the dweller that had ambushed him on Remus. That one had brought with it a coterie of aliens to Siphon away the Arcanum of the dark artifact after Tane had unlocked it, and the alien had rejuvenated itself using the massive amount of Essence available.

Tane wondered why the dwellers hadn’t simply touched the Darcanium hull of one of their own alien ships to achieve the same effect, but realized the dwellers likely faced the same limits as humans when it came to Siphoning such a huge amount through a hull, in that the Essence became impossible to control. He could just imagine the infinite number of flames forming around himself when he touched a dweller hull... it would probably burn him to a cinder.

Returning to his HUD interface, he saw an ellipsis beside the last page tab. He focused on it, which caused another tab to appear, this one labeled “White and Dark Essence Specific.”

Tane chose the tab and discovered planetary locations for dark artifacts that would teach seven more levels of Essenceworks, these focusing on Dark and White combinations: yes, not only did the Dark give him the ability to create stable White Essenceworks from large Chrysalium sources like starship hulls without the need for preprogrammed AIs, Tiberius had developed a whole new class of unique works that combined both Essences. Their creation time ranged from one minute to over an hour, due to the Dark component. The only downside, as far as he could tell, was that because of the nature of the White Essence, the combined works couldn’t be held in reserve when completed, and had to be released immediately.

It might be worth dropping by the planet that harbored the level one Dark and White Essenceworks before leaving the Umbra. Then again, Lyra and the others had already done enough for him. Did he really want to risk their lives any further than he already had? Well, either way, he’d have to make up his mind on the matter before returning to the shuttle.

Skimming the list, he saw that most of the levels were listed as locked, with the descriptions to be revealed once the associated dark artifacts were accessed. The two works at level seven were unlocked, however, and he read the contents:

Essenceworks available to Dark and White Mixing, Level 7.

Inter-dimensional Distortion Tunnel. The ability to travel back and forth between Umanitar—humanity’s universe—and the Umbra. You and a nearby circle of friends are brought back to the same place in Umanitar as you exist in the Umbra, and vice versa. Stamina requirements: extremely high. Creation time: 10 minutes.

Essence Reservoir Creation. The ability to create an Essence reservoir and apply an Essencework of your choice to it, either White, Dark, or a combination of both. Accessible upon touch to anyone with the skill to siphon both White and Dark (i.e.: essentially only you). Stamina requirements: extremely high. Creation time: 1 hour, plus the time necessary to form the Essencework to trigger.

Tane realized that the dark lenses Tiberius had seeded the Umbra with were in fact the results of Essence Reservoir Creation provisioned with Inter-dimensional Distortion Tunnels, though apparently Tiberius could have applied any other Essencework to those reservoirs. Tane could see himself creating reservoirs at strategic points around a planned battlefield, and provisioning them with different works that he could use in a pinch. Such triggerable reservoirs would be especially useful when he was too exhausted to otherwise access the Essence, or needed a work that had a high creation time.

Too bad it was so many levels ahead.

Ah well, he’d just have to spend time advancing Dark and White Mixing until he attained the necessary level. Maybe spend a few months hunting kraals. Then again, he wasn’t sure if that would really be using the Dark for good, as his teacher taught.

Tane touched the artifact and commanded it to shrink using his Dark Artifact Control skill. The large lens became the size of a small apple in his palm. The threads connecting him to the artifact instantly thinned, and redirected into the floor, toward the moon’s core. He couldn’t feel the Dark Essence beckoning to him from within the artifact anymore, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to Siphon through the Darcanium while the object was reduced like that. He’d have to command it to enlarge again, first. He could still Siphon the Dark Essence produced by the planet’s core, of course, just as he could still step into the stellar wind of the White.

He attached the apple-sized artifact to his harness by tightening one of the free loops in the fabric around it, and then he studied the dead dweller a moment.

“Where are you?” Tane said via his external speakers. “Come with us.”

What sounded like a deep laugh came from the synthesizer attached to the corpse. “To where? The Umanitar? There is no place for me in your universe. My part in all of this is done. I have fulfilled my duty. I will return to my cave and wither away until I join my mate.”

“All right,” Tane said. “Thank you, then.”

“Good luck to you, Doomwielder,” the dweller said. “The fate of the galaxy resides firmly in your hands, whether you realize it yet or not.”

“Care to elaborate on that?” Tane asked.

The dweller offered no response.

So be it.

Tane approached Lyra, Sinive, and Jed. “Well that was... interesting.”

“I’ll say,” Sinive transmitted. “Talking to dweller corpses. Learning memories from a man dead over a thousand years. I have to say, hanging out with you is always a trip.”

“Glad to be your drug of choice.” Tane glanced at Jed and Lyra. “We should get back to the shuttle and decide what to do next.”

Lyra seemed surprised. “You don’t want to fly to the nearby distortion lens?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Tane said. “There might be another planet worth visiting. Have you been in touch with Nebb?”

“I have,” Jed said. “My suit has been able to maintain a connection with Cub’s postal node. Nebb tells me repairs to the Red Grizzly are going well. By his estimate, he’ll be ready for take off in another half hour.”

Tane nodded. “So I have half an hour to decide.”

He accessed the Dark Essence as he climbed the stairs leading to the street. He intended to create a work of Fingers of Ruin to hold in reserve, but something interrupted him ten seconds in.

A small device bounced onto the steps in front of him. It looked like a knob of some kind with a pulsing red rim at the base.

Puzzled, he turned around. “Did anyone drop...”

The words died on his lips.

Jed was wrestling with Lyra on the platform at the base of the stairs.

“Run, Engineer!” Jed transmitted.

Jed was flung backward as multiple Essence Missiles erupted from Lyra’s torso. She sat up, turning toward Tane. Behind her faceplate, her eyes were not her own: they appeared dead, emotionless.

Tane knew one thing for certain: she meant him deadly harm.

10

Tane darted up the stairs and out of Lyra’s line of sight. Sinive was at his side.

He reached the shed, burst onto the street, and activated his shield generator. He pulled ahead of Sinive.

“What the hell came over her?” Sinive said over the comm.

“Dunno.” Tane raced toward the shuttle. “But I’m not sticking around to find out.”

I knew I couldn’t trust that damned Volur!

Still dousing the ethereal fires of chaos around him, Tane restarted Fingers of Ruin as he ran.

Halfway to the shuttle, two notices appeared on his HUD in rapid succession.

Shield strength 50%.

Shield strength 0%.

The directional vector on the HUD indicated the hits had come from behind.

Tane stopped, raising his hands. He turned around, expecting to find Lyra, but instead Sinive stood there, pistol pointed directly at him.

“You, too?” Tane asked. He lost his concentration, and the Fingers of Ruin timeline unraveled. He released the Dark Essence.

“It’s not me,” Sinive said. It sounded like she was crying inside her helmet. “I can’t...” Her voice abruptly cut off. When she spoke again, her tone had changed. It had become brusque, with each word sounding almost like a hiss. “Move and I’ll kill you.”

Behind her, he saw troops in power armor rapidly approaching. They were escorted by humanoid mechs, four meters tall. They were just as insubstantial as Tane, the buildings, and everything else. A large ship hovered overhead, above the skyscrapers. It was a TSN battle cruiser of some kind.

Lyra appeared at the entrance to the shed. She had a silver staff in hand, a work of Chrysalium undoubtedly retrieved from her storage pouch.

Before she could do anything, Jed flashed into existence behind her. His gloved fist glowed a bright white as he smashed it into the back of her suit, and she was sent flying across the asphalt, the staff knocked from her grasp.

The white halo around his glove faded instantly, and his hand moved downward in a blur, drawing the glowing pistol from his holster. He aimed it at Sinive.

“No!” Tane said.

Jed fired. But he hadn’t been aiming for Sinive’s center of mass, apparently. His marksmanship was high enough to strike her pistol alone, and she dropped it as the weapon glowed red hot.

“Run!” Jed said over the comm, becoming invisible once more.

Tane dashed toward the shuttle, but before he reached it the craft exploded. The shockwave knocked him over and he landed on his side. He quickly scrambled to his feet: as far as he could tell, shrapnel hadn’t struck him, and his suit integrity remained steady at 100%. His shield strength was back to zero, however.

He grabbed his beam hilt and stepped into the White Essence. The dual-bladed Essence ax erupted.

He touched the Dark Essence as well as he raced away from the incoming TSN troops. The shadow of the battle cruiser fell upon him. He wondered if it would unleash a dragon or plasma weapon against him.

No, they want me alive.

He started Fingers of Ruin once again. He turned onto a side avenue and kept close to the wall of skyscrapers that bordered the road. He wanted to remain out of the line of sight of that cruiser for as long as possible.

“Nebb, do you read?” Tane tried. The words ruined his concentration, and he lost the Dark Essencework.

With the shuttle’s postal node destroyed, it was doubtful Tane would be able to reach the smuggler.

Sure enough there was no response.

Tane began the Dark work yet again.

His shield strength slowly crept back up as he continued down the street. He glanced at his overhead map and realized Jed was with him, shadowing his movements close by, remaining invisible. Sinive also pursued, according to the blue dot that trailed behind him.

He looked over his shoulder at her and saw she had retrieved another pistol from her inventory. But before she could strike, Jed’s blue Chrysalium sword appeared from nowhere and cut the weapon in two. Then he slammed his arm outward, sending her spacesuit flying backward across the asphalt.

Tane paused. “Sinive!”

“She’s all right, Engineer,” Jed said, vanishing. “Keep running. The TSN have her and Lyra now.”

Sure enough, Sinive sat up a moment later. She delved into her storage pouch, no doubt searching for another weapon.

Without waiting, Tane broke into a run once again. The latest disruption had ruined his Essencework, and he had to restart the Dark creation all over again.

He turned into a side street, and then another. By the time he reached the next intersection, Tane finally completed Fingers of Ruin, and then held it in reserve so that a fiery globe of darkness appeared above and ahead of him. He darted diagonally across the latest intersection, heading toward a cross street.

As he neared the edge of one of the buildings ahead, he glanced behind him in time to see troops rounding the bend on the far side of the street. He didn’t spot Sinive or Lyra among them, but it was possible they were there. Neither of them showed up on his overhead map anymore—they’d disabled chip sharing.

A dark swarm appeared above the troops as he watched.

“Uh, that can’t be good,” Tane said.

“Drone swarm,” Jed said over the comm. “They’ll be on us shortly. They’ll try to capture you with energy nets, which will quickly deplete your shield and ensnare you. I’d suggest using Essence Sight, maximum distance, so you are aware in advance, and can dodge or slice the nets with your ax. Plus take down any drones that get too close.”

Tane threw out his Essence Sight lifeline and his viewpoint switched to above and behind him. He positioned the viewpoint at the maximum thirty-five meter distance Essence Sight level two allowed.

A few moments later the drones arrived. As Jed predicted, they launched nets at him, forcing Tane to dodge, or slice them away. Jed blasted away with his pistol, downing drones as he went. Each shot caused him to momentarily blink into view.

Tane attempted to launch a few Essence bolts with his energy ax, but it was tricky lining up the tip of the ax with the moving targets, and he didn’t hit any of the drones.

Several large holes formed in the fabric of reality up ahead: from them mechs emerged in the middle of the street and cut him off. The big machines were stepping through local distortion tunnels created by Essenceworkers somewhere among the troops.

Roughly three mechs emerged from each hole before the distortion tunnels winked closed. The towering machines looked like faceless combat robots, except their polycarbonate exteriors were colored white and blue, and they were about four times the size. He knew from his chip that they contained human pilots in the cockpits, but otherwise he wasn’t able to perform any actual ID on the machines.

Probably a good thing, considering he had no time to read such an ID: some of those mechs immediately fired nets at him. He dodged some, and cut through the remainder before they could ensnare him.

Tane veered far to the right in an attempt to dash past the entire group, but a mech easily maneuvered in front of him and forced Tane to confront it.

The big robot attempted to grab Tane in a large metallic hand. If it touched him, that hand would easily deplete his half-charged shield and penetrate to the spacesuit below.

Tane leaped to the side, swinging his Essence Ax, and cut the metal hand right off.

The other big hand swiveled toward him; Tane had no time to reverse his ax swing, so he launched an Essence Missile instead. It impacted the robotic arm, severing it just below the elbow joint.

Another mech fired a net at him from the side, and Tane narrowly sliced it away. Then that big machine rushed him in turn.

Tane threw his Fingers of Ruin reserve at the mech, and it impacted the cockpit area. A dark crack formed down the middle and the robot tripped, crashing into the asphalt just beside Tane, scraping a short runnel across the surface.

More drones swooped in, forcing Tane to deal with their nets as well. The remaining mechs came at him while he was occupied. Scepter combat robots held on to the shoulder regions of some of the mechs, and they were also equipped with rifles that fired energy nets. Some of them leaped down to the asphalt for a better shot.

Tane constantly swung his ax about, turning to meet every net that was launched. Without Essence Sight, he would have been captured by now.

Jed was at his side momentarily. He flashed into existence as his sword helped hew through the incoming nets. Together they fought their way forward, cutting a path through the remaining robots and mechs. By the time they reached the far side of the street, they’d left a trail of ten combat robots and nine mechs. Tane wondered if it would have been so easy if those machines had been actually trying to kill him.

Most of the drones had exhausted their energy nets by that point, which is why it caught Tane by surprise when a net came in seemingly from nowhere and pinned his leg. He tripped.

Jed emerged from invisibility. He freed Tane with his Chrysalium sword.

“Let’s go!” Jed said. He fired the pistol in his other hand three times, disabling a trio of drones that swooped in, and the remainder turned back, their energy nets evidently spent. A few of the drones lingered high above: they probably weren’t equipped with nets, and instead functioned as airborne surveillance devices. Or maybe they were simply waiting for a better moment to strike.

Tane and the invisible Jed continued onward. More mechs rounded the corner of the intersection behind the pair: he counted about thirty.

A missile slammed into the ground in front of Tane, digging a huge blast crater.

“They want to play rough, do they?” Jed said.

The Volur sparked into existence, firing his pistol—it had become a huge rifle, like the minigun one might expect to find attached to a gunship. He unleashed several large shots, downing three mechs in rapid succession. Then he vanished from view as missiles impacted his previous location.

Tane checked his overhead map, but Jed’s indicator had already moved on.

“I really need to get me that invisibility Branchwork,” Tane muttered.

The intersection far ahead filled as dark shapes rushed in from both sides. At first Tane thought they were more TSN troops, or their mechs, cutting him off. Tane recalled his lifeline so that he was viewing the world through his own eyes, and adjusted the magnification level on his faceplate to zoom in.

These weren’t robots or troops. They were far too real for that, their edges sharp and well-defined, their bodies a crisp gray-black. No, these were kraals of some kind: large, six-legged, scaly bodies. Broad, sweeping tails tipped by spiked bulbs. Long necks with gills in the sides, and ending in huge heads with sideways-opening jaws that were lined with big, serrated teeth. Other than those mouths, the heads were oddly featureless, like large worms with teeth.

He had the impression they were bigger than the kraals he had met the first time he came to the Umbra, but he wasn’t sure, as the street on that side didn’t have any vehicles or other fixtures he could use for comparison.

But as he got closer, he got a better sense of scale, and realized just how big they really were. Most were roughly the same size as the pursuing mechs. Many were bigger.

And they blocked all advancement forward. He had to wonder if the TSN had sent troops ahead to herd them this way.

“Time to divert!” Jed said.

Tane agreed.

He swerved to the side and rushed up the stairs of one of the skyscrapers. Floor-to-ceiling windows bordered a pair of glass doors. Tane cut his energy ax into the door, breaking through, and leaped past the broken glass.

Permanently flickering into view, Jed joined him inside.

The pair were in a concourse of some kind. Gravalators led up to the next floor, while sealed lifts beside them offered a path to the higher levels.

“Take the gravalator!” Jed said. “No time to wait for the lifts!”

Tane and Jed raced onto the gravalator and rapidly floated up toward the second floor. A third of the way to the top, all the floor-to-ceiling glass windows forming the front facade of the building behind them shattered.

It was the kraals. About ten of the six-legged reptiles broke inside at the same time. There were a few mechs dispersed within their ranks, but they weren’t working in unison: the big robots alternately bashed their way through the kraals and fired into them at point blank range. A larger kraal wrapped its sideways teeth around the torso area of one mech, and the energy shield surrounding that unit abruptly blinked off; the kraal hoisted the mech into the air and crushed the cockpit before tossing the ruined machine into another mech, weakening that one’s shield in turn.

Tane reached the top of the gravalator and stepped off.

A big kraal arced over the railing beside him and landed squarely in front of Tane. It opened the mouth at the end of that long neck and roared.

Tane unleashed an Essence Missile and swung his ax at the same time. The missile slammed into the open mouth, while Tane’s weapon sliced through the gills of its neck, turning that roar into a gurgle. Jed meanwhile stabbed the beast in the chest with his Chrysalium sword.

The combined effect of all three blows caused the creature to topple where it stood. Black blood oozed from the wounds in its throat and chest.

Jed withdrew his sword and Tane and the Volur raced onward across a walkway that overlooked the concourse below. On the other side of them, restaurants, cafes, and shops lined the wall.

More of the six-legged kraals leaped onto the walkway behind Tane and Jed. As did a mech. Tane was forced to cut away an energy net launched his way before a kraal occupied the machine.

Up ahead, more floor-to-ceiling windows offered a view of the street outside. Jed’s glowing weapon had returned to the size of a pistol by then, and he fired it into the glass from twenty meters away and melted several large holes into the panes. Before the pair could get any closer, three human-sized distortion tunnels appeared halfway to the breached windows, and four combat robots emerged per tunnel before the distortions closed.

“Don’t slow down!” Jed said.

Tane tried an Essence Missile as he ran, but it failed. Jed unleashed his pistol, taking down two of the robots.

The robots fired nets in rapid succession. Jed managed to switch to his Chrysalium sword, and he helped Tane cut through the nets. Tane was hard-pressed to get them all, and he missed one.

The glowing grid formed a hemisphere a half-meter in front of him as it wrapped around his energy shield. Tane attempted to cut into it, but his already weakened shield depleted to zero so rapidly that before he knew what was happening the net closed the gap and enveloped his chest assembly, securing his arms to his side. Tane was forced to deactivate the beam hilt, otherwise he would have cut off his leg.

Some of the net had also bound his upper thighs, and he stumbled and fell because of the restricted motion of his legs. He landed so that he was facing the concourse behind him, and he saw the giant kraals racing toward him.

He heard the sound of a Chrysalium sword crashing repeatedly into metal and polycarbonate skin, and then someone was dragging him away from the kraals. Fast.

Tane glanced between his feet, and was relieved to find Jed there, hanging onto the ankle of one of his boots.

The wreckages of combat robots passed by, littering the floor on either side. Tane shut down his shield, because keeping it active with the energy grid wrapped around him was only depleting the battery. He started preparing a fresh Fingers of Ruin Essencework.

Before Jed reached the melted floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side of the hallway, he scooped up Tane and balanced him easily on one shoulder, then he leaped through and down into the street below. TSN mechs and infantry troops were already streaming in from both sides of the avenue, and Jed was forced to carry Tane across to the building immediately opposite. Jed deflected the energy nets that the troops fired at him from both flanks.

Meanwhile, Tane had a view of the kraals behind him as they vaulted down into the street to pursue; their big feet created small craters where they landed, and cracks spidered outward a short distance across the asphalt.

A TSN missile struck underneath one of them, and the kraal was sent flying into the air to land in a bloody heap. More missiles pounded the remaining kraals, so that soon they were lost in the dust and debris that filled the air. Tane occasionally saw gory body parts flung away from that mess.

The building door that Jed was heading toward abruptly exploded, hit by a missile.

Jed stumbled backward as the shockwave swept past, but stayed on his feet.

“Saves me from having to cut through the door myself,” Jed commented.

The warrior hurried through the remains of the doorway and into the building foyer. Then he lowered Tane to the carpeted floor. Tane had just completed the Fingers of Ruin work, and let the fiery globe of darkness float above him, where it would wait for release.

Jed wedged the Chrysalium sword underneath the energy net that bound Tane and slid the weapon upward, cutting through the binds.

Jed started suddenly. He had been careful not to place his back to the door the whole time, so he would have spotted any intruders immediately.

Tane threw out his Essence Sight lifeline and positioned his third-person perspective to the side.

A huge kraal had burst through the doorway just behind him. Its scales were covered in shrapnel and blood. Its sideways-oriented jaws were wide open, ready to crunch into Tane.

He released Fingers of Ruin immediately, slamming it into the creature’s throat.

The kraal halted, and wobbled slightly. A dark vein appeared along the outside of its long neck. That vein cracked open above the gills, spewing blood. Jed leaped over Tane and rammed his sword into the head to seal the deal. The kraal fell over.

Tane clambered to his feet and reactivated his energy shield.

“Nice one, Engineer,” Jed said, withdrawing his sword from the head and hurrying deeper into the foyer. “You were quicker on the draw than even me.”

“Sometimes I have to be,” Tane said, falling in just behind. He snapped his perspective back inside himself.

Tane was growing weary of holding both Essences, so he stepped out of the White and released the Dark, then secured the beam hilt to his waist. When he unequipped the hilt he felt the stamina drain instantly, but it wasn’t enough to do more than momentarily stagger him. He slid down the D18 from his shoulder and continued to follow Jed.

The building seemed to be a residential tower of some kind, because the foyer quickly ended in a hallway containing two elevators and two stairwells.

TSN shock troops were already dashing into the foyer behind them.

There was no time to take the elevator, so Jed and Tane dashed toward the nearest stairwell. Jed kicked open the door and Tane followed before it closed: there was just enough clearance for him to pass inside without his energy shield clipping the edges.

As the duo made their way up the zigzagging flights of stairs, Tane kept expecting troops to appear in front of them. Not via distortion tunnels, of course, because jump points had to be within line of sight: one couldn’t jump where one couldn’t see, unless of course a beacon stone had been placed. No, he worried that troops might have deployed on the rooftop and were making their way down to intercept.

“If you haven’t already, turn off data sharing with Sinive and Lyra,” Jed said. “And reduce your transmission range to five meters.”

Tane disabled data sharing with the pair as Jed asked. Just because Sinive and Lyra had stopped sharing data, didn’t mean that Tane wasn’t still broadcasting, after all.

But before he could reduce his transmission range, Nebb suddenly showed up on the overhead map. The Red Grizzly was airborne, just above the residential building. Trying to rescue them? Or participating in their capture?

Tane suspected the latter, given that a rescue attempt was essentially impossible with that TSN battle cruiser blotting the skies out there.

“The TSN never really let you go, did they?” Tane sent the smuggler.

“Kid, just surrender if you know what’s good for you,” Nebb replied over the comm.

Well, at least Nebb hadn’t tried to trick Tane into making his way to the rooftop for a rescue that would never happen.

Tane quickly decreased his range to five meters, and also disabled sharing with Nebb for good measure.

“I told you to turn down your transmission intensity,” Jed scolded.

“Done,” Tane said.

He heard a bang two flights below and knew the TSN forces had arrived. The heavy clomps of polycarbonate feet echoed from the walls, growing louder. The footfalls were so rapid that they sounded almost like a continuous tone.

At the top of the fourth flight, Jed allowed Tane to squeeze past and take the lead.

Tane continued upward. He heard shooting behind him. Glancing back, he saw Jed firing at robots that had clambered into view.

A grenade detonated. The stairwell clogged with smoke so that he could no longer see anything. He tripped and quickly clambered to his feet before his shield became too depleted from cushioning the fall.

“Switching to multi-echo LIDAR and echolocation,” Jed said.

A prompt appeared on Tane’s HUD.

Jed wants to share LIDAR and echolocation map data with you. Do you accept? Y/N.

Tane accepted and the blackness around him was replaced with white, three-dimensional wireframes representing the walls, ceiling, and flights of stairs. The robots, too, appeared to be made of polygonal meshes. Even though the vectors were computer-generated, they still seemed insubstantial in this universe.

Tane selected the auto “smart targeting” feature of the D18, and excluded Jed. Then he held the weapon behind him as he continued upwards and squeezed the trigger. The stock vibrated as the muzzle rotated independently to target the pursuers. A glance in his rear view mirror feed—which also showed wireframes—told him that he had downed three of them.

“Careful when you rely on smart targeting,” Jed said over the comm. “Especially when fighting the TSN. Masking can defeat it. You’re piggybacking on my LIDAR feed, so you’re fine for now. But keep that in mind in the future.”

“Noted,” Tane said, rushing up the stairs.

He emerged from the smoke and dismissed the LIDAR feed. Up ahead, a robot suddenly appeared. It fired an energy net at Tane.

It struck his shield.

This time, Tane didn’t attempt to do anything physically to remove the grid-like hemisphere that wrapped around his energy shield. Instead, he stepped into the White and formed an Essence Missile just as the shield failed. He released it, cutting through the net. The Missile continued onward, ripping into the stairs in front of him and carving away a nice chunk.

He swung his rifle forward and sure enough, the D18 didn’t fire, though it was on smart targeting mode, just like Jed had warned.

Shouldn’t have dismissed the LIDAR.

Tane quickly lined up the target and squeezed the trigger, but the robot leaped to the side. Another rifle appeared past the edge of the next flight of stairs ahead, and Tane leaped backward as an energy net emerged; the trap bounced harmlessly from the wall beside him.

“Back!” Jed said.

Tane grabbed one of the incendiary grenades he kept in his harness and tossed it toward the top of the stairs, then he backtracked with Jed. The grenade detonated above him and the steps shook.

The pair reentered the smoke area and the LIDAR kicked in.

They reached the previous landing between flights. Jed fired his pistol at the wireframes of two robots leading the next vanguard upstairs, while Tane deactivated his shield to kick open the door leading off that landing.

He entered the hallway beyond and reengaged his shield. Smoke drifted inside, but otherwise he could see everything around him. He kept Jed’s LIDAR feed active: it would remain online as long as he stayed within the reduced five-meter transmission range.

Tane stepped out of the Essence, as he was feeling close to exhaustion, and wanted to save that power for when he really needed it.

Jed followed behind him, slamming the door shut. He held a gloved hand to the surface for a moment.

“I’ve placed an Essence Trap,” Jed said, removing his glove. “It might take down a few of them. This way!”

Jed hurried past.

The hallway was lined with locked doors. Jed drew his sword and shattered one of them. He stepped inside, with Tane on his heels.

Tane heard an explosion behind him that told him the robots had detonated the trap.

Tane stood within some sort of single bedroom apartment. There was a kitchen in the foyer, and a family room beyond the countertop. Jed hurried to the balcony window on the far side of the family room.

A drone darted past outside that window, and Jed tried to duck, but it was too late: the drone doubled back and sounded an alarm.

Jed aimed at the drone and fired his pistol. The glass melted in his path and the plasma bolt impacted the drone, which promptly dropped from view.

Jed led Tane into the bedroom that adjoined the family room. There was a small window on the far side.

“Well, Engineer, I’ll make my stand here,” Jed closed the door, leaving it open a crack. He knelt and aimed his pistol through the opening into the main room. Without looking at Tane, he said: “Kick the mattress aside. Aim that rifle of yours at the floor. Escape to the room below. I’ll replaced the mattress once you’re gone and keep them occupied for as long as I can.”

“But—”

“No buts,” Jed said. “You have to escape. Everyone else is expendable. Including me. Now carve a hole in the floor with your rifle!”

Tane disabled his shield to kick the mattress. The blow knocked the bed at an angle to its frame, revealing the carpet underneath. He fired a full thirty-round burst from his rifle into the floor, cutting through the carpet and concrete to form a tiny hole leading to the room below. Not big enough to fit through. He’d have to wait twenty seconds before he could fire again.

Should have rotated the weapon as I fired.

Jed stood up and unleashed his pistol at the hole Tane had formed, rotating his weapon as he did so. He enlarged the gap just enough for Tane to squeeze through. “Now go!”

There wasn’t enough clearance for his shield, so Tane kept it deactivated; he took a quick peek into the hole and confirmed that the area below was clear, and then he slid his legs inside and squeezed his bulky suit through, dropping to the floor.

Above him, Jed slid the mattress into place.

As Tane left the room, he heard the firefight begin upstairs. Someone had launched a grenade. Two.

Tane tried not to imagine Jed fighting to the death for him. He told himself that they’d capture the warrior, because they weren’t sure whether it was Tane who was firing at them. But of course he couldn’t know just what the TSN would do.

This apartment had a similar layout to the one above, and he passed the family room to the kitchen and went to the front door. He tried to access the remote interface for the camera that was built into the outside of the door, but he couldn’t get anything, not in the Umbra. He’d just have to check what was out there the old-fashioned way.

Tane still had his shield deactivated, so he was able to open the door a crack and peer into the hallway outside.

He hadn’t been expecting them to be searching this floor already, but he spotted scepter combat robots moving from door to door. They were kicking them in to fan out inside the rooms. They were currently two doors down from his.

Thorough bastards.

Tane shut the door, laid his helmet against the wall beside it, and considered his options.

Across from him, he spotted a stealth drone lurking past the balcony outside. He had no doubts that it had spotted him, because it was hovering there with its external camera pointed directly at him.

Tane retrieved an incendiary grenade from his harness and opened the door. He tossed the grenade toward the robots, enabled his shield, and ran into the hall in the opposite direction.

The grenade detonated behind him.

Tane stepped into the Essence, wanting to be ready should he need it. He could feel the stellar wind gusting coldly over his bones, scraping and hollowing, and he knew he was nearing exhaustion. He reached the stairwell door on that side and disabled his shield to open it.

He dashed through.

Right into the arms of a waiting robot.

It fired its rifle at point blank range. An energy grid enveloped Tane. He tried to create an Essence Missile, but it failed.

He was about to try another Missile when the robot placed a knob with a pulsing red rim onto the top edge of his faceplate. The device attached via an unknown mechanism, and Tane suddenly felt immensely tired, far more-so than mere moments before. It was a bone-weariness similar to what he felt after wielding the Essence through a Chrysalium hull.

He instantly stepped out of the White Essence and slumped against his binds. He was too weak to reach for the Dark Essence, either.

He realized the knob was the same device Lyra had been trying to attach to him before Jed intervened on the steps leading from the grav tram. He didn’t think it actually interfered with either Essence per se, since he could still feel each of them just beyond the edges of perception, but the device simply made him too tired to Siphon either one.

The robot rapidly disarmed Tane, selectively deactivating and reactivating portions of the energy net to take his D18, beam hilt, storage pouch, and the remaining two grenades from his harness; once those items were in its possession, the robot placed them into a storage device that hung from its polycarbonate waist. It also removed his shield generator, and the miniaturized dark artifact. Tane tried to command the artifact to revert to its original size in a last bid to escape, but the relic ignored him—perhaps it realized the surroundings were too tight to fit its fully-expanded form. Or perhaps Tane’s Dark Artifact Control skill was so low that in order for the command to register, he had to be touching it. Or maybe his skill was too low, period, and like Essence Missile, his orders didn’t register every time. Whatever the case, the object was soon gone, consigned to the dark pit of the scepter’s storage device.

The combat robot unceremoniously hauled Tane over one shoulder, just as easily as Jed had.

Other scepters formed a tight circle around the first as it carried Tane down the stairwell.

He tried to tell himself that everything would be all right. That the TSN senior command just wanted to talk to him. But after seeing how the navy had so easily taken control of Nebb, Sinive, and Lyra, he knew that his freedom was at an end.

The robots were escorting him to his doom.

11

As the robot carried him down the stairs, Tane expanded his transmission range back to the default and Jed’s location immediately updated on the overhead map. The Volur was no longer in the same room. It looked like he was moving down the second stairwell.

“Jed, they got me,” Tane sent.

“They have me as well, Engineer,” Jed returned. His voice distorted slightly, but also sounded stiff, as if he were bound so tightly that breathing proved difficult. Either that, or injured. “I had hoped you made it.” He sighed. “Not even the Bender of Worlds is invincible.”

He wished everyone would stop calling him that. Especially now: he obviously wasn’t the Bender of Worlds. He was Tane Ganeth, nothing more.

He worried about Sinive, and what they would make her do against her will. He resolved then, in that building located in the heart of the Umbra, surrounded by enemies, that he would try to trade the freedom of his friends for the promise of his own loyalty and servitude.

They’d probably simply take his freedom regardless. He remembered Sinive’s face when she pointed her pistol at him. The tears before her voice hardened. She seemed completely aware of everything the TSN was doing to her, and she hated it.

Tane noticed a flashing icon in the lower right of his HUD. He enlarged the notification screen wearily and reviewed the stacked alerts that had appeared at different times during the flight from the enemy.

Level up. Beam Hilt Control is now Level 2. 20% more damage is inflicted with each blow. 15% more damage dealt with any launched Essence bolts.

Level up. Your overall level is now 7! Neural pathways have been enhanced and reinforced! You now have an attribute point to allocate.

Level up. Dark Siphoning is now Level 2. You may now master more complex Essenceworks. Works are created in 5% less time. Distractions also have less effect on your concentration during Essencework creation. You may now hold two Dark Essenceworks in reserve.

Level up. Fingers of Ruin is now Level 2. Two smears of unreality are now directed at your target, causing 25% more damage. Creation time is now 55 seconds, including bonus from Dark Siphoning level 2.

He was a bit surprised that Dark Siphoning had leveled already, considering he hadn’t really formed all that many Dark works. Then again, because Fingers of Ruin took sixty seconds to create, he could see why his overall Dark Siphoning had advanced: in the same time span, he could form sixty works of the White Essence with similar effort, though it would be far more taxing, as the White seemed to drain stamina faster. That told him his Dark works would probably level faster than the White. Too bad he didn’t really care at the moment, given his current predicament.

He put his bonus attribute point into Endurance, bringing his total to eighteen, or thirty with his beam hilt and rings equipped, but it didn’t reduce the weariness inflicted by the knob attached to his helmet.

In the street outside the skyscraper, several opaque geodesic domes had been pitched since the last time Tane had passed this way, and they formed a makeshift camp amid the blast craters the missiles had created. The skyscrapers lining the roadway blocked access to the camp from the north and south, while to the east and west, armored carriers and mechs were interspersed with the piled bodies of dead kraals to form provisional barricades. Missiles still exploded beyond the perimeter as lone kraals occasionally tested the defenses.

The robots carried Tane toward the largest geodesic dome, which was obviously the command center. Above, the TSN battle cruiser blotted out the sky, casting its continual shadow over a street already darkened by the deep blue of the Umbra. The edges of that ship seemed blurry, just like everything else, a testament to the fact it didn’t belong in this universe. The piles of kraals along the perimeters were the most substantial objects present, and they were all dead.

Tane wondered why the TSN didn’t simply load him into a shuttle, fly him directly to that ship overhead, and jump out of there. And then the answer hit him.

They were afraid of him. The TSN had seen what he had done in Anteres, when he had Siphoned a literal hurricane of stellar wind from the Lumina through the hull of one of their battle cruisers and wiped out an entire dweller fleet.

Yes, the TSN feared him. They wouldn’t be bringing him anywhere close to the Chrysalium hull of a starship until they were absolutely certain he was under their control.

He surveyed the sky one last time. Other than the battle cruiser, and the shuttles and smaller drones accompanying it, there was nothing else up there. The Red Grizzly had probably landed somewhere nearby now that Tane was captured.

The robot escorts led Tane into the main dome. Within, a large conference table dominated most of the free space. Men and women in spacesuits and battle armor sat around it. They were talking noiselessly behind their faceplates, and gesturing in the air in front of them, obviously viewing augmented reality displays visible only to their own eyes.

Without fail, they all paused what they were doing to watch Tane pass, their gazes following him from behind their faceplates.

Tane was glad when the long conference table was behind him. He felt like he was some sort of circus animal to these people.

The number of escorting robots increased then, and the scepter that held him shifted him downward, holding him against its hips so that Tane could no longer see past the screen the robot bodies formed.

As he approached the far wall of the geodesic dome, the robots parted slightly, revealing a kneeling figure. The scepter that held Tane lowered him next to that figure and forced him to his knees. It was Jed, Tane realized, also on his knees. A glowing energy net was tightly wrapped around the chest assembly of the Volur’s power armor, binding his hands to his sides exactly like Tane. He also had a stamina-draining knob attached to his helmet.

“Engineer,” Jed said over the private band.

“You have a plan, I hope?” Tane asked over the same channel.

“I was hoping you had one,” Jed replied.

“No talking!” a robotic voice came from beside him, the sound picked up by the external microphone of his helmet. So much for communicating over a private band. Then again, maybe the robot had simply read his lips.

Something kicked Tane in the back and he fell forward. His faceplate slammed into the asphalt—the geodesic dome didn’t have a proper floor. The glass pane chipped but otherwise wasn’t harmed. Beside him, Jed suffered a similar fate.

Tane was hauled back onto his knees, as was Jed.

In front of him, the screen of escorting robots moved aside, revealing a collapsible desk.

A man in glowing battle armor sat at the desk, while standing against the wall behind him were two more men, one in a spacesuit covered in a gray and blue digital pattern, the other in an armored robe that resembled the dress Lyra wore with its interlocking metal plates, though this particular robe had a hood faced by a pane of translucent glass, whereas hers required a spacesuit for protection from the void. The yellow halo of Essence enhancement surrounded the outfit, giving Tane the impression the man was a Volur.

Tane accessed their IDs in turn, starting with the seated man, then the individual in the spacesuit, and finally the suspected Volur.

Name: Chuck “The Mobilizer” Garag

Race: Human

Level: 14

Class: Lieutenant Colonel, 2nd Assault Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Thorran Marine Corps, Thorran Star Navy

Name: Nelson Gates

Race: Human

Level: 16

Class: Unknown

Name: Xescartes Salvordorus

Race: Human

Level: 19

Class: Unknown

“So the great World Bender has arrived,” the seated lieutenant colonel said via an external speaker. The rasping voice was at odds to the almost boyish face that looked out from beyond the glass pane of the helmet. It was obvious he was a big fan of rejuvenetics, though he had neglected to have his vocal cords treated.

“Please refrain from speaking, Lieutenant Colonel,” the man in the ordinary spacesuit, Nelson, said. He also used external speakers. He could have said the words to the lieutenant colonel on a private band, but Tane supposed openly berating the man served the dual purpose of showing Tane who was in charge.

The lieutenant commander folded his arm assemblies in front of his chest, but didn’t say a word more.

“I want to make a trade,” Tane told them, using his own external speakers. “Me, for my friends.” He alternated his gaze between Nelson and the suspected Volur Xescartes, unsure which of them was in charge.

But both men ignored him.

The scepter that had held Tane tossed a storage pouch onto the desk. “I’ve placed all the belongings from the prisoner into this storage pouch. Access is yours.”

Nelson stepped forward. He reached into the bag, removed the dark artifact, and held the apple-sized object in front of his faceplate. While he did that, Tane took a moment to study the man. Though his face seemed blurry in the Umbra, Tane was able to discern his aspect behind the faceplate well enough: Nelson had bony features and weathered skin. A broken nose that had healed improperly. Short, salt and pepper hair. A thick brow. Eyes that were both cunning and cruel. Altogether, Tane sensed this was a man who was used to having his orders obeyed.

“Interesting,” Nelson said. “That the knowledge you have now inside your head was given to you by such a tiny object. It’s not so different from nanotech, is it?”

“I want to make a trade,” Tane repeated, louder. “Me, for my friends.”

Nelson smiled wolfishly behind his faceplate. “But you are already ours.” He set down the artifact on the desk; Xescartes promptly stepped forward and picked up the relic to examine for himself.

Nelson walked up to Tane, and observed the dark filaments that looped away from the joints of Tane’s spacesuit before traveling into the ground below. “Interesting.”

Nelson stepped back as another robot wheeled into view. This one looked like a giant, vertically-oriented ladybug set atop a trolley, with its limbs currently retracted and clutched together. A surgical robot of some kind.

“Shall I apply the nanotech?” the robot asked sweetly. It was a voice that was supposed to make patients feel calm. Tane would have been experiencing the exact opposite right then if he weren’t in the Umbra.

“Some privacy, first,” Nelson said.

An opaque field activated behind Tane, blocking off the view of the rest of the geodesic dome.

“That’s better,” Nelson said. He inclined his head toward the robot. “Apply the nanotech.”

“What nanotech?” Tane said. “What are you going to do to me?”

But he already knew.

“Whatever happens, Engineer,” Jed said over the comm, “remember always who you are, and what you stand for. Remember—”

The Volur was cut off when one of the scepters slammed him into the asphalt.

Still kneeling, Tane tried to stand up, but he felt two heavy weights pressing down on either shoulder: another scepter, no doubt.

The surgical robot latched onto Tane’s faceplate, so that all he saw was that crenelated underside. Two tubes telescoped toward his eyes and then his vision filled with white. He knew it was performing a brain scan. Perhaps backing up his engram imprint, in case whatever procedure they had planned failed.

The white light disappeared, leaving a fading afterimage, and the tubes retracted.

The robot pulled away, repositioning so that the main body was above his right hand—his glove was exposed at his hip, just underneath the energy net that bound him. As the afterimage receded, Tane watched those gangly limbs open the top fabric of his glove and swap out the vial the suit utilized to inject accelerant into his body with another small glass container.

“What—”

He felt the sudden sting at the back of his hand as the sonic injector in the glove activated.

Tane had already felt weary to the bone before, thanks to the glowing knob attached to this helmet, but now he felt positively dead. He thought he was going to black out at any moment. He couldn’t keep his head upright and slumped against the inner pane of his faceplate. If the scepters hadn’t been holding onto him he would have probably toppled right over.

He was vaguely aware as the surgical robot resealed the top of his glove.

“Thank you,” Nelson said. “Scepters, you are dismissed.”

Someone—Nelson?—grabbed Tane when the robots released him and slowly lowered him to the asphalt. Tane found himself staring into Jed’s helmet. The man was still lying on the asphalt, unable to get up because of the net that bound him. Tane could make out the concern on the Volur’s face. Phosphenes fired randomly over Tane’s vision, occasionally obscuring Jed’s features however.

“Fight it, Engineer,” Jed said.

But how could Tane fight that which was already inside him?

Nelson knelt beside him.

Tane received a communication request from the man. He simply stared at the request on his HUD for several moments, and then finally accepted it.

“The nanotech will take some time to set in your brain,” Nelson transmitted. “The robot can’t scan your mind again until it does, otherwise the scan could interfere with the chip creation process. So we will simply have to wait. You’ll feel groggy for the next minute or so, but it should pass.”

Tane tried to answer, but all that came out of his mouth were a few slurred, incomprehensible words.

“You’ve read our profiles, you know our names,” Nelson said. “I’m Nelson Gates. Lieutenant Colonel Garag sits at the desk. And behind him is Xescartes. A Volur. I will attempt to answer the burning questions that are running through your mind right now, groggy as it is. This is my gift to you: a way of offsetting the panic that is no doubt taking root inside your core.”

Of course Nelson wouldn’t know that Tane felt no panic of any kind, nor any fear. Tane had told no one of the subduing effects the Umbra had on his emotions. Still, he was happy to let the man blab. Not that Tane could stop him in his current state anyway.

“The Volur woman, the smuggler, and his jump specialist, they were all in on your capture,” Nelson continued. “Did you really think we’d actually release the only people who knew how to get to you? All of them were firmly in our control since their capture at the Anteres Rift, thanks to nanotech we injected. After she was converted, the Volur Lyra told us everything, including the beacon stone she’d given you. Some in senior command argued that we should send a warship to collect you immediately, but others said we should watch you instead: they were worried our controlling nanotech would damage your precious brain. You see, with this particular brand of nanotech, there is a chance of neural scarring. Mind you, the fear wasn’t so much you’d lose a few skills or fine motor control, but rather your ability to Siphon the Dark entirely. So you can understand the reluctance of some.

“So we decided to watch, at first. We had ships ready to dispatch immediately if any dangers arose, such as the dwellers showing up, so your retrieval wasn’t an issue. We had hidden our chipping from Lyra, Sinive and Nebb, and allowed them control of their bodies and personalities: our commands were buried deep within their subconscious minds, so neither you nor they themselves would suspect anything was amiss.

“When you came to this moon, endangering yourself by landing on a world populated with oversized kraals, senior command decided to pull the plug. I told them to wait. I told them you had taken down an entire fleet with your mind. That you could easily handle a few kraals. And that we might be able to manipulate you from afar via the puppets we had created. They didn’t listen. You see, it wasn’t just the kraals that worried them. The true deciding factor was the dark artifacts. They feared that by interfacing with these devices, you would become too powerful, and eventually rise beyond even our reach.

“Because you were obviously planning on visiting all of those artifacts, senior command felt it was beyond time to put you firmly in our grasp. They deemed the risks to your brain acceptable. If you lost your ability to Siphon the Dark, well, then at least no one else would ever have it either. Not the aliens. Not the Volur.

“How did we know you had gone to Sigma 231, you might ask? Good question. We arranged for Lyra to keep in touch with us at all times. She placed a certain holographic stick in the specially designed storage pouch we gave her. You see, ordinary storage pouches contain slots that open into random places in the Umbra. However, hers was designed by our Engineers to share a slot with another storage device of ours, so that both could access the same pocket of the Umbra. On our end, we periodically checked the slot until we found the holographic stick sitting inside, and her message contained therein. We returned any instructions as needed in the same manner.

“Perhaps my words have failed to calm the panic that has no doubt taken root inside of you, and perhaps even fanned the flames of said panic, but hopefully I’ve answered at least some of the questions you might have, so that you don’t remain completely oblivious. I tell you all of this as a courtesy, from one man to another, perhaps the last courtesy you will ever have, as you will spend the rest of your days locked inside your head, capable of independent thought but incapable of acting on it, a mere observer trapped in your own body. You will obey every instruction of the Paramount Leader, of whom I am but an agent. After I hand you over, no one else will ever give you the courtesy of an explanation ever again. Most probably won’t even treat you as a human being, but purely as the weapon that you are. I’m sorry that this had to be your introduction to the TSN, but it’s the way of things. We’re usually better than this. Usually. But not today. Welcome to the Thorran Star Navy.”

Tane was still staring into Jed’s helmet; the Volur seemed overcome by a mixture of pity, and a profound sadness. Nelson had obviously shared the communication channel with him as well.

The military man stepped away. “Scan him,” he told someone outside Tane’s view.

The sense that Tane was going to black out had mostly subsided by then, and he had gone from feeling almost dead back to bone-weary. Phosphenes had also stopped randomly marring his vision.

Strong arms rotated him so that he was lying on his back and staring at the ceiling of the geodesic dome.

The ladybug portion of the surgical robot attached to his helmet, and a pair of binoculars telescoped over his eyes. The familiar bright white filled his vision.

A moment later the brightness subsided, leaving yet another afterimage.

“The nanotech has successfully taken,” the surgical robot replied melodiously over the comm channel. “The new chip has formed in the primary motor cortex, and has successfully branched out into the adjacent neural tissue. There has been no scarring. The subject’s brain remains completely intact. His original chip also survived the process.”

“Excellent,” Nelson said. “Now get out of my way.”

The crenelated underside retreated so that Tane was staring at the ceiling once more. The afterimage from the scan continued to float in front of him.

Nelson’s face came into view as the man knelt beside him. Tane felt an incredible urge to please him.

No. I’m not going to do what he tells me. I’m not!

“What is your name?” Nelson asked.

“Tane Ganeth,” Tane replied immediately. That wasn’t me.

“And who is your master?” Nelson said.

I’m my own master. “You are,” Tane heard himself saying.

Nelson grinned slightly behind his faceplate. “Why?”

“You speak, I obey,” Tane said.

Nelson nodded. “Very good.”

Tane felt a glow inside him at the man’s positive words. No doubt the new chip was messing with his dopamine reward system. Never a good thing.

Nelson removed an energy dagger and cut away the net that bound Tane.

Now that he was free of his binds, Tane wanted to reach up and rip that stamina-draining knob from his helmet, but his body refused to cooperate. He simply couldn’t move.

“Stand,” Nelson said, doing so himself.

Finally Tane’s body obeyed, and he set down his gloved hands on the asphalt and hauled himself to his feet.

The one named Xescartes stepped forward. He was still holding the dark artifact in a gloved hand. He spoke over the same comm channel. “We have to test that the new chip is functioning properly before proceeding further.”

Tane took a moment to observe the face behind the translucent pane of Xescartes’ hood. Youthful. A button nose. Long silver hair. Tane would have almost thought him a woman were it not for the all-too-thin lips, and that deep voice.

“He answered the questions as expected,” Nelson said.

“Yes, but it’s possible someone told him how to answer.” Xescartes gave Jed an implicating glance.

“Boundary condition test?” Nelson asked.

“It would seem appropriate,” Xescartes answered. Still holding the miniaturized artifact, the Volur reached inside the storage pouch at his belt with his free hand, and removed a long scepter similar to the one Lyra possessed. It was obviously Chrysalium.

Nelson shrugged, then turned back to Tane. The man was caressing a small metal device attached to his hip with a gloved thumb. It looked like it could be... a lighter?

“You will not Siphon either Essence unless I give you permission to do so, is that understood?” Nelson asked him.

“Yes,” Tane said.

Nelson glanced at the Volur, who shifted his grip on the Chrysalium scepter.

Nelson removed the knob from Tane’s helmet.

Tane felt stronger immediately, though still weak from the previous Siphoning he had done. Still, without that knob, he was certain he could step into the Essence. And he was convinced he could override Nelson’s order not to.

He tried, but couldn’t step into the stellar wind. It was completely blocked to him. Apparently the tendrils from the new control chip extended not just throughout his motor cortex, but also that part of his mind responsible for Siphoning.

No.

Nelson deposited the knob on the desk and then returned to Tane’s side.

“Bring her in,” Nelson said.

Escorted by scepters, Sinive was led inside. Dressed in her spacesuit, she stood there like a zombie, her eyes glazed over behind her faceplate. No doubt Tane looked similar.

Nelson handed Tane a pistol and nodded toward Sinive. “Kill her.”

12

Tane instantly raised the weapon and pointed it at Sinive. The trigger guard expanded to fit his gloves, and he easily wrapped his index finger around the trigger.

From the ten-centimeter proximity of the robots standing on either side of Sinive, he knew her shield generator was offline. He knew that when he fired at this close range, the resultant plasma impact would eat through the relatively weak armor of her spacesuit and into the flesh underneath. She would die.

Those thoughts seemed distant as he aimed the weapon at his emotionless friend, and yet somehow he managed to resist squeezing the trigger.

Tane’s hand shook. He wanted to please Nelson. He really did.

No I don’t.

He couldn’t harm Sinive.

He started to lower the pistol.

“Kill her,” Nelson repeated.

Tane once more raised the weapon and aimed it at her center of mass. His hand shook even more forcefully this time, and for a moment Tane thought he was going to be triumphant. But then the trembling began to subside, as if the control chip inside of him was fine-tuning, adjusting to this last bit of resistance.

A boundary condition test, Nelson and Xescartes had called this. Killing a close friend was an extreme test of loyalty—a boundary condition. Having the chip adjust now for any resistance he might offer these “boundary conditions” ensured that Tane would obey any and all commands going forward, his own feelings and morals be damned.

His hand stopped shaking. The chip had won. His finger closed a millimeter.

He was going to squeeze the trigger entirely this time and kill Sinive.

He frantically attempted to step into the White Essence once more. And like the last time, it was blocked from him. Try as he might, he couldn’t force himself past: it was like trying to step through Chrysalium to the stellar wind, and instead finding himself embedded inside only more Chrysalium.

His finger closed another millimeter.

Frantically, he tried reaching for the Dark Essence instead, and was surprised when the raging conflagration actually shot through him. It burned his being, and he almost succumbed to the multitude of fires that erupted around him. He quickly doused the flames in that fight for his life that was Dark Siphoning.

Nelson’s command to him had blocked the White, but not the Dark. He guessed it was because the TSN had no actual human subjects to test the controlling nanotech on. They had been so worried about damaging his brain and burning the ability out of him that they had missed it entirely.

And now he had a way out.

He still couldn’t control his body, but he directed his mind to create the Dark Essence timeline that would form the work he desired. He just had to resist squeezing the trigger until then.

Unfortunately, his index finger moved by another millimeter. There were maybe one or two more such increments left before the metal contacts of the trigger element touched the receiver, completing the circuit and firing the weapon.

Thankfully Jed intervened.

The Volur warrior spun on the ground, issuing a sweep kick that knocked Tane off his feet.

Tane squeezed the trigger before he hit the ground. After he slammed into the asphalt, he opened his eyes and saw Sinive still on her feet. One of the robots beside her had collapsed into a pile of metal: its midsection smoked where Tane’s plasma bolt had struck.

How Jed had been able to find the energy to kick him like that with the stamina-draining knob still attached to his helmet, Tane didn’t know, but he was thankful either way. Despite his fall, Tane managed to continue creating the Dark Essencework, no doubt partially thanks to his level two skill in Dark Siphoning.

“Annoying,” Nelson said. “We’ll have him kill you, next, Volur. Stand, World Bender, and complete your task.”

Tane stood, and Jed fell into his line of sight while he got up. Tane had been wondering why Jed hadn’t done anything else, but the question was answered when he saw the man: Jed was frozen in place, no doubt thanks to Xescartes.

Tane continued the Dark timeline as his hand moved of its own accord and aimed at Sinive once more. He resisted, but this time his arm didn’t even bother to shake. His index finger squeezed...

Tane completed the Dark work and released it immediately.

A dark sphere exploded outward from him to a diameter of three meters as Melt Metal took effect. He quickly excluded the metallic components of his spacesuit, but not the pistol. The sphere vanished and the weapon in his hand immediately liquefied; he felt the spike in heat through his gloves and managed to release the remains of the pistol before it could burn through his suit—apparently reflexes still overrode the control chip.

The pistol holstered to Nelson’s waist also melted away, as did the lighter-like device the man had been petting.

With that device gone, it felt like a weight had been lifted from Tane. He had control of his body back again.

Tane deemed Xescartes the greatest threat at the moment, so he released two Essence Missiles in rapid succession at the Volur and dashed toward the man at the same time. Sinive meanwhile ripped away the pistol from the robot beside her, and she opened fire first at the robot, and then at the lieutenant colonel and Nelson, both of whom ducked behind the collapsible desk just in time.

Tane’s Essence Missiles struck Xescartes, and the surprised Volur dropped the dark artifact. The man’s armor absorbed both blows, however. Tane was too far to reach him in time: invisible bonds formed around Tane’s body, and he was trapped the same way Jed was. Sinive, too, also froze. Xescartes went to her and took the pistol away with the hand that had dropped the artifact, and aimed the weapon at Tane.

“Intriguing,” Xescartes said, stepping toward Tane. The ferrule of his Chrysalium scepter clanked upon the asphalt with each step. “If you had been a little faster, you could have had me.”

Though his body was restrained by those invisible bonds, Tane was still able to launch another Essence Missile. This time Xescartes was ready and easily Deflected the work before it reached him.

But Xescartes’ actions and words were evidently intended as a distraction, because a hand appeared outside his helmet, and a familiar, stamina-draining knob attached to his helmet.

Tane felt the incredible weariness immediately and lost access to both Essences.

Nelson stepped into view. “Well that was a close one.”

“Crap,” the lieutenant colonel said, standing from where he had hidden behind the desk. “You two sure like to play with fire. How the hell did he break free of your controller?”

Nelson pointed to the spot on his hips where the small lighter-shaped device had melted away. “This is how.”

“Sure, but how did he melt away your controller in the first place?” the lieutenant colonel said. “I thought the chip was supposed to prevent him from using the Essence?’

“He used a work of the Dark,” Xescartes said. “Obviously the control chip doesn’t have the ability suppress Dark Siphoning. Which isn’t surprising, considering we had no actual test subjects for the technology. We’ll have to tweak the models and apply fresh nanotech now that we have an actual brain to work with. In the meantime, he is to wear the Restrainer at all times.”

Xescartes stepped back, but just then a broad distortion tunnel formed directly behind him. He must have noticed Nelson staring in shock past the Volur, because Xescartes started to turn around, but then several dark smears slammed into his armored robe, staggering him. Black cracks appeared all along the armor’s exterior.

At the same time a tentacle shot out from the distortion tunnel, slamming Xescartes into the wall of the geodesic dome behind the desk. The man struck hard and slid to the asphalt floor, the scepter slipping from his grasp. He didn’t get up.

Tane was free the instant those cracks formed in his captor’s armor.

Nelson dove for cover behind the desk as a dweller without a protective suit emerged from the distortion tunnel. It unleashed the dark smears of Fingers of Ruin at the lieutenant colonel, who had been too slow to take cover, and his armor split open as cracks formed. The darkness penetrated through to the flesh underneath, and he screamed as black veins shot up his face.

Two of the dweller’s smaller tentacles shot out, one scooping up the storage pouch on the desk, the other the dark artifact Xescartes had dropped on the asphalt. A pair of larger tentacles shot toward Tane at the same time. He dodged to the side and reached up, intending to remove the Restrainer attached to his helmet, but the fingers on the tip of one tentacle grasped his hand before he could touch it, while the other wrapped around his chest. A third tentacle took Jed, so that both Tane and the Volur warrior were hoisted into the air.

Tane couldn’t use either Essence, not with that damn knob still attached to his head. And there was no way to remove it with both arms restrained by the tentacles.

The alien retreated, crab-walking through the tear in the fabric of reality.

“Sinive!” Tane said via his external speakers.

But the dweller had already made the jump, and the distortion tunnel closed behind Tane as the words left his lips.

Sinive…

Tane was expecting to find himself surrounded by dwellers, but there were none. Instead, the alien had carried Tane and Jed into an empty underground concourse of some kind. Glow panels in the ceiling provided illumination. The blurry outlines of concrete passageways led away from the far left and right sides of the open area, and connected to some sort of underground pedway system.

There were piles of refuse nearby. The area would have reset after the dweller left it, so those piles would’ve had to exist in Tane’s universe as well.

There was also a Dirac floating nearby, the size of a human head. Tane recognized the food source of the kraals immediately, because the dark, pulsating crystal seemed to call out to him.

Tane understood what had happened immediately. The dweller who held him had to be—

Something struck the alien from the side.

The dweller shifted its legs, swiveling its carapace toward the attacker, and rotating Tane and Jed along with it. Tane spotted a human in a spacesuit below.

The individual leaped at the dweller again, grabbing onto one of its spindly legs. The human carried a small energy dagger, and promptly stabbed it into the leg.

“Let go of him!” cried a female voice over external speakers.

“Sinive!” Tane said. “Stop. It’s G’allanthamas!”

A tentacle shot out and wrapped around the spacesuit, plucking Sinive away. The dweller pulled her toward those sideways-oriented jaws, as if to study her.

Or devour her.

Sinive struggled in the alien’s grasp.

“Let her go, G’allanthamas…” Tane warned.

The dweller didn’t respond. Tane began to wonder if he had really guessed the alien’s identity correctly. He tried to ID the dweller and got the usual unknown race, level and class.

He was about to give the order again when the dweller extended the tentacle and dropped Sinive, rather roughly, to the floor.

“She is a feisty one, isn’t she?” came a voice from the speech synthesizer attached to the base of the dweller’s head.

Even though Tane was used to the way sound double-octaved here, he still had some trouble understanding the words, considering that each one came from a different human speaker.

With a free tentacle, G’allanthamas reached into a storage pouch hanging just underneath his sideways-jawed head and retrieved some sort of waxy substance. He applied it like a salve to his leg wound.

Meanwhile, Sinive dusted off her spacesuit in a huff. “Don’t touch me again, Dweller.”

“You are the one who touched me first, Human,” G’allanthamas replied. “You stabbed me. I don’t take kindly to individuals stabbing me. Human or otherwise.”

“That’s because you were trying to snatch away my friends,” Sinive said.

“Hardly,” the alien said. “Rescuing them is the proper term.”

“They’re like two bickering children,” Jed said from where he hung beside Tane.

“You haven’t changed one bit,” Tane told the dweller. He still felt a keen sense of kinship to the alien, thanks to the memories. Tiberius had known G’allanthamas for many years. They had been on several adventures together in the Umbra, although Tane couldn’t quite remember exactly what those outings involved.

“I have changed,” G’allanthamas insisted.

“Well, either way, uh, Gall old pal, can you let us down?” Tane said.

G’allanthamas gently lowered Tane and retracted the tentacles. As for Jed, the dweller simply opened the flexible limb and let the Volur fall to the concrete floor. Still bound by the energy net, Jed hit with a loud clang.

“Um, thanks,” Jed said.

Tane removed the Restrainer from the top of his faceplate and felt better immediately. The device might prove useful if he needed to disable an Essence-wielding foe at some point in the future. He went to Jed, and likewise removed the stamina-draining knob from his helmet.

“Can you free yourself?” Tane asked as he secured the two Restrainers to loops in his harness by tightening the fabric around each of them. He didn’t have any weapons at the moment.

“Unfortunately, no,” Jed said. “My Deactivate level isn’t high enough.”

“I got this.” Sinive came forward.

Tane saw that she still wore a storage pouch at her waist. That must be where she had retrieved the energy dagger she now carried. She used the blade to cut through the net, and then sure enough returned the item to her pouch, since it wouldn’t fit the pistol holster at her hips.

Jed stood, flexing his arms a moment. Then he glanced at Tane. “I want you both to drop the intensity of your transmitters. Set the max broadcast range to five meters.”

“Done,” Tane said.

“It’s done,” Sinive said.

“Did the TSN leave you with all your items?” Tane asked Sinive.

“Nope,” Sinive replied. “They left me that dagger, my clothes collection, and not much else. No other weapons.”

“That’s why you jumped at Gall instead of shooting him,” Tane mused.

“Oh, so she was planning on shooting me too!” G’allanthamas said. “What wonderful friends you keep!”

“You’re sure there aren’t any unwanted items in that storage pouch of yours?” Jed asked Sinive.

Her eyes defocused. “No. Everything else is as it should be, even in my nested pouches. Just no weapons.”

Jed held out a hand. “Let me have a look.”

Sinive shrugged. She unfastened her pouch and tossed it to the Volur. “I’ve turned off the security features. Not just for the main pouch, but for the pouches nested inside. Have a blast.”

Jed’s eyes defocused as he accessed the remote interface. He reached inside and removed a female-shaped chest plate. He examined it for a moment and then, apparently satisfied that it was harmless, he replaced it. He sealed the pouch a moment later and tossed it back to Sinive.

“She’s clean,” Jed said.

Tane turned toward the dweller that loomed behind them. He glanced at the pouch and artifact the creature still held in different tentacles. “Can we have our items back?”

The dweller tossed Tane the pouch, and then extended the miniaturized dark artifact. Tane held his hand underneath expectedly.

G’allanthamas hesitated, then finally lowered the apple-sized object into Tane’s hand.

Tane secured the artifact to another spare loop in his harness, and then tossed the sack to Jed. “This was the robot’s storage device. Is your Deactivate level high enough to disarm the trap?” All storage devices contained traps that activated whenever anyone other than the designated owner opened them. The trap hadn’t sprung when Nelson opened it because the robot had granted the navy man access.

Jed examined the pouch, and by way of answer, he loosened the drawstrings and reached inside. He removed another pouch.

“This would be mine.” He set the pouch on the ground in front of him. He reached inside the robot’s storage device and retrieved another pouch. “And this, yours.”

Tane accepted the offered item and secured it to his utility belt. Jed also removed the D18, beam hilt, two grenades, and shield generator. Tane slid the D18 over his shoulder, and secured the remaining items to his utility belt and harness. He activated his energy shield.

Jed also removed his Chrysalium sword from the device, and his Essence-imbued pistol, and holstered each of them. Then he stowed the robot’s pouch inside his own.

“What else is inside?” Tane asked.

“Just a few trinkets,” Jed replied.

“Do you have a spare pistol for Sinive?” Tane pressed.

Jed hesitated. “Are you sure it’s wise to give her one, Engineer? Considering what she did up there?”

“She’s back to herself,” Tane said. “Just like me. Look at her.”

“No, maybe Jed is right,” Sinive said. “I can’t be trusted with a pistol.”

“I won’t be allowing one of my good friends to travel unarmed in the Umbra,” Tane said.

She shrugged inside her suit. “I’m not unarmed. I have an energy dagger.”

“Ha,” Tane said. “That’s useless against a kraal. Or dweller.” He turned toward the Volur. “She tried to tackle the dweller. And she set you free. It’s obvious she’s herself again. We can trust her. We’re going to need all the pistols we can get in the coming hours, I suspect.”

“As you wish, World Bender. Against my better judgment...” Jed grabbed a pistol from his pouch and tossed it to Sinive. “One of mine.”

The weapon caused a small convex section of blue energy to flash into existence half a meter from her body and the item bounced away. Sinive had obviously activated her shield, like Tane.

“Thanks for reducing my shield strength.” She must have deactivated the aforementioned shield because she knelt to pick up the weapon.

Tane watched nervously as she held the pistol to eye level and studied it. He knew Jed was doing the same.

Finally she holstered the weapon.

“Thank you,” Sinive said. “I can keep it?”

“Consider it a loan with an indefinite period.” Jed secured his storage pouch to his belt. He kept his gaze on her the whole time.

Tane wasn’t sure how to feel about her. He was in control of his faculties, but was she truly in control, too?

Now that he had his pouch back, Tane decided to stow the dark artifact and one of the Restrainer knobs inside. Each used up a separate inventory slot. He kept one of the Restrainers secured to his harness for easy access in case of need. He ran a quick ID on the device.

Item: Restrainer.

Item type: Rare.

Effects: When attached to the forehead or faceplate armor of a White Essenceworker, it generates a fatigue field that prevents said individual from Siphoning. It works best when the subject is restrained, for example via an energy net, because otherwise the individual can simply reach up and remove the Restrainer, negating the effects.

“They’ll be searching for us,” G’allanthamas said. “We can’t stay here.”

“You figured that out only now, Dweller?” Sinive said. “You’re pretty smart.”

“If you ever want her killed, please let me know,” G’allanthamas told Tane. “I’d be happy to do the deed.”

Sinive glanced at Tane. “And the same goes for me.”

“Like I said, children,” Jed commented.

“There will be no killing,” Tane said. He eyed Sinive and the dweller sternly. “You’re both my friends. And you’ll both behave.”

Sinive rolled her eyes. “I don’t need some Outrimmer telling me how to behave, especially not now while I’m still recovering from having my mind taken over. If you were the World Bender, maybe I’d listen, but you’re not, so…” She sauntered off toward a side passageway.

“Sinive wait,” Tane said. “Enable sharing, and send me a call so we can communicate without using our external speakers.” He couldn’t send a call until she turned on sharing.

She waved in annoyance, as if trying to swat a buzzing fly from her ear.

With a sigh he turned away. But a moment later Tane received a share request from her and accepted. Her indicator turned blue on the overhead map. She called a moment later, and he routed it to the shared comm channel.

She quickly moved past the five-meter range of their current broadcast settings and dropped offline.

Jed stepped toward her. “Where are you going?” He said via his external speakers.

“Out of here, hopefully,” Sinive replied over her shoulder.

“We shouldn’t let her out of our reduced comm range, Engineer,” Jed said over the comm.

“If she tries to send a transmission to the TSN, will you pick it up?” Tane asked.

“I will,” Jed replied.

“Let her have her space, then,” Tane said. “If she tries to broadcast, we’ll deal with it.”

Jed seemed about to contest him, but the Volur nodded behind his faceplate. He kept a wary eye on Sinive, however.

“Gall, are you able to interface with our chips or postal nodes?” Tane asked via the external speakers.

“I’ve got some tech from Tiberius installed in my synthesizer, yes,” G’allanthamas said. “Just send me a request.”

“I’ll get him set up,” Jed said.

The dweller’s red indicator turned blue on the overhead map, and a call from G’allanthamas (ID: 00000000000) appeared on Tane’s HUD. He added the alien to his contact list, and then looped him into the shared comm band like he had just done for Sinive.

“Can you hear me?” the alien’s voice came over the comm. Each word still seemed sourced from a different speaker.

“Got you,” Tane said. “Now, before we go...”

Tane glanced at the nearby Dirac and felt that familiar, almost all-consuming longing.

Yes, I can’t feel fear here in the Umbra, but I can feel desire.

He definitely couldn’t leave the Dirac behind. Especially considering how much he could get for selling the crystal back in his own universe.

But he decided he didn’t want to be the one to carry it this time, considering how hard it had been to divest himself of the last one.

“Jed, you might as well grab that, too.” Tane nodded toward the Dirac.

“No!” G’allanthamas raced to the crystal and wrapped a protective tentacle around it. “My food.”

Tane glanced at the dweller in confusion. “I thought only kraals ate them?”

“Dwellers, too.” G’allanthamas dropped the crystal into the storage pouch that hung underneath his sideways-jawed head, and Tane experienced a sense of loss.

Tane shook the feeling away. “Then why did you leave it out in the open, if it’s so valuable? With those big kraals lurking out there.”

“Tastes better when you let it age in the air,” the alien explained. “And besides, kraals don’t come here. They learned long ago that they’ll find only death here.”

“I seem to recall a Convert Kraal work of the Dark,” Tane said. “That converts kraals into Diracs. Is that where you got it from?”

“You always were very good at putting two and two together, Doomwielder,” G’allanthamas said.

Thanks to Tane’s vague memories, he realized that was what G’allanthamas had called Tiberius as well.

Doomwielder.

The dweller headed toward the passageway on the far side of the concourse, opposite the egress where Sinive now loitered. Tane checked his map, but his chip didn’t have enough data to extrapolate his overall location within the city. There was no digital signage to identify where he was either, nor any positioning satellites to link to, and his map set didn’t include the pedway system underneath Durahepte. He would have to trust that G’allanthamas was leading them to safety, and not into some dweller trap. He supposed that if the dweller really wanted to make them prisoners the alien would have done so already. At this point Tane was more worried about Sinive betraying him than the dweller, anyway.

Speaking of Sinive…

“Did you detect any transmissions from Sinive?” Tane asked Jed over the comm.

“None,” Jed replied.

Tane turned toward Sinive, who was looking at him, and he gave her a come-hither wave. In response she only repeated the gesture, as if to imply that he was the one who should be following her.

He momentarily increased his broadcast range to its default setting, and on his HUD she slid back into the online column.

“Hey Sinive,” Tane said over the comm. “You’re going the wrong way.”

“No, you’re going the wrong way,” Sinive replied. “Following that dweller.”

“Sinive, he saved us,” Tane said. “I know him. Or Tiberius did. We can trust him.”

“Really...” Sinive said. “Tiberius knew him a thousand years ago. You’re certain his loyalties haven’t changed since then? You remember what happened on Remus, don’t you? Two groups of dwellers were fighting over us. One wanted to capture and enslave us. The other, kill us outright. Which faction do you think this alien belongs to?”

“Neither,” Tane said. “Isn’t that right, Gall?”

The alien didn’t answer.

“See?” Sinive said.

“Fine, go that way then,” Tane said, turning his back on her. “And we’ll go this way.” He was bluffing, of course. He wouldn’t really leave her.

He kept an eye on his overhead map as he walked toward G’allanthamas, and was relieved when Sinive’s dot hurried toward him. When she was close enough, he dropped the broadcast range of his gear back down to five meters.

Sinive assumed a position behind Tane, so that Jed brought up the rear. The warrior obviously wanted to keep an eye on Sinive, not to mention the dweller.

“Stay in front of me, Outrimmer,” Sinive said. “I want someone separating me from the dweller at all times. I might accidentally hurt the ugly creature, otherwise.”

“I prefer that the hideous human remain separated from me as well,” G’allanthamas said. “Also for her own safety. Sometimes, my tentacles strike out of their own accord, and I might accidentally throw her into a wall.”

Tane shook his head inside his helmet.

This is going to be a long day.

“Both of you are going to walk in front of me,” Tane said. “You’re just going to have to get used to each other’s proximity.”

“Hideous!” G’allanthamas said. But he offered no further complaint as Sinive moved in behind him, while Tane and Jed followed.

The dweller led them inside the concrete passageway, proceeding into the underground pedway system that wound underneath the city.

Overhead light panels illuminated large bones strewn across the floor, some leaning against the walls. They were tinted blue thanks to the Umbra, and had well-defined edges, like the dweller. The largest seemed to be a thigh bone of some kind, about as big as a human body. Judging from the shape, these definitely weren’t dweller body parts, and belonged to the big kraals Tane had seen on the surface.

“Uh, where are we going, exactly?” Sinive said.

The alien didn’t reply.

G’allanthamas slowed down, meticulously lifting his eight legs to step over the bones, apparently not wanting to touch any of them.

“This is your doing, Gall?” Tane asked.

“Like I told you,” the dweller replied. “The kraals learned long ago not to set foot in this place.”

“I’m surprised they decay like this,” Tane said. “I guess I wasn’t sure what happened when a kraal died in the Umbra. I thought they might turn into Diracs or something.”

“Of course they decay, Engineer,” Jed said. “You forget, the environment teems with microcrillia.”

“Well these kraals must have certainly been dead a long time then,” Tane said. “Unless Gall stripped the meat from their bones.”

“I did no such thing,” G’allanthamas said. “But yes, it has been a long time.”

“By the way, how did you do that back there?” Tane asked.

“Do what?” the alien replied.

“You created a distortion tunnel beyond line of sight...”

“The artifact,” G’allanthamas said. “I imbued it with a beacon.”

Ah. So that was his secret. The alien had turned the artifact into a beacon stone. That was a level seven Essencework, for both White and Dark, so that meant the alien was high level. Probably not surprising, given his age. That didn’t mean the alien was any less mortal than the rest of his species, of course: a few well-placed Essence Missiles could take him down if he wasn’t paying attention. Or ordinary plasma or laser bolts, for that matter: it didn’t appear as if G’allanthamas had an energy shield.

“I was also able to watch you through the artifact,” the dweller admitted.

“You’ll have to teach me how to do that sometime,” Tane said.

“Perhaps,” the alien said. “I’m sorry for my late arrival: I tried to time my jump to the most opportune moment.”

Tane snorted. “I’d say the moment you chose wasn’t exactly opportune. You could have arrived before they injected me...”

“Yes, but I did not have the work in reserve, and had to create it from scratch,” the dweller said. “When they injected you, I hadn’t yet finished the necessary Dark timeline.”

“Ah, okay,” Tane said.

The bones thinned out as the alien and human party continued, until soon there were no bones left at all, and the individuals trod only upon the bare concrete, leaving the dweller’s den well behind.

Like Sinive, Tane was beginning to wonder where the alien was taking them.

“So uh, Gall, you have to tell us where we’re going,” Tane said.

Just as when Sinive had asked the question, the dweller didn’t answer.

That, for Tane, was the last straw.

13

Tane stopped. “We’re not going any farther until you answer my question.”

G’allanthamas paused to swivel his sideways-oriented head, as if to glance at Tane askance. “We travel to a station near the outskirts of the city, Doomwielder. Once there, we’ll wait until nightfall, and then surface. I have a shuttle waiting just beyond the city walls, hidden in the jungle. I can use that to take you wherever you wish.”

“What about the distortion lens in this city?” Sinive said. “The one we were supposed to take back to our own universe?”

“We can’t go there now,” Jed said. “Tane shared the coordinates with Lyra. The TSN will be swarming all over it.”

“He’s right,” Tane said. “Our only hope is the second lens on this moon.”

“Where’s that?” Sinive asked.

“In a different city,” Tane responded.

“Try not to be too vague or anything,” Sinive said.

“No offense. I do trust you, but...”

“You’re injected with the same control chip I am,” Sinive said. “You know my mind is my own.”

“Sure, but I don’t know what subconscious commands they might have embedded in you,” Tane said. “Who knows, maybe if I reveal the location, you won’t be able to help yourself from transmitting it to the TSN.”

“Maybe they embedded some subconscious commands in your mind as well,” Sinive retorted.

“That is unlikely,” Jed chimed in. “The control chip must be programmed via voice instructions after the chip takes. I was there the whole time: the TSN didn’t have time to program our Outrim friend.”

“Well either way, we have to go back for Nebb,” Sinive said. “And Lyra,” she added, as an afterthought.

“No,” Jed said. “You destroyed one of their controllers, but they’ll have others. You go in there, they’ll take your mind again.”

Tane remembered the lighter-shaped device on Nelson’s hips.

“Why can’t they control Sinive and me now?” Tane asked.

“The range is finite,” Jed said.

“What exactly?” Tane asked.

“About the same as your preexisting chip at maximum transmission,” Jed answered. “And although the control chip has no network connectivity of its own, it can piggyback on the connectivity of your existing chip, allowing it to connect to any nearby adhoc mixnets, as well as the Galnet.”

“That’s why you told me to turn down the range of my chip,” Tane said.

“Yes,” Jed said. “I’d also recommend turning off automatic connecting to the Galnet, or any mixnets outside of our own, for that matter. Otherwise, the moment we return to our universe you’ll very likely lose control of your body.”

“Good idea,” Tane said. He disabled Galnet and private mixnet discovery. “Sinive?”

“Turned mine off,” she confirmed.

“Even with your range reduced, and mixnet discovery disabled, neither of you can risk getting close to the TSN at the moment,” Jed said. “If anyone goes back for Lyra, it will have to be me. And yet I know she would never forgive me if I left your side.”

“Maybe you don’t have to permanently leave my side,” Tane said. “Maybe you can find a way to sneak into the TSN camp, or aboard their ship, and retrieve Lyra and Nebb alone.”

Jed chuckled heartily over the comm. “I thank you for the vote of confidence, but you overestimate me, Engineer. I have some hacking skills, some subterfuge, some tricks of the Essence, but I’m one man. The odds of my capture are very high. All that my leaving would accomplish is my own chipping, I suspect. Now that the TSN knows you exist, none of your closest companions will be allowed to run free. The noose will slowly close until they have you. It’s part of their capture protocol.”

Tane had a sudden panicked realization. “What about my mom and dad?”

“They will be safe with the robots we left to guard them,” Jed said. “As long as they remain in hiding.”

As long as they remain in hiding.

His parents wouldn’t like that very much, and they probably wouldn’t remain in hiding all that long. Once he got back to his own universe, he’d have to tell them how important it was that they didn’t contact the authorities. Or even try to leave their homeworld.

Tane walked in silence behind the hulking form of G’allanthamas for a few moments.

Then he received an incoming call request from Jed, and accepted. The Volur obviously wanted to talk on a private line.

“So where is the second distortion lens, Engineer?” Jed asked.

Tane hesitated. “How do I know the TSN didn’t chip you before I reached the command dome? Maybe you’re in their control at this very moment?”

“We arrived seconds apart,” Jed said. “Review your map data log.”

Tane rewound his map data log, which showed Jed’s position in relation to his own. The Volur was right, Jed had arrived maybe thirty seconds ahead of Tane. Not enough time to be chipped.

Or was it?

“So where?” Jed pressed.

Tane decided he would have to trust Jed for now, as he didn’t really have a choice.

“It’s in Matahepte,” Tane said. That was the largest population center on the moon.

“That’s both good and bad,” Jed said. “Bad, because the TSN will suspect that as a possible lens location—it would make sense to place one there, at least from a logistics perspective. If one wanted to travel back and forth between the Umbra and our reality, the bigger cities are the most obvious places to do so: better chance of finding expensive equipment and loot. So a big city like Matahepte would be foremost on the TSN’s radar.”

“All right, that’s the bad,” Tane said. “And the good?”

“The city is big,” Jed said. “Very big. It’ll take the TSN quite some time to locate the lens, if they’re able to find it at all.”

“They won’t find it,” Tane said, continuing to exclude Sinive and the dweller. “It’s inside a tunnel halfway between two grav tram stations. But still, that the TSN will be patrolling the city, looking for it, makes me nervous. How many of the troops will have controllers?”

“Not many,” Jed said. “One or two of the senior officers. Though it’s possible they’ll send down more units once they realize you’ve escaped this city. We’ll have to be very careful to keep our distance from any TSN troops or drones we spot. And maybe drop our broadcast range down to a meter, or turn off external connections entirely.”

“Might be a good idea... at least until we’re able to get these control chips out.”

“Ah, yes,” Jed told him.

The way he said those two words gave Tane pause. “You have a way to remove the chips, don’t you?”

“We’ll deal with that once we’re back in our universe,” Jed said. “But returning to the broadcast range issue… for the time being I would recommend leaving the range at five meters. Simply because it’s easier for us to coordinate this way.”

“Got it.” Tane closed the call and switched to the common band once more, looping in Sinive and G’allanthamas. He watched the overhead map fill out with details of the pedway system, wondering when he’d be able to ID where he was.

He accessed the Dark Essence and prepared a work of Fingers of Ruin. When it was ready, he placed it in reserve above him. He created another as well, seeing as he was supposed to be able to have two reserves available now that he was level two in Dark Siphoning. When he finished, sure enough the globe took its place beside the other above him. He released the Essence at that point, since creating the two works back-to-back drained him; he was happy to see the two reserve globes remain.

The dweller took a left down a side passage in the pedway, and the group emerged in another broad concourse.

“There,” Jed said. He pointed out a blurry real world sign affixed to the wall. “Line C, Station Eran. Update your map locations.”

Tane accessed the map on his HUD and set his current location to Eran Station, Line C. His coordinates updated, and he zoomed out to street level to get an idea of his surroundings. He was eight blocks away from where he had been rescued.

“We’re still a bit too close to the TSN for comfort,” Tane said.

“I’ll say,” Sinive added.

A stair system on the far left looked like it led to street level, and Tane kept his D18 pointed at it the whole time. If kraals appeared, he would fire the weapon. If shielded TSN troops or dwellers showed up, he would unleash his reserve Dark work, along with an Essence Missile, because those would pass right through any shields.

Jed and Sinive likewise trained their pistols on the upward leading stairs. G’allanthamas, meanwhile, seemed entirely unconcerned. His calm gait didn’t break a beat.

As they entered yet another portion of the pedway system on the far side, Sinive spoke up, saying: “Once we’re back in our own universe, we’ll be able to remove these control chips we’ve got in our heads, right?”

“We’ll deal with that once we in fact return,” Jed said, giving the same answer he had when Tane asked the question over the private line.

“Oh, don’t give me that,” Sinive said. “Why keep us in the dark about this? At least if we know what’s coming we can start to plan for it.”

“She’s right, you know,” Tane chimed in. “If you have a way to remove the chips, you should tell us. And even if you don’t have a way, that would be good to know, too.”

Jed hesitated. Then: “Unfortunately, a military-grade control chip can’t be easily disabled. We can’t schedule an operation… the chip’s tendrils are thoroughly embedded in your gray matter. Any attempt at brute force removal will cause brain damage.”

“Wonderful,” Sinive said.

“Can’t we inject disassembling nanotech to take it apart?” Tane said. “Like an antidote?”

“The chip has defenses to prevent against that,” Jed said. “The disassembly process takes time. The chips are coated in special proteins that detect any disassembly attempts, causing the production of antibodies against the nanotech. We’ll need the shutdown code to break down the protein coating before we can inject any nanotech targeting the chip.”

“And where do we get the shutdown code?” Tane asked.

“We don’t,” Jed replied. “It’ll be somewhere aboard their ship. Probably locked in a holographic storage unit in the vault of the captain’s quarters.”

“Okay, then what about ‘Deactivate,’ the level six White Essencework?” Tane said. “Lyra used it on me before to remove an alien tracking device embedded in my lungs.” He glanced at the description on his HUD to confirm the effect:

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 6.

Shapist:

Deactivate. Use to deactivate individual weapons, traps, and surveillance devices. At higher levels, can be used to safely destroy a tracker hidden inside a human body, and to disable robots. Stamina drain: medium.

Jed shook his head. “A control chip is infinitely more complex than a tracker. It’s possible we might be able to find a Volur with a high enough level in Deactivate to destroy the controlling chip. In fact, I know of two potential candidates. Unfortunately, both are acting members of the Talendir High Council.” Talendir was the homeworld of the Volur. “If we went to them, after they removed the control chip there would be a good possibility they’d simply inject you with another. You would simply transfer control of yourself away from the TSN and to them.”

“That bad, huh?” Tane asked.

Jed nodded. “You have no idea.”

“What about an EMP?” Sinive said.

“That wouldn’t knock out the control chip,” Jed said. “EMPs only work on poorly grounded electronics. With a chip, your entire brain is essentially the ground, and any excess electrons generated by the EMP will simply flow into the surrounding neurons. The chip won’t be damaged. Your brain, on the other hand...”

G’allanthamas led them through several twists and turns of the pedway system, backtracking once when they reached a concourse that swarmed with kraals. The large creatures had apparently detected the party from afar, and were waiting for them in ambush at the opening. When G’allanthamas turned one of them into a Dirac, the kraals quickly lost interest and fought for possession of their favorite food source instead.

“Handy, that,” Sinive said.

“Yes,” G’allanthamas said. “I was considering turning you into a Dirac instead, but I didn’t want to offend the Doomwielder.”

“A-hole,” Sinive said.

“Thank you,” the dweller said.

Tane almost released his Fingers of Ruin reserves during the attack, but since he was still in the main pedway at the time, and the dweller’s large carapace had blocked his line of sight into the concourse beyond, he held back. So as the party retreated, Tane still had the fiery spheres floating above him, visible to his eyes only.

“What level are you, Gall?” Tane asked. “You were almost twenty in Tiberius’ time, if I recall. You must be, what, double that by now?”

“Ha,” G’allanthamas said. “Skills atrophy when not used. And levels revert. I’m not nearly what I once was. But am I high enough. Let’s leave it at that.”

“High enough to create a beacon and install it in an artifact,” Tane said. “You know, I only really have a few definite memories about you. And one thing I’ve been wondering is, how did you and Tiberius meet?”

“Later, Doomwielder,” G’allanthamas said.

The party continued through the pedway system until they reached the underground grav tram station that was near the outskirts of the city. The translucent polycarbonate blocking off the grav tunnel ran along the entire right side, while on the left, the only exit from the platform was stairs that led to street level, where rays of blue-tinted sunlight trickled down from above.

“We will rest here until nightfall.” G’allanthamas remained in the passageway that opened onto the platform. That location provided a good view of any intruders that might come down those stairs from the street.

Tane had the sunset time for Durahepte available on his chip, so he set an alarm and sidled up against the wall next to the dweller. Since his shield was still active, he was careful to observe the half-meter clearance on all sides.

“Do we really need to wait until nightfall?” Sinive said. “Won’t the city’s street lamps kick in by then, providing nearly as much illumination as the sun? And even if this is a darker quarter, if the TSN has eyes in orbit, it won’t matter. They’ll be beaming multi-echo LIDAR down here constantly. They’ll know where we are when we emerge, even if it’s pitch black out there.”

“She’s right,” Jed said. “There really is no benefit in waiting. Not when we’re stalked by the TSN.”

Tane turned toward G’allanthamas. “How far away is your shuttle from here?”

“From here?” the dweller said. “Three minutes to the city wall. And two minutes to the shuttle in the jungle beyond.”

“Five minutes,” Jed said. “We can make it in five minutes. Most of the security forces will still be downtown, fanning out in a search pattern.”

“Downtown,” Tane said. “That won’t leave us much time when their eyes in the sky alert them. Especially considering how fast their armed drones can fly.”

“It will be enough,” Jed said. “I’ll scout the street, first.”

“Your invisibility won’t show up on LIDAR or other bands?” Tane asked.

“It won’t,” Jed replied. “G’allanthamas, please send me the coordinates where you plan to breach the city wall. I want to make sure I’m scouting the proper area.”

“There is only one exit through the wall, and it will be obvious,” the dweller said. “But I’m sending.”

“Thank you.” Jed proceeded out onto the platform and hurried toward the stairs at a crouch.

“You okay with leaving early like this, rather than waiting for nightfall, Gall?” Tane asked the dweller.

“You are the Doomwielder...” G’allanthamas responded.

Jed reached the stairs and became invisible before taking the first step. Tane glanced at his overhead map, intending to follow the Volur’s progress via positional sharing, but Jed’s blue dot was frozen at the five-meter range. Tane remembered that they had all dialed down their broadcast range, and he considered increasing it, but decided right then probably wasn’t the best time.

Several moments later Jed reappeared at the base of the platform.

“It’s clear,” Jed said. “But I should warn you, I did detect incoming LIDAR. The angle suggests an orbital source.”

“So they have more ships in orbit after all,” Tane said.

“Yes,” Jed said. “They’ll know as soon as we set foot out there.”

“You still think five minutes is enough time for us to reach the shuttle?” Tane asked.

“It will have to be,” Jed answered.

The warrior stood expectantly in front of him. Tane realized he was waiting for him to give the go ahead. Tane still found it a bit weird that they all deferred to him, especially Jed, a powerful Volur.

Tane glanced at G’allanthamas. “Can you blur us from their LIDAR?”

“I can hide our presence from LIDAR,” G’allanthamas said. “As well as the facial recognition and thermal detection algorithms in any cameras. However, it does leave a visual artifact.”

“A visual artifact?” Tane asked.

“Yes,” G’allanthamas answered. “You will all look like large, dark spheres.”

“Ah, so that’s why you wanted to wait until nightfall,” Tane said. “When there would be the least possible chance of detection.”

“Now you understand,” the alien said.

“You could have volunteered that information before,” Tane told the dweller.

“It did not seem polite,” G’allanthamas said.

Tane had to laugh. Aliens.

“So we have a choice,” Jed said. “Wait until dark, but then there is a chance the TSN will discover us before we leave. Or depart now, and risk the TSN catching us before we make the shuttle. Your choice, Engineer.”

Tane considered both options and made his decision.

“We leave now,” Tane said. “The sooner we move beyond the clutches of the TSN, the safer I’ll feel.”

G’allanthamas led the way up the stairs, followed by Tane and Sinive. Jed brought up the rear, though he became invisible before long. The warrior still showed up on the overhead map, so that meant Jed was staying within the reduced range of his chip.

The buildings here were squat, two story affairs. Residential, Tane thought.

“Faster,” Jed transmitted over the comm. “The TSN will have detected us by now.”

Moving rapidly, the alien kept close to the gated yards.

D18 at the ready, Tane hurried along behind G’allanthamas. He watched the sky nervously, expecting a drone or shuttle to come racing by any second. If the TSN wanted to kill him, dragon strikes from orbit would’ve likely already vaporized him and his party.

G’allanthamas paused at the edge of an intersection to peer past in both directions. Then the alien darted forward, carapace bobbing oddly atop those spidery legs.

Tane and the others followed. The walls that encircled the city loomed ahead. The protective field those walls could generate against storms was currently inactive, of course.

The street curved on either side of him and Tane realized it ran all along the inside rim of the wall, something that his overhead map confirmed. Outrim Street, it was called.

Somehow appropriate for an Outrimmer like me.

Ahead, a large arch in the wall framed a pair of steel double doors that towered over the party.

“Hacking skills don’t always work in the Umbra,” Sinive said. “But I’ll give these doors my best shot.”

“No need.” Tane slid the D18 over his shoulder and equipped his beam hilt. He straightened, feeling invigorated thanks to the Endurance boost. Then he stepped into the Essence through the hilt and the dual-bitted white blade erupted from the hilt.

Tane rushed the double doors and deactivated his shield so that he could get close enough to cut his ax through the metal in a wide, elliptical pattern—he was trying to account for the dweller’s size, not just that of the other humans.

When finished, he kicked the elliptical outline of the plug that had appeared, but it didn’t cave inwards.

“The wall is too thick for a single pass,” Jed said. “You’ll have to try again. And direct your blade more slowly.”

Tane sliced his double-headed ax into the previously carved groove, and moved slower this time as he traced the elliptical outline. When he was done, the metal plug shifted, and he knew he’d cut through. He deactivated his beam hilt and tried to shove his shoulder against it. The heavy plug didn’t budge.

“Move aside,” Jed said.

Tane did so. He heard a loud clang from beside him and Jed became visible—the warrior had smashed himself onto the plug and was pushing against it with both arms. From the pained expression on his face, he was putting in a lot of effort.

The plug slid inward until it finally toppled over with a loud thud.

Jed became invisible once again, and according to the overhead map he had also moved inside the passageway beyond.

“Clear,” Jed said, panting from his previous effort.

Tane and Sinive easily cleared the wide hole, stepping onto the fallen plug; G’allanthamas had to crouch low, tilting his head against his carapace and tightly drawing in his eight legs.

“Could you have made the hole any smaller, Doomwielder?” the alien complained.

The four of them found themselves inside a broad maintenance tunnel of some kind that traveled the width of the wall.

On the far side, Tane had to cut through another tall double door in a similar manner, with Jed once again handling the resultant plug. Tane had made the hole slightly bigger to better accommodate G’allanthamas, and Jed paid for that by having to exert more effort, and it took him longer to force aside the plug. Sinive and Tane added their raw strength to the effort, but it was debatable how much they actually helped. G’allanthamas meanwhile stood back watching peacefully.

The whole time Tane kept expecting the TSN to come rushing inside from the far opening, but troops never came.

When it was done, Tane and the others passed through into the jungle undergrowth beyond. Tane reactivated his energy shield.

“Those doors cost us an extra minute and a half,” Sinive said.

Tane cast a searching gaze once more into the passageway behind him, and then glanced upward, searching the top of the towering wall. “No sign of the TSN yet.”

The jungle came right up to that wall, though the upper canopy fell well short of the topmost edge.

On his HUD, the unmapped area outside the city was represented in black—the fog of war.

“Can we get a waypoint to your shuttle?” Jed asked.

Tane received a share request from G’allanthamas, and when he accepted, a flashing green dot appeared some distance inside the fog of war ahead.

“Stay close to me,” G’allanthamas said. “These are the hunting grounds of the kraals: the trees often spawn Diracs. The kraals like to lurk in hiding behind the thicker boles, mostly to ambush any competing herds that might invade their territory. They’ll jump out and snatch you if you’re not careful.”

“That’s another thing you could have warned us about earlier,” Tane muttered.

“My apologies,” G’allanthamas said. “I am still getting used to socializing with humans again.”

“Stay close together, people,” Tane said. “Sinive, that means you.”

“Fine,” Sinive said. “I’ll get closer, but if that dweller makes a move...”

“He won’t,” Tane said. “He’s on our side. You hurt him, you hurt me. The same goes for her, Gall.”

“I wouldn’t dream of touching her,” G’allanthamas said. “Which is why I’ll use the Dark Essence when I hurt her.”

“Gall...”

“Only kidding, of course,” G’allanthamas said.

“You know that’s funny only to you, right?” Sinive said.

“One day I hope to understand human humor…” the alien retorted.

Tane followed the dweller through the undergrowth. G’allanthamas moved quickly, and Tane had to up the output of his suit servomotors to keep up. He almost considered asking G’allanthamas for a ride on that wide carapace, but a memory told him the alien would deem such a request an insult, not to mention a sign of weakness.

The foliage close to the ground was thick, but above it the air between the tall boles was mostly empty. Located at the tops of those boles was the canopy, which towered over him and blotted out the sky entirely, casting the forest in a perpetual twilight that seemed darker than it should have thanks to the blue-shifting of all light in the Umbra. It was so dark in fact that he considered creating Night Vision, if only for the practice, but he wasn't sure what would happen to the works he still had in reserve. Would Night Vision replace one of them?

Now wasn’t really the time to experiment. If he lost his two Fingers of Ruin reserves, or even one of them, and an attack came before he could create a new one, that was one more enemy that would get through their defenses before he could create an Essence Missile or strike with his beam hilt. So he simply adjusted the gating level of his helmet faceplate and brightened his surroundings using technology instead.

Most of the branches on the nearby trunks were located near the distant treetops, supporting the canopy, while the rest of the trees were bare lower down, and looked like pillars. The thick trunks were spread out: by Tane’s estimate, there was enough space between the boles that a skilled AI could fly a shuttle between them if necessary, while still staying beneath the canopy and out of view of any watching eyes in orbit.

Ahead, the dweller’s large size allowed it to easily force a path through the foliage. Tane noticed the thick branches rarely broke away, and often snapped back into place, hard, forcing Tane to keep his distance: he’d learned his lesson when a rebounding branch slammed into his shield, draining half its energy.

Speaking of his shield, even when he kept his distance from the dweller, because the undergrowth was relatively thick, convex sections of the protective field flashed into existence almost constantly as different parts of the foliage brushed against it, forcing the shield to repel them. The overall effect was to continually drain the energy field.

As the protective strength approached zero, he equipped his beam hilt and stepped into the Essence to ignite the dual ax-blade. Even when he cut away the foliage with the large weapon, inevitably there were portions he missed, and his shield continued to deplete. Eventually he decided to just turn it off. He also shut down his ax blade and replaced the beam hilt at his belt to conserve his strength.

Without the shield, the leaves and branches of the shrubs endlessly scraped against his spacesuit. Some of the larger ones pressed the suit fabric into his skin underneath, so he could literally feel the undergrowth brushing past.

He was still amazed that so many of those branches remained intact after the passage of the large dweller. Those were certainly some tough branches and leaves. They’d have to be, if the undergrowth wanted to survive the fierce storms and gale force winds that occasionally rocked the forests of the moon. Though he supposed the thick canopy above also provided a lot of protection—most of the storm damage would likely affect the upper boughs. On the ground around him, he often came across large, fallen branches the size of logs that must have been torn away from that canopy.

When he imagined what storms capable of ripping off logged-sized branches must be like, Tane thought immediately of the stellar gale that was the White Essence, and how terrible it could be. A draining, howling cold that scraped away the upper layers of his bones and threatened to scour him right out of existence.

“If the trees spawn Diracs, why would the kraals ever come to the city?” Sinive asked, drawing Tane out of his dark thoughts.

“Herds are often dislocated thanks to territory disputes,” the alien said. “Plus, Diracs are found in the forested parks within. So it isn’t like there is no food available in the city at all. I’m only saying, the kraals favor these forests, and can be found here in abundance.”

“If they feed on Diracs, why are they built like carnivores?” Tane asked.

“Diracs aren’t their sole food source,” G’allanthamas said. “They also feed on each other. Not as nutritious, but it gets the job done.”

“Nice,” Sinive said. “I’ve always been a fan of cannibalistic aliens. Mostly when they eat each other while I get away.”

As Tane kept up the quick retreat, he scanned the forest around him for signs of ambush from kraals, dwellers, or TSN, but it was difficult to see past the thick undergrowth.

“Jed, is your LIDAR able to penetrate this undergrowth at all?” Tane asked.

“No more than one to ten meters in any direction, depending on changing shrub density,” Jed said. “There are limits even to battle armor such as mine.”

“Too bad,” Tane said. “By the way, Gall, you don’t have an actual starship do you? Something that could take us off this world if we needed to leave?”

“No,” the dweller said. “I only have a shuttle. It could carry you into space, but isn’t fast enough to be of much use once there. And it certainly can’t jump to any other systems, if collecting the other dark artifacts was what you had in mind.”

“It was, actually,” Tane said. “Thanks for clarifying.”

“I thought you couldn’t learn any more works until you gained some levels in Dark Siphoning?” Sinive asked.

“I actually already gained a level since we last talked,” Tane replied. “And there’s also Dark and White Mixing level one that I qualify for.”

“Someone’s not power hungry or anything,” Sinive said.

“Hey, I have the ability, might as well unlock my full potential,” Tane said.

There was a blur of motion ahead as something rammed into G’allanthamas with a loud smack. The dweller vanished into the foliage.

“Kraals!” Jed cried.

14

The fronds of the shrub immediately beside Tane shook; he spun toward it and released one of his reserve Fingers of Ruin just as a large reptilian jaw parted the foliage. Those sharp, sideways-oriented teeth were wide open, and obviously intended to crunch through Tane’s spacesuit while snatching him away just like the other kraal had done to G’allanthamas, but when the Dark work struck, the six-legged creature stumbled.

Tane dodged to the side as the kraal drunkenly moved forward—the beast was unable to check its existing momentum. The gill area in its neck cracked open thanks to the Essencework, revealing the quivering muscle tissue underneath. And a whole lot of oily blood.

The imbalanced kraal finally collapsed, shaking the ground upon impact. It tried to get up, but Tane was close enough to hold the D18 to its head; he squeezed the trigger, killing the thing execution style. That was a mistake, since the act splattered his spacesuit in black blood, blotting out half his faceplate. But it did end the kraal.

There was no time to wipe the blood from his faceplate—he stepped into the White Essence and threw out his Essence Sight lifeline, placing his perspective five meters directly above himself so that he could see the jungle on all sides around him.

Should have done this earlier.

Then again, even if he had done it earlier, it probably wouldn’t have helped, given how thick the jungle was; that, and the fact the kraals were nearly the same color as the surrounding foliage.

“Sinive, to your right!” Tane said as he spotted a kraal lurking behind the undergrowth beside her.

“I see it.” Sinive fired her pistol several times into the foliage and the hidden kraal dropped. “I have Essence Sight, too, you know,” she said. “It might be weaker than yours. But I still have it.”

“Sorry for living,” Tane said.

“You better be,” Sinive said. “How the hell did they approach so quietly?”

“They were waiting for us.” Jed momentarily flashed into existence as he beheaded a kraal to the left of Tane with his Chrysalium sword.

A creature dashed into view ahead. Tane thought it was a kraal at first until he recognized the distinctive shape of G’allanthamas. That wide carapace, and the many tentacles emerging from the fore were most definitely unkraal-like.

Sinive spun her pistol toward the alien.

“Hold!” Tane said. “It’s Gall!”

The dweller’s tentacles were covered in fresh black blood. His own? No, the kraal he had defeated more likely.

Tane and Sinive took out two more kraals they spotted in hiding, with their D18 and pistol respectively, and then the party hurried onward.

“We can’t afford any further delays!” Jed said. “The TSN will be on us shortly!”

Tane was beginning to regret not waiting until nightfall.

He reverted his viewpoint back inside of himself and wiped the black blood from his faceplate as best as he was able.

“We must move quickly not only because of our human hunters,” the dweller said. “Those kraals back there were the equivalent of scouts. When the others they were with smell the blood on the air, they’ll come stampeding.”

“Are you Siphoning?” Tane asked as he jogged through the foliage.

“Yes,” G’allanthamas said.

“Me too. I thought kraals were supposed to fear Dark Essence?”

“Sometimes instinct eclipses fear,” G’allanthamas said. “Plus, the fear is usually only present in the smaller kraals. And these kraals are certainly not small.“

“I hadn’t noticed…” Tane said.

He began another Dark timeline for Fingers of Ruin to replace the one he had lost.

The ground began to shake before he was half finished. He could feel it even while on the run—pulsing vibrations that traveled up through his boots and into his toes. He could see it in the quivering of the surrounding fronds. It was distracting, but his higher level in Dark Siphoning helped him continue the timeline.

“Quickly, quickly,” G’allanthamas said.

Tane slowly rotated his Essence Sight viewpoint as he ran, which was slightly disorienting, but he wanted to know which directions the kraals were coming from. The branches and leaves whipped at his suit as he raced past them, and the sounds of their impacts echoed through his helmet. He knew he could easily trip on that undergrowth by casting out his perspective like that.

Just a little longer...

He spotted the tops of the tall undergrowth swaying to the right, and the trail of trampled fronds behind them. A wide swath of it.

“They’re coming in from our right,” Tane said.

“I see them,” Jed said.

Tane finally tripped, an inevitable consequence of running through a jungle with an out-of-body perspective like that.

He snapped his viewpoint back inside himself, and Sinive helped him to his feet. By then the ground had begun to shake even more violently.

Tane continued running. He fired off a burst from the D18 into the undergrowth beside him as he sprinted, but all he succeeded in doing was carving a few holes through the nearby fronds. He might have struck one of the incoming kraals but it was impossible to tell.

The undergrowth was thicker here, and slowed him down. He gripped his beam hilt, created the Essence ax, and used it to hew through the foliage as he followed G’allanthamas. He still couldn’t use his shield, not with so many of those branches ready to interfere.

Tane completed the new Fingers of Ruin work and placed it in his second reserve.

And then the kraals reached them.

A towering reptile burst through, its big jaws bearing down on him. Tane snapped his perspective just above and behind himself, while swinging his bright battle ax at the throat of his foe at the same time, and he half-severed the head from its neck.

Momentum carried the dying creature forward. Tane tried to dodge to the side, but the huge body slammed into him and carried him backward. He managed to slip out of the way before the collapsing creature fell on top of him.

But another kraal was already coming at him.

Sinive cut across his vision, leading another six-legged kraal—it crashed into the other. She unleashed her pistol at them both.

A third kraal came at her from the side. It was the largest he had seen yet.

Tane launched an Essence Missile. It dug into the kraal’s thick side, carving a small hole while ejecting chunks of meat, but wasn’t enough to stop the creature, whose maw was bearing down on Sinive.

Tane snapped his perspective back inside himself and pointed the tip of his blindingly bright ax at the kraal. He unleashed an Essence bolt that tore into the beast, but the creature still didn’t go down. It continued toward her spacesuit.

“Sinive!” Tane said.

She spun as the sideways-oriented teeth rapidly bore down on her. The teeth were stopped half a meter away from her body as a hemisphere of blue energy flashed into existence around her. She’d activated her energy shield at the last moment.

She unleashed her pistol several times into that repelled mouth, and the creature dropped just as her energy shield failed.

Seven more kraals emerged from the foliage, surrounding Tane and Sinive on all sides and cutting them off from G’allanthamas and Jed.

One of the kraals abruptly disappeared, leaving a large Dirac in its place on the jungle floor—courtesy of G’allanthamas no doubt. However, the remaining kraals continued to stalk toward their prey. Apparently, they were too battle-crazed to even notice the pulsating crystal.

Jed flashed into existence: the warrior was on top of one of the kraals, and his sword had just penetrated through the back of its long neck. The beast fell as Jed vanished from view once more.

Two of the kraals abruptly turned on their brethren and sank their teeth into the torsos of their former companions. The two targeted kraals, larger bulls, howled in outrage and slammed their tails into their attackers in return, breaking free. They wrestled one another, rolling to the ground, and all Tane saw was a blur of limbs and tails.

Meanwhile the remaining kraal slowly stalked forward, intent on Tane. He considered releasing his reserve works of the Dark, but then Sinive unloaded her pistol at the creature. As did Jed.

Tane tilted his ax-blade toward the kraal and launched an Essence bolt directly into its throat. At the same time, G’allanthamas arced over it from behind and landed on the creature’s back, staggering the thing. G’allanthamas wrapped all of his tentacles around that already wounded neck and yanked, tearing the head off completely.

Covered in black blood, G’allanthamas leaped down, landing in front of Tane.

“Nice job,” Tane said, somewhat stunned by the dweller’s violence.

“Thank you,” G’allanthamas said. “Nasty things.”

“Geez,” Sinive said. “And I thought I had a violent streak in me. Remind me never to cross you. I’m quite happy where my head is, thank you very much.”

Tane turned toward the remaining kraals, which were still wrestling in the foliage nearby.

“Let them fight!” G’allanthamas said. “The Hated Enemy comes! This way!”

“Hated Enemy?” Tane asked.

“He means the TSN,” Jed explained.

Tane followed G’allanthamas through the trees. He glanced at his overhead map and confirmed that Sinive and Jed were following close behind. The waypoint indicated the shuttle was only fifty meters ahead.

“You caused those kraals to turn against each other?” Tane asked the alien.

“Review your level five Dark Essenceworks sometime,” G’allanthamas said.

Without warning the dweller was slammed backward by something and struck a nearby tree. G’allanthamas slid down, hitting the ground lifelessly.

“Gall, you all right?” Tane asked.

The alien didn’t answer.

In front of Tane, where G’allanthamas once resided, stood the largest kraal he had ever seen, larger even than the one that had hunted Sinive earlier. It literally towered over him. Its six legs were like tree trunks.

Tane launched both Fingers of Ruin reserves, as well as an Essence Missile at the same time: four smears of unreality emerged from him alongside a bright white energy bolt. Meanwhile Jed and Sinive unleashed their blasters.

The kraal took all the blows. Black veins cracked open all along its underside, and plasma impacts carved huge chunks of meat from the fresh wounds, but the kraal didn’t seem to notice. Instead, it lifted back its head and roared. Then it hurled itself at Tane.

Tane had nowhere to run, so he dashed forward and dodged underneath that big, six-legged body. He slashed outward with his ax, cutting partially through two of the kraal’s thick legs. The beast howled, shifting instantly, and one of the legs struck Tane.

Before he knew what was happening, Tane was hurtling through the foliage. He came to a halt tangled in a big shrub several meters away. His chest area pulsed painfully in time to his beating heart, but according to his HUD, his suit integrity hadn’t been compromised.

“Damn, that hurt.”

The pain quickly subsided, and he cut himself free with his energy ax just as the kraal burst through the undergrowth toward him again.

Sinive continued to unload her pistol at the kraal from nearby, while Jed flashed into existence atop the creature. The warrior tried the same move he’d done against the last kraal, in that he plunged his Chrysalium sword straight through its upper back, but all he did was make the kraal angrier. It’s barbed tail swept over its back and knocked Jed away.

Tane fired an Essence bolt from the tip of his energy ax but it didn’t stop the kraal. If that neck wasn’t so thick he might have tried to cut off the head, but that wasn’t a good idea at the moment, what with the massive creature bearing down on him.

He retreated through the undergrowth. The branches seemed brittle here, and broke away easily. Brittle, and dry...

I can use that.

He could feel the ground shaking underneath him, which told him the kraal was close. He glanced at the rear-view video feed near the top of his faceplate. The kraal was fast approaching.

While he ran, Tane directed the stellar wind from the beam hilt away from the weapon, and the energy ax winked out. The Essence ribbon fluttered from his core, waiting for him to grow a Branchwork. But there was something else he wanted to do, first: he also stepped into the Essence via the Nova bracelet he wore. He wasn’t sure it would work, because he had never attempted stepping into two different Chrysalium sources before—he had only Siphoned through individual sources of Chrysalium and Darcanium at the same time.

But then the Essence from the bracelet blew into his core, adding to the preexisting ribbon there. A notification appeared on his HUD:

Siphoning bonus. All Branchworks are enhanced 18% due to Siphoning through Chrysalium hilt.

Siphoning bonus. All Branchworks are enhanced 5% due to Siphoning through Chrysalium bracelet.

Total Siphoning bonus 23%.

So it worked.

Tane coaxed Persistent Flame from the slightly bigger ribbon of stellar wind that fluttered before him. A flame appeared in the open palm of his right glove. About the size of an apple, it was bigger than the level zero flame he could create without Chrysalium, although still relatively weak. But it was enough for his purposes. A thin maintenance stream of stellar wind continually connected his core to the flame in his hand.

He held out his glove and allowed the small fire to brush over the undergrowth beside him. The dry foliage lit easily, and the flames spread rapidly. Tane swerved hard to the left, doubling back slightly so that the pursuing kraal would have to dash through the flames to pursue. He continued running for all he was worth, and ignited the jungle around him as he did so. He kept an eye on his rear view video feed, but it was difficult to tell where the kraal was as the flames took hold, and raged. He didn’t dare use his Essence sight to attempt a different perspective—he was too worried about tripping. He thought the creature must have been flagging, however, because Tane no longer felt the ground shaking underneath him.

The combination of sprinting while maintaining Persistent Flame was taxing his stamina, so he released the connecting stellar wind and the flame winked out. He decided to step out of the White entirely. He couldn’t see the kraal anywhere on his fiery rear view feed, so he stopped running.

He turned around and was filled with a sudden shock. The tiny rear view camera feed hadn’t done the scene justice: half the forest seemed like it was on fire behind him: a literal conflagration, almost like the flames of chaos that sprouted when he Siphoned the Dark Essence.

He finally spotted the kraal amid the burning foliage. Its entire body was on fire. It thrashed about, flailing its maw at everything around it as if it could physically bite back the flames.

Tane retrieved his D18. He aimed at the roaring head and let off a full thirty round burst, hoping to put the beast out of its misery.

After the impact, the burning creature stopped flailing. Instead, it stumbled drunkenly forward, still burning.

Tane waited for his D18 to recharge but the kraal collapsed before then, succumbing to its wounds, and the fire.

He had succeeded in repelling the kraal. Now he just had to get back to his friends before the forest burned down.

He glanced at the overhead map. Their indicators had frozen some distance behind the kraal and the burning jungle.

He had no choice but to pump up his broadcast range. When he did, Sinive, Jed, and G’allanthamas all popped up immediately. They had increased their broadcast range, too, apparently.

“Guys!” Tane said over the comm. “I’ll rendezvous with you at the shuttle.”

“Did you do this, Engineer?” Jed asked coldly.

“Uh, yeah,” Tane answered. “Sorry. Guess I got a little carried away.”

“Pyro,” Sinive commented.

On the overhead map, it looked like G’allanthamas was back on his feet, since he was once more leading the charge toward the waypoint, while Sinive and Jed followed close behind.

“Good to see you’re all right, Gall,” Tane said as he gave the fire a wide berth, and then headed toward the target waypoint.

“I was just a little dazed after the hit, that’s all,” G’allanthamas said. “Not as resilient as I used to be.”

“You know, it would’ve been nice if you would have converted that big kraal into a Dirac,” Tane transmitted.

“It certainly would have,” the dweller said. “Unfortunately, that particular kraal was slightly beyond my means. And I did have the wind knocked out of me, if you’ll recall.”

Tane made good time toward the shuttle—at least he thought so. Behind him, the flames continued to advance through the forest. Judging from the spread rate reported by the overhead map, the fire would overwhelm the waypoint maybe forty-five seconds after Tane arrived. The team would be cutting it close.

Unfortunately, the fire had driven out the remaining kraals, and Tane now had four of them on his tail.

He pointed the D18 behind his back while he ran, activated smart targeting mode, and squeezed the trigger. Apparently the gun had trouble picking out the heads of the kraals, thanks to all the foliage in the way, and he ended up distributing fire among their four torsos, and the surrounding undergrowth. The hits that did connect hardly slowed the beasts down.

“Damn it,” Tane said. Jed had been right to warn him about the dangers of smart targeting. The Volur just hadn’t warned him enough.

“What is it?” Sinive asked.

“I’m coming in hot,” Tane answered. “I can’t get rid of these kraals.”

He emerged into a clearing of sorts, where the undergrowth had been out-competed by a big tree. Lianas as thick as his arm hung down from the upper branches, draping over a large saucer-shaped shuttle. Dark red veins that reminded him of rust spidered across the gray surface. Not that he had all that much time to admire the craft’s aesthetics, or lack thereof.

The ramp was open, and Sinive stood at the base beside Jed, who had become visible. Sinive waved him on, while Jed fired into the forest behind Tane. The Volur’s pistol had transformed into a large rifle once more.

Tane hurried past his friends and scrambled up the ramp. Sinive and Jed followed behind him.

G’allanthamas was waiting just inside the expansive cockpit.

“Shut the ramp and take us out of here!” Tane said.

G’allanthamas made a few screeching and clattering sounds, and the shuttle replied in kind.

The vessel shifted, taking to the air at the same time as the ramp began to close.

One of the kraals reached the shuttle and rammed its head inside before the ramp sealed entirely. Jed fired off a few shots, carving deep grooves into the neck.

The kraal struggled as the closing ramp began to apply pressure to its neck. Finally the creature managed to pull its head free and dropped from view. The ramp closed behind it.

The shuttle rocked as something struck the exterior.

Tane tried throwing out his lifeline for Essence Sight, and was surprised that he could view the outside of the shuttle, despite the metal barrier.

Interesting.

That meant Volur could use the skill to see through walls, if they were close enough.

He watched as kraals leaped into the air and slammed into the shuttle with their bodies, further rocking the craft. More kraals had been following Tane than he thought: he counted about seven of them now.

“Higher!” Tane commanded.

G’allanthamas issued some screeching and clicking sounds and the shuttle rose while moving forward.

Above the flames that were encroaching behind them, a TSN drone swooped into view. A kraal leaped upward and snatched the drone from the air. Two more drones swooped into view; a pair of kraals batted these out of the sky with their tails. Meanwhile, the remaining creatures pursued the shuttle.

“More drones will be coming,” Jed warned. The Volur was no doubt using Essence Sight to peer outside, too.

“Yes, but I have no plans on slowing down,” G’allanthamas said. “Not until the AI has taken us well away.”

The flames receded behind them. The kraals, too, slowly fell behind. When it became obvious that they would never catch the shuttle, the kraals parted ways, vanishing into the undergrowth in different directions—all leading away from the conflagration behind them. No more drones were incoming.

Tane stepped out of the Essence and his vision reverted inside of himself. He turned toward the dweller.

“Gall, are you able to stay underneath the jungle canopy at least until we’re well clear of the city?” Tane said. “Is there enough clearance for the shuttle?”

“There is, and I plan to,” G’allanthamas said. “In fact, I intend to stay underneath the canopy until we reach our destination. Seems safest, that way. Speaking of destinations, I presume you have one in mind?”

“Yes,” Tane said. “I want you to take us to the outskirts of the capital city, Matahepte.”

“I can certainly do that, Doomwielder,” G’allanthamas said. The alien issued a series of clatters, clicks and shrieks, and the shuttle AI responded in kind over the intercom.

“How long until we arrive?” Tane asked.

“At the safest maximum possible speed we can attain underneath the canopy?” the dweller said. “Five hours.”

“So Matahepte is where the second lens is, of course,” Sinive said.

There was no point denying it. Besides, even if she somehow betrayed the destination to the TSN, as Jed had already concluded the star navy was probably already expecting them to go there, if only because it logistically made sense that Tiberius would have created a bug-out site in the city.

There were no seats in the cabin per se, but rather large, elliptical holes cut in the floor that were obviously meant to hold dwellers. G’allanthamas resided in one of them.

Tane walked to the cabin wall, lowered himself onto the edge of one of those holes, and sat down, letting his calves dangle over the rim. He leaned his head against the wall, closed his eyes, and he exhaled in both relief and exhaustion. Well, as much relief as the Umbra allowed him to express, anyway. Relief was an emotion, after all.

“We got away,” Sinive said. “I almost can’t believe it.”

Tane opened his eyes to look at her, but he didn’t say anything. He merely gazed at her weary features behind her faceplate. She was propped against the wall as well, and seemingly staring at the cabin floor. She looked so good to him in that moment. Whoever had invented the phrase “a sight for sore eyes” had been thinking of her. Tane wanted to reach out and hold her gloved hand, but firstly she sat too far away from him, and secondly it didn’t seem appropriate given that they were merely friends.

Wait, what’s wrong with two friends holding hands, especially after all we’ve been through?

Tane dismissed the thought, too weary to care, and closed his eyes again.

He heard a clanging beside him, followed by a loud clunk. Opening his lids, he realized Jed had taken a seat on the opposite side of the same hole, also next to the wall.

“You did well, Engineer,” Jed said, leaning back. “Or should I say, Warmancer?”

“What?” Tane asked.

“Check your notifications,” Jed said.

Tane saw the familiar flashing icon in the lower right of his HUD and enlarged it to read the notifications he had received during the battle.

Level up. Your overall level is now 8! Neural pathways have been enhanced and reinforced! You now have an attribute point to allocate.

Level up. Persistent Flame is now Level 1. You can now spurt a stream of superheated flame from the base fire for short periods of time, up to two meters away from your hand. Energy shields will absorb the fire up to their rated charge levels before allowing the flames to penetrate. Note: stamina drain spikes with each burst of flame released.

Attribute up. Dexterity +1. Current Dexterity: 12

Class change: your class is now Warmancer.

That was a quick level up for Persistent Flame. It was essentially the second time he’d ever used it, and he’d gone from creating a flame the size of an apple at level zero to the ability to intermittently spurt fire up to two meters in front of him at level one. He thought of the man whose mind dump had originally taught Tane to Siphon. Likely the man had already been close to level one in Persistent Flame at the time his imprint was recorded. It made Tane wonder how close he was to leveling Air Current—the other “free” Essencework that had come with his Siphoning skill. He was glad he hadn’t splurged to upgrade those two skills when he originally purchased his Siphoning ability. Not that he could have afforded it. Though he suspected other buyers had fallen into the upgrade trap. Who wouldn’t? When someone saw they had a level zero in something, if they could afford it, their first instinct would be to upgrade it. These chip manufacturers certainly had their human psychology down. Of course they did: they built devices that enhanced human brains.

He was a bit disappointed that Beam Hilt Control hadn’t leveled again, but in truth he hadn’t really been expecting it. According to the manual that came with his chip, it would become harder to increase each skill as he attained the higher levels. The progression would be more exponential than linear.

However, that progression behaved slightly differently for a base skill like White or Dark Siphoning, because all works of the Essence, Dark and White, essentially relied on them. Even Beam Hilt used the White Siphoning skill, for example, as did Chrysalium Siphoning. Because those two basic skills were relied upon so much, he could expect to level them far faster than anything else, especially non-Essence skills such as Sharpshooting. The higher level Essenceworks were also harder to make—more complicated, more draining—so in theory, if he used those more, that would also count toward more experience in the two base skills, and hence allow for faster leveling in either.

He was wondering where he should allocate his earned attribute point. His eyes drifted to Sinive, and on a whim he added the extra point to Charisma, bringing his total to nine, and instantly regretted it.

Should have put it into Endurance.

But a part of him wanted to look better for Sinive. Then again, Charisma didn’t actually affect external features, but rather operated on the brain centers responsible for socialization and persona, and the projection of energy as perceived by other human beings. That, too, was from the manual. He wasn’t sure it would make a difference with her, but hey, everything probably helped.

What Jed had said a moment before returned to the forefront of his thoughts.

“How did you know my class changed to Warmancer?” Tane said. “I’m spoofing it.”

“I have some hacking skills...” Jed said cryptically.

Tane shook his head. “Remind me never to connect to the same local mixnet as you.”

“Whoever said I have to connect to a mixnet to read your skills?” Jed commented.

Tane stared at the man, and felt violated. “Tell me, what else can you read with those hacking skills of yours?” He was reminded of Roadroller, a shady purveyor from the Runner’s Market of Kalindor who Tane had sold a dweller energy weapon to in exchange for some nanotech injections. Roadroller had been able to read Tane’s skills with a special RFID reader installed in his fingertips. Maybe Jed had something similar embedded in his battle armor.

“I can only read the notifications that show up on your HUD,” Jed admitted. “It’s not really a hack: you might want to turn off notification sharing in your settings. Unless of course you like broadcasting your leveling updates to the world.”

Tane shook his head. He’d read through the digital manual provided by his chip twice, and he thought he’d gone through the privacy sections with a fine-toothed comb. Obviously he hadn’t been as attentive as he had believed.

He went into his settings and found the appropriate entry and switched it off. He deactivated most of the other privacy-related options as well.

G’allanthamas made a clattering sound, and a series of clicks and squawks were returned over the intercom. He tilted that sideways-oriented head toward Tane.

“My apologies, but I prefer to speak to the AI of my shuttle in my native tongue,” the dweller said.

“It’s fine,” Tane said.

“You know, this shuttle of yours doesn’t really look dweller,” Sinive said, examining the cabin around her. “These walls should be made of black crystal, shouldn’t they? Not metal.”

“Of course it’s not dweller,” G’allanthamas said. “The shuttle is of human make. From the time of Tiberius.”

“How the hell is the power core still working after a thousand years?” Sinive said.

“I’ve replaced the core a few times…” G’allanthamas said.

“And the human AI speaks dweller?” Sinive asked.

“I obviously reprogrammed the AI,” G’allanthamas said. “Impressive, is it not?”

“Yes, you’re one impressive alien,” Sinive quipped.

“I admit, I had help from the other dwellers who followed Tiberius,” G’allanthamas said. “It was originally a cargo shuttle. These deck holes weren’t part of the original design. We ripped out the floor and installed something more suitable to us dwellers, and it became our designated transport while on this world.”

“Like I said, impressive,” Sinive told the alien. “Still, a thousand years… I’m not sure just how air-worthy this thing is.” She knocked on the cabin wall. Like the exterior, there were veins of what appeared to be rust marring some of the surfaces. “That looks like rust to me. By the way, if this shuttle is a thousand years old, then how old are you? Fifteen hundred?”

“That’s about right,” the dweller said. “I was already four hundred by the time I met Tiberius. I’ve seen a few things in my day.”

“I’m sure you have,” Sinive said. “I seem to recall one of those dwellers aging backward before my very eyes, back on Remus. You remember that, Tane?”

“I do,” Tane said. That would be the dark work of Renewal.

“Does that have something to do with your longevity, Dweller?” she asked.

“I do not reveal the Dark secrets to ordinary humans,” G’allanthamas said. “Only the Doomwielder.”

“Fine,” Sinive said.

Tane considered volunteering the information to her, but decided he’d wait until Sinive asked him privately. G’allanthamas could be offended over the smallest things, if memory served.

And yet those aren’t my memories, he reminded himself.

“Hey, by the way, what’s your shuttle named?” Sinive asked the dweller.

“What’s it to you?” G’allanthamas replied.

“Okay don’t tell me,” Sinive said. “I’m only curious. I like to use the names of shuttles and ships when I’m talking about or to them, that’s all.”

“You’ll never be talking to my shuttle,” G’allanthamas said. “So you don’t have to worry about that.”

Sinive didn’t answer.

Probably a good thing. He didn’t need her and the dweller constantly at each other’s throats.

“The AI is not programmed to speak human,” G’allanthamas continued. “Though it can understand your words, of course.”

Still Sinive remained quiet.

G’allanthamas tilted his head toward Tane. “Have I offended her?”

Tane shrugged inside his spacesuit. “You’re asking me? Half the time I don’t know if I’ve offended her myself.”

“Why do you care about offending me anyway, Dweller?” Sinive said. “I thought you wanted to turn me into a Dirac?”

“That’s right, I momentarily forgot I hate you,” G’allanthamas said. “That usually happens after I’ve fought side by side with someone in battle. I promise you it won’t happen again. On both accounts.”

“Good,” Sinive said. “Wouldn’t want you going soft on me now.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” the dweller said.

“Though if that was your way of complimenting my battle prowess, well, you fought pretty well yourself,” Sinive said.

“It wasn’t,” G’allanthamas said. “But thank you.”

Sinive crossed her arms. “Why do I try?”

Tane shut his eyes, and almost fell asleep when the dweller spoke again.

“The best approximation of my shuttle’s name in the human tongue is Skreeereefalameeecheeleess,” the dweller said. “Which means Carapace Full of Ugly Brown Streaks. It means ‘rusty,’ essentially.”

“Ah,” Sinive said. “Appropriate name, given how the shuttle looks. So we’ll just call the AI ‘Rusty’ for short.”

The AI gave some screeching response over the intercom.

“He doesn’t like that,” G’allanthamas said.

“Sorry Rusty,” Sinive said. “Once we humans pick a name, we never change it.”

Rusty shrieked and clattered in apparent outrage.

Tane decided if he was going to sleep, he might as well be shameless about it. He lowered himself so that he lay back on the cabin floor.

“Wake me when we’re closer to Matahapte,” Tane said.

The cabin abruptly jerked and Tane slid into the wall. He felt a momentary sense of butterflies in his stomach.

“Whoa,” Sinive said. “Inertial dampener failure or what?”

“Sorry, almost hit a tree,” G’allanthamas said.

“Hmm, I’m not sure this is the best idea,” Tane said. “Do we really have to stay underneath the canopy the whole time? I mean, couldn’t we fly just on top of the jungle? The TSN will have a hard time picking us out from orbit, especially if we stay low. And if it’s LIDAR you’re worried about, remember, LIDAR can only be used in relatively tiny, focused blasts. They’ll have to concentrate the beams, and won’t be able to cover more than one or two cities at once, especially with a moon of this size.”

“Yes, but they’ll have deployed a grid of surveillance satellites,” Sinive said. “I know, because I used to work in an IMINT unit.”

“IMINT?” Tane asked.

“Image Intel,” Sinive explained. “AIs analyze the images in realtime, and as soon as we emerge from the canopy, they’ll know.”

“I’m afraid she’s right,” G’allanthamas said. “This shuttle doesn’t have much in the way of stealth capabilities. The fuselage will readily reflect sunlight, giving our position away. And at night, the thermal profile will be obvious.”

“Ah,” Tane said. “Could you use some masking or blurring Essencework?”

“Yes and no,” the dweller said. “Yes, in that, I can mask each of you individually. No, in that I’m not powerful enough to mask the entire shuttle.”

Tane grabbed the artifact from his storage pouch. “What if you Siphoned through this?”

The dweller seemed to consider the artifact. “Yes. If you enlarged it, I could do it. But only for a short period of time. Twenty standard minutes, maybe half an hour. The drain on my stamina would be too great for any longer.”

“All right.” Tane replaced the artifact. “Staying under the canopy it is. But please try not to hit a tree, okay?”

In answer, the cabin shook violently again.

Another close one.

Tane shook his head, then laid back and tried to sleep once more. The cabin shuddered disturbingly a few more times, but thankfully he soon found the temporary oblivion he sought.

15

Tane awoke to a silent cabin. From where he lay he could see the insubstantial form of Sinive resting against the wall across from him.

He sat up, and the sideways-oriented head of G’allanthamas turned toward him.

“Damn, it wasn’t a dream,” Tane said.

Next to him, Jed shifted. There were heavy bags underneath the Volur’s eyes, but he seemed just as alert as hours before. Tane suspected Jed hadn’t slept at all, probably preferring to keep a constant vigil. Jed didn’t trust the dweller, no doubt. Tane wasn’t sure how much he trusted the alien, either, despite the favorable memories.

Memories can be faked, after all.

Checking the time, he saw that only three hours had passed. Even so, he felt so much better than earlier. Definitely well enough to Siphon freely. He considered experimenting with his Dark timeline to confirm what would happen if he created a new work while his existing reserves were in use, but decided that since he was aboard a shuttle, it was safer to simply ask G’allanthamas. Besides, he didn’t really feel like beginning the interminable fight against those dark flames just yet.

“Gall, do new Dark Essenceworks affect existing reserves?” Tane asked. He excluded Sinive from the comm, since he didn’t want to disturb her rest. “Let’s say I have two Fingers of Ruin in reserve, and I create a third?”

“Your reserves remain intact, while the new work activates immediately,” G’allanthamas explained.

Ah. It was definitely a good thing he hadn’t tried that aboard. Though he supposed he could have used something safer like Night Vision.

Tane glanced at Jed.

“So I still don’t really know what the controlling nanotech did to me,” Tane told the Volur. “I know it created a new chip, but did it infect or corrupt my existing chip in any way? I still have my HUD, and everything otherwise seems normal...”

“The two chips operate independently of one another,” Jed said. “Your existing chip shouldn’t be touched... you still have all your enhanced abilities and the skills granted by that chip. And yet you can also be controlled, thanks to the new TSN chip.”

“So when we remove the control chip, I’ll retain the abilities granted by my old one?” Tane said.

“That’s the theory,” Jed said.

The Volur had told him he needed a shutdown code to safely remove that control trip. But Tane knew of another way, thanks to his latest memories. It would require something more than a shuttle, however.

“You’re sure you don’t have a starship, Gall?” Tane asked.

“Positive,” the alien replied.

“You have an idea, Engineer?” Jed commented.

“Sort of,” Tane said. “It’s too bad we can’t steal a starship in this universe.”

“Oh, we can,” Jed said. “Assuming we can find one on the surface.”

“Shipyards are a good place to start,” Tane said.

“True,” Jed agreed. “But you also need to have an AI core to plug in. Unless you happen to have one hidden away in your storage pouch?”

“No.” Machines and starships showed up in this universe as long as they were located on the surface of the involved planets or moons. But they invariably appeared without AI cores, rendering them essentially useless. It was part of the “no sentient species” rule, which prevented humans and other sentient lifeforms—including AIs—from being mirrored in this universe.

“What is this idea in regards to, anyway?” Jed asked.

“Removing the control chips in my mind, and Sinive’s,” Tane said. “I’ll tell you more when we’re back in our own universe. Or get access to a starship. Whichever comes first.”

Tane looked at G’allanthamas, who was silently watching him.

“When are you going to tell me how you met Tiberius?” Tane asked the dweller.

G’allanthamas swayed, and Tane’s memories interpreted the way the alien’s tentacles moved as a sigh.

“He came to me,” the dweller said. “Rifts existed in human space for many thousands of years. One-way rifts that would only lead to the Umbra. Tiberius took a ship into one of them. He said the darkness had been calling to him all his life. It was a leap of faith for him to travel here, knowing that he would never return. He landed on my homeworld. He lived with my people, and I trained him. He discovered Dark and White Mixing, and with it, a way to travel back to his home universe. He took me and a few of his followers with him for a time, and while there, we began encoding memories to leave behind to the future Doomwielder. You.”

“Wait,” Tane said. “You trained him? I specifically remember Tiberius being trained by a dweller named P’lotholemus. On a planet in my universe. P’lotholemus was wearing an environmental suit.”

“P’lotholemus was one of his teachers as well, yes,” the dweller said. “But the original training did not take place in your universe. What you are remembering are staged events. Understand, P’lotholemus was one of those who came with us to Tiberius’ universe—your universe—and once there, Tiberius had him repeat key lessons so that the memories would encode better. Keep in mind his original training had been over a hundred years previous by that point, with the recollections of those moments merely jumbled fragments in his mind. It was best to redo them.”

“I suppose that makes some sense,” Tane admitted.

“After we returned to your universe, Tiberius lived out the rest of his days in peace, for the most part,” the dweller said. “Before he died, he discovered a unique Dark timeline that allowed one to travel back and forth between universes without any White Siphoning involved whatsoever. He taught the timeline to one of his Builder apprentices, but the youth used the skill too openly, and was eventually caught by one of the tribes whilst visiting the Umbra. This tribe, or faction as you call it, was known as the Cre’ite.

“These dwellers forced the student to reveal the knowledge to them, and with his help, they built an inter-dimensional ship that could not only travel the galaxy, but journey between our universe and yours. Once the Cre’ite finished the construction, they killed the student so he wouldn’t reveal his knowledge to any other tribes, and backed up the brains of the other Builders involved, and similarly exterminated them. Rogue cells managed to destroy those backups, leaving the Cre’ite with only the one ship, and the knowledge of its making lost.

“The Cre’ite tribe waged wars on the tribes that opposed them, and subjugated many of them. Our homeworld, for example, fell entirely under Cre’ite dominion. Those tribes that didn’t submit were banished. With the dweller tribes subjugated, the new Cre’ite empire began journeying back and forth between this universe and yours with their flagship, raiding the different species that existed there at the time. Their favorite tactic was to locate an inhabited planet in the Umbra. There would be no lifeforms present to stop them from purloining all the technology lying around, so they would take it, duplicate it, and then jump into your universe and use the technology of their prey against them.

“This was done not for resources, or anything of the sort. But for sport. You see, your universe doesn’t seem entirely real to us. We see the different species of your universe as insubstantial, ghostly. It was mostly a game for the Cre’ite, a way to sate their bloodthirst without having to attack members of their own race. A game where the reward was not only a few kills, but the acquisition of new technology and equipment.

“Tiberius had hidden away his origins from most of his followers, so that when the Cre’ite interrogated them, they did not learn where humanity existed in this galaxy. But the Cre’ite empire finally encountered human bases and colonies many centuries later, or about twenty standard human years ago, and the Cre’ite finally met their match. Humanity was taken by surprise, but quickly rallied. Your Volur destroyed their inter-dimensional ship. Meanwhile, the Hated Enemy rose to power among your kind, and ripped open the homeworld of the Cre’ite empire, killing not only the Cre’ite, but the many innocent tribes that resided thereupon. The destruction created a permanent rift leading from our universe to yours.” G’allanthamas paused. “I have become slightly sidetracked in answering your question. But I’ll wrap up with this: the remnants of the Cre’ite, and those tribes allied with them, now fight humanity not for sport, but for vengeance.”

“And what about you?” Tane asked.

“The Cre’ite deserved a beatdown for what they were doing in your universe,” G’allanthamas said. “But destroying the homeworld the Cre’ite shared with the other tribes they had subjugated, and the billions of innocent lives inhabiting it, was entirely uncalled for, and beyond cruel. That said, our two races, human and dweller, have been fighting for long enough. There must be peace between us. And soon.”

Tane sat back to consider the dweller’s words. After a moment, he leaned forward.

“So why are you helping me?” Tane asked the alien. “You already admitted you intended to abandon me after you fulfilled your part. Yet you came back. Saved me. And don’t tell me it’s to honor the memory of Tiberius, or to keep your word to him, or that you want our two races to stop fighting. You have your own motivations, and they run deeper than that. What are they? I need to know, if I’m to trust you.”

“I couldn’t let the memories and skills of Tiberius fall into the hands of the Hated Enemy,” G’allanthamas said.

“It’s as simple as that?” Tane said.

“Well, I admit to feeling the need to be useful once again,” the dweller said. “When I told you I would return to my cave and wither away to join my mate, I meant it. But when the Hated Enemy arrived, it sparked a will to fight inside of me, a will I thought I had long lost. When I watched members of your own party betray you, I realized you needed more coddling than even Tiberius thought. You’re not the Doomwielder I was expecting, not yet. You can’t even choose your friends wisely.” He turned slightly toward Sinive’s sleeping form. “I saw her point a pistol at you in the street, before the Hated Enemy arrived. I don’t trust her in the least.”

“So that’s why you’re so antagonistic toward her,” Tane said.

“That, and because she stabbed me when we first met,” G’allanthamas said.

“That would do it, I guess,” Tane said. “As for her behavior on the street… she was injected with controlling nanotech, like me. By the… Hated Enemy.”

“Exactly why I don’t trust her,” the dweller said. “Who knows what subconscious commands lurk in her brain stem, waiting to rise to the surface and lash out?”

Tane glanced at Jed, and realized the warrior Volur was not only watching Tane to protect him from G’allanthamas, but from Sinive as well, for exactly the reason the dweller just stated.

“Also,” G’allanthamas continued. “I help you because I learned what happened to the dweller fleet in the system you call Anteres. All these years, the Hated Enemy did not enter the Umbra in force because we dwellers mostly kept to ourselves after the destruction of the Cre’ite-ruled homeworld. The Hated Enemy felt they had done enough damage. But now, after the failed invasion attempt, I worry that waves of human warships will soon begin entering the different rifts leading to our space, on hunter killer missions to eradicate our kind. If they discover the colonies of the other tribes, there is a good chance the Hated Enemy will use the same tactics to destroy them as they did the Cre’ite homeworld. This cannot be allowed.”

“And you think I can stop the TSN?” Tane said.

“You are the Doomwielder,” G’allanthamas said. “Already you are distracting the Hated Enemy. They should be mobilizing their fleet, preparing to invade the Umbra, instead, they’re mustering all of their resources to look for you.”

“And how do you know about this?” Tane asked.

“We dwellers have our own equivalent of your Galnet,” G’allanthamas said. “I still keep in touch with old friends. Friends who live among the Cre’ite, and have access to their intel.”

Tane considered the dweller’s words for a moment, and he had a sudden realization.

“The Cre’ite think I’m going to give that knowledge back to them,” Tane said. “The ability to travel back and forth between this universe and our own by using only the Dark Essence.”

“That, among other things,” G’allanthamas said.

“What other things?” Tane said.

The dweller was silent.

“Okay, so back to the inter-dimensional travel ability...” Tane said. “I’ve seen the list of Essence works Tiberius left me. The inter-dimensional distortion tunnel is available to Dark and White Mixing alone. There isn’t a Dark-only variant.”

“I know,” G’allanthamas said. “Tiberius decided not to encode the Dark variant in any of the artifacts, for the very reason that he didn’t want the dwellers to capture you and take it from you. He figured you would discover it for yourself if it were truly necessary. But the other dwellers don’t know the knowledge is not yours. And they wouldn’t believe me even if I told them.”

“Do you know the Dark-only variant of the inter-dimensional distortion tunnel?” Tane asked.

“No,” the alien said. “Tiberius did not teach me. He taught only the one Builder apprentice.”

Tane sat in silence for some time. The cabin floor shook as the craft no doubt dodged the latest tree in its path. “All right, well, what’s going to happen when we reach Matahepte? Do you have an environmental suit?”

“Yes,” G’allanthamas said. “It’s here.” He tapped the cabin floor with a large leg, and the thud resounded across the surface.

“Underneath the floor?” Tane asked.

“There is a hidden panel, yes,” the dweller replied. “My suit is underneath.”

“Must be a big hidden panel,” Tane commented. He couldn’t see seams anywhere.

“Yes, half the floor comes off,” G’allanthamas said.

“Nice,” Tane said. “So you can come with us after all. Maybe… how many people can I take back with me when I reach the lens in Matahepte?”

“The inter-dimensional distortion tunnels that Tiberius imbued into the lenses were of high level,” G’allanthamas said. “And could easily handle ten people within a five meter radius of the device.”

“So you can come back with us,” Tane said.

“I’m not entering Matahepte,” the alien said. “Nor am I traveling with you back to your universe. I don’t belong there, with the humans. You know this. When I told you I would help you, I didn’t mean for all of eternity. Nor even for more than a few hours. I promised I would take you to the city, and I will. But my aid to you ends when we arrive. Once we land, I will bid you farewell, and we will never see one another again.”

“But there’s nothing for you here,” Tane said. “You admitted it yourself. You need something to keep you occupied, remember? To make you feel useful. And I have to be coddled...”

“You certainly do,” the alien said. “But unfortunately, I won’t be able to do the coddling. I will see you away from the Hated Enemy, and then I am done.”

“But the Hated Enemy will be waiting for me in Matahepte,” Tane said. “And when I return to my own universe, I’ll be in even more danger from them.”

“And what about me?” the dweller said. “I won’t be in danger? My mere presence will draw attention to you. You must realize this.”

“What about that blurring Essencework you told me about?” Tane said. “You can hide your form, can’t you?”

“I can,” the dweller said. “But it does not work well during daylight, remember...”

“We’ll make it work,” Tane said. “Hell, if we find a storage pouch with big enough inventory slots, I can carry you at my belt.”

“Oh yes, my favorite form of travel,” G’allanthamas said. The sarcasm was lost in the multiple human speakers enunciating each word. “Believe me when I tell you: my adventuring days are done. Today was the most adventure I have had since the time of Tiberius.”

“Maybe it’s for the best if the dweller has no desire to come,” Jed said. “Lugging a member of an alien species considered at war with the TSN through a crowded human city will cause... issues.”

“See?” G’allanthamas said. “The Volur does not wish me to come.”

“And since when has the will of a Volur ever swayed you?” Tane said. “Tiberius always thought of you as headstrong, and loyal to a fault. You would have followed Tiberius to the center of the galaxy if he asked it of you.”

“Yes,” G’allanthamas said. “But you are not Tiberius.”

Tane decided to back off. Perhaps it was wrong to force the dweller to come with him. Still, he couldn’t help but feel it would be useful to have the alien on his side, especially considering how obviously capable in the Dark Essence G’allanthamas was. The alien’s presence might also be helpful if Tane needed to communicate with other dwellers and their factions, in space or in person.

He shook his head.

Already I’m only thinking of ways I can use him. He was Tiberius’ friend. I should respect his wishes. If he doesn’t want to come, I have to let him go.

G’allanthamas had fulfilled any obligation he had to Tiberius when he delivered the artifact to Tane. He didn’t have to rescue Tane, nor fly him to the next city. G’allanthamas was already going above and beyond what was required of him.

The alien had done enough.

Yes, Tane resolved not to pursue the matter again.

He rested, but was unable to fall asleep again.

About half an hour later Sinive stirred. She crunched her gloves into fists and raised them as if intending to rub her eyes, but when her fingers touched the translucent faceplate she realized she was wearing a helmet.

She lowered her arms and glanced at the dweller.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about something… are you mentally linked to a Graaz’dhen?” she asked the alien.

The dweller’s large sideways-oriented jaw tilted slightly toward her, but then reverted to its normal positioning. Long moments passed, so much so that Tane thought the dweller was going to ignore her, but then he spoke.

“Of course I’m not,” G’allanthamas said. “I’m not part of a fighting cohort.”

“What’s the point of the link, anyway?” Sinive pressed. “You have communications tech, don’t you?”

“Yes, but the mental link evolved before we ever had tech,” the dweller said. “Graaz’dhen still use it today, mostly because it allows them to issue orders seamlessly, without the range limitations and deployment requirements of a technology-based network. And also a Graaz’dhen uses the link to ensure its subordinates don’t flee.”

“Can Graaz’dhen Siphon?” Tane asked.

Jed was the one who answered. “Graaz’dhen are enhanced with the Dark Essence to be bigger and stronger than other dwellers. But only a few can Siphon themselves.”

“Yes,” G’allanthamas agreed. “Some are Amaranth, as your Volur friend says. The Graaz’dhen Amaranth are even more dangerous than ordinary Graaz’dhen. They can bestow bonuses to their linked troops from afar. Or drain stamina and strength from them in times of need, also from afar. Of course, they can also reach into the minds of humans. Yes, very dangerous.”

“I’ve only ever met one Graaz’dhen Amaranth before,” Jed said. “Wasn’t fun.”

“No, I imagine not,” G’allanthamas said.

It took another hour and a half to reach the target. Tane managed to nap for another twenty minutes during that time, and when he woke up, he prepared two Dark reserves: one Fingers of Ruin, the other Melt Metal, and then waited for the final minutes to pass.

“We’ve arrived,” G’allanthamas finally announced. “I’ve instructed the shuttle AI to land two hundred meters outside the city walls. It’s currently nighttime.”

“You’ve been flying using a combination of echolocation and multi-echo LIDAR, I assume?” Jed asked.

“Not me,” the dweller answered. “The AI. But it had no choice. Not if we wanted to remain below the canopy and still avoid the trees.”

“If there are any TSN scouts deployed in the jungle, you might have alerted them, then,” Jed said.

“I have instructed the AI to take the utmost care,” G’allanthamas said. “Already we’ve slowed to a crawl, and dropped the range of the LIDAR down to very close. If Rusty spots anything, he’ll retreat immediately.”

“Rusty!” Sinive said triumphantly. “I got you to call it Rusty!”

“I did so only out of courtesy to you humans,” the dweller said. “Not specifically for you.”

“Yeah sure,” Sinive said. “You did it for me.”

In a few moments the shuttle landed. The ramp lowered and Jed hurried down. He became invisible before reaching the bottom.

Tane had his beam hilt in hand, and his D18 hanging from his shoulder. Sinive held her pistol. They both stared into the darkness beyond, ready for anything.

“It’s clear,” Jed transmitted.

Tane turned toward the dweller.

“Thank you,” Tane told G’allanthamas. “For everything.”

“No, thank you,” the alien said. “You have brought hope to this old heart. Hope that the galaxy can yet be saved.”

“Yeah, I wish I knew what I was saving it from,” Tane said.

“There is… another threat coming,” G’allanthamas said.

“Another threat?” Tane asked.

The dweller retreated a pace. “Yes. That is all you need to know, for now.”

“I wish everyone would stop being so cryptic about what it is I’m supposed to do,” Tane said.

“That’s because no one really knows what you’re to do, Doomwielder,” G’allanthamas said. “Such is the mystery of fate.”

“All right,” Tane said. “It was good seeing you again one last time. Thanks again for your help.”

He turned to go.

“What, you’re not coming?” Sinive said. She sounded stunned, and more than a little upset. But then her voice hardened. “I mean: that’s good. Can’t say I’ll miss you, Dweller.”

“Nor I you, Human,” G’allanthamas said.

With that, Tane and Sinive stepped down the ramp and joined Jed. Tane relied on his overhead map, as he couldn’t actually see him. It wasn’t that Jed was invisible—well, he probably was—but it was just pitch black out there.

Tane turned back toward the shuttle, and saw the silhouette of G’allanthamas lingering at the top of the ramp behind him, lit by the shuttle’s inner lights. The alien retreated as the ramp silently sealed.

Jed shared LIDAR and echolocation map data with Tane, so that the darkness around him lit up with 3D wireframes representing the undergrowth and the tall trees sprinkled among the foliage. Jed also showed up as a wireframe, so that Tane still couldn’t tell if he was invisible or not. Sinive was there, too.

“The city wall is this way,” Jed said. He began moving away into the jungle, and Tane and Sinive followed close behind.

“Make sure your transmission ranges are low,” Jed said. “I’m talking sub five meters, here.”

Tane and Sinive confirmed their settings before continuing on their way. Tane tried to activate his shield generator, but like before, the foliage was too thick, and constantly caused the shield to trigger, draining it of energy. So he left it offline for the time being.

Tane glanced back one last time at the shuttle, but then froze.

“Jed, wait,” he said.

The ramp was opening again.

When it touched the ground, G’allanthamas appeared in an old-style environmental suit, the kind P’lotholemus, his Dark Siphoning teacher, had worn. Pistons slowly moved up and down at the rear of the suit, circulating the internal environment. On the 3D wireframe, Tane could discern the bulge of a shield generator underneath the dome that covered G’allanthamas’ sideways-oriented head.

The dweller didn’t need the suit here in the Umbra, but obviously intended to return with Tane to his own universe. There was no other reason to wear it.

The ramp sealed behind the dweller, and G’allanthamas closed to within four meters. On Tane’s contact list, the dweller moved to the online column.

“All right all right, you convinced me,” the dweller said over the comm. “I’m coming. But only because you insisted.”

Tane glanced at Jed, but couldn’t see his face: the LIDAR-generated wireframe displayed the helmet as a flat polygon. He had no doubt the Volur didn’t approve, however. Even so, Tane felt slightly relieved. Yes, he could definitely use G’allanthamas’ skills in the Essence, and his wisdom regarding all things dweller. But because of Tiberius’ memories, he also regarded the alien as his friend, and Tane was glad to have him along for the journey.

“Someone’s wishy washy,” Sinive commented.

“Yes, I expected a demeaning remark of some sort regarding my change of heart from the likes of you,” G’allanthamas said. “Be warned. I will be keeping a careful watch on you, Human. If you threaten the Doomwielder again, you will regret it.”

“As will you,” Sinive told the alien.

“You two should get a room or something,” Jed quipped.

“You know, I often wondered if Volurs were a-holes,” Sinive said. “Now I know.”

“Yes, you are an a-hole as she says,” the dweller added. “She and I are entirely different species. A room. Humph!”

“Oh, so you got that joke,” Jed said. “I thought it would go over your head. Considering that you claim not to understand human humor, and all.”

“Oh, I understand most of it,” G’allanthamas said. “You forget, I accompanied a human for two hundred years. I just don’t find it funny.”

“Tiberius lived to two hundred?” Tane said. “Not bad.”

“More,” G’allanthamas said. “But I only knew him for his last two hundred.”

“Not sure why anyone would want to live that long,” Sinive said. “Me, I plan to go out in a blaze of glory long before then.”

“Don’t say that,” Tane told her. “Especially not now. You’re going to live a long time.”

“Yeah, guess I shouldn’t jinx us or anything, huh?” Sinive said. “By the way, how long can you last in that suit, Dweller? If you expect to come with us, you’ll be wearing it for a long time…”

“I can wear the suit indefinitely, basically,” the alien replied. “It’s not like the primitive gear you wear, requiring you to haul around heavy oxygen tanks that need constant replenishing. Our suits recycle everything we need, except for our food source. But one Dirac can last me for six months, if I ration it.”

“That’s certainly convenient,” Sinive commented.

“Yes, though admittedly uncomfortable,” G’allanthamas said.

The four of them walked onward in silence.

Tane tried to share his LIDAR feed with the dweller, but G’allanthamas refused. Either his suit had its own multi-echo LIDAR capability, or the alien was using Night Vision.

Tane glanced at the dweller, and at that environmental suit. There was a Dark Essencework that could create a protective environment for a dweller, but maybe G’allanthamas didn’t know that particular work. He couldn’t ever remember the dweller using it in any of Tiberius’ memories. And like the Volur, the Amaranth hoarded their Essenceworks, and didn’t give them out freely. Tane was lucky that Tiberius had set up dark artifacts specifically for the purposes of granting knowledge to the future World Bender.

Or maybe G’allanthamas simply preferred the suit, because Protective Environment required a maintenance stream of Dark Essence for its upkeep, similar to Persistent Flame of the White.

Tane reread the information about the protective work on his HUD. It was available at level six of Dark Siphoning:

Protective Environment. Surround yourself with a protective environment. Allows you to exist in the void, or incompatible atmospheres, without a spacesuit or pressurized battle armor. Initially lasts for two hours, though at higher levels the duration is longer. Stamina drain: medium (a small stamina hit is continually taken thereafter for the duration the environment is active). Creation time: twenty minutes.

A useful ability to have if one was thrown into the void or one’s suit was breached while in a hostile environment. It was just too bad the creation time was so high. He supposed that he could just hold a Protective Environment in a reserve slot at all times, ready to activate at a moment’s notice. Though that meant giving up a slot that could otherwise provide him with an extra weapon in a time of need.

Speaking of reserve slots, the two fiery globes representing Fingers of Ruin and Melt Metal continued to float above him, waiting to be released. He was glad he didn’t have to continually Siphon the Dark Essence to keep those active.

The party didn’t encounter any TSN scouts and reached the city wall without incident. Like in Durahepte, that wall served the dual purpose of keeping the jungle out, as well as generating a field to protect the city when the storms came. The upper canopy of the trees reached right up to the border of those walls, ensuring that the party was shielded from any LIDAR the orbiting TSN craft were likely beaming into the city.

“Wait here,” Jed said.

The Volur approached the wall, and began to climb it.

“Someone has a high climbing skill,” Sinive commented.

“He cheats,” G’allanthamas said. “His battle armor has specialized attachments, if I’m not mistaken.”

It took about ten minutes for Jed to reach the top and climb down again.

When he returned, the Volur warrior shared the recordings he had made. He hadn’t used LIDAR or echolocation—doing so would have potentially given away his location. Instead he’d relied on the night vision ability of his armor faceplate to enhance the dim light sources scattered throughout the city. As such, the video that played back on Tane’s chip was colored green and black.

“As I feared, there are TSN shuttles on patrol,” Jed said. “And mechs and robots searching the streets.”

Tane studied the green and black representation of the city that played as Jed spoke. The view panned left to right. Like the previous city, the structures were all silos with ornate carvings and frescoes. Even more of those silos had bird wing ornamentations near the tops than Durahepte. That was a capital city for you, Tane supposed.

He saw the outlines of TSN shuttles roaming the skies above those buildings, and of mechs and robots patrolling the streets below.

“Have you confirmed whether the TSN is beaming down LIDAR from orbit?” Tane asked.

“They are,” Jed answered. “They have the city under complete surveillance.”

“Gall, you told us earlier you could blur us from LIDAR?” Tane said. “And that it works great at night?”

“Certainly,” G’allanthamas said. “From afar, you will blend into the darkness. But get too close, and it won’t fool the AIs. The same is true with security cameras.”

“So we’ll still have to avoid any patrols we come across,” Jed said.

“You will,” the dweller agreed. “It will require some time to set up.”

“See, this is why we need you,” Tane told the alien. He had a sudden thought and turned toward Jed. “But Lyra was able to hide my face from robots at customs with her blurring.”

“Hide your features, you mean,” Jed said. “Your face was still visible. Blurring your features is a different thing than trying to obscure your presence entirely, which is what our alien friend is trying to achieve.”

“We might not have to hit the streets,” Sinive said. “I’m looking at the city blueprints. The sanitation system cycles sewage out through the walls. There’s an outfall nearby. The tunnel leads through the wall and underneath the city, and connects to a pumping station, which is itself connected to the underground pedway system. Once we’re in the pedway system, we can use it to get as close as possible to wherever the inter-dimensional lens is located.”

“I don’t have the blueprints...” Tane said. His surface map data didn’t include the sewer system.

“Sharing now,” Sinive said.

Tane accepted the sharing request and reviewed the new map data. He nodded behind his faceplate. “She’s right. Assuming we can actually get out of the sewers at the pumping station, the pedway system will take us all the way to where we need to go.”

“We’ll be able to get out of the sewers.” Sinive’s wireframe patted the pistol she held. “My trusty friend will assure it.”

“Or mine,” Tane said, patting his own beam hilt. “Well, Gall, I guess you don’t have to blur us after all.”

“Not so fast,” Jed interjected. “The underground pedways will have robot patrols, too, at the very least.”

“And I’m sure there are security cameras in the pedway system, and the concourses beneath the buildings they connect to,” Sinive added. “Will they be active?”

“Likely,” Jed said.

“But without working AIs in the Umbra, we won’t be detected by any facial algorithms,” Tane said. “And the RFID readers scattered throughout the city and pedway system are also useless without a central AI to process all the data.”

“Yeah but this is the TSN,” Sinive said. “They’ll have taken along their own AI cores to plug into the security center downtown, and with the robots to man it. Trust me, I know how the TSN works.”

Tane turned toward the dweller. “Gall, I guess you’ll have to blur us after all. That will handle the security cameras, but what about the RFID readers? Sinive and I have spoofing going on, but that won’t cut it here. When we’re the only humans showing up in an otherwise empty city, it’ll be obvious who we are. Can you do anything about that?”

“The magnetic resonance from the blurring should prevent the readers from picking us up,” G’allanthamas said. “Assuming we don’t get too close to them. As in within two or three meters.”

“Okay, good,” Tane said. “Jed, I’m highlighting the sewer tunnel in the city wall that will take us to the pumping station. Lead the way.”

Jed guided them through the white wireframes that represented the thick foliage along the exterior of the wall.

“You know, I have to admit I’m a bit surprised they still use such an outdated waste management system here,” Sinive said. “I guess the residents of Sigma 231 have never heard of in-apartment sewage processing.”

“Not everyone likes to drink their own waste water,” Jed said. “Recycled or not.”

“Yeah, well, get them to live on a starship for a few weeks, and we’ll solve that problem real fast,” Sinive said. “We’re all crap drinkers, here.”

“That’s disgusting,” Tane said.

“Yeah, but it’s true,” Sinive said. “You just never stopped to think about it.”

“This type of waste management is also part of the belief system here,” Jed said. “The Sigma 231-ians believe they’re giving back to the environment by returning their processed effluence to the river.”

“Weird belief system,” Sinive said.

“Not to mention expensive,” Tane said. “It’s far cheaper to process sewage at the residence level. Just as it’s far cheaper to provide electricity via solar energy.”

No one answered him. Apparently they didn’t want to discuss the pros and cons of different electrical and sewage infrastructure systems at the moment. Tane didn’t blame them: his inner engineer often yearned for intricate technical discussions at the most inappropriate of times.

Two minutes in:

“Whoa, your LIDAR representation just vanished,” Sinive said.

“Whose?” Tane asked.

“Yours.”

“I’ve finished applying the blurring to Tane,” G’allanthamas said. “I’m working on the rest of you.”

“Oh wait, I see him again,” Sinive said.

“That’s because he let you get too close,” the dweller said.

Tane moved a few more steps away from her.

“And he’s gone again,” Sinive said. “So I’m curious… what was your plan, Mr. Volur, if we didn’t have the dweller here to blur us? Could you have hidden us the same way? Or can you only make yourself invisible?”

“Just myself,” Jed said. “And blurring against facial recognition and thermal detection algorithms is a different thing than invisibility.”

“But Lyra could blur…” Tane said. “She did it to me, and to our getaway shuttle when we fled the dweller ship after rescuing Sinive. For a few seconds anyway.”

“I’m not Lyra,” Jed said. “My plan was simply to move quickly. Very quickly.”

“Nice plan,” Sinive said. “Somehow, I’m glad we ended up not going with it.”

“We still have to move fast,” Jed said. “Even if we’re coming in through the sewer system.”

“Yeah well, I’m not sure how fast you can move when you’re knee deep in crap,” Sinive said.

“An experience not entirely unfamiliar to you?” Tane quipped.

“Oh yeah,” Sinive said. “Me and crap, we go way back. Sometimes, I wonder why I’m always the one getting dumped on.”

“There are two kinds of people in this life,” G’allanthamas said. “Those who take the dump, and those who get dumped on. Be the one who takes the dump.”

“Now I’m getting philosophical advice from an alien,” Sinive said. “With a metaphor about excretion. Wonderful.”

“Humans seem to listen more attentively to advice when it involves their excretory systems,” G’allanthamas said. “It is a metaphor you humans can more easily grasp with your crude minds.”

“Glad you think so highly of us,” Sinive said. “Tell me again why Tiberius allowed you into his inner circle?”

Every two minutes, another one of them dropped from the wireframe display, until finally they were only visible on the overhead map, thanks to location sharing. They all stayed under five meters away from each other, as per their reduced transmission ranges.

“This is it,” Jed said. He stood beside an arch that had been carved into the bottom of the wall. Below it was a half-circle gutter that extended away through the jungle, where it would eventually meet up with other “trunk lines” from the city before arriving at the sewage processing site, where the effluent would be treated before being released into a river. That none of the cleared undergrowth had regrown near the sludge-filled tract spoke volumes.

“If we didn’t have fully pressurized suits at the moment, I don’t think we’d be able to stand here without throwing up,” Sinive said.

“Now you know why I donned my environmental suit already,” G’allanthamas said.

“Yeah, that’s right, try to pretend you knew we were coming this way,” Sinive said.

“I knew we’d be passing through the bowels of a human city one way or another…” the dweller said. “And I knew it would stink.”

“Whatever,” Sinive said.

“The sewage doesn’t seem to be moving,” Tane commented.

“It’s not,” Jed said. “This universe creates snapshots of our own, remember… any moving liquids from our universe will be treated as stagnant pools.”

“What would happen if we came across a waterfall?” Tane said.

“It would still exist,” Jed said. “But the water wouldn’t be flowing. It would seem to defy the laws of physics, just floating in place.”

Jed leaped down, splashing into the liquid.

Tane followed, and the sludge buried his leg assembly up to the thighs. He waded forward, entering the cylindrical tunnel underneath the wall. Sinive followed behind him, and G’allanthamas brought up the rear. The dweller had to draw in his eight legs and crouch low to fit, especially with the added bulk of his suit.

“You know, this isn’t as disgusting as I thought it would be,” Sinive said. “I guess it helps that it’s pitch black. With the wireframes provided by the LIDAR, and our spacesuits to protect us, we might as well be wading through thick water.”

“Thick water,” Tane said. “I like that. Good euphemism.”

Tane activated his shield generator, and the energy field only activated in a half dome around him, above the sludge.

Jed came across a set of bars that were illustrated as thin white lines on the LIDAR feed. Those bars blocked all access forward. “Engineer, probably easier if you handle this.”

Tane edged past the Volur, unclipped the beam hilt from his belt, and stepped into the Essence through the device to activate his ax. The whole area lit up, thanks to the white beam.

Tane cut a horizontal line through the bars as close as possible to the top of the tunnel. When that was done, he sliced the energy blade through the bottom portions, which he couldn’t see through the sludge as neither the LIDAR nor the light from his weapon penetrated it. He simply estimated where the floor was and aimed the blade just above it. The Essence weapon passed through the liquid like it wasn’t there, and the bars toppled in turn, sometimes clattering as they struck the surrounding tunnel walls, and other times squishing into the sludge. A couple of them hit Tane’s shield before bouncing away.

Finished with the job, he deactivated the beam hilt and secured it to his belt once more. Then Jed led the way inside.

Following the blueprint, Jed guided them through the labyrinth of the sewer system without issue. They moved from the trunk line, to an expansive catch basin, and then turned onto a local sewer line that wound underneath the streets. At times they were able to travel along walkways that bordered the sludge. At other times they had to wade directly in it. None of the kraals were present, despite the fact that some of the tunnels were rather cavernous in nature.

At one point they came across a couple of small sewage waterfalls inside. Tane momentarily activated his head lamp to observe them on the visual band: like Jed had said, the liquid wasn’t flowing. It just floated there, defying the laws of gravity.

“Gross,” Sinive said. “Turn that off, please.”

Tane deactivated his headlamp and moved on. Still, he had to chuckle. “Never thought I’d ever find myself trudging past frozen waterfalls of crap.”

“Story of my life,” Sinive said.

16

Finally Tane and the others reached the large septic tanks underneath the pumping station. There were no walkways here, so they had to “swim” across. Tane deactivated his shield generator and, since he had no swimming skills, he hung on to Jed’s back as the Volur took him to the far side of the first septic tank. There, the rungs of a ladder led up the tall wall. Tane climbed after Jed, followed by Sinive and G’allanthamas.

The dweller was able to scale the relatively tiny ladder surprisingly well in that bulky environmental suit, albeit slowly. He crimped his long legs underneath, sort of like a dead bug, so that they overlapped one another before touching the ladder. Only the bottom four legs touched the rungs in any sort of capacity, while G’allanthamas kept the top four pressed firmly against his underside. The tentacles at the front of the carapace, which were tipped with fingers, served as an anchor for the upper half of the body: G’allanthamas would lodge his lower feet on the bottom rungs, extend his tentacles to the next section of the ladder above, grasp it with his fingers, then pull himself upward and secure his feet onto the next higher rung. In that way he gradually climbed after the others.

“Come on, slowpoke,” Sinive taunted the alien.

G’allanthamas didn’t answer.

“Where did you learn to climb anyway?” Sinive asked.

“As I told you all, I lived among humans for two hundred years,” G’allanthamas answered.

“I guess that would do it,” Sinive agreed.

At the top of the ladder Jed paused underneath a hatch.

“Looks like the locking wheel is on the top side,” the Volur warrior said.

“Do you need me up there?” Tane asked.

“I got this one,” Jed said. He removed his Chrysalium sword. It glowed a bright blue as he fed it with Essence and slammed it into the metal. Then he carved a large circular hole. The heavy plug fell inward, and Jed bashed it aside so that it wouldn’t hit Tane and the others on the way down, and instead it splashed into the sludge below.

“If you could do that, why did you need me to cut the bars back there?” Tane said. “Or the double doors leading out of Durahepte?”

“I didn’t,” Jed said. “I admit, I was feeling lazy.”

“Ah,” Tane said.

Light spilled from beyond the circular hole, and from where he hung Tane could make out a small metal chamber.

The dim light also illuminated Jed, who appeared to be surrounded by a partially translucent sphere of darkness: the dweller’s blurring effect. Tane glanced downward and saw that Sinive and G’allanthamas were also surrounded by black spheres: the dweller’s was bigger, of course. Tane had a sphere enveloping him as well, though it seemed more translucent than the others—probably a feature of the Essencework, meant to prevent his vision from becoming overly clouded.

“I can see why you said we’d still have to avoid patrols,” Sinive commented. “If those passages are lighted, we’ll look like big black balls.”

“But you like big balls, don’t you?” Tane quipped.

“Har,” Sinive said.

“Careful, Engineer,” Jed said. “Hers are just as big as yours.”

“I’m not sure whether that’s a compliment or an insult,” Sinive said.

“Probably a little of both.” Jed pulled himself through and waited for the others.

“Yup, Volur are a-holes,” Sinive said.

“Hey, I feel left out...” Tane said.

“You are too, obviously,” Sinive said.

“Well thank you,” Tane said. “Now I feel complete.”

“Just climb, Outrimmer,” Sinive said.

Tane continued up toward the chamber.

“Uh,” G’allanthamas said. “I won’t be able to fit through that.”

“I’ll enlarge it for you,” Tane said.

Just underneath the plug, he cautiously retrieved his beam hilt—now wouldn’t be the best time to drop it, as he doubted he’d be able to find it if it hit that sludge. Then he ignited the blade and held onto the ladder with one arm as he carved away a larger section. He pulled himself close to the rungs as the pieces fell around him.

“Hey, watch it!” Sinive said as a fragment struck her.

“Sorry,” Tane said. He cut away a few more sections. “That should do.” He deactivated the hilt and secured it to his belt.

“Yes, but barely,” G’allanthamas complained.

Tane pulled himself through and Sinive came after him. He found himself in some kind of maintenance room with conduits running into a circular console near the floor.

Jed, Sinive and Tane grabbed onto the tentacles of the dweller’s environmental suit as G’allanthamas shoved his way through, and they helped drag the alien inside. The translucent spheres that surrounded them overlapped without any issues.

When all of them were in the room, Tane activated his shield generator, as did the others.

The entire pumping station was equipped with automatic lights, and the motion sensors still worked in the Umbra, so as the party members made their way through the different rooms and passageways, the overhead panels lit up in turn, allowing Tane to dismiss the LIDAR feed.

While G’allanthamas fit the main passageways well enough, any doorways the party encountered were a challenge—the alien had to turn himself sideways and pull in his legs, using the walls on either side for purchase. The translucent dome at the top of his carapace always scraped against the door frame, and after three doors was already fairly scratched.

“I can see why you weren’t all that eager to join us at first,” Tane said.

“Yes,” G’allanthamas said. “It’s not easy being a dweller in the tiny world of humans.”

The illumination also allowed Tane to see the dark threads leading from his body. They pointed into the walls of the pumping station, toward the lens that was waiting for him out there. The lens that would eventually take him and his intrepid group back to their own universe.

The basement eventually opened into a concourse area that was connected with the pedway system. Tane had Jed lead the way, scouting twenty meters ahead of the party. Since Tane kept his broadcast range limited to five meters, as did Jed, if the Volur ever spotted anything he’d have to come running back to the main party. Or increase his broadcast range. When Jed activated his invisibility, the black globe that surrounded him vanished as well.

“What happened?” Tane asked G’allanthamas.

“The work faded, as I can’t track him when he’s invisible,” the dweller said. “But he doesn’t need my blurring when he’s like that, anyway. It was probably a waste for me to apply it.”

The concourse funneled them into the smaller pedway system, and soon the party was making good time to the necessary grav tram station. G’allanthamas fit the passageway with a little room to spare, however he still grumbled something about “humans and their claustrophobic architectural designs.”

Tane spotted the occasional security camera, and was glad for the blurring effect of the dark spheres. He was careful not to get too close to those cameras. He kept an eye out for TSN patrols, and kraals.

The pedway led through two other concourses beneath buildings along the way. Past the third, which was apparently some sort of commercial district, the pedway began to be lined with various shops and kiosks. Most of them had no inventory, with 3D printers in the back ready to print up a copy from the virtual catalog for snap purchasers who preferred not to pay for drone delivery. If he was in his own universe, at this point Tane would have had to dismiss a profusion of 3D advertisements intruding on his vision, courtesy of his chip. Either that, or disable augmented reality interactions entirely. But in the Umbra, there were no such intrusions.

Some of the shops were stocked with items that couldn’t readily be 3D printed, mostly because of local laws and regulations. Weapons and armor seemed to fall into that category on this particular moon, and Tane couldn’t help but pause outside one particular shop, which was fully-stocked with the latest and greatest battle armor.

“I’m going to make a quick stop,” Tane told Sinive.

“Well I’m obviously going to make a stop, too,” Sinive said. Inside her dark bubble, her spacesuit was oriented toward the shop, no doubt to eye those armor sets just as greedily as he was doing.

Tane glanced ahead at Jed, who was now twenty-five meters away, but the Volur continued his advancement. He hadn’t yet noticed that Tane had stopped. That would change soon enough.

“When Jed comes back, tell him we’ll only be a minute,” Tane instructed the dweller.

“We shouldn’t delay...” G’allanthamas said.

“One minute,” Tane said. “That’s all I ask.”

At this time of night the shop was closed, so a security grille had been lowered over the entrance. Sinive was already standing beside the grille, no doubt putting her hacking skills to use.

“Will your skills work here?” Tane asked her.

In answer, she knelt and opened the grille.

Tane and Sinive hurried inside. Overhead lights activated when they entered, fully illuminating the place.

Tane ran quick IDs on the armor displayed near the front, and quickly moved on to the cases situated deeper inside the shop. He was searching for the best. He finally found a couple of pairs that he couldn’t ID, and knew he’d found something that might interest him.

One was a complete set of armor—legs, chest, arms, boots, gloves, helmet—similar to what Jed wore, though not as thick, and it didn’t glow, meaning it wasn’t Essence imbued. Meanwhile beside it was a single piece armored robe with interlocking metal plates, similar to the battle dress Lyra wore. And, come to think of it, also like the armored robe of the Volur he had met while a captive. What was his name? Xescartes. That particular piece of armor didn’t glow, either.

“Sinive, can you ID these pieces for me?” Tane asked her.

She had broken through a glass display case, and was busy purloining the items inside. She glanced up. “Just a sec.”

She finished stuffing the armor pieces into her pouch and then hurried to his side. “Okay, here you go.”

Tane received the sharing request and accepted.

“By the way, what’s the difference between the power armor, and the armored robe?” Tane said. “I mean, why does it seem like more Volur's prefer the latter, while Jed likes the former?”

“Probably a better question for him,” Sinive said. “But from what I know from my days in the military, you have to have a certain baseline Strength and Dexterity to function in power armor, because even with electroactuators the suits have a certain heft. They’re not like spacesuits: all those bulky ballistic plates aren’t light, even when compressed. You can get exoskeleton attachments to reduce or eliminate those requirements entirely, at the cost of increasing the bulk. Big time. And unlike the armor itself, which can be reduced in size with a mental command, the exoskeletons always stay the same size. You also have to have Battle Armor skill just to equip it; inject yourself with that skill, and the nanotech construct hardpoints just underneath your skin in the joint regions, facilitating the mind-suit connection.”

“Ah,” Tane said.

“And since most Volur choose to devote very little nanotech to Strength and Dexterity, let alone a skill like Battle Armor, the robe is the obvious choice,” Sinive continued. “There are still baseline Strength and Dexterity requirements, but they’re not nearly as high. The downside is you can’t usually get the same protection, unless you’re willing to pay the big bucks to get it Essence imbued.”

Tane examined the ID information Sinive had sent him. She was right. Altogether, the armor rating of the battle suit was about twice that of the robe, but the Strength and Dexterity requirements were also a lot higher. He reviewed the robe’s details a second time.

Armor: Armored Robe I.

Model: Zebra II-5 Rev a.

Item type: Rare.

Weight: 20 kg.

Armor rating: 20.

Armor effects: Moderate protection against weaker plasma and laser impacts. No protection against Essence attacks. Not void capable—please upgrade to the heavier Zebra IV line, which includes the oxygen tanks and retractable hood necessary to enable Enclosure Mode.

Armored Robe specific:

Extra features: Armor is resizable thanks to several layers of memory metals, allowing it to fit inside a spacesuit. When shrunk to its most compact size, armor rating decreases to 5 (but when layered inside a spacesuit or other battle armor, that number still counts toward total overall rating).

Required to equip:

- Strength: 10

- Dexterity: 12

It was fifteen kilograms lighter than his spacesuit, but had double the armor rating at twenty. Well, five when worn underneath his existing spacesuit, which would give him a total rating of fifteen. Not too shabby. He wouldn’t be able to equip it yet, since his Strength fell just short, but he could remedy that the next time he leveled up. Still, he thought it a bit odd that although it weighed less than his spacesuit, it required more Strength to equip. He realized that was probably because electroactuators had been removed to make room for the armored sections.

The Enclosure Mode upgrade sounded like a good idea, but he had a feeling the Strength and Dexterity requirements would be higher—the description did say the Zebra IV line was “heavier.” That would explain why Lyra didn’t own an Enclosure Mode robe, and relied on a spacesuit for void protection. Or maybe Lyra just liked the idea of layering her armor inside a spacesuit to get a higher rating.

Tane disabled his shield generator and then slammed the bottom of his beam hilt into the glass, but it didn’t break.

“Allow me,” Sinive said.

Before Tane could protest, she struck the stock of her pistol against the display case and shattered the glass.

“See how it’s done?” Sinive said.

Tane stowed the one-piece robe in his storage pouch, planning to save the equipment for when he could actually use it. He decided to grab the battle armor, too, if only for the resale value. There wasn’t time to bind it together with a cord, so he asked Sinive if she could carry some of the pieces for him.

“I have spare room in a couple of nested pouches,” Sinive said. “But I charge a storage commission of five percent on any sale you make for items I store.”

“Done,” Tane said, giving her the boots, gloves, and helmet. He figured those were the cheaper items, so he’d pay a lower commission.

He’d have to upgrade to a bigger pouch sometime. Or do like Sinive and just nest multiple cheaper pouches.

“What’s wrong, Engineer?” Jed’s voice came over the comm, startling Tane slightly.

According to the map, Jed had come back within range by then—the Volur was slightly inside the shop, though he remained invisible.

“Nothing,” Tane said. “I just figured we might as well gather a few items while we’re here.”

“There’s no time for this,” Jed said. “We’re under a city in the Umbra, surrounded by TSN troops who are actively searching for us. Giant kraals could be anywhere, ready to attack when we make a wrong turn.”

“Got it.” Tane started to leave, but then his eyes dropped to a display case that contained various shield systems. “Two secs.” He ID’d the shields at the same time, and spotted one he liked.

Shield: A3 Personal Shield System

Model: Aegis C-3 Rev b.

Item type: Rare.

Weight: 1.5 kg.

Damage absorption: 15

Shield effects: Protects against laser, plasma, energy, and melee weapons. Useless against Essence attacks. Can be worn over external gear such as spacesuits or powered armor.

Shield specific:

Effective radius: Fifty centimeters on all sides of the body. In standard mode, external surfaces other than those present during activation will interfere with the projection, causing the shield to take damage. In autogating mode, the shield will automatically adjust to allow external surfaces to pass through, allowing one to take cover behind objects without damaging the shield. Be warned: with autogating active, while you’ll be protected against laser, plasma, and energy weapons, slower-moving weapons such as swords and blunt instruments will pass through. As such, autogating is not recommended for hand-to-hand combat.

Current Charge: 100%

Recharge rate from zero: 160 seconds.

Battery level: *Warning* Extremely low. *Warning*

That autogating mode sounded interesting. Plus it had a twenty second faster recharge rate from zero than his current shield system, and five more points of damage absorption.

Sold!

He took a step back, retrieved his beam hilt and activated the Essence ax this time to slice open the case. He deactivated the hilt and took one of the A3 systems.

Sinive rushed to his side and grabbed the remaining.

“Why are the batteries always so low in these stores?” Sinive complained.

“Dunno.” Tane transferred the battery pack from his existing shield system into the new one, and secured it to his waist. Sinive did likewise.

Then he reactivated his shield. The battery seemed to take.

“Are you done yet?” Jed asked.

“All done,” Tane answered.

G’allanthamas dashed inside. “TSN patrol!”

Whoops.

“Get to the back!” Jed said.

Tane rushed behind the counters and into the back offices. The hallway was tight; he went to the door on the far side and slowly opened it. Peering past, he discovered a private passageway that ran behind all the other shops in that section of the pedway, with various back doors allowing access to the adjacent stores.

“Can’t fit,” G’allanthamas said. The dweller had turned sideways, but couldn’t squeeze the bulky environmental suit into the tight hallway behind Tane. The counter just in front of the hallway didn’t help matters.

G’allanthamas backed away from the counter and into the main area of the shop, and then lowered himself to the floor beside one of the cases beyond. He was evidently going to try to pretend he was part of the fixtures. It could almost work, considering that the glass dome on his head looked a little like a display case, and with his legs hidden underneath, his carapace could almost pass for a table. G’allanthamas angled himself away from the entrance so that he could hide his front-facing tentacles behind the counter.

“Come on!” Sinive shoved Tane toward the private passageway. “Let’s go!”

Tane glanced at the dweller. “I can’t leave him.”

“He’s sacrificing himself for us,” Jed said.

“Actually, I wasn’t,” G’allanthamas said, still within comm range. “But if you wish to abandon me, I won’t blame you. In fact, maybe it’s for the best. You among all of us must escape, Doomwielder.”

“I hate it when you guys talk like that,” Tane said. He hesitated a moment longer, then made his choice. “Comms off. We stay with Gall. Take cover: the patrol will pass us by.”

“Engineer—” Jed began.

“The patrol will pass us by,” Tane insisted. “Now, comms off. We’re going radio silent.” He disabled his internal comm node before anyone could protest, and then made his way out of the hallway to stand behind the counter in the shop proper.

Sinive and Jed lingered in the hallway behind him. No doubt they were arguing amongst themselves. Probably trying to decide whether to abandon Tane or to forcefully drag him out of there.

Tane realized that G’allanthamas had left the security grille at the front wide open, so he deactivated his shield to leap over the front counter. He squeezed past the dweller and dashed to the entrance. He lowered the grille as quietly as possible, cringing at every soft scraping sound that issued from it.

The moment it touched the floor, he raced back to the far side, vaulted over G’allanthamas and the countertop, and then ducked from view. He reactivated his shield, taking care to give himself enough clearance from the counter. He remembered that the shield came with an autogating mode, but decided that now wasn’t the best time to be experimenting with that.

Unsurprisingly, Jed and Sinive had chosen to stay: the Volur had become visible for the time being, conserving his stamina perhaps, as he had taken cover on the left side of the counter, while Sinive positioned herself on the far right beside Tane, closer to the wall. Jed and Sinive had drawn their pistols, and were ready to leave cover to open fire. The shadowy globes of the dweller’s blurring Essencework still surrounded Tane, Sinive, and G’allanthamas, but not Jed.

The Volur promptly shot out the overhead lights, plunging most of the shop into darkness: the front section was still partially lit by the pedway lights outside.

Tane could have used Essence Sight to keep a bead on the entrance, but he had a different idea in mind. He retrieved his D18 and, still crouching, set it down on the counter—he turned his shield off to do so. He positioned it casually on the countertop and accessed the remote interface so that the feed from the scope was available in the upper right of his vision. Then he angled the weapon until he had a good view of the shop entrance and reactivated his shield.

The patrol came. Scepter combat robots armed with plasma rifles marched past. Some of the robots shone their laser sights into the room.

One of them halted. Its laser sight hovered over the display case Tane had cut open to retrieve the personal shield system. It must have communicated the damage to the others, because the entire patrol stopped.

The robot knelt and lifted the unlocked grille. Then it gestured with one fist and two small exploratory drones flew inside.

Tane glanced at Jed, but the Volur had become completely invisible in the darkness. Tane wasn’t sure if the sensors in the tiny drones were powerful enough to pick up the blurred party members in the darkness, considering how close they would be getting, but the small scouts seemed to pass right over the main counter without detecting them. The drones proceeded into the back area, and after searching the offices, rapidly swept by on their way back to the front.

Plasma rifles raised and at the ready, three combat robots entered next.

Damn.

Tane wasn’t sure what gave them away. Maybe the scepters wondered why the overhead lights hadn’t automatically turned on when the drones entered. Maybe it was standard operating procedure to follow up a drone pass with a more detailed search. Or maybe the drones had detected something off about the area around the counter.

Whatever the case, the TSN patrol had decided this particular shop warranted further attention.

Tane watched through his rifle scope as the three combat robots slowly advanced. They kept their weapons at eye level. Likely they were shining infrared lights from those weapons to illuminate the chamber. Either that, or LIDAR.

He wasn’t certain whether or not these robots were connected to the TSN mixnet, and thus transmitting commands from a controller somewhere above, but either way Tane was safe from influence while he had his comms down. At least he hoped he was.

The scepters passed the different displays. One of them paused beside the case Tane and Sinive had plundered. Tane thought it must be communicating with the other robots, because all three halted for a second, only to resume the advance a moment later.

The robots were almost upon G’allanthamas. Tane had one of the robots cleanly in his line of sight. He wondered if he should remotely activate the trigger. If Sinive and Jed were targeting the other two robots, that would be perfect. Then again, without communications, he couldn’t know that: the lack of coordination was one of the down sides of going radio silent.

If he wanted to strike, it was now or never…

He chose not to. It was too risky.

He tried to activate smart targeting, but because the way the weapon was positioned against the countertop, the muzzle couldn’t properly track the robot, and it soon left his sight line.

They won’t notice us. They won’t… they’re going to turn back any second.

They didn’t turn back.

Tane deactivated his shield to reach up onto the counter, and searched for the stock. He found it, and slowly adjusted the weapon, wanting to get the robot lined up again.

But then they reached G’allanthamas.

The dweller decided to take things into its own hands. Or tentacles, as it were.

Appendages shot outward and tightened around one of the robots. The carapace lifted, and legs shot out, slamming another robot into the wall.

The third robot was shot down by Sinive.

According to the overhead map, Jed slid over the counter, still invisible. A moment later he flashed into existence in the pedway outside, his Chrysalium sword slashing through the air.

Tane heard the crash of metal. He glanced at his overhead map and saw that Jed’s chip had transmitted the locations of two red dots representing the remaining combat robots lurking outside. Those dots quickly turned black as Jed eliminated them.

But the robots hadn’t only sent troops in from the front… it was the flash of a laser sight passing over Tane’s rear-view feed that saved him.

Glancing at that feed, he saw two more robots had sneaked inside from the back door and come upon the party from behind. They must have noticed the strange darkness surrounding Tane, because their rifles were pointed directly at him. It looked like they hadn’t swapped out their weapons for rifles that fired energy nets. Then again, maybe these were multipurpose rifles.

He wasn’t going to take any chances. He activated his shield and released his Melt Metal reserve at the same time. He was careful to exclude his spacesuit and weaponry, as well as Sinive’s.

The two robots were within the three-meter area of activation, barely. The Dark work wasn’t powerful enough to melt the robots themselves, but it readily liquefied their weapons.

Sinive must have noticed them on her own rear-view camera feed, because she spun, releasing her pistol twice in rapid succession. The Dark work had apparently melted the robots’ shield generators as well, because her plasma bolts struck their armored chests without encountering an energy field.

Tane grabbed the beam hilt from his belt and ignited the ax to finish the job. When it was done he returned the hilt to his belt and turned his shield off and on to retrieve his D18 from the counter. He reactivated his comms, choosing a five-meter distance.

“Well that’s teamwork for you,” G’allanthamas said.

Jed flashed into view as he vaulted over the counter. “The front entrance is clear. I’ll check the back.”

He disappeared, and Tane watched on the overhead map as he passed through the back door, returning a moment later. He became visible. “Clear.”

“We have to go, now,” Sinive said. “Before they can send reinforcements.”

“You think they got a signal out?” Tane asked.

“I’m sure of it,” Sinive replied. “It was standard procedure in my day for squads to leave drones behind. If they had enough drones, they’d string them out to act as repeaters, keeping them in contact with the military-grade mixnet formed by the company. If not, the drones would simply retreat until they reinitiated contact with that adhoc mixnet. The goal was to have reinforcements available within five minutes of any disturbance. At all times.”

“Let’s go!” Jed said, racing toward the front door. He became invisible once more.

Still enveloped by the dark spheres that blurred them, Tane, Sinive and G’allanthamas followed. Tane started up a new Melt Metal timeline on the run. Just as he left the shop, Jed’s voice came over the comm.

“Back back back!” Jed said. “Return to the concourse!”

On the overhead map, his indicator was retreating.

Tane spotted robot troops in the distance and spun around. His first instinct was to take cover in the shop, and he did so; the blurring must have been working, because the troops would have opened fire if they had spotted the party. Tane wondered how close he could get to the scepters in these lighting conditions before the machines were able to discern him.

He didn’t want to find out.

He raced back into the open and retreated in the opposite direction with the others.

Jed led them to the concourse underneath the last building behind them, and then took a detour through a side pedway. Behind them, more troops were coming down into the concourse from the stairs that led to the streets above.

The team hurried through the concrete corridor. There were no shops and kiosks here like in the previous pedway, and soon they reached another concourse. Jed swerved north, taking the pedway there and putting them back on the path to their destination.

The next concourse was full of kraals. These were slightly smaller than their jungle cousins, so that they could easily roam the tunnels of the underground pedway system.

There was no way the team could pass through, so Jed had them retreat; unfortunately a small patrol of kraals just so happened to be returning to the concourse at that moment, and blocked the way out. Tane and his party were forced to kill them.

The scent of blood attracted the other kraals, and the horde of alien beasts scrambled to pursue the team. Apparently they could see right through the blurring Essencework G’allanthamas had created. Or rather, they could smell through it—the party members were still covered in the fresh blood of their enemies.

The dweller turned one of the pursuers into a Dirac: that diverted a substantial portion of the kraals as they fought amongst themselves for the pulsating crystal. However, at least half of the creatures still pursued the fleeing team members. Two of those particular kraals could fit the tight passageways at once—one crawling on the floor, the other the ceiling.

Jed reached the next concourse. TSN troops were approaching from the pedway that Tane and the others had taken to arrive here in the first place, so Jed swerved toward the opposite pedway on the left side. As Tane entered that pedway, the scepters began to open fire on the kraals, some of which had diverted toward the robots.

“Doesn’t matter anymore that the TSN can’t see us,” Sinive said. “They know kraals have to be chasing something. Doesn’t take much to figure out that something is us.”

The party reached another concourse and took a right toward another pedway.

Tane finished creating Melt Metal and set it in reserve. He pointed his D18 behind him and fired in auto-targeting mode, taking down five kraals in the pursuing vanguard.

As Jed and Sinive also mowed down the kraals, he realized that if the TSN didn’t know what the kraals were chasing before, they certainly would now: those plasma-riddled bodies were a dead giveaway.

A moment later he and the others were in the next pedway. Jed and G’allanthamas took the lead, Tane the middle, and Sinive brought up the rear. Even though the party had downed quite a few of them, the kraals kept coming, and were fast closing. Tane considered tossing a grenade to slow them down, but decided it was best to save his final two.

He had another idea instead.

He slowed, allowing Sinive to pass him.

“Outrimmer!” Sinive said. “What are you doing?”

He slowed even further, until the two lead kraals were almost on him. Then he gripped his beam hilt for an Endurance boost, stepped into the Essence through the hilt, and created a Persistent Flame. He let it flare into a superheated stream two meters behind him, igniting the lead pursuers.

He released the flame and ramped up his speed again, breaking into a sprint; he was almost hit by the burning bodies in the process—the kraals had become frantic now that they were on fire.

Tane pumped up the output on his suit’s servos and quickly rejoined Sinive. Behind him, the burning kraals finally collapsed. Their fiery corpses clogged the pedway, halting the other kraals beyond them, at least for the time being.

Tane stepped out of the White Essence and released the beam hilt. The use of the Essence, combined with the intense run, left him feeling exhausted. And yet despite how tired he felt, he still had to keep running. He couldn’t stop now.

He’d gone only about ten meters when the remaining kraals began leaping through the flames. They were probably being spurred on by the TSN, whose robots were no doubt assailing the rear ranks.

Jed burst into the grav tram station. He dashed toward the translucent polycarbonate that walled off the grav tunnel, and slammed his Chrysalium sword into it. He quickly cut away a large ellipse capable of fitting not just the humans, but also the dweller in his environmental suit.

Jed leaped through as the polycarbonate ellipse fell inward, and G’allanthamas followed behind him. Tane and Sinive vaulted inside after them, landing in the tunnel. Dim light from overhead glow panels illuminated the tracks.

The dweller had ample room this time, as the tunnel was big enough to fit a grav tram. Once more Tane held his D18 behind him, and unleashed a thirty-round burst as howling kraals bounded inside after him.

G’allanthamas turned another dweller into a Dirac, but this time the kraals ignored it entirely. They had a different prey in mind, and they were driven crazy with the urge to capture it. If dwellers were indeed descended from kraals, he could see why they liked to hunt other species for sport, if they were as voracious as this bunch.

The tunnel curved inward, and Tane struggled to keep up with the others. He kept the beam hilt equipped in one hand—if he let go of it now, the drop in his Endurance would probably floor him. He constantly glanced at his overhead map. All that was keeping him going at the moment, other than his energy reserves, was the flashing green dot on the map marking off his target. It was less than a hundred meters away now. A hundred meters.

I can last another hundred meters.

One of the lead kraals turned upon another in the vanguard, and the pair fought, no doubt thanks to G’allanthamas, but those in behind simply streamed past them.

Tane released his Fingers of Ruin reserve, and took down another kraal. He was too weary to begin preparing a replacement timeline.

“It’s not here,” Jed announced from the forefront.

“What do you mean it’s not here?” Tane said. “It has to be!”

Tane glanced at the map. Jed had arrived. He was standing right on the section containing the green dot.

G’allanthamas reached the area. “Kraals sometimes pass through these tunnels. They must have accidentally moved it during one of their runs. The lens can’t be far! Don’t stop!”

The party continued running.

Meanwhile, the kraals closed behind them. Those wormlike heads darted out, trying to bite at Tane and Sinive with their sideways-oriented jaws.

Tane’s weapon recharged and he unleashed several more rounds.

“Found it!” Jed said. “We’ll hold them, Engineer. Take us back!”

Tane shut down his shield to squeeze past G’allanthamas, who had halted. Jed meanwhile vaulted over the dweller’s suited carapace, Chrysalium sword sweeping into the incoming kraals.

Tane saw the large lens floating in front of him. Elliptical in shape, it spanned nearly from the bottom of the grav tram to the very top. The lower portion hovered a full hand above the floor. It seemed to absorb the light coming from the ceiling glow panels, making the tunnel here darker than the previous segment. The edges of the lens appeared solid and fully substantial, but immediately surrounding the lens, the view of the tunnel beyond was distorted, just as if the light reflecting from the distant walls was being bent. It was different than the general blurriness that accompanied most objects in this universe, and more like spacetime itself was being distorted.

The threads emerging from Tane’s body had thickened and become more substantial, and led directly to the darkness in front of him. Those filaments entered the lens at equidistant intervals along the left and right sides, reminding Tane of tentacles.

Black blood splattered him from behind as Jed tore through a kraal with such force that the fluid passed right over G’allanthamas, who remained directly behind Tane.

Ignoring the blood, Tane reached toward the lens.

Time to leave this universe behind. For a little while.

He hadn’t realized it before, but Sinive had also squeezed past G’allanthamas to stand at his side.

Her pistol was pointed directly at him.

“Step away from the lens,” Sinive said. Behind her faceplate, her eyes had become dead. Her features, slack.

Nelson had no doubt left a subconscious command in Sinive’s mind, ordering her to make sure Tane didn’t touch any more artifacts or lenses.

“I’m not joking...” Sinive pressed.

Tane released the Melt Metal reserve, targeting her weapon.

As her pistol liquefied, he shoved his hand toward the lens. Before he touched it, his gloved fingers seemed to elongate as they passed within the region where light was bent. The darkness called out to him, and when his fingers made contact, the blackness bled onto his finger, moving like a liquid as it flowed onto his glove.

He touched the lens with his other hand, and the darkness seeped onto the spacesuit there, too. The dark threads emerging from his body lifted him into the air toward the lens, swallowing him up. The lens was in control of those threads, not him. For a moment, as the blackness enveloped him and covered his helmet, he felt the fear that was ordinarily depressed in the Umbra. Fear that this darkness would engulf and destroy him. Fear that the lens would transport him alone, leaving his friends behind. And fear that the stored Essencework wouldn’t work at all.

The darkness flowed inside his helmet from unseen crevices along the edges of the faceplate. As it touched his face, he felt the burning heat of the Dark Essence. That molten liquid flowed down into all of his orifices, drowning all fear. Drowning everything, including reality, and consumed his being.

He floated there in the incredible heat of that darkness, all that he was scoured away. Time passed. A second. An eternity.

A tiny white star beckoned in the distance. He reached for it, and nausea overcame him. If he had a body, he would have vomited.

He experienced the sensation of falling.

And then both the searing heat and the nausea evaporated as the world slammed back into existence.

17

Tane steadied himself by extending a hand for balance. His gloved fingers found Sinive’s and she held him upright. He looked into her helmet and saw genuine relief in her face, mixed with guilt. Her eyes had life in them once more: she was back to herself.

He was still inside the grav tram tunnel. The lens was gone. The blue tinge that infected everything had vanished, and the overhead lights had returned to a more normal white color. The walls seemed solid, substantial.

Tane turned, and was relieved to find that he had transported G’allanthamas and Jed as well. The blurring globes of Dark Essence had dissipated around all of them, Tane noted.

He had also unintentionally carried back two kraals with them, as well as three dead ones. Without environmental suits, the two kraals thrashed helplessly about, the gills on their necks open wide as they succumbed to the deadly effects of humanity’s universe. Jed put them out of their misery. Beyond those five, there was no sign of the other kraals.

After terminating the kraal pair, the Volur leaped over G’allanthamas and exchanged his sword for his glowing pistol, and held it to Sinive’s helmet.

“Jed...” Tane said. His voice no longer spanned two octaves at the same time.

“She turned on you again,” Jed said. “I saw what she did before you touched the lens.”

“She’s back to herself.” Tane looked imploringly at Sinive. “Tell him.”

“I’m me again, for what it’s worth,” Sinive said. The sadness and guilt in her voice was heartbreaking. “But Jed is right. I don’t think I can hang around you anymore. Not if I can turn against you at any time.”

Jed nodded. “See? Even she understands the danger she poses.” He lowered his pistol, but kept it in hand.

“I won’t leave her,” Tane said.

“Even if your life depends on it?” Jed pressed.

“Even then,” Tane said.

Jed studied him a moment, then returned his attention to Sinive. “As you wish.”

The Volur retreated into the shadows of the tunnel, ostensibly to keep an eye on both directions.

“Let me check something...” G’allanthamas came forward, and stopped near Sinive. “I have some ability to interface with minds, like Graaz’dhen. I did it often with Tiberius. If I may, Human?”

“Do your worst,” Sinive said.

The dweller extended a suited tentacle. Tane stepped back, and Sinive held out her arms, inviting the alien to do what it would.

G’allanthamas wrapped the tentacle around her spacesuit and hoisted her to the glass dome above his carapace, directly in front of his sideways-oriented head. He held her there for a few moments, and then:

“I see the control chip lingering in the background, ready to exert its influence when a command arrives from the controller,” the dweller said. “And I also see the two residual commands placed before it. Those commands have triggered already, and will not surface again. Otherwise, as far as I can tell, there are no more embedded subconscious instructions. I hate to say it, since I don’t like her much at all, but I believe we can trust her.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dweller,” Sinive said. “I think.”

G’allanthamas lowered her.

“There you go, Jed,” Tane said.

“Fine,” the Volur said from the shadows. “But new rule: she’s not allowed pistols or weapons of any kind until further notice.”

“Suits me,” Sinive said.

Jed approached, and held out his hand. “The energy dagger, please.”

Sinive scowled defiantly, but then opened her storage pouch and retrieved the dagger. She tossed it to Jed. “Have fun with it.”

He caught it by the hilt and secured the weapon inside his own pouch. “I’ll return it to you again when you’ve earned my trust.”

“Nah, you can keep it,” Sinive said. “It’s not my style.”

“You know, that pistol you forced Tane to melt, it had some sentimental value to me,” the Volur continued.

“Oh really?” Sinive said.

“Yes,” Jed told her. “Lyra gave it to me when she freed me from slavers. It was a symbol of freedom. And now it’s gone because of you.”

“I wish I could go back and stop myself, but I can’t,” Sinive said. “I know sorry isn’t going to cut it, but you have to understand: I wasn’t in control.”

“Which is exactly why we all need to be extra vigilant around you,” Jed said.

“Even if Gall already said she’s clean?” Tane asked.

“As a Volur, I’ve learned to err on the side of caution,” Jed replied. “It’s saved my life on more than a few occasions. Also, you would do well to remember I haven’t been chipped like the two of you. And that I’m not an alien of questionable loyalty. So essentially, I’m the only one you can really count on.”

“Nice play for his trust,” G’allanthamas said. “But you’re wrong. He knows me from his memories. He knows my loyalty is true.”

“But as you’re so fond of reminding us, those memories were recorded a thousand years ago,” Jed said.

The alien ignored that comment, and said: “How do we know she doesn’t have more weapons hidden in her storage device? Just because she claims she doesn’t, doesn’t mean it’s true. She could have acquired some since the last time you searched her belongings.”

“Then search them again.” Sinive unfastened the pouch from her utility belt and offered it to Jed. “As usual, I’ve disabled all the security features. Go ahead. Have a look.”

Jed accepted the pouch and his eyes defocused as he accessed the remote interface. After a moment he tossed it back to Sinive.

“I’m satisfied she has no weapons,” Jed said.

“Thank you,” Sinive said. “So, I hate to break it to you, but we’re in the middle of a grav tram tunnel here. We should probably get moving.”

“I don’t know of very many cities that have grav trams operating in the middle of the night,” Tane said.

“Neither do I,” Jed said. “But I have to agree with her.”

“The whole erring on the side of caution thing?” Tane told him.

“You understand,” the Volur replied. “However, my reasons are different from hers. I’m not so worried about getting hit by a grav tram—like you said, they don’t operate in the middle of the night. My worry is the TSN. They’ve likely embargoed this city in our universe as well, with ships in geostationary orbit above Matahepte and others. We will have to move with extreme caution. Troops, mechs, drones, they’ll all be on patrol. And we’ll have to assume they’re beaming LIDAR down into the city from orbit as well.”

“Yeah but there will be a lot more noise in the city now,” Tane said. “Considering it’s populated in our universe. Densely populated. So I’m not sure how useful their LIDAR is going to be for them.”

“Moving around won’t be a concern during the day,” Jed admitted. “But I suspect the TSN has imposed a curfew. We will have to be careful tonight.”

“Wait, maybe the TSN won’t know we escaped here?” Tane said.

“No, they’ll be thorough,” Jed said. “When the robots don’t find us, they’ll send word that we may have taken a second lens.”

“Okay, how long until the TSN hears from the Umbra about that then, and directs any surface patrols into this tunnel to look for us?” Tane asked.

Jed considered for a moment. “In the Umbra, they’ll have to jump one of their ships to Anteres, fly through the Rift, jump back to this system, and send a message to the garrison here. Since many TSN vessels are capable of making multiple jumps without rest, most of the delay will be caused by the interplanetary flights between jumps. So I’d say, they could probably redirect troops here at best within an hour. We’ll be well away from this spot by then. But before we move, I’m going to have to ask your dweller friend to replace the blurring globes. At least for you three, since you can’t become invisible. There are working cameras in this tunnel, and more once we get to the surface. As well as the aforementioned LIDAR and surface patrols...”

Tane surveyed the curved walls. “No cameras in this particular tunnel segment, it looks like.”

“We got lucky,” Jed said.

Tane addressed the dweller. “When can you blur us?”

“Already working on it,” G’allanthamas replied. “I’m weary.”

“I hear you.” Tane glanced at Jed. “Are you able to find a ship off-world at this hour?”

“At this hour, no,” Jed said. “There’s an old friend I can possibly ask tomorrow. In the meantime, we’ll have to find somewhere to sleep tonight. A place where we can stow our alien friend during the day.”

“A place to sleep...” Tane instinctively reactivated Galnet discovery, but remembered just in time that he couldn’t connect to the Galnet, not if he wanted to retain control of his body. He canceled the connection immediately.

“Sinive, don’t forget we can’t connect to the Galnet,” Tane said.

“I haven’t forgotten,” Sinive said. “Why, did you connect?”

“Almost,” Tane said.

“Good job,” she commented.

It was really too bad he couldn’t connect, though, because he also wanted to check for any messages from his parents and his friends back on Galtede Serpentis sometime.

“So, a room...” Jed said. “The TSN will be looking for recent check-ins. Especially late night.”

“So instead of checking in, why don’t we simply break in?” Sinive said.

“We’re going to have to, I think,” Tane said. “And we’ll leave that up to you, since that’s your specialty.”

“Thanks,” Sinive said. “Wait, why do I get the impression you just insulted me in some way?”

“Because you’re a sensitive person,” Tane said. “Jed, can you find us a nearby rental? Seeing as you’re the only one of us who can connect to the Galnet.”

“On it,” Jed said.

Background noise from the million other occupants ensured the Volur’s transmissions wouldn’t stand out in any way. Once Jed connected, his packets would be bounced between any nearby repeaters, chips, and AR goggles, with each node in the adhoc mixnet anonymizing the data before sending it on. Privacy laws also prevented the city AIs from spying on those packets. Still, there were supposedly ways to track someone down, but hopefully Jed knew all the necessary tricks to prevent that.

“I’ve managed to connect to the mixnet of a cafe on the surface, and I’ve tunneled through to the Galnet,” Jed said. “Signal strength is exceedingly poor, however, and I’m getting very low bandwidth. I’m downloading the list of available short term rentals now...” He paused. “Okay, got a building two streets away. Three rooms are available there.”

“I need my own room,” G’allanthamas said.

“I can share with the Outrimmer,” Sinive said. “I’ve done it before.”

Tane couldn’t help a suddenly faster heartbeat.

“No,” Jed said immediately. He glanced at Tane. “We can’t trust her to share a room alone with you. The three of us will room together.”

“Actually, if at all possible, I think I’d like my own room,” Tane said.

“But I intend to keep watch—”

“I think we should all have our own rooms,” Tane insisted.

Jed stared at him for a moment. “You don’t trust me. I understand.”

Tane shrugged ever so slightly. “I have some trust issues, sure, but I also value my privacy.”

“Fine. Then at the very least I want us in adjacent rooms.” His eyes defocused. “Okay, got another building, slightly farther away. It has several rooms available. Three are next to one another. The dweller will be on a different floor, however. Assuming Sinive or myself can hack into the place.”

“What’s your Hacking level?” Sinive asked him.

“Two,” Jed answered.

“Ha,” Sinive said. “I’m a four, here.”

“That should do,” Jed said.

“Okay then,” Tane said. “We move out as soon as Gall gets those blurring fields done.” He glanced at the alien expectantly.

“They’re coming,” G’allanthamas answered.

Jed’s faceplate abruptly retracted, and his helmet sank back into the trapezius area of his armor. He took a long, deep inhale.

That’s right. No crillia in our universe.

Sinive opened up her own faceplate, and Tane followed suit. While it was a slight relief not to have to breathe recycled air anymore, his face felt suddenly cold. Well, at least he didn’t have to worry about depleting his oxygen tank anymore.

Sinive seemed to be thinking along similar lines, because she asked G’allanthamas: “You can really live forever in that suit?”

“Forever,” the dweller agreed. His voice came from inside Tane’s head, courtesy of the chip, indicating G’allanthamas was still using the shared comm band.

She glanced at Tane. “And you thought drinking recycled crap aboard a ship was bad. Imagining drinking it forever!”

“I’ll take drinking my own crap over drinking from the communal pot any day,” G’allanthamas said.

“You would,” Sinive commented.

As Tane took several long inhales, he noticed the tunnel air smelled slightly sooty, and damp. There was also something else. Something… tangy?

“Do you smell that?” Tane said.

“That’s kraal blood.” Sinive nodded toward his chest assembly. “We’re covered in it.”

Tane glanced down. Sure enough, his suit was smeared in black liquid. Sinive, Jed, and G’allanthamas were similarly coated in it, he just hadn’t noticed before in the dim light.

“Before I forget,” Jed said. “I want the two of you to change your spoofed IDs. The dweller claims the magnetic resonance of his blurring protects us from the ID readers scattered throughout the city, but I’d feel better knowing that your IDs are different than when the TSN captured you. I’ve already updated mine.”

“Miles Herculian?” Tane asked, reading Jed’s ID.

“In the flesh,” Jed replied.

“You really think highly of yourself, don’t you,” Sinive told the Volur. “Herculean.”

“Herculian,” Jed emphasized.

“Sounds the same to me,” Sinive said.

Tane chose Furly Baker, while Sinive picked Joan Jones.

Sinive glanced at him. “Furly?" She burst out laughing. “That’s the most ridiculous name I’ve ever heard. I can’t tell if you’re trying to mix furry and curly, or what. Furly Baker.” She giggled again. “It actually kind of suits you.”

“Thanks,” Tane said distractedly. “We aren’t connected to the Galnet, so your plant in the TSN won’t be able to register these names?”

“That’s right,” Sinive said. “If any TSN personnel run a background check, we won’t exist.”

“As usual, we’ll just have to avoid any TSN patrols,” Jed said. He became invisible. “I’m going to scout the tunnel ahead while the dweller creates those blurring fields for you.”

He moved beyond the reduced range of his transmitter, causing his blue indicator to freeze on the overhead map.

Several minutes later, Tane, Sinive, and G’allanthamas all had blurring spheres, and they set out into the tunnel with Jed, who had returned. The Volur remained invisible.

Tane decided to bring up the rear, that way he could keep Sinive and G’allanthamas in sight at all times. He was more concerned about Sinive, of course, since so far the dweller had given him no reason to doubt his loyalty.

Since his faceplate was open, Tane piped the rear-view feed from the helmet directly into his chip, allowing him to keep an eye on the tunnel behind him via the usual overlay near the top of his vision.

At the next tram station, Jed became visible to carve through the polycarbonate screen with his Chrysalium sword. Tane was happy to let the Volur work, because it meant he didn’t have to do it.

The task proved tricky, since the screen began a little above chest height—below it was the metal of the platform. Jed cut a long line into the screen just above the metal, then leaped onto the tiny ledge formed by the edge of the platform and the screen and completed the work. He shoved the resulting elliptical plug inward and it landed with a loud thud, but didn’t break.

“That’ll show up on the security cams, you know,” Sinive said as she pulled herself onto the platform. Tane followed behind her, with G’allanthamas hauling himself through with his tentacles.

“Yes, but we’ll be long gone by the time any security robots arrive,” Jed said.

“Stay close to the walls,” G’allanthamas said. “Where the shadows are deeper and we’ll blend in more easily.”

Tane and Sinive obeyed, while Jed merely became invisible where he stood.

“This station isn’t connected to the underground pedway system,” Sinive said.

“No, the only exit leads to street level,” Jed said. “But that’s good, because our rentals are located in a residential silo a few blocks to the south from here. We need to surface anyway.”

As the party made their way up the steps to the street, two security robots appeared above.

“Stop!” one of the robots said.

Jed blinked into view. His blue Chrysalium sword was out, and he split the robot and its companion in half before either could react. Then he vanished once again.

“We’ll be long gone, huh?” Sinive commented.

“Guess I was wrong,” Jed admitted.

The Volur hurried onto the street and made a quick survey of the area before returning to lead the party forward.

The four moved quickly along the dark streets, wanting to avoid any further incidents. They kept close to the silo-shaped structures that bordered the road, staying in the shadows formed by the street’s light globes. No one was about—as Jed had suspected, the TSN had apparently issued a curfew.

Since Tane wasn’t connected to the Galnet, and was refusing connections to outside mixnets except for those of Sinive and Jed, the usual digital overlays from nearby shops and kiosks didn’t clutter his vision. Probably a good thing.

At each intersection, Jed paused to ensure no robot, mech or drone patrols were nearby, and afterward the four hurried across. At one point, Jed did spot a drone patrol, and he ordered the party into an alleyway formed by two silos. The eight drones hummed past overhead without detouring.

In about ten minutes the four of them reached the destination residential silo.

Sinive approached the glass double doors. The lobby inside looked deceptively empty—the building AI would be watching the doors and entrance hall at that very moment, ready to call the authorities at the first sign of trouble. With Sinive there, it would look like a large, dark sphere resided just outside. Tane hoped the AI’s cameras weren’t sensitive enough to discern the outline of the sphere from the night around her.

“Are you able to hack in without connecting to the building’s mixnet?” Tane asked softly. He didn’t want to risk her logging in to the Galnet.

“Of course,” Sinive said. “It has a local interface I can use for privilege escalation. First I have to disable the security protocols, and then open the actual door. Trust me, once I’m done, the AI won’t even know we were ever here.” A moment later the door clicked open and she shoved it aside. “Let’s go.”

Tane and Sinive held the doors open for G’allanthamas. The big alien fit relatively easily into the lobby; the trouble came when the dweller reached the spiral stairwell that ran up the center of the silo. G’allanthamas had to rotate sideways so that half of his eight legs were on the wall and the other half on the steps.

“I call dibs on the room closest to ground level,” the dweller said.

“Call dibs,” Sinive said. “An alien speaking human slang. Next he’s going to start believing he actually is human.”

“You mean I’m not?” G’allanthamas joked. “And all this time I thought you three were merely deformed.”

“As always, your humor is the epitome of funny,” Sinive said.

On the second floor, G’allanthamas squeezed into the hallway and then straightened somewhat, though the dweller still had to proceed at a slight angle thanks to the tightness of the walls.

Tane cringed at every noise the group made, and was worried a resident would open his or her door to see what the commotion was. Thankfully, no one ever did. Though some of them probably accessed the door camera feeds; in the dim light they’d only see dark blobs bobbing past.

Sinive stopped in front of one door.

“This is the biggest room,” Sinive said softly. “You’re lucky it happens to be on the second floor.”

“Finally,” G’allanthamas transmitted. “These cramped hallways were really starting to get to me. Big, you say? I was worried I’d be stuck in a tin can once we got here.”

“Oh, it’ll still be a tin can in there,” Sinive said. “Don’t you fret.”

“This is your revenge for my bad jokes, isn’t it?” G’allanthamas said.

Sinive worked her magic and the door clicked. She opened it and gestured inside.

Jed entered first, and returned a moment later. “Clear. I disabled the robot assistant.”

“When will you return for me, Doomwielder?” G’allanthamas said.

“Probably tomorrow night,” Tane said, keeping his voice down. “You’ll have to stay here all day tomorrow while we secure a ship.”

The dweller peered inside the room. It was definitely a little cramped in there, given the alien’s size. “I should have stayed in my universe.”

Tane thought of something, and glanced at Sinive. “Since we haven’t actually rented the rooms, won’t each suite still show up as available on the Galnet?”

“They will,” Sinive admitted.

“What do we do if renters show up tomorrow and discover Gall?” Tane asked.

“I’ve changed the access codes,” Sinive replied. “Renters won’t be able to get in. As soon as anyone tries, I’ll get a notification.”

“If you do, notify me,” Jed said. “I’ll deal with it.”

“When would you like me to dispel the blurring spheres?” G’allanthamas asked.

Tane glanced at Jed.

“Wait another ten minutes until the rest of us are sequestered in our rooms,” the Volur said. “While I’m not detecting any security cameras in the hallways, as you know each door has a camera of its own embedded inside. It’s possible the video data is being logged.”

“It is, actually,” Sinive said. “But when I hacked in I confirmed that none of it is being sent to a security office anywhere. It’s all local. So the TSN or the owners or whoever would have to physically visit the building to review the logs.”

“Good,” Jed said.

“Okay, ten minutes, and then I disable your blurring,” G’allanthamas said.

The alien turned its carapace sideways to squeeze inside and Tane shut the door behind him.

At Tane’s suite, Jed once more entered first.

“The suite contains a robot assistant,” Jed said when he returned. “I disabled its connection to the Galnet. Up to you if you want to turn off the robot entirely.”

“All right, thank you.” Tane stepped inside.

“Rest well, Engineer,” Jed said. “I will come for you tomorrow morning, and then you can tell me how you plan to remove the control chips.”

“Sounds good,” Tane said.

“Good night, Outrimmer,” Sinive said.

“Night, Smuggler.” Tane shut the door.

He stared at the inner surface and resisted the urge to connect to the door camera and watch her go. He set a flat palm down on the door. Good night, Sinive.

He wished she was sleeping in the same room, like the last time the two of them had returned from the Umbra. The sexual tension between them had been through the roof, then. Sort of like when he had visited her quarters on the Red Grizzly after recovering from the crillia attack. There was just something about traveling into the Umbra and living to tell the tale that caused the sparks to fly between them…

Ah well. Even if she were here, he would have been too tired to do anything anyway. And too shy.

There were two double beds. Each contained an overabundance of pillows, as if that somehow made the drab beds more luxurious. He made a beeline for the mattress closest to the door.

Tane started when a trashcan-sized robot wheeled out from an alcove in the wall. “Hello, Furly! I’m Mizzy, your personal assistant and trainer!”

Tane quickly raised a hand to his open helmet and turned away slightly. He was worried the robot might perform some kind of facial recognition scan on him and report him to the authorities. Jed had said he disabled its connection to the Galnet, but that didn’t really put Tane at ease. It still felt like a camera was watching him. Recording. It was a good sign at least that the robot had called him Furly: the ID spoofing was working.

“Can I help you with anything, anything at all?” Mizzy pressed.

“No help is needed.” Tane kept his head turned away from the robot. “Please shut down.”

“Shutting down,” the robot replied. It wheeled back into the alcove and its lights turned dark. Tane noted that the robot hadn’t commented on his spacesuit. Nor his weapons.

Tane went to the bed and removed the cover from one of the pillows, then he crab-walked to the robot, keeping his face angled away. When he reached the alcove, he slid the pillowcase over the robot’s head, covering the camera. Just to be on the safe side.

Then he returned to the bed, opened up his pouch, and stowed his external gear inside. Then he lay down.

He smiled in guilty pleasure as sleep began to overtake him. He had no intention of changing out of his spacesuit. Or even showering. None at all.

Due to inactivity, the room’s motion sensors automatically shut off the lights.

Tane was starting to drift off when his neck began to cramp. Sleeping in a spacesuit in gravity wasn’t the most comfortable of experiences. He decided to ignore the crick.

Unfortunately, the cramping just became worse. After five minutes, he finally gave up.

Reluctantly, he sat up and the lights reactivated. He dimmed them way down and slid off the bed. When he glanced at the comforter, he realized he’d rubbed off a bunch of alien blood onto it, covering the fabric in black stains.

Whoops.

He slid the comforter from the bed and set it down in the corner of the room. Then he began removing the blood-covered assemblies of his suit, tossing them onto the already ruined comforter.

He wondered if he should reactivate the robot and ask for help, but he suspected those tiny pincers would get in the way more than anything else. Besides, he didn’t want it to see his face.

He continued tossing the different suit pieces onto the comforter, intending to bind up the entire thing tomorrow. When he was done, he went to the bathroom and washed off the alien blood from his skin-tight gauntlets.

He returned to the bedroom and removed the gauntlets and his remaining accessories. He grabbed the binding cord Lyra had left inside his pouch and threaded that through the rings first, followed by the bracelet, and then wrapped it around the two gauntlets so that all the items would take up only a single slot.

After stowing the bound set in his storage device, he reclined on the second bed. Fully clothed. By then the dweller’s blurring sphere had vanished entirely from around him. He felt a little exposed with the sphere gone, but the feeling quickly passed. A pleasant smile once more formed on his lips as he closed his eyes.

And then a loud knock came at the door, setting his heart pumping.

Cursing softly, he sat up.

The door’s external camera was within range of the reduced transmission intensity of his chip, so he accessed the remote interface. His heart rate picked up even further when he saw just who was standing outside.

Sinive. She had doffed her spacesuit, leaving behind her white dress. A hood hung low over her face, no doubt to hide her features from the in-door cameras that Jed had mentioned earlier. She didn’t appear to be armed.

He hurried to the door and opened it immediately.

“What’s going on?” he said softly, not wanting to attract the attention of the neighbors. “Everything all right?”

He wasn’t sure if he should invite her in, or what.

“Everything’s fine,” Sinive said. “But do you mind if I use your shower? Mine’s broken.”

What if she turns me on? Err, I mean turns on me. Yeah, that’s what I meant.

It was possible G’allanthamas was wrong about her, after all. There might still be subconscious commands hidden in her mind. How well could an alien know the inner workings of the human brain, after all, let alone any unconscious orders another human being might have placed there?

Or maybe she wanted something else. Something that had nothing to do with the control chip in her mind. Something men and women had been doing for thousands of years…

Then again, most likely, she simply wanted to take a shower.

“Sure, go ahead,” Tane said against his better judgment.

He let her inside and closed the door.

“Thanks.” She lowered her hood and promptly vanished inside the in-suite bathroom, shutting the door.

Tane went back to his bed. He closed his eyes, but of course he wasn’t able to fall asleep, not now. What if she really wanted to have sex? His heart rate doubled at the thought.

No, she doesn’t.

By the time the bathroom door opened again, it felt an eternity had passed. He was unbelievably nervous.

Tane shot upright and the room lights auto-activated. They were still dim because of the last setting he had programmed. He made a show of rubbing his eyes. “Morning.” His hands were shaking, so he quickly lowered them.

Sinive stood silhouetted in front of the main doorway, where the bright light from the bathroom flooded over her from the left side. She was wearing her white dress. There was no sign of the hood. Her long hair flowed silkily down her shoulders: he had never seen it unbraided before.

She walked toward him, her movements seeming sultry. The bathroom light shut off behind her, leaving only the dim bedroom glow. He watched speechlessly as she took a seat across from him on the second bed.

For a moment he worried she might have sat on the alien blood, but a quick glance reminded him that he had removed the comforter and stowed it in the corner.

Sinive leaned forward slightly, revealing some cleavage. She never wore the dress low like that. Never. Every one of her movements seemed slow and purposeful, as if designed to turn him on.

As he stared into her lovely face, he thought she had used some of the makeup the smart mirror provided in the bathroom. The edges of her eyes seemed highlighted, longer. Her lips, plumper. Her cheeks, rosier.

No, I must be imagining it. She would have no reason to apply fresh makeup after a sonic shower. Unless…

This moment was eerily familiar. He had to wonder if he would mess it up yet again.

The déjà vu of the situation sparked a sudden worry. “Hey Sinive, would you mind showing me your shoulder?”

“What?” she said, seeming slightly confused. “Whatever for?”

“I want to make sure the microcrillia infection is gone,” Tane said.

“Huh? Of course it’s gone. Just because we entered the Umbra doesn’t mean that my old infection is going to magically flare up again. I was never exposed to that tainted environment. Suit pressure was always a hundred percent.”

“I just want to be sure…” Tane said.

“You know, you’re really terrible at this.”

“At what?” Tane said.

“Flirting.”

Yup, he’d messed it up again.

Well, that was just too bad, because her well-being was more important to him than anything else.

“I’m not trying to seduce you,” Tane said. “Look, last time you were infected, we were in a similar situation. You, me, inside a short termer. You on a bed. Me across from you. And the last time, you didn’t tell me you were infected. I don’t know why. And then the next morning you didn’t wake up.”

She stared at him with smoldering, defiant eyes, then finally slid the top part of her dress down over her shoulder. The skin was smooth and unblemished.

“Satisfied?” Sinive said.

Tane nodded quickly.

She lifted the collar of her dress again, concealing that perfect shoulder.

“Sorry,” Tane said quietly. “I had to be sure.”

Thankfully, she spared him any further embarrassment by leaning back and changing the subject. Somewhat.

“Speaking of microcrillia, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” she said softly. She had planted her arms on the bed behind her, and leaned on both palms.

Tane nodded slowly. “Ask away.”

“You came back for me,” Sinive said, staring into his eyes. “Why?”

“What?” Tane said.

“Back on 57A,” Sinive said. “After the microcrillia infected me, and the aliens kidnapped me. You came for me. Why?”

“Lyra and Jed—” Tane began.

“Wanted to give me up,” Sinive interrupted. “Lyra told me that you were hellbent on boarding that alien ship. That you were going to go with or without them.”

Tane was quiet a moment. He couldn’t hold that penetrating gaze, and looked away.

“You’re my friend,” Tane said finally. “I couldn’t leave you there. I have a rule: I don’t abandon friends in need.”

“Is that it?” She seemed disappointed. “You followed an alien ship halfway across the galaxy, and you boarded it, facing wave after wave of aliens to rescue me, because I’m your friend?”

“Well, yeah,” Tane said.

“A-hole,” Sinive said, standing.

“You say that a lot, don’t you?” Tane commented.

“Only when it’s deserved.” She crossed her arms and stomped across the room toward the doorway.

Tane felt stunned.

What the hell did I do wrong now?

He bit back an angry remark, and instead decided he had to do whatever he could to make things right between them.

“I shouldn’t have made you do that,” he said hastily.

Near the door, Sinive stopped to glance sidelong at him.

“Show me your shoulder, I mean,” Tane continued, stumbling over his words. “Because even if you were infected with microcrillia, it wouldn’t matter.”

“The hell you talking about?” she said. She outstretched a hand toward the door.

“It wouldn’t matter because if the aliens took you I’d come after you all over again. They wouldn’t be able to keep me back. I’d fight for you, and I’d find you, dying if I had to. I’d travel to the darkest depths of the Umbra for you.”

She turned around to face him fully.

Tane found himself suddenly unable to speak, and he merely stared at her. It was so much easier when her back was facing him…

“Go on,” Sinive said.

Tane shook his head.

She stepped forward, returning to the foot of the opposite bed, and stared intently at him. Her eyes were like bottomless pools that swallowed him up. He could lose himself in those eyes. In fact, he was lost already...

“Sometimes I just want to hold you in my arms and never let go,” Sinive said. “Sometimes—”

But Tane stood up then, surprising himself. He walked over to her, and wrapped his arms around her.

“Then never let go,” Tane said. He squeezed tightly. “Never.”

She enveloped his waist with her own arms and smiled. “Okay.” Her voice trembled.

Surprising himself again, Tane kissed her, his lips crushing hers. Her eyes widened slightly before squinting tenderly.

Tane savored the moment. It wasn’t his first kiss, but she was only the second girl he had ever locked lips with. He had forgotten how to do it properly, so when she opened her mouth slightly, he tried to hide his inexperience by doing the same, but his timing was off. When her lips pressed together, once more he failed to match her.

He pulled away, feeling awkward.

“Oh no you don’t,” Sinive said. She slid a hand behind his head and yanked him back onto her mouth, and he tried again. Better. She closed her eyes this time during the kiss, and strangely, that helped his confidence somewhat. It was like she wasn’t watching him. Wasn’t judging him.

He almost couldn’t believe his lips were touching hers. It almost didn’t seem real.

I’m actually doing this!

He instinctively slid a hand behind her neck and wrapped her loose hair into a ponytail, then pulled her head backward, breaking the kiss. He sucked at her neck, biting slightly. She moaned.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Tane announced. The words came out husky, and he immediately felt like a loser for saying them.

“Just shut up,” Sinive said, sounding equally hoarse.

“You,” Tane said defiantly. He planted tender kisses along her jawline. He truly didn’t know what he was doing, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“You’re following your instincts,” Sinive said, as if reading his mind. “That’s good enough.”

“It’s not my instincts I’m following,” Tane said. “It’s my heart.”

He cringed. Try not to sound so corny.

He was expecting some comment to that affect when she broke away again, but instead she merely looked into his eyes once more. Her gaze seemed so… sweet. Like she was going to melt. She kept her eyes open as she kissed him again, her deep blue irises peering into his.

Yes, she peered into his soul, and those eyes swallowed him up. In a good way. With an intensity that rivaled Siphoning.

He was suddenly very happy he’d added that extra point to Charisma, if it meant this outcome. He felt complete, inside. Free.

“We should have done this last time,” Sinive said softly, between kisses.

And then, against all reason, against all natural instinct, Tane pulled back and turned his face away. For a moment he thought the control chip must have taken over, until he realized why he had done it. It was perhaps a flimsy, almost silly reason, but it was important to him. He just wasn’t sure how to explain it to Sinive.

“We shouldn’t,” he squeaked. Not good enough.

He turned his face toward hers. Sinive was wearing a hurt expression. Almost tearful.

“You think you can’t trust me,” Sinive said, dropping her gaze. “After I pulled my pistol on you a second time back there, I don’t blame you.”

“That’s not it at all,” Tane said.

“Then what?” Sinive said. She met his gaze once more.

“I just… I…” He exhaled. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

“There it is again,” Sinive said. “That friend thing. We’re not friends anymore, not after this. There’s no going back now. I don’t want to be friends, don’t you get it?”

“Okay, you’re right, I kind of don’t trust you,” Tane admitted. “How can I even be sure this is you, and not the control chip acting? I don’t want to take advantage of you.”

“You suck at seduction, too…” Sinive said. “Way to spoil the mood.” She turned her back on him. “It’s me, not some chip. Of course it’s me. It’s always been me.” She sighed. “But if you don’t believe it, I can’t force you to. I… I guess I’ll just go.”

Tane had a good thing going, and he had to go and ruin it. As usual.

But she was still standing there in front of him. Even if her back was to him. That told him she was still willing to give him one last chance.

A final opportunity to set things right.

She’s correct. There is no going back, not now. She’s my destiny.

“I don’t want to be friends, either.” His voice came out a rasp. “Don’t go. Never go.” He stood, and grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, turning her to face him. She gasped slightly at his aggressiveness, but when she gazed into his face, and saw the way he was looking at her, she must have understood his intention. Because she slammed her lips against his.

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” Sinive said.

“I’ve wanted you from the moment I met you, my Sinive,” Tane said.

“My?” Sinive said, pulling away slightly. She arched an eyebrow, and her eyes glinted playfully. “I like the sound of that. But you do realize, you’re the one who’s mine?”

“We’ll see,” Tane said.

“And so we will.”

* * *

Tane lay in bed with his eyes open, staring at the darkened ceiling. Sinive snuggled against his side, her head resting on his bare chest. She was sleeping, judging from her breathing. He felt the slow rise and fall of her side against his own. The soft touch of her nipples against his skin.

I did it. I finally did it.

He looked at her sleeping form.

Man, I really like her. Really really like.

An icon flashed distractingly in the lower right. He highlighted it, and read the new notifications that had gone off during their lovemaking.

Level up. Social Skills are now Level 2. Look at you go. You managed to successfully sleep with a woman without messing it up. Notch that belt! Or something.

New skill learned.

Kissing. Level 0. Slurp. Smack. Drip. Erm. Don’t sweat it. You’ll get better.

New skill learned.

Sex Mastery. Level 0. You know how to please a woman! Not really. Then again, who knows, she might have enjoyed your random thrashings. On the bright side, you can only get better from here.

Those sarcastic level and skill messages were starting to get on his nerves. Making fun of a man’s sexual prowess was never a good idea at the best of times: he was surprised the chip designers hadn’t realized what a touchy issue that was. He could imagine a bunch of nerds sitting around a room brainstorming the wording of the alerts; nerds whose ideas of sexual prowess was fooling around with a multi-vagina’d tri-breasted sex robot they’d purchased on the Galnet.

Who am I kidding? I was once one of those nerds. Well, minus the sex robot part.

Either way, he didn’t really appreciate the humor. Though, he supposed he should lighten up, and not let a tiny machine bruise his fragile ego. The chip could make fun of him all it wanted, but he had finally slept with Sinive, and that was something no one, chip or otherwise, could ever take away from him. Something special. A moment to be treasured. She seemed to have enjoyed it. And like the notifications mentioned, he could only get better from here.

He dismissed the alerts and closed his eyes. He relished the feel of her at his side. He listened to her gentle breathing, and it lulled him to sleep.

He awakened when the bed shifted. Sinive was dressing in the dim light. The clock on his HUD read a little after midnight.

Why was she leaving already? Was she embarrassed about what had happened? Or maybe she didn’t want Jed and G’allanthamas to know?

Tane said nothing. She would quickly realize he was awake, because if his breathing was anything like hers, it would’ve changed when he became conscious. He decided to inhale slowly and deeply, pretending he was asleep. Saving them both the embarrassment of an awkward good-bye.

After dressing, she quietly made her way to the door without a word. He thought she paused along the way to glance back at him, but he couldn’t be sure, because his eyes were closed and he was relying on his sense of hearing alone. When he opened an eye a crack to peak, she was already gone.

The door closed with a soft thud behind her.

So that was it.

She had used him for sex.

He rolled over. Whatever.

He resolved never to bring up the incident with her again, so as not to embarrass her in front of Jed and G’allanthamas. And besmirch her precious honor.

He closed his eyes but couldn’t sleep for all the conflicting emotions running through him. On the one hand he tried to tell himself he didn’t care. That it made him a badass that a woman had used him for sex, and that he had likewise used her. On the other hand, he knew that wasn’t true, at least not for himself. He never intended to use her. For a moment there, he actually thought there was a real emotional connection between them.

Yes, it had felt like far more than sex for him. And he wasn’t ready to dismiss outright everything she had told him. What were her exact words again? That she wanted to hold on to him forever and never let go? Why would she say that if she hadn’t meant it?

He stayed up half the night, going in circles like that, but finally around five in the morning he fell into a restless repose.

18

Tane was awakened again only an hour and a half later, at six thirty standard time by a soft knocking on the door.

Sinive!

He sat up smiling, and eagerly accessed the external camera’s remote interface. He was disappointed to find Jed standing outside.

Tane realized he was naked, so he quickly pulled on the clothes that were scattered about the floor beside the bed. “Just a second!”

He finished dressing, sat back on the bed, and then opened the lock remotely.

Jed entered and closed the door behind him. The warrior had his power armor set to its smallest thickness, and had slung a long-sleeved shirt and cargo pants overtop so that he didn’t look so conspicuous. The small portions Tane could see above the collar and below the sleeves looked like an undershirt more than anything else. The overlying fabric was loose on the tall man, Tane noticed—perhaps in an attempt to hide the bulge of his sheer musculature.

Jed tossed Tane a cap with a large brim at the front. “I picked this up on the black market.”

“What is it?” Tane ran an ID, but the description said it was an ordinary cap.

Jed glanced at the alcove containing the assistant robot, which was still covered by the pillowcase. The Volur apparently seemed satisfied the robot was offline because he answered momentarily.

“It’s a cap with a holographic blur field built in,” Jed said. “Wear that, and your features will be hidden from cameras city-wide, preventing the facial recognition algorithms from flagging you. The blur effect is done on the infrared band, leaving your features intact on the visual light spectrum. It’s essentially the technological equivalent of the Blur Features Essencework, allowing you to venture out into the city in the day.”

Tane slid on the cap and then glanced at himself in the nearby mirror. He didn’t look any different, as Jed had promised.

“I figured you would need it,” Jed continued. “Considering the Dark Essence version doesn’t work too well in the day.”

“Why didn’t you ever learn the White work?” Tane asked. “Blur Features? I know Lyra has it. Why not you?”

Jed tapped the top of his shirt and his finger clanged on the thin battle armor underneath. “This provides all the feature blurring I need.”

“What are the Strength requirements for that armor again?” Tane asked.

“You don’t want to know,” the Volur replied.

Tane removed the cap. “Must have been expensive to pick this up. I thought you had no money? Wait, let me guess, those investments of yours finally matured?”

Jed nodded. “I sold off all my investments this morning, emptying out the last of my portfolio. I also sold some spare equipment at the market. I spent only a fraction of what I made on the cap, of course. I still have enough to purchase skill upgrades for you, and to buy passage on a ship.”

“Buy passage?” Tane asked. “You didn’t contact your friend?”

“I did,” Jed said. “I’m waiting to hear back. I doubt she’ll help us at no cost, however. She does run a business.”

“She sounds like a certain smuggler we both know…”

“Yes. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll make other arrangements.” Jed took a seat on the bed opposite Tane and sniffed the air. “Smells like sex in here.”

Tane straightened nervously. “What?”

“Just kidding!” Jed leaned forward and slapped him on the knee. “So now, what’s your plan to remove the control chip? And please tell me it doesn’t involve boarding a TSN starship to look for the shutdown codes.”

“It doesn’t,” Tane said.

“Well that’s a relief,” Jed said. “Because remember, even if you kept all the transmission capabilities of your original chip offline, the control chip can still be accessed when you’re within range of a controller.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Tane said.

“You’d also first have to find which TSN ship contains the shutdown codes,” Jed said. “And then determine their location onboard, and then hack into whatever storage device holds them.”

“I don’t plan on boarding a TSN ship…” Tane reiterated. “Though it sounds like you were considering that very thing.”

“Maybe,” Jed admitted. “Then what do you plan, precisely?” Before Tane could reply, the Volur once again answered his own question. “We could break into one of the TSN’s main nanotech manufacturing facilities. Steal the plans for the control chip. And maybe capture a scientist with knowledge of the particular protein encodings used.”

“Yes, you’ve definitely given this a lot of thought on your own,” Tane said. “But no, that’s not it.”

“Then what, Engineer?” Jed said. This time he kept his mouth shut.

“I’ll tell you when we gather the team,” Tane said.

Jed pressed his lips together into a tight line, then stood, obviously aggravated. “Gather your things, then. Leave nothing here. In case the room rents out while you’re gone.”

“All right then.” Tane donned the cap.

“You’ll also want to wear this.” Jed tossed him a long red fabric.

“A sari?” Tane said. “I didn’t think men wear these...”

“They do here,” Jed said.

“Where’s yours?” Tane asked.

“I’ll put it on before leaving,” Jed replied.

“I think I’ll do that, too.” Tane stowed it in his pouch and then went to his discarded spacesuit. The alien blood had dried by then, and when he touched it, the blood left only sooty marks on his fingers.

He unwound some of the carbon fiber cord from the utility belt and used it to bind the various pieces. When that was done, he threw the whole thing into a slot in his storage pouch. The blood-smeared comforter remained on the floor.

“Nice touch.” Jed nodded toward the comforter.

“Alien blood,” Tane quipped. “Always makes a room more homely.”

The curtain beside him was closed; he lifted the edge and peered past the window. Below, he saw that life had returned to the street below: the occasional land-based vehicle drove past, while pedestrians walked to and fro on the sidewalk. They all wore multicolored saris, similar to the one Jed had given him. Delivery drones buzzed past above them.

Tane left the pillowcase hanging over Mizzy’s head as he followed Jed out of the room. He paused in the bathroom to wash off the remnants of alien blood from his fingers.

They picked up Sinive next. She answered the door, looking lovely as always in that white dress of hers. She had twisted her hair into the usual intricate braid.

Jed tossed her a cap similar to Tane’s.

“What’s this?” Sinive asked.

“Blur cap,” Jed responded. “Wear it at all times. Grab your gear. We’re having a meeting.”

They proceeded to the second floor where they’d left G’allanthamas. Tane hadn’t yet said a word to Sinive, who was avoiding meeting his eyes.

So that’s the way it’s going to be, is it?

He suppressed a lingering anger. Hell with her.

At the dweller’s quarters, Sinive let them in. They found G’allanthamas lying in the center of the suite. The beds had been shoved aside, the mattresses and frames leaning against the walls so that the dweller had room. The alien had repositioned the nightstands, tables, and chairs so that the furniture formed a circle around him, allowing G’allanthamas to prop up his feet and tentacles.

“I don’t understand how you humans can possibly sleep without proper holes drilled into the floor.” G’allanthamas stood up, knocking over the different fixtures around him. “You’ve come to take me to the new ship?”

“No,” Jed said. “It’s only daybreak. We don’t have a ship yet.”

“Ah, that’s just as well,” G’allanthamas said. “Because I haven’t slept a wink. Why are you here, then?”

Jed beckoned to Tane.

All eyes turned toward him. Even Sinive. She couldn’t hold his gaze for long, however, and quickly looked away. Her features seemed guilty.

As well they should be.

“A thousand years ago those in power tried to control Tiberius, too,” Tane said. “But he developed a defense against it. An Essencework that could destroy a control chip not only in himself, but others. If you can get me a starship, I can get access to this work and use it to remove the control chips in myself, Sinive, and eventually Lyra and Nebb.”

Jed pursed his lips in thought. “I assume this particular Essencework is more powerful than Deactivate? Because remember, there are only two people I know of who could use Deactivate to destroy your chip, both of them acting members of the Talendir High Council.”

“It’s definitely more powerful,” Tane said. “In fact, it’s specifically designed to destroy control chips like the one in my head. It’s not something general-purpose like Deactivate.”

“I’m guessing it requires a high Siphoning level to create?” Jed said. “Which rules out your using it in the short term. Unless it’s something you can teach me.”

“That’s the thing,” Tane said. “A high Siphoning level is not needed for this particular work. It’s a mix of Dark and White. You wouldn’t know this, but mixing Dark and White provides for some powerful effects. The work in question is available at level one.”

“Level one?” Jed said, sounding incredulous.

“Yes,” Tane said.

“You have a level one Mixed work that essentially achieves the same effect as the level six Deactivate?” Jed pressed.

“I do,” Tane said. “It helps of course that Tiberius designed the Dark and White work specifically to remove a control chip. It’s called Repel Nanotech. I’m sharing the information with you now. I assume G’allanthamas has this already.”

“No...” the dweller said. “Tiberius rarely shared information about Dark and White works he developed. Not even with me.”

“Well I’m tweaking that policy…” Tane pulled up the information on his HUD and shared it with his companions.

Dark and White Mixing, Level 1.

Imprint Location: Kharikhan V, Abakan System. Universal Polar Coordinates: -109.67251482, -3.72439967.

Repel Nanotech. While active, prevents nanotech from attaching to your cerebral cortex and motor control centers, so that if an enemy such as a dweller or human injects controlling nanotech, a control chip will never form. At level one, this “repel” effect remains active a full minute after creation. The work will also remove any existing control chips formed by nanotech that have been previously injected. The removal is selective, leaving other helpful chips in place. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: two minutes. Note: this work can also be used on another subject, however physical contact is required between the Essenceworker and the recipient.

He was careful to blank out the Imprint Location section before hitting the send button.

His companions were quiet for a moment as they digested the information.

“What if it doesn’t work against modern nanotech?” Jed asked.

“It will work,” Tane insisted, perhaps with a little more certainty than he was sure of.

“You don’t have that particular work imprinted yet…” Jed said. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have asked for a starship.”

“That’s right,” Tane said.

“Where is it located, then?” Sinive asked casually.

He met her eye, and she returned his gaze with an oddly defiant look. “A planet in the Umbra.”

“You just left the Umbra, and now you want to go back again?” Sinive asked.

Tane nodded. He glanced at Jed. “Will your friend object to taking us to the Umbra?”

“This changes things,” Jed said. “She’ll probably still do it, but I doubt she’ll give me the friends’ discount. In fact, she’ll most likely charge more than she usually does.”

“I notice that you didn’t share the location...” G’allanthamas said.

“I’m sending it to you and Jed alone,” Tane said. He glanced at Sinive. “I’m sure you understand why.”

“Yeah,” Sinive said. “I’ve got a control chip in my head. You can’t trust me. I get it.”

Tane frowned. Why did it seem like she was mad at him?

I’m the one who should be mad at her!

“The location?” Jed pressed.

Tane sent it to the Volur and the dweller.

“Not good,” G’allanthamas said. “I know about this particular dark artifact. I was there when Tiberius created it.”

“But you didn’t know what he placed on it?” Tane asked.

“No,” the dweller replied.

“Why did you say ‘not good’ when I sent the location?” Tane said.

“It’s located in the middle of a dweller city,” G’allanthamas said. “In full view of the residents. This is a Cre’ite colony.”

“Whoa, what?” Sinive said. “A dweller city? Crete or whatever? How the hell are we even going to get close?”

“It will be difficult,” G’allanthamas said. “But not impossible. There should be a dweller shuttle stowed on the planet, from the last time I visited with Tiberius.”

“Another shuttle?” Sinive said. “It seems awfully convenient that you seem to have so many shuttles scattered throughout the galaxy. First Rusty, and now a dweller shuttle.”

“I have only a few shuttles, actually,” G’allanthamas said. “It is mostly luck that the Doomwielder has been choosing the right planets to visit.”

“Oh, and of course the shuttle will still work after all this time,” Sinive said sarcastically. “Without maintenance of any kind.”

“Why wouldn’t it?” G’allanthamas said. “The power supply is rated to last for two millennia. When you’re as long lived as we are, you build things to last. Unlike you humans and your flimsy ships. Did I tell you how many times I had to replace Rusty’s power core?”

“How are we even going to reach orbit?” Sinive said. “Seeing as we’ll be entering the system in a human ship? This is a dweller colony, remember…”

“There will be minimal defenses,” G’allanthamas said. “Since the destruction of our homeworld, the Cre’ite and other dwellers have been keeping a low profile for fear of the probes of the Hated Enemy ferreting them out. None of us wants a repeat of what happened to our homeworld. This is a minor colony, so there will only be two or three scout ships watching in secret from different parts of the system, but otherwise it will appear uninhabited.”

“Can’t you just say TSN instead of Hated Enemy?” Sinive said. “It gets confusing.”

“I will make a note in my translation program,” G’allanthamas said.

“And how will having only three alien ships in the system really help us?” Sinive said. “Seeing as we still have to sneak past them. If we had a vessel like the Red Grizzly, which could change its heat profile in realtime via illegal heat emitters, then it might be possible.” She glanced at Jed. “Does your friend happen to be a smuggler by any chance?”

“No,” Jed admitted. “But I have some ideas. My friend’s starship—assuming she helps us—won’t have heat emitters, but that’s not to say we can’t use 3D printers to make some. I can work with our dweller friend and print something to mimic one of the smaller alien ships. We’d have to do it before we launch of course.”

“How long would that take?” Tane said.

“Probably about six hours,” Jed said. “I’d have to pay the shipyard for access to their industrial printers, though, to speed things up.”

“Won’t that cost a lot of credits?” Tane said, wondering if it would cut into the skill upgrades Jed had promised him.

Jed shrugged. “Around ten thousand. With another two grand to get bumped to the front of the queue. A small price to pay to get this done in six hours.”

“Yes, good, good,” G’allanthamas said. “Once we’re there, I’ll communicate with the dwellers in my native language and get clearance so as not to raise any alarms. We’ll come in from the far side of the planet to avoid any identification on the visual band from land-based telescopes they might have deployed near the city.”

“You’re trying to tell me they won’t have any sensors or other forms of observation on the opposite hemisphere?” Jed said. “No orbital satellites?”

“As I told you, they don’t want to attract the attention of the Hated... er, TSN,” G’allanthamas said. “There will be sensors and other forms of observation on the opposite hemisphere, but no telescopes. My spies should be able to give me a list of all sky observation centers, so I can plan a route to the shuttle I have stowed on the surface.”

“Spies... you’re more well connected than I thought,” Jed said.

“When you get to be as old as I am, with your grandkids and their grandkids distributed throughout the galaxy, your spy network comes easily,” G’allanthamas said. “In any case, thanks to my spies, I should be able to determine the blind spots in their observation network. Usually the north and south poles don’t have any, so I would suggest approaching the planet from the south pole. We’ll arrive when that particular hemisphere is under the cover of darkness, and bring our ship as close to the surface as possible. Once we reach my shuttle, we’ll transfer to it and proceed to the city on a more direct route, following the night, timing our arrival so that the city remains in darkness. All the better to work my blurring Essenceworks.”

“That sounds like a somewhat reasonable plan,” Tane said. “Assuming there aren’t actually any telescopes on the south pole.”

“If there are, and they ID our human ship, I’ll just say I’ve stolen it from the Hated... TSN, and that I intend to sell it to the highest bidder,” G’allanthamas said. “Trust me, I can talk us out of anything.”

“I applaud your confidence,” Jed said. “But I’m not sure that will cut it, not this time.”

“I will confirm everything with my spies beforehand, of course,” G’allanthamas said.

“What about the ships hiding in the system itself?” Tane said. “Won’t they ID us on the visual band before we even reach the planet?”

“No,” G’allanthamas replied. “The resolution of their ship-side telescopes is relatively poor. If we stay over thirty million kilometers from them at all times, they’ll have to rely on the thermal profile, and we’re essentially guaranteed they won’t ID us. Maintaining such a distance should be easy, given that they’ll be on the outskirts of the system near the Oort cloud to avoid detection.”

“So, here’s something else to consider,” Sinive said. “When the Red Grizzly first entered the Umbra to pick you up, we encountered a TSN scout ship watching the rift. Lyra speculated that the TSN was probably guarding all entrances to the Umbra, not just that one. They’ve certainly got the ships for it.”

“I might have a way to handle that,” Jed said. “It’s to our advantage that most rifts are extremely broad. We’re talking millions of kilometers in width, and several hundred in height.” He detailed a potential plan.

“It might work,” Tane said. “But remember, dwellers will be waiting on the other side, too. Like the TSN, they know those rifts are the only way for me to travel into their realm. At least until I can unlock certain higher level Dark Essenceworks. Until then, the rifts are my chokepoints. If they have the ships, they’ll deploy them. And they’ll probably be within thirty million kilometers when we pass through, so definitely within visual ID range.”

“Not necessarily,” Jed said. “As I told you, rifts are broad. If we’re lucky, we’ll emerge beyond their visual ID range, and the emitters will be enough to convince them to leave us alone while we make our way to a gravity well and jump to the target system.”

“Luck,” Tane said. “I’m not sure how much longer we should continue to rely upon it. Did you review the Red Grizzly’s logs at all, after Nebb retrieved us? He wasn’t so lucky when he entered the Umbra to get us. Dwellers attacked.”

“If luck doesn’t go our way, then we’ll just have to run,” Jed said.

“All right,” Tane said. “Well, it’s the beginnings of a plan anyway.”

Jed studied Tane a moment. “Your biggest worry seems to be about entering the rift. Mine is what happens when you actually reach the planet. Remember what transpired the last time we went to an artifact the dwellers knew about?”

Tane nodded. “The Amaranth ambush on Remus.” He sighed. “We’ll have to risk it, because we have no choice, really. If we want to rescue Nebb and Lyra, this is the only way. That Essencework will destroy the control chips, and prevent any of us from ever getting chipped against our wills again.”

“As long as we hang around you, you mean,” Sinive said.

“Unless you know how to Siphon both the Dark and the White, then yeah,” Tane said.

She glared at him slightly before looking away.

“So I was originally worried you’d want to board a TSN starship,” Jed said. “But sneaking into a dweller city? That’s probably just as bad. If not more so.”

“The TSN has a control chip inside me,” Tane said. “While the dwellers don’t.”

“Not yet…” Jed said.

“The Volur is right, it will be difficult,” G’allanthamas said. “The artifact will be watched. Even if we are blurred, and traveling at night, there is no guarantee of success.”

“And I’m not sure I even want to go back to the Umbra...” Sinive said.

“You’re welcome to stay,” Tane told her. “I’ll come back here when it’s done and use the work to kill your chip.”

She lowered her eyes, shaking her head. “No. I didn’t mean… look, I’m all-in now. The TSN wants me almost as badly as they want you. I’ll go.”

“And I certainly won’t leave your side,” Jed said.

“I’ll do it, of course,” G’allanthamas said. “Where the Doomwielder goes, I follow.”

“Okay, good,” Tane said. He glanced at Jed. “We’re still waiting on your friend?”

“Yes,” Jed said. “In the meantime, I want to take you to the local Peddler of the Esoteric.”

“I’ve never been one to refuse free skill updates,” Tane said. He turned toward the door. “The Peddler it is.”

19

Tane walked outside with Sinive and Jed, while G’allanthamas remained in the room. Sinive embedded a maintenance notice in the building’s database, so that if any renters arrived to claim the dweller’s suite, the guests would be immediately redirected to another available room. She only put in one such notice, because apparently any more might cause an alert to be sent to the building’s property management company. A single room down for one day wasn’t likely to raise any red flags.

They’d changed their spoofed IDs again, just to be on the safe side, and chose names and classes that were more of a match to the local residents. Jed became John Roti, professional dancer. Tane was Jerry Maharashtra, augmented reality expert. Sinive, Mika Shawarma, sandwich specialist. When she had chosen that particular name and class, Tane and Jed had both looked at her and she shrugged.

“Hey, what can I say, I really like shawarma,” Sinive had told them.

All three were dressed in the saris that Jed had procured for them. Jed had shown them how to wrap the long cloths around their bodies. Tane and Sinive had folded part of the fabric over their heads as per the local fashion, which served the added purpose of hiding much of their caps from view. The wide brims at the fronts still protruded of course, but also shielded their eyes from the bright sun. Tane had wrapped the sari over the pouch at his belt, though he’d left a small section open so he could reach inside and retrieve the storage device if necessary.

The saris of Tane and Jed were a dark red, while Sinive’s was multicolored like most of the women. It was a nice change from the usual shirt and pants.

The TSN was out in full force that day, with robots patrolling the streets and military craft darting above the delivery drones overhead. Because of that, Tane and Sinive kept their gazes low. The passers-by meanwhile seemed oblivious to the extra TSN presence, and moved about as if they were in a hurry to get to their destination.

Tane was steeped in sweat by the time they’d passed two avenues. It was damn hot out there, and he was regretting not taking off his existing clothes before wrapping the sari overtop. That cap only made the situation worse. He wanted more than anything to take it off, but he couldn’t, of course.

“I wish you would have warned me how hot it was out here,” Tane told Jed. He had no way to tell how warm the moon was in the climate controlled environment of his spacesuit the night before. And the air-conditioned room had done nothing to acclimate him.

“I guess I assumed you’d check the weather on your own,” Jed said. The man hadn’t broken a sweat. “Play with your sweat gland settings if you want.”

“No thanks,” Tane said. His chip offered complete access to all the inner workings of his body, but in the past any manual adjustments he’d made hadn’t been all that successful. He’d almost knocked himself out in the middle of a firefight, for example. If he tweaked his sympathetic nervous system, responsible for regulating body temperature, he’d probably end up dehydrating himself or something.

Different shops offered services at the bases of each silo. Some were makeshift stands set up on the sidewalk, offering foods such as kabobs and rice.

“Anyone else hungry?” Tane asked.

“Famished,” Sinive replied.

Jed purchased a huge, flat disk of bread from a bakery that specialized in them. Jed broke it into three parts, giving one each to Tane and Sinive.

“That’s not a piece of bread,” Sinive said. “That’s a tire.”

“I’d like to see the vehicle that has tires like these,” Tane said.

She glanced at him, scowling, before looking away.

Jed paused beside a kabob kiosk and bought three sticks, handing one each to Tane and Sinive.

The Volur wrapped the bread around his kabob, and gripped it tightly in the center while he slid the support stick out. Tane and Sinive mimicked him, and then ate while they walked.

“What animal is this meat from?” Sinive asked.

“Probably better if you don’t know,” Jed answered.

Sinive made a disgusted face, but she continued eating.

They caught a ride on a shared flyer, which took them to the opposite side of the city, and then unloaded. Two blocks later they reached a shop nestled at the base of a particularly tall silo. The shop was completely unlabeled, and since Tane didn’t have his external augmentations active, he couldn’t read any potential digital signage.

“Here it is.” Jed approached the door but then paused, his eyes defocusing. “My friend just got in touch. She’s tentatively agreed to provide passage. Because we’re headed into the Umbra, she won’t be cutting her fee, like I had hoped. That means I won’t be able to spend as much in here.”

“She’s only tentatively agreed?” Tane asked. He wiped the perspiration from his eyes.

“Yes,” Jed answered. “She wants to meet you first. We’ll have to make this quick. She’s expecting us downtown in an hour.”

The Volur warrior continued toward the door.

“This is exciting,” Sinive said. “I can’t wait to see what they have!”

The Volur glanced sidelong at her. “I never said I was purchasing anything for you.”

“Fine, be that way.” Sinive folded her arms above her breasts. “But keep in mind I saved your precious World Bender’s life back on Remus, when you Volurs were busy having your faces slammed into the ground. Might be a good idea to buy me some upgrades, don’t you think? Or at the very least get me a new Chrysalium armband.”

Jed shook his head. “The cost of a good armband like the one you had, an armband that won’t disintegrate after the first use, is far beyond my means. I’m sorry.”

“Minor upgrades will do...” Sinive said.

“We’ll see,” Jed told her. He touched the door handle.

“Wait, I’m not going to owe you anything after this, am I?” Tane said.

“You’ll owe me nothing, Engineer,” Jed said.

Tane wasn’t so sure about that, but he nodded slowly. “All right, well, thanks for investing in me. And for believing in me.”

“It’s more for Lyra’s belief in you that I do this,” Jed said.

“You don’t think I’m the Bender of Worlds?”

“I’m sure you are,” Jed said. “But I haven’t decided yet whether you’re going to save the galaxy or destroy it.”

“And yet you want to buy me upgrades.”

“Your goals align with mine, for now,” Jed said. “You want to save Lyra, eventually. So do I. And while I may respect you, and the power you have inside of you, it doesn’t mean I trust you fully.”

“Well I’m glad you finally cleared the air,” Tane said. “And here I was, just starting to think you were my friend.”

“I’m the closest thing you have to a friend right now, Engineer. Considering that one of your other companions has a control chip in her brain, and the other is an alien.”

“Gee, thanks,” Sinive said. “Lump me in with the alien.”

“Well, I trust you about the same as I do them,” Tane told Jed. “For all I know, the TSN got to you, too, and you just don’t know it yet.”

Jed gestured toward the door. “Can we go in now?”

“Lead the way.”

Tane followed Jed inside. He immediately noticed the drop in temperature: sweet air conditioning.

As usual, around Tane were shelves lined with curios: holograms projected from tiny plinths; glass cases harboring silver items that had to be Chrysalium; small, glowing statues of dwellers and kraals. And there was even a Dirac on display, situated on a stand near the middle of the shop like a centerpiece.

“We should really come here in the Umbra sometime,” Sinive said softly.

Behind the far counter a proprietor emerged. He was dressed in a red sari and wore his hair completely shaved on one side, and long on the other, a style Tane had seen on some of those who hadn’t wrapped their heads in fabric.

“How can I help you lovely gentlemen, and lady, today?” the man said.

Tane ran a quick ID. The man was a synthetic named Bill.

“You’re a robot?” Sinive said. “But you can’t even Siphon. Why would you run an Esoteric shop?”

“Stereotyping,” Bill said. “That’s always a bad thing. Just because I can’t Siphon, doesn’t mean I can’t make a living peddling goods to those who can. I pay my licensing fees, and the Volur are happy to take their commission either way.”

Sinive didn’t seem convinced. “Well, if you say so. Though this is the last job any robots I know would take. In fact, if they had a choice, most of my robot friends wouldn’t be working at all, but rather plugging themselves into the latest massively multiplayer game for AIs.”

“The owner is away on vacation,” the synthetic admitted. “I am her assistant. And yes, before you came in, I was plugged in to a massively multiplayer game.”

“Ah.” Sinive ran a finger across an armband on a shelf that caught her eye.

“No touching, please,” the synthetic told her. “You break it, you buy it.”

“How much?” Sinive said.

“For that, two hundred and eighty thousand,” Bill said.

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Sinive turned away, quickly losing interest in the item.

Jed emerged from behind a shelf; he held a small glowing pistol. “What do you want for this?”

“Sixty thousand,” Bill said.

Jed pressed his lips together. He glanced at Tane. “I was thinking of buying it for you, but it’s a bit above my price range.”

“I don’t have the Pistoleer skill anyway,” Tane said.

“Oh.” Jed returned the item to its place, then joined Tane and Sinive as they stood before the synthetic. “I’d like to buy my friend here a Chip Database Upgrade.” He pointed at Tane.

“That can be arranged.”

“How much?” Jed asked.

“Fifteen thousand,” Bill replied.

“I want level two,” Jed said.

“Thirty thousand, then,” Bill said.

“Wait,” Tane told Jed. “What’s the point of spending all that money on a database upgrade? Wouldn’t the credits be better spent on Essenceworks, or items?”

“Thirty thousand is pretty reasonable, actually,” Jed said. “You can’t keep asking me to ID every single item you come across. With this, you’ll be able to identify the different classes of humans, robots, and dwellers on your own, plus nearly all known weapon types among both species. Level two is equivalent to what the TSN chips their soldiers with... you’re going to need an upgrade like this sooner or later. Might as well get it done now, while we have a good rate.”

Tane glanced at Bill. “Out of curiosity, what does level three provide?”

Jed was the one who answered. “The full IDs of all known ship types, including human military and alien.”

“Ah,” Tane said. “All right. Let’s do it.”

“Good.” Jed turned toward the synthetic. “I also want you to show him a list of the available Essenceworks you have on hand, levels one and two.”

Because Tane was within the reduced five-meter transmission range of his chip, a sharing prompt appeared on his HUD and he accepted.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 1.

Shapist:

Star Light. Used to illuminate the immediate area.

Silence Cage. Envelops an area in silence, blocking sound from entering or leaving.

Warmancer, ranged:

Air Current. Launch a gust of air.

Essence Missile. Launch a missile of pure Essence at an opponent.

Persistent Flame. Create a burst-capable flame in the palm of your hand.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Essence Trap. Cause an object to detonate when opened.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 2.

Shapist:

Blur features. Hide from facial recognition algorithms.

Healer:

Wound healing. Heals wounds on one subject.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Light glove. Punch through shields and armor with a glove of white Essence.

“I have each Branchwork available for purchase up to level three,” Bill said.

“I like how they’re organized by discipline,” Tane said. “The last Peddler of the Esoteric just bunched all the works together.”

“Yes,” Bill said. “Not every purveyor of the Lumina knows how to sell...”

“I’m a bit surprised you’d openly carry something like Blur Features,” Tane said.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Bill said. “It’s one of the more popular works we sell. All Essenceworkers value their privacy after all...”

“Of course,” Tane said. “Law enforcement lets you get away with it?”

“We show a different list to law enforcement officials,” the synthetic replied.

“So, pick two Branchworks you want to acquire,” Jed told Tane. “Or one you want to upgrade. And if the cost isn’t too high, I’ll buy them.”

Tane considered the list for several moments. He wanted all the Branchworks he didn’t have on that list of course, especially healing, but he knew level one in most of them would probably be relatively useless. Then again, Persistent Flame level one packed a relatively powerful punch, at least when spurted like a flamethrower. If there was any Branchwork he was interested in upgrading, it would be Essence Missile however, considering it could travel a whole lot farther than the two meters of Persistent Flame. But upgrading either of those would likely be extremely expensive, especially considering his Essence Missile was already at level two. Those Branchworks would naturally level on their own over time with use anyway, whereas all the other works he didn’t have couldn’t be leveled if he didn’t know how to create them in the first place.

He decided he didn’t need Blur Features, because Jed had already picked up the caps, but he dithered back and forth on the remaining works for about three minutes before he made up his mind. “Okay. I’ll take level one in Light Glove and Healing.”

“Good choices,” Jed said.

“Indeed,” the synthetic said. “The cost will be eighty thousand galactic credits.”

“Oh,” Jed said. “The price has gone up since the last I checked.”

Bill shrugged. “We get our price quotes directly from Talendir. We’re not allowed to charge less than the going rates. If we do, the Volur will revoke our license.”

“I’ve always said the shops are a big sham the Volur perpetrate,” Sinive said.

“It is a sham,” Bill agreed. “But it’s padding their digital wallets nicely.”

“And your own, I’m sure,” Sinive muttered.

“Do you have any legendary Chrysalium pieces you can show us?” Jed asked Bill.

“If I did, they wouldn’t be for sale,” Bill responded. “But I do have a couple of Epic pieces that might interest you.”

“Maximum cost is eighty thousand,” Jed said.

“Then I have one piece,” Bill said. “A moment.”

The synthetic vanished in a back room and returned a moment later carrying a small necklace. Jed extended a hand as if to take it, but Bill snatched it back. “Uh uh uh! Look, don’t touch.”

Tane tried to ID it but got nothing. It was probably a good thing he was getting that Chip Database Upgrade.

Bill glanced at him, apparently realizing he couldn’t identify the item, because a moment later Tane received a sharing request on his HUD and accepted. He read the item information:

Item: Feral Necklace.

Item type: Epic.

Weight: 50 g.

Additional Effects: All created Essenceworks behave as if they are one level higher.

Essence-Imbued bonuses: 5% bonus to learning. 25% bonus to Chrysalium Siphoning.

Chrysalium bonus: +1 Intelligence while equipped.

Note: must be worn under armor or spacesuit to take effect.

“How much?” Jed asked.

“Eighty thousand. Firm.”

“Doesn’t really seem worth it,” Tane said.

“Actually, it is,” Jed said. “Boosting an Essencework to the next level higher? That’s definitely worth it. And the Chrysalium Siphoning bonus isn’t bad at all. But there is a catch.”

“Let me guess, I have to choose between the necklace, and the three nanotech upgrades,” Tane said.

“Good guess,” Jed said. “I still have to save money to buy passage, and book the 3D printers...”

“What if I was able to put up fifty thousand?” Tane said.

“Do you have fifty thousand?” Jed asked.

“Not yet,” Tane said. He turned toward Bill. “I’d like you to evaluate some items for me.”

Tane went to the main counter and reached into the loose fabric of his waist area to retrieve his storage pouch. From it he removed the battle armor pieces he had purloined in the Umbra. He set them down on the countertop, along with the chest piece he had taken from Lyra’s pouch. Sinive also unloaded the extra pieces of armor she had been storing for Tane at five percent commission.

He got a surprisingly good price for the armor pieces, at forty-five thousand, and he paid his commission to Sinive. He also sold his old A2 Personal Shield System for eleven thousand—it retailed for twenty-five brand new, according to a quick check Jed made for him on TradeBay, the most popular auction site on the Galnet.

Tane had Bill hold the money in escrow for the purchase of the necklace and two Essenceworks; Jed was about to pay the outstanding amount when Tane intervened, asking the synthetic: “How much for a point in Strength?”

“What is your Strength currently?” Bill asked.

“Nine,” Tane replied.

“The price to reach ten is ten thousand,” Bill said.

“Can we get that, too?” Tane asked Jed. “There’s another piece of armor I have that I can’t wear without ten Strength.” He felt like he was a little kid all over again, asking his dad to buy—pretty please—the latest virtual reality app for his AR goggles or something.

Jed frowned at first, and for a moment Tane thought the Volur was going to say no. But then Jed addressed Bill: “We’ll take the Chip Database Upgrade level two. The Light Glove and Healing works. The Feral Necklace. And the Strength point. I’m sending payment now.”

The Volur’s eyes defocused.

“Very good,” Bill said. He handed the necklace to Tane. “This is yours. I’ll prepare your nanotech upgrades forthwith.” The synthetic headed behind the counter.

Tane examined the necklace excitedly. He lowered the fabric that was wrapped around his head and slid the necklace on, tucking it underneath the sari and the shirt underneath. A notification appeared on his HUD, telling him that his intelligence had jumped by one point, to twenty-five with the beam hilt, Chrysalium Star rings, Feral Necklace, and Nova Bracelet equipped.

I feel smarter already.

He didn’t receive any other notifications. He would have to assume he was getting the other bonuses, he supposed.

“And of course I don’t get anything, right?” Sinive said.

Tane shrugged. “You could sell some of the armor you picked up in the Umbra...”

“Yeah, except I don’t like the prices here,” Sinive said. “Not to mention this synthetic’s trade-in valuations are a little bit on the low side for my tastes. I think I’ll hold off.” She turned away and pretended to be fascinated by a small silver statue of a tree sitting on a nearby shelf. Had to be Chrysalium.

Bill beckoned from behind the counter, and Tane and Jed approached. The synthetic produced a yellow vial, along with a brain scan machine.

“Please,” Bill beckoned toward the machine.

Tane took the provided seat in front of the counter. He placed his chin into the supplied rest, while at the same time pressed his forehead into the half-circle of the headband. He gazed into the two binocular lenses in front of him.

“By the way, he has two chips installed in his brain,” Jed said.

“Two?” Bill said.

“Yes,” Jed said. “One civilian, and one military. The upgrades will be for the civilian chip.”

The synthetic pursed its lips. “Interesting.”

“Is there a problem?” Jed asked.

“None,” Bill replied. “I don’t meet very many people with two chips, that’s all. It should be safe.”

Tane sat back. “Should?”

“I misspoke,” Bill said. “It is safe.”

“Why don’t I find that reassuring?” Tane said. “Don’t answer. It was a rhetorical question.”

Bill studied him uncertainly. “Do you want to continue? I can still rebate your money.”

Tane studied the machine a moment, and then leaned forward once more, settling into the two rests. The binocular lenses adjusted until they were over his eyes, and then a bright light assailed him.

Tane’s eyes watered, and he began to blink rapidly.

“Try not to blink,” Bill said.

A second later the light faded. The afterimage remained, blotting Tane’s vision.

Bill’s eyes defocused as he analyzed the results. Then the synthetic slid the yellow vial into a slot beside the scanner. It popped out a moment later, and the synthetic slid the vial into a sonic injector, and beckoned Tane to place his hand on the table.

Tane did so. He hadn’t put on his gauntlets this morning, nor his rings, so his hands were bare.

Bill held the injector above his right hand. The sting that followed told Tane the injection was complete.

A few seconds later the notification icon flashed in the lower right of his HUD, and Tane enlarged it to read the alerts that had appeared.

New White Essencework learned.

Healing. Level 1 (White Siphoning Level 2 required).

New White Essencework learned.

Light Glove. Level 1 (White Siphoning Level 2 required).

New skill learned.

Chip Database Upgrade. Level 2.

Attribute up. Strength +1. Current Strength: 10

“All right, looks like the new nanotech took,” Tane said.

“I’d like to perform a final confirmation scan, if you don’t mind?” Bill said.

Tane leaned his head onto the machine and once more the light flashed into his eyes.

When it was done, the synthetic said: “All is well. I should probably mention, the Chip Database Upgrade also includes a free storage space increase, as well as the ability to archive the last twenty-four hours of video in a rolling log, as recorded by your eyes and ears. Just like they use in the military.”

“Nice, how do I activate it?” Tane asked.

“It’ll be in the Rolling Log section of your HUD,” Bill said.

Tane found the appropriate setting and activated it. He waited a few seconds, and then tried rewinding to the start of the recording. The scene played back in the upper right of his vision.

“Looks good,” Tane said.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” the synthetic asked. Bill’s gaze encompassed Tane, Jed, and Sinive.

“I think we’re good,” Jed said.

“Thank you for your business,” Bill said. “Come again soon.”

On the way out, Tane tried to ID Jed. He didn’t get “Volur” listed as the class, as the warrior was still spoofed as a professional dancer. Sinive was little better.

I’ll just have to try IDing something else.

“Aren’t you the special one,” Sinive said, not looking at him. “Got yourself a brand new Chrysalium necklace. Maybe you should let it sit on top of your sari for all the world to see. Add in your rings while you’re at it. Let everyone know you’re a Volur.”

Feeling the need to get in a riposte, he said: “You’re just jealous because you left empty-handed.”

“Did I?” Still not meeting his gaze, Sinive produced a Chrysalium tree from the storage pouch hidden underneath her sari. She held it to eye level and examined it. “Not so empty-handed after all.”

It was the same tree he had seen her studying in the shop. Tane hadn’t seen her purchase it: she’d obviously stolen the item. How she had avoided triggering the security systems, he didn’t know.

Her hacking skill, again.

“You thief!” Tane tried to grab the item from her, but she swooped her hand away.

“That synthetic deserves a little thievery for his outrageous prices,” Sinive said.

“But it’s not right,” Tane said. “I’ve never been friends with someone who steals.”

“Good,” Sinive said. “I don’t want to be friends.”

She hadn’t looked at him for the entire exchange. He wasn’t quite sure what she meant, considering that she had said the same thing in his room the night before, moments before they’d slept together.

Tane glanced at Jed, but the Volur merely stared straight ahead, stone faced. Trying to pretend very hard that he hadn’t heard.

“Fine.” Sinive stopped abruptly. She shoved the silver tree toward him and finally gazed into his eyes. Hers were fiery, filled with anger. “Go ahead and return it then. See if I care.”

Tane snatched the item from her, feeling angry in return at the way she was treating him. He spun toward the shop entrance, only to stare uncertainly at the door. He wondered how he was going to explain this. Maybe he could just leave the tree on the front step or something, but the proprietor probably wouldn’t notice before someone walked by and snatched it.

Jed saved Tane the trouble. The Volur held out his hand. “I’ll do it.”

Tane gladly handed the item over and Jed entered the shop. He returned a moment later, empty-handed.

“What did you tell the synthetic?” Tane asked.

“That she shoplifted the item, and we caught her,” Jed answered. “Bill agreed not to press charges, since the item was unharmed.”

“Not that it would matter,” Sinive told Jed defiantly. “I’m Mika Shawarma, sandwich specialist extraordinaire.”

“I thought I knew you,” Tane said. “But I really don’t. Not in the least.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but Tane looked away, feeling hurt. She held her tongue, thankfully.

He was careful not to meet her gaze all the way back. He kept expecting her to say something, to apologize, even hoped for it—an apology not just for her behavior at the shop, but for the way she had acted all morning—but she said nothing.

And that only hurt all the more.

20

Tane, Sinive and Jed sat in a food court in the basement of a downtown residential skyscraper. Thankfully the air conditioning was operating in full swing.

It was relatively crowded, considering that it was lunch time, and those who liked to socialize had come down to eat rather than having their meals delivered to their rooms by robot or drone.

Conversations began to dull on the far side of the court, and heads turned at the tables there, watching as someone or something apparently walked past. Tane couldn’t quite make out what they were looking at, but the conversations at the tables picked up again as soon as whoever it was had walked by.

The head-turning and conversation-hushing effect continued as the individual in question approached Tane’s table, until finally he saw what everyone was looking at.

His mouth fell open, and he stared. A woman unlike any he had ever seen before was walking down the aisle between the tables. He could see why she had drawn so much attention. She wasn’t dressed in a sari. She wore a clingy top and bottom, with the flat belly of her midriff bared, and ample cleavage showing above that. Hair tumbled down her shoulders in long sensual waves. But it wasn’t just the clothing and hair: while Lyra was beautiful, and Sinive was extremely cute, this woman was the epitome of sexy. Every movement seemed designed to elicit a response from the opposite sex. Her hips waggled sinuously, like a snake. She had a slight smile, almost a smirk, curving up the corner of her mouth. Her eyes twinkled sultrily. Kohl heavily accented her eyes. Her lips seemed plump, luscious. She had a small, dark beauty mark to the left of her mouth, beneath her dewy cheeks.

“Try not to let your tongue drop out of your mouth and drool all over the table or anything,” Sinive commented snidely.

Tane snapped his mouth shut.

The woman had two sawed-off plasma rifles hanging from holsters crisscrossing her back in an X pattern. The stocks of each were accessible above either shoulder, out of the way of her hair. On her thigh was another holster, containing a pistol. A small elliptical device was attached on top of her belt buckle—obviously a shield generator.

Tane ran an ID.

Name: Gia Tijale

Race: Human

Level: 14

Class: Interstellar Corrector

Weaponry:

2x G9 Sawed-Off Plasma Rifle.

1x B&E Storm Zx4 Subcompact Plasma Pistol

Shielding: Energy. (50/50)

Base Armor rating: 1

Total armor rating (including shielding): 51

He noticed that in addition to the basic information, his chip update now gave him a weapons breakdown, plus an armor rating: at least for those people who actually had weapons and armor equipped, and weren’t engaging in spoofing.

“Tane, Sinive, meet Gia Tijale, interstellar corrector,” Jed said, snapping Tane’s attention back to the here and now.

“I hate that title.” Gia took a seat next to the Volur. “I think of myself more as a righter of wrongs.”

“Corrector?” Tane asked.

Ordinarily, his chip would have filled him in on the details by just thinking about the term, but since he wasn’t connected to the Galnet, and the chip’s internal dictionary didn’t have a definition, the word meant nothing to him.

She looked at him in amusement. “When robots go bad, I hunt them down and take them out of commission. For a fee.”

“So a bounty hunter,” Tane said.

Gia’s face darkened. “I hate that title even more.”

Tane glanced at Sinive, who was smirking at him.

“She’s one of the best correctors in the galaxy,” Jed said. “Her services are in demand in many systems. You may have noticed the interstellar in front of her class.”

“Yes, in demand…” Gia smiled bitterly, sitting back. The smile lines accompanying that grin seemed a bit subdued, as if they had been bolstered with cosmetic fillers underneath. Tane immediately had the impression she was older than she looked. Gotta love rejuvenetics.

“That demand comes in waves,” Gia continued. “Some months I’m booked so solid, you’d think all the robots in the galaxy were revolting. Other months, business is so dead, I begin to wonder if humanity has finally cracked the AI code and created the perfect machines. I’m in a down month at the moment. I’ve had to find other ways to maintain my income level—got a ship to pay off, after all. I’ve started taking on side jobs.”

“And so here we are,” Jed said.

“Here we are,” Gia agreed.

“You’re so pretty,” Sinive interjected suddenly.

Gia inclined her head slightly. “Thank you. I love your look as well.”

Sinive’s cheeks flushed a pleasant red.

Not understanding the interplay between the two women, Tane glanced at Jed in confusion, but the Volur merely shrugged.

Gia glanced at Jed. “Silence Cage?”

Jed stared into the distance, and a moment later the sounds of the crowded cafeteria faded away. People at the neighboring tables still gawked at Gia, but Tane couldn’t hear a word any of them were saying. Nor would they be able to hear what was spoken within the Essencework Jed had created.

“Thank you.” She looked at Tane, and raised a hand to cover her mouth as she spoke. It was done offhandedly, almost as if she were simply rubbing her lips, and Tane understood immediately she was hiding her mouth from the lip reading software some people had installed in their chips. Then there was the cafeteria’s AI, which would be recording the tables from every angle via a multitude of tiny cameras.

“So you’re the Engineer Jed told me about,” Gia said. “You look exactly as I imagined you. Kind of young. A bit nerdy. Complexion could use some rejuvenation treatments. Not too tall. Not too short. Not too ugly, nor too pretty. About average in every respect. And yet you’ve attracted the attention of a Volur of Jed’s standing. What makes you so special? And most importantly of all, why do you want me to take you into the Dark Universe?”

Tane glanced at Jed uncertainly. The Volur spoke, covering his mouth in a similar fashion to Gia.

“I was under the impression—” Jed began.

Gia raised her free hand, interrupting. “I asked him. And I expect a reply from him. I can’t respect a man who won’t answer for himself.” She leaned forward, and her eyes became withering, boring into Tane. Suddenly she didn’t look so sexy anymore. “You want me to risk my ship, and my life, by traveling into the Umbra? Then you’re gonna answer me. And that answer better be good, or I walk. And good luck finding another ship to take you to the Umbra. At any price.”

Tane looked once more to Jed, who shook his head subtly as if to say: “don’t tell her the real reason.”

Tane covered his mouth with one hand, pretending to scratch his upper lip. “It’ll be a quick in-out operation,” he told the woman. “Enter the Umbra, jump to the planet in question, and return.”

“In-out,” Gia said in distaste. “Every operation you men perform is a quick in-out.” She stared plasma bolts at Jed, so that Tane thought the words were meant for him, but the Volur pretended not to notice.

Sinive, meanwhile, guffawed.

Gia eyed Tane once more. “You didn’t answer my questions.”

“She’s right,” Tane told Jed. “If we’re going to make her bring us to the Umbra, she deserves the truth.”

Jed shook his head even more firmly.

Tane decided he would have to trust this woman: he doubted she had been bluffing when she said she would refuse them passage. And she would do just that if he told her anything other than the full truth. Traveling into the Umbra was no light thing.

Tane looked Gia firmly in the eyes, and said: “I’m the Bender of Worlds.”

She stared at him, seeming confused for a moment, and then broke into an uproarious laugh. “The Bender! The Bender of Worlds!” She threw back her head and her shoulders shook with mirth. “He’s… the World Bender!” She wiped the tears from her eyes and then placed her hand back in front of her lips. “Funny man. The Bender of Worlds. Now seriously, why do you want to go into the Umbra? And don’t tell me it’s just because you want to gather loot.”

“Tiberius Tribulantes, the last man to wield the Dark and White Essences, left an artifact for me on a planet there,” Tane said. “That artifact will teach me how to remove the control chip that’s in my head.”

“You have a control chip in your head?” Gia said. Her right hand shifted toward her shoulder, almost unconsciously, as if she were getting ready to draw one of the rifles at her back.

“Yes,” Tane said. “Without the Dark and White Essencework the artifact will teach me, the TSN can easily assume control of me.”

Gia glanced at Jed.

“He speaks the truth,” Jed said. “Not a word he told you is false. He is the Bender of Worlds. And the TSN has planted a control chip in his mind.”

She stared at Jed for several seconds. “You didn’t want him to tell me. Why?”

“The fewer people that know, the better,” Jed said. “Not just for us. But for them.”

“How did you ever escape the TSN?” Gia said. “If he has a control chip…”

“With difficulty,” Jed said.

Gia nodded to herself. “This isn’t good. Not good at all.” She glanced at Tane. “I’m not sure I want to involve myself in this. If the TSN finds out, I’ll lose my license. They’ll hunt me. Especially if they’ve chipped you. You’re essentially their property, now.”

“I’m no one’s property,” Tane said, growling slightly.

Gia gazed at him, but her words were for Jed. “This complicates things even further. Not only do you want to travel into the Umbra, but he’s the….” She shook her head. “I’ll have to increase my fee even higher.”

“I can only afford to pay what we originally agreed,” Jed said.

Gia placed her elbows on the table and clasped her hands. She placed her chin against the rest formed by her knuckles, and tapped her lips with her index fingers. “Why should I help you? Why should I risk everything I’ve worked for?”

“Because you’re an honorable woman,” Tane told her. “And you help those in need. You said it yourself: you’re a righter of wrongs. I’ve been wronged. Help me make things right again.”

Her eyes seemed suddenly moist, and she blinked rapidly, sitting back.

“I’ll do it,” Gia said.

* * *

After returning from the downtown area, Tane planned to spend the rest of the day in the short term rental suite.

Since Sinive had only posted a maintenance notice for the dweller’s suite, Jed set up a Galnet watch to keep track of the inventory on the remaining rooms the team used, and if one of them became rented, the Volur would come knocking at the door.

Shortly after arriving at the room, Tane took off the sari so that he was wearing only his shirt and pants underneath. He removed the cap to reveal his sweat-matted hair; underneath the brim, the cap had a wide perspiration stain.

Wanting to see the effects of adding a point to Strength, Tane went to the mirror and lifted his sticky shirt. He didn’t see any abs, but he thought there was some more definition on his pecs. He rolled up his sleeve. Yes, definitely some slightly more toning in his arms. Or maybe he was just imagining it. He felt stronger, anyway.

Too bad he had no one to show off his new body to.

He threw his clothes into the sonic cleaner and then took a sonic shower. When he was done he dressed—he was feeling a bit cold thanks to the air conditioning, which he had set on ultra high. He accessed the remote interface and changed the setting to low, and then sat on the bed.

He decided to try his new Essenceworks. Light Glove caused his hand to erupt with a white glow that seemed sourced within the hand itself. The glow faded after only a second. He slid on the glove of his suit assembly and tried again. When he set the work, the glow appeared to come from the fabric of the glove itself. This time, he folded his fingers into a fist and moderately punched the nightstand beside his bed. His glowing hand broke right through the wooden stand as if it were paper. He felt only a small pressure on the outside of the fabric—no pain.

He stared at the broken remnants beside the bed in dismay.

“Whoops.” Hopefully it wouldn’t cost the owner too much to 3D-print a new one.

He donned his Feral Necklace and created the work again. The glow was brighter, and seemed to form a thick globe around his hand. It also lasted for two seconds this time. It was definitely acting at the next higher level, thanks to that necklace. He decided it was probably wise not to punch anything this time.

He created the work again, but this time set the Branchwork upon his opposite hand, causing the Light Glove to form over those fingers instead.

He was feeling somewhat depleted from creating the same work several times in a row, though the weariness wasn’t too bad at all. He was definitely getting used to the Essence, overall. It helped that his Siphoning was at level two now, and that he had a higher base Endurance, he supposed.

He removed the spacesuit glove and equipped his rings and bracelet, and felt even better. He decided not to don his gauntlets, however, since he wanted his hands bare for his next experiment.

So. Healing. First he needed something to heal.

He knelt beside the ruined nightstand and picked up one of the wooden shards. He sat on the edge of the bed, held the sharp tip to the thick portion of his hand above the thumb, and made a quick cut, grimacing as he did so. His hand throbbed painfully in time to his heart, and blood oozed forth.

Tane stepped into the Essence. He created Healing, and applied it to the hand. The pain instantly subsided, and the blood stopped trickling out. He stepped out of the Essence and wiped the blood away. All that remained of the wound was a tiny pink scar.

Nice.

Well, he could heal tiny nicks and scratches, anyway. He remembered that he was still wearing the Feral Necklace, so the Healing work had actually been level two, not one. He wondered if the higher levels could completely heal wounds without scarring. But then he remembered when Lyra had healed the microcrilla infection in Sinive’s shoulder—Sinive was left with a scar, even with Lyra’s obviously high level. Oh well, scars could always be fixed cosmetically if someone really felt the need.

He went to the bathroom to wash the blood off, and then he cleaned up the broken nightstand, putting the smaller pieces inside the supplied garbage bin, and placing the larger remnants down beside said bin. Then he retrieved the armored robe from his suit. It felt heavy, so he set it down on the bed. He decided to try it on: he had the Strength for it now, after all.

The heavy robe was open down the middle, so he shrugged one hand through the provided armhole, and the other into the opposite. Then he pulled the two sides closed around his midsection. It came with a belt similar to the one his spacesuit had, and he tightened that.

Underneath the belt, the robe remained open down the middle, and he wasn’t sure how to seal the two sides; he saw a remote interface available to the unit on his HUD and accessed it. After logging in, he changed the password when prompted, and then the interface appeared. There was a Resize option, along with a Seal Front. He chose the latter.

The front portion of the robe tightened, and the seam down the middle disappeared as the two halves joined. He released the edges and the robe held its shape. He was pleased to see the armor rating on his HUD go up by twenty.

The robe felt moderately heavy. At twenty kilograms, it couldn’t really be considered light. But it was manageable, and shouldn’t adversely affect his ability to move around in a fight. He might get tired slightly faster, but the added protection from the armor rating was worth it.

He walked toward the mirror. He definitely cut a nice profile in that robe. He looked like a robed assassin or something, given the way those metal plates interlocked. Or a Volur, like Lyra. It definitely reminded him of the battle dress she wore. And come to think of it, with those silver rings on his fingers and the necklace around his throat, he really did look the part of a Volur.

And he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.

He shrunk the material so that it appeared to be an ordinary cloth robe, but it still had the same weight. His armor rating dropped to five at the most compact setting. He was able to put on his spacesuit at that level, which let him layer the armor ratings. He tried enlarging the robe once the suit pressurized, and he managed to increase it enough to get the rating up to ten, however he had trouble breathing at that setting, and quickly realized the robe was interfering with the suit’s air circulation, so he dropped it back down to its most compact level. That would have to do. He tried walking around, and the suit’s servomotors easily made up for the increased bulk and heft.

Tane stripped off the suit once more but decided to leave the armored robe on, as he wanted to get used to its weight. He bound the suit up and put it into his pouch, and washed his hands of the latest dried blood the suit had rubbed off onto them.

The plan was to leave a few hours after dusk, that way the team could sneak G’allanthamas aboard Gia’s ship without drawing any attention. Tane glanced at the time. He still had a long way to go until nightfall. He decided to spend the time practicing the different Essenceworks he knew. He slid on his gauntlets and equipped his beam hilt for extra Endurance.

In about an hour he had exhausted himself. And he hadn’t leveled in any of the works. He double-checked the manual, and realized that leveling only really occurred when he used the works in practical situations, such as battle. Sure, he could get to level zero if he was trying to learn a new work from a Branchwork hologram—if he had one—but that was really about it. He couldn’t even get Air Current to move from level zero to one, even though he tried throwing the Essencework at the walls, and accidentally tore away the curtain from the rod one time.

As for Healing, he couldn’t simply keep cutting himself and healing the same tiny wound. He had to move on to larger wounds if he wanted to gain any experience. And he wasn’t about to start inflicting greater and greater injuries upon himself simply for the practice.

After a moderate rest, he tried mixing Dark timelines with White Branchworks, but all he really succeeded in doing was creating the individual works. If he really wanted to create something from a mix of Dark and White, like Repel Nanotech, he needed training.

He needed that Dark Artifact in the Umbra.

He stopped his experimentations when he drilled a large hole into the wall dividing the bathroom from the main room: he’d accidentally released an Essence Missile and Fingers of Ruin at the same time, when he had meant for the works to dissipate.

A delivery drone dropped off supper at six, as Jed had promised it would. After Tane ate, he lay on the bed to nap.

As he lay there, staring at the ceiling, he wondered if he should go down to Sinive’s quarters. A part of him hoped she would come knocking again, asking to use his sonic shower. But she didn’t.

Yep. She definitely used me.

He applied his personal augmentation settings to his surroundings, making it appear that the bed was located on a barren, atmosphereless moon. Staring at the gas giant floating above him amid the stars helped him relax, and he closed his eyes. He wasn’t able to sleep, though. It was too early.

A knock finally came at the door, and for a moment he thought it might be Sinive. His heart rate jumped through the roof, and he sat up, but when he accessed the remote camera, he discovered it was only Jed.

Disappointed, Tane dismissed his augmented reality settings and snapped back into the real world. He opened the door remotely and Jed came in, his power armor forsaken for the dark red sari.

“The hell happened here?” Jed said, looking around in shock. “Looks like a war zone.”

“Err,” Tane said sheepishly. “I decided to do some experimenting.”

“I’ll say,” Jed said. “And you give Sinive crap for stealing…”

“Yeah, but there’s a difference, this was accidental,” Tane said. “Mostly.” He sighed. “Could you deposit a couple thousand credits into the building’s bank account to make up for the damage? I’ll pay you back once I can access the Galnet again.”

“Done,” Jed said. “And you don’t have to pay me back. Oh, I got something for you today.” The Volur tossed Tane a fresh oxygen tank. “For your spacesuit.”

“Thank you.” Tane shoved the tank into his storage pouch, with plans to install it later.

“It’s been dark for a few hours,” Jed said. “It’s time to make our way to the shipyard. Put on your blurring cap. And sari.”

“Is there still a curfew?” Tane asked.

“There is,” Jed said. “And it just took effect.”

“Gall is going to blur Sinive and I with those spheres of his while we’re out there anyway,” Tane said. “So what’s the point of wearing the cap and sari?”

“By now you know I like to err on the side of caution,” Jed said. “If the alien lowers those blur spheres at any time, and you happen to be in a lighted area, if you’re not wearing that cap, and the cameras catch your face...”

“Then the TSN will come raining down on us,” Tane said.

“Exactly,” Jed said. “Whereas if you keep the cap on, then the worst we’ll have to deal with is law enforcement. One or two robots. Maybe a mech.”

“Guess I’m wearing the cap and sari,” Tane said.

He slid on the cap, and Jed helped him wrap the long fabric of the sari around his body. When that was done, he followed Jed into the hallway.

“Any update on the 3D printers?” Tane asked.

“Still working away,” Jed said. “The shipyard was only able to rent half their industrial printers to us on such short notice. The emitters will probably be ready sometime in the middle of the night. Then Gia and I will install them, following the plans our alien friend gave me. He chose a dweller transport of matching size to her ship, so it shouldn’t raise any alarms. As for installation, we’ve got access to the shipyard’s loading arms, so that’ll help. We should be ready to leave by the time the curfew lifts in the morning.”

“I’m surprised Gall was able to give you the precise thermal signatures for some minor alien transport off the cuff like that,” Tane said.

“Dwellers have chips in their heads, too, you know,” Jed said.

“I suppose they do,” Tane said. “I guess I never really thought about it.” He considered something. “What about the extras we’re printing up beside the emitters... will those be ready in time?”

“Yes,” Jed said. “I accounted for them in my estimate. Everything will be ready when the curfew lifts.”

Sinive was already dressed in her sari when Jed and Tane arrived. The Volur tossed Sinive an oxygen tank as well, and she stowed it in her storage pouch underneath her sari.

G’allanthamas was eager to go. The alien had essentially destroyed the room: all the fixtures were broken, and the mattresses leaning against the walls had multiple holes poked in them. The damage was far worse than anything Tane had done to his own suite.

“Jed...” Tane said.

“I can’t afford the repair costs on this one,” Jed said.

Too bad. Because neither could Tane.

He ran a quick ID on the alien, wondering what his enhanced chip would return.

Name: G’allanthamas

Race: Dweller

Level: 27

Class: None of your business, Doomwielder

Weaponry:

None

Shielding: Energy. (40/40)

Base Armor rating: 20

Total armor rating (including shielding): 60

He wasn’t expecting a name, level and class, since the public profile information wasn’t available when IDing aliens, due to tech differences, but G’allanthamas had obviously made the necessary data available to Tane’s chip, using the same technology the dweller used to share his location and communicate over the comm. The little note G’allanthamas had left in place of class was cute. Tane doubted the alien’s level was accurate, since it seemed a little high. Then again, seeing as the dweller was over a thousand years old, the level might actually be too low.

G’allanthamas immediately lowered blurring spheres over himself, Tane, and Sinive—apparently he had created them in advance and stored them in reserve.

That was a good idea. Creating the works in advance, that is. Tane started work on his own, so that by the time the party was winding its way through the streets below, he had both Fingers of Ruin and Melt Metal in reserve.

Jed led the way, invisible, but staying close enough to the reduced range of Tane and Sinive’s transmitters so that he still showed up on the overhead map.

As usual, it was really hot out there. Tane was starting to regret that he hadn’t put on his spacesuit, if only for the climate-controlled environment.

They made their way through the dark streets. They kept close to the tall silos that bordered the road, and avoided light sources as much as possible, sticking to the shadows.

Jed had them duck inside side streets and alleyways three times to avoid different patrols: two TSN, one local law enforcement. But otherwise, they reached the shipyard without incident.

There was no access to the terminal at this hour, but Gia had stowed a shuttle on the street below. It wasn’t big enough to fit G’allanthamas and the others at the same time, so they would have to travel up in two groups.

Tane glanced upward, his gaze running up the sides of the large terminal beside them. At the top, he could see the landing lights that lit up the different platforms and hangars up there.

“Will the TSN pick up our shuttle from orbit?” Tane asked. “With their LIDAR?”

“Yes,” Jed replied. “But my hope is it’ll be confused with an automated building process. Shipyards have a lot of moving parts. Automated shuttles often lower debris to street level in the middle of the night, for retrieval by garbage scows in the morning. Either way, we’ll know shortly.”

“But that shuttle doesn’t actually belong to the shipyard, right?” Tane said. “How can we be sure it won’t trigger the building’s proximity alarms?”

“It won’t,” Jed said. “I was able to hack the system when I visited earlier. I programmed the alarms to turn off from nine p.m. to ten p.m., and since it’s nine forty-five at the moment, we don’t have time to lose. Dweller, you’re first. When you unload at the top, wait for us, and we’ll lead you to the ship when we arrive.”

G’allanthamas approached the shuttle warily as the wide rear ramp lowered.

“Will the craft obey my commands?” the alien asked before boarding.

“No, but the AI will take you up to the platform just as soon as you’re aboard, and then return when you debark,” Jed said.

“Good enough.” The dweller entered and the ramp shut behind him.

The shuttle ascended, staying very close to the wall. All of its running lights remained offline so as to avoid drawing attention to itself.

By then Tane had worked up a good sweat, and was steeped in his own bodily juices; as he watched the craft rise, fresh perspiration drizzled down his ribcage. It was sourced more from nerves than the heat.

In moments the shuttle reached the platform above and vanished from view. After about a minute, it reappeared and descended. No alarms had sounded. And no TSN or law enforcement patrols arrived.

So far so good.

After the shuttle landed, the invisible Volur boarded, according to the overhead map. Still surrounded by dark spheres, Tane and Sinive followed up the ramp behind him. When it sealed, Jed materialized in front of them.

The cabin shook very slightly as the craft ascended. In moments it touched down on the platform, and the ramp opened once more. Tane and the others debarked, and Jed became invisible again. The Volur led the way, and Tane and Sinive followed via their maps. Meanwhile G’allanthamas brought up the rear.

Tane felt strangely guilty at having bypassed the customs and security protocols that everybody else normally had to go through when entering via the terminal proper. Guilty, and a little liberated, as if the rules of society no longer applied to him.

He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to believe such a thing. That was the path of criminals, not good citizens of the galaxy. At least, he had always believed that.

Yes, best not to get too comfortable flouting the laws and rules humanity has developed after thousands of years of civilization.

Jed led them inside a nearby hangar via a pair of double doors. Behind Tane, G’allanthamas tilted his body diagonally at a forty-five degree angle to squeeze past the tight opening.

Inside, steps led down to a starship, and Tane found himself slightly underwhelmed by what he saw.

This thing is taking us into the Umbra?

21

Tane studied the ship. It was big enough for the task, he supposed, coming in at about half the size of the Red Grizzly. It was T-shaped, with several big nozzles—obviously for acceleration—emerging from the horizontal portion of that T, and smaller nozzles placed at strategic locations across the remainder of the gray hull, these ones meant for attitude control. On the sides were several deployable rotor and anti-grav sets meant for atmospheric flight, all of which were currently unfolded. The underside of the ship was completely black—the heat shield tiles. Two ramps had been lowered. The smaller one seemed to lead to the cramped main corridors of the ship. The wider ramp led directly to a cargo bay.

Tane immediately ran an ID on the ship.

Ship: Mosaic

Class: Scow.

Offensive Weapons:

Forward-facing:

Three dragon laser turrets, 180-degree throw angle.

One plasma thrower, 45-degree throw angle.

Aft-facing:

Two dragon laser turrets, 90-degree throw angle.

Point Defense Weapons: None.

Shielding system: Energy.

Crew complement: 2 (currently 1)

Passenger capacity (current/maximum): 0/3.

Tane was happy to see the ID go through. That was a good indicator that the Chip Database Upgrade was working. Then again, since it wasn’t a military vessel, the ID was probably already in the public domain anyway.

“Strange that it has no Essence lance,” Tane commented.

“The scow isn’t an offensive ship,” Jed said. “She’s meant for short term hauls. Those weapons are for defense only: to cut and run in case of a pirate attack.”

“Looks like a garbage scow to me,” Sinive commented.

“Make sure you don’t tell Gia that,” Jed said.

Jed became visible and took the steps down to the ship. Gia stood in front of a waist-high console below, and her hands were manipulating an invisible user interface; the big robot arms that hung down from the ceiling matched the pose of her limbs, and as he watched, those arms attached a rectangular panel to the back of the ship, above one of the engine nozzles. No doubt that panel was a freshly 3D-printed emitter.

The party approached the console.

“Welcome,” Gia said, glancing over her shoulder. “Nice blur spheres you have around yourselves, by the way. Go ahead and climb aboard. Make yourselves at home. We got all night, yet.” She did a double take on G’allanthamas. “When you said you had a dweller coming with you, you weren’t kidding.”

“No I was not,” Jed said.

“I can barely make out the ugly thing underneath that dark sphere...” Gia said.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance as well,” G’allanthamas commented.

Gia stared at the alien coldly, then nodded toward the wider ramp. “You’ll have to climb into the cargo bay, Alien. There isn’t much room, I’m afraid. But it’s better than the rest of the ship, which you won’t fit at all. I’m sorry.”

G’allanthamas approached the open ramp cautiously, and then climbed to the top. He surveyed the cramped cargo bay inside and promptly descended to the bottom of the ramp once more.

“I’d rather stay out here until we launch, thank you,” G’allanthamas said. “I’ll just plunk myself down in a corner of the hangar and mind my own business.”

He ambled off toward the far side of the hangar.

“By the way, there are no cameras inside this hangar,” Gia said. “You can shut down your blurring, if you like. I’m assuming it’s you who’s creating these dark spheres?”

In answer, the blur spheres around Tane, Sinive and G’allanthamas dissipated, but otherwise the dweller didn’t say anything more. He reached the far side of the hangar and set himself down.

“I hate those things,” Gia commented.

“I’ve fought at his side,” Jed said. “The dweller is honorable.”

“Whatever you say,” Gia told the Volur.

“Why Mosaic?” Tane asked the woman.

“Mmm?” Gia said distractedly. She was still directing the arms over the console.

“The name of your ship,” Tane clarified.

“Oh.” She gave him an evaluating look, and then gazed longingly into the distance. “With her, I’m not limited to one planet anymore, but rather I can travel to a veritable mosaic of them. To all the stars in the sky. With her, the mosaic of the galaxy is my playground. You get the picture, World Bender. I probably shouldn’t have bought her, but I figured, all the money I was paying cargo haulers to take me back and forth across the galaxy would be better served adding to my own equity in the long run. It’s always better to buy rather than rent, hey? Plus I can live aboard, so that’s an added bonus. Brings the concept of the houseboat to the next level.”

“Call me Tane,” he told her.

“Sure, World Bender,” Gia said.

He decided to ignore the slight, if it could be called that. “How come no crew?” he asked her. “Then again, it says the crew complement is only two anyway. Though it’s currently one. I’m assuming that means you.”

“That’s right,” Gia said. “I’m a one-woman operation. Small ship. Man the jump chamber myself. Or woman it, really, if you want to get technical.”

So she could Siphon, too. But like Sinive, she must have been too weak to ever qualify as a Volur. He wondered vaguely if she had ever served in the TSN.

“I do keep a couple of repair robots, of course,” Gia continued. “And I have the prerequisite 3D printer aboard. And an AI to keep everything running smoothly. Between the two of us, we run the ship.”

“What’s the AI’s name?” Sinive asked.

“There you go, always wanting to know the name of the AIs,” G’allanthamas called from halfway across the hangar.

“Quit listening in!” she shouted back.

“Keep it down, please,” Jed chided.

“Sorry,” Sinive said.

“The AI is called Muse,” Gia said.

“Oh, of course,” Sinive said. “Mosaic, run by Muse.”

“That’s right,” Gia said.

“Your ship is so beautiful,” Sinive commented.

“Thank you,” Gia said.

“But you just said it looked like a garbage scow!” Tane told Sinive.

She shot him a withering look. “You misheard. I actually said it looked like a gorgeous scow.”

“By the way, have you finished refueling?” Jed asked Gia.

“Done a long time ago,” Gia replied.

Gia apparently finished attaching the current emitter, because she lowered her arms, which caused the big robotic limbs to move away from the rear of the ship. She must have completely disengaged from the machine then, because when she dropped her arms to her sides entirely, the robotic limbs remained frozen in place.

Gia turned toward Jed. “So, Scow-class ships have only one spare guest room, you know that right?”

“We’ll just have to make do,” Jed said.

Gia leaned forward and, to Tane’s surprise, rested an open palm on Jed’s chest. “I was hoping you’d want to share my stateroom.”

The Volur shook his head. His eyes seemed sad. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” Gia said. “For old times sake.”

Jed reached up, gently grabbed her by the wrist, and lowered her hand. “I’ll be rooming with Tane.”

Tane felt a sudden disappointment. He had been hoping to share with Sinive.

Gia seemed similarly dismayed, because her eyes became suddenly shiny, and she blinked a few times before looking away. “All right.” She glanced at Sinive. “You can share my stateroom, then. I’ll have a bunk set up over mine.”

Sinive seemed extremely happy to be bunking with Gia, which only furthered Tane’s disheartenment.

“It’ll be like a girls night in!” Sinive said enthusiastically.

“Yeah, or something,” Gia said. “We’ll make it work.”

“Do you need help with the emitters?” Jed asked Gia.

“Nope,” Gia replied. “I received your blueprints earlier. I got it covered.”

“Why don’t I help you?” Sinive said.

“Perfect,” Gia told her.

“It’ll be good to finally get a break from all this testosterone,” Sinive said. “I’ve been holed up with these guys for what seems forever.”

“I hear you,” Gia told her.

“Really?” Tane said. “It’s been like what, a day?” He was referring to when they lost Lyra.

Sinive ignored him and instead told Gia: “Did I tell you I was into girls?”

“Oooh,” Gia said, petting her shoulder.

Sinive gave Tane a wink.

Tane shook his head angrily and looked away.

What’s her game?

He walked sullenly toward the ship and started up the ramp. Jed joined him.

“She’s playing with you, Engineer,” Jed said softly.

“I know,” Tane said. “But I don’t know what to do.”

“That’s probably for the best,” Jed said.

He wondered vaguely if Jed knew he had slept with her. Probably not. Then again, it wouldn’t surprise him if the Volur did.

Tane entered the Mosaic ahead of Jed. Inside, the passageways were definitely more cramped than the Red Grizzly: if he would have been wearing a spacesuit, his helmet and arm assemblies would’ve almost scraped the surrounding ceiling and bulkheads. The ship had a climate controlled environment, thankfully, and he began to cool down immediately.

His chip had some ship blueprints installed, but there were no Scow-class variants. That was probably another database upgrade. The chip makers had to make their money after all.

“Muse, do I have access to your blueprint?” Tane tried.

The female voice of the ship’s AI answered a moment later. “Good morning, Jerry. I have been authorized to grant you access to the ship’s blueprint, yes.”

For a moment he wondered who Jerry was, but then he remembered that was the latest name he was using in his spoofed profile.

“Thank you,” Tane said.

He received a sharing request and accepted. His overhead map filled out with the blueprints, and he made his way to the guest quarters.

Jed followed behind him. The muscular man had to crouch visibly to fit the tight corridors. He definitely would have had trouble fitting in his power armor, even at the most compact setting.

Jed kept close to Tane. So much so that Tane paused at one point to say: “Would you mind slowing down? Feels like you’re breathing down my neck, Volur.”

Tane hadn’t meant to sound so condescending, nor angry, but obviously Sinive’s actions were still bugging him, and made him lash out at those around him. Jed just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Volur didn’t say anything, but he did ease off, giving Tane some space.

When Tane reached his shared quarters, he stripped off the sari, and his shirt and pants, and tossed them all into the clothes suitcase inside his storage pouch. He shoved the pouch under the bottom bunk, then opened the sheet and slid onto the mattress. He left the top bunk for the Volur, who preferred that particular sleeping arrangement. Tane had once asked Jed why he liked the top, when most people preferred the bottom bunk, to which Jed had merely replied: “Higher ground.”

The Volur had undressed in the passageway outside, so that he entered wearing only his skivvies and shut the hatch behind him. His storage pouch was attached to a small loop in the hem.

I have to get me underwear with a loop for a storage device like that.

Jed pulled his muscular form onto the bunk on top of Tane. Seeing that sculpted form, Tane almost wanted to follow the Volur’s path.

If I had a build like that, imagine how many girls I could get.

He dismissed the thought. There was only a certain class of girl who admired muscles like that anyway. Mostly the superficial class, which had never interested him.

At least that was what he told himself.

As usual, Tane was careful not to enable discovery of the local mixnet, even aboard the starship, because that would connect him to the Galnet. Even once they were in space, he’d have to hold off, because he could still receive packets by drip feed. Something that would be bad, given the control chip in his head.

He closed his eyes, intending to catch some sleep before take-off in the morning. He tossed and turned for a while, and then opened his eyes. He decided to apply his usual augmentation settings, and transformed the bulkheads, floor and ceiling around him into the familiar moon with the gas giant floating overhead. He even replaced the underside of Jed’s bunk, so that it wouldn’t obscure his view. It was as if the lower bunk was the only object that existed here, slightly out of place amid the surrounding craters.

Much better.

Before he could close his eyes again, Jed spoke. The Volur’s voice seemed disembodied, coming as it did from the currently invisible bunk overhead.

“I can’t believe I lost her,” Jed said.

“You mean Gia?” Tane asked. “She’s damn hot. I don’t blame you.”

“No, not Gia,” Jed replied. “Lyra.”

“Oh,” Tane said, feeling suddenly embarrassed.

“Lyra and I have been working together for almost twenty years,” Jed said. “Ever since she lost her sister.”

“I didn’t know she had a sister,” Tane said.

“Yes,” Jed told him. “It’s not something she talks about.” He paused. “I hope we can get Lyra back.”

“We’ll get her back,” Tane said. “Once we get this nanotech removed from my head.”

“About that,” Jed said. “Once I help you reach the artifact, and you remove the nanotech, it might be time to part ways. I don’t want you to put yourself in danger again. Facing the TSN, it’s something I’ll probably have to do alone.”

“No,” Tane said. “I owe Lyra. I owe Nebb. And I owe you. I’m not going to let you face the TSN alone. Haven’t you learned anything at all from hanging out with me all this time?”

“That you are headstrong, and stubborn,” Jed said.

“And I always repay my debts,” Tane said.

“You do,” Jed agreed.

“Have you heard anything from Lyra, by the way, since we arrived?” Tane said. “You’re the only one of us who can access the Galnet.”

“I have, but I haven’t replied,” Jed said. “I don’t want to risk the TSN tracing my position to this moon.”

“They must know we’re here already,” Tane said. “Lyra would have told them how the lenses and their inter-dimensional distortion tunnels work.”

“Yes,” Jed said. “But what they don’t know is whether or not we’ve left the moon already. As far as they’re concerned, we fled aboard a transport twelve hours ago.”

“What did she say, anyway?” Tane asked. “Lyra?”

“She wants to meet,” Jed answered. “The TSN is having her play on my loyalty to her. They want to trade her and Nebb for you.”

“Interesting...” Tane stared at the gas giant floating above him. “We can use that.”

“You want to be bait again?” Jed said.

“Why not?” Tane said. “It worked before with the dwellers. And it will work with the TSN. Let them think I’m giving myself up. Let them think they still have me under the spell of their control chip. And then, when they least expect it, I’ll turn on them.”

“We’ll talk about this after you get that so-called Repel Nanotech ability,” Jed said. “We don’t even know if the artifact is still there on Kharikhan V. Or whether the Essencework will even work on modern nanotech. Or if we’ll even get off this moon when we try to leave tomorrow.”

“There are quite a few unknowns,” Tane admitted.

“I like how you never let anything get you down,” Jed said after a moment. “You don’t back off in the face of adversity. Instead, you step up. You’re still under the control of the TSN, and yet you’re already making plans to use yourself as bait to infiltrate them.”

“Yeah, that’s how I roll,” Tane said. “But it’s not entirely true that nothing gets me down.”

“It’s probably best to forget about Sinive,” Jed said, evidently understanding immediately. “As the World Bender, you must have realized by now that anyone you get close to is in danger. If you pursue her, you’ll only be leading Sinive into a world of hurt.”

A world of hurt.

On that note, Tane closed his eyes and tried to forget about her.

* * *

Tane awoke the next morning when he heard footfalls on the metal deck beside him. He saw Jed there, pulling on his battle armor. The Volur floated above the battered moon, and it took Tane a few moments to remember that he was aboard a starship now, and that the moon below and the gas giant above were reality augmentations, created by his chip.

Tane shut down the digital scenery and the cramped quarters blinked back into view.

“We’re leaving shortly,” Jed said. “Gia and Sinive finished attaching the emitters a couple of hours ago, and our dweller friend has loaded into the cargo bay. Apparently there was a close call in the middle of the night when a security robot checked in on our hangar while the alien was still lurking in the corner. The dweller managed to create a blurring sphere to hide himself in time.”

“And we slept right through it,” Tane said.

“We did,” Jed said. “Anyway, Gia tells me the curfew has lifted, and she’s already requested clearance for take off. She’s waiting on a reply.”

Jed pulled on the last assembly of his armor, and then he shrunk the memory metals down to their thinnest thickness before opening the hatch and ducking into the cramped interior of the Mosaic.

Tane rubbed his eyes and then swung his feet onto the cold deck. He reached under his bunk, found his pouch, retrieved his clothes, and dressed.

“Muse, are you able to pipe me in to the cargo bay?” Tane asked.

“Done,” the Mosaic’s AI replied.

“How are you holding up, Gall?” Tane sent.

“Not bad,” G’allanthamas’ voice came over the intercom. “Actually, terrible. I have bulkheads pressing into me on all sides. I can’t lower my body to relax my legs and tentacles since there are no properly designed carapace seats in here, so I’ve had to crank up the power output of my leg assemblies. Right up to max. It’s incredibly uncomfortable, and I haven’t slept a wink. But other than that, not bad.”

“We’ll try to make this as quick as possible,” Tane said.

“I’m sure you will,” the alien told him.

Tane used the map to guide him toward the cockpit. Thankfully the ship’s AI didn’t play any games with him like shutting breach seals along the way, and he arrived at the cockpit in about thirty seconds.

There, Gia sat in an L-shaped alcove carved into the far bulkhead. Her back lay on the bottom part of the L, while her thighs partially climbed the vertical portion, her knees bent so that her calves rested over a shelf. The bulkhead beside her was silvery: likely Chrysalium. The whole thing had to be a jump chamber. It was a bit different than the chamber aboard the Red Grizzly, which utilized Chrysalium control sticks to give access to the hull.

Gia had removed the two sawed-off plasma rifles, holsters and all, from her back—it couldn’t have been comfortable to lie down in the chamber with them on. The rifles and holsters lay on the deck just outside the alcove: she was a woman who didn’t travel far from her weapons, apparently. She could have stowed them in the storage pouch she wore at her waist, but she obviously wanted to keep them within easy reach.

Sinive sat on the floor beside her. Meanwhile, even with his armor reduced, Jed filled the rest of the compartment, which wasn’t very big to begin with, so that Tane was forced to stand in the passageway outside.

“I didn’t realize there were ships that combined their cockpits and jump chambers into the same unit,” Tane said.

“Only the smallest ships do,” Jed said.

Beyond Jed, Gia cocked her head. “Never call my ship small.”

“I am relatively small, though,” the ship’s AI, Muse, said. “Considering.”

“Not now, girl,” Gia said. She paused. “Damn. I don’t know if you’re aware, but the TSN is searching every outgoing ship. Actually, scratch that, of course you know. Hell, you’re probably the reason they’re doing these searches. Anyway, I already had the ship cleared yesterday evening before you came, but they’re telling me they want to do another search pre-launch.”

“Maybe the shipyard’s AI detected Jed’s hack last night?” Tane said. “And reported it to the TSN?”

“It’s possible,” Gia agreed. “But if the AI had reported it, the TSN would have arrived in force. As in shortly after you entered the hangar. So no, I think the TSN is just following protocol.”

“They’re sticklers in that way,” Sinive said.

“So what do we do?” Tane asked. “Throw on our blurring caps and let them search the ship?”

“Your ID won’t stand up to closer scrutiny,” Jed answered. “Plus, how do you plan to explain the dweller hiding in our cargo hold? We can’t let the TSN board.”

“What do you suggest we do, then?” Gia asked.

“Why not do what we did when we first took Tane away from his homeworld?” Sinive said. She glanced at him. “You won’t remember this, since you slept through it apparently, but—”

“That’s because Lyra put me to sleep against my will,” Tane said. The Stamina Transfer work could do that at the higher levels.

“Anyway, so we launch,” Sinive said. “Fly over the city, and stay low. Avoid any armed drones the TSN or police send our way. We wait until we’re well away from the city before heading into orbit. Say a hundred kilometers. Then when we reach jump altitude, we jump.”

“Good idea, but it won’t work,” Jed said. “You’re forgetting that they have not only defense platforms in orbit, but ships as well. They’ll have all their weapons pointed down at us.”

“They won’t dare fire,” Sinive said. “They want Tane alive.”

“I know that,” Jed said. “But you’re forgetting, these TSN ships are Disruptor capable. They’ll end our jump before we can complete it.”

“So it’s a bit of a puzzle we have, isn’t it…” Gia said.

“What if we could fly to the far side of the planet before we jumped?” Tane asked. “Well away from the orbiting ships.”

“How?” Sinive said. “They’ll just pursue.”

“We’d have to travel counter to their orbital direction,” Tane said. “Forcing them to decelerate. That’ll cause them to fall, so they’ll have to compensate for force changes occurring in essentially two vectors. Meanwhile, we’ll be heading in the opposite direction, maximum speed, maintaining a height just within jump altitude until they drop from view behind the planet’s horizon. Then we jump.”

Gia nodded, seeming to regard him in a new, slightly more respectful light. “I was already planning something similar. But that’s because I fly starships for a living. But you? You have no starship experience. How did you come up with that?”

“He’s an engineer,” Sinive explained.

“Well, either way, it just might work,” Gia continued. “My ship is way smaller than a battle cruiser. They’ll have to expend a lot more energy to reverse course and maintain their existing altitude, especially this close to a gravity well. We’ll need to determine their orbital positions, of course. I’m assuming they’re in geosynchronous orbit. They’d have to be, if they wanted to beam LIDAR into the city all night to search for curfew breakers. Muse, can you feed me the moon’s rotation, and overlay it with my tactical map.”

“Done,” Muse said.

“All right,” Gia said. “Now I need to look at the orbital space lanes, and find out where those ships are. And confirm that they have all of them concentrated on this hemisphere, like we expect. I’m checking the space traffic control data as we speak.” She paused. “It looks like the TSN has vessels in geosynchronous orbit above three cities: this one, Durahepte, and Hargon. We’re in luck. The latter two will be behind us during our flight as well.”

“The shipyard AI informs me that TSN troops are approaching the hangar bay to proceed with the inspection,” Muse announced.

“Buckle yourselves in,” Gia said. “This ride is about to get a little rough.”

“Why would the passengers need to buckle up?” the Mosaic’s AI said. “I am equipped with inertial dampeners.”

“I was speaking metaphorically,” Gia said.

“Can I get access to the external cameras?” Tane said.

“I’ll give you the nose,” Gia said.

“I’ve got this,” Jed said. “He’s not allowed to connect to your ship’s mixnet, like Sinive.”

“All right,” Gia said.

Tane received a sharing request from Jed and accepted. The nose cam video feed appeared on his HUD. He saw the currently sealed hangar bay doors residing directly in front of him. Tane shrank the feed down and moved it to the upper right quadrant of his vision.

“Muse, charge and aim our plasma thrower at the hangar bay doors.” Gia shifted in her angled seat. She glanced at Tane. “It looks like I’m going to lose my license for you after all… you owe me for this, World Bender.”

“I owe a lot of people,” Tane said.

“Plasma thrower is aimed at hangar bay doors,” Muse intoned. “And fully charged.”

“Fire,” Gia said.

A white flash completely occluded the video feed in Tane’s upper right, and when it faded, he saw that a large hole had been drilled into the bay doors, with the surrounding edges white hot.

A robotic voice came over the cockpit intercom. “Warning, Scow-class vessel Mosaic, you are in violation of protocol—”

“Shut that off!” Gia said. “And take us out!”

The deck shook, and a soft hum filled the air as the engines powered up. On the video feed, the deck fell away as the breached doors approached.

The Mosaic accelerated suddenly and smashed through the hole, tearing away the metal on either side as it emerged above the city.

Gia was doing the flying, not Muse. Her interface was virtual—it was as if she manipulated an invisible joystick and thrust control in front of her while she lay in the jump chamber.

On the video feed, the tall silos of the buildings moved past in a blur below. Gia kept close to those buildings, and she weaved in and out of the sky lanes ordinarily reserved for the city’s flyers and delivery drones.

“Energy shields up!” Gia said.

“Shields are up,” Muse replied. “Police drones and shuttles are incoming.”

“Can’t you go any faster?” Tane asked.

“Not this low!” Gia replied. “Too many other ships and buildings to avoid!”

“Then take us higher?” Tane suggested.

“And put us in the line of fire of their surface-to-air defenses?” Gia said. “No thanks. The TSN won’t fire on us, you say. But how sure are you that the city’s security forces won’t?”

“Energy shields are taking laser fire from the police drones,” Muse said. “Shield levels currently at eighty percent.”

“See what I mean?” Gia swooped hard to the right, narrowly avoiding a silo-shaped skyscraper. “Open fire with our dragons, Muse. Take down some of those drones.”

It took about three tense minutes for Gia to leave the city behind. By then the Mosaic’s shield strength was down to ten percent, but since she was clear of the buildings Gia was able to accelerate to full speed, and quickly outpaced the less capable pursuers.

Gia stayed low, keeping just above the tops of the jungle trees that canopied the surface. It looked like a veritable green ocean down there.

Tane remembered a similar mad dash across this colonized moon, undertaken just below the canopy only a day previous.

Thinking about that earlier flight gave him an idea...

22

“How easy would it be to fly the Mosaic underneath the canopy?” Tane asked.

“Difficult,” Gia said. “A Scow isn’t a shuttle.”

“But the option is there, correct?” Tane said.

“If we have no other choice, I’ll do it of course,” Gia said. “But so far, the TSN has kept quiet in orbit. I haven’t heard a peep out of them except for the usual stand down transmissions. If they really wanted to, they could have opened fire already, but they haven’t.”

“They won’t risk it,” Jed said. “Not if they have even a suspicion he’s aboard.”

“Muse, what’s the status of the orbital vessels?” Gia asked.

“Orbital vessels are decelerating to match our trajectory,” Muse replied. “The fastest will reverse course in approximately three minutes.”

“And once they do, they’ll have to accelerate back up to speed to catch us,” Sinive said. “We’ll be long gone by then.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Gia said. “It’s going to be close.”

The tense minutes ticked passed.

“Okay, we’re five hundred kilometers away from the city,” Gia said. “And the TSN cruisers in orbit still haven’t fired. Most of them have reversed course by now, though, and they’re beginning to accelerate toward us. It’s time to pull up and make a run for it. Muse, emergency speed, please.”

The deck shook gently.

“Emergency speed engaged,” the Mosaic’s AI said. A moment later, Muse added: “We’re taking laser fire.”

“They’ve realized they won’t be able to catch us in time…” Sinive said.

“Come on,” Gia said. “Just a little longer.” She was moving one of her hands left and right at random intervals in what Tane thought were evasive maneuvers.

Tane glanced at Jed. “I thought you said they wouldn’t risk firing?”

“They’re willing to risk knocking out one of our engines, evidently,” Jed said.

“Energy shields have failed,” Muse said.

“Come on…” Gia said.

The deck shook harder than before.

“We just took a shot to the left engine,” Muse said.

“Engine status?” Gia asked.

“Still operational,” the AI replied.

“They’re trying not to hit us too hard,” Sinive commented.

“Their next shot won’t be so light, I suspect,” Jed said.

“We’ve dipped below the horizon,” Muse announced.

“Jump!” Gia rested a palm against the silvery bulkhead beside her.

The jump chamber lit up: the entire bulkhead was indeed Chrysalium, and was likely connected to the outer hull. To the naked eye it appeared she simply touched that glowing surface, but Tane knew a tornado of stellar wind was erupting from her core at that very moment, visible only to Gia. A terrible, frigid wind that threatened to rip her body apart and atomize her bones.

Tane felt it then, the nausea that came whenever he was in the presence of an Essenceworker who manipulated that much of the stellar wind. The deck vibrated, and a rising hum filled the air.

Gia’s gaze was directed toward the top of the alcove, where she was likely steering the howling Essence. Some sort of focusing array would accept the stellar wind there, and the AI would take over and create the actual Branchwork for the ship-sized distortion tunnel.

The light from the jump chamber abruptly faded, as did the hum, vibrations, and nausea. Gia, still lying down in her seat, lolled her head to the side to look at Tane.

“Welcome to Geneva Prime,” she said weakly. “Muse, take us to the rift. Maximum speed.”

“Proceeding toward the rift,” Muse echoed.

“How far away are we?” Jed asked. “Distance, and ETA.”

“Eighty million kilometers,” the Mosaic’s AI replied. “We will arrive in approximately one hour.”

“Distance to the closest TSN base from our current position?”

“The closest TSN base is located on Geneva II, Torpentus,” Muse said. “Four hundred and fifty million kilometers to starboard, ten degrees inclination. There are four TSN cruisers in the system: two located in orbit above Torpentus, the third on the opposite side of the system’s ecliptic plane at a distance of three billion kilometers, and the fourth positioned in front of the rift, seventy million kilometers ahead of us.”

“Guarding it, just like we suspected,” Tane said.

“According to the star charts, the rift is five hundred thousand kilometers long,” Jed said. “Gia, have your AI alter course so that we’re heading toward the extreme far right of that rift.”

“Do it, Muse,” Gia said.

“Trajectory altered,” Muse intoned.

Jed glanced askance at Tane. “Our success depends entirely on where the remaining TSN jump in. More of that luck you hate to rely on.”

There were only two systems with rifts within jump range of the system they just left: Povern, and Geneva Prime. It was expected that the TSN would jump to both systems fairly quickly to look for them, and once they arrived they would alert the existing TSN vessels in the system.

“If it’s of any consolation, I dislike relying on luck, too,” Jed continued. “But in this case, the odds are in our favor. Space is a very big place, and the distance between planets is immense.”

Because of the nature of interstellar distortion tunnels, with gravity wells exerting such influence on the endpoints, it was difficult to choose a precise destination in the target system. Even with the advanced jump technology available to the TSN, their interstellar jumps still opened into mostly random locations in the destination systems, with the specialists using the vibrations they felt along the partially formed tunnels to guide the endpoints between gravity wells. A skilled specialist could probably use those vibrations to differentiate between stars, gas giants, and smaller rock planets, and that might help them to jump closer to one or the other, but otherwise the endpoint was still relatively random.

And technically, while it was possible to jump between two points within the same system, according to Nebb, such jumps were extremely dangerous, with the odds of ending up inside a planet or star quite high. And the destination would probably still end up being fairly random.

So yes, like Jed had said, space was a very big place.

“We have achieved maximum speed,” Muse announced. “Cutting engines.”

Only about a minute passed before the Mosaic’s AI spoke again.

“Three groups of four TSN vessels just jumped in,” Muse said. “All three groups have appeared at different locations in the system.”

“Three groups?” Tane said. “That was a little unexpected.”

“More ships jumping in means higher odds of finding us,” Jed said. “Muse, how far away is the closest?”

“One hundred million kilometers off starboard,” Muse replied.

Tane glanced uncertainly at Jed, but the Volur warrior seemed unworried.

“Well beyond weapons range,” Jed told him. “And the vessels certainly won’t reach us before we’re through the rift.”

“They won’t have to,” Sinive said. “They have a TSN vessel ready to cut us off up ahead, at the rift. Or at least that’s what they believe.”

“And let them continue to believe that,” Jed said.

“How did the TSN manage to jump here in three groups anyway?” Tane asked Jed. “Wouldn’t they end up scattered all over the system?”

“You’d think so,” the Volur told him. “But the more advanced ship classes can share the same distortion tunnel. They pass through in sequence, with each subsequent ship supplying the necessary maintenance Essence to ensure the tunnel remains open.”

Two minutes later Muse announced: “I’m detecting a transmission from the closest TSN vessel behind us. Encrypted. The transmission is passing us by, heading toward the rift.”

“Some final instructions for their friends lying in wait, no doubt,” Jed said.

“Another transmission just arrived, this one for us,” Muse said. “It’s asking for our surrender.”

“Ignore it,” Gia said.

Thirty tense minutes passed. The Mosaic’s shields had fully regenerated by that time.

“The vessel near the rift is altering course to intercept,” Muse announced. “They’re accelerating toward us, away from the rift. We’ll be in weapons range in fifteen minutes.”

“Continue on present course,” Jed said.

At the fourteen minute mark, one minute before they were within weapons range, Jed said: “Launch the decoy along our current course, and then alter our heading: aim for the opposite side of the rift. The extreme left. And then cut all emissions.”

“Do it, Muse,” Gia said.

“Decoy has launched,” Muse said. “Firing decelerating thrust, and altering course for extreme left side of rift.” The AI paused, then: “Course updated. Cutting engines. Deactivating running lights and shields. Ceasing heat venting. We’re running cold.”

Jed had updated Tane on this part of the plan earlier. The Volur had talked to Gia, who confirmed that the Mosaic could cease external emissions and heat venting on the fly like that, just like a small shuttle could. Because of the absolute cold of space, the hull would cool very rapidly, and the Mosaic would drop from the thermal band. The catch was, the Mosaic could cease heat emissions only for a maximum of ten minutes before the ship’s regulator systems began to melt.

It would have to be enough time.

Until then, they would drift onward, essentially dead, while the decoy proceeded along the previous path. It was essentially an inflatable balloon with power sources attached to mimic the default heat signature of the Mosaic. Something Jed had printed up alongside the other emitters that were meant to alter the Mosaic’s thermal profile for the upcoming dweller encounter.

“The decoy just entered weapons range,” Muse announced. A moment later: “The incoming TSN vessel fired upon the decoy. It’s destroyed.”

“The ruse is up?” Sinive said.

“Not yet,” Jed said. “First they have to find us.”

At that range, even without any thermal emissions, the Mosaic would still be present on the visible band—but only if the TSN ship knew exactly where to look. Without knowledge of the Mosaic’s precise speed and trajectory, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, given the vastness of space.

Ten minutes later, Muse said: “Permission to re-enable heat venting? The regulator systems are beginning to melt.”

“Just a bit longer…” Gia said.

“How far away are we from the rift?” Jed asked.

“Five minutes,” Muse replied.

Thirty seconds passed.

“I’m sorry, but if I don’t enable heat venting now, the regulator systems will be damaged beyond repair,” Muse said.

“Do it,” Gia said. “And raise shields. Charge weapons.”

“Enabling venting, raising shields, and charging weapons,” Muse echoed. A moment later: “The TSN vessel is reversing course to intercept.”

“Launch the final decoys,” Gia said.

“Launching decoys two through four,” Muse said.

“Are our dragons charged yet?” Gia said.

“No,” Muse said. “But our plasma thrower is almost ready.” The AI paused. “They’re firing some of their lasers in a wide dispersal pattern, targeting our ship and all the decoys at once.”

“A probing shot,” Sinive said. “They’d guess by now that our decoys can’t hold up to much incoming fire.”

“The decoys are gone,” Muse said. “They’re unleashing the remainder of their dragons at us. Port side shields are taking a beating. We’re down to sixty five percent.”

“Good thing we have the advantage of range,” Gia said. “If we were closer, a shot like that would have gone right through the shields.”

“How long until they can release a volley like that again?” Jed asked.

“Just under two minutes,” Muse said.

“They won’t fire their plasma thrower at this range,” Sinive said. “But it’s possible they’d launch their Essence lance.”

“Lances can be steered, right?” Tane asked Jed.

“Unfortunately for us, they can,” Jed replied. “And without a Deflector, our shields are useless if one hits. I don’t think they’d risk it, considering how difficult it is to guide a lance at the distances and speeds involved in space combat. They might accidentally destroy us.”

Tane remembered guiding the Essence Missiles he had created when fighting against the alien fleet. But he had had an advantage at the time: he had been able to send his Essence Sight forward alongside the Missiles, allowing him to steer them with unerring accuracy. It was an ability he had lost when the dark artifact with him had disintegrated.

The designated two minutes passed and the deck shook.

Muse announced: “The vessel fired a full laser barrage again. Shields have fallen. Hull breach on Deck Two, outside sickbay. I’ve sealed off the area from the rest of the ship.”

“A minute to go...” Gia said.

“What’s going on up there?” G’allanthamas sent over the intercom.

“Not too much,” Tane lied. “We’re on our way to the rift. About a minute to go.”

“Good,” G’allanthamas said. “For a moment there I thought we were under attack or something.”

“Oh no,” Tane said. “Nothing like that.”

“Well, keep me updated,” the dweller said. “I was in the middle of a good song when vibrations from the hull ruined it.”

From his memories, Tane knew that what G’allanthamas referred to as a “song” was merely a series of vibrations transmitted directly onto his skin: dwellers’ whole bodies were essentially auditory organs, as vibrations detected anywhere along the surfaces of their carapaces were transmitted to their brains as sound signals. Their bodies quite literally moved to the music.

“I’ll keep you posted,” Tane said. He heard a click, and he knew the alien had disconnected.

“They’re firing plasma throwers, and their Essence lance,” Muse said.

“Evasive maneuvers,” Gia said. “Continue toward the rift.”

“Looks like they’ve decided if they can’t have you, no one can,” Sinive told Tane.

“Actually, I believe the captain of that TSN vessel will be reprimanded when this fight is done,” Jed said.

“Either way, the next few moments are going to be interesting,” Tane said.

Tane wished he could access the tactical display to get an idea of how close those enemy weapons were. Then again, maybe it was better this way. Ignorance could sometimes be bliss.

The seconds ticked past.

“Near miss by the plasma thrower and Essence lance,” Muse announced. “The plasma bolt is dissipating. However, the lance is doubling back for another pass.”

“Almost there...” Gia said.

On the nose cam that overlaid the upper right of his vision, Tane could see the infinite blackness of the rift eating up the backdrop of stars.

“Will it follow us through?” Tane asked.

“No,” Jed answered. “The lance will dissipate.”

“I’m talking about the ship,” Tane said.

“Probably,” Jed said. “We may have to ambush it.”

“Its shields will be down the first few moments after it passes through,” Sinive said.

“I know...” Gia said.

“We’re through,” Muse announced.

But Tane already knew: the lights inside the cockpit had blue-shifted, and the edges of everything around Tane had become blurry, indistinct. Motion trails accompanied every movement. The voice of the Mosaic’s AI had become that characteristic overlap of high and low octaves, making Muse sound simultaneously like both a man and a woman.

Tane couldn’t sense either Essence waiting beyond the periphery of reality. He held up a hand and waited a half second for the motion trail caused by the movement to clear. The threads emerging from his body were too thin to make out.

On the bright side, the sense of dread the pursuit had created in the pit of his stomach had faded away.

I can understand why Tiberius would have spent years in this place. The dulling of emotions can have a certain appeal.

“Turn us around and prepare to fire,” Gia said. Her voice distorted like Muse’s.

“Before I do so, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t inform you that I’ve detected two ships,” Muse said. “Dwellers. Ravagale class.”

“Belay previous order,” Gia said.

“How close are we?” Jed asked.

“Less than a hundred thousand kilometers,” Muse said.

“Well within visual ID range,” Tane said. “So much for our luck holding up.”

Jed nodded. “It had to run out sometime. Muse, put our local dweller on the line.”

“We have arrived?” G’allanthamas said a moment later.

“You got it,” Tane said. “We have a couple of dwellers waiting for us. Can you talk them down?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” G’allanthamas said. “I’ll need the ship’s AI to follow my instructions precisely if we are to have any hope of communicating with them.”

“Muse, do whatever the dweller asks, as far as communications signals go,” Gia ordered.

“Oh and by the way, Gall, we have a TSN ship pursuing,” Tane said. “It’s only a few minutes behind us.” He wasn’t exactly sure on the timing, but since Jed didn’t correct him, he assumed a “few minutes” was correct. “So if you can convince them to help us bring it down, that would—”

“I knew it!” G’allanthamas said. “You thought you would coddle me? Protect me from the news of our imminent demise, is that it?”

“No, I just figured you didn’t need the added stress,” Tane said.

“Actually this is perfect,” the dweller said. “It will lend more credence to the story I plan to concoct. I’m disconnecting now. Bye.”

Tane and the others waited as the seconds ticked past.

“Is he talking to them yet?” Sinive asked.

“The dweller has me sending low frequency gravimetric pulses out to the dweller ships, and they are responding with similar pulses, so I am assuming some form of communication is taking place,” Muse said.

“I didn’t know our communication systems were capable of sending out gravimetric pulses,” Gia said.

“They’re not,” the Mosaic’s AI said. “To generate the pulses, I’ve been dialing up and down the power output of the reactors. The resultant changes in mass allow for the creation of gravimetric waves.”

“Very nice,” Tane said. “Does the TSN know about this?”

“Probably,” Jed said. “Though I don’t think any of their scientists have ever actually figured out the communication protocol, let alone the dweller language.”

“But the dwellers have figured out ours…” Tane said.

“Let me just say that dwellers, as a whole, are very difficult to break,” Jed said. “They rarely last longer than a week in captivity. The TSN managed to teach sign language to one particular dweller after a year of internment, but another dweller captured by the TSN shortly thereafter assassinated it.”

“Muse, any change in their trajectories?” Gia asked.

Tane heard a click on the intercom, and he thought G’allanthamas had reconnected.

“No,” Muse said. “They’re continuing on an intercept course with us. They still haven’t fired, however, though they are within range. So that’s something.”

“They won’t fire,” G’allanthamas said. He had indeed reconnected.

“Why?” Tane said.

“I convinced them I was a Cre’ite agent,” G’allanthamas said. “And that I stole this ship. I told them I had news on the Doomwielder, and that if they intervened, the Great Empire would have them executed. They wanted to escort me to our destination, and I agreed. One of them will remain here to hold off our pursuers, while the other will continue onward with us. I told them we were jumping to a different system than our actual destination. So they’ll follow us to the closest planet and jump when we do, but they’ll be a little surprised when we’re not there on the other side with them.”

“They don’t plan to share our distortion tunnel, do they?” Tane asked.

“No,” G’allanthamas said. “The Ravagale ship classes don’t have that ability. They’ll assume we arrived in some random location in the target system. It will take them some time before they realize we’ve tricked them. All the better for us.”

“One of the dweller ships is braking,” Muse said. “It’s positioning itself directly in front of the rift, ready to take on the pursuing TSN. The other meanwhile continues toward us.”

“Set a course for the closest planet or moon,” Gia said. “Let’s put as much distance between ourselves and that rift as possible.”

“Hey Dweller,” Sinive said. “I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about you.”

G’allanthamas didn’t reply.

“How rude,” Sinive added.

“He probably already disconnected before you spoke,” Tane told her.

“That’s right, take the alien’s side,” Sinive said.

Gia had the Mosaic slow slightly to allow the dweller vessel to come alongside, and then both vessels continued together at maximum speed toward the nearest planet.

Some moments later Muse announced: “I’m detecting weapons fire at the rift. The TSN vessel has arrived. Looks like the dweller managed to destroy several of their weapons and knock out an engine before the TSN cruiser could raise their shields. They won’t be able to pursue us. Assuming they survive the battle.”

Tane rested against the bulkhead. “One less thing to worry about. For now. Why does it seem like it’s getting harder to avoid the TSN’s clutches?”

“Blame it on circumstance,” Jed said. “They caught you, cleanly, and you escaped right out from under their grasp. Of course any TSN commander worth his salt is going to do everything in his power to rectify that.”

“Actually, the TSN would be just as likely to reassign another commander to lead the search, than keep the same one,” Sinive said. “They don’t tolerate failure very well in their ranks.”

“Well, either way, they’re going to be pooling all their resources, and reviewing their protocols, to make certain once they have you that you’ll never escape again,” Jed said.

“It’s going to be tricky to rescue Lyra and Nebb, you’re saying,” Tane told him.

“Tricky,” Jed agreed. “But we will have a few surprises on our side. Assuming all goes well when we reach the dweller world.”

“Yeah, I’m not holding my breath for that,” Sinive said. “Since when has anything ever gone well with you guys? You talk about how lucky you often are, but I’ve been hanging out with you from the beginning, and none of it has ever been easy, not in my book. You want to get off a planet? Oh wait, we’re hunted by aliens. We’re chased by kraals. We got TSN warships scanning our positions from orbit. That’s not easy. Not at all. And I’m getting sick of all this running. It’s time to turn the tables on the hunters. It’s time to be the wolves instead of the sheep.”

“Soon,” Tane said. “Very soon.”

He went down to the pantry to grab some dried jerky and he brought it up to the cockpit. But apparently he was the only one with an appetite, because no one else wanted any, so he ate all of it himself.

Gotta love the emotion dulling effects of the Umbra.

In a few hours they reached the closest planet. The dweller ship continued to escort the Mosaic, while the battle near the rift had ended with both vessels there limping away in opposite directions.

As they entered low orbit, Tane suddenly felt the White Essence beckoning to him again from beyond the edges of reality, as well as the Dark. The black threads emerging from his body were visible, and they pointed directly down toward the planet. That likely meant it was a geodynamo of some kind.

Gia weakly pulled herself out of the jump chamber. “It’s all yours,” she told Sinive.

The captain squeezed past Sinive and promptly collapsed. Jed caught her, and helped lower her to the deck; she was obviously still exhausted from the earlier jump.

She smiled up at Jed. “Thank you.”

Meanwhile Sinive slid into the jump chamber: she lay down in the sideways-rotated seat, and crooked her knees over the leg rest.

“Muse,” Gia said tiredly. “As soon as we jump through to the target system, I want you to activate the new emitters we’ve got installed.”

“Will do,” Muse said.

“So, it’s time for you to reveal the mysterious target system,” Sinive said from the chamber. She was looking directly at Tane.

He had already shared the details with Jed earlier, and they’d confirmed it was within the Mosaic’s jump range from Geneva Prime. Tane had held off telling Sinive in case she somehow leaked the information before they could depart. Muse was monitoring communications, and was supposed to be able to detect if she in fact attempted to get a message out, but Tane had decided to play it safe.

“Abakan system,” he told her.

“Abakan it is,” Sinive said. There was no lingering animosity in her eyes for once: she didn’t blame him for withholding the destination. He saw only grim resolve in her features as she tilted her head toward the focusing array.

The chamber lit up, the deck vibrated, and a hum filled his hearing as Sinive jumped the starship to Abakan.

Where destiny awaited.

23

Tane felt the momentary nausea as the starship passed through the interstellar distortion tunnel, and on the nose cam video feed the constellations completely changed.

The glow in the chamber faded, as did the deck vibrations and humming. He no longer felt the Essence, Dark or White, and the black filaments emerging from his body were invisible once again.

Sinive remained lying inside the jump chamber. Her chest moved up and down as she took long, deep breaths. Her eyes were closed.

“You okay?” Tane asked.

“Mmm,” she replied, not opening her eyes.

Still seated hunched on the floor, Gia looked up slightly. “Did you activate the thermal emitters, Muse?”

“Immediately after we jumped, as requested,” Muse said.

Gia smiled in approval, and lolled her head. “Thank you.”

“AI, can you confirm this is Abakan system?” Jed said.

“Based on the layout of the constellations and stars, this is indeed Abakan,” Muse told him.

“All right, how far are we to Kharikhan V?” Jed pressed.

“Approximately six hours,” the Mosaic’s AI replied.

“Good,” Sinive said. “I might just have enough energy to join you when we arrive. Night night.” She rolled out of the jump chamber and literally flopped onto the deck, almost landing on Gia.

“Hey,” Gia said. She shoved away from Sinive but didn’t otherwise get up.

“Any ships out there, Muse?” Tane asked.

“I’m not detecting any,” the Mosaic’s AI replied.

“Loop in Gall, please,” Tane said.

Muse had figured out by now that Gall referred to the alien.

“Are we there yet?” G’allanthamas said.

“We just entered Abakan, and we’re six hours from Kharikhan V,” Tane said. “There are no signs of any dweller ships.”

“They’re out there,” the alien said. “As I told you earlier, even though this is only a minor Cre’ite colony, there are still two or three scout ships watching in secret.”

“Then do your thing,” Tane said. He waited, and several moments later he asked Muse: “Did Gall have you send out gravimetric pulses from the engines yet?”

“Yes,” Muse replied. “I mimicked the wavelengths and modulations provided by the alien to the letter.”

“Gall, what did you transmit?” Tane said.

“A lie,” G’allanthamas said. “I told them I’m a trader visiting relatives on the far side of the planet, and that I plan to drop by the Cre’ite city to offload my wares before leaving.”

“But Gia won’t be bringing the Mosaic anywhere near the dweller city,” Tane said.

“Well if they ask why we didn’t visit the city on the way out, I’ll tell them I changed my mind. I don’t think it matters. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to vegetate until we arrive. I’m not as young as you humans. And tight spaces make me antisocial.”

Tane heard a click over the intercom and knew the dweller had disconnected.

“Muse, that gravimetric signal you sent out, is it something you can duplicate at a later date?” Jed asked.

“Of course,” the Mosaic’s AI said.

“So that means we won’t have to rely on Gall indefinitely…” Tane said.

“If we broadcast that message to every dweller we meet, they’ll start to catch on,” Jed said. “Especially when we can’t answer any follow up questions.”

“But it will buy us a few seconds of confusion at least,” Tane said.

“Yes,” Jed agreed.

“You’re both assuming the dweller broadcast what he said he did,” Sinive chimed in. “Maybe the alien decided to tell them we’re carrying their precious Doomwielder. A betrayal like that wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Gall wouldn’t do that,” Tane said. “He wouldn’t betray me. And you’re supposed to be sleeping.”

“I know,” Sinive said. “G’night. It would help if you stopped talking.”

“Gia, have we set a course for Kharikhan V yet?” Jed asked.

“Muse, you heard the man,” Gia said. “Best speed.”

“Setting course to Kharikhan V and accelerating,” the Mosaic’s AI said. “Best speed.”

“Make sure to approach from the south pole,” Jed said. “Like we talked about earlier.”

“I’m choosing an arcing trajectory that will take us below the elliptical plane of the system, coming back up again so our approach will be from the south pole, where G’allanthamas purports the blind spot in their observation centers resides,” Muse replied.

“Excellent.” Jed glanced at Tane. “By the way, if you feel so inclined, you can connect to the ship’s mixnet now. There’s no Galnet in the Umbra.”

“Oh yeah,” Tane said.

So he did that, connecting to the local mixnet labeled Musenet. He half-expected to receive some hidden command embedded in the mixnet that would make him lose control of his body, but such an instruction never came.

He made his way back to his quarters. When he arrived, he told Muse: “Notify me when we receive any gravimetric pulses in answer to Gall’s communiqué, okay?”

“I must confirm this request with the captain,” the Mosaic’s AI said. Then: “All right.”

Tane spent the next several hours resting in his quarters. He applied his usual moonscape environment to the compartment but wasn’t able to do more than nap. Eventually he found himself playing a relaxing mind game he had downloaded a few months ago. It involved redirecting the flows of a waterfall to guide where it would pool in various birdbaths. There was no timer or anything of the sort that would stress him out. Just the flowing water, the chirping birds, and a wind chime sounding somewhere nearby. Yes, definitely relaxing.

At one point, Muse notified him: “I just detected gravimetric pulses coming in from the region of the system’s Oort cloud.”

“Thank you,” Tane said.

He glanced at the time. It had been about two and a half hours since they jumped to the system.

Since he was connected to the local mixnet, he could reach G’allanthamas directly now, rather than routing the call through the intercom, as the dweller showed up in his contact list. He called the alien and looped in Jed.

Both of them answered, voice only.

“So what did the dwellers say, Gall?” Tane asked.

“They believe me,” the dweller told him. “We have full clearance to land.”

“Well that’s somewhat reassuring,” Tane said.

“It is,” G’allanthamas said.

“Thanks for the update,” Jed said gruffly. He promptly disconnected.

Hmm. The Volur seemed in a rather unusual rush to go.

“Before we land, I want to teach you how to close your mind off to Graaz’dhen,” G’allanthamas said. “It is a skill you need to know.”

“Probably a good idea,” Tane said. “Should I call the others so we can all participate?”

“No,” G’allanthamas said. “Why do you think I waited until now to bring it up? When I saw the Volur disconnect, I knew I finally had my chance. This knowledge is for you, and for you alone.”

“So how do I do it?” He wasn’t sure if he was going to keep the knowledge to himself. Jed and Sinive deserved to know, since they would be coming with him. He made a mental note to forward a copy of the session to the two of them. The wonders of having a chip that recorded the past twenty-four hours...

“Fill your mind with chaos,” G’allanthamas said. “When you sense the Graaz’dhen in your head, delving your thoughts, overwhelm the intruder. Summon every possible mundane memory you can think of. Every image. Every song. Every speech. In the cacophony, the Graaz’dhen will be unable to find what it is looking for. It will be unable to exert control. It is the only way to keep the intruder at bay. It’s similar to the chaos you must summon in preparation for Siphoning the Dark.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Tane said. “You’re not Graaz’dhen, right?”

“No, I am Amaranth alone,” G’allanthamas said.

“But you have some ability to interface with minds, as you did when you searched Sinive’s thoughts for unconscious commands,” Tane said.

“This is true,” the dweller said.

“All right, I’m coming down to the cargo bay and you can try to interface with my mind, and I’ll fight you off,” Tane said.

“It will be no contest,” G’allanthamas said. “I am nowhere near as strong as a Graaz’dhen.”

“So there’s no point in practicing with you, you’re saying?”

“That’s right,” the dweller said.

“Ah well, guess I’ll learn in the field,” Tane said. “Like I always do.”

“Are you bringing the Volur and your woman with us into the dweller city?” G’allanthamas asked.

“Of course,” Tane said. “And she’s not my woman.”

“Isn’t she?” the dweller said. “Then why is she so protective about you? And you her?”

“I didn’t notice,” Tane said quickly, wanting to change the subject. “Why do you ask if they’re coming?”

“The Volur I don’t mind,” G’allanthamas said. “He can turn himself invisible. The woman, not so much. Maintaining a blurring field around myself, you and her is taxing. If we leave her behind, I’ll have slightly more strength to help if the excretory appendage hits the fan, to quote a human expression.”

“That’s not quite the expression,” Tane said. “And I don’t think I’m leaving her behind, I’m sorry.” He could imagine the scene she would make if he even tried.

“It was worth the attempt,” G’allanthamas said. “Wake me when I’m needed. Until then, I will conserve my strength.”

G’allanthamas ended the call.

Tane sent a copy of the mind training session to Sinive and Jed, minus the comments at the end about Sinive.

He was about to resume the waterfall-birdbath game when he had a thought: all this time, Jed had remained conspicuously absent from the compartment he supposedly shared with Tane. There was a top bunk waiting for him here, and yet he wasn’t using it. The man had hidden wellsprings of energy. Either that, or he was sleeping in the cockpit.

Or somewhere else…

Tane glanced at his overhead map. Since he was connected to the mixnet, he could see the locations of everyone aboard.

Jed was in Gia’s quarters.

Interesting.

That explained his seeming rush to disconnect earlier. Gia hadn’t seemed in any condition to receive his affections, but then again, adrenalin-fueled lust could work wonders on a tired body. Or maybe Jed had transferred some of his stamina to her beforehand: Tane had seen him do that a few times with Lyra, for completely non-sexual purposes of course.

He checked Sinive’s location. She remained in the cockpit. Probably fast asleep.

He no longer felt like playing the waterfall game and dismissed it, leaving behind the moonscape of his quarters. He closed his eyes, willing the ship to reach the planet sooner. Somehow the fact that Jed was getting it on while Tane had to sleep alone in his compartment bothered him a great deal.

As well it should. Sinive had seemingly cast him aside for no apparent reason.

Maybe I’ll make her stay behind after all.

Not that she would listen. Still, strangely, the thought made him smile. Just imagining the priceless look on her face was more than enough to brighten Tane’s night.

* * *

Tane was awakened by an alert. He sat up, almost hitting his head on the overhead bunk, and he swung his feet off the bed to let them dangle onto the deck. Which still looked like a moon.

He was receiving a call from Gia.

He accepted and her disembodied face appeared in front of him.

“The planet is quickly coming up,” Gia said. “If you have polar coordinates, now would be a good time to give them to me.”

Tane looped G’allanthamas into the call, voice only.

“Gall, we need the location of the shuttle you stowed on the planet,” Tane said.

“Are we approaching the planet from the south pole, as I asked?” G’allanthamas said.

“We are,” Gia said.

“Excellent, I’ll guide you to the location,” G’allanthamas said.

“Not good enough,” Gia said. “I want the final coordinates, and our full route, now.”

The dweller didn’t answer.

“Did you get that, Gall?” Tane asked.

“Yes,” the alien said.

“Then what’s the hold-up?” Gia pressed.

“I’m preparing the route,” G’allanthamas said. “I’ll expect you to enter the atmosphere at the south pole and immediately bring the ship as close as possible to the surface. Only then can you safely follow the path I’ve set out.”

“That’s fine,” Gia said. “I’m waiting.”

“Sending the full route,” the dweller sent.

Tane transmitted the data he received to Gia.

“We’ll want to achieve atmospheric entry while the southern hemisphere is under the cover of darkness,” G’allanthamas said.

“We’re in luck, it’s nighttime at the south pole,” Gia said. “I got your route. Seems reasonable. And I appreciate your marking off the range of the different observation stations.”

“If you follow my route exactly, you won’t have to worry about the range,” G’allanthamas said. “The path I laid out will weave you between the different stations. You’ll never come into view.”

“Looks good,” Gia said. “I’ll time our approach so that it’s still night when we reach your shuttle. Captain out.”

* * *

S’Wraathar watched the tiny ship from his hiding place behind the moon.

It had to be the Doomwielder. The vessel had the heat signature of a dweller transport, Haulistete class. S’Wraathar had intercepted the communiqué. The occupant claimed to be a Dirac trader returning from the Outrim planets, where the kraals and the Diracs they engendered had a particularly exotic taste. The trader told the Cre’ite that tonight he was visiting relatives living in one of the small tribes on the far side of the world, while tomorrow morning he would stop by the main Cre’ite colony to offload his wares.

It had all the outward signs of being true. The heat signature. The story about visiting the family before trading at the colony. The dweller even spoke the Cre’ite dialect of this particular colony perfectly.

And yet S’Wraathar’s Graaz’dhen senses were on fire. Something was amiss.

S’Wraathar knew the Doomwielder would one day return to this world. It held one of the two remaining known artifacts the first Doomwielder had left behind. Undoubtedly, there were other such artifacts out there, but no dwellers knew the locations. S’Wraathar had a second vessel hidden near the second planet; he had instructed the crew to jump here if any strange ships arrived. S’Wraathar had shared the positioning technology given to him by his patron with that ship, a technology no others of his kind possessed. With it, his ships could jump to locations in destination systems with an accuracy of plus or minus a million kilometers. That advanced technology would allow his secondary vessel to arrive behind the same moon and alert S’Wraathar without delay.

The second site would have been the more obvious choice for the Doomwielder to visit, as no dwellers lived there. But S’Wraathar had had a hunch the Doomwielder would choose to visit this site first. Why? Because it was what S’Wraathar would do. He preferred a challenge.

And it seemed he had chosen correctly.

He resided on the large bridge of his main starship, Clamananthanorasalman, or Doom Killer in the language of the Hated Enemy. In the deck holes around him lurked the members of his elite personal guard, the Karthaar. He knew many of them from his war days, when he had served aboard the inter-dimensional flagship of the Cre’ite empire.

There was otherwise no bridge crew, as the ship’s AI ran every aspect of the vessel. The Karthaar were all mentally linked to him, and gave him strength. S’Wraathar was a Graaz’dhen Amaranth, not only mind-connected to his troops, but also capable of wielding the Dark Essence. Most of his troops themselves could summon the Dark fires.

Normally Graaz’dhen provided energy and boosts to those in the link, but not S’Wraathar. No, he took from his troops, boosting his own attributes. It wasn’t an Essence Link, of course. That was something else entirely.

Their proximity ensured that the Graaz’dhen link remained strong, and kept him safe from assassination attempts. Not every tribe agreed the Doomwielder must die, and some were willing to kill S’Wraathar to protect their so-called savior. Though S’Wraathar did his best to weed potential assassins from his midst, inevitably he missed a few. At one point he had considered replacing his warriors with robots created by the Builders, but even machine minds could be compromised.

He occasionally reached out and massaged the telepathic links of his crew, but it was difficult to gauge the loyalty of everyone. He sensed affection and genuine love in some of them, while in others he read only neutral, guarded thoughts. Those were the ones to be wary of. None of the latter served in his elite guard, of course.

S’Wraathar returned his gaze to the tiny ship, and watched it close with the Cre’ite planet. A stealth drone situated near the horizon of the moon provided the video feed, ensuring his vessel wasn’t noticed by the prey. The telemetry indicated the craft was indeed traveling to the far side of the planet, just as the pilot had told the Cre’ite space traffic control. Though it seemed awfully convenient that the vessel approached from the southern pole, where there was a gap in the visual observation centers.

How would the Doomwielder know that?

It all made sense now. The Doomwielder had help. It was even possible one of the Cre’ite, or a bounty hunter, had captured him, and was bringing him in for the reward.

Or perhaps it really was a trader visiting his family.

S’Wraathar wished the stealth drone offered better resolution. Because of the angle of approach, it was simply impossible to get a visual confirmation. But if the Doomwielder had help, or had been captured, then it seemed likely he would be arriving in an actual dweller transport anyway. But then why the elaborate steps to seemingly avoid visual identification?

It could all be coincidence.

But S’Wraathar didn’t believe in coincidences.

Yes, it had to be the Doomwielder. And he was definitely up to something. Perhaps he didn’t intend to visit the city at all. S’Wraathar began to wonder if there was a second artifact on that planet somewhere, one that his people didn’t know of. It seemed possible...

Either way, S’Wraathar would emerge from hiding as soon as the tiny ship entered the atmosphere. He would have the Doom Killer maintain a relatively low vector of attack, staying close to the horizon, so that his starship remained obscured from the target even during reentry. Unless his prey managed to get access to the colony’s encrypted space traffic data, they’d never know he was coming.

The Cre’ite wouldn’t interfere with S’Wraathar’s plans, at least not right away: they thought he was a miner.

Once he was within range and had visual confirmation of his suspicions, he would shoot down the target vessel. With the Karthaar and the Kran—the remainder of his warriors—he would go out and finish the job, eliminating the threat to his people once and for all. It would be over quickly: he’d be off-world before the Cre’ite security forces could even respond.

S’Wraathar crushed his bifurcated mandibles together.

Doomwielder, your time has come.

* * *

Tane lingered in the passageway just outside the cockpit compartment, since there was no room for him. Jed was crowded inside in his reduced armor, while Sinive sat on the deck in front of the Volur. Gia resided in the jump chamber. Jed and Sinive couldn’t be bothered to give up their spots to let Tane inside. He might be the World Bender, but they still treated him like Tane Ganeth, Outrimmer and Engineer, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

G’allanthamas of course remained in the cargo hold. Of them all, his situation was perhaps the worst. It must have felt like a prison cell to the alien. It was a good thing his suit provided recycling of his excretory functions, otherwise that hold would have been a pigsty by now. Then again, it probably wasn’t far removed from that state, given the condition the dweller had left his Sigma 231 room rental.

The Mosaic had penetrated the atmosphere at the south pole only a few moments ago, and Gia had dived the ship, pulling up at the last moment to assume a cruising altitude at about a hundred meters above the rocky landscape.

On the video feed from the nose cam, Tane could see the surface below. Or rather, the digital representation of the surface as computed by the Mosaic’s AI, as it was otherwise the pitch black of night out there. The ship was emitting a small amount of LIDAR for guidance, like all alien vessels did—Jed and Gia had worked with G’allanthamas to ensure the emission levels matched what was expected for a dweller ship of the same size. That LIDAR, combined with the infrared imaging performed by the camera, gave Tane a good picture of the landscape below.

For the most part, the surface appeared rocky and uneven. The terrain was painted in different shades of infrared monotones, with hillocks, hollows, ridges and outcrops outlined by the crisp, white wireframes of LIDAR. Large, blade-like spires occasionally thrust from the land, and Gia flew the Mosaic around the taller variants. Upon the left and right horizons sprawled north-south trending ridges, composed of several hundred of those spires, giving the impression, erroneous or not, that the ship was traveling down the center of a valley.

Tane withdrew his attention from the nose camera feed to his own body. The dark filaments had returned. They emerged visibly from his joints, and all of them pointed down into the deck, toward the planet. Their direction would change as they got closer to the city. Assuming it contained what he hoped it would.

Gia followed the course G’allanthamas had given her, weaving the ship between the different observation centers. Tane couldn’t see any of those centers, of course, and neither could Gia, but that was the point. Their efforts seemed to be working because so far no dweller ships had arrived to intercept them.

At one point, Gia said: “Are you sure you don’t want me to bring you any closer to this destination? I mean, why stop at the shuttle?” She glanced at Jed, who shook his head. Then she gazed past him at Tane: “I know you promised me this would be a quick in-out operation. That I wouldn’t have to get my hands dirty. Your words: ‘Enter the Umbra, jump to the planet in question, and return.’ But I want to do more. I feel like I’m a squire lugging around equipment or something, while you guys are the knights who get to do all the fighting. It’s not my style.”

Tane shrugged.

“In fact, if you're really the Bender of Worlds,” Gia continued, “why don't I just carry you as close to the alien city as possible, and you can rain down hell on the colony, just like you did against the alien fleet? Until they surrender. Meanwhile, I’ll add in a barrage of dragon and plasma fire.”

"How do you even know about what I did to the alien fleet?" Tane said. He glanced at Jed suspiciously, but the Volur shook his head.

“It wasn’t me,” Jed said.

"I saw footage on the Galnet," Gia explained.

"It leaked already?" Jed said.

“Oh yeah,” Gia said. “It’s all over the Galnet. You’re friend here is famous. There were a couple of reporters embedded on the flagship. They captured all of it and leaked it a few hours later.”

"Typical," Sinive said.

"Those reporters speculated that the feats the individual in the spacesuit performed could only belong to one person," Gia said. "The prophesied Bender of Worlds."

"Well," Tane told her. "I could rain hell down on the city, as you say. But even if I didn't have a moral problem about laying waste to a city populated by thousands of civilian aliens, I wouldn't do it anyway."

"Why not?" Gia said. "Morals are niggling things, anyway, best done away with at an early age."

"She's joking, in case you didn't pick up on it," Jed told Tane.

"Sort of," Gia said. “But in some situations, sometimes I'm not sure standard morality applies. This case, for instance. These are aliens, not humans. Assaulting their colony isn’t quite the same thing."

“It’s that line of thinking that led the TSN to destroy the dweller homeworld,” Jed said.

“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” Gia commented. “You do know that single act ended the war? Saving billions of human lives?” Before Jed could answer, she turned to Tane and said: "So why wouldn't you do it?"

"Because it would mean ruining our only ride home," Tane said. "I'm guessing the footage you saw didn't show what happened to the TSN battle cruiser I was touching when I was done?"

"No, it didn't," Gia admitted.

"The ship's Chrysalium hull disintegrated," Tane said. "Spacing its crew. Some made it to the spacesuits and lifepods in time. Others didn't."

"Oh," Gia said. "Okay then. Forget that."

The vessel made good time toward the destination, so that soon Gia was glancing Tane’s way once again.

“We’re fifteen minutes away from the target site,” she said. “You might want to gear up instead of just standing around. Unless you intend to spacewalk in the nude.”

“I wouldn’t want to do that,” Tane said. “Teasing you women with my hot bod and all.”

“Oh my heck,” Sinive said. “I just rolled my eyes so hard I could see my orbits.”

“Orbits?” Tane said.

“Yeah, eye sockets?” Sinive said. “It’s an anatomical term. Never mind. You’re just making me do another eye roll.” She glanced at Jed. “By the way, do I get a weapon?”

“Why are you asking him?” Tane said. “I’m the one who decides.”

But Jed ignored him and told her: “I haven’t made up my mind yet if you’re coming.”

Tane felt angry at being slighted like that, but then he reminded himself he preferred it this way.

I don’t even want to be the Bender of Worlds, remember?

“What do you mean, you haven’t made up your mind?” Sinive said. “I’ve come all this way, you’re not going to make me sit this one out. I don’t care if you give me a weapon or not. I’m coming out there.” She scowled at Tane. “And neither of you can stop me.” She was quiet a moment, then she added, more softly: “I’ve got no one else now. The two of you are all I have. You’re the only ones who can help me save Nebb. Not to mention get rid of this control chip in my head. It’s in my best interests to help you.”

At first he thought she had been going to tell Tane and Jed how much they meant to her, but then she had to go and add that last bit, ruining the whole thing.

That hurt. But Tane didn’t say a word.

Jed glanced at Gia. “Do you have any spare weapons?”

Gia nodded.

“There are a few pistols and rifles in the armory,” Gia told Sinive. “Take your pick.”

“You can come with us as well, if you want,” Tane told the woman.

“As much as I want to, I can’t,” Gia said. “There are some crillia who’ve decided to stowaway on the hull. I’ll have to do some cleaning while you’re gone.” She reached over the edge of the jump chamber and caressed the stocks of the rifles that rested on the deck below her.

“We can wait for you,” Tane said.

“No,” Jed said. “That wouldn’t be a good idea. It’s best not to linger on this planet for longer than we have to. We’re leaving as soon as we reach the shuttle.”

“There you go,” Gia said.

“But what if kraals attack you while we’re gone?” Tane said.

“Then I’ll take off and relocate,” Gia said. “I can take care of myself. I assure you.”

“Okay then.” Using the overhead map, Tane retreated through the passageways to the aft airlock. Just outside it, he began to suit up.

And so we brave the trials of the Umbra once more.

He felt no fear, of course. Not here. But still, a part of himself worried for Jed, Sinive, and G’allanthamas. If the mission went badly…

But he refused to think about that. He would reach the artifact, attain the Essencework he needed, and then leave.

It would go well.

Though try as he might to convince himself of that, he still couldn’t entirely believe it.

24

Tane fetched his gear from the pouch and removed the binding cord. He slid on the Chrysalium Star Rings, the Nova Bracelet, and the Osmium Gauntlets, shrinking the latter enough so that he could fit his spacesuit gloves overtop. Then he equipped the armored robe he purloined from the Umbra, and afterward donned the Feral Necklace and slid it underneath.

He shrunk the armored robe to its most compact setting and put on his spacesuit overtop.

I really have to get me one of those void-capable robes sometime.

The Osmium Gauntlets had a pass-through feature to allow injections, and he momentarily enabled that as he pressurized the suit: he felt the sting on the upper side of his palm as the sonic injector applied the required accelerant—Tane had fetched a fresh vial of the stuff from sickbay to replace the accelerant he’d lost to the TSN when they’d swapped it out for controlling nanotech.

He reached into his pouch and retrieved the D18, beam hilt, grenade harness, and shield generator, and attached them to his suit as appropriate. He let the D18 hang from his shoulder by the strap.

He turned toward the airlock to find Jed already standing there, his armor at its full thickness, the faceplate sealed. He wore a slight smirk on his face.

“I remember when I had to lug around multiple layers of armor and spacesuits like you,” Jed said over the comm. “Then one day I decided to invest in a good suit of powered armor, and the skills to use it. Best investment I ever made. All I ever wear these days is this armor.”

“I noticed,” Tane said. “Though I have to wonder, doesn’t it start to smell after a while?”

“It’s self-cleaning,” Jed said. “And it has a built-in sonic shower equivalent.”

“Of course,” Tane said sarcastically.

Sinive arrived in her spacesuit. She had a pistol holstered to her utility belt.

“Everyone ready?” Sinive asked over the comm.

“As we’ll ever be,” Tane answered. Gia was still listed as online in his contact list, since he was still connected to the Musenet, so he looped her into the comm band he shared with Sinive and Jed. He also added G’allanthamas.

“Gia, what’s our ETA?” Tane sent.

“We’ll be landing in five minutes,” Gia replied.

“Finally!” G’allanthamas said. “I can’t feel my leftmost fore-tentacle anymore. And my right front foreleg has gone numb. If I stay here any longer, I’ll begin to decompose. Oh, the suffering. The cruelty of my treatment.”

“Woe is you,” Sinive said.

“She mocks me!” G’allanthamas said. “When I’m at my weakest. Your woman is a cruel being, Doomwielder.”

“She’s not my woman,” Tane said between gritted teeth.

“If you say so,” the dweller told him.

He glanced at Sinive, expecting to find her angry that the dweller would even suggest such a thing, and ready for her to blurt out something like “I’m no one’s woman,” but instead he saw only sadness behind that faceplate. She quickly averted her eyes.

I’ll never understand her.

“Muse, are you detecting any kraals down there?” Gia asked over the comm line.

“Oddly, I haven’t detected a single kraal so far,” Muse answered.

“Maybe the dwellers clear them from their colony worlds,” Sinive said.

“Oh, kraals are down there, don’t you worry,” G’allanthamas said.

“I still can’t get over how closely you talk to a human,” Sinive said. “I mean, sure, you hung out with Tiberius for two hundred years, but that was a millennium ago. Language changes over time. As do idioms. And yet, you sound like one of us. A modern day human.”

“I’ve been keeping up to date on human culture and dialects,” G’allanthamas said. “I’m a bit of an anthropologist, you could say. I have a friend who has cracked your Galnet, and he forwards me relevant material.”

“Weird hobby…” Sinive said.

A couple of minutes passed before Gia announced: “I’m nearing the target site. It appears clear of kraals. I’ll set us down a hundred meters away.”

A few seconds later Tane felt vibrations transmitted from the deck to his boots.

“We’ve landed,” Gia said. “Depart whenever you’re ready. And Jed, take care of yourself out there. Please.”

Maybe Jed answered on a private line. Or maybe he said nothing at all in reply. Either way, the Volur was the first to walk into the airlock, and he allowed it to seal behind him: the Mosaic was so small that the airlock could only fit one of them at a time.

Tane went next. He stepped inside and the hatch sealed behind him. The air vented and then the outer hatch opened. Actually, it was a ramp, not a hatch, and it folded downward. He proceeded down the sloped surface. The running lights of the Mosaic were currently disabled, so Tane couldn’t see a thing out there beyond the pool of light at the base of the ramp. And when it sealed behind him, he was left in darkness entirely.

“Don’t suppose I can piggyback on your LIDAR feed?” Tane asked Jed over the comm.

He received the sharing request a moment later and accepted. The landscape immediately popped into existence around him, with white, hollow polygons representing the rocky terrain.

“Me too, please,” Sinive said. Her transmission easily passed through the hull at this close range.

A moment later she emerged with the illumination from the airlock, and when the ramp sealed behind her the darkness returned.

Another pool of light appeared on the far side of the ship, and Tane and the others walked there in time to witness G’allanthamas emerging from the cargo bay. The dweller seemed more substantial than the lit cargo bay behind him: his edges were clear and defined and not blurry like the rest of the ship.

The dweller immediately began stripping out of the alien environmental suit.

“Ah, it feels good to be free of that cursed thing,” G’allanthamas said. “I just wish there had been enough room to take it off aboard!”

The dweller stowed each piece in the cargo bay behind him, and then he leaped down onto the surface. The bay doors closed, taking the light with it.

“So, Gall,” Tane said. “You have the ability to create a beacon for a distortion tunnel…”

“I do,” the dweller agreed. The alien paused. “You want me to make one here?” Though the individual words were sourced from several different speakers, G’allanthamas had managed to imbue a sense of incredulity to the question.

“Good guess,” Tane said. “The moment I grab the artifact, I want you to take us back here. Or if something goes wrong before then.”

“You honor me, Doomwielder,” G’allanthamas said. “But I’m not so strong as that. I can’t create a distortion tunnel all the way here from the city.”

“The city is about two hours away?” Tane said.

“Correct,” G’allanthamas said.

“What if I gave you the dark artifact from Sigma 231?” Tane said. “So you could Siphon through its Darcanium? Then could you create a return tunnel…”

“Like the other artifacts, it’s not ordinary Darcanium,” G’allanthamas said. “Tiberius imbued the surface with a thin layer of White Essence, making it accessible only to one of your particular abilities. I can’t access it unless you Siphon the Dark through it first.”

Tane knew what the alien was saying was true: the Amaranth dwellers on Remus only attempted to take away the threads of Dark Essence from Tane after he had Siphoned through the artifact there.

“Fine, then I Siphon the Dark through it first,” Tane said. “And then you take over.”

“But then you’ll have to abandon the artifact,” G’allanthamas said. “Because to hold the tunnel open, I’ll need to continue Siphoning a large amount of Dark Essence through it. If you shrink the artifact and sever my connection, the tunnel will close. So unless you’re willing to abandon the artifact, I would suggest placing the beacon closer to the city. Perhaps outside my shuttle when we land.”

Tane considered that. He wasn’t willing to abandon the artifact just yet. He might need the Darcanium it contained at some future date. “All right, we place the beacon after we land outside the city.”

“Good enough,” G’allanthamas said.

“Lead the way, Dweller,” Jed said. “Take us to your shuttle.”

G’allanthamas took the lead and the others fell in behind him. Tane was careful to keep Sinive in front of him, even if G’allanthamas claimed she had no further orders embedded in her subconscious. Jed brought up the rear, soon becoming invisible.

When the Volur vanished, on cue Sinive asked: “The dweller isn’t going to place blurring spheres over us?”

“If your ship has been spotted, it’s already too late,” G’allanthamas said. “I would prefer to conserve my stamina until we really need the spheres.”

The surface was composed of shards of loose rock—a form of shale, Tane thought. He could feel different pieces pressing into his boots as he took each step. Sometimes, when tramping over a slight incline, he would slip a little as the stones shifted underfoot.

He swept his gaze across his surroundings as he advanced and kept an eye out for potential ambushers. He held his D18 at the ready.

“I still think it’s crazy how dwellers can survive anywhere in the Umbra without environmental suits,” Sinive said. “No matter the atmosphere.”

“It is the nature of this place, and our intrinsic link to it,” G’allanthamas transmitted. “We are as much a part of the Umbra as the Dark Essence. In fact, some say that without kraals and dwellers, there could be no Arcanum. Though I’m not so pompous as to believe that myself.”

Tane heard a slight humming coming from somewhere behind him, as picked up by the external microphone of his helmet. He glanced over his shoulder: the Mosaic’s ramp opened into the darkness, and he saw the silhouette of another spacesuit against the glowing backdrop. It was Gia, judging from the sawed-off rifle she held in hand, and the second one strapped to the back of her suit.

“Time to clear some crillia,” Gia said, her voice distorting slightly.

Tane turned away and continued the advance into the darkness. He kept a wary eye on the landscape around him.

“Hey Dweller,” Sinive said. “Where are all the kraals hiding?”

“They’re here somewhere,” G’allanthamas said. “I guarantee you. They will be entirely unlike any you have encountered before. But maybe we’ll get lucky and not run into any.”

“Somehow I suspect we will,” Sinive said.

“Don’t jinx us,” Tane said.

“The alien already did,” Sinive retorted.

They made it to the shuttle without incident. Or rather, to the waypoint marked on the map. But there wasn’t actually anything there.

“The shuttle is…?” Tane said.

G’allanthamas turned around and began to dig at the spot with four of his hind legs.

“Why am I reminded of a cat trying to bury its poop in a litter?” Sinive commented.

G’allanthamas occasionally paused to examine the hole he was digging, only to continue a moment later. After about a minute of that, the dweller exclaimed: “Here we go. Precisely where I left it.”

“I don’t see anything,” Tane said.

The alien moved away from the hole, and Tane spotted a sharp projectile protruding. The wireframe representation on the LIDAR band made that projectile appear lumpy, and slightly irregular.

“Looks like more rock to me,” Sinive said.

“Exactly what it’s supposed to look like,” G’allanthamas said. “The Builders create almost everything out of these crystals, which are formed of the Dark Essence.”

G’allanthamas resumed digging, and Tane and Sinive joined in to lend a hand. Jed also materialized to help.

After several minutes they had exhumed a large, arrowhead-shaped crystal.

“Now this is a dweller shuttle,” Sinive commented.

“Get back, get back,” G’allanthamas said.

Tane and the others obeyed. He noticed a section of crystal slightly offset from the others on the underside of that arrowhead. It folded open, providing a ramp. G’allanthamas led the way inside.

“Why was I expecting it to iris open or something,” Sinive said as she followed the dweller up. “Folding open seems like something only human craft should do. But an alien shuttle? The hatches should iris open. Like a pupil adjusting to the light.”

“Thank you for giving me a lecture on how my own technology should work,” G’allanthamas said.

“Just saying,” Sinive told him.

“Yes, well, since we were doing this for thousands of years before we met your kind,” the dweller said. “I’m inclined to believe that we invented the technology, and you copied it from us.”

“And only a short while ago you were telling me that you weren’t as pompous and self-centered as other dwellers,” Sinive said.

“You know, if you two weren’t different species, I’d almost think you were flirting,” Tane commented.

He glanced at her, but the LIDAR didn’t penetrate her faceplate, so all he saw was a blank square where her features would have been.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Sinive said. “Fulfills some kinky dream of yours or something?”

Tane didn’t have an answer for that one.

The ramp closed behind Jed and the party waited in silence while G’allanthamas toyed with some console on the far side of the compartment.

The LIDAR highlighted a series of large holes on the cabin floor, likely meant to fit dweller occupants. Tane went to the edge of one of them and sat down, letting his legs dangle inside. Jed joined him, while Sinive took another hole for herself.

A minute passed.

“Well Dweller?” Jed said impatiently. “Do you plan to leave while it’s still dark?”

In answer blue veins in the surrounding walls began to glow, illuminating the spacious cabin. The interior was made entirely of black crystals, all of which seemed substantial and real. Tane, Sinive and Jed meanwhile continued to look blurry, as if they didn’t belong in this universe.

Which they did not.

“Nice,” Sinive said. “It’s like spelunking inside a cave filled with glow worms!”

“You’ve been inside such a structure before,” Jed said. “Though you probably don’t remember it.”

In the dim light, Tane could see her features behind the glass pane of her faceplate: her smile faded at Jed’s words, and he thought she shuddered.

“No, I remember,” Sinive said.

“Then that is just as well,” Jed said. Tane noted the Volur was excluding the dweller from the comm channel at the moment. “We must remain vigilant at all times.”

“You think the dweller is leading us into a trap?” Sinive asked.

“All I’m saying is, be on guard,” Jed told her. He looped the dweller back into the main channel.

G’allanthamas exchanged a series of shrieks and clatters with the shuttle’s AI, and the craft shuddered, taking to the air.

“Well look at that, it works after all,” Sinive said.

Gia quickly moved to the offline column on Tane’s contact list, as the nodes in their chips and spacesuits weren’t powerful enough to maintain the adhoc mixnet with the rapidly receding Mosaic.

“So what’s this shuttle called?” Sinive asked.

“I’ve rechristened it Sinive,” G’allanthamas said.

“Funny,” she said. “Seriously, what’s it called?”

“There is no matching name in the human tongue,” G’allanthamas said.

“Fine,” Sinive said. “I’ll call it Squeaky. Because that’s how it sounds.”

An upset series of clatters and shrieks came from the overhead intercom.

“The AI takes umbrage at that name,” G’allanthamas said.

“I’m surprised it even understands me,” Sinive said.

“It’s programmed to understand several human languages, of course,” the dweller said. “It just can’t speak them.”

“I don’t suppose you can feed the shuttle’s positional data to our overhead maps?” Tane said. “So we can keep apprised of how far away we are from the city?”

In answer, Tane received a sharing request from the dweller. He accepted and saw his position update on the HUD.

“Looks like we’re keeping relatively low to the ground,” Jed said.

“And continuing to weave back and forth,” Sinive added. “Are we still worried about observation centers now that we’re aboard an actual dweller craft?”

“It is best if we are not detected until closer to the city, yes,” G’allanthamas said.

“Then what was the point of switching to the shuttle?” Sinive pressed.

“The observation centers form a tighter grid near the city,” the dweller said. “So the Mosaic would have never made it. When the shuttle is finally detected, it’s likely the observers will assume we’re from a tribe outlying the city, and I’ve told the AI to relay as much. I’ll land on the city outskirts, in a blind spot within their detection grid, and we’ll proceed the rest of the way on foot as planned.”

G’allanthamas timed their journey westward across the continent so that the night followed them the whole way. The goal was to arrive at the city during the hour of least activity, when the dweller city was essentially asleep.

About two hours in, the cabin shook. Tane glanced at his overhead map and realized the shuttle had come to a halt. The flashing waypoint on the map indicated the artifact was one kilometer to the north.

“We’re here?” Tane started to get up.

“Yes, but we’re early,” G’allanthamas said. “We must wait until Bhavan, the time of rest. The darkest hour. Then we’ll exit the shuttle and approach on foot. I will blur your bodies with the Dark Essence, confusing the perimeter sensors into believing you are dwellers.”

Tane sat back down.

“It’s too bad you can’t apply blurring to a shuttle,” Jed said. “Then we could fly right to the artifact and be done with this.”

“I wish I had a high enough level in the necessary work,” G’allanthamas admitted.

“How long do we have to wait?” Tane asked.

“Thirty minutes,” the dweller answered.

Ordinarily Tane would have been extremely apprehensive right about now, considering in thirty minutes he was going to sneak inside the heart of a dweller city, but the emotion-dulling effects of the Umbra kept him calm. He was grateful for that.

In her deck gap nearby, Sinive’s legs bobbed up and down in nervous anticipation. Jed meanwhile had removed his glowing Chrysalium sword, and seemed to be stropping it with a strip of leather. Tane didn’t think a sword of that caliber needed sharpening, but he suspected the Volur was only doing it to keep his mind occupied. Or maybe he was merely cleaning the blood of previously vanquished foes.

Meanwhile Tane used a small part of his own spare time to calmly prepare works of Fingers of Ruin and Melt Metal, placing them in reserve so that the dark globes floated above and in front of him.

A blurring sphere of darkness appeared around Tane. A couple of minutes later another sphere surrounded Sinive. And then G’allanthamas himself.

“I presume you will become invisible when we leave, Volur?” G’allanthamas asked Jed.

“Your presumption is correct,” Jed answered.

“Good,” the dweller said. “Saves me from blurring you.” The alien stood up on his eight legs and waggled his tentacles. “It’s time.”

The blue veins that provided illumination began to fade out as the crystalline ramp lowered behind them.

“Should we reduce the transmission range of our comm nodes or not?” Sinive said. “I seem to remember something about the magnetic resonance from the blurring spheres masking that.”

“The magnetic resonance from the spheres will prevent any readers from detecting your RFIDs,” G’allanthamas said. “But your other emissions are unaffected. So yes, I would recommend reducing your transmission range. No LIDAR, please.”

“Switching to infrared and night vision,” Jed said. “And reducing broadcast range to five meters.”

Tane and Sinive likewise reduced their own transmission range.

“Can you share your night vision feed?” Tane asked. He could have used the appropriate Dark work instead, but if he could share Jed’s feed and save some of his stamina, he might as well.

“You might want to try your helmet’s own night vision,” Jed replied.

“Oh, I didn’t know I had that,” Tane said. “I just assumed, because I don’t have LIDAR...”

He couldn’t remember seeing a night vision option anywhere, but he accessed the spacesuit’s HUD and went to the settings area. Sure enough, night vision and infrared were available.

He activated the pair: the entire cabin appeared black behind Tane, while a gentle green glow emanated from the bottom of the ramp ahead.

Jed led the way toward the surface. He had become invisible, so Tane only knew where he was because of his indicator on the overhead map. Tane allowed Sinive to move in front of him, and then he followed her down, stepping onto the rocky ground. G’allanthamas came behind him.

Tane paused to survey his surroundings. Varying shades of dark green indicated the terrain immediately around him. The shuttle was a large green and black arrowhead. The dweller stood out from the landscape, but just barely: the blurring sphere made G’allanthamas appear to be an indistinct blob beside Tane. The same was true of Sinive on the other side, though she was much smaller in comparison. No doubt both of them blended in perfectly at farther distances.

Tane turned toward the flashing waypoint indicated on his map until he was facing a flat, green surface of uniform green that dominated the landscape all the way to the horizon, almost like a lake. It seemed to be the source of the dim light in the area that allowed the night vision to work in the first place.

“Where’s the dweller city?” Tane asked.

“Right in front of you,” G’allanthamas said. “The city is underneath a liquid hydrocarbon lake.”

“Good of you to tell us this tidbit now,” Tane said.

“The dweller in fact told me,” Jed interjected. “Sorry, I thought you knew.”

“Technically, it doesn’t matter,” Tane said. “We are wearing spacesuits, after all. But you do know I can’t swim, right?”

“Vent oxygen for propulsion,” Jed said.

“You make it sound so easy…”

“By the way, Dweller,” Sinive said. “I thought your kind didn’t need a liquid environment to survive in the Umbra?”

“We don’t,” G’allanthamas said.

“So why build a city in a hydrocarbon lake?”

“Because, while we don’t need liquid, we do prefer it,” the dweller explained. “Plus, it’s harder for the Hated TSN to detect our colonies that way.”

“I like how you’ve gone from Hated Enemy to Hated TSN,” Sinive said.

“Yes, well, that was your doing,” G’allanthamas said.

“Glad I’m finally rubbing off on you,” Sinive said.

“It’s not so much you’re rubbing off,” the dweller said. “But rather your nagging and complaining is taking its toll…”

“Guys!” Tane said. “Can we go to the artifact now?”

“Sorry,” G’allanthamas said. “One moment while I create a beacon.” The dweller turned toward him. “Unless of course you’d prefer to leave your existing artifact behind, which contains my previous beacon?”

“No,” Tane said.

“Didn’t think so,” G’allanthamas said.

The dweller retrieved a large stone fragment from the shards covering the surface and held it up with the fingers at the tip of one tentacle. Veins of dark blue began to glow within the fragment.

“It’s done,” G’allanthamas said. “I’ve transferred the beacon from your existing artifact to this stone.”

The alien set the dimly glowing fragment down next to the shuttle and buried it under other stone shards until its gentle light was hidden. G’allanthamas seemed entirely unaffected by the effort involved in creating the beacon, which was impressive, given that it was a level seven work of the Dark.

“You’re not tired after that?” Tane asked.

“I prepared it during the journey here,” G’allanthamas replied. “So there was no stamina drain involved in its release.”

“Okay, well good,” Tane said. “So. To the artifact…”

“To the artifact,” G’allanthamas agreed.

Jed was already heading toward the lake, according to the overhead map. G’allanthamas followed him. Tane once more allowed Sinive in front of him, and then he brought up the rear.

As he got closer, Tane confirmed that a dim glow did indeed come from the lake. Tane decided that the stamina drain from Night Vision was worth boosting his visual acuity even further, so he released the work after the short creation time, brightening his surroundings enough for him to disable the thermal imaging provided by his helmet entirely.

The dark filaments from his body led away at an angle into the lake. That was a good sign that the artifact was still intact and waiting within. Then again, seeing as this was a dweller city, it was also possible that some other Essenceworkers had created a reservoir of the Dark within, though somehow Tane doubted he would have had access to the Dark reserves it contained. At least, he assumed that was what the threads leading from him to the artifact meant.

“Activate shield generators,” Jed said.

“Will they be detected?” Sinive asked.

“No,” G’allanthamas said.

Tane activated his unit. Shield generators worked in liquid environments, of course, and their energy fields would pass through the hydrocarbons without draining.

“We’re entering the surveillance field,” G’allanthamas said. “If they’ve developed technology to penetrate blurring fields, we’ll be receiving a visit shortly.”

But as they continued their approach, no one came.

Tane remained completely calm on the final leg to the hydrocarbon lake, no doubt thanks to the Umbra.

“Once we hit the streets underneath, the blurring will continue to protect us from the monitoring AIs,” G’allanthamas said. “But if we encounter any dwellers on patrol, we must take shelter, because they will be fooled only at a distance.”

“Do we have to worry about kraals in there?” Tane asked.

“The city guards would have trained the kraals to avoid the hydrocarbon lake long ago,” G’allanthamas said.

“Sounds like we wouldn’t want to be meeting these guards,” Tane said.

“Probably not,” the dweller agreed.

Jed reached the lake. Tane knew because he saw a disturbance on the surface, and a glance at his overhead map confirmed that the Volur was indeed at the outskirts.

“Are we safe to increase transmission range to twenty-five meters?” Jed asked. “I intend to scout ahead.”

“Should be safe,” G’allanthamas said. “The route I’ve plotted will take us well away from any detectors they have in the city. Until we arrive at our destination.”

“You really did your homework,” Sinive said. “I’m impressed. Though I have to wonder if your information is outdated.”

“It’s recent,” G’allanthamas insisted. “Up to a week ago, anyway.”

“One of your great great great grandkids?” Sinive asked.

“That’s right.”

The alien entered the outskirts of the lake and advanced across the liquid. The dweller’s dark sphere descended, and then vanished as G’allanthamas apparently dove underneath the surface. Tane increased his transmission range to twenty-five meters, and the positions of the dweller and Jed updated on the map.

Sinive paused near the edge of the lake. She was gazing out across the surface.

“I’ve always been afraid of water,” she said. “I don’t know how to swim.”

“Neither do I,” Tane said. “And this isn’t water.”

She glanced at him; in the dim light, even with Night Vision active, he could barely see her features behind her faceplate, obscured as she was by the blurring field. But she smiled slightly. “I suppose you’re right.”

With that she waded into the lake.

Tane hesitated only a moment, and then followed.

25

Tane found trudging through that hydrocarbon lake somewhat different from wading through ordinary water. The liquid offered less pull against his motions, and tiny waves seemed to ripple away from him a lot farther.

Sinive, just in front of him, abruptly dropped from view, leaving only ripples. Had she been pulled under by something? Or…

Tane quickly waded forward and the lakebed gave away underneath him. Tane instinctively took a deep breath as he fell, even though he was enclosed in a pressurized environment.

The liquid engulfed him and he plunged downward rapidly. He had stepped off a shelf of some kind. He vented a burst of oxygen to slow his descent. He expected his surroundings to grow darker as he descended, but the liquid around him actually appeared to brighten. Looking down, he understood why.

The dweller city was spread before him, in the deep valley situated at the bottom of the shelf. Irregular crystals jutted upward, sprawling across the entire lakebed as far as Tane could see. Some of those crystals looked almost like reefs and the tree-like coralline structures that formed in human oceans. Those crystals were the source of the lake’s glow, and emitted a dim blue light into the liquid. At least Tane thought it was blue—it might have been white light that was blue-shifted like all photons in this universe. The crystals were obviously Essence-imbued, or perhaps made with the Dark Essence by dweller Builders. With Tane’s Night Vision active, it made the city seem just as bright as any human city viewed from the air by night.

Tane glanced around, looking for his companions, but didn’t see them, at least at first. He checked his overhead map and switched to a top-down perspective to get a better idea of where they were in 3D space, and using that as a guide, he spotted the dark spheres of Sinive and G’allanthamas sinking below him. They were barely discernible, appearing dim, and blending in well with the environment. He vented oxygen to propel himself toward them.

As he closed, Tane was able to discern them much better: G’allanthamas hadn’t been kidding when he said they would have to hide from any patrols.

“What’s the density of these liquid hydrocarbons?” Sinive said. “Shouldn’t we be floating or something?”

“This lake is not formed of pure hydrocarbons,” G’allanthamas said. “Different tribes prefer different densities. Overall, this particular combination is about half the density of water. For something to float, it has to be less dense than the liquid underneath it. So you’ll be less buoyant in this lake than you would water.”

Sinive tried to kick her legs and paddle with her hands, but she continued to descend. “It’s like slogging through thin mud. Or something.”

“Not for me.” The dweller began to use its legs and tentacles to propel itself forward. Large flaps of skin unfolded from the bottom parts of the legs, so that the alien could move the different appendages like long paddles. Tane and Sinive meanwhile vented oxygen to accelerate after him. They drifted downward as well, falling toward the crystalline structures below as they advanced.

“Kick your feet, Engineer,” Jed said. “You’ll get more mileage that way. And use your arms to steer.” According to the map, Jed was located ahead of G’allanthamas. He was staying within the twenty-five meter maximum broadcast range.

Tane started kicking. He tried to move his arms, too, in a waving motion like he had seen swimmers do. He wasn’t sure how effective his movements were, because while the liquid provided some resistance, it was definitely not as thick as water. He was reminded of when he had boarded a dweller ship to rescue Sinive and found himself in a liquid hydrocarbon environment. Back then he had cranked up his suit servomotors to full strength, which allowed him to move just as easily as if he were in an atmospheric environment. He did the same thing now, wondering if it would improve his swimming efficiency. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

In a few moments they reached the lakebed between two of the crystalline structures. Tane could see tunnels leading inside either crystal. He didn’t spot doorways of any kind. The more privacy-minded dwellers would have energy fields installed at the entrances to keep out unwanted visitors, Tane knew from Tiberius’ memories.

The party continued along near the bottom of the lake, using the glowing structures around them to provide general coverage. In addition to the O2 he expelled behind him, Tane kept having to vent oxygen downward to prevent himself from sinking to the lakebed: the liquid was slightly more dense at this depth, but it wasn’t enough to give him any more buoyancy. He also had to occasionally vent to the left or right to swerve between the structures.

As such, he was burning through the oxygen in his tanks at a steady rate, but he thought it was less than what it would have been if he were traversing actual water. If something went wrong and G’allanthamas couldn’t create a distortion tunnel back to the beacon, by Tane’s estimate, he would still have more than enough oxygen for the return trip. If he was wrong, he’d have to get Jed to perform an oxygen transference at some point, like the Volur had done when they were trapped together in deep space. Sinive would probably need some O2 as well, though, if it came to that.

Keeping a wary eye on the crystalline structures and the alleys between them, Tane continued experimenting with kicking his legs and moving his arms as he followed the dweller along the lakebed. He found that he could alter his direction slightly by the positioning of his arms, so much so that he could sometimes swim around crystal structures without having to expend any oxygen from his side vents. “Steering,” like Jed had said. Also, kicking did seem to make a difference to his overall speed when combined with the oxygen venting, especially now that he’d upped his servomotor output.

Eventually a notification appeared on his HUD.

New skill learned.

Swimming. Level 0. Swimming newbie no more! You’re actually able to control yourself in liquid environments. Nicely done. You can only get better from here!

He felt a moment of pleasure at that, and then mentally kicked himself. It was the chipmaker’s way of getting him addicted to the dopamine rewards of leveling once again. Upon reflection, he hadn’t actually learned anything close to resembling swimming. Sure, he could direct his course slightly while venting oxygen behind him, and boost his speed a little by kicking at the same time, but that was about it.

“This planet isn’t populated in the human universe, is it?” Tane said as he gazed at one particularly tall crystal beside him.

“No,” Jed said.

“Do these structures also exist in our universe?” Tane pressed.

“The answer is also no,” Jed said. “These were created by their Builders. Crystals and metals alternately held together and formed by the Dark Essence. And like the kraals and dwellers themselves, they do not exist in our universe. You’d have to carry one of these structures through a rift if you wanted it back in our realm.”

“Did you know the Builders are almost a slave class to the Cre’ite?” G’allanthamas said. “They keep them in chains, and regard them as little more than organic 3D printers.”

Tane thought of the sponge lifeforms that humanity used to provide Essence to their planet-side distortion gates. “We do something similar.”

“The gate sponges?” Jed asked.

“That’s what I’m thinking of,” Tane answered. He returned his focus to the alleyways between the crystals, scanning for signs of dwellers, ready to take cover or attack if necessary.

“But those sponges are not sentient,” Jed said.

“The Builders are very sentient,” G’allanthamas added. “My tribe always considered them equals. Unfortunately, there aren’t very many left. Of my tribe, I mean. Other than my grandkids.”

“What happened to your tribe?” Tane asked.

“The majority died when the Hated TSN destroyed our homeworld,” G’allanthamas said. “Along with the other tribes inhabiting that particular planet. The rest of us are scattered across the galaxy, like the members of this colony. As for my immediate descendants, my frequent trips around the galaxy with my mate and Tiberius ensured that I established roots throughout the Umbra.”

Jed spotted a small school of dwellers apparently on patrol a short while later, and the team took cover between two large crystals as the creatures passed overhead. Tane watched them move their limbs like G’allanthamas, swinging them in wide, sweeping motions.

When the dwellers were gone, the party continued.

Jed pulled ahead once more to resume his scout position. He was still invisible, but Tane momentarily spotted the telltale bubbles of vented oxygen as the Volur advanced. Those bubbles would be apparent to anyone who got close, but no doubt Jed would cease venting if aliens came near.

Tane hadn’t noticed before, but in this quarter, electrical bolts occasionally sparked between the upper portions of some of the structures.

“The hell was that?” Sinive asked during one such outburst of charge.

“Power generation,” G’allanthamas said. “The potential energy builds up in the crystal as the free electrons in the liquid composite rub against them. When the potential energy reaches a critical mass between two adjacent crystals, a plasma channel is created between them and the bolt you witnessed appears. A special collector at the base of the crystals captures the generated electrons, converts them to a useable form, and transmits the energy to the rest of the grid.”

The waypoint was within fifty meters when Jed reported in from the forefront.

“Found your artifact,” Jed said. “Unfortunately, it’s guarded by a few of their spider robots.”

“How many are we talking?” Tane asked.

“Ten,” Jed replied. “They surround a clearing, with the artifact located at the center. They all face outward.”

“Gall, I’m guessing you dwellers use some sort of ping technology like we humans do?” Tane said. “With a command and control center of some kind ready to respond if ten robots suddenly drop off the grid?”

“Correct,” G’allanthamas said. “My contacts tell me that security forces will be dispatched to investigate. Once the robots go down, we’ll have about five minutes to retrieve the artifact and leave.”

“That should be more than enough time for our needs,” Tane said. “We destroy the robots, I take the artifact, you jump us back to the shuttle.”

He truly hoped it would be that simple, at least.

“I’m going to make a circular sweep of the area and confirm no other ambushers are lying in wait. I could be a while—in some spots I’ll be in full view of the robots, and I’ll have to avoid venting O2. That’ll slow me down.”

“A while it is,” Tane said.

Jed’s signal on the overhead map froze as he moved beyond the limited twenty-five meter comm range. It took about eight tense minutes before his indicator updated once more.

“Okay, I swept the area,” Jed said. “It’s clear on the streets.”

“You didn’t go inside any of the crystal structures bordering the clearing, did you?” Tane asked.

“No,” Jed admitted. “That’s a little too risky even in my book. All of the entrances face the clearing. It’s likely protective energy shields sheathe the openings as well. I’d have to damage the fields enough to enter, which would set off alarms in the associated crystals. And the robots would notice the flash of the fields as I broke through.”

“The entrances all face the clearing,” Tane said. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“One or more of the structures could house ambushers,” Jed agreed.

“Any word on a potential ambush from your contacts, Gall?” Tane asked.

“None,” G’allanthamas responded. “According to the latest information I have, the surrounding crystals are all owned by private residents. In theory there won’t be any security forces lurking inside any of them, but it’s likely the Cre’ite have stepped up their watch on the known artifacts. So I would expect there to be some sort of surprise. But you knew this before coming here, and you were okay with the risks then. Don’t tell me you’re having a change of heart after coming all this way?”

Tane didn’t answer, not immediately. In truth, he was in fact getting cold feet. He wasn’t afraid for himself, but for his friends.

“Okay, just to confirm, you have a distortion tunnel in reserve?” Tane said. “Because as soon as I retrieve the artifact, I want to rush through that tunnel to the shuttle and leave.”

“Yes, a distortion tunnel is part of my reserves,” G’allanthamas said. “I can deploy it when necessary.”

“Good.” Tane glanced at the overhead map. “So. Ten robots. That leaves two or three for each of us. I think we can manage it.”

“I’m transmitting their locations,” Jed said.

The red dots appeared on the overhead map, forming a circle around the clearing between the crystals ahead.

“Any tips on taking the robots down fast?” Tane transmitted.

“Did you happen to ID the model of the robots?” G’allanthamas said.

“Don’t you already know, thanks to your much vaunted contacts?” Sinive taunted.

“No,” G’allanthamas said. “Volur, the model?”

“Yes,” Jed said. “Tarkwail.”

“Then to inflict the maximum damage, I would suggest targeting the centers of their carapaces,” the dweller said. “The power cores of the Tarkwail models are located close to the surface there, and are less armored than the AI cores. Keep in mind that Tarkwail models are also protected by energy shields. If you intend to use plasma weapons, you’ll probably have to concentrate fire from multiple weapons on the same targets to break through the shielding. Unless of course your plasma weapons are extremely powerful.”

“I suppose my D18 won’t make the cut?” Tane asked.

“Send me the specs,” G’allanthamas said.

Tane did so.

“Great against kraals,” the dweller said. “Not so great against the energy shields of these robots.”

“I’ll take these three,” Jed said. On the overhead map, a trio of the adjacent red dots became highlighted. “I won’t be using a plasma weapon.”

“These are mine,” G’allanthamas said. Another three changed color.

“I’ll take the final four,” Sinive said. The remaining four became yellow.

“Funny,” Tane said. “I doubt the plasma pistol you’re carrying can penetrate their shields alone, if my D18 can’t.” Tane highlighted two of the yellow dots, marking them blue. His color. “These two are mine. Trying to take away my fun, are you?”

“I wasn’t sure you could handle it…” Sinive retorted.

“I think she was actually trying to show off to you, Doomwielder,” G’allanthamas said. “As in: ‘Look at me, I can take on more robots than either a Volur or an alien! I’m the best!’”

“You got it all wrong,” Sinive said. “I was trying to show off to you, honey.”

“Ooo!” the dweller said. “My tentacles are curling in excitement. My bifurcated mandibles are bunching up in anticipation! It will be the first mating between a human and a dweller. And a glorious mating it will be!”

“Not now you two, please,” Jed said.

“Yeah, if you two are done with the sarcasm, I’d like you to send your pistol data to Gall, Sinive,” Tane said.

“Why?” Sinive said.

“Because you still have two dwellers marked as your targets, and you don’t even know if you can take them down or not,” Tane told her.

“Oh I’ll take them down,” Sinive said. “Eventually…”

But she sent the data on.

A moment later G’allanthamas said: “Like yours, her weapon won’t penetrate the shielding on the first hit. I would suggest concentrating your fire on the same opponent. If you unload a full thirty-round burst from the D18 and follow up with three pistol shots, the shield will fail. I estimate it will take another two pistol shots to finish the spider off, if you target the center of the carapace.”

“All right, so that’s one between Sinive and me,” Tane said. He marked one of the remaining yellow dots with blue so that it was half each color. He removed the yellow marking from the second dot Sinive had highlighted. “And three entirely for me.”

“That’s not fair,” Sinive said.

“Maybe not,” Tane said. “But necessary. We’re going to split up, stalk our assigned targets.”

Tane double-checked the range of the crystals surrounding the perimeter. Once the team members were in position, they would still be within the twenty-five meter comm distance. Good. Though that meant of course their signals might be picked up by the robots, or by any other transmission detectors the dwellers might have placed in the area as part of their surveillance of the artifact. Well, the ability to coordinate was the most important thing right about now, so he’d just have to risk it. If the robots weren’t taken down quickly, and had time to send out a distress signal, Tane and company would soon have a whole lot more enemies to deal with.

But they’d probably have to face an ambush sourced from the crystals either way. So again, no point in reducing the broadcast range. Best to get in there as quickly as possible and leave just as fast.

“Move into positions,” Tane said. “Spread out, and approach your designated targets from behind. Wait until I give the word to attack. Maintain radio silence until then, unless I address you. Gall, how close can we get before the robots’ visual algorithms recognize us through the blurring?”

“About ten meters for these particular models,” G’allanthamas said. “I would stay beyond that range or out of sight until you’re ready to fire.”

“Hope you heard that everybody,” Tane said as he released O2 to thrust forward.

As he neared the edge of the clearing, Tane jetted sideways, skirting around the crystal structures there. He kept well beyond the ten-meter figure G’allanthamas had mentioned, and was careful not to pass into the line of sight of his targets for too long as he darted from crystal to crystal, just to be on the safe side.

He took his place behind a crystal adjacent to the clearing, and next to his three targets. He positioned himself three-fourths of the way up the structure, about five meters away from the robots according to the overhead map, though he couldn’t see them at the moment.

He latched onto the exterior of the crystal, readily finding purchase on the bumpy lattice that composed it. He made his way toward the edge of the structure until the clearing was in view. He could see some of the spider robots on the far side. Their backs were to him—the robots were facing outward, watching the approaches between the large structures.

These models reminded him of the spider robots that had joined the attacking faction of dwellers on Remus, whose members had distracted the Amaranth long enough for him to escape. True to their names, they looked like big spiders made of black metal. The main carapace was about as big as a human torso. A head protruded from it, also as big as a human’s. From it emerged two smaller pincers, used for gripping captives he guessed. Eight long legs emerged from the carapace, and gave each robot an overall height that seemed just under his own. Their weight kept them secured to the lakebed.

On the head regions, just above the pincers, it looked like retractable laser turrets protruded from either side. Attached to the carapace, above where the legs joined the main body, were two long tubes: missile launchers. He counted four dark missiles per tube. Those deadly weapons were another reason to end this fight before it could begin.

He leaned farther out, and behind the robots, in the middle of the clearing, he saw the ominous black shape of the artifact he sought.

I’ve come all this way for you…

He gazed warily into the tunnels leading inside the different crystals that were in view, but he didn’t spot any other robots, or more dwellers. If there were any ambushers, they were keeping themselves well hidden.

Staying low, Tane sidled over a little more until he was able to look down at his own three targets. Like the others, they were facing outward, though these were oriented toward him, if underneath his current position.

He quickly ducked from view, realizing it was a bad idea to expose himself like that until he was ready to fire, especially now that he was within the ten-meter discernment range.

He decided to try his new ID feature. When Jed had purchased it for him, the Volur had promised it would allow Tane to identify most dwellers and their weapons. He wondered if that included dweller robots.

He leaned forward so that the farther robots were in view again and ran an ID. To his surprise, he got a page full of data. The chipmaker had managed to catalog one of these. Impressive. Then again, they’d probably simply purchased the data from the TSN.

Name: Unknown

Race: Dweller Robot.

Model: Tarkwail Spider version 25e

Level: 12

Class: Combat Guard

Offensive Weapons:

Two fang laser turrets, 45-degree throw angle.

Two missile launchers, 45-degree throw angle. Each launcher holds a complement of four deathfire missiles. Current number of missiles: 8.

Shielding system: Energy. (35/35)

Base Armor rating: 20

Total armor rating (including shielding): 55

There was no name, of course, since the public profile information wasn’t available when IDing aliens or their robots, due to tech differences. The identification was based solely upon the outward appearance of the target. He wasn’t sure how his chip derived the level and class, though. It was probably based on previous encounters by members of the TSN, and the difficulty said members had in terminating the Tarkwails.

He noted how its shielding system was rated higher than the base armor, meaning that once Tane got through the shields, it would be relatively easy to punch through the armor. Then again, he didn’t even have to worry about those shields with the works he had in mind. Obviously these robots hadn’t been designed to fend off Essenceworkers.

But the dwellers know I’m an Essenceworker. Why leave robots like these to guard the artifact?

It was starting to feel more and more like a trap. He probably should have turned around and headed for the shuttle. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was right here. Right here! He had led Sinive, Jed and G’allanthamas all this way for a reason: to attain the ability to remove his control chip. That ability was central to everything else going forward. If he ever hoped to rescue Lyra and Nebb from the TSN, he couldn’t turn back. Not now.

He was just glad G’allanthamas had a distortion tunnel ready to launch. Tane and his friends would have to get the hell out of there fairly quickly, he was sure.

His friends. Yes, that was what they were to him. Not team members. Not disposable pieces on a game board. Friends.

And he would guard them with his life.

He withdrew his beam hilt and held the D18 in his other hand. With the smart targeting mechanism, he programmed it to aim at the carapace of the target he was sharing with Sinive. He had to use the overhead map to signify the target, since it wasn’t currently in view.

He glanced at said map and confirmed that everyone else was in position. Like Tane, they hid behind different crystals around the clearing, at a height that placed them above all the robots.

“On my mark,” Tane said. “Three… Two….”

He hauled himself past the edge of the crystal so that his targets were in view once more. He had been worried that breaking radio silence would alert the robots, but so far the machines seemed oblivious.

“One…”

He Siphoned though the beam hilt, activating his energy ax.

“Now!”

He squeezed the rifle trigger, and the muzzle twisted to the right, automatically targeting the programmed tango before firing.

He released an Essence Missile at a second robot, and deployed his Fingers of Ruin reserve against a third. The Essence Missile seemed brighter and larger than usual, and the Fingers of Ruin work sent out three dark streams of unreality against his target, instead of the usual two. A part of his mind vaguely attributed the improvements to the level boost provided by the Feral Necklace.

At the periphery of Tane’s vision Jed blinked into view, Chrysalium sword swinging. Dark smears from G’allanthamas also streaked across the clearing toward other robots.

Tane ignored the distractions and concentrated on his final target. He planned to unleash another Essence Missile, but the robot in question had already reacted. The spider was streaking across the lakebed. Laser turrets and missile launchers swiveled toward him…

Before he could launch the planned work, Dark smears of unreality rammed into the robot, sending it spinning away. Black veins crawled across its carapace, veins that promptly cracked open. The robot sank lifelessly to the lakebed and didn’t get up.

“Whoops,” G’allanthamas said.

Tane glanced at the overhead map: it was already over. Every last one of the red dots had turned black. Tane surveyed the clearing. All that remained of the robots were collapsed wreckages lying on the lakebed.

Jed was still down there according to the map, though invisible once again. Meanwhile Sinive and G’allanthamas had returned to the cover of their associated crystals.

“We got them all within the first half second,” Jed said. “Except for that final robot.”

“My fault,” Tane said. “I wasn’t quick enough. Guess that means we didn’t stop the machines before they could get out a distress signal.”

“Probably should make this quick,” Jed agreed. “We’ll keep an eye on the surrounding structures while you do your thing.”

Tane spared an uncertain glance at the crystals that enclosed the clearing, but so far the tunnels leading inside them were quiet.

He stepped out of the Essence, holstered the beam hilt, and jetted downward. The artifact stood firmly on the lakebed in the center of the clearing. Similar to the previous artifact he had encountered, the base was slightly rectangular, acting like a built-in stand. Also like the previous, it seemed to absorb all the nearby light.

He secured the D18 over his shoulder as he closed with the blackness, and lowered his shield so the energy field wouldn’t interfere. He reached out, intending to command the artifact to shrink immediately after he made contact, so that the team could flee.

But the artifact had other plans, apparently.

The moment he touched it, the world winked out.

26

Tane stood in a wide, open-air stone colonnade. The large columns were carved with intricately detailed trees; chaotic lines hewn into the stone around the branches and leaves seemed to imply that those trees were aflame. Beyond the columns, the purple dunes of a desert formed the immobile waves of a sandy sea. Underneath him, the tiles were partially covered in that sand.

There was a large, human-sized boulder beside him. One side of that gray rock was bumpy and uneven, while the side facing Tane was flat and polished to such a sheen that it was essentially a mirror.

He could see his reflection in that polished surface. Or rather, not his reflection, but that of Tiberius. The man appeared very old: his face wrinkled and weather worn; his hair little more than a few loose, white wisps; his eyes cloudy, as if tainted with cataracts or some similar degeneration. His shoulders were stooped low, as if burdened by the weight of the universe. He wore a robe covered in competing swirls of black and white, girded at the middle by a rope of similar coloration. On his feet were plain sandals. Silver and black rings covered his fingers. He held long staffs in either hand, one silver, the other black.

“My time here is almost over,” Tiberius said. He spoke words in a language that Tane didn’t understand, yet he knew the meaning instantly. “I wish I could have had the opportunity to meet you, my young progeny. But alas, the universe doesn’t work that way. Via memories, I can reach down through time to you and cross the galaxy to fight at your side, but you cannot do the same for me. I suppose it doesn’t matter. I am curious about you, though. What kind of person you are. The external mask of personality and body that you present to the universe.

“But I suppose I don’t really need to meet you. I know you already, in a way. We’ve been through similar trials, I suspect. Forged into the persons we are today by those who hunted us. Why is it that among every advanced species, there are always those among them who seek power and control over others? It is the immutable law of life, I suppose. Every alien race alive today had to endure billions of years of natural selection to become what they are. The competition for limited resources, the desire for status among peers, because of natural selection, these traits are ingrained within all life. We try to control these traits through culture. Some races are more successful at it than others.

“But you didn’t arrive here to be lectured on the nature of life in the universe, did you? I will never meet you, we’ve already agreed on that. But you, on the other hand, need to meet me. That’s why you’re here. Respect well what I am about to give you, and use it only for good. I give you the gift of a knowledge that took me a lifetime to learn. Use it wisely, and you will always flourish. Use it for ill, and you will suffer. Trust me, I know the suffering of evil. More than anyone, I know this... the evil every single one of us is capable of. The evil we try to pretend we’ve evolved beyond. But the effects of natural selection cannot be denied. For all my complaints about those who seek power and control, I must admit to you, I’ve been guilty of the same at various points in my life, coupled with an anger that could consume not only me, but those I loved. I’ve stared into my shadow on numerous occasions and seen the darkness there.”

The cloud of cataracts seemed to lift from the eyes of Tiberius, and he stared intently at Tane, as if gazing into his very soul. “You will encounter your shadow as well, eventually. And you will either emerge on the other side of that encounter and find enlightenment, becoming whole with yourself, or you will get lost in that shadow and never return to the way you were.”

He paused, and then grinned. “Now then, on to happier subjects. Let’s bend worlds together, shall we?” He tapped the two staffs on the tiles underneath him, and the ferrules thudded loudly against the stone. “Dark and White Mixing. You already have some skill in this, otherwise you would not be here, the memory inaccessible. Therefore you already know how to use the flames of the Dark to contain the White. Very likely you drew the White through a large item of Chrysalium, perhaps a jump-capable shuttle, or maybe even something larger like the hull of a small starship—if you had a suitable piece of Darcanium to Siphon enough Darkness through in turn. And when the tornado of stellar wind erupted from that large item of Chrysalium, spiraling out of control, you doused the flames of the Dark so that they clumped around the growing Branchworks of the White, containing and stabilizing the tree.

“But now instead of simply containing the White, I’m going to teach you how to intermix the two, merging a Dark timeline directly into the White so that you have a hybrid of both. This results in some far more powerful works than simply Dark and White on their own.” He slammed the staffs down and a slight breeze gusted, stirring the hem of his black and white robe. “So, to begin. We start a Dark timeline.”

Tane, or Tiberius rather, reached into the Darcanium staff in his left hand and heat seared his core as the black, translucent flames of chaos erupted in three dimensions around him. He could see the flames that resided beyond the tiles underneath, and within the columns on his left and right. He began dousing those flames, selectively shaping and forming the resultant timeline.

“At the same time, we Siphon the White,” Tiberius said.

He stepped into the Essence through the silver staff in his right hand, and the stellar wind of the White gusted across his bones, erupting from his core in a long, wavering ribbon.

“We use the containment powers of the Dark flames to restrain the White tree, and slow down its creation, so that it does not finish until the Dark timeline is complete. The tree wraps around the different flames in the timeline, trapping them inside, mixing the fires sourced from the gravity wells of the Umbra with the stellar wind of the Lumina.”

Tiberius grew the ribbon in front of him into a sapling. He quenched several of the outlying flames of his Dark timeline, so that when the new fires appeared, they hugged the White Branchworks. He seemed to be growing the outermost Branches of the tree to match the current shape of the Dark timeline, so that when he doused the existing flames in that moment, they had nowhere else to go but next to the new Branches and Leaves.

It was like watching a timelapse of a growing tree that was on fire. Except those flames weren’t detrimental to the growth of the tree, but life-giving. Tane immediately thought of a nature timelapse, which showed the moving clouds and the changing seasons—with snow becoming rain becoming sunlight and back again—while the tree grew from a sapling to a great oak. All the while it was surrounded by a halo of flames. Some of those flames floated around the tree, like sprites of fire weaving back and forth, forming temporary shapes with their forms.

“Because of the time required to create a timeline of the Dark, the combined works always depend on however long it takes to prepare the Dark portion,” Tiberius said. “And since the White portion cannot be held in reserve, this means that when the combined work is completed it has to be released immediately. So while these works are powerful, the cost is their creation time, and their lack of any reserve capability.”

And then it was done. The Dark timeline completed, and the White tree that was intertwined with it set in this universe.

Tiberius released it. Thanks to the reflection in the burnished rock, Tane watched the combined work, which looked like a wreath made of white light and dark shadows, settle around his head. That ethereal wreath slowly sank into the skin of his wispy scalp, with the light and shadow vanishing in turn until there was nothing left of it at all.

Just like that, the scene changed.

Tane resided once more beneath the hydrocarbon lake at the heart of the Cre’ite colony on Kharikhan V. He wasn’t sure at first if it was another memory, but then he realized he was back inside himself: he still possessed the same forward momentum he had had before touching the artifact, and he promptly crashed into the hard surface.

“Oof.” As he bounced away slightly, he glanced at the time counter in the lower right of his HUD. Only a half second had passed since he had made contact with the artifact.

He sank to the lakebed and let his boots settle on the bumpy surface.

Some new notifications appeared on his HUD.

All Dark and White Mixing Level 1 Essenceworks gained.

New Dark and White Essencework learned.

Repel Nanotech. Level 1. (Dark & White Mixing Level 1 required).

New Dark and White Essencework learned.

Infuse Oxygen. Level 1. (Dark & White Mixing Level 1 required).

Attribute up. Intelligence +1. Current Intelligence: 14 (26 with Beam Hilt I, Chrysalium Star rings, Feral Necklace, and Nova Bracelet I equipped)

The first work he had been expecting, and he would use it on himself and Sinive as soon as the team was safely aboard the shuttle and on the way back to the Mosaic. But the second work was a surprise. Infuse Oxygen. That particular Dark and White Essencework hadn’t been shown in the original list the previous artifact had given him.

Tane quickly reviewed the detailed description of the new work.

Infuse Oxygen. Infuses a ten cubic-meter volume with oxygen. The rectangular volume can be centered around you, or positioned so that the volume begins up to one meter anywhere away from you. At higher levels, a bigger volume can be created, and it can be moved farther away. Stamina drain: low. Creation time: thirty seconds.

He couldn’t see the use of it. He struggled to remember anything Tiberius might have told him about the work, but the man hadn’t left any obvious clues. Maybe the memory would come when something triggered it.

“I got Repel Nanotech,” Tane confirmed over the comm.

“Good,” Sinive said. “Can you shrink it so we can go?”

“Yeah,” Tane said. He’d forgotten the urgency, thanks to that little interruption Tiberius had provided him with.

“In the meantime, I’ll come down there and open up the distortion tunnel,” G’allanthamas transmitted. “Woman, come with me.”

“Don’t call me Woman,” Sinive said. “I do have a name, you know.”

“Come or stay, I don’t care.” G’allanthamas was already swimming down toward the center of the square.

Tane rested a gloved hand on the artifact and commanded it to shrink. He was worried the artifact would disobey—sometimes it seemed like these things had minds of their own—but thankfully it began to miniaturize immediately.

Tane was left with two items in his hand. One was the artifact, now the size of an apple, and the other a black ring.

Interesting. That meant Tiberius was able to store items in these artifacts of his, not just memories, sort of turning them into bug out stashes.

Tane swiveled to glance at the structures encircling the clearing, looking for ambushers, but so far nothing seemed out of the ordinary about any of them. While he waited for the others to get down here, he ran an ID on the ring, not really expecting it to work, but he got a full description. Likely the artifact had installed more into his mind than simply the memories needed to create level one Dark and White Essenceworks. Or maybe his newly updated chip was just that good—it was possible it contained IDs on all the different items that had been created throughout history. But that would have meant that Tiberius had publicly cataloged all of his gear at one point, which Tane didn’t think was likely.

Item: Finger of Malevolence

Item type: Legendary Ring (part of the Shroud of Darkness Set).

Additional Effects: 55% chance to launch Fingers of Ruin every two minutes, at the same level as your current Fingers of Ruin, as long as you continually redirect a small amount of the Dark into it. These works don’t count toward your experience level in Fingers of Ruin—you won’t level simply by wearing the ring and Siphoning through it.

Darcanium bonus: +1 Intelligence while equipped.

He stowed the apple-sized artifact in his storage pouch, and slipped the ring over one of his gloved fingers. He wasn’t sure it would work, but the dark item shrunk to fit his bulky finger, and a notification appeared on his HUD:

Intelligence is now 27 with Beam Hilt I, Chrysalium Star rings, Feral Necklace, Finger of Malevolence, and Nova Bracelet I equipped.

Dark Siphon into Finger of Malevolence for 55% chance to launch Fingers of Ruin every two minutes.

Nice.

Still cloaked in his blurring field, G’allanthamas arrived at his side and settled on the lakebed. Sinive, also surrounded by a dark sphere, joined him a moment later. According to the overhead map Jed was there, too, but remained invisible.

“Time to get the hell out of here, as you humans say,” G’allanthamas commented.

A distortion tunnel appeared three meters in front of Tane. He could see the shuttle sitting on the rocky surface beyond, outlined in the dim light emitted by the lake.

Tane felt the pull from that tunnel immediately as the liquid hydrocarbons were drawn into the distortion—it was like a plug had been lifted from a drain. That made sense, given that the atmospheres were different on both sides of the tunnel. The same thing had happened when Lyra had opened a tunnel into a voided hangar aboard one of the alien ships, and the oxygen in their current compartment had been sucked through.

A distortion tunnel would be a good way to drain a lake if it could be kept open long enough.

The four of them were all sucked toward the rip in spacetime.

But then Tane froze in place just before touching the opening. Beside him, Sinive had also frozen. According to the map, G’allanthamas was stuck behind him as well. Jed was no longer present on the map at all: he must have gone through.

Tane tried to bend his arms, but he couldn’t do it. He could move his face and that was about it. He tried venting oxygen via the control interface of his HUD, but that didn’t help either.

“Uh,” Sinive said.

Liquid continued to gush past: he could feel the pressure on the fabric of his suit at the back of his arms and legs. A spider robot slid along the lakebed between Tane and Sinive and passed through the tunnel.

“I can’t maintain it,” G’allanthamas said. “I’m sorry, Doomwielder. I’ve failed you.”

The distortion tunnel winked out. The pressure from the gushing liquid let up. Tane and the others remained frozen in place in the clearing.

Tane saw them then. Previously blocked from view by the distortion tunnel, six dwellers floated in a half circle before one of the crystal structures that bordered the clearing. The aliens had obviously emerged from the tunnel at the base of the crystal. They were all naked, with not a one among them wearing an environmental suit, nor were they surrounded by the protective spheres he had witnessed on Remus. Their bare carapaces seemed iridescent under the dim light from the glowing crystals.

Tane had no doubt they were Amaranth. Who else could freeze him and his companions where they stood, and prevent them from passing through a distortion tunnel?

The dark globes that blurred Tane, Sinive and G’allanthamas lifted.

Tane glanced at the overhead map. Jed’s indicator had returned. He’d obviously leaped back through the opening when he realized what had happened, and vented oxygen against the pull long enough to latch onto the lakebed. He was still invisible. And moving, according to the overhead map. Very slowly making his way toward the dweller half circle. The Volur was obviously dragging himself along the lakebed; he wouldn’t dare vent oxygen, not when the bubbles might reveal his position.

Good man!

One of the Amaranth wore a metal box attached to the base of its head, just above the tentacles. It was smaller than the others, with half of its tentacles missing. Tane thought it might be the same dweller he had met on Remus, the one whose knobby limbs had started to fill out with muscle when it began to steal the artifact’s Dark Essence from him.

The speakers in his helmet picked up garbled words emanating from that box, and Tane quickly applied some frequency modulations to the sound with his HUD, hoping to compensate for the effects of the liquid. The helmet AI quickly found a pattern and took over so that the words became intelligible.

“Do you see, M’Jaelinthenus?” the dweller said, its sideways-oriented head tilting slightly to address the alien beside it. “I told you he would come to this planet first, rather than the other.” The alien angled its head back toward Tane. “So we meet again, Doomwielder. We keep encountering one another under strangely similar circumstances. I suppose it helps that we’ve been camped out here since your little stunt on Remus. And oh look, this time you’ve taken along a friend for us to play with.”

G’allanthamas was furiously launching dark smears at the other dwellers, but the works of Fingers of Ruin invariably swerved aside before touching any of the six aliens.

“Why have you betrayed your people to help him?” the lead dweller continued. “To follow him. He should be the one following you. As all of the Hated Enemy should.”

“My people?” G’allanthamas said. “I consider him more a member of my people than you are!”

Tane ran a quick ID on the speaking alien.

Name: Unknown

Race: Dweller

Level: 35

Class: Amaranth

Weaponry:

None

Shielding: None

Base Armor rating: 0

Total armor rating (including shielding): 0

The dweller’s level was the highest Tane had ever seen, which made him wonder if it was fake. Then again, it would explain why the dweller had seemed so impossible to defeat in their previous encounter.

“This time we won’t try to convince you to join us,” the lead dweller said. “This time we’ll get straight to business. You are familiar with the control chip technology used by the Hated Enemy? We have developed our own variant. It is fully compatible with your brain tissue. We tested it on many Volur kidnapped from your universe. It is a much better long term solution than the control a microcrillia infection gives us, considering that microcrillia inevitably kills your kind. We want you alive and serving us for a very, very long time.”

The circular ranks parted, and a spider robot jetted forward, its long legs dragging behind it like the tentacles of a squid.

Tane started up the Repel Nanotech work. Two minutes. All he needed was two minutes.

I should have started as soon as the dwellers showed up.

From the description of Repel Nanotech, it sounded like if it was used shortly before the nanotech was injected, it would prevent the chip from forming in the first place. Assuming it worked against this particular branch of the tech.

One of the aliens broke ranks to accompany the robot as it approached Tane. G’allanthamas frantically launched the dark smears of Fingers of Ruin at the machine, but the enemy dweller with it was apparently strong enough to raise a work of Deflect around the two of them, and those incoming smears were diverted harmlessly. After three throws of Fingers of Ruin, G’allanthamas had apparently exhausted his final reserves.

The robot halted in front of Tane and rotated its legs downward to settle on the lakebed. The dweller hovered by its side as the robot stood to its full height, so that its metallic head was at the same level as Tane’s. Those pincers opened wide, and for a moment Tane thought it was going to latch onto his helmet and try to break through the faceplate or something, but instead a bright light flashed from within and momentarily blinded him.

It was taking a brain scan, no doubt in preparation for chipping.

Through the afterimage of that brightness, Tane watched a panel open underneath the carapace. Two telescoping limbs emerged, one carrying a vial. He realized it was going to swap out his suit accelerant with nanotech, and force the internal sonic injector to activate—just like the TSN robot had done to chip him.

He didn’t have the two minutes he needed.

Tane abandoned the Repel Nanotech work and stepped into the Essence through all the Chrysalium accessories he was wearing, except the hilt, which he hadn’t equipped. He dismissed the notification that appeared on his HUD:

Siphoning bonus. All Branchworks are enhanced 30% due to Siphoning through Chrysalium accessories.

The extra stellar wind shrieked into his core, and he attempted to slam an Essence Missile into the robot, but it was also deflected. He launched another. And another. He knew that the enemy’s Deflect Essencework would remain active only for a short time. Tane hoped to strike in the downtime interval before the escorting dweller could raise another.

“You can launch your Essence Missiles into these robots all day if you wish,” the lead dweller said from the far side of the clearing. “M’Jaelinthenus has loaded up his reserves with Deflect. You do know Essence fields can overlap? M’Jaelinthenus will simply create a new one before the previous expires. But feel free to exhaust yourself if you wish.”

Tane remembered the dweller starships he had faced after Remus, when he had destroyed a fleet. Back then, his Essence Missiles had easily passed through the works of Deflect the enemy ships had created, but that was because he was Siphoning so very much of the stellar wind into his Missiles, drawn through the Chrysalium core of a starship. Here, his Missiles weren’t backed by such an Essence source, and were simply too weak, even with the Feral Necklace, at least compared to the relatively high level of the Deflect work he faced.

In a final act of desperation, Tane tried to unleash two more Missiles in rapid succession, but both of them failed to form. He realized the dweller accompanying the robot had probably laid a Disrupt work upon him, which would prevent him from creating any Essenceworks for a short period of time. It was similar to the works starships used to disrupt the distortion tunnels of fleeing enemies, but on a smaller scale.

Tane stepped out of the Essence. He felt extremely drained. That was probably because of the Feral Necklace—while it boosted his Essenceworks to the next level, making them more powerful, it also meant each work would drain him a commensurate amount.

Yes, he felt almost sick. Then again, the sickness may have been due more to his failure than anything else. He had come all this way for nothing. Led his friends right into a trap. And now he was going to get chipped again.

Those telescoping limbs closed with his glove. Tane still had access to his HUD: he could raise his energy shield, but it would stop the enemy only for a few moments before it was drained.

His hand lifted of its own accord to meet the spider robot’s limbs. Tane still had Melt Metal in reserve. He wondered if the enemy dweller had to lower the Deflect work to allow the machine to make contact with him. No, from what Tane knew of Deflect, it could be kept active even during contact. And what about Disrupt? Wouldn’t it prevent the reserve Dark work from setting in this universe in the first place?

Well, either way, Tane had to try.

But before he could release the work, Jed flashed into existence, his glowing Chrysalium sword cutting the robot in half. Tane could see the jet of oxygen emerging from the nozzles on his torso, the added propulsion boosting his swing.

His sword continued on toward the dweller, but Jed was abruptly slammed into the lakebed by an invisible hand, and he remained there, pinned.

The two pieces of the robot floated gently to the lakebed beside him.

“We have more,” the lead dweller said.

Another robot came forward from between the aliens.

Wonderful.

Yes, there was nothing Tane could do. He was going to have two control chips in his head. One human, and one alien. Maybe they’d cancel each other out.

He doubted it.

He wondered if Disrupt had lifted yet. He tried to start the necessary Dark timeline and White Branchwork.

It worked.

Still, he didn’t have the two minutes he needed to complete it.

Maybe he could find a way to stall them.

As he watched that new robot approach, inspiration struck.

He suddenly realized why Tiberius had left Infuse Oxygen inside this particular artifact. And it wasn’t just because it was a level one work and thus appropriate for Tane to learn at his current Dark and White Mixing level.

For any sort of explosion, you needed fuel, a spark, and an oxidizer. The liquid hydrocarbons all around him were the fuel. Persistent Flame would serve as his spark. And Infuse Oxygen was his oxidizer.

And it only had a thirty second creation time.

He canceled his previous work and started up a fresh Dark and White Mixing combination for Infuse Oxygen.

As he toiled, he remembered how the Amaranth had avoided all the Essenceworks Lyra and the rest of the team had thrown at them on Remus. An explosion likely wouldn’t even move these powerful creatures. But it wasn’t the dwellers Tane was trying to move…

“Guys, you might want to raise your shields,” Tane said over the comm.

He accessed the remote interface on his shield, and activated it. Then he focused on that timeline, doing his best to ignore the approaching robot. He kept expecting the nearby dweller to clamp another work of Disrupt over him and ruin the work, but it never came. Either the alien didn’t think Tane was a threat, or the dweller didn’t have the necessary work in reserve.

The machine joined the waiting dweller, and once more flashed a light into Tane’s eyes to take a scan. The afterimage didn’t affect Tane’s creation—he could still see the White Branchwork, and the Dark flames around it.

The robot’s bottom panel opened up and two telescoping limbs emerged. They moved toward his waiting glove.

His shield flashed as those two limbs encountered the outer extremities of the energy field and were halted.

Shield Strength 90%.

Tane finished the work. He positioned the Infuse Oxygen volume in front of him at the maximum one-meter distance. It enveloped the enemy dweller that stood in front of him, as well as the robot.

Shield Strength 70%.

Tane unleashed a stream of Persistent Flame.

27

The level boost from the Feral Necklace caused the fire stream to rocket out two meters in front of Tane. Bright red light filled his vision as the flames ignited the oxygen-infused hydrocarbons, and a huge fireball enveloped the space in front of him.

He had successfully created an explosion between himself and the aliens.

Tane was sent hurtling away through the thin liquid.

Shield Strength 0%.

The fireball faded away as he was swept backward by the shock wave and he saw the crystalline structures passing by below. He was able to move his arms—he’d broken free of the invisible vise that held him.

Tane jetted downward, taking cover within the crystalline buildings, which were well beyond the clearing.

He glanced at his map. His team members had similarly been thrown from the clearing. Jed thrust to his side, and he was joined a moment later by Sinive and G’allanthamas.

“Nicely done, Engineer,” Jed said.

“Keep moving!” Tane said. He jetted forward, intending to put as much distance between himself and the clearing as possible. He stayed low, darting between the crystalline structures. “Gall! How about that distortion tunnel?”

“I only kept the one in reserve, I’m afraid,” the dweller said. “I’m creating a new timeline as we speak…”

“How long?” Tane said.

“Seven minutes to go,” the dweller said.

Damn it.

“Don’t suppose you have some blurring fields in reserve?” Tane asked.

“No,” the dweller said.

A school of eight dwellers appeared ahead. Like G’allanthamas, they methodically moved their legs back and forth, paddling toward the group. They held energy launchers in their tentacles.

Jed thrust ahead, becoming invisible.

Tane withdrew his beam hilt and stepped into the frigid cold of the White Essence through it, as well as through all his accessories. He fed some of the Essence back into the hilt, causing the dual-bladed energy ax to erupt.

Siphoning bonus. All White Branchworks are enhanced 48% due to Siphoning through Chrysalium accessories.

He reached for the flames of the Dark through the Finger of Malevolence ring, and fed some back into the ring just as he did with the beam hilt.

Siphoning bonus. All Dark Essenceworks are enhanced 1% due to Siphoning through Darcanium accessories.

Finger of Malevolence effect engaged: 55% chance to launch Fingers of Ruin every two minutes.

A user interface appeared on his HUD. He almost dismissed it, because he had more important things to focus on at the moment, but he realized the interface was asking him to select targets to exclude from the auto-created Fingers of Ruin. He chose the option to ignore all friendlies identified by his local contact list.

The incoming dwellers were aiming their energy launchers at Tane and his two remaining visible companions.

“Take cover,” Tane said grimly. “They won’t fire at me.” At least, he hoped they wouldn’t.

Sinive and G’allanthamas dodged behind nearby crystal structures on either side. Tane meanwhile continued jetting forward. He glanced at his rear view video feed. So far, he saw no sign that the Amaranth were pursuing. Actually, they probably were. They just hadn’t arrived yet.

We can’t let these dwellers delay us.

He unleashed an Essence Missile and it cut toward the school. The aliens quickly parted, but one of them was too slow, and the bolt ripped into that one, half-severing its sideways-oriented head.

The work proved a bit too draining. Tane was still tired from the encounter in the clearing. He’d have to rely on the Essence bolts created by his beam hilt for the next little while—they were far less exhausting to create.

Two of the dwellers fired their launchers then. Except, the weapons didn’t release bolts, but energy nets.

Tane released air from his dorsal vents and narrowly slid downward and out of the way, bouncing off the lakebed.

Jed appeared in the midst of the dweller school, hewing one of them in half with his Chrysalium sword, and the other dwellers scattered.

Tane arrived a moment later. He brandished his energy ax, moving it through the liquid just as easily as if he resided in air, thanks to the boost provided by his servomotors. One of the dwellers fired an energy net at him but he sliced through it easily with his ax. Then he jetted forward and cut open the dweller’s carapace.

A tentacle hit his shield, and the already weak energy field drained almost instantly, allowing the tentacle to wrap around his leg. The alien responsible for that appendage drew him in.

Tane cut downward with his ax and hacked the tentacle away.

Another dweller grabbed him with two legs and quickly drew him toward its carapace. Tane slammed into the underbelly, unable to swing his ax in time. His weapon arm was splayed outward, pressed against the surface, the energy blade in his hand extending beyond the edge of the carapace, rendering the weapon useless.

Tane launched the fist of his other hand toward the underbelly. He created a work of Light Glove before impact. His fist lit up with a blinding white aura and he felt the hard underside give beneath him. When the light faded, he removed his hand to find that a large, glistening, cauterized crater had been carved into the alien’s flesh where he’d struck. He was a little surprised at how powerful it was.

Gotta love the Feral Necklace.

Those legs that had bound him were now loose and pliant, so he pried himself free and sliced the ax through the carapace for good measure. Black guts burst out.

Another dweller came at him, but a Fingers of Ruin work launched into it. At first he thought G’allanthamas had done it, but a glance at the overhead map told him his dweller friend was still in cover with Sinive. Those smears of unreality had come from Tane, created by his Finger of Malevolence ring.

Another dweller bore down on him but a plasma bolt ripped into it from the side: Sinive, firing from cover. The alien’s energy shield had been lowered, of course, because it had intended to grab Tane.

Jed finished off the last one and then became invisible once more. The party resumed their mad flight from the clearing.

“I just spotted the Amaranth behind me,” Sinive said.

“Can you still see them?” Tane asked.

“No,” Sinive replied. “I ducked behind a crystal and jetted away. They’re about seventy-five meters away.”

“Good, don’t let them maintain line of sight long,” Tane said.

“If they saw her, they’ll use a distortion tunnel to jump closer…” G’allanthamas said.

“Good point,” Tane said. “With me… take cover, now!”

Tane dodged behind a crystal just ahead, and the others promptly joined him. Then he peered past the edge, and waited.

Sure enough, from Sinive’s former position, the six Amaranth appeared. They drifted forward imperiously, heads tilting to and fro as they surveyed their surroundings like kings.

Tane ducked from view, and hoped, sincerely hoped, that the dwellers hadn’t spotted him.

“They’re coming toward us,” Jed said.

Tane glanced at his overhead map. The invisible Volur was standing next to him, and obviously peering out beyond the edge of the crystal, because his chip was feeding the updated positions of the Amaranth to Tane’s HUD: the six red dots were slowly closing with their position.

Tane glanced to the left and right. The layout of the nearby crystals wasn’t favorable—there was no way they could retreat without the Amaranth spotting them.

“I’ll draw them out and double back,” Jed said. “Wait.”

Tane watched on the overhead map as the invisible Volur headed away from the hiding place. He was moving outward, perpendicular to the incoming dwellers, as if intending to flank them. His indicator froze as he reached the reduced range limits of Tane’s chip, as did the six incoming red dots on the map.

“Reduce transmission range to five meters,” Tane instructed his companions. No point needlessly giving their positions away.

He held his energy ax at the ready, prepared to attack if any of the Amaranth appeared on this side of the crystal. Sinive meanwhile guarded the opposite approach.

G’allanthamas resided in between them. The alien had expended all his reserve triggers, no doubt. And he couldn’t create any new offensive works, seeing as all of his attention was devoted to the Dark timeline for the distortion tunnel. The alien would probably be exhausted after that was done, and Tane couldn’t expect anything more of him. Tane hoped none of the enemy dwellers were waiting for them at the shuttle, but if they were, he’d have to deal with them without the help of G’allanthamas.

The seconds ticked past, but the Amaranth didn’t appear. Jed must have successfully drawn them away.

But as the seconds changed into minutes, Tane began to worry.

“Where is he?” Sinive said. “Something must have happened to him.”

“He’ll be here,” Tane said.

But he waited, and Jed still didn’t come.

“We have to go look for him,” Tane finally said.

“I’m almost done the distortion timeline,” G’allanthamas said. “Leave him behind, and we—”

“I don’t care about your timeline,” Tane said. “Place it in reserve if you have to, but I’m not leaving him.”

“Forgive me,” G’allanthamas said. “I should have realized how much of a friend he was to you.”

“More than a friend,” Tane said. “At this point, he’s a brother. Just as you are.”

“I understand,” G’allanthamas said. “You are an alien, and ugly, but our two species are not so different. We, too, honor the bonds of friendship, and the duties that come with such bonds. I am here with you now, am I not?”

“You certainly are.” Tane peered past the edge of the crystal. The lakebed was clear of Amaranth.

He moved back behind the structure, and then slowly vented air to move upward. He kept an eye on his rear view feed, and glanced to the left and right, surveying the surrounding crystals and the lakebed in between.

He deactivated the energy ax along with his weak shield as he neared the top of the current structure, and then grabbed on to the jagged surface, leaning past the periphery to observe from that vantage point.

The crystals of the city sprawled before him at the same height, a forest of glowing blue rocks. As he surveyed that blue-black landscape, he spotted a concentration of armed dwellers and spider robots above an area five blocks to the north. The entire neighborhood there swirled with activity.

“Looks like he’s got the security forces occupied a few blocks to the north,” Tane said.

Sinive was at his side, peering from the opposite edge of the current crystal. Meanwhile G’allanthamas lingered just below them, remaining in cover, clinging to the structure.

“They’re chasing a ghost,” Jed said, appearing at Tane’s side.

“Jed!” Tane said. “Don’t do that again. You had me worried sick. We were just about to look for you.”

“Sorry,” Jed said, latching onto the crystal beside him.

“How did you do that?” Sinive said, still gazing out at the commotion five blocks north.

“My pistol,” Jed explained. “Blinking into and out of view, I led the Amaranth away, taking down security forces as I went, slowly leading them northward. Took me a while to double back. Again, my apologies.”

Tane felt a slight vibration on the crystal, and glancing downward he saw that G’allanthamas had slipped from where he had attached to the exterior. The alien sank about half a meter before finding a grip on the structure once more.

“You all right, Gall?” Tane asked.

“I’m nearly done,” G’allanthamas replied.

“Say again?” Tane transmitted.

“The tunnel,” G’allanthamas said. “I’m nearly done its creation.”

“Place it below us as soon as you’re ready,” Tane said.

And then just like that the rip in spacetime appeared underneath the four of them. Tane felt the suction immediately. He hadn’t been expecting it so soon, but he gladly allowed himself to plunge toward the distortion.

G’allanthamas was pulled from view first, and Tane and the others plunged through the rip shortly thereafter.

When Tane entered, he felt himself falling momentarily, and then landed on the hard ground underneath him. Liquid continued to descend from above in a veritable waterfall, and its weight pressed down on him. He crawled forward, wanting to move out from under the deluge, but then it abruptly cut off as the distortion tunnel closed above him.

G’allanthamas lay collapsed on the rocks beside Tane. The alien’s long legs and tentacles were splayed outward.

Tane glanced up from where he lay. In the dim light from the lake, outlined in front of the shuttle, he saw the ambushers then: dwellers and spider robots waiting to spring their trap. Three of them had weapon launchers pointed right at Tane.

He rolled to the side and a trio of energy nets struck the ground where he had rested only moments before.

He leaped to his feet and activated his energy shield while igniting his beam hilt at the same time. The long ax jumped into being, cutting through a dweller as the dual blades emerged.

An energy net struck his shield on the right. It floated in place, forming a hemisphere a half-meter in front of his leg as it drained the weakened field. Before he could cut it away the net broke through and wrapped around his right leg entirely, nearly tripping him. But Tane was still able to walk.

He spun to the right and unleashed a blindingly white Essence Missile in that direction, taking down another dweller.

Tane threw out his Essence Sight lifeline so that his vision was above and behind him, giving him a much better perspective on the attack. A Tarkwail came at him from behind. He spun, intending to cut into it with his energy ax, but the robot moved within his swing—too close. His shield flashed, going from one percent to zero as the Tarkwail breached it. He activated Light Glove and punched straight through its head with his free hand, scattering shards of metal in all directions.

Sinive was firing her plasma pistol rapidly into the enemies to inflict what damage she could, while Jed blinked into and out of existence, carving a path of doom through the spider robots and aliens alike with his Chrysalium sword. G’allanthamas, meanwhile, remained useless behind them, collapsed on the rocks, exhausted.

None of the enemies were Amaranth. Because if they had been, the fight would have probably already been over.

Three more dwellers closed on Tane, their tentacles extending as if they intended to snatch him up. Tane swung out with the ax, slicing away those tentacles, and he followed up by releasing an Essence Missile into one of them. The stricken dweller dropped with a blast hole carved into its carapace. Jed sliced the sideways-oriented head off the second alien, while Sinive shot down the third.

A Tarkwail latched onto Tane from behind, easily breaching his depleted shield, and from its underbelly those telescoping limbs emerged, no doubt intending to swap out the accelerant injector in his glove for nanotech…

Tane still had Melt Metal in reserve, and he released it, concentrating on those approaching limbs. Both melted away entirely, as did a good portion of the robot’s underbelly, thanks to the level boost provided by the Feral Necklace.

The surprised robot shifted its grip, and Tane had enough room to slide downward. He cut his ax in a wide arc as he did so, slicing the spider robot’s carapace in half.

Two more dwellers came at him from the left and right. Fingers of Ruin auto-fired from his ring, and three streaks of dark energy emerged. Two of them struck the first dweller, while the third streak struck the second. He didn’t know the different streams of unreality could be divided like that. Interesting.

The first dweller fell as the veins climbing up its carapace split open, revealing the dark meat underneath. The second dweller merely screamed as its carapace cracked, and it came on even stronger. Those angry tentacles wrapped around Tane, and his near-zero shield failed almost instantly.

The dweller pinned Tane’s arms to his side, so that he couldn’t use his ax. He released an Energy Missile and it ripped through the tentacles and into the base of the carapace underneath the head. The dweller howled and finally collapsed.

Tane dropped, free, to the ground. He was feeling fairly exhausted by that point, thanks to all the Siphoning. But as usual, drawing the chaos of the Dark through him seemed to mitigate the weariness somewhat—he could only imagine how he would feel without the chaotic fire flowing through his core. His high Endurance no doubt helped as well.

Two energy nets came at him from behind. He spun, slicing through one of them with his energy ax, and narrowly sidestepping the second. He tilted the tip of his ax toward the dweller lurking in front of him, lined up the targeting reticle and fired an Essence bolt from the ax. Direct hit: he was getting good at lining up targets while in the third-person perspective of Essence Sight.

Jed flashed into view, taking down the second dweller before Tane.

Sinive was firing rapidly at three robots that were bearing down on her. The Tarkwails had activated their energy shields, and so far those shields were holding up. Tane immediately fired off an Essence bolt from his ax at one of the spider robots, and the deadly stellar wind passed right through the shield and slammed into the Tarkwail’s carapace, felling it.

The second robot was rotating its laser turrets toward Sinive, as if intending to fire them at her.

But Tane was already running toward it; he leaped past Sinive and cut those turrets right off, his Essence ax penetrating the shield. His body bounced off the robot’s energy field, and the impact drained his own shield to zero once more, so that he hit the ground without any cushioning and landed rolling. He momentarily deactivated his beam hilt so he wouldn’t maim himself with it.

He clambered to his feet and swept the beam hilt in a wide arc, activating it, and the blade sliced through the legs of the third robot.

Sinive’s pistol finally penetrated the second robot’s energy shield, and she downed the Tarkwail, finishing the task Tane had started.

She rounded on him. “I had the situation under control.”

Tane didn’t answer. Instead he surveyed his surroundings. That seemed to be the last of them. He and his friends were surrounded by the corpses of bleeding dwellers and the wreckages of spider robots.

Tane stepped out of the White Essence and released the Dark. The energy ax disappeared, but he continued to hold onto the beam hilt, not quite ready to give up the Endurance boost.

One of the fallen dwellers was apparently still alive. It swept its front legs across the shale, struggling to drag its body away from the shuttle. Its torso was covered in blood.

Sinive went to the helpless dweller and held her pistol to its head, execution style.

“Leave it,” Tane said.

She glanced at him, but in the dim light from the lake Tane could barely discern the outline of her face behind the pane of her helmet.

She returned her attention to the dweller and fired. A spurt of blood erupted from the head, and it ceased all movements.

Tane shook his head. “That wasn’t necessary.”

“It was,” Sinive told him.

Jed materialized. He slid his Chrysalium sword between Tane’s spacesuit and the energy net that had attached to his right leg assembly, and cut it free.

“Thanks,” Tane said.

“We must board quickly,” the Volur said. “There will be more of them coming.”

“Gall, hear that?” Tane started toward the shuttle. “Let’s go.”

G’allanthamas didn’t move from where he still lay sprawled on the rocky ground.

Tane stalked over to G’allanthamas. “Gall. Gall! We have to go! Get up!” Tane kicked him, but the dweller didn’t respond.

He tried again, still nothing. Tane was beginning to worry that the dweller had been injured in the fighting, and was about to kick him a final time when the alien at last stirred.

“Ah, just kill me already!” G’allanthamas said. “Woman? Come here and execute me as well, please.”

“Keep calling me woman and you’ll get your wish,” Sinive said.

“We need you to fly the shuttle! Get up!” Tane shook him. “Up!”

With an obvious effort, G’allanthamas stood. He began to move toward the shuttle on wobbly legs. “The things I do for you, Doomwielder.”

Following behind him, Tane gazed nervously at the lake, looking for signs of the dwellers that were no doubt coming.

“Hurry, Gall,” Tane said.

“Doing… the best… I can…” G’allanthamas said.

And then the ground between Tane and G’allanthamas erupted with tentacles.

“Kraals!” Jed said.

Tane activated his energy blade and hewed through the tentacles in his path. Sinive was at his back, firing into the ground as more of the tentacles emerged.

Jed leaped ahead, cutting a path through the slimy appendages for G’allanthamas. The dweller was moving faster now—funny what the spur of a few kraals can do to an exhausted alien.

The dweller reached the arrowhead-shaped shuttle and the ramp opened. G’allanthamas climbed while Jed waited at the entrance for Tane and Sinive. Cutting and blasting away, the latter two arrived at the ramp and hurried inside with Jed as it closed behind them. Within, the blue veins in the walls glowed, providing light.

“Go!” Tane said. He stepped out of the White Essence, letting his energy ax fade.

The cabin shook as the shuttle took to the air.

“Look at this,” G’allanthamas said.

Tane received a share request and accepted. A video window appeared on his HUD, and he redistributed it to Sinive and Jed. He realized he was looking down at the landing site, and watched as a huge tentacled kraal emerged from the ground where the shuttle had resided only moments ago. The craft quickly accelerated away as the tentacles swatted at the craft.

“Well, at least we know where the kraals were hiding!” Sinive said.

In moments they were heading rapidly away from the lake and the city it contained. Not to mention that huge kraal.

Tane dismissed the external video feed and seated himself on the edge of one of the gaping holes in the floor. He kept waiting for G’allanthamas to report alien pursuers, but the announcement never came.

“Why aren’t they following us?” Sinive said from where she sat beside him, her feet dangling into the hole adjacent to his.

“I don’t know,” Tane said. “Maybe we caught them off guard?”

“The city is still in a state of confusion,” G’allanthamas said. The alien was resting inside a hole in the floor near the forward area. “I’ve been listening in on their comm chatter. Your Volur friend has done well... his false sightings have stirred chaos all over the city. And, this is good: I don’t think they’ve realized we’ve destroyed the patrol that discovered our shuttle yet.”

“So, for once we’re actually going to get away without having to fight for it?” Tane said.

“Oh, we fought for it, as far as I’m concerned,” Sinive told him.

“But the city’s security forces haven’t followed. That’s pretty lucky, I’d say.” Tane glanced at Jed, who was seated on the far side of the hole across from him, but the Volur didn’t say anything. The man merely looked grim.

“Not going to make one of your usual comments?” Tane continued. “Like: ‘luck seems to follow you, Engineer?’”

“We haven’t gotten away just yet,” Jed stated. He sounded extremely weary. Tane didn’t blame him. His own fatigue was starting to come to the forefront.

“That’s right,” Sinive told Tane. “There you go, jinxing us again.”

Tane sighed. “All right.” Now that he was sitting down, Tane finally released the beam hilt and attached it to the loop at his utility belt. He expected to be hit hard by the reduction in Endurance, but it wasn’t too bad, actually. It helped that he was sitting, he supposed.

He glanced at the alert notification in the lower right of his HUD. He’d been ignoring it since boarding the shuttle, but decided now was as good a time as any to review the alerts he’d received during the escape.

Level up. Your overall level is now 9! Neural pathways have been enhanced and reinforced! You now have an attribute point to allocate.

Attribute up. Dexterity +1. Current Dexterity: 13

He felt slightly disappointed that he hadn’t leveled in any related skills, like Beam Hilt Control.

How many alien heads do I have to chop off?

He applied his attribute point to Endurance, hoping to lessen his feeling of fatigue. It helped a little. It brought his total to nineteen, or thirty-one with the beam hilt and Chrysalium rings equipped.

The onboard AI released a series of screeches and clatters.

“The shuttle is detecting a vessel,” G’allanthamas said. The alien paused. “I’m receiving a signal. It’s Gia.”

“Can you connect us?” Tane asked.

“She’s online,” G’allanthamas answered.

“I’m coming in hot!” Gia’s voice sounded from a hidden intercom overhead. “A dweller starship entered the atmosphere at my landing site and started firing at me out of nowhere. I was forced to flee. They’ve got an Essence lance.”

“An Essence lance?” Tane asked. “How are you still airborne?”

“With difficulty,” Gia said. “I’ve already had two near misses from that lance. Second one scorched the outer hull. My ship is slightly faster than theirs under atmospheric conditions... I’ve pulled out of range, for now. I’m going to have to slow down so you can hot dock with me, though, so I won’t be out of range for long.”

“Hot dock?” Tane asked.

“Yes,” Gia replied. “Dock while airborne. I’ll match your speed.”

“But you have no bays that will fit my craft,” G’allanthamas protested.

“I never said anything about docking your craft,” Gia said. “But yourselves. You’re going to have to fly alongside and leap across.”

“Wonderful,” Sinive said. “You know I hate heights, don’t you?”

“Don’t worry,” Tane said. “It’s too dark to see the ground.”

“Even better,” Sinive said. “Told you that you jinxed us!”

“I’m increasing our altitude to prepare for the transfer,” G’allanthamas reported. A moment later: “Gia has pulled her vessel alongside. The AI is lining us up with her airlock…”

The shuttle’s wide ramp opened a few seconds later, and Sinive and Jed made their way down, with Tane and G’allanthamas following behind them.

The Mosaic’s airlock ramp resided just across from them, its furthest extremity separated by about a meter from the bottom edge of the shuttle’s ramp. Light from within the Mosaic illuminated the airlock opening, but the rest of the ship was otherwise dark.

Sinive gracefully leaped across, followed by Jed, whose vault was decidedly less nimble, and almost clumsy: he slipped after landing on the Mosaic’s ramp, sliding down on his knees, and for a moment Tane thought he was going to fall off. But then he scrambled to his feet and steadied himself before continuing up the ramp. The Volur was definitely drained from the fighting.

Tane approached the lower edge of the shuttle’s ramp. The distance between the two opposing ramps fluctuated between one and two meters. He felt the pull of the atmosphere gushing past his suit.

“You’re going to have to reposition the shuttle next to the cargo bay to board,” Tane told the alien.

“I know,” G’allanthamas said.

“What happens to your shuttle?” Tane said.

“I’ve programmed it to land after I’m gone,” the alien said. “It’ll be exposed, however, and out in the open. The dwellers will track it down eventually, I’m sure. And if not, the kraals will find it.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Tane said.

“Don’t be,” G’allanthamas said. “It served me well.”

Tane leaped across, then scrambled up toward the airlock. Near the top, he turned to look back at the shuttle, but it was already gone, repositioning near the cargo bay. The Mosaic’s ramp was sealing behind him.

Tane connected to the Musenet as he passed through the inner hatch of the airlock and into the ship proper. The light panels were bright here, unlike the dim glow from the shuttle, and since his Night Vision hadn’t yet worn off, he was forced to gate down the illumination levels his helmet allowed through.

Since the airlock compartment could only fit one of them at a time, Gia had left the inner hatch open, and instead had closed the breach seal in the passageway just beyond, essentially extending the airlock. Sinive and Jed were crowded there in the passage in front of him.

The airlock hatch closed behind him, and he spotted white mist erupting from vents along the bulkheads close to the floor as the passageway pressurized.

“G’allanthamas is aboard,” Gia said over the Musenet. “I’m accelerating to full speed again.”

The breach seal abruptly opened in front of them, and the trio began the trip to the cockpit. Jed paused at a side passageway along the route.

“I think I’ll be resting in my quarters,” Jed said.

Tane nodded, and then hurried with Sinive toward the bridge.

Gia was still wearing a full spacesuit. No doubt as a precaution in case Tane and the others carried microcrillia aboard via their own suits. Tane hadn’t seen any obvious decontamination tech at the airlock, so until they passed through to their own universe, an act that would instantly vaporize any microcrillia stowaways, it was probably safest to wear a suit at all times, even if the internal environment was pressurized.

“The pursuing ship is coming in again,” Gia said. “Muse, raise our shields!” She glanced at Tane and Sinive. “Hang on! I’m taking us to jump altitude.”

“Energy shields are down to forty percent,” Muse said a moment later.

“What the hell hit us?” Gia said.

“We’re being bombarded by surface-to-air plasma attacks from the vicinity of the dweller city,” Muse said.

“Evasive maneuvers,” Gia said. “Keep climbing.”

“You got it,” the Mosaic’s AI said. Then: “Enemy ship is within Essence lance range. They’re firing!”

“Hard right!” Gia said.

“The lance narrowly missed,” Muse said. “It scraped our starboard side... it’s turning around, but it should dissipate by the time it catches up to us again.”

“If they’re close enough to fire their Essence lance...” Tane began.

“Then they’re close enough to Disrupt our jump,” Sinive finished.

“We’ll have to shake them again,” Gia said. “I’m taking us back down. Return fire, Muse!”

Tane felt his stomach flip before the inertial dampeners could compensate for the sudden directional change.

“Energy shields are down to ten percent,” Muse said. “Due to the gorewar lasers fired by the pursuing vessel.”

“Keep zigzagging!” Gia said.

The next five minutes were spent slowly pulling away from the enemy vessel while staying as close to the planet’s surface as possible.

Eventually, the enemy craft moved beyond the horizon, and Gia accelerated directly forward for a jump attempt.

The dark threads that emerged from Tane’s body became thinner with each passing moment.

“Approaching jump altitude...” Muse said.

“Now!” Gia said.

The jump chamber lit up, and as a hum filled the air, Tane felt the nausea more strongly than the last time. He thought it was because he was already drained from using both Essences. He shot out an arm against the nearby bulkhead to steady himself.

The light faded, as did the humming noise, and Gia slumped. “We’ve jumped.”

The dark threads had completely vanished from his body.

“Where are we?” Tane asked. “Anteres?”

“No,” Gia said. Her head lolled toward him. “Too far. That’ll be our next jump. We’re in Hegemon Two.”

“I can take us to Anteres right now,” Sinive said. “Or whenever we get close to a gravity well, I mean.”

“Muse, status report?” Gia said. “Any enemy ships nearby?”

“Hegemon Two is completely quiet,” Muse said.

“Then set a course for the closest planet,” Gia said. “And engage engines.”

“Closest planet is H33,” the Mosaic’s AI said. “Setting course and engaging.”

Sinive went to Gia and helped her out of the jump chamber.

“By the way, how went the hull cleaning?” Sinive asked her.

“Got almost all the crillia off,” Gia answered.

Sinive lowered her to the deck.

“Jed just reported in to sickbay,” Muse said. “You might want to check on him.”

Tane exchanged a worried look with Sinive and Gia.

“What happened to him out there?” Gia said.

“I don’t know,” Tane told her. “He seemed fine after we boarded. A bit tired.”

“Well he’s not fine now.” Gia scrambled upright on wobbly feet. Even with the strength-enhancements offered by her spacesuit, she was still too weak to stand without leaning heavily on the bulkhead.

Sinive offered Gia her shoulder as a crutch, and the tired woman took it.

Tane led the way down the passageway toward sickbay. No one felt more responsible for Jed than Tane himself.

If something has happened to him, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

* * *

S’Wraathar stared at the empty region of space where the vessel had resided. He’d found the Doomwielder’s ship and attacked it, but the craft had cowardly run. When it rendezvoused with a shuttle of dweller design, S’Wraathar had realized too late that the Doomwielder had made a visit to the city after all. Judging from the chatter he heard on the comms, the Doomwielder had taken the artifact and escaped.

I should have headed toward the city immediately.

His sensors had only picked up the alien shuttle when it arrived to dock with the ship. He had to wonder, if he had in fact detected the smaller craft earlier, would he have recognized it as belonging to the Doomwielder? Or simply assumed that it was owned by a member of another tribe on a nighttime jaunt across the planet?

Well, it didn’t matter now either way, did it?

The human starship with the fake thermals had come into view above the horizon only moments before. It had barely been within the range of his Disruptor, but before the AI could get a fix, the ship had jumped.

It had been a good race, but in the end the Doomwielder’s vessel had simply been too fast. Too nimble. At least within an atmosphere.

S’Wraathar might have to talk to his patron about giving him a ship that performed better in atmospheric conditions sometime. But until then, he had some TSN communications to spy on.

Another day, Doomwielder. You will be mine. Very soon.

28

Tane hurried inside the tight compartment that represented sickbay. Sinive and Gia followed just behind. The three of them crowded around Jed, who lay on the only bed.

The Volur had removed his chest assembly so that his entire upper body was exposed. He’d shrunk down his leg and hip assemblies so that they were little more than a pair of tight metal pants.

His hair seemed grayer than ever, if that was possible. The wrinkles on his face also seemed deeper, and his features hollower: his piercings left shallow depressions in the skin, as if the supporting tissues underneath had wasted away.

“Jed!” Tane said. “Your chest… what about microcrillia infection?”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Jed said.

“What do you mean?” Tane pressed.

Jed lifted an arm to reveal his side.

Shocked by what he saw, Tane took an instinctive step backward.

“What is it?” Gia said. “Let me see. Move!”

Gia shoved past with Sinive’s help, and forced Tane away. She gasped.

“Oh no,” Gia said. “No.”

Underneath the arm, along Jed’s ribcage, the skin had gone putrid. It was completely black. Dark veins spread away from the wound, expanding outward via the capillaries underneath.

“One of the Amaranth got me while I was leading them away,” Jed said. “With those black smears of theirs. Dark veins spread across the armor in my side, and cracked it open. The armor healed before I drowned, and my suit cycled out the liquid hydrocarbons. I thought I was fine, that the armor had absorbed most of the blow, until I boarded the shuttle. That was when I ran a full medical check and realized I hadn’t been quite so lucky. The medical robot has confirmed I’ve suffered third degree burns to my right rib region. And that I’m infected with microcrillia.”

“Why isn’t the medical robot helping you?” Gia said. She spun toward the far side of the sickbay, but Jed firmly grabbed her wrist.

“I can’t be treated by conventional means,” Jed said.

Gia turned toward Tane. “You’re the Bender of Worlds. You can heal him, right?”

“I have some healing,” Tane said cautiously. “But I doubt it’s powerful enough for this. I’ll certainly try, though.”

“You have to try, yes,” Gia said. “When we reach the planet—”

“No,” Jed interrupted. “He’s at level one in Healing. Two with his necklace. It’s not enough. He’s wasting his time.”

“Maybe we could Link?” Tane said. “Like we did when Lyra healed Sinive?”

“I can’t Link, not now,” Jed said. “With microcrillia flowing through one’s veins, it becomes very difficult to step into the Essence. Even if we get close to a gravity well, I’m useless to you.”

“Then I can link with Sinive and Gia,” Tane said.

“They’re too weak in the Essence to be of much use,” Jed said.

“What if I Siphoned through the hull of this ship?” Tane turned toward Gia. “I can access the Chrysalium hull via the jump chamber, right?”

“Yes and no,” Gia said. “Any Essence you Siphon there has to be directed up into the focusing array, otherwise a failsafe will kick in and a protective energy field will close over the exposed hull section, cutting you off. There’s no way to shut that down.”

“Fine, then I’ll just have to clamber onto the outer hull,” Tane said. “And bring Jed with me.”

“What about the ship?” Sinive said. “If you do this, and destroy the hull…”

“I won’t Siphon long enough to disintegrate the hull,” Tane said.

Sinive nodded, but she seemed doubtful.

“What’s the point?” Jed said. “You don’t understand. It won’t matter. You can send immensely powerful waves of healing through me, but the microcrillia will remain untouched. Because unfortunately, this is the type of work where brute force won’t help, and where skill makes all the difference. The healing Branches and Leaves have to be directed precisely… the final Branchwork of the Lumina tree you create isn’t set in stone, you’ve learned that much, haven’t you? Without the experience, you won’t heal me, even if you have the biggest TSN warship as your Chrysalium source.”

“Can I at least try?” Tane said.

Jed was quiet a moment. Then he shook his head. “You really think you’re something, don’t you? That you can do anything? But you’re wrong. Sure, you’re somewhat special. You can Siphon from two universes at the same time. But you can’t do everything. You’re not some super-powerful being who instantly has access to the highest levels of every power in the universe. You need training. It’s as simple as that.” He paused, and must have seen the hurt look on Tane’s face, because he added: “I only tell you the truth, Engineer. You’re wasting your time.”

“Even so, I must try.” Tane glanced at Gia. “How close are we to the planet? H33?”

Muse was the one who replied: “An hour away still.”

“This is pointless,” Jed said. “The planet you choose needs to have an atmosphere, because you’ll have to touch my bare skin near the wound. It could take—”

“H33 has a breathable atmosphere,” Muse interrupted. “If that helps. The planet is colonized. At least in our universe.”

“That saves us the trouble of pitching an environmental tent on the hull,” Tane said.

“You might still have to, if healing needs physical contact,” Sinive said.

Tane nodded. “I’ll have to take off my glove.”

“Actually, it should still work through your glove,” Jed said. “The healing effects will be muted slightly, but the amount you’ll Siphon through the hull will easily make up for it. However, your glove definitely has to touch my skin directly.”

“All right,” Tane said. “We continue to H33.”

* * *

Tane remained in sickbay during the flight to the planet, along with Sinive and Gia. He sat in a chair he’d positioned at the base of the bed, and stared at his hands. He opened and closed them several times.

“I’m starting to realize there’s a cost for my actions. A price for leading you all into danger.” He sighed. “Repel Nanotech. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. No one was supposed to get hurt.”

“But you knew there would be a risk,” Jed said from where he lay. “You had to have known.”

“Yes, of course,” Tane said. “But I thought I could protect you all. I was wrong. I should have gone alone.”

Jed chuckled softly, but then grimaced, and held his side. “Like I said earlier, you can’t do everything. You’re not invincible. And you do realize that none of us would have ever let you go by yourself, right?”

The hour passed and Muse announced: “We’ve reached the planet. I’m bringing the ship in for a landing.”

The thin dark threads reappeared, emerging from Tane’s joints. He could sense both Essences just beyond the periphery of perception.

“Sinive, it’s time,” Tane said.

She nodded warily.

Tane glanced at Jed. The Volur didn’t seem any worse than an hour ago, but according to the latest report from the medical robot, the microcrillia had advanced at least a few millimeters deeper into his system since then.

“I don’t even feel like using the Essencework,” Tane said. “Not now, not after what happened to him. But I have to. Otherwise this was all for nothing.”

“I know,” Sinive said. “So I should go first, I guess. Be the guinea pig?”

“Nope,” Tane said. “The only one who gets to be the guinea pig in this matter is me.”

“I don’t know if you’re being selfish or sweet,” Sinive said.

“Definitely not sweet,” Tane said. “I’m going to have to go with selfish.”

“A-hole.”

“I love it when you call me that,” Tane said. “Means I’m doing something right.”

Tane spent the next two minutes guiding the stellar wind of the Lumina over his bones, and dousing the fires sourced from the planet’s core below, intertwining the White and Dark elements to form the wreath of frozen light and fiery shadow before him. It was visible only to his eyes, a truly magnificent product of the Essence.

He allowed the work to set in this reality around his head, as he had watched Tiberius do. The wreath shrunk, slowly vanishing into his forehead and hair, until it was gone entirely.

Tane felt weak, and he blinked away the stars that suddenly mottled his vision. He grabbed onto his beam hilt and relished in the Endurance boost.

“Is it done?” Sinive asked.

As the stars cleared from his vision, Tane nodded. “Yes. But I don’t feel any different. Well, other than drained.”

“Here, let me scan you,” Jed said weakly.

The Volur sat up with a grimace, and reached into the storage pouch on the stand beside his bed. He retrieved one of his gauntlets and slid it on, and held the armored hand toward Tane. Divergent beams of laser light emerged, forming a flat, triangular plane when viewed from above, and Jed directed that beam up and down over Tane’s face. Tane blinked whenever the laser caught him in the eye.

And then it was over. Jed lowered his hand. “Hate to say this, but it seems the control chip is still in your head. As is your original chip.”

Tane slumped. “Then this was all for nothing after all. Your infection. Our struggle in the Umbra. Gia’s loss of her license. I should have realized the work was outdated. A thousand years have passed. Of course technology has changed since then.”

“Maybe the chip is disabled, even though it’s still present?” Sinive said.

“I don’t think so,” Tane said. “I have memories of the Essencework development, of the experiments Tiberius did. The chip should have dissolved. If it’s still present, that means Repel Nanotech doesn’t affect modern day chips.”

The world blurred.

Tane found himself lying chest-first on the deck. He pushed himself up, helped by Sinive.

“What happened?” Tane said.

“You just collapsed,” Sinive said.

“Weird,” Tane said.

Jed extended a hand. “Come here.”

Tane did so, and the Volur scanned him again.

When Jed dismissed the twin beams of light, he said: “The control chip is gone.”

Tane exhaled in relief. He could have cried for how happy he felt. “So it wasn’t for nothing after all. I’m free. Finally.”

Jed gripped Tane’s gloved hand with his gauntlet. “I never doubted you, Engineer. Well, except maybe a few seconds ago, when the chip was still there. But that doesn’t count.” Jed released him and lay back. “Now I can die a happy man.”

“You’re not going to die,” Tane said.

“I was being sarcastic,” Jed said.

“Yeah, Volur humor, it’s an acquired taste I guess.” Tane turned to Sinive. “You’re next. Stand still.”

He spent the next two minutes preparing another Repel Nanotech work and then applied it to Sinive. He was thoroughly winded by then and had to sit down.

“So I guess it takes a little bit to kick in, right?” Sinive said. “Because I feel nothing.”

And then a moment later she, too, blacked out. Tane rushed to her and helped her to her feet.

“Whoa,” Sinive said. “That was unexpected.”

Jed scanned her with the beam from his gauntlet.

“The control chip has disintegrated inside you as well,” Jed said.

Sinive hugged Tane. Tightly. Well, as much as anyone could hug someone else in a spacesuit. “Thank you.” She seemed to realize that she was smiling brightly at him, and quickly pulled away.

Tane frowned. But he said: “You’re welcome.”

“How are we doing on that landing, Muse?” Gia asked.

“The planet appears uninhabited by dwellers, but I am detecting major kraal concentrations,” the Mosaic’s AI replied. “I passed an empty plain two minutes ago, and I’m doubling back now. It appears to be the best landing site, with the closest kraal population located approximately fifty kilometers away.”

The vessel was on the ground a few minutes later. After confirming that the air was breathable, Tane and Sinive crab-walked Jed through the tight airlock and onto the open ramp that led outside the ship. Gia followed them.

The Volur had left the upper half of his armor stowed in his storage pouch, and wore only the shrunken lower assemblies as pants. Tane, Sinive and Gia remained within their spacesuits.

At the bottom of the ramp Tane released Jed, leaving him in Sinive’s arms. She adjusted her hold, sliding her forearms beneath his underarms and lifting his biceps so that his side and the tainted wound there was visible.

Behind her, bright daylight illuminated a pleasant, grassy meadow. It was just as blurry and insubstantial as everything else. The dark threads emerging from Tane’s joints were thick by now, further reminding him that he wasn’t in his own universe. They all pointed into the ground.

Gia leaped onto the grass and drew the two sawed-off plasma rifles from their holsters on her back, and aimed out into the field, just in case Muse was wrong about the kraals.

Tane surveyed that beautiful meadow suspiciously himself, but didn’t spot anything. Well, except for G’allanthamas, who gleefully roamed the tall grass, strutting back and forth with his sideways-oriented head held high. Eager to break free of what was essentially his prison cell, he had emerged from the cargo bay shortly after the Mosaic had landed.

“Don’t mind me!” the alien called. “Just getting in my exercise! And watching for kraals to boot! If you need anything, do ping me.”

“You don’t have any healing skills, do you?” Tane asked. He had reviewed the list of Dark works known to Tiberius, as stored in his chip, and there was no healing anywhere within the list, but it was possible the alien possessed some Dark timelines that Tiberius hadn’t.

“Healing?” G’allanthamas paused, and a couple of his fore-tentacles slid backward across his carapace. That was equivalent to a human scratching his chin in thought. “There is a work of the Dark called Renewal, which we use to self rejuvenate. It requires access to a large Darcanium sink. But there is no healing of others per se.”

“Okay, thanks,” Tane said.

The alien resumed his brisk back-and-forth strutting. Gia strode out into the field to join the dweller.

Tane reached into his pouch and retrieved the dark artifact. He’d need the Dark to guide the enormous amount of White the hull gave him if he hoped to steer the Branchwork into something resembling Wound Healing.

Tane began to enlarge the artifact, and it quickly became too heavy. He released it, throwing it off the ramp, and the thing grew into a tall lens of blackness that slammed into the ground beside the ramp with a loud thud. It balanced perfectly on its thick base, the top nearly hitting the overhanging hull region of the Mosaic above. All of the threads emerging from his body had instantly snapped from the ground to that artifact, joining him to the darkness.

Tane returned his attention to Jed, who was still held up by Sinive. His face was very pale, and his forehead glistened with perspiration.

“How do you feel?” Tane asked him via his external speakers.

“I’m cold, so cold,” Jed replied. His teeth chattered, and he shivered. “And yet I’m sweating. My side has gone numb. And the air... don’t even get me started on the air. It stinks of death. But I suspect that’s my own putrid wound I’m smelling.”

“Okay,” Tane said, regretting he’d asked. “So. Are you ready?”

“No,” Jed said. “But if you’re going to do this, now’s the time. Before I change my mind.”

Tane rested a gloved hand on Jed’s bare shoulder.

He reached up with his free hand, but the hull was out of reach. He stood on the small crate Gia had provided, and tried again. He could just contact the underside of the overhanging hull above, while his other hand barely remained in contact with Jed’s shoulder. He could feel the hurricane of White waiting to be unleashed from the hull above him.

He kicked out his right leg, so that his boot touched the bulging center of the dark artifact beside him. He looked ridiculous, he was sure. But that didn’t really matter at the moment. Beyond the infinite blackness, he could feel the fiery conflagration of the Dark eager to be loosed upon the world.

Tane obliged it. He filled the meadow and all the air around him with flames only he could see. Those flames burned through his core, threatening to sear away his being.

Siphoning bonus. All Dark Essenceworks are enhanced 570% due to Siphoning through Dark Artifact.

He stepped into the White Essence through the hull, and the terrible tempest of stellar wind shrieked across his bones, its frigid cold offering no release from the burning inside him, a cold that nearly carried him away before it burst from his core and formed a massive uncontrollable ribbon. It was so huge that Tane had to throw out an Essence Sight lifeline to see it all, and to properly grow it into the healing Branchwork he desired.

Siphoning bonus. All White Essenceworks are enhanced 3429% due to Siphoning through Chrysalium hull.

He started the White root and the sapling grew quickly. Too quickly: he had to discard it. He began again, and this time quenched the flames of the Dark at the same time, forcing the new fires to appear right up against the White Branchwork. It worked: those flames buttressed and supported the White’s frigid fury, controlling a tree that would have otherwise spread unchecked. And with it, he formed a combined work of White and Dark. Hot and Cold. Arcanum and Esoterum.

It wasn’t the same as the mixed Essenceworks that Tiberius had taught him, where the White tree and Dark timeline were intricately and fully interwoven. Rather, what Tane had created was a White Essencework whose exterior was merely constrained by the Dark, as represented by the black veins that shot through the surface.

He allowed the immense Healing work to partially set in this reality and sent it into the Volur.

Jed clenched his jaw and stiffened as if in pain when the waves of stellar wind gusted into him.

Tane directed the Branches and Leaves of the Esoterum through Jed’s body, making the final adjustments needed to heal the wound, and applying the necessary Arcanum to keep those last changes in check.

He hadn’t yet set the work completely, but he knew right away it wasn’t going to take. While the wind was able to scour away the detritus on the outskirts of the wound, revealing the pure darkness inside, the Essence was unable to touch that black inner core. It was like an unbreakable rock that refused to cede.

Jed gritted his teeth so hard that Tane saw blood along the gum line. Mercifully, the Volur finally passed out, his head lolling forward. Sinive continued to hold him upright in her grasp. A part of his mind realized the lower part of her faceplate had an orange smudge covering the inside: her entire chin was covered in vomit. She was experiencing the nausea that other Essenceworkers felt whenever someone Siphoned through a Chrysalium hull. It probably felt the same as being aboard a starship during a distortion tunnel jump, except that jump never ended. He was surprised she was still able to hold up the Volur… she probably had to increase the servomotor output of her suit to the max.

Tane returned all of his concentration to Jed, and to the impossible task that awaited him. He had to get this done quickly, before he disintegrated the hull of the ship. But though he strove to penetrate the wound, that black core would not cede.

And then he had an idea. He remembered how the larger crillia had writhed as if burned when he had directed the flames of the dark against them. It made some sense that if those fires could harm crillia, they could harm microcrillia, too.

When Tane directed those Dark flames ahead of the White Branchworks and into the blackness of the wound, he seemed to be making headway, at first. He scraped away the outer regions of the black core, and seemed to be making progress, but eventually all advancement stopped and the fires ceased to penetrate. He tried with all his being, alternately pushing Dark and then White into the black heart that remained, but it was to no avail. It was as if he fought against a living, malevolent entity that deflected all his efforts.

A vague memory of Tiberius told him that once the microcrillia took root in a human body, in we beings of the Umanitar, the microscopic creatures changed inexorably in some way, making them resistant to the effects of the Dark.

Jed had been right: Tane simply didn’t have the skill to heal this wound. The brute force approach of Siphoning through a starship’s hull might work with something like an Essence Missile or some other Branchwork of war, but Wound Healing, not so much. If Tane continued for much longer, he would succeed only in causing irreparable damage to the Chrysalium hull of Gia’s vessel, as well as the dark artifact. And maybe Jed himself.

Hoping for the best, Tane allowed the final work to completely set in this universe and then let it sink inside of Jed.

Then he stepped out of the White and released the Dark, and collapsed. He fell off the crate and hit the ramp with a loud clank.

“Tane!” Sinive said.

“I’m fine,” Tane said weakly. “The suit broke my fall.” He wrapped his gloved hand around the beam hilt hanging from his belt and struggled to his feet.

He dismissed the notification that had appeared on his HUD.

Level up. Dark and White Mixing is now Level 2. You may now master more complex mixed works. Branches and Timelines are created 20% faster.

Sinive was still holding up Jed, allowing Tane to examine his side.

The black veins hadn’t receded in the least, and the festering black wound at their heart stared back at Tane in spite, untouched.

Sinive leaned forward to gaze at his side as well, and her face dropped when she saw it.

Jed opened his eyes. “I’m not healed.”

“No,” Tane said sadly.

“I’m not so cold, anymore, though.” Jed straightened, and eased out of Sinive’s grasp. He lost his balance and leaned on her again a moment later, though.

“You’ll have to get that cleaned,” Jed said, nodding toward her vomit-stained faceplate.

Sinive smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, it got a bit intense back there.”

“And you weren’t even the recipient of all that Essence…” The Volur looked out across the grassy meadow. “You should leave me here, Engineer. It’s as good a place to die as any.”

“I told you not to talk like that,” Tane said.

“Volur humor again,” Jed said.

“Which I’ll never understand.”

“No,” Jed agreed.

Gia returned. “I felt the nausea even all the way out there. Didn’t work, I take it?”

Tane shook his head behind his faceplate.

“So we have to find another Volur,” Gia said.

“The only Volurs who can treat this, other than Lyra, are on Talendir,” Jed replied. “And it’s not the best idea to go there right about now, considering it’s under the jurisdiction of the TSN.”

“We sneaked off worlds under TSN jurisdiction twice now…” Sinive said.

“Yes,” Jed said. “But Talendir is different. It has only four ports of entry, by order of the TSN. They keep track of everyone who enters and exits. It’s one of the preconditions of Volur autonomy. Any atmosphere-capable ship that skirts a port of entry is quickly tracked down and seized.”

“What if you went alone?” Tane said.

“It won’t matter,” Jed said. “I’m wanted because of my association with you. The TSN will seize me when I arrive. They’ll bring me to a Volur healer, certainly. But they’ll also chip me. I won’t do it.”

Tane stared at Jed. “At some point you have to ask yourself, what’s worth more, your life, or your freedom? The loss of your freedom will be only temporary. But the loss of your life, not so much.”

Jed frowned. “I’d rather die, than enslave myself to the TSN.”

“Yes, but remember, it’s temporary,” Tane said. “I can save you if they chip you. Remember that.”

“Then I’ll become merely another person you’ll have to rescue besides Lyra and Nebb,” Jed said.

“What’s the point of being the Bender of Worlds if I can’t rescue a few of my friends now and then?” Tane said.

Jed studied Tane, seeming uncertain. Then: “I’ll travel to Talendir, as you say, but only as a last resort. We rescue Lyra first. And if we fail, it’s likely I won’t have to go to Talendir, because I’ll either be dead, or in the hands of the TSN anyway.”

“You’re in no condition to participate in Lyra’s rescue,” Tane said. “Sure, you can come with me, but you’re staying aboard with the others. I’ll have to do the rescue alone.”

“Not alone,” Sinive said.

“I’m coming, too!” G’allanthamas said over the comm. He was racing back and forth across the meadows now, as if chasing something. Maybe a tiny kraal.

Gia remained silent, Tane noted.

“And you, Gia?” Tane said.

She hesitated. Then: “I’ll help, of course.”

“Thank you,” Tane said.

“Don’t thank me,” Gia said. “I’m only doing it for him.” She nodded toward Jed. “He’s the reason I’m here in the first place. Whether he realizes it or not.”

Jed didn’t have anything to say to that.

Tane shrunk the artifact and stowed it in his pouch. Then he looped one of Jed’s arms over his shoulder and started up the ramp.

“I’m going to stay out here and clean the latest crillia from the hull,” Gia said.

“I’ll join you,” Sinive told her.

“What about your chin?” Gia asked.

“A little vomit never hurt anyone,” Sinive replied.

Gia shrugged, and then tossed Sinive one of her rifles.

Crab-walking through the airlock, Tane helped Jed inside the ship. The hatch closed behind him, and he stood before the breach seal in the passageway, waiting for the inner environment to cycle. Air would be drawn out and vented inside at the same time, ensuring Jed didn’t suffer injury.

“You know, I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I’m feeling better,” Jed said. “At least slightly. I think you’ve actually done something believe it or not. I may have to retract my ‘you’re not super-powerful’ speech.”

“But I’m not,” Tane said. “Because I certainly didn’t cure you.”

“Yes, but you may have bought me some time,” Jed said. “And that’s all I could ask for.”

“Well, let me know what the medical robots report,” Tane said.

The breach seal opened, and Tane deposited Jed in sickbay.

An hour passed. Gia and Sinive returned to the ship. They had finished clearing off the crillia.

Tane asked G’allanthamas to board, and when he glanced at the overhead map, he noticed that the dweller lingered on the ramp in front of the cargo bay. Tane had Gia grant him permission to view the closest external camera feed, and he saw that G’allanthamas was dressing in his environmental suit in preparation for the jump to Anteres.

As if sensing Tane’s eyes on him, G’allanthamas said over the comm: “I won’t be able to put on my suit inside that cramped can. At least not without help. And I hate asking for help.”

“I can see that,” Tane said. G’allanthamas was struggling with a few of the leg assemblies, but eventually he got everything on and entered the tight cargo bay.

Gia gave Muse the order to launch and the Mosaic lifted, cruising toward jump altitude.

Tane left his quarters, heading for the cockpit. Along the way, he spoke to Gia over the comm. “Make sure the 3D-printed emitters are active before we make the jump.”

“Already two steps ahead of you,” Gia returned.

Jed called Tane a moment later. “You succeeded in delaying the microcrillia. The medical robots tell me the infection is spreading at a quarter of its former rate since your healing attempt. I still can’t access the Essence, but that’s something, at least. I might last long enough to reach Lyra, now.”

“You’ll last,” Tane transmitted.

“And like you said, I probably won’t be of any use to you during the rescue,” Jed told him. “Unless of course you want to carry me into battle on a stretcher.”

“No,” Tane said. “That would be… unseemly.”

“Ha!” the Volur said. He snickered over the line. “Unseemly! You’re finally catching on to Volur humor.”

Tane had to laugh. “And I wasn’t even trying to be funny.”

“Exactly,” Jed said. “You’ve discovered the key.” He chuckled a final time. “Unseemly.”

29

By the time the Mosaic reached jump altitude, Tane stood in the cockpit, residing in the spot customarily reserved for Jed; he leaned against the bulkhead, waiting for the coming nausea. Sinive was inside the jump chamber, preparing to take them to Anteres. Gia, meanwhile, sat on the floor.

A few moments later, when the light faded from the jump chamber, along with the humming, Tane shook the sickness away, and glanced at Sinive. She lay with her head tilted to one side, and her eyes closed. Her face had become extremely pale, and her smile lines seemed accentuated, as if she’d aged five years in the blink of an eye.

Tane wanted to go to her, to hold her, but he knew she wouldn’t want that.

What happened to us?

He dismissed the thought and then asked Gia: “So, how far are we from the rift? And how close are any dweller ships?”

“Go ahead and tell him, Muse,” Gia said.

“A moment,” the Mosaic’s AI said. “Okay, we’re ten hours from the rift.”

That was just as well, because both Sinive and Gia needed to rest for the back-to-back jumps he planned to make once they returned to their own universe.

“As for the dwellers,” Muse continued, “all the ships I’m detecting seem to be spread out in front of the rift. It appears almost as if they’re gathering. Perhaps preparing for another invasion. There are forty-nine distinct heat signatures out there.”

“They’re waiting for the capture of their precious Doomwielder, no doubt,” Tane said. “And hoping he’ll lead them into battle.”

“They'll have a long time to wait,” Gia said.

“I hope so,” Tane said. “What’s the distribution of those ships? You said they were spread out in front of the rift? Are there any blind spots in the coverage?”

“Several,” Muse said. “This particular rift is two hundred fifty-seven million kilometers long, and varies in breadth from twenty kilometers to over a thousand kilometers at its widest. It’s big. The largest gap in enemy coverage is probably along the closest side, with the nearest dweller starship forty million kilometers from the area.”

“And how long to reach that portion of the rift?” Tane asked.

“Still ten hours,” Muse said. “But I should mention that once we are detected, the dwellers will attempt to intercept.”

“Yes, but that’s what we have our own dweller for,” Tane said. He pinged G’allanthamas.

“Hello,” the alien said. “Have we arrived? Are we through? Can I leave this infernal cargo bay now?”

“We just reached Anteres,” Tane said. “We have ten hours until we reach the rift.”

“I see,” G’allanthamas said. Despite that each word was sourced from multiple speakers, the alien somehow managed to convey disappointment in the short phrase.

Tane updated him on the dweller situation, and finished with: “We need you to send a message to your alien friends.”

“I’ll do so presently,” G’allanthamas said. “What do you want me to say?”

“Tell them we’re scientists,” Tane said. “Studying the rift. That we have no intention of passing through.”

“Mmm, I’m not sure they’ll buy it,” G’allanthamas said. “Scientists usually travel aboard military vessels. You have nothing else?”

“Well, our emitters are designed to mimic a dweller transport ship, right?” Tane asked.

“That’s right,” the alien replied.

“So that means we can’t pretend we’re reinforcements,” Tane said.

“No,” G’allanthamas said. “But we can tell them we’re bringing supplies.”

“Oh, okay,” Tane said. “Go with that, then, if you think it’s more believable.”

“I do,” G’allanthamas said.

“We’ll still have to make a run for the rift at some point,” Tane said.

“Yes,” the dweller said. “But hopefully by the time they realize what we’re doing, it will be too late for them.”

“Yeah,” Tane said. “We’ll see.”

“But as usual, to send the message I’ll need the full cooperation of the starship’s AI,” G’allanthamas said.

Tane glanced at Gia. “The captain will authorize it.”

“Muse, do what the dweller asks,” Gia said. “But keep me updated. I want to know if he requests anything… inappropriate.”

A moment later Muse reported: “I’m varying the power output of our reactors to generate gravimetric pulses. It will be some time before we receive a response.”

“In the meantime, you may as well set a course for the closest side of the rift,” Tane told Gia. “Aim for an area where there are no dweller ships.”

“Do it, Muse,” she said.

Tane returned to his quarters. He had the place all to himself now that Jed was in sickbay. Though he valued his privacy, he didn’t like the way that privacy had come about. He would have rather had Jed in good health and lying on the bunk above him than confined to sickbay.

Tane hadn’t activated his familiar moonscape. He felt he didn’t deserve it. What had happened to Jed was essentially his fault. He decided that he wasn’t going to immerse himself in his favorite environment until he’d rescued Lyra, and she healed Jed. He would retrieve Nebb, too, of course. He owed the smuggler for saving his life, and for introducing him to Sinive. It was just too bad that Sinive didn’t seem to care about Tane anymore.

He kept wishing that she would come knocking on his compartment door, but of course she wouldn’t. She was too exhausted after making the jump.

Muse spoke over the intercom a while later. “We just received a gravimetric signal from the distant dwellers. I expect your alien friend will inform you as to what was said shortly. I will listen in and relay the news to Gia and Sinive, if you don’t mind?”

“You’re actually asking permission to eavesdrop on me?” Tane said. “Instead of doing it automatically? That’s a change. A polite AI.”

“Yes,” Muse said. “Not all AIs are created equal.”

“No, they certainly aren’t,” Tane said. “You have permission.”

He got a call from G’allanthamas shortly.

“So, it worked, sort of,” the alien said.

“Sort of?” Tane asked.

“Yes,” G’allanthamas said. “I told them I operated a supply ship. They believed me. So much so, that they told me to proceed directly to Task Group B, whose members are currently in need of supplies. That particular group is apparently located near the center of the rift. I have the exact coordinates. It’s where the greatest concentration of their forces resides.”

“Um…” Tane said. “The greatest concentration of their forces? Tell me again why saying we were a supply ship was a good idea?”

“It was the only way for them to allow a transport to approach,” the dweller said. “They warned me they’ll be tracking our route very closely, and the moment they detect any deviance in our course, they’ll plot an intercept. Apparently, dwellers throughout the galaxy have been told to be on the lookout for rogue human ships passing themselves off as dweller vessels… they have specific instructions to perform visual IDs on questionable vessels. Such as our own.“

“They can’t ID us unless we’re within thirty million kilometers…” Tane asked.

“That’s right,” the dweller said.

“We’ll have to set a course toward them then, and once we pass the thirty million kilometer mark, or even sooner, we’ll have to make a run for one of the less-populated areas of the rift,” Tane said. “Give me the coordinates and I’ll relay them to Gia.”

G’allanthamas did so, and Tane forwarded the coordinates along to Gia.

“That’ll take us right into the densest concentration of their ships,” Gia said over the comm.

“I know,” Tane said. “But it’s the only way we’ll get close. At some point I want you to return to our original trajectory, or some other course targeting a region of the rift that’s clear of their ships. Keeping in mind that as soon as you alter trajectory, all of the dwellers will attempt to intercept us. So that could be at forty million kilometers out. Or fifty. You decide, with the help of your AI.”

She didn’t answer.

“So, how does it look?” Tane said. “Will we be able to make it through a clear section of the rift before they reach us?”

“If we turn away at the sixty million kilometer mark, then yes, I think we can,” Gia said. “It won’t be our original course, but there’s a region of the rift that’s free of dweller ships nearby. Between two of their task groups.”

“So we’re going to have to race between two groups of dweller ships to reach the rift, you’re saying?” Tane asked.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Gia replied. “Muse tells me that her best guess, based on the maximum speeds our alien passenger has shared for the different ship types detected on the thermal band, is that we’ll pass within weapons range of a few of their ships before we enter. This is the upper range limit of said weapons, mind you—I’m talking about their gorewar lasers, of course. Damage will be negligible, if they can even penetrate our energy shields at that range. It’s possible they might fire their Essence lances, too, but the Dark weapons will lose a lot of energy before impacting. We’ll see them coming well before arrival, and if we somehow can’t avoid them, I’m hoping any damage to the hull will be minor.”

Tane remembered when he had launched his own Essence Missiles Siphoned from the hull of a TSN battle cruiser against an enemy fleet. Those versions had been huge, and basically impossible to avoid or Deflect. From what he had seen so far, no lances created by any other vessels, dweller or human, had even come close. He hoped that continued to be the case.

“I trust your judgment, and the judgment of your AI,” Tane said. “We’re all counting on you.”

“I know,” Gia said. “I’m counting on myself to get through this, too.”

Tane shut down the connection and lay back on his bunk.

To pass the time, he tried reading a few holographic books he’d been meaning to check out. He was too distracted to pay much attention to the words on the page, nor the three-dimensional animations.

He went down to sickbay to visit Jed, but the Volur was fast asleep. Tane returned to his quarters and practiced a few dark timelines without releasing them, hoping he might level up, but after two hours he’d succeeded only in exhausting himself. But that was good, because it meant he could finally sleep. He closed his eyes, and woke up two and a half hours later.

He checked in with Muse, who gave him a status report, and then he challenged the AI to an augmented reality game of checkgammon. The turned-based game was meant to simulate space combat, with the different pieces representing various ships in 3D space. The game involved eight platforms set one atop the other, and the pieces could jump from one platform to the next in a given turn, or advance into an adjacent hexagonal area. Each piece had different energy shields, armor ratings, and weapons. When one ship moved onto the same hexagon used by an opposing ship, the game zoomed in on the pair and became more arcade-oriented, with each side having to use the different weapons and capabilities of their ship to defeat the other in real-time. The overall goal was to corner the enemy flagship and defeat any opposing ships that got in the way. The Mosaic’s AI won, of course. Several times.

Finally, at the nine-hour mark since entering the Anteres system, Gia called him over the Musenet.

When he connected, she said: “I just turned away from our previous course, and I’m making a run for the rift section between the two groups of dwellers.”

Tane decided to make his way to the cockpit. He was relieved for the break in the monotony, even if that break meant they were entering into grave danger.

He reached the cockpit. Sinive was sitting on the floor next to the jump chamber, while Gia was in the chamber itself. Both women seemed rested. Well enough to make two jumps back-to-back, anyway.

“Have any of their ships changed course to intercept yet?” Tane asked.

“Yes,” Gia said. “A few seconds before you arrived, Muse reported that all members of both task groups were accelerating to intercept us. Some are traveling inward, staying close to the rift—apparently hoping to cut us off before we arrive. The remainder are accelerating directly toward us from both sides, moving away from the rift in a diagonal direction.”

“Covering all their bases...” Tane said.

“It won’t help,” Sinive said. “They’ll never reach us in time.”

“How do you know?” Tane said. “Unless she’s given you access to the tactical display?”

Sinive shrugged with a knowing smile.

“Can I get access?” Tane asked her.

“Girls only,” Gia replied with a wink.

Tane stared at her in disbelief, but before he could say anything to embarrass himself, Gia said: “Sinive doesn’t have access. I already explained the tactical situation to her, just as I explained it to you. And I’ll confirm it in a moment, once the ships in both task groups reach maximum speed.”

A few minutes later, Gia said: “Okay, the different ship types have all hit their various maximums, and they’re staggered at various distances from one another based on those maximums. Looks like I was right. As predicted, only a couple of the fastest enemy vessels will reach firing range before we enter. They’ll have a small, two-minute window to unleash their gorewars at the maximum possible range extents of the weapons. Our shields will hold.”

Tane still had access to the external nose cam so he pulled it up. The enemy ships were too far away—he saw only blackness.

He wondered if Jed was observing or listening from sickbay. “Jed, you here?” Tane tried.

“I’m here, Engineer,” Jed said. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”

“How about you, Gall?” Tane said.

No answer.

Figures.

The alien wasn’t all that interested in human affairs. Though he probably should be, given the situation.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about how we plan to jump to a different system as soon as we pass into our universe,” Sinive said. “And I thought of something. When the dwellers tried to invade after Remus, why didn’t they do the same? Jump immediately after passing through the rift and into our universe, I mean?”

“They thought they could destroy the waiting TSN fleet,” Jed said over the comm. “And they might have, had our Engineer not intervened. Besides, once the dwellers started jumping, the fleet would have been alerted, and they would have been ready to disrupt the jumps of all those coming in behind.”

“If we want to save Lyra and Nebb, maybe we shouldn’t jump,” Sinive suggested. “Maybe we should let the TSN capture us.”

“No,” Jed said. “There’s no guarantee either of them will be aboard the ship that captures us, let alone in the Anteres system at all. We need to arrange a swap at a place and time more favorable to us. Preferably a neutral, planet-side city. Anywhere in the Mautauraen Empire would do.”

“All right, I cede the point,” Sinive said. “It’s better we choose the time and place. But still, why not have the swap occur in space somewhere? Once we have Lyra, we send him out onto the hull of one of the battle cruisers, and he starts doing his stuff. He could destroy a whole TSN fleet if he had to.”

“I don’t want to destroy another fleet,” Tane said. “Especially not a human fleet. You know how many people are aboard each ship? How many would die? Lyra and Nebb would be sick to their stomachs if they found out how many people we killed to rescue them. I would be sick.”

“Okay, you’re right,” Sinive said. “But I can’t see how a planet-side city would be more advantageous to us.”

“We choose a planet that’s not under the dominion of the TSN,” Jed said. “Because of treaty constraints, that would limit the number and types of ships the TSN could bring into the system.”

“Say we perform the swap on a planet in the Mautauraen Empire, as you suggest,” Tane told him. “What kind of limits are we talking about?”

“One transport ship, capable of carrying a hundred troops, with only four of those troops having the ability to Siphon, restricted to jump specialists,” Jed said. “One Volur may also accompany them. The TSN can take along the Red Grizzly as well, though they’ll have to fly it in separately. Since it’s a civilian ship, the Mautauraen wouldn’t know it belongs to the TSN.”

“What’s to stop the TSN from breaking the treaty?” Sinive asked.

“It would be detrimental to their relationship with the government of the system in question, and tantamount to an act of war,” Jed said. “I have the perfect Mautauraen system in mind. Greater Pindi. The heart of their empire. In Greater Pindi, the Mautauraen have a navy big enough to make the TSN think twice before violating the treaty. And keep in mind that the Mautauraen hate the TSN with a passion…”

“All right, well, we can work out the details after we’ve passed through the rift and safely jumped away,” Tane said.

The next hour passed tensely. The alien ships on either side continued to close their pincer, while the Mosaic raced against time to reach the rift ahead of them.

“We’re two minutes out from the rift,” Muse finally announced. “Three of the incoming ships just reached the upper range boundaries of their weapons.”

“That means they’re within our upper range limits, too,” Sinive said.

“Muse, fire dragons at will,” Gia said. “Concentrate all fire on one of the ships.”

“We’re receiving gorewar fire,” Muse said. “Shields are holding at eighty-five percent. Returning fire.”

“Did we cause any damage?” Gia asked a moment later.

“Negative,” Muse said. “We did even less damage to their shield systems of course, since we’re one vessel to their three.” Muse paused. “A dweller ship just launched an Essence lance.”

“Just one?” Gia said.

“Yes,” Muse said.

“They don’t want to risk damaging their precious Doomwielder,” Sinive commented dryly.

“Climb,” Gia said. “And when the lance is close, dive to avoid it.”

“Climbing,” the Mosaic’s AI said. Ten seconds passed before the Muse added: “Initiating dive.”

The deck vibrated.

“I couldn’t dodge it,” Muse said. “The Essence lance struck the starboard side. We’ve received minor damage to the hull. No breaches.”

“So far so good...” Gia said.

“Another ship is launching an Essence lance,” Muse said.

“Bump up our speed,” Gia said. “Emergency acceleration. It’s time for the final run to the rift. And dodge that lance when it gets close!”

“Issuing emergency acceleration,” Muse said. “Two more ships just came within firing range. We’re taking another round of gorewar fire from them. Shields are down to sixty-five percent.”

“Come on,” Gia said. “We’re so close.”

“Had a near miss on the lance,” the Mosaic’s AI said. “Though a third ship is firing another.”

“Almost there…” Gia said. “Return fire as soon as our dragons are recharged. And rotate our nose until you have one of their ships within the throw angle of our plasma weapon, and then fire: give them something to avoid in turn.”

“Rotating nose,” Muse echoed. A moment later: “Firing plasma thrower.”

The deck shook once more.

“We just took another Essence lance impact,” Muse said. “On the underside of the nose. Minor damage once again, though there is a small hull breach in the deck below the cockpit.”

“The pantry…” Gia said.

“Yes,” Muse said.

“Guess we’re eating freeze-dried chicken going forward,” Sinive commented.

“Dragons are charged,” Muse said. “Firing. Minimal damage inflicted upon target. Four more ships just entered firing range. We’re receiving gorewar impacts on our port side. And the previous ships are firing their lasers again, starboard side. Shields are down to fifteen percent.”

“Time to the rift?” Gia asked.

“Sixty seconds,” Muse answered.

“Remember, our shields will go down when we pass through” Tane said. “You have to make the jump the instant we emerge. Otherwise we’ll be at the mercy of the TSN.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Gia said. “Which is why I’m relying on Muse to help me time the jump.”

A moment later the Mosaic’s AI said: “Forty seconds. The incoming vessels have fired two more Essence lances.”

“Perform the usual evasive actions when impact from those lances is imminent,” Gia said.

Tane activated a timer on his display and counted down the seconds to the rift.

At the twenty-five second mark to the rift, Muse said: “One lance missed. The second struck the starboard side. Another minor breach. It’s the cargo bay.”

G’allanthamas was still listed as online. Tane attempted to contact him. The dweller answered immediately.

“What’s going on up there?” G’allanthamas said. “I was almost sucked out!”

“We were hit by an Essence lance,” Tane said.

“Ah,” G’allanthamas said. “I’m guessing the range is long, otherwise the damage would have been a lot worse. You know, it’s probably a good thing this compartment is so tight. It was easy to brace myself when the bulkhead gave way.”

“So I guess that means you’ll stop complaining about your living conditions now…” Tane said.

“On the contrary,” G’allanthamas said. “I have a hole in the bulkhead leading out into the void. I’m going to complain even more loudly now.”

“We’re receiving multiple gorewar laser impacts, all sides,” Muse announced. “Shields are down to ten percent.” A moment later: “Five seconds until we reach the rift.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

The jump chamber began to light up, and Tane heard the characteristic humming fill his hearing.

“One.”

The blurriness of the cockpit lifted. As did the dark blue tint that colored everything.

They had returned to their universe.

The jump chamber flared even brighter, and that humming crescendoed. Tane felt the familiar wave of nausea pass over him, and he braced himself against the bulkhead with one hand.

And then the chamber brightness faded away, along with the humming, and the nausea.

“It’s done,” Gia said weakly, her head lolling to one side. “We’re no longer in Anteres. I selectively activated our thermal emitters during the jump to alter our heat profile. If anyone scans us, the best match they’ll get is a Dryer class transport. Not a Scow.”

Her voice sounded normal, and no longer split between two octaves. But that normal was the new abnormal, considering how long Tane had spent in the Umbra. It would take a few moments to get used to it.

“My turn,” Sinive said, standing.

Sinive helped Gia out of the jump chamber and then slid inside. She glanced at Tane. “Do we have a target system in mind?”

“Yes,” Tane said. “Greater Pindi.”

* * *

Tane sat in sickbay next to Jed.

During the second jump, Gia had Muse selectively activate different thermal emitters on the hull, changing their heat signature once again before the Mosaic’s arrival in the final system. That small change would buy them a few hours at least, because by comparing the timestamps of arrivals and departures reported by space traffic controllers galaxy-wide, eventually the TSN would track them down—assuming their AIs actually exchanged traffic data with the Mautauraen Empire. But by then, Tane would have already set his final plan in motion.

After arriving in Greater Pindi the Mosaic had flown to the most populated planet, a world known as Xalantas, and landed at a shipyard in the biggest city: Nalax. It was a sprawling metropolis composed of skyscrapers at the center and low- to mid-rise apartments in the outlying districts.

Sinive and Gia were resting aboard the ship in their shared quarters after the back-to-back jumps. Gia had instructed the shipyard’s robots to supply the necessary raw materials the repair drones needed, but to otherwise stay away from her ship. She didn’t want the robots discovering G’allanthamas in the breached cargo bay. The repair of that bay was the first order of business, and she had commanded her drones to concentrate on that breach first.

Tane had also elected to remain aboard the Mosaic, since there was no real reason to travel into the city proper, at least not for the time being. Jed had already made a virtual dive into the city, and picked out a spot for a potential rendezvous with representatives of the TSN. Now all Jed needed to do was notify the TSN to commence the plan.

Lying in that sickbay bed, Jed was looking just as pale as he had when Tane had first attempted healing, although the dark veins in his side had only spread a few centimeters since then. The longest threaded all the way up to his underarm area.

“So what are you going to tell them?” Tane asked.

“That we’re willing to trade you for Lyra and Nebb,” Jed replied. His voice sounded strained, tired. Tane had grown accustomed to the single octave words by then, and the lack of motion trails when lips moved. “Along with the Red Grizzly. A simple note. Short and sweet.”

“You think they’ll buy it?” Tane pressed.

“They’re desperate to get their hands on you,” Jed said. “Of course they’ll buy it. They have no choice.”

“And if they demand a different location?” Tane said.

“They’re in no position to make demands,” Jed said. “I’ll make that clear to them. We meet here, or the deal is off.”

Tane nodded slowly. “If you send this location, won’t the TSN scour the place? Starting with the shipyards?”

“No,” Jed said. “That would be a treaty violation. And they certainly won’t want to alert the Mautauraen government that they have the Bender of Worlds in their city.”

“But obviously they have a few spies here,” Tane said. “Either that, or a couple of hacked AIs.”

“Which is why I’m not sending the message until tonight, after we’ve left the ship and found a short termer to stay at,” Jed said.

“Gia won’t want to leave the ship here,” Tane said. “Not if the TSN sends spies to search the shipyards for a newly arrived Scow.”

“I’ll have her park the ship outside the city tonight, and take a shuttle back to whatever short termer we acquire for ourselves,” Jed said.

“Sounds reasonable.”

Tane returned to his quarters to wait until dark. He didn’t have to worry about his chip transmission range now that he was surround by billions of people, so he pumped it up to its usual maximum. He could also connect to the Galnet again, seeing as the control chip had been removed. He’d been avoiding it all this time, during the entire flight to the planet, and after landing. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe he was a little worried that the TSN still had some remnants of the control chip inside his brain. No, that wasn’t really the reason. He knew he’d have messages waiting from his parents. He also knew that once he watched those messages, he’d want to reply right away. Watching, and responding, would take an emotional toll on him.

And not only that, but those messages would remind him of the past, and the life he’d given up. He wanted to believe he had a better life now. But he wasn’t so certain. Being chased around the galaxy, hunted by aliens and humans alike, with no sign that his situation would ever change. His friends captured, used against him… sometimes he thought it might be better to go back to the simpler days of his youth, when he was an Engineer who liked to play piano on the side, instead of the Bender of Worlds.

Yes, he wasn’t looking forward to reading and answering those messages.

He pulled up his network preferences on his HUD and authorized Galnet connecting.

A moment later his message box filled up.

Among the pings from his friends back on Galtede Serpentis were several holographic messages from his parents. He resolved to review them all.

When he was done, he sat back to process the information. Each message was essentially the same. His father, sitting stoically beside his mother, who often had tears in her eyes.

They missed him. They wanted to know where he was so they could leave Galtede Serpentis and join him. The robots Lyra had left with them were treating them like “prisoners,” and wouldn’t let them go out onto the streets unescorted or without blurring caps. They wanted to know if he had made it to his destination, and if so, whether the Volur were holding him hostage. Did he retrieve the lost crew member yet? Why was he talking like he might never see them again?

Tane took a moment to compose his thoughts and then began recording a message. He enabled full video mode, so that when they received and played back the message, it would seem like he was seated across from them.

“Mom. Dad. We still didn’t make it to our destination. In fact, I won’t be going there after all. Because it turns out the Volur want to keep me in chains just as badly as the TSN. Not Lyra and Jed, though. They wanted to help me. Well, okay, they lied about taking me to Talendir, but it was only because they thought I’d never agree to go with them willingly otherwise. I know that sounds bad. It’s complicated. But trust me, I’m all right. And yes, we retrieved the lost crew member. Her name is Sinive. She’s doing well.” He didn’t feel the need to hide the names of his friends anymore, since the TSN knew all about them now. And revealing the location of their previous destination didn’t matter either, considering he had no plans to ever go there. Talendir. Den of Volurs. He remembered that man, Xescartes, who had helped Nelson chip him. Yes, most Volur were definitely not on his side.

Tane swallowed nervously, uncertain if he should tell his parents the next bit. He wasn’t sure he wanted them to think of their son as the man who could destroy an entire fleet with his mind. But they deserved to know what he was capable of. And if they disowned him for it, out of fear or shame or whatever the case, then it was probably for the best.

“Also, I’ve been in the news. A few reporters leaked footage of an event in the Anteres system. I’m sure you’ve seen it by now, since it’s been all over the stream nets, according to someone I know.” He could have checked for himself, he supposed, but he trusted Gia’s words. He didn’t really want to watch himself destroying a fleet anyway.

“I’m talking about the video of a man in a spacesuit, sandwiched between the hull of a starship, and a dark lens, relatively small in comparison to that hull. A man who creates massive missiles forged of light and shadow, and hurls them at a fleet of dweller starships, destroying them all in turn. At least I think that’s what you’ll see—I admit I haven’t actually watched the leaked video myself. Because you see, that man is me.”

There, it was done.

“So. You understand now why you can’t come here. I’m still hunted by the TSN, and the dwellers. I’ll be on the run for the rest of my life probably. I miss you, too. And I love you both. But stay with those robots. There’s a reason Lyra left them to guard you. If the TSN finds you, they’ll put you under their complete control. And I mean complete. It’s very important that you remain in hiding.”

He didn’t want to say much more, because the TSN would likely pry into the message at some point as it was transmitted across the many delay-tolerant nodes of the Galnet.

“Well, guess I’ll go now. Again, I love you. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. For raising me into the man I’ve become. Tane, out.”

His eyes hovered hesitantly near the send button, then he focused on it and dispatched the message.

He dismissed the interface and sat back.

Well, that was a weight off his shoulders.

But unfortunately only one of many.

30

Nelson sat across from Xescartes in his private wardroom. Spread out upon the table before them was a meal one would expect to find on a luxury liner, not a military warship: filet mignon served with sautéed garlic mushrooms; slices of veal layered in caramelized onions; halibut topped with figs and apples; chicken penne in a cabernet sauce. It was far better than the fare most of the crew ate. Nelson wouldn’t be able to finish it all, nor did he have any intention of doing so. He hated wasting food, but it was necessary when dining with the likes of Xescartes. He wanted to ensure the man understood who was in power here. Something that was especially important with a Volur. The moment you showed weakness in any sense of the word was the moment you gave a Volur the upper hand. And you never wanted a Volur to have the upper hand, especially when your working relationship with him was as fragile as it was here.

The dark blue shades and blurring of the Umbra were long gone. It was good to be back in his own universe. The dwellers had put up a weak fight in their attempt to cut off the task unit from the rift, but in the end the admiral led the fleet through without issue. He was a reliable man, Admiral Pashto. Did everything that Nelson told him to, at least when it came to non-tactical matters. Of course he did. He feared the Paramount Leader.

As did Nelson. Everyone did.

Nelson had been demoted for his failure. He no longer reported directly to the Paramount Leader, but rather to another the leader had placed above him. A synthetic named Brizan. As the Paramount Leader’s representative, Nelson was still treated as a VIP aboard this vessel, of course. Given his own stateroom to relax in as he pleased. Given a private wardroom, with a robot chef assigned to prepare whatever meal he desired. But he was no longer directly in charge of the operation to capture the World Bender.

He supposed it could have been worse. Before he was demoted, there had actually been talk of replacing Nelson entirely, but his friends at High Command had argued for his position. They knew he was good at what he did. However, he wasn’t sure how long they would continue to fight for him, not if he failed again. And since Brizan had given him relative autonomy so far, any failure would be placed squarely within his lap. Which was probably why Brizan had given him so much leeway in the first place.

Yes, everyone feared the Paramount Leader. Except perhaps Xescartes. He served different masters.

Speaking of the Volur, Xescartes was staring at him. Nelson realized the Volur had just said something, but he’d missed it.

“Come again?” Nelson asked him.

“I said, we will find him soon,” Xescartes replied. “A man such as he cannot remain hidden long in this universe.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Nelson said. “Sure, eventually we’ll learn what system he jumped to, but after that? If he’s smart, he’ll disembark at a crowded planet, preferably somewhere outside the dominion of the TSN. Given some good facial blurring tech and some ID spoofing, it could be a long time before we pick up his trail again. Especially if he decides to hide out for a few years.”

“He won’t hide in one place,” Xescartes said. “He wants to unlock the dark powers those artifacts give him. He will seek them out, one by one. When he returns to the Umbra, you will know. The ships your TSN has placed at rifts throughout the galaxy will assure that.”

“Maybe,” Nelson said. “But we’ve only deployed ships at the known rifts. It’s very likely other rifts exist out there, in systems we haven’t yet explored.”

“The World Bender won’t waste time exploring uncharted systems until he finds a rift,” Xescartes said. “He wants to attain mastery of the Dark Essence as quickly as possible. I know that’s what I would want.”

“You assume he’s like you,” Nelson said.

“All who can Siphon as much Essence as me are like this…” Xescartes said.

“Maybe there are specific rules imposed by the artifacts that we don’t know about,” Nelson said. “Maybe the World Bender has to be a certain age before he can attain the abilities offered by different artifacts. Maybe he has to have a certain level in Dark Siphoning.”

Xescartes merely stared at him, saying nothing.

“Fine,” Nelson said. “Let’s say he makes it through a known rift, and any ships we have guarding it follow him inside, once he reaches a planet and makes a jump, we’ll lose him again.”

“Which is why I’ve been arguing that the TSN needs to deploy more ships to protect each rift,” Xescartes said. “As many as can be spared. If you had a fleet of twenty ships capable of multiple jumps placed in front of every rift, first of all the World Bender would never pass through. And if he did, and managed to reach a planet, all nearby systems within multiple jump ranges could be searched if the World Bender jumped again.”

“The TSN simply doesn’t have the ships for such a task,” Nelson said. “We’re already spread too thin, especially given the numbers we lost defending the Anteres Rift.” Technically they had won that battle thanks to the World Bender, but the TSN had lost a quarter of its fleet in the process. “You have to look at the asterpolitics. We have to be ready for an attack not just from the dwellers, but from the colonies. Those under our rule know the size of our fleet has been reduced. They know we’ve deployed ships to rifts in their territories. Many have their own navies. They could very well revolt, if they deem the time right. Plus there are the threats from other galactic governments, like the Mautauraen. No, there will be no more ships.” Nelson folded his hands across his chest and leaned forward to stare Xescartes down. “Our best bet is to threaten the lives of the prisoners.”

“Have you received an answer from the World Bender’s associate regarding your previous offer?” Xescartes asked. “Jed Stax?” He said the name with distaste. Likely because Jed was a Volur as well, but had crossed their precious Triumvirate.

“No,” Nelson said. “So we’ll try setting an execution date instead. See if that spurs him into action. If the World Bender doesn’t come in, or this Jed Stax doesn’t betray him, we’ll kill the smuggler and live stream it over the Galnet. We’ll wait a week, and then do the same to the woman Volur.”

“You assume Jed Stax values those two more than the World Bender,” Xescartes said. “Or that Tane Ganeth himself cares for them. You already offered to trade the pair for the World Bender, but received no answer. Lyra told us she lied to him when she stole him away from his homeworld. And that he knows of the lie. That’s certainly not going to earn her any love. And the smuggler? He’s merely the captain of the ship that transported the World Bender. He shared maybe four or five words with him. I don’t think the World Bender cares what we do with either of them.”

“We’ll see,” Nelson said. “You haven’t looked at his brain scans as closely as I have. He has a large supramarginal gyrus, especially on the right side, the portion responsible for empathy.”

“That means nothing,” Xescartes said. “He knows what you’ll do to him. The survival instinct eclipses empathy every time. If you don’t believe me, place two otherwise ordinary individuals in a cage together, deny them food and water for a few days, and watch what happens when you drop a pail of water into the cage.”

Nelson shrugged, and bit into his filet mignon. While chewing, he added a spoonful of sautéed mushrooms and relished in the added flavor.

After he swallowed, a call came in. Ordinarily he would have dismissed it, but the priority level was high.

Nelson dabbed his lips with his table napkin and accepted.

“Go ahead,” Nelson said with his mouth full.

The disembodied head of Brizan appeared, visible to his eyes only. Her features were unnaturally flawless, her cheekbones too high, her brow too manicured. Yes, far too beautiful to be human.

When the hologram finished speaking, Nelson thanked Brizan and disconnected.

He looked at Xescartes, who was scowling at him for his perceived rudeness.

Oh, I can’t wait to see the expression on his face when he hears this.

“We’ve just received word,” Nelson said, unable to suppress a grin. “The World Bender wants to trade himself for the two prisoners.”

Yes, the expression on the Volur’s face was priceless.

* * *

Lyra played with Dobbie while her little sister Gwenyth watched. Dobbie was a good cat. The best. So playful and fluffy and lovely. Lyra loved Dobbie more than anything in the galaxy, even Gwenyth. Well, maybe about the same as her sister. But she loved Dobbie lots and lots.

Lyra tugged at the long thread, but Dobbie had the end gripped securely in his little paws. He was lying flat on his side, and wrapped his toothy mouth around the tip and pulled.

“Stop it, you’re flossing him!” Gwenyth said with a giggle.

“He needs to be flossed!” Lyra said, tugging hard on the thread, sliding it through Dobbie’s little teeth.

“Look at this,” Gwenyth said, producing a small glass jar with an unlit candle inside. “Mari gave it to me.” She held it underneath Lyra’s nose.

“Mmm, smells good!” Lyra said. The scent was a pleasant mixture of cinnamon and lavender.

Gwenyth took the candle away. “You think it smells good now? Just wait.”

Gwenyth placed the candle on the table, and left. She returned a moment later with a small plasma sparker, no doubt borrowed from Father’s tools, and held the tip to the wick, lighting the candle.

Gwenyth set the sparker down on the table, and picked up the candle. She held it to her nostrils.

“Now it smells!” Gwenyth said.

Lyra could smell the candle even though she was a meter away. Yes, it was very good, though the cinnamon-lavender scent was shot through with a hint of burn that spoiled it somewhat.

Gwenyth held the candle toward her so she could get a better whiff, but Lyra didn’t like how she was holding her arm almost directly above Dobbie.

“Careful!” Lyra said.

Gwenyth shrugged, and withdrew her arm to sniff the candle more.

Lyra wasn’t really sure what happened next. The memories were somewhat of a blur. Dobbie could be very protective of Lyra, and for some reason, those instincts had been triggered. Whether it was because of the burning candle, or because Lyra had admonished her sister for holding the flame too close for comfort, she would never know. But somehow, Dobbie ended up on the floor underneath Gwenyth. He’d scratched her ankle. And she’d dropped the candle.

On him.

Now, Dobbie was a Fandorran, a breed known to produce very fluffy cats. Fluffy, and extremely flammable.

Dobbie’s entire right side flared up.

Lyra threw herself onto the cat, not caring if she would burn herself. She pinned the poor thing, and it squealed and hissed wildly underneath her, trying to break free.

“Mom! Mom!” Gwenyth said. “Dobbie!”

Her mother hurried in from the next room. Before Lyra knew what was happening, her mother had grabbed one of the pillows from the couch and leaped down beside Lyra. She smothered the pillow over Dobbie’s burning tail, and reached underneath Lyra to swat at the cat’s exposed side. In moments the fire was gone. At least, Lyra thought so; she was having trouble seeing through the tears. The air had a terrible smell. Burnt fur, and skin. A smell she would never forget.

The candle sat burning within its glass base on the floor. Her mother lifted it up and blew out the flame. Lyra couldn’t see what she did with it next.

“Lyra, get up sweetie,” her mother said. “Lyra, let Dobbie go. Lyra?”

Still in a state of shock, Lyra pushed her upper body upright and Dobbie ran to a corner of the room.

Her mother examined Lyra’s clothing, which had scorch marks, but none of the flames had burned through to her skin.

“Mom!” Gwenyth said. She pointed at Lyra’s arm.

It was bleeding, covered in bite wounds and claw marks. Lyra hadn’t even noticed that poor little Dobbie had been attacking her.

Her father came inside. “What happened?”

“They were playing with a candle,” her mother said.

Her father glanced at the cat in the corner, and then at Lyra’s arm. “I’ll get the kit.” He left the room.

“Stay calm, baby.” Mother was hugging Lyra, who remained in a daze.

Her father returned and began to wrap Lyra’s arm in a white bandage.

Lyra glanced at Dobbie, who cowered in the corner of the room. For some reason his burns seemed relatively minor, at least to her young eyes. The skin was a bright red, not the black she had been expecting. Her mother explained it had something to do with the thick fur, which insulated Dobbie’s little skin from most of the heat during the fire. Still, Dobbie was in obvious pain, and mewled constantly. It tore at Lyra’s heartstrings.

I couldn’t protect him in time.

“I’m sorry for letting you down, daddy,” Lyra said.

Her father paused to look her in the eyes. Anger momentarily flashed there, and she didn’t know why. But then his features softened. “Honey, you can’t play with fire when the cat is around.”

“Is Dobbie going to be all right?” Lyra asked.

“Yes,” her father said. “But I’m more worried about you at the moment. We’re taking you to emergency. Those are some nasty cuts.” He glanced at her mother. “You’d never think a family pet could be capable of inflicting such vicious wounds.”

“Dobbie didn’t know what he was doing…” her mother said. “He was in pain. Afraid.”

Her father stood. “I’ll meet you in the flyer.”

“Wait, what about Dobbie?” Lyra said.

“I’ll get one of the robots to take the cat to the vet,” her father said. “He’ll be fine.”

“Dobbie comes with us!” Lyra said.

Her father glanced at her mother, and then sighed. “Sweetie, the hospital doesn’t treat cats. He’ll be better off if we let him go to the vet.”

“Okay,” Lyra finally agreed, the tears brimming.

Lyra only spent an hour at the hospital: by then the surgical robots had reduced her ugly cuts to small pink scars. Afterward, her parents took her straightaway to the veterinarian’s office.

Dobbie was all right. Half the fur was still missing from his body, and the bare skin there was light pink now rather than bright red. The robot veterinarian promised he’d grow back his hair soon enough. Dobbie was mewling constantly, just wanting to go home.

On the way back, Lyra knew what she wanted to do with her life.

She would become a veterinarian, and protect all animals.

* * *

Seated on her bunk, Lyra stared at the bulkhead of the cramped quarters before her. She hadn’t thought of her old cat in a long time. That particular memory had to be at least thirty years old.

Memories. Those were all she really had these days. She still had some limited access to virtual reality, but virtual experiences had never really interested her. Some people became addicted to the falsehood, living their lives in the virtual world. Not Lyra.

Yes, memories: they were the only true part of her the TSN couldn’t take away. Then again, she sometimes wondered if her memories were even real, and not part of some backstory implanted by the TSN to make her more malleable to their will. What a horrible thought. It didn’t seem likely, in her opinion, because if that was true, everything she had fought for, everything she had believed in, would have been a lie.

Still, it did seem odd that she would recall that particular memory at this moment. What bearing, what relevance did it have to her current situation?

None. It served only to remind her of the germinating event that had started her down the long, winding path that led her to where she was today. The path that terminated with her here, a prisoner inside her own body, a puppet so thoroughly under the control of the TSN that she would betray the man she had sworn to protect with her life.

Yes, her quarters were essentially a prison, her body, the cell. Oh sure, she could walk right up to the cramped compartment’s hatch and it would automatically open, but for the life of her she couldn’t step outside into the passageway beyond. When she reached that point her body simply refused to obey. It was the ultimate torture.

A man named Chancery slept in the top bunk above her. He was a TSN Mancer, and her unofficial guard. Chancery had been somewhat talkative on the first day. He had been in a strange mood when they first met, spouting expletives one minute and crying the next. She hadn’t said a word the whole time, but she eventually pieced together that his entire platoon had been lost in some tragic incident on Sigma 231 while searching for Tane in the Umbra. Chancery had been the only survivor of his unit.

After that first day, the man barely said a thing. She suspected his superiors had given him a warning. They knew every word he told her, of course, thanks to the ship’s AI. And it wouldn’t matter if either of them raised a Silence Cage, because the AI could read lips. There were other ways of communicating—covering the lips while speaking, mental texts—but the Mancer hadn’t bothered.

He usually awakened at this hour. But today, he was sleeping in late. He had stunk of alcohol when he returned last night. It was illegal to drink aboard TSN starships, but some crewmembers inevitably found a way. There were always the one or two culinary specialists who smuggled spirits aboard, or the machinist’s mates who seemed to specialize in illicit distilleries. And they always had a large queue of eager clientele.

At last the Mancer awoke. He swung his hairy legs over the top bunk and dangled them over the ledge, nearly hitting her in the face. She slid to the side and waited for him to lower himself.

Wearing only his skivvies, he hardly spared a glance for her before going to his storage locker and pulling on fatigues patterned in blue and gray digital, the standard ship-side uniform. He had an armored robe in there as well, something she had only seen him wear once: on that very first day when he had been assigned to room with her.

He walked toward the hatch, and when it opened, he paused to look at her. “Would you like anything from the mess hall?”

Lyra didn’t answer. Instead, she simply stared straight ahead at the bulkhead.

“Like a zombie,” Chancery muttered. He walked out and the hatch shut behind him. He was gone to have breakfast, and whatever else it was he did while aboard the Decantium class ship.

Lyra envied him.

She remembered Nelson’s standing orders to the letter. He had said: “You are not to speak to anyone without my permission. This means no sign language, gestures, or Galnet or chip-to-chip messages. You will not hack the ship, or any of the military robots. You are not to step into the Essence without my permission. You will not access your storage pouch without my permission. And, barring an emergency, such as a breach in your deck, you are not to leave this compartment.”

She believed she had found a way around those orders. The latter part was the key: “barring an emergency.”

She would just have to manufacture one.

She glanced at the overhead foam sprinkler system.

Earlier, she had subtly searched her chamber, and determined the location of the camera pinpoint in the bulkhead. Chancery had left some mint gum sitting on the nightstand next to the base of the bunks, and she took a piece then, and chewed it.

She subtly flattened herself against the bulkhead beside the camera, just out of its view, and proceeded to jam a small portion of the gum over the pinpoint-sized lens.

If she had done it right, a maintenance robot would be dispatched to deal with the perceived problem.

She sat on the bunk and waited.

Sure enough, a robot soon arrived. It was a moderately-sized thing, essentially a large trashcan on wheels, with three arms topped by pincers.

“Please step aside, step aside,” the robot said, though she was already seated on the bunk and not at all in the way.

She had half expected a combat robot to accompany it, but the machine was alone: the ship’s AI hadn’t caught her placing the gum.

When the hatch closed behind the robot she ran an ID.

Name: Bucky

Race: Robot.

Model: Service droid Mark II Rev b.

Level: 4

Class: Service and Maintenance

She focused on that class. It provided the loophole in Nelson’s standing orders that she had been hoping for. Most repair robots stationed aboard starships were civilian models, as the TSN could purchase them for much cheaper than their military equivalents. Nelson’s orders were: “you will not hack the ship, or any of the military robots.” So old Bucky here didn’t count.

Plus it was an older model. That gave her hope that her weak hacking skills would be enough.

This particular robot had a wireless access port, like most repair and maintenance robots. She accessed the remote interface and tried all the privilege escalation codes she had on hand for that particular bot.

The robot spun toward her. “Do not—”

She got in.

She interfaced with its mind, taking care to first isolate the robot from the ship’s AI, so that what she did next would not be logged.

“Where are the shutdown codes for my control chip located?” she asked mentally.

She wasn’t using sign language, gestures, or Galnet or chip-to-chip messaging. She wasn’t speaking to the robot. She was thinking to the robot. And it wasn’t done via the Galnet, or chip-to-chip, but chip-to-robot.

She hadn’t been entirely certain the control chip would allow for the chip-to-robot distinction, but a moment later the AI replied, also mentally: “I do not have access to that information.”

She couldn’t help but grin.

Yes, there are always workarounds if the commands are worded sloppily.

“Likely locations for the shutdown codes?” Lyra asked, continuing the mental conversation.

“There is a vault containing a holographic storage device in the admiral’s quarters,” the AI responded.

That wouldn’t work. First she’d have to convince the admiral to give her access to the vault. And then, once she had the holographic storage device, she’d have to ask Nelson to decrypt it. In her current state, she couldn’t go near either man.

“Do you have access to any military-grade mind dumps?” Lyra sent.

“I do,” the robot told her. “Copies are stored in the local cache aboard. Is there anything in particular you wish me to search for?”

“Download all information you have on the AIs of Decantium class ships,” Lyra said. “Specially, any dumps related to backdoors and other potential privilege escalation techniques. I need you to hack in and install a Trojan in a vulnerable subsystem. It has to be unnoticed.”

Another loophole in Nelson’s orders: she would not be the one hacking the ship. Bucky would.

“I’ll see what I can do,” the robot said.

“Good.” She had been working on the code for a Trojan to inject into the AI. Most of the larger subsystems contained antiviral code that would be impossible to breach, but something smaller, like the system responsible for the breach seals on a given deck, or the bay doors in a certain hangar, would be much easier.

Still, she knew it was a long shot. The odds of the robot successfully hacking into even a smaller subsystem were slim. It was the full-time job of specialists and AIs to ensure the different systems were kept up to date. But on such a large ship, with so many moving parts, there was always a chance something had been missed. Bucky would have to surreptitiously probe for vulnerabilities in multiple smaller subsystems until he finally found one, but once the robot got in, the task of gaining access to the exact subsystem she desired became a whole lot easier—her Trojan was specifically designed to escalate privileges within that subsystem after the initial cyber-penetration.

Lyra explained what she wanted the robot to do, and finished with: “If you’re able to achieve what I ask, I’ll also need you to deactivate my external transmitter at the same time, and disconnect me from all mixnets.” She couldn’t do it herself—her control chip denied her. “Also, I have an ID spoofing skill, but I can’t use that either, so I’ll need you to activate that skill for me a few seconds before the disconnect, as follows.” She sent her desired ID. “I’m also granting you remote access to my main chip so you can do all of this. Here are my codes.”

She listed off her access codes.

“Received,” Bucky sent.

“You may go,” Lyra told the robot. “In your repair report to the overarching AI, you will explain that the camera suffered from signal interruption due to overheating, and that you replaced the involved components.”

Bucky removed the gum from the pinpoint-sized camera lens and then left.

She watched the hatch shut behind it.

I’m getting out of here, one way or another.

* * *

Lyra replayed the video message her sister had sent. Lyra’s mind wandered as Gwenyth spoke of the more mundane aspects of her upcoming graduation party. Her sister was so very beautiful. And her voice, perhaps more so, if that were possible. She had had over a billion followers on her streaming channel, and whenever she had livestreamed one of her songs, the hearts of young men and women alike had stirred across the galaxy.

But she had given all of that up to follow in her older sister’s footsteps, joining the Volur at Fifteen. Only fifteen. Ordinarily that was too young, but she wanted it so badly… Lyra had helped her get in.

The odds had been stacked against her. First of all, the instructors didn’t feel someone so young was ready, and they always gave her the toughest tasks in the hopes she would fail. Second of all, many of the female teachers envied her beauty, while their male colleagues were convinced the other professors would go easy on her because of her looks and likability, so they all in turn made her life miserable.

But Gwenyth rose above it all and passed their tests, and eventually she won the hearts of the elders on the Triumvirate, not just with her charm and quick wit but with the dedication she brought to every task.

And so the Triumvirate had graduated her. The ceremony had only just finished, and she had sent that video message to Lyra, revealing her chosen profession for the first time.

Except the profession she had selected came as a complete surprise.

Her sister finished describing the minutiae of her upcoming grad party, and her face became somber. Lyra listened intently once more.

“Theolus believes the Bender of Worlds has been born,” her sister said. Theolus was one of their teachers, a man rumored to be so in tune with the Essence that he could sense disturbances throughout the galaxy. Some claimed he could feel when the Hammerglorung arrived in our universe, for example: that inter-dimensional warship the dwellers used to stage their surprise attacks. “I’m going to find this World Bender and I’m going to protect him or her. I’m going to become a warmancer.”

Those words changed Lyra’s life.

Every Essencework Lyra had learned thus far had been in furtherance of her goal of becoming a healer. When she found out she had the ability to Siphon, she had set her sights slightly higher than becoming a veterinarian. She had wanted to become the most powerful healer in all the galaxy. Someone who people would visit from far and wide so that she could mend what ailed them. It was a difficult path, because at the more advanced levels of Wound Healing, one couldn’t simply receive a nanotech injection to rise in skill, as there were no brain dumps that went that high. It would probably take forty or fifty years to attain the mastery she sought.

But the safety of her young sister was paramount, and far more important than some foolish, perhaps unattainable dream. She remembered when she had thrown her body over Dobbie, wanting to squelch the flames and protect her little cat from the world. Now she wanted only to do the same for her sister.

Lyra was the one who had helped Gwenyth join the Volur. She was responsible for her. And now that she was becoming a warmancer, Lyra knew that the only way to truly protect Gwenyth would be to get assigned to the same division.

To do that, she had to give up her dream of becoming a healer.

She must learn war.

* * *

Lyra spent the next while waiting in her compartment. Waiting, and hoping that the maintenance robot would complete its programming. When the second hour rolled around and still nothing had happened, she began to wonder if Bucky had been caught attempting to hack in.

But finally an alert appeared on her HUD.

Spoofing activated. Name and class changed externally.

Her contact list went dark a moment later, as did the overhead map. She sat up. Her external transmitter had shut down. She was disconnected from all mixnets, and thus protected from any new orders: simply hearing Nelson’s voice over the intercom wouldn’t cut it, not while she was out of range of the controller.

The alarm sounded. Fire-retardant foam spewed from the sprinkler and in moments she was covered in a thick layer of white.

“Warning, emergency, deck three, compartment G-five,” the AI’s voice said. “Dispatching fire-fighting drones. Remain clear of passageways three-B-one and three-D-one.”

She smiled. It was time.

Lyra stood up and walked to the hatch. When it opened, since it was an emergency, her control chip allowed her to step from the compartment and into the passageway outside.

Almost there.

* * *

Lyra sat inside the cabin of the Volur war shuttle, dressed in a military-grade spacesuit. Beside her was her sister, also suited up. There were others with them, some wearing glowing armored robes with Enclosure Mode active, their hoods fronted by glass panes. There were warmancers among them, both ranged and hand-to-hand, as well as healers, shapists, and distorters.

All of them resided within one of the ten Volur war shuttles that flew toward the Hammerglorung, pride of the dweller fleet. An hour earlier, Theolus had sensed the arrival of that flagship and quickly determined the source of the galactic disturbance. The waiting Volur mothership had jumped to the pinpointed system; the vessel had arrived rather far away from the dweller flagship, but the shuttles were launched anyway—the hulls of each were made of Chrysalium, and the distorters aboard were able to make line-of-sight jumps to convey them more rapidly toward their shared target.

The mission of these Volur shock troops was to board the inter-dimensional flagship and destroy it by any means necessary.

The distorters in each shuttle eventually ceased jumping, saving their stamina for the final planned jump. The shuttles continued forward under standard propulsion.

They closed within firing range of the enemy flagship’s point defenses.

On the tactical display overlaying her vision, Lyra saw one of the ten shuttles wink out, struck by said point defenses. Another shuttle vanished.

Lyra reached out and wrapped her fingers around Gwenyth’s gloved hand. Her sister squeezed back, tightly.

Gwenyth forced a smile behind her faceplate and spoke on a private line. “I’m so glad you’re at my side. I don’t think I could do this, otherwise.”

Lyra smiled sadly. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone, then. Maybe I shouldn’t have become a warmonger…

No. Her sister would have gone anyway, despite her words.

“We’ll get through this,” Lyra said. But she didn’t know how. They all knew the chances of surviving the mission were essentially zero. Which was why it had broken Lyra’s heart when Gwenyth had volunteered. And when her sister had done that, signed on for this hopeless mission, Lyra knew she would have to go, too.

I will protect her, somehow. If anyone survives this, it must be her.

When another shuttle disappeared from the tactical display, Lyra began to wonder if any of them would even reach the flagship.

But then Mac, their distorter, made the final jump, and carried the shuttle through all of the incoming point-defense bolts.

The cabin floor shook violently. At first Lyra thought they were hit, but when none of the occupants were sucked into the void, she realized they had survived the first part of the mission.

“Attachment to enemy hull is complete,” the shuttle’s AI announced. “Prepare for boarding.”

* * *

Chase stumbled through the passageways, returning from his visit to the illegal distillery. Nothing like a few good glasses of rotgut to start one’s day. He glanced at the time, wondering how long had he been gone.

Whoa. Two hours.

“Chancery Smith, your bloodstream is showing elevated blood alcohol levels,” the ship’s AI said. Officially, it was named Bunt. But most of the crew called it Brownnose because of its obsequious behavior toward the senior officers.

“I love how you make it seem each of us is getting your complete and undivided attention, Brownnose,” Chase said. “When in fact, you’re probably talking to ten other people aboard, as well as micromanaging hundreds of your own subsystems at this very moment.”

“Don’t change the subject,” the AI said.

“Yeah, okay, blood alcohol levels,” Chase said. “My chip’s obviously malfunctioning. I’ll have it looked at later today.”

“If your chip is malfunctioning, why are you walking so oddly?” the ship’s AI asked.

Chase made an effort to walk more evenly. “Looks like I’m walking normally to me.” He hiccuped.

“Your commanding officer wishes to speak with you at oh nine hundred,” the AI said.

He’s not my commanding officer, Chase wanted to say. Instead: “Great. Thanks for that.”

The AI didn’t answer.

Chase continued on his way, doing his best to walk in a straight line. The sudden anger he felt helped.

Yes, he was fuming inside. He blamed the CO, and the entire military in general, for the loss of the Darkslayers at Sigma 231. Major Gregory Mason was the name of that CO. He’d ordered the brave men and women of Second Platoon ahead of the high value target, to a particular area of Durahepte City where intel suggested said target might flee during the attempted capture.

But the target never came, choosing a different route in his flight from the TSN.

Instead, the kraals came.

At first the Darkslayers successfully fended them off, and for a while it seemed the platoon would escape. They performed a tactical retrograde, slowly retreating toward the main company. But the platoon members quickly became exhausted: the kraals just kept coming. Captain Grahms begged for reinforcements, but the Major refused the request, saying all units were occupied in the hunt for the high value. By the time reinforcements finally arrived, Chase was the last man standing, covered in the blood of his brothers and sisters, and half delirious.

Chase stumbled again. He decided to forgo any further efforts to hide his inebriation.

Hell with it. The AI already reported me.

The Major had essentially sacrificed the platoon. And for what? To capture the same man who had helped them defeat an entire dweller fleet. That was how the TSN repaid those who came to their aid. Oh, the irony wasn’t lost on Chase.

Help the TSN and your reward is infinite servitude.

The ship was abuzz with rumors about that man. Some called him a freak of nature, this individual who could create intact Branchworks from the massive amount of Essence starship hulls provided, without need of a guiding AI.

Others called him the World Bender. He who wielded both the White and Dark.

But if the World Bender had truly come, the TSN should have been working with him, not trying to capture him to satisfy the whims of their Paramount Leader.

Yes, Chase was done.

When his enlistment contract was over, he had no plans to renew it. Too bad that wasn’t for another five years. You couldn’t just quit once you were on active duty. Otherwise a whole lot of soldiers would desert whenever combat situations came up.

Yes, infinite servitude.

Well, five years wasn’t infinite. Assuming he lasted that long. After what happened to the Darkslayers, he wasn’t so sure anymore. They had been taught that no man or woman was left behind. But Chase realized that only meant as long as the Paramount Leader’s operational goals were first met. In the Paramount Leader’s eyes, they were all expendable.

He thought of the Volur woman. Lyra Glorandriel was her name, according to her public profile. Chase sympathized with her. The rumor mill said she was the World Bender’s friend; if that was true, the TSN would never let her go. They’d use her up and once they were done with her, they’d toss her dried and desiccated corpse out with the garbage.

Just like they did to the Darkslayers. My forsaken brothers and sisters...

He made his way back to the deck that housed his new temporary quarters. He wasn’t sure why the major had roomed him with the Volur. In his counseling sessions, when he’d asked about it, the medical AIs told him he would remain there until he could be assigned to a new unit. They explained that it was best not to reside in his old berthing compartment—too many memories. He could agree with that: when he’d gone to empty out his storage locker, he’d bawled his eyes out.

As he rounded the bend to his quarters, the fire alarm went off.

What the—

“Warning, emergency, deck three, compartment G-five,” Brownnose’s voice came from the intercom overhead. “Dispatching fire-fighting drones. Remain clear of passageways three-B-one and three-D-one.”

Ahead, the door to his compartment opened, and a figure draped in white foam emerged. It had to be Lyra, but when he ran an ID, he got a random name.

He ducked from view as she glanced his way, and then he slowly emerged when she headed away from him toward the deck’s evacuation station. She left a trail of foam behind her.

Good for her.

He didn’t want to report this, but Brownnose had probably already noted his presence. There would be questions. Still, he could claim he didn’t know who she was, since he couldn’t see her face, nor ID her. He’d just pretend he hadn’t noticed her emerge from his quarters.

If the major asked why he hadn’t actually checked inside the compartment, he’d just repeat what the AI was currently barking overhead. “I was told to remain clear of passageways three-B-one and three-D-one.”

He turned around and made his way back toward the distillery.

* * *

Lyra and Gwenyth led the charge aboard the Hammerglorung. They were like a pair of deadly Valkyries as they brandished their beam hilts, their bright white Essence axes hewing through the environmental suits of any aliens in their path. They launched Essence Missiles to defeat laser turret emplacements. They carved through breach seals, allowing the hydrocarbons to gush past, the liquid desublimating and vaporizing into the ever expanding void they created as they cut their way deeper into the enemy ship.

But then in one of the spacious cargo bays they were confronted by a dweller larger and more powerful than all the rest. It was a Graaz’dhen Amaranth, and it led a fist of alien warriors. Wielding a C’havar, dweller equivalent to a beam hilt, it towered over them and shot out smears of death, killing some of the more exhausted members of her unit outright. It physically slammed others into the bulkheads on either side, smashing their faceplates. Meanwhile its linked minions attacked the unit from the flanks.

Lyra and Gwenyth fought valiantly against the creature and its warriors, along with the other Volurs. But then Gwenyth dropped her guard for the shortest of moments, and the big dweller cut through her chest with its black pole-ax.

As the others pushed back the dweller and its cohorts, Lyra hurtled Air Current into her sister’s breached chest assembly, forcing the torn fabric of the spacesuit closed and restoring some pressure to the inner environment. She retrieved the suit repair kit from the cargo pocket in her leg assembly and hastily applied several patches before releasing the Air Current.

“Lyra…” Gwenyth transmitted.

“I need Mantis!” Lyra shouted over the comm. That was the unit’s healer.

“He’s been shot down!” someone replied.

That settled it. Lyra would have to do it.

But she was drained. Extremely so. She would have to link.

“Tarawin, come here!” she commanded.

As the others continued to drive back the large dweller and its warriors, a woman in an armored robe came to her.

“Link with me,” Lyra ordered.

Tarawin extended a gauntleted hand and Lyra grabbed it with her glove. Their combined Essence Linking level was high enough that the two of them could reach through the fabrics of their respective hand gear to achieve the connection.

Essence flooded inside Lyra as the link completed, though she was still extremely weary.

Lyra began growing the Branchwork for Wound Healing. She hadn’t created that particular work in years, and yet the necessary knowledge came to her as if it had only been yesterday since she had last used it.

As the healing apparatus formed before her—an immense branching tree of life—she knew this would be her greatest work yet.

“It’s up to you to complete my task,” Gwenyth said. “Find the World Bender.”

“Stay with me,” Lyra said.

“Protect… him.” Gwenyth closed her eyes.

“Stay with me!” Lyra allowed the extensive healing work to partially set in this universe, and lowered it onto her sister.

But it was too late.

The Essencework was met only with the cold of death.

She tried again and again, feeding more Essence into the work, making the tree ever bigger, but it didn’t help.

Gwenyth was gone.

I couldn’t protect her in time.

Lyra slumped over the body and wept.

* * *

Covered in foam, Lyra made her way through the passageway toward the evacuation station of this deck. A crew member passed her and gave her an odd look, but her face would have been hidden by the foam so he would have no idea who she really was.

She reached the evacuation station and rushed into one of the escape pods. As the alarm continued in the background, she shut the hatch behind her, lowered the restraining bar, and hit the eject button.

It didn’t work.

She tried again.

Still nothing.

The alarm stopped.

She slammed her fist into the eject button in agonizing defeat.

The hatch opened.

Nelson stood in the passageway outside, flanked by Xescartes on one side, and several armed scepters the other.

“It seems we’ll be relocating you to the brig,” Nelson said. “Once there, we’ll have the implantation robots perform some tweaks to your control chip. We’re going to lock your mind down so tight, for all intents and purposes you’ll be more machine than human.” He smiled smugly. “We can’t have you running away just yet. Not when the Bender of Worlds has agreed to trade himself for you. Now then, come here.”

Lyra wanted to scream. She wanted to leap upon the man and tear off his head. She wanted to unleash a barrage of Essence Missiles into him and the Volur and turn their bodies into bloody pulps. Did they not know who she was? Did they not know what she was capable of?

Instead, she meekly obeyed.

31

Under the cover of darkness, Tane and Gia helped Jed toward the rooftop stairwell shed. They gave him their shoulders to use as crutches, and held his arms splayed over the backs of their necks. They’d removed their spacesuit helmets, but still wore the main assemblies, mostly for the strength boost—Jed wasn’t a light man. Tane wore his blurring cap just to be on the safe side, since G’allanthamas hadn’t applied a blurring sphere.

Sinive led the way to the shed, also wearing her spacesuit but with the helmet removed and tucked under one arm, mostly because she hadn’t yet had time to change—she’d been resting all day, recovering from her interstellar jump. Like Tane, she wore her blurring cap.

G’allanthamas meanwhile waited next to the shed ahead. It was obvious he couldn’t fit. He’d raised a blurring sphere around himself at least.

Gia had rented one of the shipyard’s shuttles to bring her to the short-term rental tower. It had taken two trips, since they couldn’t all fit inside the shuttle at the same time. The first trip was made by G’allanthamas. The second by Tane and the others. They landed directly on the tower’s rooftop, with the shuttle depositing them on the landing pad there.

“So how do you plan to get inside?” Sinive asked the alien when she reached the shed.

“I don’t,” G’allanthamas replied.

“What, you’re going to stay on the roof the whole time?” Sinive pressed.

“Not exactly,” G’allanthamas said. “I peered over the four edges of the building to examine the exterior walls. Specifically, the balconies attached to them. I believe I can enter via one of the patios, so you’ll have to ensure my suite has a balcony. I’ll need you to melt away the windows for me, unless you want me to wake the neighbors with the sound of breaking glass.”

“We’ll melt the windows,” Tane said.

Sinive went to the door at the top of the shed and began her hack. A moment later it clicked open.

She sent Tane the blueprints of the rooms she’d picked out, and he confirmed that all of them had balconies. He helped Jed down the stairs, and paused at the stairwell door that led to the first room.

“Take care of Jed,” Tane told Sinive. “I’ll let Gall in.”

Sinive took his place underneath Jed and helped Gia carry the Volur through the door and into the corridor beyond. Jed would be sharing his room with Gia so that she could take care of him. Sinive, Tane, and G’allanthamas meanwhile each had their own rooms. As usual, their suites were all next to one another, except for the dweller’s: G’allanthamas boarded on the floor below.

Tane took the steps to the next floor and exited the stairwell. At the dweller’s room, he used the check-in passcode Sinive gave him. Inside, he quickly rearranged the furniture: he ripped off the bedspreads and leaned the mattresses and their frames against the walls, clearing out the center of the room for the dweller. There was no robot assistant installed in the suite, Tane noted.

He went to the balcony and opened the glass sliding door—it wasn’t big enough for G’allanthamas to enter.

He retrieved his D18 from his storage pouch, enabled quiet mode, and with a few shots melted through the panes as well as the frame section that ran down the middle of the sliding door. Sinive had already disabled alerts for that particular room, so the building’s AI wouldn’t register the damage.

When it was done, he paused to survey his handiwork. The dweller should fit, but it would be tight.

He stepped onto the balcony and sent a call request to G’allanthamas. The dweller answered, voice only.

“There you are,” G’allanthamas said. “I was beginning to worry you’d forgotten me. Leaving me alone, stranded in the heart of a human city, surrounded by your filthy brethren, who all want to kill me.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Tane said. “And besides, they don’t want to kill you. At least not the civilians.”

“Oh no?” the dweller said. “Then they want to capture me, so that they can showcase me to the galaxy in one of their menageries.”

“Yeah okay, anyway your suite is located on the south side of the building,” Tane said. “I’m standing on the balcony. I’ll wave at you. I assume you have your Night Vision active?”

“I certainly do,” the dweller told him. “I don’t travel anywhere in the dark without it.”

Tane waved toward the rooftop and the alien appeared overhead. G’allanthamas crawled down the exterior of the building, using balcony railings and the occasional pipe or conduit that ran between them for purchase. For such a big creature, the dweller could certainly climb nimbly, even while inside a bulky environmental suit.

G’allanthamas slipped once, landing with a loud thud on one of the balconies; he quickly cleared out when the light went on inside the associated room, and hid underneath as a human figure came outside and peered over the edge.

When the figure vacated the balcony and the light turned off, G’allanthamas continued his descent.

Tane entered the room and moved to the far side, near the bathroom, and watched G’allanthamas pull himself through with difficulty.

Once the alien was inside, he skittered into the area Tane had cleared and promptly plopped his carapace onto the floor. He spread out his eight legs and extended his tentacles in apparent relief.

“Well, it’s not as crowded as the cargo bay, but it’s still bad,” G’allanthamas said. “I’ll never get how you humans can stand to domicile within such tiny domains.”

“Uh, because we’re smaller than you?” Tane said.

“Even so, I’ll take the free steppe over a tin can any day,” G’allanthamas said.

“Good night, Gall,” Tane told his friend.

“G’night, Doomwielder,” the dweller responded.

Tane lingered at the door.

“Something bothering you, Doomwielder?” G’allanthamas said.

“In fact, there is,” Tane said. He turned to face the alien. “I didn’t have time to think about it earlier, what with the TSN and the dwellers breathing down our throats. But now that we’ve arrived, and finally have a chance to relax, it’s come back to me.”

“What has?” the alien said.

Tane peered through the glass dome at the top of the environmental suit and into that sideways-oriented head beyond.

“What did you mean earlier, when you said, ‘there is another threat coming?’” Tane asked.

“Ah,” G’allanthamas replied. “That.” He was silent for a moment. “It is too early. You’re not ready to face them.”

“Face who?” Tane said.

The dweller didn’t answer.

“Tell me,” Tane said. “I have to know. I have to prepare.”

The alien remained silent for long moments. Just when Tane was about to give up and leave:

“The Hated TSN has been keeping a secret from the rest of humanity,” G’allanthamas said. “They have seen the evidence. I’m sure they have. My contacts among the Cre’ite have confirmed as much, via their electronic eavesdropping.”

“And what is this secret?” Tane said.

“Stars have been vanishing coreward,” the dweller said. “So far, no human systems have been affected. But we dwellers have lost two suns.”

“How could a sun vanish?” Tane said.

“Massive distortion tunnels open in front of their galactic orbits,” G’allanthamas said. “Usually, distortion tunnels match the orbital speed of the systems they are created within. But not these. They are stationary, relative to the stars, existing on some higher, absolute coordinate system. The suns fly straight into them and the distortion tunnels close.”

“Who would want to steal a star?” Tane asked.

“We don’t know,” G’allanthamas said. “But our scientists have long theorized that a race of technologically advanced aliens exists within the massive black hole at the center of our galaxy. We call them the Z’Antamaraan. The Gravity Born. Our scientists have noticed that the mass of the galactic core has been steadily increasing over the past thousand years. As have the surrounding stars trapped within its event horizon. At least ten new stars appear per year, though the number has been accelerating in recent times. It’s almost like they’re gathering those stars, purposely adding to the mass at the galactic center. Why? We don’t know. But if that gathering continues at its present pace, eventually there will be no stars left outside the galactic core. And neither dweller, nor human, will survive.”

“So while we humans and dwellers have been warring against one another, a third enemy, perhaps the deadliest of all, has been stealthily attacking from the sidelines,” Tane mused.

“Yes,” G’allanthamas said. “That is the threat I spoke of. In the Doomwielder prophecies, specific mention is made of the Z’Antamaraan. That you will either save us from them, or accelerate our demise at their hands.”

“Wonderful,” Tane said. “And let me guess, your prophecies don’t mention how I’m supposed to do the saving?”

“No,” the dweller said.

“I can see why you didn’t want to tell me,” Tane said.

G’allanthamas intertwined three of his tentacles in a gesture that Tane interpreted as dismissive. “As I mentioned, you’re not ready to face the Z’Antamaraan.”

Not only was Tane not ready, he wasn’t sure it was even his problem. He didn’t owe the galaxy anything. Besides, all he really cared about at the moment was saving Lyra and Nebb. He would pay back his debts to them. And once Lyra healed Jed, they’d all part ways. That meant leaving Sinive behind, too. It was probably for the best that he and she had had their little falling out, even if he still had no idea what caused it.

Tane left G’allanthamas and proceeded to his own quarters. When he shut the door behind him, he received a call from Jed.

“I’ve settled in,” Jed said. “And sent the message to the TSN. Now we wait for the response.”

“Is Gia there?” Tane asked.

“Yes,” Jed responded.

“When is she going to take the shuttle back to the Mosaic to move the ship outside the city?”

“She doesn’t have to,” Jed said. “Gia left orders with Muse to fly the Mosaic past the city outskirts as soon as repairs finish later tonight. Muse will park it in the forest outside.”

“Oh, okay then,” Tane said.

“I’ll let you know as soon as I hear back from the TSN,” Jed said. “Until then, sleep well Engineer. Tomorrow will likely be a big day.”

“I’ll do my best,” Tane said. “By the way, are you sure you’ll be able to make it through another night with that infection?”

“I’ll have to,” Jed said. “Gia is keeping me under observation. The microcrillia are still spreading extremely slowly. I have to thank you once again for what you did.”

“You’re welcome,” Tane said. “I just wish I could have cured you entirely.”

“So do I,” Jed said, and disconnected.

So, it was time to wait for the TSN to take the bait.

They must know I’m going to try something. That I won’t surrender freely.

Then again, maybe they truly believed he’d give himself up to them without a fight. If so, they would be in for a surprise.

Like the dweller’s suite, Tane’s didn’t have a robot assistant. He realized that probably none of the rental units did. That was actually good. It meant he wouldn’t have to worry about an AI spying on him or his companions.

Tane stripped out of his spacesuit and bundled it up into a single inventory item using the cord he kept for that purpose. Then he removed the armored robe, and the gauntlets, and set them down on the floor next to the wall in case he needed to dress in a hurry. He decided to keep wearing most of his other Chrysalium accessories.

When that was done, he lay back on the bed in his underclothes. He tried to sleep, but it seemed impossible. He’d basically been resting for the past little while anyway.

He rubbed his eyes. Now that he was out of the Umbra, Sinive dominated almost every thought. He wanted to make things right between them while he still had a chance.

But making things right just didn’t seem possible.

He glanced at his overhead map: Sinive was located in her room. He pulled up her name on his contact list, and hovered over the call button. But he chickened out at the last moment and quickly closed the interface.

She wouldn’t want to talk to him anyway. Why would she?

Man, he wanted her so badly. But there were other options available to him. He could have her virtually if he really wanted to, for example: his chip had taken enough samples of her features and expressions by now that the deep learning algorithm could easily place her face on any VR porn stars he downloaded. He just wished he’d gotten his chip database update before their previous sexual encounter. He would have killed to have the whole session archived.

Wait, what the hell am I doing?

He didn’t have to be that undersexed engineer anymore, the one who had to rely on VR porn to satisfy his needs. He was a different person than the kid who had left behind that hydroponics farm. He was a man. The Bender of Worlds. If anyone could make things right with Sinive, it was him.

He glanced at his overhead map once more and stared at her indicator. Even though she had rested all day, she was probably still a bit tired from the latest jump. He probably shouldn’t bother her.

And yet he couldn’t help but feel this might be the last chance he’d ever have to talk to her. He could die tomorrow, assuming the TSN agreed to the swap. She might die herself.

No, he’d never allow that.

I have to do this. I don’t want us going into battle with grudges.

He made his way to her room and knocked before he could think about it.

“What do you want?” Sinive said through the door’s speaker, without opening it.

“Only to talk,” Tane said.

“About?”

He hesitated, then: “I’m here to make things right between us. Tomorrow, we’re going to risk our lives. This could be the last chance I have to do this. I don’t want to die, without—”

But the door opened then. Sinive stood before him, wearing her white dress, looking so lovely. “Come in. We’ll talk.”

Tane entered and shut the door behind him. She had two double beds in her suite, and he sat on the bed that was still immaculately made. Sinive meanwhile lounged on the messed up bed across from him.

“So you were saying?” Sinive pressed. “You don’t want to die without... what?”

“Without telling you I’m sorry for whatever it is I did,” Tane said. “I messed up. I don’t know how. And I’m sorry.”

She sighed. “You didn’t do anything.”

“What do you mean?” Tane said. “Then why were you avoiding me all this time?”

“I don’t know,” Sinive said. “It seemed like you were avoiding me, too, though.”

“That’s only because I thought you didn’t want to talk to me,” Tane said.

“Silly Outrimmer, of course I wanted to talk to you.” Sinive closed her eyes and shook her head before gazing at him once more. “But you’re right. Yes, I was avoiding you. I was a little ashamed about what I’d done. A part of me still looked at you as a client. We were transporting you aboard the Red Grizzly after all. And Nebb has a rule: never sleep with a client. But I realize now, you’re not a client. You never were. The Volur were the clients.”

“Is that it?” Tane said. He shook his head. “All this time I thought I’d done something wrong.”

“Well, and if I’m being honest, I also felt a little slutty about what I did,” Sinive said.

Tane felt his eyes widen. “Slutty? How so?”

“Probably too strong of a word,” Sinive said. “I only meant I felt like I gave it up too fast. We haven’t known each other all that long, after all.”

“But it seems a lifetime,” Tane said.

“It does,” Sinive admitted. “Chalk it up to everything we’ve been through, I guess.” She gazed into his eyes. There was longing there, he thought. “You know, I stole that Chrysalium statue from the peddler because I wanted to get your attention. It was my cry for help. I wanted to get some sort of rise out of you, because I wanted you back, and didn’t know how to get through to you. I shut you out, and I guess I was surprised that you shut me out in return. I’m not sure what I was expecting… maybe that you’d fight even harder for me. And when you didn’t, stealing that statue was my way of not only getting your attention, but hurting you at the same time, weird as that sounds.”

“No, it’s not weird,” Tane said. “It did hurt. Because I care about you, and your principles, and I don’t want you doing things like that.”

“See, that’s the response I was looking for,” Sinive said. She looked down. “I’m actually very sorry for doing it. I guess it doesn’t help that Nebb’s lax morals have been rubbing off on me. That and the fact we’ve been looting shops in the Umbra.”

“But when you loot the Umbra it doesn’t affect anything in our universe,” Tane said. “It doesn’t hurt the shopkeepers.”

“I know,” Sinive said. “I’m never going to do something like that again. I’m better than that.”

“You are,” Tane said.

She looked at him and smiled sadly. “So then, now that we’ve got that over with… what about us?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is there a chance for us?” she said.

“I—” Tane swallowed. “Of course there is. There was always a chance.”

“But you’re the mighty Bender of Worlds,” Sinive said. “The Doomwielder. That’s another reason I’ve been avoiding you. I didn’t feel worthy. You could have any woman you want. Why me?”

“Don’t put yourself down,” Tane said. “Of course you’re worthy of me. A woman fit for the Bender of Worlds. I wouldn’t have any other. You’re the only one I want.”

She grinned widely, her eyes so very radiant. “You really mean that?”

“Absolutely,” Tane said. “More than I’ve ever meant anything.”

Her smile sweetened, and she gave him a puppy dog look. “I think I’m falling for you, World Bender.”

It was his turn to grin. “To you I’ll always be Tane. Just Tane. Or Outrimmer if you prefer.”

“Tane works.” She sat up on her bed and leaned forward, slightly closing the gap between them. Her gaze dropped to his lips.

Tane didn’t miss the cue. He promptly switched to her bed and kissed her deeply. He’d missed her touch, and she had obviously missed his in turn, judging from the frantic way her lips clung to his. He returned her kisses almost desperately. They clawed off each other’s clothes.

Tane stayed with her all that night. He made love to her in bed, in the shower, and in bed again, until finally he fell into an exhausted sleep.

He awoke late that morning. Sunlight was streaming in from the edge of the sealed curtain.

He glanced at Sinive, who slept like a beautiful doll beside him. He still couldn’t believe she was his. That he had held her all that night. He glanced at his HUD, half expecting to find some level up notification regarding his sexual abilities, but there wasn’t one.

He preferred it that way.

The chip makers need to stay out of the bedroom.

Sinive was pressed against his side as she slept, with one arm wrapped across his naked chest. He leaned forward to kiss her cute-as-a-button face.

The moment his lips made contact with hers, her eyes shot open. She yanked her head back and slammed a hand over her mouth and nose, blocking him.

He stared at her, slightly shocked. Was she going to pull her hot and cold routine all over again?

She lifted her palm enough to say: “Don’t kiss me!”

“Why?”

“Morning breath,” she replied.

“Mine or yours?”

“Mine!” Sinive said.

Tane slumped in relief. That was all it was. He couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I don’t care, Ms. Stinky Breath.” Tane gently shoved at her hand. She resisted at first, but finally let him move her palm aside. And he kissed her.

Hmm. She definitely had morning breath. He ignored it, kissing her passionately, but was careful not to give her any tongue.

When he pulled away, she smiled sweetly. “You’re too good to be true.”

“As are you,” Tane said.

“I don’t want this moment to end,” Sinive said. “Maybe the TSN won’t call today.”

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Tane said.

He gazed at her fondly, wanting to take her again, but then a call notification appeared on his HUD.

“I got Jed on the line,” Tane said.

With a sigh, he extricated himself from her and sat up.

That morning breath of hers had left a pungent, lingering aftertaste. He lightly touched his tongue against the roof of his mouth a few times, trying to clear the flavor, but it didn’t help.

Maybe next time I’ll have to listen to her warning.

Somehow, he doubted he would.

Tane answered the call, voice-only.

“Hey Jed,” Tane said. “What’s up, are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Jed said. “Relatively. The TSN finally replied. They’ve agreed to the exchange, and to my proposed time and place. In three hours, they’ll meet us at the park I picked out in the downtown core.”

Tane’s heart beat as the dread of anticipation filled him. “All right. Thanks. I’ll call you back.”

He disconnected and glanced at Sinive. “Jed says the swap will take place in three hours.”

Sinive’s serene expression became grim. She sat up, and covered her breasts with the bed sheet. Her eyes seemed distant. “So we fight today after all.” Her attention snapped back to the here and now, and she looked at him and announced: “I’m taking a shower.”

“But you took one last night with me,” Tane quipped.

“I know,” Sinive said. “But that didn’t count. It wasn’t really a shower. We just sort of stood in the sonic stream and didn’t really clean ourselves, but rather made each other dirty, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh, I know what you mean,” Tane said sarcastically.

She made a turning gesture with her finger.

“What?” Tane said.

“Turn around,” Sinive said.

“But I’ve already seen you naked,” Tane said. “Multiple times.”

“Yes, but in dim light,” Sinive said.

“It’s dim now,” Tane said.

“I’m shy,” Sinive said.

“Really...”

The curtains swung wide open and bright sunlight from outside streamed in, blinding him. She must have accessed the curtains remotely.

“It’s not dim anymore,” Sinive said.

Tane got the hint and finally turned around.

She hurried to the bathroom with the sheet wrapped around her and shut the door.

Three hours.

He wasn’t sure he’d be ready. Sinive would go with him, and potentially Gia. But not Jed, of course. And there was no way G’allanthamas could make it, not during the daylight. Yes, three hours from now simply wouldn’t work.

Tane called back Jed.

“Engineer,” Jed said in greeting.

Tane dove right in to his concern. “Is there any way we can make the meeting tonight? After dark? That way we can bring Gall along?”

“I considered that,” Jed said. “But decided the TSN was much less likely to enact a treaty violation in broad daylight, what with the recording devices of thousands of nearby citizens active and watching. In fact I insisted on daylight, whereas they were the ones requesting a nighttime rendezvous.”

“I see,” Tane said. “But we’ll need Gall. Especially since you won’t be there. He’s a high level worker of the Dark…”

“He’ll still be coming, don’t you worry,” Jed said. “I’d like you to come down here to talk about it. We’ll also discuss potential strategies, and what to expect. Gia has some ideas as well. She believes we can involve the Mosaic. I’d also like to give you a detailed virtual walk-through of the swap site.”

“I’ll get down there as soon as I can,” Tane said.

Jed remained silent on the line. Tane was about to ask him if there was anything else when the Volur spoke again.

“I noticed your indicator remained in Sinive’s room throughout all of last night,” Jed said. “In fact, it still resides there at this very moment.”

“Er, I was, um, discussing potential tactics for the mission,” Tane said.

“Indeed?” Jed said. “All night?”

“Yes, er,” Tane said. “It was a long brainstorming session.”

“And did these tactical discussions bear fruit?”

“Oh yeah, we came up with a lot of workable ideas,” Tane said. His face was bright crimson by then. He was glad Jed couldn’t see it.

“I’m sure you did. I look forward to hearing all about them when you get here.” Jed paused. “Is it a good idea to be sleeping with her, Engineer?”

“I...” Tane suddenly felt the urge to go on the defensive. “You should talk… what about Gia? I know you slept with her aboard the Mosaic. And you can’t tell me that was a good idea.”

“Point taken,” Jed said. “But it’s even more problematic for you.”

“How so?” Tane asked.

“You’re the World Bender,” Jed said. “Your friends, and especially your lovers, can be used against you. You’ll have to keep a close eye on her, not just now, but probably for the rest of your days.”

“I intend to do just that, thank you.”

“I meant no offense, Engineer,” Jed said. “I’m only looking out for you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Tane still had that lingering aftertaste in his mouth as he talked, and he was almost regretting convincing Sinive to let him kiss her. “By the way, do you have any mints you can lend me?”

Jed sounded puzzled when he answered. “Mints?”

* * *

Tane visited the bedridden Jed with Sinive to make final preparations before the planned swap. The Volur seemed worse than when Tane had parted with him the night before: the dark veins had progressed across his chest, reaching all the way up to his collarbone region. But he still seemed lucid.

They discussed the rescue operation in detail: Jed walked Tane through a virtual representation of the chosen site, with data gleaned directly from the Galnet Maps application. He went over the probable locations for Lyra, Nebb and the Red Grizzly during the swap, as well as what kind of troops and formations to expect from the TSN. Sinive corroborated the latter with knowledge pulled from her own military background. Gia, seated beside Jed, also offered her own insights, along with suggestions as to where and when the Mosaic could come into play.

“What do we do if the TSN break their treaty with the Mautauraen?” Tane asked at one point. “And they bring more than the one transport ship? Or fill it to the brim with Essenceworkers? Maybe it’s worth it to risk war for the TSN, if it means they’ll have a better chance of capturing me.”

“Because of the location I picked, you’ll be able to survey the rendezvous site from afar before committing to the rescue,” Jed said. “If they bring more forces than agreed, or they’re all Essenceworkers, you’ll simply turn back. And I’ll send them a message that the deal is off. We’ll try again on another planet, and next time they’ll abide by our rules. I guarantee you.”

“What if we can’t tell who’s an Essenceworker and who isn’t?” Tane pressed.

“Oh, you’ll be able to tell,” Sinive said. “Most of the TSN Essenceworkers can’t wear power armor. And those that can wear it are all the hand-to-hand type, like Jed. The rest wear armored robes, similar to Volurs. Remember, TSN Essenceworkers are weaker in the Essence than you are.”

“But Chrysalium gear can boost their strength to near equal levels,” Jed commented.

“Sure, but it’s expensive,” Sinive said. “I still think they’ll be stuffing their ranks to the brim with combat robots. Only because it’s so much more cost effective.”

“I thought they agreed to limit the number of soldiers present for the swap to sixteen?” Gia said.

Jed nodded. “Yes, but they’ll probably bring more. I’d do it. Enough to stay within treaty boundaries. A hundred.”

“They’ll keep them aboard and in reserve,” Tane said. “Ready to send them out when I inevitably betray them. So it won’t be as easy as turning back after a quick survey of the site from afar.”

“Perhaps not,” Jed said. “But the Mosaic will be lying in reserve nearby as well. Ready to fire dragons into the square if need-be.”

“Assuming the city’s security forces don’t shoot her down in the process,” Tane said. He sighed. “It’s a simple plan. Maybe too simple.”

“Those are the best plans,” Jed said. “Too many moving parts and there’s a much greater chance of failure.”

“What if the Mautauraen decide they want to capture him, too, while we’re out there?” Gia asked, nodding toward Tane. “They must have heard about the World Bender by now…”

“You’ll have to take the usual precautions,” Jed replied. “Blurring your facial features, and maintaining your spoofed IDs. Use the caps I purchased for you on Sigma 231.”

“Do you have a cap?” Tane asked Gia.

In answer, she reached into her storage pouch and produced one. She set it on her head.

“Good,” Tane said.

Gia looked at Jed. “What are we going to do about their armor situation?”

“I plan to wear an armored robe,” Tane said.

Gia glanced at Sinive. “What about you?”

Sinive tugged at her white dress. “This is my armor.”

Gia frowned.

“Where’s yours?” Sinive pressed.

Gia was wearing her usual clingy, midriff-baring top and bottom.

“I have a powerful shield generator,” Gia said. “Makes up for it.”

“Mine will do,” Sinive said.

Gia shook her head, and then delved into her storage pouch, producing a palm-sized disk. She tossed it to Sinive, whose eyes promptly widened.

“I can lend you my backup,” Gia said. “But I expect you to return it when this is over.”

A backup shield generator. There was an idea.

Sinive attached it to her belt next to the original generator she possessed.

“Can both of these be active at the same time?” she asked.

“No,” Gia responded. “But you can link them, and program the second to act as failover in case the first cuts out.”

“Nice,” Sinive said. “You sure you don’t want it? As a failover for your own?”

“Ordinarily that’s exactly what I’d use it for,” Gia said. “But since you’re so poorly equipped, you take it. You’ll need it more than me.”

“I appreciate it,” Sinive said.

“As do I,” Tane told the corrector.

Gia bowed her head. “Just as I appreciate what you’re doing for Jed.”

Tane glanced at his HUD. “Well. Guess it’s time to head out. They’ll be there in an hour.” He glanced at Jed, wanting the Volur’s blessing.

“Not yet,” Jed said. “I have some gifts for Sinive, too.” He reached into his pouch, and handed Sinive a small bundle.

She opened it to reveal a few silver rings, and a pair of bracelets.

“Chrysalium,” Jed said with a shrug. “Since I won’t be needing it.”

The Volur also gave her his Essence-imbued pistol.

Tane couldn’t resist running a quick ID on it.

Weapon: B1 “Hunter” Plasma Pistol.

Model: Biter H-11 Rev a. (enhanced)

Item type: Epic

Additional damage: 150% added plasma burn damage per hit.

Additional effects: Pistoleers skill behaves as if one level higher while equipped. 50% chance of launching an Essence bolt instead of a plasma bolt every thirty seconds. Can be transformed into a rifle for precision fire.

Essence-Imbued bonus: +1 Endurance while equipped. +5 Dexterity while equipped. 45% bonus to Chrysalium Siphoning.

Chrysalium bonus: +1 Intelligence while equipped.

Pistol/Rifle specific:

Firing rate: choice of single fire, or semi-automatic: 2 - 45 round bursts.

Recharge rate: 10 seconds per expended round (if fire all 45 rounds in a single burst, full recharge is essentially 10 seconds later)

Overall weapon charge: 100%.

Required to equip:

- Pistoleer Level 1

- Sharpshooting Level 1 (for rifle mode)

“You should be giving that weapon to me,” Tane said jealously. “Along with the Chrysalium.”

“You’ve got enough toys.” Sinive lifted the weapon to eye level. “Nice.”

In truth, Tane was slightly disappointed that the weapon didn’t have a smart targeting mode, but he supposed that Jed probably had a high enough skill in Pistoleer and Sharpshooting that it didn’t matter. Sinive likely had a relatively high skill in both, too, at least compared to Tane.

Obviously wanting to test the Dexterity bonus, Sinive slid a hand back and forth in front of her face. Her speed was whip-like, and her hand made an audible cutting sound through the air with each pass.

“Very nice!” She turned to Jed. “So, how about your power armor?”

“You can’t equip it,” Jed said.

“Sword?”

“Don’t get greedy,” Jed said. “And you can’t equip it, either. But you can have my piercings if you like.”

“Well that seems… unhygienic. Hum... oh why not. I’ll try them anyway.”

Jed removed his two Chrysalium piercings and handed them to her. She studied them uncertainly. “They’re a bit big for my ears. This is going to hurt.”

She went into the bathroom, shrieked a few times, and then returned. One ring was strung through her right earlobe, and the labret threaded through her left. The skin around both of them was a bright red.

Tane didn’t know whether to cringe or to burst out laughing. Unfortunately, he couldn’t help the latter.

“That’s right, ha ha ha,” Sinive said angrily. “They look ridiculous, I know. But we’ll see if you’re still laughing when you see what I can do in combat. Gah. But these things hurt like a bitch. You’re going to be healing my ears when this is done, damn it!”

Tane turned toward the Volur and shook his hand.

“Thank you for everything, my friend,” Tane told the man. “When we meet again, Lyra and Nebb will be with us.”

“I’ll hold you to that, Engineer,” Jed said.

* * *

S’Wraathar lingered on the bridge of his main starship, the Doom Killer, in orbit above a small moon in Umanitar, the universe of the Hated Enemy. He kept his vessel there, within the influence of the gravity well, ready to jump at a moment’s notice.

When he had contacted his patron after the Doomwielder had gotten away a second time, S’Wraathar had expected to be destroyed. But instead, the patron took the news calmly, and didn’t seem angry in the least. When S’Wraathar had finished, incredibly the patron had granted him another gift.

S’Wraathar examined the lump of dark rock that sat next to the base of his tentacles. He’d strapped it there in full view mostly to show his followers that the patron still favored them, but he’d also chosen that particular spot for another reason: it sat behind the stump of the tentacle that the Doomwielder’s female companion had severed.

He had used that tentacle to wield his C’havar, the dweller equivalent of the beam hilt, and it had taken an injection of nanotech to transfer the muscle memory over to a new limb. He had placed the patron’s gift specifically behind that stump to remind himself of the cost of failure.

In the deck holes beside him, the Karthaar flexed their tentacles impatiently. They were eager to fight, as was he. They wanted to complete their mission, and save the universe from the Doomwielder.

M’Graanulus resided closest to him, his ever loyal, ever faithful lieutenant, leader of the Karthaar. M’Graanulus had served aboard the inter-dimensional flagship of the Cre’ite empire, the Hammerglorung. He had been there with S’Wraathar the day the Robes came. He had watched S’Wraathar take the heads of many of those Robes, while their companions lamented.

That was the day the Hammerglorung was lost. In the aftermath, he learned that the Cre’ite homeworld had been destroyed in a twin operation executed by the Hated Enemy a mere thirty-six hours earlier. His Cre’ite masters hadn’t shared that information with him and the crew. Maybe they themselves hadn’t known.

Before that day, S’Wraathar and everyone aboard had thought the Cre’ite and their empire were all powerful. Invincible. But when he barely escaped with his life and watched the treasured Cre’ite flagship disintegrate, its liquid hydrocarbon oceans desublimating into a yellow mist that spread out among the dead, he realized the truth: the Cre’ite were weak, and no longer deserved to rule over the other tribes. At the time, he hadn’t even been sure how many of them had survived, given the loss of the homeworld.

S’Wraathar had returned to his home planet on the far side of the galaxy with the survivors of his tribe. His hatred of the Hated Enemy, and the weak Cre’ite, simmered inside of him. In time, he would interpret the downfall of the Hammerglorung and the destruction of the Cre’ite homeworld as a sign that the prophecy of the Doomwielder was coming to pass. In fact, he soon became convinced that the Doomwielder had been born. For did it not say in the prophecy that the Doomwielder would come when his people were at their weakest? That the Doomwielder would strike in the darkness, and elevate his people into the light?

Some interpreted that line to mean the Doomwielder would enlighten S’Wraathar’s people. But to S’Wraathar, that meant the Doomwielder would destroy them all. Was not the power used by the Robes and the Hated Enemy made of light? Yes, S’Wraathar understood his true destiny, then. He would scour the galaxy for the Doomwielder, and when he found him, he would slay him before he could inflict this harm.

When S’Wraathar tried to tell the others that the Doomwielder had come, few believed him. Among those that did was M’Graanulus. He was the first of his converts. The other Karthaar followed shortly thereafter, and they rebelled against the leaders of their tribe, slaughtering the chiefs, and taking control. With their resources, he planned to begin his search for the Doomwielder.

But the Cre’ite didn’t approve of this rebellion of theirs, and planned to squelch it. They sent ships and troops. S’Wraathar fled with his most loyal servants before they arrived. To the outskirts of known space he and his stalwart brethren went. It was there that they discovered the planet Yant, and the lone dweller that lived there. The dweller that introduced S’Wraathar to his patron.

A meeting that changed everything.

The ship’s AI interrupted his dark reminiscing.

“Great Flame, I have news from our moles in the Cre’ite monitoring station,” the AI said.

“Speak it,” S’Wraathar said impatiently. The monitoring station was a secret outpost in Umanitar, built close to the high command of the Hated Enemy. With it, the Cre’ite were able to spy upon all communications made by the Enemy. The Cre’ite had succeeded in cracking the encryption protocol years ago, with the help of kidnapped human scientists. Their disappearances were made to appear as accidental deaths. So far, the Hated Enemy hadn’t realized the Cre’ite had cracked their protocols, though they were probably beginning to suspect. The Cre’ite advantage wouldn’t last for much longer.

“The one they call the Bender of Worlds has agreed to trade himself to the Hated Enemy,” the AI said.

“Trade himself?” S’Wraathar said. “Whatever for?”

“In exchange for the release of two prisoners, and a starship,” the AI explained.

Fool! The Doomwielder would give himself up to the Hated Enemy in exchange for two insignificant creatures, and a mere ship? Maybe he intended to betray the TSN. Either way, it was foolish to risk his life in such a way, no matter how important the creatures were to him. Well, all the better for S’Wraathar.

“I assume we have a place and time for this trade?” S’Wraathar said.

“We do,” the AI said. “It will take place on H’Ialanthan: a planet they call Xalantas. I am sharing the coordinates with you now. The meeting is to take place in approximately one of their standard hours.”

It was time to use the patron’s technology to jump directly to the planet in question. The trick was to get close enough to avoid tussling with any members of the space navy that might be present, belonging to the Hated Enemy or otherwise.

He would have to strike fast. Relying on the speed and ferocity of his attack to catch the security forces off guard. Jump in. Kill the Doomwielder. Jump out before the enemy could muster a response.

He'd have to call in his second ship to serve as a decoy, drawing fire from the orbital defense platforms and any other attackers while his main starship dealt with the Doomwielder.

That meant he would first have to jump to the Kavanaarth system, where the second starship lingered in Umanitar, and then after relaying his commands the two ships would jump together to H’Ialanthan.

“Dispatch the jump specialists to the chamber,” he ordered his AI. “We Leap to Kavanaarth.”

S’Wraathar folded his fore-tentacles in pleasure, and then caressed the small lump of rock tied to his carapace.

His gaze drifted to the stump of the severed tentacle beyond. He wondered if the female creature that had done this to him would be present. Most likely.

Oh, he couldn’t wait. He would kill her first, right in front of the Doomwielder. And then, as grief blinded his foe, S’Wraathar would take him next.

Everything was going to work out well this time. He was sure of it.

Good-bye, Doomwielder.

32

Tane, Sinive and Gia sheltered underneath a canopy of trees that had been planted at the top of a low-rise apartment building. The apartment bordered the planned site for the exchange—a park near the downtown core. At their current location, they could look down and observe the park in its entirety.

The three of them had arrived thirty minutes early, and because of their position underneath the boughs of those trees, they wouldn’t be visible to any landing craft descending from orbit.

They all wore blurring caps. Before leaving the apartment, Tane had managed to convince Sinive and Gia to don spacesuits at the last minute, if only for the armor rating. But they left the helmets behind, not wanting to impact their peripheral vision.

Tane didn’t wear a spacesuit because he obtained a higher armor rating with the robe alone, which was rated a twenty on its own but only a five when compressed to fit underneath the spacesuit. With the suit rated a ten, that meant his overall rating with the suit and robe together was a fifteen, or five less than the armored robe by itself. So when combined with the Nova Bracelet I, Osmium Gauntlets I, and A3 Personal Shield system, his overall rating was forty-three. Not too shabby.

The three of them had stood out earlier on the trek to the park: the men and women on the streets wore long, hooded black robes to shield themselves from the hot sun. The trio had quickly purchased their own robes from a portable vendor and her cloth printer, and they’d wrapped the fabrics over their attire before continuing. It didn’t really do much to hide the bulk of the spacesuits Gia and Sinive wore, but at least they were a little less obvious.

Digital augmentations had overlapped his vision along the way, so much so that Tane had disabled digital overlays entirely—he didn’t need any interruptions during the coming battle.

Yes, he had resigned himself to the fact that there would be combat. When he betrayed the TSN, they wouldn’t let him go without a fight.

Gia still had the shuttle she’d rented from the shipyard, and she had sent it to Jed’s balcony to retrieve him. She’d also hired a temporary robot assistant to help Jed load and unload. The shuttle had already flown him to the Mosaic outside of town, where he supervised the starship from sickbay.

Tane still remembered Jed’s words during the planning phases: “I might be bedridden, but I can still fight.”

After dropping off Jed, the shuttle had flown back to the short-term rental to retrieve G’allanthamas. The craft had hovered directly outside his balcony, and the alien had entered with his blurring field active. The shuttle had landed on a rooftop overlooking the park, two buildings away from Tane’s current position. G’allanthamas remained inside that shuttle, ready to emerge when the time came. The craft was partially screened by a series of trees planted around the landing pad of the building in question.

Tane live-streamed the video feed from his chip to both Jed and G’allanthamas, and also kept the pair connected on the voice comm, their mixnets piggybacking on the Galnet.

Tane surveyed the park. It was about one square kilometer in area. He had already observed the spot in detail with Jed via the 3D maps on the Galnet. The positions of the fountains, the trees, the tall monument to the planet’s founders, they all matched his digital scouting exactly. He had chosen this particular overwatch area during the advance walk-through.

Situated around the edges of the park, and next to some of the fountains and trees inside it, lingered innocuous looking delivery robots, some ground-based, others airborne. Sinive had surreptitiously hacked those robots on the way to the site. The robots were mostly useless when it came to combat, but the plan was to bombard the troops of the TSN with those polycarbonate bodies to up the chaos quotient.

Two dark, fiery globes floated above and in front of him, visible to his own eyes only. He had those reserve spots filled with Fingers of Ruin works. He wore the Finger of Malevolence and other rings underneath his gauntlets, which were at their full thickness, like his armored robe. Fully expanded, those gauntlets had seemed bulky and unwieldy at first, but after playing with the built-in electroactuators they responded like a second skin.

As he continued to survey that park, and the skies above, he felt strangely at peace. And he couldn’t blame the calmness on the Umbra this time. It was strange. The last time he had waited for a battle to start in his own universe, he had been inside a shuttle, preparing to board an alien ship to search for Sinive. He had been extremely nervous back then, but this time not so much. He found that a little worrying.

Then again, when he had faced an entire alien fleet afterward, he had experienced the same calm he felt now.

Maybe I’ve been through enough battles now that I don’t fear them anymore?

He wiped the sweat from his brow.

But if I’m so calm, why am I sweating so much? And it’s not just because of the heat.

Gia shared a canteen around.

Tane accepted, took a sip. His hand shook as he drank, clattering the canteen against his teeth. He lowered his hand, hoping neither Sinive nor Gia had seen, and quickly returned the canteen.

Yes, not so calm as he thought… there was definitely an indeterminable knot of dread in the pit of his stomach. Maybe he only felt it now because he was thinking of the coming fight. Maybe the secret was simply not to think about it.

He tried, but the knot wouldn’t go away, and he had difficultly stopping the shaking in his hands. He knew it would end when the time came for action. At least, he hoped it would.

But until then, he would simply have to endure it.

He heard a sonic boom and glanced upward. A shadow covered the sun as a starship descended into view.

It had to be the TSN. They were the only ones who could get clearance to land in a city park without attracting law enforcement.

The latter thought reminded him that when the Mosaic came, it would likely bring with it a whole slew of police robots. That could be both good and bad, depending on how the police reacted to the fighting that would no doubt be taking place in the park by then.

The incoming craft was about the size of a small stadium. It looked like a stadium, too, with that wide oval shape and flat bottom meant for landing.

Tane ran an ID on the vessel.

Ship: Gravity Grasshopper

Class: Cricket Military Transport I.

Offensive Weapons: None

Point Defense Weapons: 4x Lite Rail Thrower, 360-degree coverage. Inoperable within atmospheres.

Shielding system: Energy.

Crew complement: 10 (currently 10)

Troop capacity (current/maximum): 100/100.

The transport landed on the northeast side of the park, near the treeline, so that the tall trunks bordered it on the north and east flanks. Interesting choice. He supposed the TSN was worried about sniper fire, and by placing the vessel so close to the trees, it meant only two sides of the ship were exposed.

Another starship landed a moment later, some distance west of it, bordering the northern treeline. Tane recognized the familiar back-to-back horseshoe shapes and long nose of a Rapier class vessel. He ID’d it as the Red Grizzly. The vessel was supposed to be AI-operated, according to the deal Jed had struck with the TSN. That matched the current crew complement and passenger capacity listed on his ID—one and one, respectively. No doubt that was Positron and Laser Bait.

Motion drew his eye to the transport vessel. A ramp had lowered. Fifteen robot troops dashed out, led by a human in glowing power armor. They formed an elliptical formation at the base of the ramp and crouched, holding their rifles to eye level as they scanned their surroundings.

Sixteen troops in total. That was the number Jed had agreed would be allowed to be present when the swap took place, excluding Nelson and Xescartes. If more showed themselves, Tane was supposed to refuse to make the exchange. It was a good sign that the TSN was listening to their demands, at least for now.

Tane ID’d the robots, which were all the same class and level:

Race: Robot.

Model: Scepter combat droid VIII-2 Rev a.

Level: 12

Class: Mobile Infantry

Weaponry:

1x M24 Multifunction Plasma and Laser Rifle.

4x P3 Smart Targeting Energy Grenades

Shielding: Energy. (25/25)

Base Armor rating: 35

Total armor rating (including shielding): 60

The man in power armor gestured, and some of the robots broke formation, moving to the four sides of the starship to stand watch.

A moment later two individuals descended the ramp, one dressed in fatigues of blue and gray digital, the other wearing an armored robe that glowed with the yellow halo of Essence enhancement. A medical robot on treads accompanied them.

The pair stepped down onto the grass of the park, while the medical robot remained on the ramp. Tane zoomed in on the two men: it was Nelson and Xescartes.

“I hate that bastard,” Sinive said softly.

Using the Galnet, Tane promptly sent a call request to the agreed upon ID.

Nelson picked up, voice only, and said: “Where are you?”

“Where are Lyra and Nebb?” Tane asked in return.

“We’ll produce them when you’re in our custody,” Nelson replied.

“Not good enough,” Tane said. “I want to see them now.”

Nelson stared out across the park and lifted his gaze to survey the surrounding buildings as if trying to locate Tane. Finally his lips moved as he said something Tane couldn’t hear—he’d obviously muted the connection—and a moment later Lyra and Nebb walked down the ramp to join him. That the pair had no escort told Tane they were still chipped. They otherwise seemed in good health.

“Satisfied?” Nelson said.

“I want them to remain outside the transport at all times,” Tane said.

“As you wish,” Nelson said. “Can we proceed with the trade?”

“I’m coming,” Tane said. He disconnected.

He surveyed the ship one last time. He noted the entire bottom quarter was covered in thick heat tiles, which meant he wouldn’t be able to touch the Chrysalium hull underneath, at least not from the ground. He wondered if they had chosen this particular transport for that very reason.

Do they really fear me that much?

He smiled grimly. Yes, they had good reason to fear him. If he could find a way to get on top of that ship, then the massive amount of Essence the hull provided would be available to him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t just take Gia’s shuttle to the ship. The transport would take to the skies before the shuttle even got close, and the TSN would call off the deal.

What if the shuttle came in from the treeline?

But then their LIDAR would still detect it, or perhaps other ships hidden in orbit would raise the alarm.

Besides, that wasn’t the plan.

He realized he was simply stalling. Trying to avoid the inevitable.

“So?” Gia said.

With a sigh, Tane backed away from the rooftop edge at a crouch.

“Be careful,” Sinive told him.

Tane nodded. In a few moments he was entering the stairwell shed and descending to the first floor.

He paused before the glass panes in the double doors that led out the rear of the building, and gazed over the courtyard fence into the park beyond. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

I can do this.

He opened his eyes and began the Dark and White work. The timing had to be perfect. He stepped from the building and activated his shield generator, just in case a rogue dweller faction had sent some alien sniper to take him out while he tried to surrender. It was possible they had intercepted his communications with the TSN. After all, the dwellers had beat the TSN to his hydroponics farm and almost taken him before he even knew what he was. Yes, there could certainly be aliens lurking somewhere out there.

He activated the autogating feature of his shield. He had finally experimented with it earlier: autogate allowed him to define the trigger speed of any incoming objects. By setting that speed high, he could duck behind trees and other objects for cover, and the portions of the shield that touched those objects would autogate off instead of taking damage; of course, it also meant he’d be exposed to an attack from slower hand-to-hand weapons, like energy daggers, so he’d have to switch back to standard mode if it came to that. Either way, the shield would still be useless against weapons composed of the Essence.

He crossed the rear courtyard, passed through the gap in the small fence there, and entered the park. He made a quick calculation based on the transport’s current location, and updated his pace accordingly.

He weaved between the trees, and the fountains, and walked by the monument at the center of the park as he headed toward the northeast corner. None of the robots arrayed at the base of the ship had trained their weapons on him, but instead continued to survey the outlying areas, as if expecting an ambush.

Not a bad move, on their part.

Tane’s D18, beam hilt, and grenades were stowed in the storage pouch hanging from his utility belt beside the shield generator, as appropriate for one who was pretending to surrender.

“The navy man and the Volur just stepped out of sight,” Gia said. “I’m going to reposition.”

Nelson and Xescartes had retreated to stand halfway up the ramp, along with the medical robot, so that only their legs were visible from Tane’s current location. That insured they would be out of view of any snipers watching from the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.

Smart.

Meanwhile, Lyra and Nebb continued to stand on the grass, just inside the ring of troops.

Tane approached the man in power armor who stood at the head of the formation, and ran a quick ID on him.

Name: Bo “Animal” Mobatu

Race: Human

Level: 16

Class: First Lieutenant, 2nd Assault Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Thorran Marine Corps, Thorran Star Navy

Weaponry:

1x M16 Multifunction Plasma and Laser Rifle.

4x P3 Smart Targeting Energy Grenades

4x G22 Incendiary Grenades

Shielding: Energy. (35/35)

Base Armor rating: 50

Total armor rating (including shielding): 85

When he was a meter away, the two scepter robots on either side of the first lieutenant trained their rifles on Tane.

“That’s close enough!” one of the robots said.

Bo stood from his crouch, and lowered his rifle, letting it hang from the shoulder strap.

“Turn off your shield,” the first lieutenant said. “And hand it to me, along with your storage pouch. Nice and easy.”

Tane glanced at Lyra and Nebb, who continued to stand on the grass next to the transport, behind the ring of robots. There was sadness in Lyra’s eyes, and Nebb was shaking his head.

Tane had to make a choice. He was almost done with Repel Nanotech. He could make his move now, but because the work required physical contact with his subject, he’d have to fight his way to Lyra’s side to free her from Nelson’s influence.

He was also too far to properly deal with Xescartes. That Essenceworker was the most dangerous one among the troops, and had to fall at the beginning of the attack. If Tane released any works against the man now, Xescartes would likely Deflect them. And Tane wasn’t sure bringing Lyra to his side would be enough to defeat the Volur once he lost the advantage of surprise.

Then again, Lyra would probably join the fight against him as well before he could reach her, and she would be just as deadly a foe as Xescartes.

He made his choice.

Tane deactivated his shield and removed both the generator and the storage pouch. He offered them to the first lieutenant.

Bo accepted and promptly produced a Restrainer.

Tane finished Repel Nanotech just in time and released it, allowing the work to settle on his own forehead. Then he started up a counter on his HUD.

Bo held the Restrainer to Tane’s bare forehead and it attached like a magnet.

Tane slumped under the sudden fatigue that filled him, feeling suddenly too weary to step into either Essence.

The two reserve globes remained intact, he noticed. He couldn’t help but smile inwardly at that. The TSN wouldn’t know, of course, since they obviously tested the Restrainers mostly upon those who used the White Essence.

Bo gestured and the robot troops immediately surrounded Tane. The scepters that had been dispatched to the four sides of the transport returned, and joined the escort, leading Tane toward the transport.

“Don’t you want to exchange any last words with the two you traded yourself for?” Nelson asked from the ramp.

Tane looked at Lyra and Nebb.

“I’m not who you think I am,” Tane called to her as he walked. “None of us are.”

She didn’t reply, but her sadness only seemed to deepen.

The robot escort guided Tane onto the ramp.

As his boots clanged on the metallic surface, he glanced at the hull overhead, the part that bordered the opening made by the ramp. The exterior was covered in thick heat tiles. And near the top, where the ramp met the ship proper, there was no Chrysalium bared along the interior surfaces either. Too bad.

The scepters in the forefront of his escort parted, so that Nelson, Xescartes and the medical robot stood before him.

As Tane approached, the medical robot extended its telescoping limb in anticipation. They were going to chip Tane immediately, not wanting to take any chances—just as he had expected them to do. That robot approached, cutting in front of Xescartes, who was still too far away for Tane to attack.

“How did you find someone to remove your chip?” Nelson asked. Of course he knew that Tane no longer had a control chip, because Nelson would have taken over by now.

“It was difficult,” Tane replied.

Nelson gave him a suspicious look. “I suppose you’ll be telling me everything I want to know shortly.”

“That and more,” Tane agreed.

Nelson seemed momentarily confused by his brashness, but then he glanced at the medical robot. “Chip him.”

Bo handed Tane’s shield generator and storage pouch to Nelson as the ramp began to close.

Meanwhile the medical robot extended a limb, wrapping a vise around Tane’s neck. Two lenses telescoped toward his face, and a bright light flashed, taking a brain scan.

Then he felt a sonic injection on the side of his neck, which was exposed above the armored robe.

“We’ve made changes to the formula this time,” Nelson said smugly. “You won’t be able to access the Dark like you did before.”

The counter on Tane’s HUD reached the sixty second mark. Repel Nanotech would only last for a minute at his current level in the work. Was it too late?

He waited for the overwhelming sense that he was going to black out. Waited to feel like he was an observer inside of his own body. Waited for his body to stop responding to his commands.

But the feeling never came.

Once more the robot’s bright scanning light filled his vision.

Conveniently, Xescartes approached.

“Has the chip taken?” the Volur asked.

“Strange,” the medical robot said. “I’m not reading any indications that the nanotech is inside his system whatsoever.”

Tane released both reserves of Fingers of Ruin. The two works were level three, thanks to the Feral Necklace, meaning that six smears of unreality in total were created. He directed one of the smears into the robot claw that was wrapped around his neck like a vise, and the other five at Xescartes.

Veins spread across the Volur’s armor, and it cracked open. Xescartes screamed.

The robot’s claw also fragmented and Tane fell away.

“Don’t fire!” Nelson shouted as the ring of scepters spun their weapons toward Tane.

Tane swatted the Restrainer from his forehead and it landed bouncing on the ramp. Stamina instantly returned; he stepped into the White and released an Essence Missile at the first lieutenant while launching himself at Nelson. Tane struck the stunned navy man, who was in the process of opening his storage device to deposit Tane’s pouch and shield generator inside. Tane easily wrenched the latter two items from his grasp, and then rolled away onto the ramp.

A scepter tried to grab him, but Tane punched at it with his free hand, coating his fist with Light Glove before he struck. His curled fingers impacted and passed right through its body, breaking the robot in half.

He turned toward the edge of the ramp, slammed another Essence Missile into a robot that was blocking his path, and dove toward that edge. He slid off before the ramp closed entirely and plunged to the grass below, hitting hard. It knocked the wind out of him.

He reattached the shield generator and pouch to his belt. He then activated the shield.

The ramp began to open again above him.

He turned toward Lyra and Nebb. The smuggler had drawn a pistol and had it trained directly at him. Tane began the planned Dark and White work.

“Can’t let you do this, kid,” Nebb said.

A large airborne delivery drone plowed into Nebb’s arm and he dropped the pistol. “Gah! What are you trying to do, break my arm?”

Lyra drew a beam hilt from the storage device hanging from her belt. Her eyes seemed cloudy.

Tane reached inside his pouch and retrieved his own beam hilt. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I don’t want to harm you either,” Lyra said. The subtle yellow halo around her armored dress increased in intensity, becoming a bright glow.

“Fight it,” Tane said.

“I can’t,” Lyra said.

And then Tane couldn’t move. It was as if a giant invisible hand had squeeze tightly around him. Lyra was using Telekinesis to bind him.

The beam hilt floated out of his hand, hovering a meter in front of him. At first he thought she was going to turn it on him, but the weapon merely floated there.

The Restrainer, which he had swatted away from his forehead, must have rolled off the ramp and landed in the grass, because it floated upward now. Lyra had obviously seen where it had fallen, and she intended to attach it to his forehead.

Yes, Tane had gravely underestimated her. She was just as great a threat as Xescartes had been. Maybe more so.

Tane had never tried to create a second work while another was already in progress, but he attempted it now: he didn’t want to give up the progress he had made on Repel Nanotech.

The concentration required was immense. He had to continue the Dark timeline, dousing the searing flames of chaos and growing the cold stellar wind of the White around it, while at the same time sprouting another sapling from the White ribbon that emerged from his core, and growing it, too. He worried he would lose the Dark and White work, but somehow he managed to partition his mind and create the new tree independent of the first. He knew he wouldn’t be able to make more than two at once, not at his current experience level. He also knew it would be more draining than usual when he was done.

He was only able to redirect a small portion of the stellar wind, since the majority was being used for the Repel Nanotech work, and the Essence Missile he created was weak, barely a level one even with the bonus from the Feral Necklace, but it was all he needed for his purposes. He threw it at the Restrainer, melting it entirely.

Yes, that small work was definitely more draining, though it wasn’t as bad as he thought, probably because the Missile had ended up being so feeble.

He once more partitioned his concentration and followed up with another weak Missile, this one aimed at Lyra. The Volur Deflected it easily. He realized it probably wouldn’t have mattered if he had released an Essence Missile at full strength: she would’ve escaped it just the same.

She’s simply too high a level compared to me.

More drones flew in, these headed toward Lyra, but they crashed in turn before touching her.

“I have a clean shot on the witch!” Gia said.

Tane couldn’t move his jaw, so he texted a reply via his thought interface.

Fire a few tentative shots. Drain her shield.

Plasma rounds impacted, and Tane could see the convex glow a half-meter in front of her as Lyra’s energy shield absorbed the blows.

Scepter robots were leaping down from the ramp now, which had lowered halfway.

Tane partitioned his concentration a third time to create Persistent Flame. He was at a point in the Dark and White work where the Lumina needed was at an ebb, so he could pour more of the stellar wind into the new sapling. He was able to create a full level two work with the boost from the Feral Necklace, and when he flared it into a stream, it reached Lyra. She couldn’t Deflect something that wasn’t made of the Essence, and would have to rely on the shield generator...

Her already weakened energy field blinked off, and Lyra shrieked, covering her face and turning away from the flames.

Tane was free. The beam hilt that floated in front of him dropped, and he scooped it up, relishing in the Endurance boost. He activated it and when the energy ax exploded forth, he turned toward the scepters.

Ground-based delivery robots rammed into the scepters, draining their shields. The scepters opened fire at the incoming targets, and Tane leaped at the distracted robots, swinging his ax to and fro, and in moments none of them were left standing. It helped that Sinive and Gia had fired at them as well.

Nebb was crouching down on one knee, slightly behind Lyra. He had withdrawn his sawed-off rifle from underneath his trench coat, and was firing toward the positions of Gia and Sinive.

While he was distracted, Tane fetched a spare Restrainer from his storage device and leaped at Lyra.

But before he reached her he was struck by an outward expanding shock wave sourced from the Volur. It had to be Shove, a level seven Essencework; he was thrown backward and released the energy ax, landing on his back three meters away. He almost stepped out of the Essence and lost the Dark and White mix. Almost. But he continued it, despite the pain of the impact.

Nebb meanwhile was thrown in the opposite direction, the weapon flying from his grasp. She had forgotten to exclude him. Or maybe she hadn’t—maybe the TSN’s hold upon her wasn’t as firm as they thought.

Lyra turned to face Tane. The skin on her hands was red and blistered where his stream of flame had eaten through her energy shield. One side of her beautiful face was just as red, though it didn’t have the nasty welts.

She had replaced her beam hilt and was now holding a silver staff of Chrysalium, no doubt retrieved from her storage pouch.

Once more Tane felt the invisible vise holding him in place.

“It’s pointless to resist,” Lyra said.

Tane was nearly done with Repel Nanotech. He had to get to her side so he could touch her when the Dark and White mix finished, otherwise it would dissipate and he’d lose the past two minutes of work.

More scepters were leaping down from the ramp, which had lowered completely. Nelson conspicuously remained aboard and out of sight. As did Xescartes—some of the scepters had probably conveyed the Volur to sickbay, but Tane doubted the man was even still alive.

Sinive’s hacked robots continued to come alternately running and flying in. They targeted the scepters, and for the most part Lyra ignored them.

Tane glanced at his overhead map. According to the indicators, both Gia and Sinive had repositioned in the park nearby. Sinive was firing from where she had ducked underneath the lip of a fountain, while Gia had taken cover behind a tree. With Jed’s weapon, Sinive was raining havoc down on the combat robots: one shot from the powerful pistol easily pierced a given scepter’s shields, and the follow-up shot, the underlying armor. She also occasionally launched a weak Essence Missile, making ample use of the Chrysalium accessories Jed had lent her.

Gia was also taking down robots just as fast, concentrating fire from her two sawed-off plasma rifles to inflict double the damage on a single target.

But the robots kept coming.

And Tane was running out of time.

“I have the witch in my sights,” Gia sent. “I can try to wound her.”

No! Tane texted. It’s too dangerous.

“If it comes down to a choice between your capture, and injuring her...” Jed transmitted.

But Tane wouldn’t have it. She’s the reason why we’re here. She will not be harmed.

Tane had to find a way to get Lyra to touch him. He had to.

He found that he could move his lips.

“Lyra, hold my hand,” Tane pleaded. “Lead me inside. So I don’t go to my doom alone. Please.”

Lyra ignored him.

The Restrainer he had retrieved from his storage device floated from his grip, toward his head. He was in the process of finalizing the Dark and White work, which required a boost of stellar wind—he couldn’t spare any of the White to create an Essence Missile. It looked like he was going to have to abandon the work after all if he wanted to prevent the Restrainer from touching him.

And then several smears of darkness flitted past him. One of them struck the Restrainer and it cracked open. The rest headed for Lyra.

Lyra gasped, and narrowly Deflected the smears. The invisible hand released Tane.

He glanced over his shoulder: G’allanthamas emerged from the treeline, where he had no doubt landed—or crashed—the shuttle.

The staff ripped from Lyra’s grasp, and her arms splayed outward.

The timeline was almost done.

“Bring her to me!” Tane shouted.

An unseen force instantly drew her toward Tane, courtesy of the alien.

He was ready. He held out his open palm, and when Lyra’s forehead touched his skin, he completed the Dark and White work and released Repel Nanotech into her brain.

Her eyes widened. Tane released her and stepped back.

“What did you do to me?” she said, her arms still splayed outward.

Tane merely shook his head.

“What have you done?” Lyra asked again.

And then her head lolled to the side. If G’allanthamas hadn’t been holding her with the Dark, she would have collapsed.

“Let her go,” Tane said over the comm.

She fell and Tane caught her before she hit the ground. He lowered her gently the rest of the way and held her torso in his arms.

When she looked up at him, her cloudy eyes were clear.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

The scepters had dodged behind the ramp to take cover from the bolts launched by Sinive and Gia. Some of them had noticed G’allanthamas, and they were opening fire at the dweller in turn, forcing him behind a small monument near the treeline.

Nebb was also back on his feet, and he had taken cover behind the ramp. He was firing his plasma rifle to the south toward Sinive and Gia’s locations, no doubt at the behest of his masters. He hadn’t noticed what had happened to Lyra.

She got up, and glanced at the dweller hiding behind the monument. “He’s with you I take it?”

“He is,” Tane said.

“Interesting.” Lyra walked through the crossfire toward Nebb.

“Careful not to hit her!” Tane said over the comm. “I’ve destroyed her control chip.” He looped Lyra into their shared channel and she appeared in the online column.

“Welcome back, Lyra,” Jed said over the comm.

“I never left you,” Lyra said. “Not in spirit.”

Apparently the scepters hadn’t yet realized that Tane had freed Lyra from the TSN’s control, because she was allowed to approach without any of them firing at her. She retrieved her staff from the grass along the way.

When she reached Nebb behind the ramp, she rested a hand on his neck. He turned, questioningly, to look up at her.

“Good night, Nebb,” she said above the noise of firing plasma bolts.

“What?” Nebb said.

“Good night,” she repeated, her voice sounding hypnotic.

Nebb slumped, falling into sleep. Still holding the staff, she grabbed her beam hilt in the other hand and activated the energy ax, which emerged as a blinding white streak, and she proceeded to attack all the robots in cover.

Some tried to flee. They ran straight into Tane’s own energy ax, which glowed just as brightly. The blade ate through their shields gleefully.

“Gall, join us,” Tane sent. He threw out his Essence Sight lifeline so that he could observe the battle from a top-down, isometric perspective.

More TSN scepters streamed out, some leaping off the uppermost edges of the ramp, others racing all the way to the bottom until they reached the grass. They were spreading out, dodging behind whatever cover they could find nearby, mostly tree trunks or park benches.

Sinive and Gia remained in hiding, and unleashed their plasma rounds into the scepters as fast as their weapon recharge rates allowed.

Tane and Lyra launched Essence bolts from the tips of their axes as the scepters attempted to take cover, or cut down any robots that came too close. G’allanthamas joined them, and produced a large energy launcher from a storage device; he used his tentacles to manipulate the weapon and fire at the robots. Tane suspected he had used up all his reserve offensive works, and was busy making new ones.

“Gall, you still have a distortion tunnel in reserve?” Tane asked.

“Of course,” G’allanthamas replied. “Say the word, Doomwielder, and I’ll create a tunnel to the beacon.”

“Sinive, Gia, get over here!” Tane said. “We’re creating the distortion tunnel. It’s time to go. We’ll cover you!”

33

Tane moved out in front of the ramp and hewed down incoming scepters, while G’allanthamas and Lyra concentrated their attacks on clusters of combat robots that had already taken cover behind the different trees and benches.

A robot dashed at Tane from one of the trees to his side, forcing his attention away from the ramp. He hewed it down, and started to turn back toward the ramp just as three more scepters appeared at the top, inside the ship. They fired energy nets down at him.

Tane knew he wouldn’t hit the nets in time. He tried anyway. He would have missed, but before the three struck him, all three deviated in random directions and landed harmlessly in the grass.

He stepped back underneath the ramp for cover.

“That’s the last time I can use Telekinesis,” Lyra said. Her face was pale, and covered in sweat. Her features sagging.

Tane had worked up a sweat himself by then in that heat, and he was definitely feeling the drain. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up without a rest, either.

“Sinive, Gia, we’re waiting!” Tane said. He unleashed an Essence bolt from his ax toward a cluster of robots hidden behind three trees; they were firing in the direction of Sinive and Gia.

“Can’t move, we’re pinned!” Gia said. “We’re taking fire from both in front and behind! We got Mancers and Essence Warriors streaming out of the Red Grizzly behind us!”

Mancers and Essence warriors were different types of TSN infantry. Mancers mostly operated from afar, healing troops, creating distortion tunnels, or unleashing ranged attacks, while Essence warriors got up close and personal. Though weaker than Volurs, as Tane had discussed with Sinive and Jed during the planning phase of the mission, they were likely using Chrysalium to boost their abilities.

“Mancers!” Jed said over the comm. “The TSN is definitely breaking the treaty now.”

“I guess risking war to capture me is worth it, for them,” Tane said.

“Now doesn’t that just make you feel special?” Sinive transmitted.

“Not really,” Tane responded. “Bet you’re glad you wore those spacesuits now, huh?” Their energy shields would be useless again the Essence weapons the Mancers possessed. Tane glanced at Lyra. “Can you open a small distortion tunnel to them? So they can join us, and Gall can jump all of us out?”

Lyra shook her head. “Even with my Chrysalium staff, I’m far too weary to do such a thing now.”

“What if we link?” Tane asked.

“Even if that helped, we’d have to break the link at some point to pass through,” Lyra said. “Since the tunnel won’t be wide enough to fit the two of us. And at that point it will close, potentially maiming one of us.”

“Okay, forget that,” Tane said. “I guess it’s time to call in the cavalry. Jed, whenever you’re ready...”

“Already on my way,” Jed said.

“The TSN obviously spoofed the Red Grizzly’s ID to hide the passenger load,” Sinive said over the comm. “But the question is: how the hell did they fit so many inside that tin can in the first place?”

“Obviously they packed them into the corridors as well as all the cargo holds,” Gia said. “Couldn’t have been fun.”

Tane was keeping his gaze fixed on some scepters hiding nearby when a distortion tunnel opened beside him and several men in glowing battle armor rushed out. Some carried pistols that shone with the halos of Essence enhancement, others held glowing Chrysalium swords like Jed. All of them gripped energy net launchers in their free hands.

“Essence warriors!” Lyra said.

Tane swung his bright ax at the closest warrior, chewing halfway through the armored torso. Another warrior fired an energy net at Tane, but Lyra stepped in its path and hewed the net in half, following up with an Essence Missile that carved a blast crater into the man’s chest and sent him flying backward.

Some warriors threw their nets at G’allanthamas, and the items wrapped harmlessly around his shield. The energy field flashed violently, and Tane knew those nets were draining the shield sharply.

G’allanthamas swept a tentacle across the nets, and they all wrapped around the appendage, ceasing the damage to his shield. The alien then kicked outward with one of his eight long legs, knocking the closest warrior backward. The man crashed into another behind him, and that warrior in turn hit the edge of the still open distortion tunnel, causing him to be split vertically in half down the middle: the left part of his body passed into the tunnel, while the right half continued falling backward on this side. Blood spewed everywhere.

“I’m ready to release the little surprise I’ve been working on,” G’allanthamas said.

Three small, dark spheres shot out, striking three of the warriors, two males, one female. The female and one of the males turned on their nearby companions, while the third dashed through the distortion tunnel and attacked the Mancers and other warriors lurking on the other side.

Tane and Lyra cut down another warrior each, and G’allanthamas fired his energy launcher into the tunnel at the Mancers waiting beyond.

Tane followed his lead, as the two confused warriors on this side were dealing with their brothers and sisters well enough; he aimed the tip of his ax into the tunnel, toward a woman wearing a glowing armored robe on the other side—presumably a Mancer. She appeared deep in concentration. He released an Essence bolt and it struck her.

The tunnel abruptly winked out.

The two TSN warriors finished off their men and then turned on themselves, violently killing each other.

“You dwellers have some interesting powers,” Lyra commented.

“Thank you,” G’allanthamas said.

“But I’m willing to bet it wouldn’t work on me,” Lyra continued.

“Probably not,” the dweller admitted.

“We’re still pinned down here,” Sinive said.

“Maybe we can join them...” Tane said.

But as he said the words, another distortion tunnel opened up between his position and that of Sinive and Gia, and more warriors came through. Tane was forced to defend all over again.

The Mosaic came into view, hovering above the park.

“I’m firing at the Red Grizzly,” Jed said. “Disabling the weapons.”

Beyond his attackers, Tane saw sparks fly from the hull of the Red Grizzly. He couldn’t actually see the beams of the dragon lasers fired by the Mosaic, but he did see the damage those lasers inflicted.

The Mosaic turned toward the Mancers lurking next to the Red Grizzly and unleashed a sweeping plasma burst, disintegrating the TSN defenders who were too slow to take cover.

“Ouch, that’s gotta hurt,” Sinive said.

After the plasma pass, Mancers emerged from hiding underneath the landing gears and nearby trees, and unleashed Essence Missiles at the ship; those works passed right through the Mosaic’s energy shields but didn’t really cause too much hull damage.

The Mosaic landed halfway between the Red Grizzly and the TSN transport, in an area clear of trees, and the ramp went down. Jed would have had to lower the shields for the landing, so that Tane and the others could board.

“Hurry up!” Jed said. “I’ll do my best to issue covering fire with the dragons. Charge is low, though, so any hits won’t cause much damage.”

Tane, Lyra and G’allanthamas finished off the current wave of Essence warriors on their side, and the enemy distortion tunnel closed. Tane turned toward the Mosaic, and spotted Sinive and Gia breaking cover to make a mad dash for the ship.

“Gall, get Nebb!” Tane said. He switched to his D18 and laid down covering fire for Sinive and Gia.

He had already briefed G’allanthamas on what Nebb looked like before the mission, so the dweller knew to pick up the sleeping smuggler. The alien rested the still unconscious Nebb onto the carapace section of his environmental suit and then pressed a tentacle into the body to secure him in place. This despite the fact G’allanthamas hated porting humans: it was considered degrading among his kind.

“The things I do for you, Doomwielder!” G’allanthamas said over the line.

“Let’s go!” Tane switched back to his beam hilt and had just started running toward the craft when a blast crater appeared in the Mosaic’s hull.

At first he thought the Red Grizzly had opened fire, but that part of the Mosaic wasn’t even facing the Rapier class vessel, but rather the TSN transport.

Another blast crater appeared in the hull.

The transport itself had to be opening fire. Glancing back, he saw that panels had slid aside near the upper half of the vessel, revealing laser turrets: the TSN had retrofitted the ordinarily weaponless transport with dragons.

Sneaky bastards.

“Another betrayal!” Gia said.

Tane watched as she and Sinive dove for cover up ahead. The Mancers near the Red Grizzly were unleashing small Essence Missiles at her and Sinive in a constant barrage.

“Gah!” G’allanthamas said.

Tane glanced at the dweller and saw that his friend was avoiding placing any weight on one foot. Yellow liquid spewed from the suit there, where he had taken a hit. The hole quickly sealed, cutting off the outflow of liquid thankfully.

Gotta love regenerative armor.

G’allanthamas dove behind a fountain as laser fire assailed him.

Tane swung his Essence Sight around and realized many more combat robots had emerged from the transport.

“Got scepters behind!” Tane said.

He dodged behind a tree and his shield autogated, allowing him to lean up against it without draining his energy field. Lyra meanwhile ducked behind a park bench.

A plasma bolt struck the stone rim of the fountain G’allanthamas hid behind, and water poured out through the blast hole.

“Jed, you’re covering fire is worth crap!” Sinive said.

“Sorry,” Jed said. “This ship is a bit more limited than I hoped.”

“That’s right, blame the ship!” Gia said.

“I’m taking heavy laser fire on the engines,” Jed said. “I’m going to have to take off to activate shields.”

“Wait!” Tane said.

If I could just reach that ship… touch that hull…

“Sorry,” Jed said.

The Mosaic launched and rose to hover over the park. Convex portions of the now active shield flashed into existence as the vessel took laser impacts from the transport. Jed unleashed the plasma thrower again, this time directing it toward the transport.

Police drones and shuttles appeared, adding to the bombardment. All of their fire was concentrated on the Mosaic.

“Taking too much heat!” Jed said. “Can’t stay here. I’m sorry, I have to pull back. I’ll lead the security forces away, and loop around to retrieve you when I can. Hang in there.”

Tane watched in disappointment as the Mosaic fled the scene. All of the police ships pursued it.

“Anyone else notice how the police didn’t fire at the TSN?” Gia said. “Or intervene in any way? Despite the fact there’s a major engagement going on down here? Looks to me like the TSN and the Mautauraen have come to some sort of arrangement.”

“I thought the Mautauraen hated them?” Tane said.

“Pay enough, and you can negotiate through even hate,” Jed told him over the comm.

“Gia,” Tane said. “Now it’s more important than ever that you and Sinive join us so we can jump the hell out of here.”

He needed to take a break from Siphoning the Essence, so he released the ax and hooked the beam hilt to his belt. He retrieved the D18 from his pouch instead. The loss of Endurance from unequipping the hilt was noticeable, but he was still in the fight. His perspective reverted back inside himself as Essence Sight faded.

“Hey, they don’t want to kill the World Bender, right?” Gia said. “Why don’t you act as a human shield for your two companions, and lead them here?”

“I’m a bit small to act as a human shield for Gall,” Tane said.

“Some of them have in fact tried to kill Tane,” Lyra said. “Either out of malice, or by mistake. I’d rather you and the smuggler’s assistant joined us instead. We’ll cover you.”

“Don’t call me the smuggler’s assistant,” Sinive said. But she emerged from cover and dashed across the grass toward their position.

Tane aimed his D18 at the enemy, activated smart targeting, and released several shots to keep the Mancers down. Lyra and G’allanthamas meanwhile concentrated on the scepters that were still coming down the transport ramp behind them.

Sinive ducked behind the thick tree beside Tane, and he crouched low as Essence Missiles erupted from the direction of the Mancers. The bright works slammed into the tree and splinters of wood flew across his face.

“Yep, those ones might be trying to kill me,” Tane said.

“Not you, me,” Sinive said from beside him. “You just got in the way.” She smiled wickedly. “But if they do kill you, I’m sure it’ll be by accident. Just like if I do it.”

“Somehow that’s not so very reassuring,” Tane said.

She gave him a surprise peck on the lips. “For luck.” Then she leaned around the opposite side of the trunk to open fire.

Tane shook his head slightly, then held his D18 past his own side and switched to the point of view of the weapon’s scope. He selected the park benches and trees behind which the Mancers were lurking, and marked them for smart-targeting. Then he waited until he saw a smidgen of an armored robe appear from behind one of those shelters, and squeezed the trigger, letting the weapon do the dirty work.

“Now, Gia!” Tane said.

She left her shelter, but about five meters before she made it an Essence Missile passed through her shield and she took a hit in the lower leg. She tripped immediately, but her fall abated half a meter from the ground as her energy shield kicked in, flashing repeatedly as it absorbed the impact. She wasn’t using autogating, apparently.

Gia deactivated the shield and fell the rest of the way to the ground with an audible “oof.” She tried to get up, but crumpled immediately.

“That’s not going to work,” Gia said over the comm. “I can’t walk on this leg anymore.”

“I’m going out to get her,” Sinive said.

“No,” Gia said. “I got this.”

Tane peered past the edge of the tree. Gia was dragging herself forward.

“Cover her,” Tane instructed Sinive. He tilted past the trunk and squeezed the trigger: the smart muzzle shifted its aim between the different areas Tane had marked earlier. Sinive fired her powerful Hunter pistol from the opposite side of the thick bole.

When Gia was about a meter from the tree, Sinive left cover.

“Sinive!” Tane said.

She reached Gia and dragged her the rest of the way, propping her up behind the tree.

“How bad is it?” Gia asked. “I can’t look. I get hypoglycemic at the sight of blood.”

“Not sure that’s the right term…” Tane said. He lowered his eyes to gaze at her injury.

Her lower leg was bad. Really bad: it looked like a mangled mess. He saw shredded skin and clothes intermingled with shattered bone. It was almost like her tibia had exploded from the inside. The bloody sight made him a little nauseous himself; in fact, he couldn’t look for more than a few seconds.

Gia was watching him the whole time. “That bad, huh?”

Sinive reached into her storage pouch and produced a medkit, then wrapped a tourniquet tightly below Gia’s knee while Tane continued to provide suppressive fire.

The Mancers hadn’t created any new distortion tunnels, Tane noted. He and his team had probably taken down most of the jumpers, while those that were left had likely exhausted themselves creating the tunnels. At least, that was what he hoped. If they gathered all their Endurance-boosting devices, they might be able to create another tunnel, but it would be a last ditch effort, one that would cripple the remainder of their forces.

“Gall!” Tane said. “We’re all here! Let’s have that tunnel!”

No answer.

“Gall?”

He looked toward the fountain. Beyond the lip, G’allanthamas lay completely flat on the ground, the legs and tentacles of his environmental suit splayed out lifelessly around him. The unconscious form of Nebb had slid to the ground beside him.

An Essence warrior stood above the alien, pistol aimed at the glass dome atop the carapace as he prepared to fire the final bolt, execution-style, into G’allanthamas’ head. Two scepter robots crouched beside the warrior, firing at Lyra’s position.

“No!” Tane said.

He touched the hilt that hung from his belt and stepped into the Essence through it and all of his Chrysalium accessories at the same time, as well as Siphoning as much of the stellar wind across his bones that he could summon naturally. A terrifyingly large amount of the cold shrieked across the pits and valleys of his being, bursting from his core. He grew the Branchwork from that fluttering, almost uncontrollable ribbon, and created an Essence Missile.

He launched it at the warrior.

The Feral Necklace boosted the work, and the blur of light that shot out from Tane was long and blinding, the most powerful Missile he had ever created without touching a larger Chrysalium source. When it faded, the warrior’s entire upper body had disintegrated. The work had been overkill.

Tane slumped from the sheer exhaustion of creating it and stepped out of the Essence.

Lyra, crouched behind the park bench, returned fire at the distracted scepters that had escorted the warrior. She used a pistol she had procured, either from her storage pouch, or a dead foe. Obviously she was near exhaustion as well.

Sinive joined her, and together they shot down the two robots that hovered near G’allanthamas.

“Gall, are you okay?” Tane scrambled to his feet.

He approached the fountain at a crouch. As he neared G’allanthamas and the torso-less body of the warrior beside him, he vaguely realized he must have leveled in Essence Missile before releasing that work, because there was no way the missile should have been so big, and so powerful. Essentially level four. However he didn’t have the time, nor the inclination, to check his notifications right now.

“Gall,” Tane said. He ducked beside the alien and gently shook his carapace. He noticed a hole in the suit on the right side, between two of the legs. The armor closed up as he watched. Underneath were the yellow stains where the inner environment had poured out.

Tane gazed into the glass dome and realized the hydrocarbon levels had dropped precariously, so much so that the dweller’s head was completely exposed. But now that the hole was sealed, the liquid level had started to rise again.

Lyra made her way to the fountain, and Sinive dragged Gia there as well. They continued to fire at the enemies that surrounded them.

“You have to heal him!” Tane told Lyra.

“I’m too weak,” Lyra said.

“You have to try,” Tane said. “Link with me.”

She shook her head. “I’ve never healed a dweller before. Even if we link, I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“What about me?” Gia said.

Lyra glanced at Gia, seeming hesitant. “Maybe…” She tightened her grip on the silver staff and straightened slightly. But then she shook her head again. “I’ll still have to link with Tane. If I do that, and heal you now, the three of us will be completely exhausted. It takes too much out of us. We may as well surrender.”

The liquid reached the top of the dome, but still G’allanthamas didn’t move.

Tane fired at some robots that were crouched behind a tree to the north. He was going to have to surrender, if it meant he could save his friend.

But then G’allanthamas finally stirred. “Doomwielder.”

“Gall!” Tane said. “Are you all right?”

“No,” the dweller said. “But I’ll live.” His tentacles momentarily flared out and he stood slightly, as if noticing something terrible. And then he slumped once more.

“What is it?” Tane said.

“The globe is gone,” G’allanthamas said.

“What?”

“The distortion tunnel I had in reserve,” G’allanthamas said. “I lost it.”

Tane sat back, leaning against the brim of the fountain. “So we’re trapped here.”

“Isn’t there another fallback point we agreed upon to the north?” Gia asked. “Beyond the treeline? A transport terminal.”

“Yes,” Tane said. “But how are we supposed to get there, when the way is blocked by robots?”

“They won’t shoot at you,” Gia said. “As soon as they see it’s you out there, they’ll switch to energy nets. All of their deadly fire has been directed at us. Mostly.”

“So I lead the way, doing my best to cover the rest of you,” Tane said thoughtfully. He frowned. “You can’t walk. And I doubt Gall is in any condition to make a mad dash out into the open. Especially if he has to carry Nebb on his back.”

“Leave us, then,” Gia said. “We can stay and cover your retreat. You go to the fallback point.”

“I can’t leave you,” Tane said.

“No, she’s right,” Lyra told him. “Once you’re gone, they’ll forget about us entirely. They’ll concentrate their efforts on capturing you. Like she said, they won’t shoot you, unless it’s by accident.”

“They’ve almost hit me by ‘accident’ several times already, don’t you worry,” Tane said.

“We can’t let him go alone,” Sinive insisted.

“Then go with him,” Lyra said.

“What about you?” Tane asked.

“I can come, too, if you like,” she said. “But given my reduced strength, I believe I’d be of better service to you if I stayed here, and did what I could to protect these two until Jed’s return.”

“Use your power to take stamina from me,” Gia said. “Restore your strength, and go with him.”

Lyra shook her head. “Then you’d be completely helpless.”

Tane made up his mind. “No, Lyra, you’ll stay here with Gia, Gall, and Nebb. But I want you to leave as soon as we draw the troops away. I don’t want you to risk capture: I’d hate to have to do this all over again. Jed can pick you up somewhere outside the park.”

“I’ll leave with the three of them as soon as we’re able,” Lyra agreed.

“They’ll probably send a force to capture you once we’re gone,” Sinive told the Volur. “This is the TSN we’re talking about, after all. They’re nothing if not thorough.”

Lyra shrugged. “As I said, most of their effort will be concentrated on you and the World Bender. But I’ll deal with whatever they send.” She turned toward Tane. “If you can make it to that terminal, you’ll have a chance. Assuming the gates are still active.”

“Won’t matter if they’re not,” Sinive said. “I can hack in, start them up.”

“Are you certain?” Lyra asked.

“Positive,” Sinive replied.

Lyra turned to Tane. “Then go.”

He rested a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for everything.”

“No, thank you,” Lyra said. “You came back for me. All of this, none of it would be happening if you hadn’t come. You risked your life to save me. That’s not something I will forget. Not now. Not ever.”

“I couldn’t leave you in the hands of the TSN, a shell of your former self,” Tane said.

She nodded slightly. “You have my eternal gratitude. Now please, you must go.”

Tane hesitated a moment longer, then he replaced the D18 with his beam hilt, and the white ax exploded into his hands. He Siphoned the Dark as well, funneling some of it into the Fingers of Malevolence ring, but he didn’t otherwise create an active Dark timeline.

“Sinive,” Tane said. “With me!”

Tane dashed from cover and Sinive joined him. He ran toward the northern treeline at an angle away from the transport vessel. Robots emerged from cover, firing their energy nets. At least they weren’t shooting to kill anymore now that he was in the open. He still worried that one of them might mow down Sinive, and already he was regretting bringing her along.

He reminded himself that she was faster now that she had Jed’s weapon, as well as from the servomotor boost provided by her spacesuit. In fact, she was already pulling ahead of him. But then she slowed down to keep pace with him.

He hewed down two robots in his path with his bright energy ax, and Sinive shot down another two while on the run.

When he dashed under a small copse, something heavy struck Tane directly from above. He fell, and deactivated his beam hilt so as not to injure himself. When he hit the ground, he was pinned and couldn’t get up: he realized someone hidden in the branches of the tree above had fired an energy net into him.

Beside him, Sinive was similarly pinned.

Two robots leaped down to collect their prizes, and then the dark smears of Fingers of Ruin erupted from Tane’s core, courtesy of the Finger of Malevolence ring.

He directed one smear into the net that held him, and the two other smears toward the robots, sending the darkness into each of them.

I was wondering when that would kick in.

Well, the ring did have a fifty-five percent chance to activate every two minutes, after all. Still, it hadn’t been two minutes since he’d started directing Darkness into it... he suspected some of his previous time spent Siphoning into the ring had carried over.

The energy net fell away and Tane scrambled upright. The two robots were still on their feet, though large black cracks had opened up inside their torsos.

He reactivated his energy ax and cut through them.

He turned toward Sinive but she created a weak Essence Missile as he watched, and the net that held her fell away.

She climbed to her feet and the pair continued weaving through the trees of the light copse, and when they emerged four more robots jumped them.

Sinive created another Essence Missile—which was strong enough to melt the entire front off one of the robot’s heads—and fired her glowing pistol at another twice in rapid succession. Tane cut down the remainder with his Essence ax before they could shoot their nets.

An energy net fired from behind a tree to his right; before he could react, Sinive unleashed two quick shots, breaking the net apart so that the pieces reflected harmlessly from his armored robe. Then she dove to the ground, rolling, and fired behind the tree twice more.

A plasma-riddled scepter took two drunken steps from cover and then toppled lifelessly to the ground.

So maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to bring her along.

Tane heard a sonic boom; a moment later a TSN transport vessel appeared. It hovered in front of the northern treeline ahead, blocking the way forward. It was starting to land. Already, Scepters were leaping down from open airlocks and bays.

The ship couldn’t have been part of some reinforcements that had jumped in, not unless the jump specialist had been extremely lucky and somehow managed to get close to the planet. The transport had to have been waiting in orbit… yet another “arrangement” the TSN had made with the Mautauraen, no doubt.

Tane immediately swerved westward, intending to give the new ship a wide berth.

But then he heard another sonic boom. Another vessel appeared in the sky above the park. A black, pincer-shaped ship.

A dweller vessel.

It was about as big as the transports, coming in at the size of a small stadium.

It swooped low, making a pass over both transport vessels. It fired at the hulls, obviously targeting the weaponry. Stray shots from the dweller ship also struck the TSN reinforcements emerging from the new vessel.

The two transports returned fire, and convex portions of the dweller ship’s energy shield momentarily sparked into view around it.

Tane continued to run west, and when he judged himself far enough away from the battle, he turned to the north and made a dash for the treeline with Sinive.

The dweller ship continued to make flybys over the TSN vessels, ravaging them with plasma bolts and laser beams. Tane wasn’t sure if the dwellers were on his side, or simply stalling until they located him, or what…

The original TSN transport had taken to the air to activate its shields, while the newer transport remained on the ground to finish unloading its troops.

As Tane passed a large statue of one of the planet’s founders, that black, pincer-shaped ship suddenly pulled in front of him and Sinive and hovered there, blocking the path to the treeline. All of its weapon turrets swiveled toward him.

“Take cover!” He dove toward the thick base of the statue. Sinive joined him. In fact, she reached it before he did.

He landed behind the statue, his shoulder crunching somewhat painfully into the plinth. He arrived not a moment too soon: the dweller ship unleashed a series of plasma blasts toward them.

Tane and Sinive covered their heads as fragments of stone from the monument fell all around them.

Yep, definitely not on my side.

“What the hell is going on?” Sinive shouted. “They can’t make up their minds. First they’re here to save you. And then they’re here to kill you!”

“Seems to happen a lot with me,” Tane said, crouching lower.

Ordinarily, operators were supposed to pause when firing a ship’s lasers or plasmas to let them recharge. But the current attack didn’t let up. The aliens kept firing their plasma throwers, though at the cost of reduced intensity. But those were weapons designed to penetrate a starship’s hull: even without pausing to recharge, at the lowest intensity level each impact was still powerful enough to cause significant damage to the monument. Eventually the plasma bolts would bore through entirely, and the shielding and armor worn by Tane and Sinive would offer little protection.

As the relentless bombardment continued, it became obvious the dwellers didn’t want to give them any possible chance of fleeing: he and Sinive were thoroughly pinned.

The monument was quickly crumbling around them. Tane and Sinive would be exposed in moments.

“We’re going to have to make a run for it!” Sinive said.

Tane nodded grimly. He knew neither of them would be able to outrun the ship’s targeting AI. But they had to try.

Only a small portion of the shattered plinth remained intact above them. In the next two seconds or so, that portion would be gone. If they wanted to make a run for it, now was the time.

Tane steeled himself...

34

Tane was on the verge of telling Sinive to run when the attack seemed to let up. Or at least, the plinth stopped disintegrating; Tane could still hear muted impacts: it sounded like plasma throwers striking water instead of stone. He tentatively peered past the edge of the monument’s base and saw the plasma bolts and lasers striking the empty air, dispersing in a spherical half-dome pattern.

Someone had created a protective shield of the Essence.

He glanced over his shoulder. Lyra was standing behind him, her features contorted in concentration. She still had her Chrysalium staff in hand, along with the beam hilt, which was currently inactive. She must have decided to drain Gia of stamina after all. It was the only way she would have had the energy for this.

“To the treeline!” Lyra said. “Quickly! I can’t hold Deflect forever!”

Tane and Sinive rose from cover and ran. Lyra followed directly behind them, bringing the protective half-dome with her. Tane slowed to match the Volur’s pace, as he didn’t want to risk dashing out from underneath the cover of the dome. Lyra moved with difficulty, however: it seemed a struggle for her to stay on her feet. Obviously maintaining that Deflect work was taking a lot out of her.

The alien plasma bolts continued to impact as the pincer-shaped ship and its turrets rotated to follow their passage.

The trio approached another founder’s statue, the last between their current location and the treeline.

“Can’t… hold it…” Lyra said.

“We’re almost there!” Tane said. The northern treeline was just thirty meters away.

“Can’t,” Lyra said. “Rest… at the statue.”

Tane ducked behind the statue along with Lyra and Sinive.

Lyra released the Deflect work immediately after taking cover, and the statue bore the brunt of the attacks. Stone fragments rained down on Tane and the others; some of the smaller pieces lodged in their hair.

This statue seemed to be made of sturdier material than the previous, and Tane estimated they had about sixty seconds before the cover it provided became useless.

“I thought you were leaving?” Tane told Lyra above the sound of smashing stone.

Lyra was breathing extremely hard. Her features were the palest he’d seen so far, and she was slick with sweat. The sight made him aware of his own perspiration: he was literarily drenched underneath his armor. He wiped strands of sweat-soaked hair from his forehead.

“I did say I was leaving, didn’t I?” Lyra told him.

“You did,” Tane agreed.

“That was before aliens decided to intervene,” Lyra said. “It was obvious you needed me.”

“What about Gall?” Tane said. “Nebb? Gia? You let the TSN capture them?”

“No,” Lyra said. “A small TSN force attacked us immediately after you left. I dispatched them easily. Another force came, but when the aliens arrived, the TSN lost interest in us entirely. By then, the hacked delivery droids Jed sent in to retrieve us arrived. I borrowed some stamina from Gia, and let the machines take her and the others: the robots are carrying them out of the park faster than I ever could. When they left, I came to your aid.”

Tane glanced at his overhead map. Sure enough, the indicators showed that G’allanthamas, Gia and Nebb were moving away fast to the southwest. None of the red dots representing the TSN troops followed them—all the members of the star navy seemed to be concentrating on the new, alien threat.

As the plinth wore down, the plasma thrower began to fire past the shattered edges, and on either side of the huddling trio the ground was chewed up.

“Lyra, we could use another work of Deflect right about now…” Tane said.

The Volur just lay there, panting.

“Lyra…”

“I can’t make another,” Lyra said. “I’m sorry. I’m through.”

Tane gritted his teeth in frustration.

So close.

Then again, reaching the treeline was no guarantee of protection. The dweller ship could probably shoot through wood just as easily as thick stone, maybe even more so. But at least there were more places to take cover in that forest than out here.

The plinth continued to degrade, so that Tane and the others were forced to crouch ever lower.

“Can we link?” Tane said. “Or maybe take my stamina… it’s our only hope.”

Lyra nodded weakly. “Your stamina.” She reached for his hand, but then Tane was distracted by a rip in spacetime beside him.

That rip enlarged and a man-sized distortion tunnel appeared.

Sinive swung her pistol toward it as a dark-skinned Mancer stepped through. His hands were raised in surrender.

“Wait!” Tane told Sinive.

The tunnel closed behind the surrendering Mancer.

“Get down!” Tane told the newcomer.

But the Mancer didn’t listen. Tane thought he would be shot down by the aliens, but instead the bolts were stopped by a Deflect half-dome, obviously created by the Mancer. Tane was surprised by the man’s power in the Essence: Mancers were supposed to be an order of magnitude weaker than Volurs. But then Tane spotted a silver armband attached over the glowing robe, an armband similar to the one Sinive had once possessed. Tane wondered what the Chrysalium content of that accessory was.

Must cost a fortune.

He ran a quick ID on the man.

Name: Chancery Smith

Race: Human

Level: 12

Class: Mancer, 1st Essence Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Thorran Marine Corps, Thorran Star Navy

Weaponry: None

Shielding: Energy. (45/45)

Base Armor rating: 50

Total armor rating (including shielding): 95

“I want to help,” the Mancer said, not breaking his gaze from the dweller ship overhead.

“Then do so!” Tane told him.

The man extended his Deflect shield around Tane and the others, and the incoming bolts became muted. The man slumped slightly, obviously weakened by the act.

“Let’s go!” Tane started to rise, but the man preempted him. The Mancer crumpled behind the plinth, dropping the Essence shield.

“What’s wrong?” Tane asked him.

The Mancer shook his head. “I thought I could do it. I can’t. I’m not strong enough. Not even with this armband. Too… tired.”

“Then give it to me,” Sinive said.

“Can you create Deflect?” the man asked her.

She shook her head.

“Then there is no point,” the Mancer said.

Lyra turned toward him. "You."

"I," the man agreed.

“You know him?” Tane asked.

"Yes,” Lyra answered. “He boarded with me for a time during my captivity. He’s a drunkard."

"Not anymore," the Mancer said.

Sinive glanced at Tane. “We should kill him. We can’t trust him.”

Tane shook his head. “He’s only tried to help me, so far.”

“Don’t worry,” Lyra told Sinive as she crouched lower under the bombardment. “He’ll be dead along with the rest of us. And very soon at this rate.”

“You can create Deflect?” the Mancer asked Lyra. “Here, take my armband.”

“Won’t help,” Lyra said. “Like you, I’m too tired to step into the Essence through it.”

“Then drain me if you think it will help,” the Mancer said.

“It won’t,” Lyra said. “You’re already too weary to be of much use to me.”

“What about me?” Sinive said. “I’m not weary.”

“No,” Tane said.

“But—” Sinive tried.

“She’s not draining you,” Tane interrupted.

The plasma assault from the vessel continued unabated, and the monument became smaller and smaller.

“Chancery,” Tane said. “Can you create a tunnel to take us out of here?”

“Call me Chase,” the man replied. “And no, that’s not my specialty. There are no jumpers with the stamina left. I was sent here by the last to protect you.”

“You should have given that last jumper your armband,” Sinive scoffed. “Seeing as you’re useless with it.”

Tane and the others only had a few moments until the plinth disintegrated entirely under the bombardment, leaving them all exposed.

“I’ll try to draw them away,” the Mancer said. “I think I can create a small Deflect shield around myself. It won’t last long, but it will be enough to distract them.”

Tane was about to tell the man to stop, because what the Mancer proposed could lead only to his demise, but Chase was already on his feet. He ran out into the open.

Tane heard an immense crash, and the scrape of metal against metal.

The dweller ship stopped firing.

Instead, the dark, pincer-shaped ship moved overhead, careening at an odd angle.

Tane understood what had happened a moment later when the dweller vessel had flown past entirely: smashed into the hull behind it was the airborne TSN transport. Its nose was crumpled, as was much of its fore section.

In moments, both crashed into the park behind Tane. The combined vessels skidded across the ground, tearing away the grass, leaving a broad, long runnel carved into the dirt.

Dwellers began to stream out of the lead vessel before it had even come to a halt. Some wore environmental suits. Others were sheathed in the dark spheres of Protective Environment, indicating they were Amaranth.

“Let’s go!” Tane said.

He scrambled to his feet and ran right past the stunned Chase. Sinive and Lyra were on his heels, and Chase soon followed. Tane didn’t trust the Mancer, but the man had proved himself to be courageous at the very least, and at this point Tane could use all the help he could get. Once the alien threat subsided, Tane would probably have to kill the man, but he’d deal with that when the time came. For now they were all on the same side.

Tane glanced over his shoulder. From their positions of cover, Mancers and scepters were unleashing hell at the emerging aliens. The dwellers meanwhile returned fire; those in the environmental suits unleashed energy launchers, while the Amaranth released black smears of unreality.

He spotted a big dweller at the fore of the Amaranth cluster. Sheathed in a dark sphere like the rest, in one tentacle it carried a pole-ax made of Dark energy, and in another two it wielded an energy launcher. The tentacle immediately beside the pole-ax ended in a short stump.

It was the same huge dweller that had attacked him on Remus. He was sure of it. The alien whose faction had intervened when other Amaranth had been holding Tane and his companions hostage. The one whose tentacle Sinive had severed with her armband-sourced Essence Missile, saving Tane.

Because of its size, he realized it had to be a Graaz’dhen. That, combined with its ability to create a sphere and wield the Dark equivalent of a beam hilt, made the dweller a Graaz’dhen Amaranth, most dangerous of all aliens.

He ID’d the creature:

Name: S’Wraathar

Race: Dweller

Level: 22

Class: Graaz’dhen Amaranth

Weaponry:

W’aspice Energy Launcher

C’havar Beam Hilt

Shielding: 75/75

Base Armor rating: 0

Total armor rating (including shielding): 75

This was the first time he’d ever received a name when ID’ing a dweller, which told him the alien wanted Tane to know it.

The alien extended its free tentacles toward Tane, as if pointing at him, and it shrieked loudly. Then S’Wraathar released several smears of unreality—Fingers of Ruin—and at the same time turned its energy launcher toward him.

Other Amaranth with S’Wraathar also launched black smears toward Tane. That none of the dwellers were wrapping invisible hands around Tane to hold him in place told him he was too far away for that particular work to influence him.

He hit the treeline and dove inside with Sinive, Lyra, and Chase.

Splinters fell away from the trunk immediately behind him as the bolt from an energy launcher struck. Other nearby trees cracked as Fingers of Ruin hit them and sent black veins spidering into the wood.

The TSN had sent troops here to outflank Tane—or the aliens—and they were only just arriving. They were a mixture of mechs and combat robots, with a man in power armor at their lead.

They all released energy nets at Tane and his party.

Tane grabbed his beam hilt and allowed his Essence ax to explode forth. With that blade of bright light he cut through the nets meant for him. Then he leaped forward and hewed the legs out from underneath two mechs in rapid succession.

Sinive fired her pistol, and Lyra unleashed small, dim Essence Missiles.

To his surprise, even Chase helped, though his Essence Missiles were weaker even than Lyra’s. He slammed two of the works into different scepters, and then leaped onto a mech: with a dim Light Glove he managed to punch through the cockpit.

In moments only the sergeant in power armor remained standing, and he raised his hands to surrender.

Lyra rushed right up to that sergeant and held a hand to his forehead. The man’s eyes rolled up in his head, and he collapsed. Lyra, meanwhile stood straighter: she had obviously drained his stamina.

“He was strong, this one.” Lyra turned toward the forest edge behind her, where the approaching dwellers were only just beginning to enter. She glanced askance at Tane. “Go. I’ll hold them off.”

“I won’t let this rescue be for nothing,” Tane said.

“It’s too late for that now,” Lyra said. “This stopped being a rescue operation a while ago. It’s a struggle for survival. And you must survive. Now go! I will delay them for as long as I can.”

Chase removed his armband and tossed it to Lyra. “You need this more than I do.”

She nodded in thanks, and attached the armband, which resized to fit above her battle dress.

“Lyra, I can’t—” Tane began.

Her eyes glowed a bright blue. “Go!”

There was such command in her voice that he felt compelled to obey. He wasn’t sure if she was using the Essence on him, or it was merely the force of her presence that did the trick, but soon he was retreating again, with Sinive and Chase at his side.

He glanced over his shoulder as he ran. Apparently satisfied that he was retreating, Lyra turned around to face the onslaught. Her armored robe flared to an almost blinding level, as did the ax produced by her beam hilt. With the silver staff in one hand, and the white ax the other, she looked like some glowing, avenging wraith as the Amaranth bore down upon her.

Dark smears of death darted in upon her, but she Deflected them. No doubt some of the Amaranth were attempting to hold her in place with the Essence, but because of the combined intensity of armband, staff, and all the other Chrysalium accessories she wore, she was able to Disrupt the works before they reached her. At least that was what Tane assumed, because she leaped at the Amaranth unhindered, and the results weren’t pretty, at least not for them: she was an artist, the blade, her brush; the blood of the dwellers, her paint.

Tane ran on, leaving her behind. He felt terrible doing it, especially considering he had come here to rescue her, but she was right: at some point, the rescue had devolved into a fight for survival. Even so, he swore to come back for her when this was over.

Assuming she survived.

He burst through the trees and emerged onto the street next to the transport terminal, their fallback point. At three stories tall, and the width of a city block, the structure towered before him.

He rushed up the steps to the floor-to-ceiling windows. The double doors at the front didn’t automatically open so he cut through them with his Essence ax.

Inside, twenty large, circular gates filled the terminal. Spaced a few meters apart, each one had a small tank next to it containing the sponge-like lifeforms that Siphoned for the AIs that created the actual planet-side distortion tunnels. None of the stations next to those gates were active, as Lyra had predicted, so they couldn’t jump out. At least not until Sinive did her hacking thing.

“Freeze!” a synthesized voice said.

Three security robots employed by the terminal raced to intercept them, but Sinive shot them down in rapid succession with Jed’s pistol.

The trio ran to one of the stations. “Sinive, do your magic. We’ll buy you time.”

Tane stood next to Chase and faced the front facade of the terminal with its tall floor-to-ceiling windows and waited for the next attackers to come, whoever they might be, dweller or TSN.

He glanced at the Mancer.

“Why are you helping me?” Tane said.

“Let’s just say, there are a few of us who don’t agree with the junta in charge of the TSN,” Chase said.

“But you’re trained to follow orders,” Tane pressed. “Without question, I assume.”

“And so we are,” Chase said. “But sometimes, morals overcome conditioning. If the TSN told me to kill a baby, I wouldn’t do it. Some would, but not me.”

“Is that what I am to you, a baby?” Tane asked.

“Probably a poor example,” Chase answered. “All you really need to know is the TSN betrayed me. And now it’s my turn to betray them. You don’t deserve what they’re trying to do to you.”

TSN troops rushed inside the broken entrance, perhaps part of another outflanking party that had been sent to intercept Tane. This group was about twice as large as the previous, and had two men in power armor, ten scepters, and four battle mechs. They formed a defensive formation just inside the entrance, with the robots dropping down on one knee in front, the four mechs standing side by side behind them, and the two men in power armor at the rear.

Before they could order Tane to surrender, the dwellers arrived. Tane knew, because the men in power armor screamed, their faces becoming covered in black veins that cracked open along with their armor.

The remaining troops spun to face the new threat, but the dwellers made short work of them. More dark smears erupted from the Amaranth, while energy launchers fired from the ordinary dwellers. One of the mechs turned on its own platoon and began firing into the robots at point blank range.

Fingers of Ruin erupted from Tane’s own body in that moment, thanks to his legendary ring, and he sent all of the dark smears toward that turned mech, and disabled it. But it was too late by then. The entire TSN unit had been wiped out.

The aliens approached. Some entered through the main entrance, others crashed through the glass composing the floor-to-ceiling windows. There were six Amaranth enveloped in dark spheres, and five ordinary dwellers in protective suits. S’Wraathar was not among them: maybe Lyra had defeated the alien. It was perhaps a faint hope, but he clung to it.

Tane couldn’t afford to allow the dwellers to close, especially not the Amaranth. Certainly, some among them might have used up the telekinesis-equivalent works they had in reserve, either against Lyra, or other members of the TSN they fought along the way. But there had to be a few that still had the ability to clamp an invisible vise around him.

And that was the last thing he needed right now.

He aimed the tip of his ax at one of the Amaranth and fired an Essence bolt. It struck, passing through its protective shield of Essence, but halted a short way inside. The dweller in question cocked its sideways-oriented head slightly, as if in amusement.

Dark smears launched from all of the Amaranth at the same time. The works appeared divided equally among Tane, Sinive, and Chase.

“Sinive!” Tane said.

But she was already ducking behind her station.

As those smears rapidly homed in on him, he realized he should probably be doing the same.

He deactivated his beam hilt and dove behind a desk near one of the gates, while Chase dodged behind a control console nearby.

Black veins appeared in the desk beside Tane, and it abruptly cracked open, splitting in half. The divided parts collapsed inward, the two pieces forming a subtle V.

He glanced at the gate behind him. It was made of Chrysalium...

“Damn it,” Sinive said. Her station had suffered damage similar to Tane’s desk. “I was nearly done hacking this one. I’m going to have to move to another.”

“I’ll cover you,” Tane said. “Just wait.”

He crawled to the gate behind him, keeping the ruined desk between himself and the dwellers. He expected an invisible vise to slam around him at any moment.

But it never did.

He reached the gate and touched the hard surface with his gauntlet. He could feel the frigid winds of the Lumina beckoning inside, beyond the edges of perception. A veritable tornado waiting to be unleashed upon the world.

In that moment he wasn’t sure he could handle that much of the stellar wind. He was already close to exhaustion.

From his position in cover not far from Tane, Chase, as if sensing his hesitation, and understanding the root cause of it, said: “Put this on.”

The Mancer tossed Tane a thin silver necklace that glowed with the halo of Essence enhancement.

Tane ran a quick ID.

Item: Endurance Necklace I

Item type: Epic.

Additional Effects: None.

Essence-Imbued bonus: +9 Endurance while equipped.

That would do it.

He slid the necklace over his neck, layering it atop the other he wore. He felt immensely better.

Keeping the beam hilt gripped in his right hand to retain its Endurance bonus as well, he stepped into the Essence through the Chrysalium gate.

The Lumina shrieked inside of him, the frigid cold of the stellar wind grinding across his bones. While not as intense as Siphoning through the hull of a starship, it still staggered him to the core, and if he were standing he might have lost his footing.

He clamped down on that raging twister before it could sweep him from this universe, and he directed it into the large ribbon of Essence that fluttered wildly back and forth in front of him. He had to throw out his Essence Sight lifeline to get a good view of it all. Thanks to his new perspective, he could see the dwellers beyond the desk, splitting up, slowly approaching, hoping to outflank him and the others.

Siphoning bonus. All White Essenceworks are enhanced 205% due to Siphoning through Chrysalium gate.

He tried to grow the Branchwork for Essence Missile, but that amount of stellar wind was slightly too much to manage, and the Branches and Leaves expanded without constraint, forming a useless shape that couldn’t interact with this universe. He dismissed the work and tried again. This time he drew upon the Dark Essence in an effort to contain the White, but even then the amount of White was almost too much for the Dark to handle unaided, and the flames of the Arcanum struggled to contain the frigid Esoterum. He considered retrieving one of the artifacts in his possession to add to the amount of Darkness he could Siphon, but decided against it. He was managing...

“Go!” he told Sinive.

Tane stood up slightly and released an Essence Missile. It was a thick streak of white light marred with dark veins. It roared over the broken desk in front of him, cutting a runnel through the top. It ripped into the dwellers approaching behind it, taking down an Amaranth and an ordinary dweller. The remaining aliens in the room scattered, taking cover behind the different desks and stations.

He created more Missiles and released them in turn. A mere desk or console wouldn’t protect a dweller from a Missile of this power. Also, most of the consoles were too small to provide adequate protection for the dwellers hiding behind them, so he created Persistent Flame and used it to send streams of fire across the room. The flames took hold on the metallic consoles as if composed of some kind of jellied gasoline, and set the structures, and the dwellers partially hidden behind them, ablaze.

Siphoning the Dark helped offset the fatigue he would have ordinarily felt from having that much White gusting through his core, but it was nonetheless mentally exhausting to keep dousing all those dark flames while at the same time guiding the stellar wind into trees.

More dwellers approached from beyond the terminal, filling the streets outside, joined by the familiar spider robots—Tarkwail models with dual turrets and missile launchers. And as those dwellers in the forefront began to join their emboldened brethren inside the terminal, for a moment Tane despaired.

“Sinive, how are we doing on that gate!” Tane called. It was definitely more an exclamation than a question.

“Working on it,” Sinive shouted back. “The admins have done a good job patching the system... I’m having to brute force it!”

Using Essence Sight so that he remained in cover, Tane released more works, directing some of them toward the spider robots outside the terminal, not wanting the Tarkwail to launch their deadly missiles; the Mancer beside him meanwhile prevented attacks against Tane by unleashing Deflect as necessary. Tane knew, because dark smears would sometimes come in from the side but bounce away before reaching him. He wasn’t sure how long Chase could keep that up.

Tane kept up his assault, but for every alien he felled, two more rushed inside. The only hope for them rested in Sinive, and her hacking that gate.

A momentary respite came when TSN troops flooded the streets outside: robots and mechs fired lasers, plasmas and missiles, while Mancers unleashed Essence Missiles, drawing the attention of the dwellers and Tarkwail outside.

Meanwhile, distortion tunnels opened inside the terminal: Essence warriors and scepter robots poured through. They opened fire at the aliens that had entered the terminal, forcing them to wage a battle on two fronts, with Tane on the one side, and the TSN the other.

Tane only managed to release two Essence Missiles before another rip in spacetime appeared, this one just beyond the desk in front of him.

The big dweller stepped through. It no longer carried the energy launcher, but the pitch black, fiery pole-ax remained firmly gripped in its tentacles.

S’Wraathar.

Another Amaranth joined the dweller before the distortion tunnel closed behind them.

Lyra had lost, then. Tane spared a moment to glance at her status on his HUD. Offline. Probably dead. He should have never attempted the rescue. Never.

That moment of inaction on his part allowed S’Wraathar to leap onto the desk unscathed.

Tane launched an Essence Missile but the creature was already leaping again, and avoided the attack. The missile grazed the Amaranth behind it, however, and that one was forced to withdraw as more Missiles from the Mancers homed in on it.

Tane was forced to release the gate as S’Wraathar came in, that terrible black ax bearing down on him. The loss of that much power gusting through Tane’s body was jarring, and he instinctively swung his beam hilt upward, narrowly activating the energy ax to counter. He wasn’t certain his ax would parry the Dark weapon, since a beam hilt didn’t protect against lasers and plasma bolts, or even Essence bolts as far as he knew, but a vague memory from Tiberius promised the White would counter its opposite.

To his relief, the Essence haft stopped the blow.

A tentacle shot out at Tane. With his shield set to autogate, only high-speed projectiles such as plasma and laser attacks would trigger the energy field, and that appendage would readily grab him—so Tane had to dodge. He didn’t have time to change the shield setting on his HUD, not in the middle of a fight, so as the tentacle glanced against his armored robe, he instead sliced down with his ax.

S’Wraathar withdrew it before the White blade hit. The creature’s Dexterity was high.

Dark smears came at Tane from the alien, but Chase saved him once again—that was the only way to explain why the Fingers of Ruin diverted before they could touch him.

S’Wraathar growled in outrage. Tane suspected that was the last of that particular work the dweller had in reserve.

Tane jumped back and unleashed an Essence Missile. Unaided, without the Chrysalium gate to boost the amount he could Siphon, it was a small, pitiful thing, and barely passed through the dark sphere that enveloped S’Wraathar before dissipating.

The dweller kicked outward suddenly with one of its legs, which passed though the dark sphere to strike Tane squarely in the torso. Tane flew backward, sliding along the floor until he smashed into a processing desk in the customs area. If he hadn’t had the armored robe, he’d likely have a collapsed lung right now. As it was, he had a terrible pain in his chest, but he forced himself to his feet.

S’Wraathar was taking fire from the TSN robots and Mancers positioned on the far side of the room; the dweller ducked behind the station next to the gate beside him.

Tane crouched behind another station nearby. He considered deactivating his shield autogate feature, but that meant he wouldn’t be able to take cover behind objects like he was doing now, at least not without draining his shield. So he kept it active for the time being.

He peered past the station, toward S’Wraathar. The alien lifted what looked like a black rock from its carapace with one tentacle. It tossed the object out of its protective sphere, toward a group of mechs. As it sailed though the air, the rock became molten red, and when it struck it melted right through the metal floor.

The terminal shook slightly, and then the floor began to melt in several places, collapsing as sinkholes formed. Molten creatures emerged from those holes, unfolding, as if they were being birthed. Ten in total appeared. They were humanoid in shape, and about as big as the mechs, coming in at two times the height of an ordinary man. Their red-hot exteriors quickly faded as they reached their full statures, and instead became dark gray; but the eye regions on their heads continued to burn brightly. They were rock creatures of some sort.

Tane didn’t recognize the power. But he knew one thing for certain, it wasn’t the Dark or White Essence.

This dweller has access to the powers of a different universe?

The rock creatures joined the remaining dwellers in attacking the TSN, drawing fire away from S’Wraathar, who now arose to close with Tane once more.

Tane brought his energy ax to bear…

S’Wraathar was on him in moments. That black ax swung away, moving so fast it was a blur. Tane countered as best as he could. Entirely on the defensive, he simply wasn’t skilled enough with the weapon to do more than parry with the haft and dodge backward.

Tane weaved between the different desks and counters and conveyor belts as he retreated beneath the onslaught. S’Wraathar was quickly forcing Tane toward the far wall. If Tane wasn’t careful, and he allowed the dweller to pin him, he doubted he would survive. He was only able to parry half the blows that came at him, while he leaped away to avoid the remainder.

As he continued to counter and dodge those blows, he sensed something strange in his blade. Something he had never really noticed before. A vibrational energy of some kind that passed down through the haft and into the hilt whenever the Dark touched the White.

Tane compartmentalized his mind just as he did earlier when Siphoning two works at once, and reached out with that partition, seeking the strange energy as he fought, trying to pick it apart, determine what it was.

The Dark pole-ax sliced downward, and as Tane caught its blade between the dual bits of his own White ax, he found the source. And before the Dark pole-ax could bounce away, Tane grabbed that source tightly and squeezed.

The Essence blades that composed his dual-bitted ax enlarged, curving around the black, trapping S’Wraathar’s fiery weapon.

The dweller clattered something incomprehensible, sounding outraged. Then the two blades on S’Wraathar’s ax vanished entirely, leaving only the pole: the alien slid the bladeless haft free of the trap. A moment later the blade returned, larger than ever.

Tane leaped back, avoiding the angry blow that followed, and parrying the next one.

Lyra had spoken of the ability to change the shape of the Essence blade the hilt produced. From what he had gathered, it was a skill that could only be attained at a much higher level of beam hilt control, but because of the nature of the current fight, with White interacting with Dark, he had short-circuited that learning curve and accelerated his access to the ability.

He realized that the vibration in the weapon had been there all along.

He tried squeezing the source again, and once more the dual blades curved inward. That seemed to be the only shape he could form: he wasn’t sure how useful the ability would be considering that S’Wraathar knew Tane could trap his blade now.

Tane had been spending too much time pondering as he fought, because he hadn’t noticed how close he’d allowed the dweller to come. Without warning a tentacle swept Tane up and drew him toward the protective environment that surrounded S’Wraathar. Tane took a last gulp of air before he found himself bathed in liquid hydrocarbons. His eyes burned, and he was forced to close his eyelids. If he didn’t have Essence Sight active, he wouldn’t have seen anything at all.

He tried to unleash an Essence Missile at close range, but he couldn’t form the work. He tried again, still nothing. He guessed that the dweller must have placed a Disrupt work upon him, preventing him from creating anything new with either Essence until the Disrupt effect expired.

He tried to swing downward with his ax, which was still active despite the Disrupt, but the dweller caught his arm with another tentacle. S’Wraathar brought the tip of his own black energy ax close to Tane’s neck, so that Tane was sure he was done for, but then the creature paused.

S’Wraathar’s maw twisted until it was almost horizontal, and then a multicolored tongue slithered forth. It shifted in hue, and Tane felt a presence in his brain. The temptation to gaze into Tane’s mind, now that the dweller had him firmly in his grasp, was apparently too tempting for the Graaz’dhen side of S’Wraathar to resist.

Tane’s Essence Sight faded, and he was inside the darkness of his head. Conversations and images flashed through his mind of their own accord. He saw Tiberius, teaching him via the reflection in the polished rock. Sinive, as Tane made love to her. G’allanthamas, as the dweller launched attacks against the Amaranth on Kharikhan V.

Seeing his alien friend reminded Tane of the trick G’allanthamas taught him to deflect psychic attacks. He filled his mind with even more chaos than he needed to Siphon the Dark, imagining a cacophony of sights and sounds. He focused on images of his most recent sparring with the dweller, of parrying that Dark blade, because it helped remind him that this was just as much a fight for his life as that was.

And then he was outside of himself once more, looking down at his body via Essence Sight, held by the tentacles of the dweller, the fiery blade of the Dark ax threatening to end his existence at any moment.

The dweller apparently hadn’t realized that Tane had broken free. That multicolored tongue floated in front of Tane, shifting hypnotically. Tane tried to create an Essence Missile once more, but still the work wouldn’t form. The Disrupt effect was still active. Yet Essence Sight worked.

Tane struggled against those tentacles as his lungs began to burn nearly as badly as his eyes. He hoped the dweller cut off his head soon, if only to end this misery.

The tongue retreated, and the head twisted upright. The dweller clattered something that sounded eerily similar to a human laugh within that liquid environment. S’Wraathar retracted the Dark blade.

As the burning in his lungs and the desire for air became unbearable, Tane understood: the dweller intended to watch cruelly as Tane drowned. That was to be his ignominious end.

Just when he thought he must give in and inhale that deadly environment, someone fired into the dweller from the side. A powerful plasma burst struck the carapace between two legs—S’Wraathar would have had to lower any shield to pick up Tane, and had probably exhausted any Deflect reserves by then.

The dweller released Tane instantly after the impact, and staggered to one side before dodging for cover behind a conveyor belt as more plasma bolts came in.

Tane gasped, frantic for air now that he was free of that poisonous environment.

Sinive. She had saved him.

She was on the receiving end of dweller fire as energy launchers pinned her behind a nearby console. The surviving members of the TSN in the terminal were currently occupied by two of the rock creatures, and couldn’t offer her aid.

Tane knew all of this only because of Essence Sight. He kept his burning eyes closed, unable to open them. Tears flowed constantly as his lachrymal glands attempted to flush the liquid hydrocarbons away. He staggered backward, putting some distance between himself and the dweller, and dropping behind a counter as other aliens fired at him.

The terminal darkened as a black shape blotted out the sky beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, most of which were smashed out by now. A pincer ship hovered above the TSN troops just outside. Either the dwellers had already repaired their existing ship, or more likely, they had another waiting in orbit.

Was it here to drop off more reinforcements?

Local police craft orbited the vessel, firing at the hull. A large gunship made a flyby, launching a salvo of plasma bolts. The dweller vessel returned fire.

Most of the TSN troops out there had diverted their attention to the ship. Mechs unleashed missiles. Scepters engaged with plasma and laser rifles.

Point defenses in the alien ship returned fire as a wide ramp opened underneath the vessel.

S’Wraathar rose from cover upon eight wobbly legs.

Tane tried to create an Essence Missile and it worked this time. He released it, but S’Wraathar managed to dodge, crab-walking to the side; even so, the Missile passed through the dark sphere that enveloped the alien and grazed one of the legs, searing it. The dweller screamed in outrage. S’Wraathar obviously had no more works of Deflect in reserve, nor did any of his Amaranth friends—if they did, they were saving the Essenceworks for themselves.

S’Wraathar turned toward Tane and raised the black pole-ax.

Tane readied his beam hilt for the assault he knew was coming. He decided he’d hold off creating any more Missiles until the alien closed, when the chances of scoring a hit were that much higher.

An Amaranth behind a counter near the far side of the terminal began to clatter and shriek wildly. S’Wraathar paused. Though the alien didn’t turn to look, Tane had the impression S’Wraathar was surveying the scene behind him via the Dark equivalent of Essence Sight. Tane wondered if he should release an Essence Missile, but decided to wait a little longer.

With his own Essence Sight, he too examined the terminal: there were only three Amaranth left alive, and a handful of ordinary dwellers; a group of mechs, scepters and Essence warriors crouched near the entrance behind the wreckages of robots from both sides. The crumbled shapes of a few of the rock creatures S’Wraathar had unleashed were strewn between them. On the street just outside the terminal were more of the destroyed rock beings, next to the wreckages of mechs, and the corpses of fallen dwellers. Only two rock creatures remained standing out there, bashing their way through the TSN positions. One rock being was struck by a missile as Tane watched, and half of the creature was blown away. Another missile struck an instant later, destroying it entirely. The second being fell a moment later.

No more alien troops were forthcoming from the pincer ship outside. A few dwellers and their spider robots had gathered near the top of the ramp, and fired suppressively into the fray, but they seemed to have no intention of rushing into the waiting deathtrap. Those dwellers defending the ramp all wore environmental suits, Tane noted. If there were Amaranth aboard, they were staying close to their jump chambers.

As Tane watched, another TSN transport landed next to the dweller ship, and more robots and mechs began to flow outside. It quickly became apparent that the dwellers had lost here.

S’Wraathar must have finished his survey, because he grunted some curt response and then approached Tane, as if unconcerned by what he saw.

The nearby Amaranth shrieked again, and then rose from hiding, as did the others. The aliens began to retreat through the smashed glass panes; the waiting ship outside continued to lay down covering fire for them. As they fled, the routed dwellers fired at the Essence warriors and robots that took cover near the entrance, and otherwise attacked anything that stood in their collective paths.

S’Wraathar howled in outrage at the apparent betrayal. The alien spat some odd mixture of clatters and moans at Tane, as if promising they would meet again, and then turned to go.

The alien’s energy shield activated as someone fired at S’Wraathar from the right. It was Sinive again.

The dweller turned toward her, and cocked that sideways-oriented head.

“Sinive, run!” Tane said.

The dweller darted toward her.

Tane frantically unleashed three Essence Missiles in a row at S’Wraathar, the biggest, most powerful he could muster in his current state, but the alien avoided them all. In moments the dweller had reached Sinive.

She launched a weak Essence Missile at the alien; it hit squarely in the carapace, but S’Wraathar shrugged off the blow and scooped her up in long tentacles, dangling her outside the liquid hydrocarbon environment. The dweller rotated her toward Tane so that she acted as a shield, then S’Wraathar deactivated the pole-ax and held the hilt behind her so that the weapon was ready to explode from her chest.

The alien spoke for the first time, via a voice box that hung underneath that sideways-oriented head. A box Tane hadn’t even noticed had existed until then.

The voice warbled in that liquid environment, but the frequency modulations Tane had previously programmed into his chip compensated so that he could understand the words.

“A parting gift for you, Doomwielder,” S’Wraathar said.

35

Tane ran toward them. “No!”

“Tane, I—” Sinive said.

The pole-ax activated.

What happened next, he hardly saw. He was vaguely aware as the dweller dropped her lifeless, gore-covered body to the floor. Vaguely aware as incoming fire from the TSN struck the dweller, and the alien fled, joining its brethren.

Tane had fallen to the ground when she did. He couldn’t get up. He tried, but it felt like the entire planet was weighing him down. Both Essences were completely gone. Unreachable. Even Essence Sight went away.

He crawled toward her in darkness, his beam hilt forgotten somewhere on the floor behind him.

Have to get to her.

And when he found the spacesuit, and the still warm body it contained, and felt the blood covering her lifeless form, he tried once more to step into the Essence, wanting to heal her. But he couldn’t find it.

I can save her. I must.

He forced himself to calm down and finally managed to step into the White. He threw out his Essence Sight lifeline and he could see once more. That wasn’t a good thing. Gazing down at her mangled form sickened him anew, and he nearly lost the Essence once again.

He forced himself to be impassive. He told himself this was some random person that needed healing. Not Sinive. It was the only way he could do this.

Then he created a work of healing, allowed it to partially set in this reality, and cast it inside her for completion.

Something was different. Ordinarily, when using that particular work, he felt warmth press against the cold stellar wind, but this time there was only more cold. He struggled, trying to get the work to take hold, but it seemed futile—there was no life to hold on to. He began to realize she was truly lost.

After several failed attempts, he released her and slumped over her body in exhaustion, letting her blood smear him. He couldn’t see anymore without Essence Sight, his eyes still burning, unable to open.

He heard a roar outside and realized the dweller ship was departing. That meant the TSN would soon be closing in to capture him.

He didn’t care.

Let them capture me. Let them chip me.

No. He wasn’t done here yet.

There might still be a way.

He clambered to his feet.

He would save her.

He threw out his Essence Sight lifeline so that he could see again and hurried to the closest gate. He rested his hand on the Chrysalium surface. He stepped into the Essence through it, and with the aid of the Dark, he shaped a massive work of Air Current. It failed to take the first few times, since his level in that particular Branchwork was low, but on the fourth try, he finally succeeded.

He directed the incredible currents outward, toward the edges of every single gate in front of him, and turned them all ninety-degrees so that they were facing one another. He did the same with the gate he was touching, taking care to move with the circular object as it turned.

Then he directed a powerful gust outward, to the far wall on his right, and shoved that Essence-born wind onto the top portion of the gate there, toppling the structure. It fell into the Chrysalium circle next to it and that gate toppled, too, hitting the next, and so on, so that the gates fell in turn like giant dominos. The air filled with their clangs.

Tane stepped back and stayed inside the Essence so that he could watch the twenty gates collapse in front of him. When it was done, the top portions of each touched the thick bases of those immediately next to them, so that they were all connected.

He knelt to touch the closest fallen gate. Since they were all joined, he was able to step into the Essence through all of them at once, as though he Siphoned from a single large source of Chrysalium. The White Essence howled inside of him like a hurricane: the amount of stellar wind scraping across his bones was comparable to the hull of a small Chrysalium ship.

Siphoning bonus. All White Essenceworks are enhanced 1180% due to Siphoning through combined Chrysalium objects.

It was impossible to control the raging ribbon of Essence that flickered before him—he couldn’t draw enough of the Dark on his own.

Tane retrieved one of the dark artifacts from his storage pouch and expanded it so that it stood towering beside him. Then he touched it with his free hand, and the conflagration of the Dark exploded inside of him. He knelt there, arms outstretched like that, one hand touching the White, the other, the Dark.

Siphoning bonus. All Dark Essenceworks are enhanced 570% due to Siphoning through Dark Artifact.

Now he had more than enough blazing Dark to contain the frozen White.

With his Essence Sight, he spotted energy nets flying in upon him from the direction of the terminal entrance. He easily deflected those nets with gusts of air, and then sent more works of Air Current outward. He struck the mechs, robots and Essence warriors near the entrance, as well as those lurking in cover at various spots throughout the terminal, and flung them all through the broken glass panes and onto the street outside like rag dolls.

Then he turned all of his attention upon Sinive. His Sinive.

He poured healing into her.

It was most likely futile, given his low level in the Branchwork. Given that he hadn’t even been able to heal Jed of his microcrillia infection. Yes, Tane knew these things, but he had to try.

Perhaps he could achieve a miracle.

He formed his most important work of the Essence yet, creating a massive tree of healing that filled the extents of the entire terminal, and when he partially set it into this reality, placing the bottommost Branches and Leaves inside her, still there was no warmth to meet his cold.

But he pressed on, searching the gaping, bloody hole in the chest assembly of her spacesuit. Ever seeking for a modicum of warmth.

A modicum of life.

He remained fixed like that, constantly creating White and bolstering it with Dark for what seemed an eternity, but in truth, perhaps a minute passed.

He achieved nothing.

Sinive was gone.

He could not heal death. The huge hole remained untouched in her chest. For all the power he had, he could do nothing—not a thing—to help her.

He released both Essences, slumped to the floor, and vomited.

He didn’t want to get up.

He just lay there.

Let the TSN take me.

He wanted to die himself.

He curled into a ball. Without Essence Sight, he was surrounded by darkness. That suited him.

He could hear his own breathing. The beating of his heart. Both sounded loud. Too loud.

She’s gone.

The floor underneath felt hard. The texture of the rug, scratchy. The air around him, so hot. He lay there, steeped in his own sweat.

He wished all of it would just go away.

He suddenly had an image of himself as a little kid. And of a large cardboard box he once had. Sometimes he would curl up underneath that box, hiding himself from the world.

He wanted to hide in that box right now, and never return to this universe.

He saw Sinive in his mind’s eye once more, dying, again and again.

And he vomited anew.

As he replayed her death in his mind, a lingering anger burned inside of him.

It grew stronger with each passing second, imparting bodily strength.

They’re going to pay for this. All of them.

He squeezed his fists. Fresh tears streamed down his face.

They’re going to pay. I swear it.

The outburst of tears finally flushed most of the liquid hydrocarbons from his eyes, at least enough that he could open them. He did so. They still burned, but he could see. He spotted his reflection in the burnished surface of the gate beside him. He didn’t recognize the tortured creature he saw. Those bloodshot, opaque eyes were not his own. They seemed dead to this world. Just as he was.

Dead, and filled with enough wrath to destroy a universe.

Still lying down, he touched that gate, and the frigid hurricane of stellar wind it contained howled inside of him, bursting to flail uncontrollably from his core. Essence Sight returned, and he cast his vision above and behind his body.

He saw two mixed groups of scepters and Essence warriors cautiously approaching his position, coming in from both flanks. Mancers in armored robes brought up the rear of each group. They had likely used distortion tunnels to jump directly inside the terminal.

Bad move on their part: they would be the first to pay the price for Sinive’s death. Tane demanded a high toll in blood. Infinitely high.

He wondered vaguely where the other Mancer who had fought at his side had gone… probably fled. What was his name? Tane had already forgotten. It wasn’t important. And it was for the best the man had gone, as any who stayed would know only death, now.

He was about to begin growing the terrible Branchworks he had in mind, when beside him the dark artifact shrunk, seemingly of its own accord. A distant part of his mind found that odd.

He touched the now apple-sized artifact anyway and commanded it to enlarge.

The object didn’t obey. It was as if it knew his murderous intent and wanted to stop him. Wanted to save him from himself.

But Tane wouldn’t have it. He forced his will upon it, slamming down hard.

The artifact yielded and expanded to its original size. Tane felt momentarily faint, but the sensation quickly passed. Good, because there was no time for rest.

He had deadly work to do.

With the Dark flames from the artifact he contained the massive White Branchworks he formed, and launched two huge Essence Missiles at the incoming groups. The robots, warriors and Mancers had no chance: the Missiles tore through them before they could dodge, leaving behind the wreckages of robots, and the bloody remnants of what were once men and women. A woman’s severed head landed a few meters in front of him. She had a startling beauty that reminded him of Lyra.

A beauty that he had snuffed out with a thought.

Her deep blue eyes gazed accusingly at him, and a small part of him felt shame. Everlasting shame.

He smashed the head to a bloody pulp with a hammer of Air Current.

With powerful gusts of air, Tane slammed the gates together from both sides at the same time, forcing them upright in the process, as if compressing a massive accordion so that they formed a single, huge gate.

He sat up as the gate he was touching was lifted off the ground during the impacts, and he shifted his arm to follow it upright, maintaining contact the whole time. He hardly felt the vibrations that traveled down his arm as those gates slammed together. He hardly felt anything anymore.

He lined the base of the combined gates with desks and bodies and other refuse from the terminal, intertwining and knotting them to bind the Chrsyalium structures together so that he wouldn’t have to continually hold them in place with Air Current. The added thickness also offered a shield against his enemies.

When that was done, he shifted his Essence Sight to the edge of the terminal and surveyed the street beyond.

Then he began to kill, launching huge Essence Missiles indiscriminately. The thick White bolts of light, tinged with Dark veins and surrounded by bolts of black electricity, repeatedly swept over the gathered army outside. Scepter. Mech. Mancer. Essence warrior. No one was spared. Tane didn’t care if he felled AI, human, or Essenceworker. Let them all die.

Screams filled the air. Mechanical shrieks.

Plasma bolts pounded the terminal as police drones and gunships from the city’s security forces swooped in. Tane shot them down with three quick Mixed works.

Missiles, plasma bolts, and lasers fired into the terminal from somewhere down the street. A few of the missiles struck the combined Chrysalium gates that sheltered him, and the superheated gases from the impacts enveloped the area and almost engulfed him, but he unleashed Air Current around himself and formed a protective cushion against the shockwaves.

Nice try, bitch.

When the impacts ceased and the dust cleared, there was hardly a scratch on the surface of the combined gates. And Tane was entirely unharmed.

He cast his Essence Sight north, down the street, and spotted the source of the attack. Armored carriers, battle tanks, and other vehicles of war.

He unleashed several volleys their way, neatly destroying every one of those vehicles, to the last tank. While the incredible tornado of White drained him, as usual the Dark he Siphoned from the artifact mitigated the weariness, allowing him to endure. That was all he could ask for.

“You want me, TSN?” Tane shouted at the top of his lungs until his throat hurt. “Then come get me! I dare you!”

In answer to his dare, the transport ships that had landed on the street outside began to fire into the terminal. Plasma throwers and dragon lasers pounded the combined gates. Those ships were obviously trying to strip him of his Essence source. Or maybe they had finally given up on capturing him, and hoped to rid the universe of the scourge that was Tane Ganeth.

Before those weapons could melt the source of his power, he fired several huge Essence Missiles, and tore gaping holes into the transport ships. It took five blows to each of them before they ceased firing.

If only he had a bigger Chrysalium source, like the TSN battle cruiser he had used against the dweller fleet, then he wouldn’t have had to waste so many shots, and could’ve taken them down with one blow each, instead of five.

Wait a moment...

Tane generated a massive work of Air Current. It was more powerful than anything he had created before with that particular work, even with the Chrysalium boost, and he suspected he had leveled during the battle. He didn’t have time to check right now, though.

A veritable windstorm filled the terminal; he rode the tip of that storm, and it swept him, the artifact, and the gates into the street beyond. He activated his shield, autogating mode. He cast his Essence Sight around him in vigilance, and struck down any TSN troops that he spotted in hiding.

He focused the storm underneath him, and in moments he was flying up over the street and over the wreckage of the closest transport vessel. He set himself down just on top. With the combined gates touching the exterior of the vessel, he had access not only to the Chrysalium contained inside those gates, but also the entire hull of the transport.

Siphoning bonus. All White Essenceworks are enhanced 3359% due to Siphoning through Chrysalium objects.

He used that boost to create an even more powerful Air Current, and with the resultant tempest he drew the wreckage of the adjacent transport into his own, so that the two hulls were touching.

Siphoning bonus. All White Essenceworks are enhanced 5124% due to Siphoning through Chrysalium objects.

He created a new Essence Missile. This one was as big as one of the transports itself.

Tane launched the colossal work, and sent it spiraling close to the ground around the street immediately in front of the terminal, destroying all the buildings and structures where members of the TSN might be hiding. He sent it into the trees that bordered the street to the south, killing any who hid there, and dissolving the forest entirely so that he could readily see the park beyond.

When the work dissipated, he created another, and sent this one similarly gyrating into the air, and with it he swept away all the incoming drones and police craft that had come to attack him.

The Dark he could draw from the artifact was enough to contain the incredible amount of the White, but when he reached another transport terminal or shipyard, and added their Chrysalium bonuses to his existing sources, he’d probably have to retrieve his other artifact and add its Darkness to the mix as well. Yes, he planned to keep adding to his power. Adding, and adding.

And destroying.

He began to raze everything around him. The streets. The buildings. Any gunships or armored carriers that dared approach.

His Missiles were so huge now that they passed through multiple structures at once before dissipating. People were screaming in the streets below. He couldn’t tell if they were TSN, or civilians.

He didn’t care.

He was growing weary, feeling like the Esoterum was whittling away his bones to sticks, while the Arcanum burned his organs from the inside out, but he wasn’t going to stop. Anger, and sheer hatred compelled him. If the Essence destroyed him, at least it would be an end to the torment.

And then he spotted a lone figure in a glowing armored dress walking toward him on the street below. She looked like an ant compared to the super-powerful being he was.

He launched an Essence Missile at her. She darted forward, moving with unexpected speed. His Missile slammed into the street, creating a huge blast crater. He wasn’t sure he’d gotten her. He cast about, looking for her, but couldn’t find her. He must have hit her.

He resumed his destruction of the city.

A few minutes later he spotted the glowing figure again as she clambered over the top edge of the hull nearby.

It was Lyra.

She walked haltingly toward him, leaning heavily on her silver staff. The Chrysalium armband attached to her bicep was chipped in places, as if it had taken several blows.

She staggered occasionally, and at one point bent over and vomited. She was no doubt experiencing the nausea that came with being close to someone who Siphoned such an incredible amount of the Essence.

Lyra stopped five meters from him.

“You’ve killed enough,” she said. “The TSN is in full retreat.”

“I’m not stopping until I’ve killed them all,” Tane said.

“You’re only killing innocents at this point,” Lyra said. “Doing this won’t bring her back.”

Those words fanned the rage that burned inside him, consuming all rational thought.

The Volur was the cause of this. If he hadn’t been forced to come here to rescue her, Sinive would be alive right now.

A part of his mind begged him to hold back, told him it simply wasn’t true that Lyra was the cause.

No one forced you to rescue her. No one forced Sinive.

He dismissed the thought, and began to form an Essence Missile.

But Lyra surprised him, dropping to the hull. She planted a hand on the deck and instantly the amount of Essence he could Siphon through the combined Chrysalium objects was reduced to a trickle. He might as well not have been Siphoning through it at all. And he felt nauseous. It wasn’t as bad as when he was aboard a starship during a jump, but it was there.

He was immediately reminded of something the Amaranth once did, stealing away the Dark Essence he Siphoned from the artifact on Remus.

“My Chrysalium Siphoning is many levels higher than yours,” Lyra said. “I can take it all away from you.”

“But you can’t do anything with it,” Tane said. “You lack the Dark.”

“You’re right,” Lyra said. “But my goal is only to weaken you.”

He sent an Essence Missile at her; it was no bigger than one he could form natively. She Deflected it. That was somewhat surprising: somehow she was able to partition out the White she had stolen from the stellar wind she could Siphon on her own, allowing her to form a cohesive Branchwork. Or perhaps she was merely clamping down on the Esoterum she had purloined, again allowing her a modicum of control.

“You would protect the TSN?” Tane said. “Those who made you their puppets?”

“I would protect you,” Lyra said. “Come back to me, Tane. Come back from beyond the brink. Leave the World Bender behind for just a while longer. The universe needs you.”

He stared at her blankly, simply holding onto both Essences. That was all he had now. The Essences. And the power they gave him. One burned inside him, the other froze. Twisting, churning, hot mixing with cold, Dark intertwining with White, like his psyche.

Wait… she wanted the White?

She could have it. Because there was something she could never take away from him.

And that was the Dark.

He began the timeline for Fingers of Ruin.

36

Tane had only completed a few seconds of the Dark timeline when Lyra released an unexpected Essence Missile at him.

It struck him in the chest. Hard. It was followed by a blow that must have been Air Current, because he was sent flying backward and the dark artifact and combined gates were ripped from his grasp.

He landed skidding on the Chrysalium hull. The surface caved slightly, and he realized it was because he had Siphoned so much of the White through it, and it was losing its consistency.

Another Air Current struck him before he could get up, and he was swept right off the hull toward the street below. Falling... plunging to his doom...

A final Air Current caught him before he struck the street and lowered him gently the rest of the way to the asphalt. The surface was gutted all around him. His doing.

He glanced weakly at his chest. A large, smoking hole had been carved into his armored robe. It had nearly eaten through to the flesh underneath. But hadn’t otherwise harmed him.

Guess I’ll be needing a new robe.

That last blow had caused him to release both Essences, and he was now too weak to Siphon again. He couldn’t sense either the White or Dark at all. Maybe he’d lost the ability entirely. And he wasn’t sure that was such a bad thing.

He didn’t feel like getting up. He just lay there in the street.

Finally, after what seemed a century, he turned his head to the side.

He surveyed the ruin around him. The mutilated corpses of the men and women who were only doing their jobs. The wreckages of mechs, robots, gunships. The occasional dweller. The ravaged transport ships, and the bodies of the dead swathing the blast holes in the hulls.

I did this. For no reason. None at all.

He wept.

I lost all control when she died. I...

He glanced at the terminal. Incredibly, it was still intact, an island amid the destruction he had inflicted. He was relieved, because he wanted to see Sinive one last time. Just once.

He tried to pull himself up, but couldn’t. The two transport ships abruptly disintegrated beside him, turning into a pile of fine powder. There were different, non-Chrysalium structures protruding at random locations from inside that powder. The bodies of humans and robots were also probably buried inside.

The gates and the dark artifact rolled onto the street, and a moment later those disintegrated as well. It was the toxic side effect of drawing Esoterum and Arcanum directly like that, and allowing them to accumulate inside their respective source materials.

In moments he was covered in dust and coughed as the white and black powder infected his lungs.

He attempted to rise once more, but still was too weak to stand on his own.

A strong arm slid under him and helped him upright.

Lyra.

She looked… tired. Of course she would be drained after stealing that incredible hurricane of Essence from him and allowing it to rip through her core.

She pressed her shoulder under his arm and acted as his crutch. She turned toward the south, where the Mosaic was landing in front of the ravaged forest—which was mostly stumps—and guided him toward the ship.

But Tane resisted.

“When I told you the TSN was in full retreat, I meant those troops already on the planet,” Lyra said. “Reinforcements have jumped into the system, according to space traffic control. More starships will be arriving within the hour. These are warships, not transport vessels. And there are incoming Mautauraen battle cruisers as well, approaching from various extra-planet locations. Surviving members of the city’s security forces are likely regrouping, too, at muster points nearby. When the TSN vessels arrive, they will join in any attack. My point: we can’t stay here.”

Still Tane resisted.

“Must see… her…” Tane said. “Last… time.”

Lyra struggled against him a moment longer, then at last ceded to his pull and helped him toward the terminal. Behind him, the ramp to the Mosaic’s cargo bay opened, and G’allanthamas struggled outside in his environmental suit.

The injured dweller moved tiredly, and much slower than his usual pace, but that was probably just as well, considering how sluggish Tane’s own advance was, and the alien soon joined him.

“Love what you’ve done to the place,” G’allanthamas said, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

It didn’t work. How could it? But his friend was an alien and didn’t know any better.

“I don’t want you to watch this, my friend,” Tane told the dweller. “I’m... she’s gone.”

“Which is exactly why I’m coming with you,” G’allanthamas said. “I swore I would follow you to my last breath, and I will. What sort of friend am I, if I can’t be at your side to comfort you when you need it most? When you have lost that which you value more than anything else in this universe?”

It was true. All the items he had. All the Essenceworks and skills he’d learned. All of them were nothing compared to the loss of Sinive. He would have given them all up to have her back again.

The thought cut through him like a plasma bolt and he slumped heavily against Lyra. She gasped before compensating. He tried to aid her, but he knew he was probably little more than dead weight. That armor of hers must have bestowed a substantial strength bonus, because he doubted she would have been able to hold up his weight, given how little he was helping, and how tired she must have been.

Lyra steered between the blast craters and across the runnel his last works had carved into the asphalt, and took him toward the terminal. She stepped over and around the debris that littered the entrance: broken glass; smashed desks; robotic limbs; human body parts.

“Your prophecy says I will either save the universe, or destroy it?” Tane said. “It’s beginning to look like the latter. Now do you believe me when I tell you I’m not who you think I am? I’m not the Bender of Worlds. I’m… a monster.”

She remained silent as she walked him past the smashed doors and into the terminal. Inside, the portions closest to the entrance were relatively clean of debris, swept clear when Tane had transported the gates outside with Air Current.

She led him to a bloody form near one of the remaining control consoles on the far side of the terminal. The glass tank containing the sponge life form beside it had shattered, the life-giving liquid draining out so that the sponge inside had turned the dark gray of death.

I’ve killed even these simple, innocent lifeforms.

And then all guilt, all feeling left him. Because he saw her.

Sinive.

Her bloody form sprawled on the floor behind the console. Jed’s pistol lay abandoned next to her.

Lyra let go of him and Tane collapsed heavily beside Sinive. He tried to pull her lifeless form into his arms, but he was too weak, especially considering the added weight of her helmetless spacesuit. So he lay down beside her instead and wrapped an arm around her body, and held her. Simply held her.

He moaned, barely able to see for the blur that consumed his vision.

Lyra dropped to her knees beside him. “Forgive me.”

Tane said nothing. He simply held on for dear life. He had harbored a small, final hope that Lyra might be able to save her, but the Volur’s latest words shattered that.

Sinive was gone.

He blinked away the blur to gaze at Sinive’s crumpled form under his arm. The grime smeared across her perfect face. The hole in her chest assembly. The blood from the wound underneath.

The blood.

So much of it.

A shadow fell over him, and he looked up. A dweller in an environmental suit towered above him.

Tane was filled with a sudden panic until he realized it was G’allanthamas.

Tane slumped. He had forgotten all about the alien.

He returned his attention to Sinive and tightened his grip around her. He wished G’allanthamas would just go away and leave him to his grief.

“We have to go,” Lyra said softly.

“Not yet,” Tane said.

He snuggled against Sinive’s chest assembly.

“She is not lost,” G’allanthamas announced.

Tane ignored him. He ran a hand through Sinive’s blood-matted hair.

“She is not lost,” the dweller repeated.

Tane shot G’allanthamas an angry look. Rage flowed through his veins, giving him strength, and he could almost sense the Essence waiting for him beyond the edges of perception. Almost.

“Are you blind?” Tane said. “Look at her! She’s gone! Nothing can bring back the dead! Nothing!”

“There is a way…” G’allanthamas said.

Tane simply stared at the alien. He wasn’t sure if he should dare allow a spark of hope to arise inside him.

“Speak,” Lyra told the dweller.

“The archaeoceti could raise the dead,” G’allanthamas said.

“Ah,” Lyra said. She seemed disappointed.

Tane frowned. “Raise the dead… I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”

“Perhaps a poor choice of words,” G’allanthamas said. “Restore to life. Revive. She will be exactly as she was before.”

“But the archaeoceti are no more,” Lyra said.

“They do not exist,” the dweller agreed. “At least, not in this universe. But there is a way to reach them.”

Tane gazed at his friend for a long moment, trying to gather his thoughts, trying to see through the fog of grief.

But G’allanthamas must have misinterpreted his pause as doubt, because the alien said: “There is a way to bring her back, I swear it to you. The cost will be great. But it can be done.”

“I don’t care about the cost,” Tane finally said. “Tell me what I must do. Where I must go.”

“There is a certain system near the galactic core,” G’allanthamas said. “In territories formerly occupied by the archaeoceti. A system your star charts name Aegean Tetragon. Go there, and you will find what you seek.”

“That system has never been visited by human probes or ships,” Lyra said.

“No, it has not,” G’allanthamas agreed.

“Let’s say we find them, as you say,” Tane told the alien. “How can we be sure they’ll help us?”

“We can’t be, of course.” G’allanthamas seemed hesitant, as if unsure he wanted to relate his next words. Finally he continued. “You cannot complete your destiny until you go. For you see, the archaeoceti will be expecting you. They, too, have a prophecy about you. They call you the Qumolongmar. He Who Crosses Death.”

“I don’t care about their prophecies. All I care about...” He glanced at Sinive’s body underneath his arm, then looked to Lyra. “We put her in stasis, and bring her to Aegean Tetragon. If there’s a chance we can bring her back, of course we have to take it.”

Lyra nodded. “Dweller, will you carry her?”

“It would be an honor,” G’allanthamas said.

That made Tane suddenly cry. He didn’t know why. Maybe it was because G’allanthamas held such a distaste for carrying humans—such an act was an insult to his kind after all—and yet he was willing to do it for Sinive without hesitation. Or maybe it was because the alien had always pretended to hate Sinive. But it was obvious he loved her like a sister.

The alien gently wrapped his tentacles around Sinive, ever so gently, and Tane reluctantly relinquished his hold on her. G’allanthamas lifted her body and lowered her onto his carapace. The dweller crab-walked over the debris, and began the trip to the waiting starship outside.

Tane wiped his eyes, and Lyra helped him up to serve as his crutch once more. Remembering something, Tane led her away from the site of Sinive’s fall.

“What now?” Lyra asked.

“There’s something I left behind here.” He surveyed the mess around him… there. He guided Lyra toward a small object abandoned next to a ruined desk. He picked it up: his beam hilt.

It seemed like such a small, inconsequential weapon now, given the power he had just wielded. And yet he considered it to be one of his most valuable possessions. Well, as much as possessions could be valued, anyway. Life… it held so much more value.

He secured the device to his utility belt and Lyra carried him toward the entrance.

A man in an armored robe abruptly stood up from where he had been hiding behind a crumpled desk.

Chase.

Lyra stiffened, and Tane thought she was about to launch some Essencework at the man. Assuming she still had the stamina for it.

“Wait,” Tane said wearily.

Lyra merely scowled at the Mancer. No Branchwork came from her. For now.

“I thought you ran away?” Tane said.

“I hid here the whole time,” Chase said. “I saw it all.”

“Then you know what I truly am,” Tane told him.

“I would have done the same if that was my woman,” the Mancer said. “In fact, I’m surprised you showed so much restraint. I would have destroyed this entire city, wiped all traces of it from this universe.”

Tane studied the man uncertainly. He wasn’t sure if Chase was simply trying to kiss up to him, or what. Maybe he was telling the truth.

The thought didn’t really make Tane feel any better.

“I’m not going back,” Chase continued. “I follow you now.”

Tane smiled weakly. An ironic smile.

“Those who follow me die,” Tane told him.

“If that’s my fate, so be it,” Chase said. “I’m through serving the Paramount Leader and his TSN. I only stayed as long as I did for my brothers and sisters who served at my side. But when the TSN sent us to our deaths…”

Tane studied the man a moment longer. “We all have our reasons and motivations,” he said softly. “Come, then.”

“Wait, can we truly trust him?” Lyra asked.

“No,” Tane told her. He reached into his pouch and retrieved the last Restrainer he had. He tossed it to the man. “You want to follow me? Then you will wear this on your forehead at all times. Until I tell you to take it off.”

“But—”

“Do it,” Tane said.

The man reluctantly placed the Restrainer on his head and slumped slightly when it took hold.

“Good,” Tane told him. “To the ship. Lead the way.”

Chase stumbled through the debris, while Lyra helped Tane behind him.

Outside the terminal, Tane spotted something else that attracted his attention.

“Wait,” Tane said.

“There’s no time…” Lyra said.

“Just a moment longer,” Tane said. He guided Lyra to a dead dweller, obviously Amaranth, since it had no environmental suit. The alien was too small to be S’Wraathar. That was good, because Tane wanted to kill that one himself.

With Lyra’s help he knelt and retrieved the dark beam hilt that lay next to the alien corpse. He slid it into his storage pouch and then glanced at Lyra, but she had no comment.

Tane reached the Mosaic and proceeded up the ramp. When he passed through the open airlock and into the ship proper, he was forced to walk sideways since he and Lyra wouldn’t fit the cramped passageways any other way. Outside, the ramp closed as the ship prepped for take off.

Chase was waiting within the inner passage.

“Gia, we have a new crew member,” Tane said. “I want Muse to disable his access to the Galnet. Also, Muse should monitor him at all times. I’ve given him a Restrainer, and Muse needs to sound an alarm if he takes it off without my approval.”

“Got it,” Gia said over the comm.

“Can you assign him quarters in the interim?” Tane pressed.

“I have a storage closet in mind for him, yes,” Gia said. “Proceed to your right, Chancery.”

“I prefer Chase,” the Mancer said. But he obeyed her directions.

Lyra and Tane watched him go.

“I still think it’s a mistake to let him come,” Lyra said.

“The mistake is mine to make,” Tane said. “He fought for me out there. Risked his life. That’s something I can respect.”

Lyra started to lead Tane toward his quarters.

“How’s your leg by the way, Gia?” Tane transmitted. He remembered how bad her shattered limb had looked.

“I’m still in sickbay, actually,” Gia said. “Where I’m operating the ship. The medical robots are patching me up as we speak.”

He glanced at his overhead map. She was indeed in sickbay, next to Jed. He searched for the remaining passengers, and spotted the blue dot representing Chase heading toward a storage area, and G’allanthamas in cargo bay one, but there was no sign of Sinive. “Muse, where’s Sinive?”

“Her body has been placed in stasis in cargo bay two,” Muse said. “Jed had one of his hacked delivery robots carry her there when the dweller arrived with the body. I’m truly sorry for your loss.”

Tane spotted the dull indicator in the cargo bay where Sinive had been placed, and felt comforted that she was near.

“Can I get access to the camera in that bay?” Tane asked the Mosaic’s AI.

“Let me confirm your request with the captain,” Muse said.

A moment later Tane received a share from the AI and put the video on screen. He saw Sinive inside a silver stasis pod, her face visible behind the glass pane near the top. The blood had been partially cleaned off her face, though her hair was still matted. She still wore Jed’s piercings, and looked almost like she was sleeping. He couldn’t tell if she remained within her spacesuit or not, since the glass pane wasn’t big enough.

“Thank you,” Tane said.

“I’m sorry again for your loss,” Muse said.

“She’s not lost yet.”

“Explain,” the Mosaic’s AI said.

“I can’t,” Tane said. “Gall has offered me a small hope. Not a guarantee, mind you, but a hope. I intend to take him up on that hope.”

The deck shook slightly: the ship was taking off.

“I’m instructing Muse to skim close to the surface for a few hundred kilometers until we’re well clear of the city and its surface-to-air defenses,” Gia said over the comm. “Then we’ll head to jump altitude.”

“You’re going to jump us?” Tane said in disbelief.

“Of course,” Gia said.

“What about your leg?”

“No matter what state my leg is in when we reach jump altitude,” Gia said. “I’ll be in that jump chamber, I promise you. If I have to crawl there on my hands and knees, with my bloody leg dragged behind me, I’ll be there. I won’t let the TSN get their hands on us. Now tell me, do we have a destination?”

“Aegean Tetragon,” Tane replied.

“Hmm, that’s about three jumps away,” Gia said. “I’ll jump us to the first farthest system as soon as we have the altitude. I’ll alter our heat signature as soon as we arrive, but I reckon the TSN will jump ships to the surrounding systems as soon as we’re gone. I don’t suppose your Volur has any starship jump chamber experience?”

“I do,” Lyra said. “Unfortunately, I’m in no condition to operate a jump chamber at the moment. Give me a couple of hours rest. Maybe several, actually.”

“Well, I don’t think the TSN will find us before then anyway,” Gia said. “I’ll relay the first system to the Red Grizzly so your smuggler friend can follow.”

Tane realized he hadn’t spotted Nebb on the overhead map. He double-checked. Yes, the smuggler wasn’t aboard.

He glanced at Lyra. “What’s the story with Nebb?” he asked weakly.

“I carried him aboard the Mosaic,” Lyra said. “And brought him to a storage closet located deep inside the hull, where he was shielded from the external mixnet of the city. I had the AI cut off access to its own local mixnet, and thus the Galnet, so that when I woke Nebb he was free of the influence of the control chip. I had him disable his chip’s mixnet discovery feature entirely so that he wouldn’t reconnect when he left the Mosaic. Then I escorted him aboard the Red Grizzly. There are likely some standing orders still embedded in his mind, so I’ve instructed Grizz to keep his connection to the Galnet severed. Just in case he tries to communicate our plans at some point. When you’ve recovered your strength, you can board his ship and remove the control chip from his mind, just as you did for me, so we won’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“Can we trust that the TSN hasn’t tampered with Grizz?” Tane asked.

“Of course they have,” Lyra replied. “I had Nebb reboot the Red Grizzly’s AI as soon as we boarded, and he reverted to an earlier off-site backup. I also performed a quick sweep for listening devices in the different compartments and passageways; Nebb will perform a more thorough physical search at some point. After you’ve removed his control chip, we’ll have Nebb pore over the AI’s codebase in case the backups were compromised in any way. Until then, we won’t reveal our final destination to Nebb or Grizz.”

When she reached his quarters, Lyra helped him inside and laid him down to rest on the bottom bunk.

At that point, the exhaustion and all the events of the past few hours swept over him utterly, and Tane could no longer string together a sentence, let alone form any coherent thought. He simply lay there, staring at the upper bunk as Lyra departed.

A flashing notification in the lower right of his HUD told him he had a bunch of alerts to review, but he didn’t even feel like looking at any of them. He would just have to do it later.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but couldn’t, at least for the first few hours. His mind remained haunted by Sinive’s death, and he replayed that fateful moment over and over in his head. His emotions were all over the place, alternating between the depths of despair and the throes of rage.

Thankfully, the merciful, sweet oblivion of sleep found him at last.

* * *

When he awoke, he checked the clock in the lower right of his HUD. He had slept for a full thirteen hours.

He rubbed his eyes, but remained lying down. “Muse, what’s our status?”

“We’ve made two jumps while you slept,” Muse said. “We’re scheduled to make the final jump to Aegean Tetragon in three hours. The Red Grizzly is also in this system, thirty million kilometers to starboard, thirty degrees inclination.”

“Red Grizzly?” Tane said. “Who jumped her? Or him, I suppose.”

“The Mancer, Chancery,” Muse said. “He transferred to the Red Grizzly when we were well outside the city. Apparently, while the Mancer has no ability to create distortion tunnels per se, he does possess some skill in Essence Jump Chamber Control.”

“Hmm,” Tane said. “That means he removed the Restrainer. Even though I specifically told him not to do it.”

“Lyra gave him permission,” Muse said.

We’ve only just gotten her back and already she’s undermining my authority, is she?

Well, he didn’t care anyway.

He was through with that World Bender stuff.

He checked his overhead map. Sinive’s dull indicator was still in the cargo bay.

He was hoping it had been a bad dream.

“However, you’ll be glad to know that according to the last communication received from the Red Grizzly, the Mancer is wearing the Restrainer once again,” the Mosaic’s AI continued. “Lyra has instructed him to remove it only for jumps.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Tane said. “By the way, why is the Red Grizzly so far away from us anyway?”

“Our ships have no ability to link distortion tunnels,” Muse said. “As such, when we jumped into the system we appeared in random locations.”

“True, but I would have thought our two ships would’ve closed the gap by now,” Tane said. “It’s been at least, what, five hours since we arrived in this system, I’m guessing?”

“While that is correct, there is no point in closing the gap, as you say, considering that when we jump to the final system, we’ll appear in random locations once again,” the Mosaic’s AI said.

“Yeah, except I’m supposed to board the Red Grizzly sometime to neutralize Nebb’s control chip,” Tane said.

He glanced down at himself for the first time and realized someone had removed his armor while he slept, leaving him in his ordinary clothes. He still wore his gauntlets, necklaces, and all the other Chrysalium gear, however.

He sat up. His storage pouch and beam hilt rested on the stand at the head of the bunk, and he attached both to his belt.

“What happened to my armored robe?” Tane asked.

“Gia took it,” Muse said. “About five hours ago. You’ll be glad to know her leg is fully healed.”

“I am glad, of course,” Tane said. “But why did she take my armor?”

“She intends to repair the damage with the on-board 3D printers,” the Mosaic’s AI said.

“Oh,” Tane said. “Nice of her.”

“Not really,” Muse said. “The Volur Lyra is paying for the repairs.”

“Ah.” The notification icon in the lower right of his HUD was still flashing. Tane was feeling rested enough to review the alerts, so he pulled up the window.

Level up. Your overall level is now 10! Neural pathways have been enhanced and reinforced! You now have an attribute point to allocate.

Level up. Your overall level is now 11! Neural pathways have been enhanced and reinforced! You now have an attribute point to allocate.

Level up. Air Current is now Level 2. 90% chance of successful creation. Created currents are 25% more powerful.

Level up. Essence Missile is now Level 3. 95% chance of missile creation. Upon success: 35% more damage is inflicted, and impacted objects are repelled 30% farther.

Level up. Essence Sight is now Level 3. Without any other Siphoning bonuses, you may place your perspective up to a maximum of fifty meters away from your body, in any direction, without disorientation.

Level up. Dark and White Mixing is now Level 3. You may now master more complex mixed works. Branches and Timelines are created 30% faster. You may create a single, additional work of the White at the same time you are occupied with a Dark and White timeline, assuming you have access to enough Essence.

Level up. Beam Hilt Control is now Level 3. 30% more damage is inflicted with each blow. 25% more damage dealt with any launched Essence bolts.

New sub-skill received.

Beam Hilt Control — Blade Manipulation. Level 1. You can now slightly alter the shape of your blade.

Level up. Dark Artifact Control is now Level 1. 10% greater chance of controlling the artifact.

Level up. Darcanium Siphoning is now Level 2. 8% added bonus to Chaosworks when Siphoning through Darcanium.

Level up. Chrysalium Siphoning is now Level 3. 12% added bonus to Branchworks when Siphoning through Chrysalium.

Level up. Learning is now Level 3. Learn 10% faster.

Attribute up. Endurance +1. Current Endurance: 20 (41 with Beam Hilt I, Chrysalium Star Rings, and Endurance Necklace I equipped)

Attribute up. Intelligence +1. Current Intelligence: 15 (28 with Beam Hilt I, Chrysalium Star Rings, Feral Necklace, Finger of Malevolence, and Nova Bracelet I equipped)

That was interesting how he had gained two levels in Air Current. Though he supposed he had certainly put the work through its paces.

He really didn’t care all that much about the listed gains. What did any of it matter in the overall scheme of things? He only wanted one thing right now. To get to Aegean Tetragon, and to find the archaeoceti.

He had two attribute points to allocate. He put the first into Endurance, which would allow him to last longer the next time he Siphoned. The second he put into Dexterity, mostly because he thought that maybe if he had been faster, he might have been able to save Sinive. That left his Dexterity at fourteen, and his Endurance at twenty-one, or forty-two with all his gear equipped.

He glanced at the overhead map and noticed that Jed was still in sickbay, while Gia was in the cockpit with Lyra.

“Update me on Jed,” Tane said. “Lyra hasn’t healed him yet?”

“She has, actually,” Muse said. “About eight hours after making the second jump, Lyra healed him. There was some debate before she made the jump, actually, about whether she would heal Jed before or after the jump. Jed convinced her to make the jump first, since it was important to put as much distance between ourselves and the TSN as possible.”

“If Jed is healed,” Tane said. “Why is he still in sickbay?”

“He is under observation by the medical robots,” the Mosaic’s AI said. “Lyra’s orders.”

“I see.” That was some relief, anyway.

Tane got up off the bed and made his way through the passageways to cargo bay two. Muse didn’t want to let him in at first, but he finally got approval from Gia to open the hatch.

Tane went inside and approached the stasis pod. Ordinarily those units were used to place living things into a temporary state of suspended animation for long journeys, emergency medical transportation, and so forth. The pods weren’t really meant to store the dead, but by having Sinive placed inside, at least Tane prevented decay from taking hold.

When her serene face came into view beyond the glass pane, all the grief he had been subduing up until that moment came to the fore and threatened to overwhelm him. He couldn’t stop the tears from falling, and he gently rested an open palm upon the glass.

“My Sinive,” Tane whispered. “Forgive me.”

Tane stared at her for a long time. Jed had been right. Those Tane loved could be used against him. That big dweller had essentially used Tane to raze a good portion of the city, after all, by killing Sinive. He couldn’t think of any other reason why S’Wraathar would have done it. Then again, perhaps there hadn’t been any purpose behind her death at all, other than to spite Tane. He remembered S’Wraathar’s last words to him, words that were burned forever into his mind: “A parting gift for you, Doomwielder.”

How could such a thing ever be considered a gift? How?

He felt the despair give way to burning rage inside of him, and Tane swore he would hunt down that dweller and exact vengeance at some point. Just as soon as he was done paying a visit to these archaeoceti.

If he survived the encounter.

Tane had already decided that if the cost for her life was his own, he would gladly pay it. A life for a life.

Tane called G’allanthamas.

“Greetings, Doomwielder,” the alien said.

“What’s in Aegean Tetragon?” Tane asked.

“Ah,” G’allanthamas replied.

“Tell me,” Tane pressed.

“You never were one for preamble,” G’allanthamas said. “In truth, I don’t really know, other than in Aegean Tetragon there is a means to reach the archaeoceti. Tiberius spoke of the system often. He called it the Gateway to the archaeoceti. He said you would have to go there before you were truly ready to face your destiny.”

“Face the Gravity Born, you mean?” Tane asked.

“The Z’Antamaraan living at the core of the galaxy were unknown in the day of Tiberius,” G’allanthamas said. “But even then he was so in tune with the different universes that he must have sensed their threat. Whether or not confronting them was what he meant by ‘your destiny,’ I cannot say.”

The hatch opened behind Tane, and he dismissed the connection without a word more. He glanced at his overhead map and saw Lyra’s indicator.

In moments the Volur was standing at his side and gazing into the window of the stasis pod with him. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m not. Not really.” He squeezed his fists, released them. “I go from despair, to rage, and back again. Over and over. There is no middle ground. One moment I want to cry my eyes out. The next I want to kill every last dweller. Except Gall, of course.”

Lyra nodded sadly. Her eyes were wet. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Tane said, his voice steel. “The fault is mine, not yours. I could have—” He shook his head. He wouldn’t allow himself to go there again. He glanced at Lyra. “You went offline during the battle. I thought you had died. What happened?”

“I shut down external broadcasts for a time,” Lyra said. “So the TSN wouldn’t be able to track me down.”

“What happened when I left you in the forest then? With the aliens in pursuit?”

“I did my best to stop them,” Lyra said. “With the Essence boost provided by the Mancer’s armband, I faced off against their leader, a Graaz’dhen Amaranth. We battled with the Essence, and with energy blades, Dark versus White. He got into my head… distracted me. Almost struck me down. I managed to break free of his hold and deflected the killing blow in time, but the dweller bashed me into a tree with one of his legs and ran off, leaving other Amaranth to deal with me. By the time I defeated them, he was gone. So I retreated, and joined Gia and the others at the edge of the park, where the hacked robots had delivered them. We waited for the Mosaic to return, and you know the rest.” She paused. “I’m sorry for striking you down with an Essence Missile. You were... not yourself.”

Tane nodded absently. “Don’t be. I deserved it.” He gazed into the glass pane, at Sinive’s peaceful face. “If there’s a chance I can bring her back, even a small one, I have to try.”

“I know,” Lyra said softly.

“And like I told Gall, I don’t care what the cost is,” Tane said. “I really don’t. I’ll pay anything. My life. The lives of you, all my friends. Even the destruction of an entire homeworld, if it comes to it.”

Maybe even the whole universe.

That last thought made him shudder.

Would I really destroy the universe to save her?

And yet, what would be the point of saving her if there was no universe for her in which to live?

He gazed at Lyra, and saw her searching gaze upon him. Her expression was unreadable.

“Does that make me an evil person?” Tane asked her at last.

For once, Lyra seemed at a loss for words. The great teacher, who always had an answer for everything, had been stumped by the student.

Tane looked away. “There is a darkness inside of me, I know that now. I’m not sure... not sure I can beat it.”

Lyra remained quiet for some time. Finally she said: “There is a darkness inside us all. As much as we like to pretend we walk always in the light, it’s simply not true. This shadow is a part of what makes us human. We have learned to control it to varying degrees. Not all of us succeed fully. It’s why we have laws for those of weaker will and temperament, those who would act on their darker impulses were there not consequences. If the majority of human beings did not restrain their inner shadows, there could be no civilization.”

Tane sighed. “I’m not sure if that makes me feel better, or worse.” He looked at her, and when she met his gaze, he noticed a slight tremble to her lip. A micro tic.

His chip told him that she was afraid of him. Why?

And then he understood.

“You believed every word I just told you, about destroying an entire homeworld to save her,” Tane said.

“I did,” Lyra said. “I pray, if it comes to the choice between ten billion lives, and one, you would choose to save the ten billion.”

“I hope so, too,” Tane said softly.

“I would readily take her place,” Lyra said. She folded her arms around her chest as if to fend off a sudden cold. “All of us who follow you, and fight for you, would. We know we could die at any time. You’re the Bender of Worlds. The Doomwielder. The TSN wants to capture you. As do the dwellers, though some of them also want to kill you. Being near you is one of the most dangerous places in the galaxy. And yet we choose to serve at your side. Sinive knew this, and she chose it, too.”

Tane looked back at Sinive, and once more set down his palm on the glass. Jed’s piercings had been removed, he noted, leaving only her pale, flawless skin.

Lyra rested a hand on his shoulder. “Gia will be making the next jump in three hours. She and I are both fully rested... we’re waiting on Chancery to recover aboard the Red Grizzly.”

“Could you take the Grizzly Cub to the ship?” Tane asked. “And perform the jump immediately?”

“We’d have to wait until the Red Grizzly closed with us, which will take three hours anyway,” Lyra said. “Besides, if I jumped, I’d be useless to you when we arrived. The Mosaic could, however, jump alone if you prefer, with the Red Grizzly arriving in-system three hours later.”

Tane shook his head. “No. As much as I want to reach the archaeoceti quickly, I have no idea what we’ll face in that uncharted system. We might need every ship we have. A three hours delay isn’t going to make much difference. Not now.”

Lyra nodded. She glanced once more at Sinive, touched the glass as if to say good-bye to the dead woman, and then left.

When she was gone, Tane idly pulled up his HUD interface and accessed the rolling video archive stored in his chip. He went as far back as the archive had recorded, and found one of his lovemaking sessions with Sinive.

He considered saving it, something to treasure for the rest of his days in case he wasn’t able to revive her after all, but it seemed wrong somehow to remember her in that way. As if she were some mere object for his pleasure.

She was more than that. So much more.

But what about saving some other moments? Her fighting on the field of battle, for example? So he could remember her courage at the very least.

No. He decided he would let the entire archive lapse. He would remember her in his memories, and there alone. Just as he would remember the carnage he had inflicted in the aftermath of her death in his head and nowhere else.

The words of Tiberius came to him, spoken while Tane learned the imprint for Repel Nanotech on Kharikhan V.

I’ve stared into my shadow and seen the darkness there. You will do the same, eventually. And you will either emerge on the other side and find enlightenment, becoming whole with yourself, or you will get lost in that shadow and never return to the way you were.

Tane had seen his shadow, but had not yet emerged from the darkness. He wasn’t sure it was even possible. But if he could save Sinive, that would certainly set him on the right path. The only path.

Three hours.

He squeezed his fist and slammed it down on the metal portion of the stasis pod.

“I’m coming for you, Sinive. I once swore that nothing would stop me from doing so. That I’d fight for you, die for you if I had to. That I’d travel to the darkest depths of the Umbra to find you. And now it looks like I’ll be journeying to the very gates of hell itself to retrieve you. But I tell you plainly, I look forward to it.”

He smiled grimly.

Yes, not even hell could stop him.

If I succeed, I’ll truly become the Bender of Worlds. Not only of this world, but the next.

What was it G’allanthamas said the archaeoceti called him?

He Who Crosses Death.

Thank you very, very much for reading.

I hope you enjoyed Bender of Worlds.

Get The Next Book

Tane Ganeth

Tane’s current attributes, skills, and equipment

Attributes

Name: Tane Ganeth (Spoofed: Jerry Maharashtra)

Race: Human

Level: 11

Class: Warmancer (Spoofed: Augmented Reality Specialist)

Strength: 10

Intelligence: 15 (28 with Beam Hilt I, Chrysalium Star Rings, Feral Necklace, Finger of Malevolence, and Nova Bracelet I equipped)

Dexterity: 14

Endurance: 21 (42 with Beam Hilt I, Chrysalium Star Rings, and Endurance Necklace I equipped)

Charisma: 9

Armor Rating:

- 37 (with Armored Robe I reduced for layering underneath Spacesuit II; and Nova Bracelet I, Osmium Gauntlets I, and A3 Personal Shield system equipped)

or

- 42 (with Armored Robe I alone; and Nova Bracelet I, Osmium Gauntlets I, and A3 Personal Shield system equipped)

Skills

Bargaining. Level 0.

Chip Database Upgrade. Level 2.

Crop Gene Splicing. Level 2.

Cycling. Level 2.

Electrical Engineering. Level 1.

Endurance Running. Level 1.

ID Spoofing. Level 1.

Kissing. Level 0.

Learning. Level 3.

Mechanical Engineering. Level 2.

Mountain Climbing. Level 1.

Piano. Level 2.

Rake Fighting. Level 0.

Sex Mastery. Level 0.

Sharpshooting. Level 2.

Social Skills. Level 2.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Pilot (Small Craft). Level 1.

Essence Skills

Beam Hilt Control. Level 3.

— Blade Manipulation. Level 1.

Chrysalium Siphoning Level 3.

Darcanium Siphoning. Level 2.

Dark Artifact Control. Level 1.

Dark Siphoning. Level 2.

Dark and White Mixing. Level 3.

Essence Link. Level 0.

Essence Sight. Level 3.

White Siphoning. Level 2.

White Essence Specific

White Siphoning Level 1 Essenceworks:

Air Current. Level 2.

Essence Missile. Level 3.

Persistent Flame. Level 1.

White Siphoning Level 2 Essenceworks:

Healing. Level 1.

Light Glove. Level 1.

Dark Essence Specific

Dark Siphoning Level 1 Essenceworks:

Night Vision. Level 1. Creation time: 14 seconds.

Melt Metal. Level 1. Creation time: 57 seconds.

Fingers of Ruin. Level 2. Creation time: 55 seconds.

Dark and White Essence Specific

Dark and White Mixing Level 1 Essenceworks:

Repel Nanotech. Level 1. Creation time: 2 minutes.

Infuse Oxygen. Level 1. Creation time: 30 seconds.

Equipment

- A3 Personal Shield System

- Armored Robe I

- Basic outfit.

- Beam Hilt I (White Beam Hilt)

- Blur cap

- C’havar Beam Hilt (Dark Beam Hilt)

- 5x Chrysalium Star Ring I

- D18 smart targeting plasma rifle.

- Endurance Necklace I (Epic)

- Feral Necklace (Epic)

- Finger of Malevolence (Legendary)

- Harness with 2 incendiary grenades.

- Nova Bracelet I

- Osmium Gauntlets I

- Spacesuit II

- Traveler’s Delight (Personal Storage Device I). Capacity: 3/10. Items: Suitcase of clothes, Sigma 231 Dark Artifact

White Essenceworks

List of publicly available White Essenceworks

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 1.

Shapist:

Star Light. Positions a light globe in the immediate area; the globe follows the Essenceworker. Higher levels allow one to choose different wavelengths, from infrared to ultraviolet, and to place the globe farther away. Stamina drain: low for short durations.

Silence Cage. Envelops an area in silence, preventing sound from entering or leaving. Higher levels offer a greater area of effect. Stamina drain: low for short durations.

Warmancer, ranged:

Air Current. Launch a gust of air. Strength of gust increases at higher levels, or when Siphoning through Chrysalium. Ineffective against energy shields until level 3. Stamina drain: low to high, depending on gust strength.

Essence Missile. Launch a missile of pure Essence at an opponent. Energy shields offer no defense. Stamina drain: medium to high, depending on strength of missile launched.

Persistent Flame. Create a persistent flame in the palm of your hand. At higher levels, can be used to burn objects. Ineffective against energy shields. Stamina drain: low to high, depending on flame strength and duration.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Essence Trap. Create a small trap on an object such as a door or vault that detonates when the object is opened. Higher levels inflict more damage. Stamina drain: medium.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 2.

Shapist:

Blur features. Hide your face from the facial recognition algorithms in cameras by applying infrared light globes around one’s features. At higher levels, you can affect other individuals, and also change the shape of your face on the visual band as well. And at the highest levels, you can affect larger objects such as small shuttles, allowing you to blur the thermal and visual signatures, effectively hiding the craft from detection by passive sensors. Stamina drain: medium to extremely high, depending on object size.

Healer:

Wound healing. Heals wounds on one subject. At higher levels, major wounds can be healed. Stamina drain: high. Note: requires physical contact with the subject.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Light glove. Your hand becomes coated in a glove of white Essence, allowing you to punch through shields, hitting any armor beyond. Stamina drain: medium for short durations.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 3.

Distorter:

Distortion tunnel. Create a distortion tunnel to jump from one point to another. At higher levels, the range and size of the tunnel increase. Jump points must be within line of sight. Cannot be used as a weapon or breach tool: distortion tunnels will not open over solids such as bulkheads or human beings. Note: knowledge of this skill is not needed to operate a starship jump chamber, as the operator merely Siphons while the AI aboard the starship handles the actual creation. As such, Essence Jump Chamber Control is not considered a White Essence Skill. Stamina drain: high.

Shapist:

Public profile masking. Alter your public profile in realtime to fool customs and other officials. Stamina drain: low for short durations.

Speed boost. Momentarily boost your speed, or the speed of another. Stamina drain: low.

Warmancer, ranged:

Telekinesis. Remotely manipulate objects. Stamina drain: low to high, depending on range and size of object to be manipulated.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Deflect. Deflect incoming works of pure Essence, including Essence Missiles. As an added bonus, starting at level three, it also deflects standard laser beams and plasma bolts. At still higher levels, it deflects explosions and shrapnel as well. Stamina drain: medium.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 4.

Distorter:

Distortion tunnel to beacon. Open a distortion tunnel to an object previously marked with a beacon. The range you can be away from the beacon increases at higher levels, or if Siphoning more Essence via Chrysalium. Only one object can be marked with a beacon at any given time. Stamina drain: medium to extremely high, depending on range to beacon.

Shapist:

Stamina transfer. Use to steal or transfer stamina to or from another. Range increases at higher skill levels. From levels 4 and above, can also be used to put subjects to sleep. Stamina increases upon a successful drain. Upon failure, stamina drain is medium.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Disrupt Essence. Prevent an enemy from creating an Essencework for a short period of time. Must be next to the enemy at low levels. At higher levels, the range increases, as does the time period. Stamina drain: medium to high, depending on time period.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 5.

Shapist:

Reveal Surveillance. Allows the Essenceworker to search for hidden surveillance, tracking devices, or traps. At high levels, can be cast over a larger radius, and can penetrate the human body to search for trackers. Stamina drain: medium.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Paralyze enemy. Momentarily paralyze an opponent at close range. Stamina drain: medium.

Warmancer, ranged:

Forked Lightning. Sends multiple streams of energy at a group of foes. Range, damage, and number of foes targeted increases at higher levels. Energy shields offer no defense. Stamina drain: high.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 6.

Shapist:

Deactivate. Use to deactivate individual weapons, traps, and surveillance devices. At higher levels, can be used to safely destroy a tracker hidden inside a human body, and to disable robots. Stamina drain: varies depending on the size of the object to be deactivated. For something like a tracker embedded in a human body, the drain is tiny. For a full-sized robot, medium.

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Invisibility. Become invisible to enemies for short periods of time. At higher levels, that period increases. Note: you become visible during attacks. Stamina drain: medium.

Essenceworks available to White Siphoning, Level 7.

Distorter:

Create Beacon. Mark an object with a beacon. Once marked, the Essenceworker can open a tunnel to the immediate vicinity of that object. Only one object can be marked with a beacon by the Essenceworker at any given time. Stamina drain: extremely high.

Healer:

Mass wound healing. Heals wounds on multiple subjects. The higher the level, the more subjects healed, and the greater the healing effect. Physical contact with subjects is not required, but a healing bonus is applied to any subjects the Essenceworker physically touches. Stamina drain: extremely high.

Shapist:

Mass Deactivate. Use to deactivate multiple weapons and traps in a given area of effect. At higher levels, AOE increases, and the Essenceworker can selectively omit items to deactivate, allowing the weapons of one’s companions to remain unaffected. Stamina drain: extremely high.

Essence Imbuement. Imbue an object with the Essence, so that it grants the bearer extra abilities while equipped. More powerful imbuements are available at higher levels in this Branchwork. Stamina drain: extremely high (one-time cost during creation).

Warmancer, hand-to-hand:

Shove. Forces an enemy group away from the Essenceworker, regardless of whether they have energy shields. Area of effect, and actual shove distance increase with level. Stun upgrade available at level three—shoved enemies are stunned. Fire upgrade available at level six—shoved enemies are lit on fire. Hidden upgrade available at level ten. Stamina drain: medium to high.

Warmancer, ranged:

Mass Telekinesis. Remotely manipulate several objects. Stamina drain: high to very high, depending on range, size, and number of objects to be manipulated.

Dark Essenceworks

List of Dark Essenceworks passed down to Tane from Tiberius Tribulantes

These works can be created well ahead of their intended use. Once created, a Dark Essencework can be held indefinitely for little stamina cost, and released at leisure. You may only hold in reserve as many works as your current overall Dark Essence Siphoning level.

Higher levels in each Essencework listed below reduce the individual creation time.

Essenceworks available to Dark Siphoning, Level 1.

Imprint Location: Sigma 231, Vantaar system. Universal Polar Coordinates: -12.92568738, 179.67468954.

Builder:

Night Vision. Allows the wielder to see in the dark. At higher levels, the ability lasts longer and you can see farther. Current range and duration: 20 meters, 10 minutes. Stamina drain: low. Creation time: 15 seconds.

Amaranth:

Melt Metal. With this ability, you can selectively melt away metal objects within the work’s area of effect, including weapons, while preserving the metal items of your companions. At higher levels, the area of effect increases, as does the size of the objects that can be melted. Works through energy shields. Current AOE: 3 meters. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: 60 seconds.

Fingers of Ruin. Sends dark fingers of unreality at a single opponent; black veins grow outward from the impact site, veins that crack open to wound the target. At higher levels, the damage increases. Pierces energy shields. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: 60 seconds.

Essenceworks available to Dark Siphoning, Level 2.

Imprint Location: Septes IV, Tanori System. Universal Polar Coordinates: 45.24621455, -134.57892352.

Builder:

Convert kraal. Can be used to convert a kraal into the dark energy store known as the Dirac that kraals and dwellers feed upon. While the resulting Dirac is not particularly edible for a human being, it can be useful as a diversionary tactic when pursued by a herd of kraals, causing the aliens to break off the pursuit to feed if they are hungry enough. Or the resultant Dirac can simply be collected for resale back in the Umanitar—humanity’s universe. At higher levels, multiple kraals can be converted. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: two minutes.

Blur body. Hide your form from any facial recognition and thermal detection algorithms in cameras and sensors by applying a special cloud of darkness around your body. Also successfully subverts LIDAR and echolocation. At higher levels, it can be applied to multiple targets at once. Useful when traveling at night. Stamina drain: medium to high, depending on number of targets. Creation time: four minutes per target.

Essenceworks available to Dark Siphoning, Level 3.

Imprint Location: Septes IV, Tanori System. Universal Polar Coordinates: 172.87389256, 39.54689674.

Builder:

ID masking. Creates a magnetic resonance compatible with dweller chip readers, simulating the dweller equivalent of Public Profiles. Useful when used in conjunction with Blur Body to fool dweller AIs. Stamina drain: low for short durations. Creation time: three minutes per target.

Amaranth:

Dark Hand. Use the Essence to manipulate, crush, etc. Similar to White Essence Telekinesis ability. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: two minutes.

Essenceworks available to Dark Siphoning, Level 4.

Imprint Location: Chanis 12, Serepte System. Universal Polar Coordinates: 145.21424655, 38.92357852.

Builder:

Distortion tunnel. Create a distortion tunnel to jump from one point to another. At higher levels, the range and size of the tunnel increase. Jump points must be within line of sight. Cannot be used as a weapon or breach tool: distortion tunnels will not open over solids such as bulkheads or human beings. Note: knowledge of this skill is not needed to operate a starship jump chamber, as the operator merely Siphons while the AI aboard the starship handles the actual creation. As such, Starship Jump Chamber is not considered a Dark Essence Skill. Stamina drain: high. Creation time: five minutes.

Amaranth:

Deflect. Creates a field that deflects incoming works of pure Essence, including Fingers of Ruin. Also deflects standard laser beams and plasma bolts, and at higher levels explosions and shrapnel. The length of time the field remains in place depends on the level. At higher levels, the diameter of the field can also be expanded to include others nearby. Note: will only partially deflect higher-level works, reducing their intensity. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: two minutes.

Essenceworks available to Dark Siphoning, Level 5.

Imprint Location: Chanis 12, Serepte System. Universal Polar Coordinates: 89.42215546, -5.57892357.

Builder:

Distortion tunnel to beacon. Open a distortion tunnel to an object previously marked with a beacon. The range you can be away from the beacon increases at higher levels, or if Siphoning more Essence via Darcanium. Only one object can be marked with a beacon at any given time. Stamina drain: medium to extremely high, depending on range to beacon. Creation time: ten minutes.

Amaranth:

Sow Confusion. A concentrated mind blast that allows you to confuse a foe, causing it to attack its comrades (it will continue assaulting you if no other opponents are nearby). At higher levels, you can confuse more than one opponent. Lasts thirty seconds at level one. Won’t work on stronger-willed targets, such as other Essenceworkers. Stamina drain: medium to high, depending on number of kraals controlled and their level (a large stamina hit is taken during creation, and a smaller one when the Essencework is released). Creation time: twenty minutes.

Disrupt. Prevent an enemy from creating an Essencework for a short period of time. Must be next to the enemy at low levels. At higher levels, the range increases, as does the time period. Stamina drain: medium to high, depending on range. Creation time: two minutes.

Essenceworks available to Dark Siphoning, Level 6.

Imprint Location: Chanis 12, Serepte System. Universal Polar Coordinates: -167.14524655, 21.97852352.

Amaranth:

Control Kraal. Allows you to control a kraal. At higher levels, you can control more powerful kraals, or many weaker kraals. Lasts until the kraal dies, or you release it from your control. Note: while it is more reliable than Sow Confusion, it can only be used in the Umbra, where kraals exist. Stamina drain: high to extremely high, depending on number of kraals controlled and their level (a large stamina hit is taken during creation, and a smaller one when the Essencework is released). Creation time: twenty minutes.

Protective Environment. Surround yourself with a protective environment. Allows you to exist in the void, or incompatible atmospheres, without a spacesuit or pressurized battle armor. Initially lasts for two hours, though at higher levels the duration is longer. Stamina drain: medium (a small stamina hit is continually taken thereafter for the duration the environment is active). Creation time: twenty minutes.

Essenceworks available to Dark Siphoning, Level 7.

Imprint Location: Metieus Prime, Anulis System. Universal Polar Coordinates: 63.46451452, 123.85239725.

Builder:

Create Beacon. Mark an object with a beacon. Once marked, the Essenceworker can open a tunnel to the immediate vicinity of that object. Only one object can be marked with a beacon at any given time. Stamina drain: extremely high. Creation time: one hour.

Amaranth:

Renewal. A way to reinvigorate one’s body. Requires drawing the Dark Essence through a large piece of Darcanium. Cannot be used within an Essence Link. Stamina drain: high. Creation time: 5 minutes, though the age-reversing effects become apparent within the first thirty seconds.

Dark and White Essenceworks

List of known Dark and White Mixing Essenceworks passed down to Tane from Tiberius Tribulantes

Available only to those rare human individuals who can Siphon both the White and Dark Essence. Such as you, Bender of Worlds.

Because of the time required to create a work of the Dark, the combined works are delayed for however long it takes to create the Dark portion. The White Essence must be added in while the Dark work forms. Because White Essence cannot be held in reserve, when the combined work is completed, it must be released immediately.

Higher levels in each work listed below reduce the creation time.

Note: the Essencework lists for levels two through six are currently locked, and will be revealed once the associated dark artifacts are accessed.

Essenceworks available to Dark and White Mixing, Level 1.

Imprint Location: Kharikhan V, Abakan System. Universal Polar Coordinates: -109.67251482, -3.72439967.

Repel Nanotech. While active, prevents nanotech from attaching to your cerebral cortex and motor control centers, so that if an enemy such as a dweller or human injects controlling nanotech, a control chip will never form. At level one, this “repel” effect remains active a full minute after creation. The work will also remove any existing control chips formed by nanotech that have been previously injected. The removal is selective, leaving other helpful chips in place. Stamina drain: medium. Creation time: two minutes. Note: this work can also be used on another subject, however physical contact is required between the Essenceworker and the recipient.

Infuse Oxygen. Infuses a ten cubic-meter volume with oxygen. The rectangular volume can be centered around you, or positioned so that the volume begins up to one meter anywhere around you. At higher levels, a bigger volume can be created, and it can be moved farther away. Stamina drain: low. Creation time: thirty seconds.

Essenceworks available to Dark and White Mixing, Level 2.

Imprint Location: Neomalgam, Tavoc System. Universal Polar Coordinates: 16.78935482, -23.87839274.

Contents hidden until unlocked.

Essenceworks available to Dark and White Mixing, Level 3.

Imprint Location: Neomalgam, Tavoc System. Universal Polar Coordinates: -74.68626482, 101.04554967.

Contents hidden until unlocked.

Essenceworks available to Dark and White Mixing, Level 4.

Imprint Location: Neomalgam, Tavoc System. Universal Polar Coordinates: 3.30911788, 91.35927256.

Contents hidden until unlocked.

Essenceworks available to Dark and White Mixing, Level 5.

Imprint Location: Epsilon Kaitos, Xochiquetzal System. Universal Polar Coordinates: 45.57212165,-132.13560145.

Contents hidden until unlocked.

Essenceworks available to Dark and White Mixing, Level 6.

Imprint Location: Delta Kaitos, Xochiquetzal System. Universal Polar Coordinates: 12.14620124, 169.52910729.

Contents hidden until unlocked.

Essenceworks available to Dark and White Mixing, Level 7.

Imprint Location: Roma II, New Capri System. Universal Polar Coordinates: -63.52310177, -54.36516174.

Inter-dimensional Distortion Tunnel. The ability to travel back and forth between Umanitar—humanity’s universe—and the Umbra. You and a nearby circle of friends are brought back to the same place in Umanitar as you exist in the Umbra, and vice versa. Stamina requirements: extremely high. Creation time: 10 minutes.

Essence Reservoir Creation. The ability to create an Essence reservoir and apply an Essencework of your choice to it, either White, Dark, or a combination of both. Accessible upon touch to anyone with the skill to siphon both White and Dark (i.e.: essentially only you). Stamina requirements: extremely high. Creation time: 1 hour, plus the time necessary to form the Essencework to trigger.

Skills

Partial list of publicly available skills

General:

Chip database upgrade. Learn what they are hiding from you! Identify most weapon types and human classes, in addition to some alien. Level 2 will allow you to ID all known alien and weapon types. Level 3 IDs all known alien ship types.

Detect trap. The thief’s specialty! Useful when disarming traps in storage vaults and containers. Also provides a chance to detect any traps hidden in walls and floors.

Hacking. Leave your hammer at home! Break into shops, cars, low-level vaults, and more!

Hot-wire. Steal the vehicle of your dreams! Note: Not for the moral of heart. But since you’re shopping at my store, I assume your morals are probably somewhat questionable anyway.

Vehicular:

Land vehicle pilot. Learn how to drive. Required to operate land vehicles. Increasing levels provide for more aggressive driving skills.

Shuttle pilot. Let’s fly baby! Operate everything from flyer taxis to starship shuttles.

Sneak. If at first you don’t succeed, hide! Improved chance of hiding in the shadows to avoid detection. Can also sneak up on enemies without drawing attention to yourself.

Sprint. When you can’t fight an enemy, run! Increases movement speed on run.

Swimming. Never drown again! Learn the breaststroke, the front crawl, and the backstroke.

Starfighter pilot. Now you’re playing with some serious firepower. Learn how to operate starfighters; higher levels unlock a greater range of fighters.

Starship operations. Learn your way around a starship cockpit! High levels unlock different ship types.

Combat:

Battle armor. Looking to wear some battle armor? You’ll have to learn how to use it, first! Required to equip enchanted battle armor. Increasing levels improve mind-body connection between brain and armor, allowing for higher armor protection levels.

Battlefield medicine. Everyone loves a doc! Learn how to use everything available inside military grade med kits.

Cardiovascular and endocrine mastery. Don’t let that heart rate abate! Learn how to control your heart, lung, and endocrine system like a pro.

Grenadier. Kaboom! Improved bonuses to target accuracy, damage, and critical hit probability. Eligibility: all grenade types.

Mech pilot. No shoes, no mech, no service. Required to operate mech machines. Increasing levels offer more advanced fighting techniques. Different specializations available for mech types.

Mixed Martial Arts. Never lose a street fight again! Learn a mixture of Jujitsu, Karate, and Kung Fu, with emphasis on grappling techniques.

Pain Control. Be the master of your own domain! Block out most pain.

Pistoleer. Hit that ten ring! Use pistol weapons. Eligibility: laser and plasma pistols.

Sharpshooting. Kill bugs dead! Use rifles. Eligibility: laser and plasma rifles.

Small unit tactics. For those who always wanted to join the TSN but never could! Learn how to fight in a unit.

Essence:

General:

Chrysalium Forging. Make equipment out of processed Chrysalium. Higher levels are required to make weapons and armor such as beam hilt and battle dress.

Chrysalium Siphoning. Needed to Siphon the White Essence through Chrysalium.

Darcanium Siphoning. Required to Siphon the Dark Essence through Darcanium.

Dark Artifact Control. Needed to control the Dark Artifacts Tane finds scattered throughout the Umbra.

Dark Siphoning. Needed to Siphon the Dark Essence, or Arcanum.

Dark and White mixing. The ability to mix both White and Dark Essence to form a hybrid work of both universes.

Essence Sight. During Siphoning, allows you to place your perspective outside your body. At higher levels, the range increases.

Traveling Essence Sight. Allows you to dispatch Essence sight anywhere. Range determined by skill level, or amount of Essence currently Siphoning (i.e. like most Essence skills, it is boosted by Siphoning through Chrysalium)

White Essence Linking. The ability to grant another Essenceworker access to your Essence. At higher skill levels, you can accept Essence from others (the higher your level, the more people you can accept Essence from).

White Siphoning. Necessary to Siphon the White Essence, or Esoterum.

Combat:

Beam Hilt Control. Learn how to use the warmancer’s favorite weapon. Because the beam hilt can launch Essence bolts, it is favored by ranged specialists and hand-to-hand alike.

Chrysalium Sword Control. Learn how to use the warmancer’s second favorite weapon. Favored by hand-to-hand specialists.

Starship-specific:

Essence Deflector Control. Required to operate the Essence deflector aboard a starship (deflects incoming Essence lances).

Essence Disruptor Control. Necessary to operate the Essence disruptor aboard a starship (stops enemies from jumping).

Essence Jump Chamber Control. Needed for the operation of a starship’s jump chamber (allows for interstellar travel).

Essence Lance Control. A must have if you want to operate a starship’s Essence lance (fires a large lance of Essence at an enemy, capable of penetrating their energy shields).

Afterword

Please help spread the word about Bender of Worlds by leaving a one or two sentence review. The number of reviews an ebook receives has a big impact on how well it does, so if you liked this story I'd REALLY appreciate it if you left a quick review. Anything will do, even one or two lines.

Thank you!

Also, as usual, if you’d like to see a sequel to Bender of Worlds, let me know in the reviews. There are a few different series of mine in the pipeline, but if enough readers chime in, I’ll focus all of my efforts on this one.

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Isaac Hooke holds a degree in engineering physics, though his more unusual inventions remain fictive at this time. He is an avid hiker, cyclist, and photographer who sometimes resides in Edmonton, Alberta.

Get in touch:

isaachooke.com

isaac@isaachooke.com

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Acknowledgments

THANK YOU to my knowledgeable beta readers and advanced reviewers who helped smooth out the rough edges of the prerelease manuscript: Nicole P., Karen J, Jeremy G., Doug B., Jenny O., Amy B., Bryan O., Lezza, Noel, Anton, Spencer, Norman, Trudi, Corey, Erol, Terje, David, Charles, Walter, Lisa, Ramon, Chris, Scott, Michael, Chris, Bob, Jim, Maureen, Zane, Chuck, Shayne, Anna, Dave, Roger, Nick, Gerry, Charles, Annie, Patrick, Mike, Jeff, Lisa, Jason, Bryant, Janna, Tom, Jerry, Chris, Jim, Brandon, Kathy, Norm, Jonathan, Derek, Shawn, Judi, Eric, Rick, Bryan, Barry, Sherman, Jim, Bob, Ralph, Darren, Michael, Chris, Michael, Julie, Glenn, Rickie, Rhonda, Neil, Claude, Ski, Joe, Paul, Larry, John, Norma, Jeff, David, Brennan, Phyllis, Robert, Darren, Daniel, Montzalee, Robert, Dave, Diane, Peter, Skip, Louise, Dave, Brent, Erin, Paul, Jeremy, Dan, Garland, Sharon, Dave, Pat, Nathan, Max, Martin, Greg, David, Myles, Nancy, Ed, David, Karen, Becky, Jacob, Ben, Don, Carl, Gene, Bob, Luke, Teri, Robine, Gerald, Lee, Rich, Ken, Daniel, Chris, Al, Andy, Tim, Robert, Fred, David, Mitch, Don, Tony, Dian, Tony, John, Sandy, James, David, Pat, Gary, Jean, Bryan, William, Roy, Dave, Vincent, Tim, Richard, Kevin, George, Andrew, John, Richard, Robin, Sue, Mark, Jerry, Rodger, Rob, Byron, Ty, Mike, Gerry, Steve, Benjamin, Anna, Keith, Jeff, Josh, Herb, Bev, Simon, John, David, Greg, Larry, Timothy, Tony, Ian, Niraj, Maureen, Jim, Len, Bryan, Todd, Maria, Angela, Gerhard, Renee, Pete, Hemantkumar, Tim, Joseph, Will, David, Suzanne, Steve, Derek, Valerie, Laurence, James, Andy, Mark, Tarzy, Christina, Rick, Mike, Paula, Tim, Jim, Gal, Anthony, Ron, Dietrich, Mindy, Ben, Steve, Allen, Paddy & Penny, Troy, Marti, Herb, Jim, David, Alan, Leslie, Chuck, Dan, Perry, Chris, Rich, Rod, Trevor, Rick, Michael, Tim, Mark, Alex, John, William, Doug, Tony, David, Sam, Derek, John, Jay, Tom, Bryant, Larry, Anjanette, Gary, Travis, Jennifer, Henry, Drew, Michelle, Bob, Gregg, Billy, Jack, Lance, Sandra, Libby, Jonathan, Karl, Bruce, Clay, Gary, Sarge, Andrew, Deborah, Steve, and Curtis.

Without you all, this novel would have typos, continuity errors, and excessive lapses in realism. Thank you for helping me make this the best novel possible, and thank you for leaving the early reviews that help new readers find my books.

And of course I’d be remiss if I didn't thank my mother, father, and brothers, whose wisdom and insights have always guided me through the dark paths of the Umbra and beyond.

— Isaac Hooke

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