 
ALL THE STARS WITHIN OUR GRASP

### by

# Andrew Johnston

献身的吕雪

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## www.findthefabulist.com

## CHAPTER 1

The case in the stranger's hand was certainly something more than an ordinary suitcase - cast in high-grade titanium, sealed with thick steel bolts and an epoxy of unknown composition, the surface studded with curious sensors from which nanoscopic wires wove neatly through the metal. He bore the thing with unexpected ease and care - cradling it, minding it, treating it as though it were a delicate ornamental box from some lost civilization. He always had one eye tilted slightly in its direction, even as his other senses stayed tightly focused on the loquacious salesman guiding him through the vast array of spacefaring vessels.

"This one should suit your needs, friend." The salesman cinched up his impossible smile as he gestured to one of the sleek metal falcons lined up on the showroom floor. "It features pulse engines for accelerated travel across shorter intrastellar distances and both gravitonic nodeline and linear-dimensional engines for superluminal travel. You did mention you were doing some planet-skipping, correct?"

"Indeed, sir." The stranger nodded knowingly, allowing his pale lips to curl into a gentle grin. "I will be going on a particularly long journey in the near future."

"Then you'll be interested in hearing about the bells and whistles." The avarice of the deal gleaned in the salesman's eyes as he launched into his rehearsed pitch. "You've got shielded cameras offering full scanning across all three axes - no more risky exposed bridges! You've got the new Tetra-Grid navigation system which will create a real-time map of the surrounding one-twentieth cubic parsec within one-point-five seconds - useful if your Class V on-board AI navigator somehow fails to find your way. And, of course, it comes with the usual shielding against extremes of temperature, radiation, electromagnetic interference...believe me, the only way you're getting hurt in this thing is if you die laughing while watching your favorite movies on the included Tru-Immersion panel display."

The stranger closed his eyes for a protracted moment. "Can you have it ready immediately? Time is of the essence."

"You can fly it right out of the dock...after you've paid, of course." The salesman drew back his smile a bit as he sized up his mark, a genetically unimpressive specimen whose slender frame vanished within his forgettable garb. "Do you have an imperial account with us, or shall we set up an installment plan?"

"Actually, sir, I will be paying up front." The stranger extended his bone-white fingers. "In full."

The salesman drew back, shooting the stranger an incredulous look. "You have that kind of money? This technology does come at a premium, you know. I'm talking three billion, and that's for the basic package. All in, it'll be at least five or six."

"Then that's what I'll pay."

The salesman fought the urge to laugh as he fished out his biometric scanner, placing the silver sphere into the stranger's palm. The device emitted a series of mellifluous metallic chirps, a sure sign that the sale could proceed. The salesman stared at his monitor with confusion, a feeling he quickly shed as he warmed up his gigawatt smile once more. "Sorry about that, Mr...Izmik. Merely an obligatory question when dealing with high-end craft, I certainly never meant to insult you by questioning your means."

"No offense taken, sir," said the stranger. "You'll escort me to my craft, yes?"

"Absolutely! And don't even bother with the legal niceties, I can swing all of that myself. No need to waste time on such trivialities." The salesman extended his hand. "I'll even open the bridge hatch and load you and your belongings on...along with a voyage basket, on me."

The stranger settled both hands around the hefty metal handle of the case. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm under certain...protocols, let's call them, that demand that only I handle this particular object."

"Of course! And far be it for me to interfere with your protocol." The salesman rubbed his chin as he glared at the case. "Uh...I'm sure it's also against your protocols-"

"You wish to know what's in the case, yes?"

The salesman waved his hands and shook his head. "Not at all, I mean...not if it violates your obviously firmly held commitment to professionalism and, ah...secrecy, privacy, whatever you wanna call it."

"It's hardly a secret, sir," said the stranger, caressing the surface of the case. "But there is something of a challenge in describing my mission in plain language."

"Ah. Well..." The salesman glanced around for several seconds before proceeding at a whisper. "...In plain language, then...what's in there?"

"Why, everything, sir," said the stranger. "Everything there is."

## CHAPTER 2

Yang Yizhen's hands trembled in transcendent anticipation as he waited for the door of the transport to grant him access to the Dragon's Court. The trip had only taken a few hours - nothing at all to an enlightened scholar and bureaucrat who knew how best to use his time - but he had found himself far too eager to concentrate on his rituals. When he found himself too engaged to meditate or compose poetry, he had busied himself by carefully smoothing and adjusting the folds of his robe, gauging his appearance in the distorted reflection offered by the recently polished interior of the transport. It was foolish vanity, but who could possibly blame him for this momentary weakness? After all, how often did a fourth ring bureaucrat receive a summons to the Court - and from the hand of the Celestial Empress herself, no less? This visit had the potential to define his life and status as nothing else could, and none would fault him for paying special attention to the details of his appearance.

At last, the door chirped its readiness and slid open, revealing the Great Hall that ringed the perimeter of the Court. As befitting his humble status, Yang Yizhen had never been allowed to travel any deeper into the Court than this, but even this outer area was filled with wonders of its own. The light within was as true as that of a star - the result of a stable artificial sun, one of the Taiyang Empire's many famous scientific achievements. The radiance fell gently upon the ancestral decor, the masterfully shaped sculptures of mythical beasts and the murals depicting the epic 7,000-year history of their enduring culture. And then there were the noble servants - the imperial guards standing at the ready with their Huolong powered armor and Gauss rifles, the inner ring bureaucrats hustling from chamber to chamber with their faces lost behind their analytical devices, the famous state composers and poets working their artistic magic.

This visit has a distinctly different feel, one that in many ways eclipsed the usual spectacle. There was a deference in everyone he encountered, an unspoken understanding of his purpose and presence. He never needed speak a word - the guards at each door stepped aside to offer him passage. They even kept their heads low, as did the bureaucrats who couldn't help but pause and stare at the new arrival. Yang Yizhen wondered if this was envy, and even allowed himself a mere moment to bask in self-congratulation.

At last, the doors of the Inner Court opened for Yang Yizhen, and he was at last standing in the glorious presence of the Empress. For a mid-level bureaucrat, the imperial family may as well have been a collective of gods, so seldom were they seen. Beyond that, though, he had never set his eyes upon the Empress in all her glory. Photographing Emperors had long been taboo, so those outside of the court only knew of their rules through the depictions of courtly artists and poets. They were masters of their art to be sure, but he could now see that none of them were capable of capturing the grandeur of the woman who set the stars in motion. She disappeared within her elaborate robes, face barely visible behind the veil of the imperial crown, but what Yang Yizhen could see was radiant beyond his dreams.

At once Yang Yizhen fell to his hands and knees and tapped his forehead against the shimmering floor. "Great Heir to the Dragon, I have come as you requested. You have but to issue a command, and no sooner-"

A firm blow to his temple knocked the rest of the sentence loose from Yang Yizhen's tongue. Falling instinctively to one side, he lifted his hands a moment too late to fend off the next blow, which struck him in the abdomen. He scrambled to his feet, nearly pitching forward onto his face as he struggled to retain his balance.

"Assailants! I shall protect you, my Empress!" Yang Yizhen spit forth the words a moment before another blow struck him below the knee, sending him back to the ground. He got only an impression of the attacker - an enormous man wielding a ceremonial battle staff of some sort. The attacker brought his weapon down onto Yang Yizhen's prostrate form again and again as the victim waved his arms ineffectually to protect himself. "My Empress, save me!"

The Empress's hand appeared from behind her robes. "That will be enough, General."

The attack ended in a flash, the savage tip of the staff stopping a whisper from Yang Yizhen's face. With the beating coming to a halt, he could at last make out the identity of the assailant - General Hong, Commander of the Center, a man so enveloped in glory that Yang Yizhen would have been honored were he not in such pain. Drawing himself to a sitting position, he saw the Empress with her hand outstretched.

"Thank you, my Empress." Yang Yizhen resumed kowtowing as though the beating had never happened. "You have but to issue a command, and no sooner have your mighty words sundered the air-"

"Silence, you imbecile." The Empress turned an accusing finger at Yang Yizhen. "You do not have the honor to speak such perfumed words after your failure."

Yang Yizhen froze, eyes locked fast on the imperial finger slicing the air in his direction. "...My Empress?"

"You have failed," said the Empress, the steel in her words growing sharp. "You have failed, and now we are all doomed."

The words of the Empress were a mental torture that Yang Yizhen had never dared imagine. He had been called a failure many times and endured it in his own fashion, but to hear such a cutting comment from the highest authority he would ever know was a special blow, one that lanced through his soul and left a wound that blotted out the pain of his beating. For a moment, the universe as he knew it turned on its head.

"You had one job - just one!" There was unalloyed fury in the eyes of the Empress, so intense that it smoldered through her beaded veil. "And in this one task, this one critically important task which was your sole charge, you proved yourself truly and totally incompetent!"

"I...failed?" Scalding tears welled in Yang Yizhen's eyes. "My Empress, my wisdom is as a speck in the void of the universe compared to yours, and I simply cannot fathom how I have failed the empire!"

"Enough of your poetry! And stand up, dog!" General Hong seized Yang Yizhen by the skin of his neck and rudely yanked him to his feet. "You'll answer the questions you're asked and still your tongue otherwise. Can you comprehend this, or shall I break your jaw to ensure your silence?"

"I shall restrain myself, sir," whimpered Yang Yizhen.

The Empress folded her hands before her, each bony knuckle a grim dagger pointed at Yang Yizhen. "What was your task, bureaucrat?"

Yang Yizhen swallowed hard, readying himself for the thrashing that he was sure would come at any second. "To secure the glorious scientific programs of the Taiyang Empire."

The Empress nodded, shifting her imperial crown slightly down on her brow. "And what program in particular?"

"In particular..." Yang Yizhen willed his tongue to form the words. "...In particular, I was tasked with safeguarding Reflected Antithesis, keystone project of the imperial extraspatial physics program."

"Part of your duties included the vetting and approval of scholars from outside of the imperial program." The Empress waited for one of her numerous attendants to reposition her crown before resuming. "Were you thorough in this charge?"

"I was most thorough, my Empress," said Yang Yizhen, hoping that she could not detect the uncertainty behind his words.

"Did you approve a researcher by the name of Reginald Izmik?" said the Empress.

Yang Yizhen eyed General Hong before speaking. "...I will have to consult my records to be positive, but if your Highness maintains that I approved a man by the name of Reginald Izmik, then it is surely fact."

The Empress turned her gaze to General Hong. "Please, enlighten him as to the nature of Mr. Izmik."

"Gladly, my Empress." General Hong spun Yang Yizhen around with a blow to the shoulder and then grabbed him by the front of his robe, bringing the slight man a few whiskers from his howling maw. "You let a thief into our program, you mud-crawling worm! Izmik was no scholar, and further he was not even Reginald Izmik! We've not yet gleaned his true identity, but while we knock our heads against the walls, he's absconded with the full remaining project budget. That's 426 billion credits, gone in a flash! And that's not the worst of it!"

"Not...the worst?" Yang Yizhen reeled from the verbal assault and the sheer scope of the crime.

General Hong shook his head. "No. The worst is that he stole...it. The project prototype."

"You have no comprehension of what this means, do you?" said the Empress. "This is the culmination of Taiyang science, the project that would have uplifted our court beyond these other petty empires and the moribund Exterran Federation and returned us to our proper perch in the ancestral heavens. But I'll not waste my time trying to fill your empty skull with the physics that make it possible. Do you have any reckoning of what the Reflected Antithesis project was meant to accomplish?"

"Surely, my empress." Yang Yizhen's dry tongue rolled in his mouth as he tried to find the words to express his limited knowledge. "It is a microcosm, an effort to command matter at its most basic phases."

The Empress dipped her head slightly. "And do you have any reckoning as to how much power that this entails? How dangerous this project could be if used by someone without the means to command it?"

General Hong pulled Yang Yizhen even closer, his boiling breath clouding around the two of them. "That thing is in a triple-sealed containment case. It's the only reason we're still alive now."

"Then fortune favors us, for no thief could open such a vessel." Yang Yizhen cringed as the words struck the walls and returned to him. "...Am I wrong?"

"You'd best hope not," said the Empress. "If this Izmik manages to open the case and activate the prototype without the proper understanding, then he could trigger a release of energy untold in the history of our species. The Disaster that destroyed the homeworld and nearly wiped out our glorious civilization would be as a squib compared to the catastrophe that he would invoke."

"I'll not let that happen, my Empress." Yang Yizhen eased out of General Hong's grasp and fell to his knees. "On my life and my honor, I shall return with the thief and the prototype."

"And so you will. This is your new task, bureaucrat. But this time..." The Empress drifted toward Yang Yizhen, each step thudding heavily in his chest. "...Should you fail this time, then you'd best pray that the demise of the species comes long, long before I again rest my hands upon you."

Yang Yizhen quaked uncontrollably, sweat spilling out into a glistening ring beneath him. "Of course, your Highness."

The Empress dismissed the assembled company with a flick of her hand. "General Hong will explain your new privileges and duties. And also, General....do remind the boy of the consequences of failure."

A savage smile graced General Hong's lips as he rested a hand on Yang Yizhen's shoulder. "With pleasure, my Empress."

## CHAPTER 3

"Mr. Bella clearly had old-fashioned tastes."

The main living space of the target's apartment was typically dingy and disordered, which was no more than what Jennifer Shen ever expected when she entered the private quarters of a runner. She seldom found herself on the trail of an orderly thief - ironically, the very character that made that type so skillful at larceny, their obsessive planning and well-developed practices, also made them easily traceable. An algorithm could find a man who planned everything in advance, his own techniques turned into an invisible trail of data that followed him wherever he went. It was the man who didn't even plan one second in advance, the one who acted based on simple cunning and raw impulse that so thoroughly vexed the authorities. And it was in their messy personal lives that Jennifer would find the proof of some stray bit of forethought.

Mr. Bae, her current employer, was not quite so enamored with her attention to detail. "Might you hurry up? He could be headed out of the Stretch with my company's millions as we speak."

"I doubt it. There are too many sentimental odds and ends lying around. I'd say we interrupted him in the middle of packing." Jennifer stopped before the most prominent object in the room - a throwback phonograph and matching sound system, a sizable collection of albums straining the shelf above it. "Everything in the room is a wreck but this. Doesn't that tell you something?"

"So he had a hobby," said Mr. Bae, his foot tapping out an agitated cadence. "Knowing this helps us how?"

Jennifer slid one of the albums out of its colorful sleeve and studied it in the light. "Real vinyl. They don't mass manufacture these the old way anymore, not since those high-fidelity superdense discs went on the market - that's all anyone has sold in close to three hundred years. If he has the real deal, then he either got them from a collector..." She drew in close to the flat black surface, eyeballing the grooves, searching for minute imperfections. "...Probably not, they're too clean. Odds are that he went to a molecular fabricator. Wouldn't be cheap with an unusual material like this - have to be a hundred thousand worth on this shelf alone."

"Purchased with our money," said Mr. Bae. "We can trace that, find the fabricator in a day or two."

"You could, but I think we can wrap this up sooner than that." Jennifer returned the album to its proper place and leaned back against the shelf. "Can I assume that you've already checked with his family?"

"Parents, his brother...not a lot of friends, this one, but we grilled anyone who knew him," said Mr. Bae.

"And no organized criminal affiliations, I assume?"

"I should say not. We screen our applicants better than that, I assure you."

"Then it's simple. A loner like this doesn't have a lot of places to run. Once you've excluded anything specific, you're left with two possibilities. He either goes home..." Jennifer gazed across the apartment, letting her eyes rest briefly on each nostalgic bit of bric-a-brac that cluttered the available space. "...or he goes to the Cradle."

Mr. Bae nearly staggered back at the suggestion, staring back at his manhunter with open disdain. "The Cradle? You mean the old homeworld? That's preposterous! The finest deep-space astronomers have been trying to rediscover it for, what...almost a thousand years?"

"Approximately, yes."

"And you'd have me believe that a cheap embezzler like Bella could find it?"

"I didn't say that he would find the Cradle, I said that he was going to the Cradle. They always go to the Cradle." Jennifer rested a hand on her sidearm - a vintage semiautomatic ballistic weapon, chambered in a technically obsolete but still widely available .45 caliber chemically-triggered cartridge - easing away the securing strap with a twist of her fingers. "Criminals are pretty predictable, Mr. Bae. I've yet to meet one who doesn't talk about the Cradle like it's last salvation. You can talk with embezzlers, con artists, robbers, traffickers...every one of them firmly believes that if he finds his way there, then he's home free because he'll never, ever be brought back. There's truth to that, no?"

"To be sure, I'd never send a crew that far to recover any sum of money, even if it was remotely possible." Mr. Bae, regaining his composure, slid both arms behind his back and straightened his spine in a statuesque pose. "It still seems like foolishness."

"If it helps, I don't think he's headed out just yet. Like I said, he's still in the Stretch. Still in the Concourse, too. And I'd even bet..." With a snap of the wrist, Jennifer brought her sidearm to bear on a section of the wall overlooking the room. "You can come out now, Mr. Bella. And don't act like you're not there, I will put a warning shot into the wall if you don't comply. Not my fault if it hits you, I don't know exactly where you are."

There was a curious shimmer over the wall as an unseen hand clicked off the hologram generator. Behind the false wall was a disused ventilation shaft, into which a man - Mr. Bella, Jennifer figured, though it was hard to tell with his limbs so painfully contorted to fit into the cramped space - had awkwardly inserted himself. There followed several anguished moments as he wrenched himself free of the tiny space before falling with a unceremonious thud onto the ground.

"Mr. Bella!" Mr. Bae's eyes flicked back and forth between his thieving employee and the cramped gap from which he had emerged.

"That's right," said Jennifer. "Now, we're going to sit down and wait for the police, and I'm sure you're not going to try-"

Mr. Bella didn't wait for the end of the sentence to make his move. He lunged for Mr. Bae, seizing him by the arm and shoving him toward Jennifer with panicked strength. By the time Jennifer had recovered her balance, Mr. Bella was sprinting for the door, smacking against one wall before righting himself and speeding outside.

"They always try to run." Jennifer hastily holstered her sidearm and broke for the door. "I'll be right back."

Of all the dirty tricks that a target might pull, all the novel cruelties and unexpected bursts of violence, nothing irritated Jennifer as much as when they made her run. They usually ran, even the ones whose less than athletic frames gave them little hope of triumphing in a foot chase against a professional manhunter. It was always an tiring chore, even on those occasions when the target happened to live in a tranquil place with plenty of open areas to help maintain line-of-sight. Mr. Bella, naturally, had not opted to live in such a place. His hovel was a stone's throw from the Concourse Exterra, a hub for economic and political meetings between the various Exterran powers and those of the planets that lay beyond. It was the middle of the day, and the inventively curving avenues were packed with a colorful crowd representing a dozen species and countless cultures, none of whom were quite expecting an embezzler and an investigator interrupt their daily business.

For his part, Mr. Bella put forth more of a challenge than Jennifer had expected from a lifelong bean counter. She would come within arm's reach of the criminal, only to have him unleash a second wind or slither his way through a crowd and put her several paces behind. He pivoted into alleys, vanished around corners, darted into whatever shadows existed in the midday pavilions, did whatever he could to shake his pursuer, but she wasn't about to let this one get away so easily. Inch by inch she closed, drawing some sick strength from the panic and exhaustion she glimpsed every time he dared to glance behind him.

As as they sped past an outdoor bistro on a quiet side street, Jennifer - already tired and frustrated by a chase that had lasted far longer than it should have - tried for a gambit. Vaulting off a patio railing, she launched her entire body at Bella, nailing him between the shoulder blades with her elbow and sending them both skittering along the artistically anachronistic brick street. She rose up on one knee, staring down at her target. "This time, I'm sure you're not going to try anything clever. Right?"

Jennifer would have killed to be right about that, even just one time. Bella vaulted to his feet, fell back against the outdoor counter and scratched around until his hand brushed against a oddly-shaped knife, the butcher's tool from some alien culture that Jennifer could not (and cared not to) identify. "Back off! I'm not going down like this!"

"That's not your choice." Jennifer reached for her sidearm. "The only choice you get to make is whether you're walking away with me or getting dragged."

Bella launched himself at Jennifer, the space between them filled with wild slashes as he swung the knife in a panic. None of the slashes came close to connecting – this was a desperate man of privilege who never expected to be in a knife fight and had no clue as to how to defend himself. Jennifer halted his weapon arm with her own forearm and returned a blow with her free hand, smashing in his nose with a firm palm strike. Bella was on the ground again, both hands clasped over his shattered nose to staunch the blood flow. Jennifer pulled her sidearm, keeping it level at her side. "Do that again, and I will shoot you in the knee. Are we clear?" The words came out in bursts through her own pained breathing, but it was clear from her vantage point that Bella wasn't interested in a second round.

It took little time for a crowd to form around Jennifer and her prey, the ostensibly genteel diplomats and businesspeople letting their guises drop long enough to gape at the action movie scene before them. Jennifer had never quite mastered dealing with crowds like this. They were always fascinated by the chase, even the ones who tut-tutted as they spoke with their proper friends on the degeneracy of those lowly Stretch types and their crass love of violence. At least this time no one was in a mood to chat - no one asking for war stories or making clumsy passes.

When Mr. Bae finally stumbled across the scene, it was all he could do to slither his way through a dense ring of Federation captains of industry and their Agolgan bodyguards in order to confirm that the contract had been fulfilled. "Your thief, Mr. Bae," said Jennifer, her lungs still filled with fire from the exertion.

"You could have been a bit more discreet," muttered Mr. Bae.

"I could have waited for him to leave the planet, but I was under the impression that this was urgent," said Jennifer. "Does this complete the deal?"

Mr. Bae stared down at his disgraced employee, his inner rage at Bella betrayed only by the slightest of tics in his well-creased forehead. "That it does, Ms. Shen."

Jennifer extended her free hand. "One-fifty. I hope you won't try to negotiate over the price."

Mr. Bae fished out a clumsy gadget - a secure biometric communicator, the only way any serious professional accepted payment. "One hundred and fifty thousand, as promised. But really, this exhibition was hardly what I had in mind."

"Fair enough." Jennifer caught a glimpse of corporate security descending on the scene, ready to lead poor Bella off to some legally dubious location to extract the location of his ill-gotten gains. "Looks like you've got this in hand."

"That we do," said Mr. Bae. "Hopefully this will be our last transaction."

"We're in agreement," said Jennifer as she vanished into the crowd, headed back to her own hideaway.

## CHAPTER 4

The rise of the old powers and the descent of the Exterran Stretch into petty lawlessness meant fat times for investigators, bounty hunters, and anyone else willing to sell body and soul to the skeletal Exterran corporations. An early entrant into the latest gold rush, Jennifer Shen had acquired enough credits to afford a few extravagances, including an office in the nicest building in the ugliest region of Sagittarius Prime. It wasn't merely low cost that drew manhunters to rough neighborhoods. The corporate clients actually preferred these pockets of violence, which offered them plausible deniability - no one monitored them that closely, and no one in the fully illuminated business world would imagine that a respectable businessperson would dare travel to such a hellhole. The aesthetics weren't bad, either, giving the clients a chance to feel like real hardasses, if only for an hour.

In theory, the Liston Building was a fully self-managing structure managed by a Class IV synthetic intelligence, but the machine always had a few gremlins in the works and was broken as often as not. Jennifer wasn't the least bit surprised to see the owner - a squirmy frog-like Druker who referred to himself only as "The Head" - frantically bashing at the uplink panel with whatever tool happened to rest in his amphibian fist.

"Afternoon, Jen-Shen," warbled the Head. "Lucrative afternoon, wuzzit?"

"Lucrative enough to pay the bills," said Jennifer. "You think maybe it's time to call in a professional to figure out why the computer keeps choking?"

"Hehh, they're fickle beasts. S'all I need to know. Just need to whip 'em to make him obey, always works out." The Head rubbed his rubbery neck. "You're in a mood, Jen-Shen. They make you run for it again?"

"Don't they always?" said Jennifer. "You're not much of a hacker, but I guess you can still read me."

"Ain't a tough one," said the Head. "But hey, looks like the girl's doing okay. Got yourself a fresh new client waiting upstairs, y'know. Weird boy. Taiyang, by the looks of him."

"An imperial contract?" Jennifer fell silent, rolling the new development around in her head. "You're not just screwing with my head, are you?"

The Head let out a croaky laugh. "Hehh, now I ain't the cruel kind, missy. Y'should know that."

"I see," said Jennifer. "Well, in that case, I'd better not keep him waiting."

The arrival of an agent from one of the old powers was nothing that Jennifer had ever anticipated. It was the growth of the empires that had made her profession viable in the first place - the shift of government power from the ever-weakening Exterran Federation to these culturally homogeneous behemoths had left a power void in the heart of the great human sprawl. Left to their own devices by a Federation that no longer did anything but keep its own capitol intact and set up toothless meetings with the new powers as the private entities of the Stretch - those few large businesses that survived the sunset of the golden age of corporate power - turned to independent concerns to attend to their security and policing.

So who was this "weird boy" waiting at her office? He certainly wasn't from the empire proper - they had means aplenty to deal with their own problems. Perhaps he'd come from one of the private entities that existed within the imperial domain. There were a privileged few companies, those willing to give up their own autonomy in exchange for a taste of the old supremacy, that the empires gleefully absorbed into their domains. These businesses - the stately and ossified oligarchs of the Tetrarchy, the sacrilized moneymen of Paz Castilia, the impenetrable state-dominated enterprises of Taiyang, the anarchic free-for-all managed by Alshams Asha - were generally well cared for by their imperial masters, but still found cause to recruit outside agents to conduct less savory affairs. These contracts were worth a bundle to the manhunter willing to risk a public execution.

The young man waiting at the door was unquestionably from the Taiyang - he hadn't bothered to shed his ornate robes with their dragon-and-sun motif for more casual, less conspicuous Stretch attire. His hair (surely at least waist length, Jennifer thought) was pulled back into a knot and secured by a pin bearing the image of the imperial dragon. As well-presented as he was, Jennifer couldn't help but notice the carefully concealed bruises that suggested that he'd been on the painful end of a beating.

The young man fell to his knees and bowed as Jennifer approached, wincing as he did. "Shen Xiaojie, I greet you as a fellow descendant of the terrestrial dragon!" Looking up, he pointed at Jennifer's head. "You have shorn your noble locks! Ah - but this must be to pass without notice among the mingled peoples of the great body of Exterra!"

Jennifer self-consciously brushed at the edges of her short-cropped hair. "...Thanks. Can I assume that you are here to set up a contract?"

"Indeed. Oh, in my eagerness I have failed to introduce myself!" The young man rose from his knees and straightened his back. "Yang Yizhen, fourth ring bureaucrat of the great Taiyang Empire."

"A bureaucrat?" said Jennifer, incredulous. "Then you're actually from the empire?"

"Indeed," said Yang Yizhen. "I have been dispatched by the Celestial Empress to bestow upon you a quest. It is a long and treacherous mission, but your rewards upon completion would be extensive, and you would be forever memorialized in the 7,000-year history of our glorious empire, a hero fit for the ranks of the Heavenly halls."

Jennifer nodded silently, momentarily struck mute as she clawed her way through his words. "So...maybe we can step into my office and discuss the details?"

"Joyfully, miss," answered the weird boy.

Most investigators in the Stretch had some degree of personal flair - important when trying to distinguish one's self from thousands of competitors - and this was best reflected in their offices. Merely having an office at all was a mark of distinction for a manhunter, and the manner in which they decorated those offices sent an even more focused. Most went in for stereotyped decor to reflect their chosen persona - walls of exotic weapons for tough investigators, dimly-cast minimalist designs for discreet investigators, and throwback detective decor for wily investigators. Jennifer opted for the latter, styling her professional space based on descriptions she gleaned from ancient pulp novels. There was the imposing desk, the wingback chairs, the large safe (more or less obsolete for a thousand years), mostly empty antique filing cabinets, all created on the cheap by fabricators and crowned by wall-mounted holographic frames flickering images of past successes.

Yang Yizhen stared at the decor with a trace of confusion. "Do you truly feel comfortable in these surroundings?"

"Quite." Jennifer eased into her own chair, triggering the desk's holographic display with the flick of a finger. "It's taken me years to get it just right."

"I apologize for my presumption," said Yang Yizhen. "It is just a strange workplace for an heir to the ancient kingdom."

"You're a little mixed up. I was born in the Stretch, as were my parents and their parents. None of us had anything to do with your Celestial Empire." Jennifer leaned across the desk. "Now, why don't you explain the contract?"

"Of course." Yang Yizhen eyed the free chairs, as though unsure if it was proper to sit. "I have been given the task to find a thief who infiltrated the Taiyang physical research society and stole a very large sum of money as well as the product of said society."

"Go on." Jennifer's eyes lit up at the thought of the contract. She'd heard rumors of the payouts for imperial contracts - ten or twenty million in some cases, enough for a frugal manhunter to enjoy an early retirement. The risk could yet be worth it.

"This thief, a foreign scholar by the name of Izmik, disappeared into the winds of fate along with his pilfered goods. I know not of his intentions with the research project - if he intends to deliver it to a hostile empire that they may use it against us, or if he seeks some sense of power by mastering the project's potential for his own nefarious purposes. In any case, it is dangerous to leave this device in his hands, for any layman who endeavored to activate the device..." Yang Yizhen swallowed hard. "The contract is, first and foremost, for the recovery of the project, with the capture of the thief as a secondary mission."

Jennifer slid deep into her chair, hands folded before her. "Can't your authorities just track it? If I were running this project, I'd have every manner of tracker on anything it produced."

Yang Yizhen seemed to shrink in the face of those words. "Under normal circumstances, this would be true, but the parameters of this project required that it be untraceable. Had we placed the ever-watchful eyes of the Taiyang upon the project, then our rivals might have peered through those eyes just the same."

A tense curiosity passed through Jennifer's mind as she took in the Taiyang bureaucrat's vague words. "And what is the nature of this project, exactly?"

"I am sorry, but this is not for you to know."

"I don't need schematics, but if you want me to find this thing, I need to know what it is I'm looking for."

"Not at all, miss. You will find Mr. Izmik and I shall handle the transportation of the project."

"Uh-huh." Jennifer rose from her chair and stepped around to the other side of the desk. "But in general terms, what are we dealing with? It's physics so...a weapon? A power source? An engine? Is it dangerous to transport? Will I be at risk when we find it?"

"I am sorry, but this is-"

"Is there any chance that this project is illegal?"

Yang Yizhen's mask of composure cracked. "I speak of the Celestial Taiyang Empire, not a clandestine order!"

"And that means nothing if your empire has been tinkering with technologies that the Exterran Federation and the Intercultural League have banned. You won't tell me what it is, you apparently weren't tracking it at all, I'm quite certain I haven't heard any news of a theft in Taiyang which must mean that they're hushing this up..." Jennifer sized up Yang Yizhen. "...and they send a random bureaucrat to make the deal? None of this is aboveboard."

"I'll not hear such an unjust attack on our great empire!" Yang Yizhen emotions flowed freely as he harangued the investigator, the words spilling out with righteous thunder. "I have offered you a quest, a chance to grow beyond your humble stature and join the ranks of legend, and you accuse my Empress of misdeeds? Still your blasphemous tongue at once!"

"I'm not doing it."

Immediately the color drained from Yang Yizhen's face as the fire and bluster fled from him. "...But you must! I cannot complete this quest on my own!"

"That's tough." Jennifer returned to her seat, kicking her feet onto the desk. "If you can't be straight with me, then I'm not working for you."

Yang Yizhen was in a panic, his breath coming out in rattly gasps, his limbs trembling. Jennifer fully expected him to pass out right on the simulated hardwood floors of her office. Instead, he fell to his knees, hands clasped and raised skyward, and screamed in his weak voice: "A BILLION CREDITS TO TAKE THIS QUEST!"

Jennifer's feet fell from the desk of their own accord. "...Did you say 'billion'?"

"The fortunes of Taiyang and my very life are yours," squeaked Yang Yizhen, he energy nearly spent. "Will you not at least hear me out?"

Jennifer slowly stood up, staring down at the pale bureaucrat begging for his life. She pondered his offer for a moment, then another, before finally separating the silence:

"You'll take me to see Izmik's apartment?"

## CHAPTER 5

The Taiyang Empire was, by most estimates, the largest of the Intercultural League empires, the new states chewing away at the edges of the Exterran Stretch. It certainly had the most subjects, arguably covered the most space (though this varied depending on methodology) and yet still managed to exert the most central control over its impressive holdings. And while it lacked the impressive wealth of Paz Castilia or the storied martial and spiritual culture of the Tetrarchy, it was said to hold an edge in scientific exploration. This was but rumor and speculation, as Taiyang shared few of her secrets with outsiders. It was known that Taiyang had an entire planet, Zhebaolei, solely for its research programs, though casual observers would be forgiven for mistaking the planet for a military redoubt. Few outsiders ever had the chance to glimpse its secrets.

That Yang Yizhen had managed to secure a transport to Zhebaolei was already a shock to Jennifer, who had previously held suspicions that the man was perpetrating an elaborate ruse of some sort. This was ample proof. No one outside of Taiyang's bureaucracy could have as much as scraped the tropopause without being blasted into dust.

The transport hatch opened onto a hallway, a suspiciously bland and normal one to Jennifer's eyes. After all the rigmarole, she had expected the scholar's dormitory to be much more alien. She'd chased far less ambitious criminals through a thousand apartment complexes just like this - same too-bright lights overilluminating the drab, neutrally toned walls broken up by identical doors.

Yang Yizhen stepped to the front of the transport, hands folded before him in a maddeningly precise manner. "This is all I can show you, I'm afraid. The research areas are strictly off-limits to those outside of the imperial bureaucracy or the scientific societies themselves, save by a special decree seldom granted to outsiders."

"That's all right," said Jennifer. "The apartment's the important part. You want to know where this Izmik is headed, I'll find it in there."

"I fail to see how," said Yang Yizhen. "This is not to suggest that I doubt your talents, but the imperial investigators have already examined Izmik Xiansheng's apartment many times and revealed nothing of note."

"I have a knack for noticing things that others miss," said Jennifer. "My techniques are a little less conventional."

"Very well. Follow me, please." Yang Yizhen turned down a hallway, gesturing for Jennifer to follow. "Once we have captured Izmik, perhaps you can extol your methods to the Dragon's Court. Even the Celestial Empress will wish to meet the savior of our empire!"

Jennifer froze to the spot. "Savior?"

Yang Yizhen cleared his throat. "...Ah, here is the rogue's apartment!"

There would be little to differentiate Izmik's apartment from any other were it not for the armored imperial guard pacing the hall before the door. He didn't carry the advanced weaponry of the Court guards, bearing only more conventional arms, though the powered suit was intimidating all the same. "Halt!" he barked as they approached. "No one is allowed entry until further notice."

Yang Yizhen fell to one knee before the guard. "Yang Yizhen, fourth ring bureaucrat. I am here for investigatory purposes."

"I should have known it was you by the stink of failure." Stepping around Yang Yizhen, the guard approached Jennifer. "And this one stinks of the Stretch."

"Shen Xiaojie is a highly skilled investigator, hired to aid in the apprehension of Izmik Xiansheng," said Yang Yizhen, rising to his feet. "General Hong authorized me to seek assistance."

"And you brought this woman? Predictable. Only a fool such as you would turn to an outsider yet again." The guard sneered at Jennifer. "This is no place for you. If you had wits at all, you'd return to your domicile and leave the investigations to more suitable parties."

"If there's a more suitable party among your ranks, then I'd be pleased to meet him," said Jennifer. "Until then, you might as well grant me the opportunity to clean up your mess."

"Mind your tongue, woman." The guard stepped back from the door, staring down Jennifer as he did. "You've been given permission so I cannot bar your entrance. However, I do hope that you can refrain from despoiling the scene of the crime with your clumsy Stretch methods."

"I won't write on the walls, I promise." Jennifer nodded to Yang Yizhen. "Shall we?"

Yang Yizhen stepped to the door, the locking mechanism chirping as he placed his hand on the knob. "Please, mind yourself around the guards," he whispered. "It would not do to make enemies among their ranks."

"Are they all going to act like that?" Jennifer whispered back. "It'll be hard not to make enemies if they're this hostile when we meet."

"They will respect you once we have completed our quest, this much I can pledge." Yang Yizhen eased the apartment door open. "Shall we begin?"

There was a rush of stale air from the other side of the door, the odor of absence found in places abandoned to the whims of time by their inhabitants. Jennifer stepped forward through the threshold, then stopped in her tracks, her senses frozen by the sight before her. "What the hell..."

Mr. Izmik's apartment was empty. Not "empty" in a metaphorical sense, as when Jennifer referred to cluttered apartments as "empty" if they had been stripped of anything that the occupant couldn't easily replace, a sure sign that he had already fled. No, Mr. Izmik's apartment was empty in a shockingly literal way. There was a desk with a built-in interface and uplink \- all standard issue, coming with the apartment - pressed up against one wall, one small box sitting in the center. Beyond that, there was no furniture, no decoration, no personal effects, no additional devices, no food, no clothes, nothing to suggest that anyone had lived within at any time in the recent past.

"Huh." Jennifer scanned the wall by the door. "Does this apartment have any sort of virtual customization interface? Filaments in the walls, integrated projectors, that sort of thing?"

"We do not have such features in the dormitories," said Yang Yizhen.

Jennifer ran a hand along the wall, hoping to brush her fingers along a hidden panel or catch. "Um...is there a button you press that makes the rest of the furniture and fixtures pop out of the floor?"

Yang Yizhen shook his head. "We lack these functions as well."

"Well, this is certainly weird." Jennifer slipped a single foot into the apartment, stepping gingerly as though the whole thing might be a fiction. "Did he bring anything in at all? Or does the empire take care of the furnishings?"

"We make a range of furnishings available to our scholars, but Izmik never made use of this service. We had always assumed that he had opted to furnish the apartment himself." Yang Yizhen slid into the apartment behind Jennifer. "Is this unusual?"

"I've known a lot of cons who travel light, but most of them still bring something along with them." Jennifer worked her way further into the apartment, studying the walls, the carpet, the ceiling - anything that might add sanity to this unexpected situation. "It's not just empty, there's no sign of life at all. No creases in the carpet, no crumbs, scuffs on the wall, patterns in the dust...you guys didn't clean in here, did you?"

"The apartment has not been touched," said Yang Yizhen. "As I have explained, our investigators have thoroughly studied this space. There are no concealed cavities in the walls, floor or ceiling. There is no holographic trickery or electronic concealment at play. Our elite teams covered every centimeter with all manner of sensors as well as their own hands. There is only what you see before you right now."

Still reeling from the sight of the place, Jennifer approached the desk and slid open the box. Inside were a series of cards - old-fashioned business cards of very high quality. "Let's see here...Destiny, Inc...Apocalypse, Ltd...Exosphere Communications...there's nothing else written on any of these."

"We have thoroughly investigated the names," said Yang Yizhen. "None of these companies exist within Exterran space or within the domains of any other nearby life forms."

"So they're fakes." Jennifer ran a thumb along the edges of the cards - they were extremely thick, made from some unusual stock that refused to bend or soften at the edges. "Really good fakes. Someone must have too many credits to waste them on something like this for a joke."

"Then this is a clue?" Yang Yizhen brightened up, trotting over to Jennifer's side. "Might this grant some information on the thief's whereabouts?"

"Maybe." Jennifer returned the cards to the box and proceeded to pace around the apartment, idly studying the bare walls. "What do you know about this 'Izmik' character, anyway? What's his background?"

"There is much to tell you of Izmik, but we assume that all of his information is false," said Yang Yizhen. "We are already certain that the names of his relations are fictitious."

"Yes, but every lie contains some kernel of truth," said Jennifer, leaning against the wall. "Say he claims to be from the Stretch - easy dodge, most thieves would say that. It's a lot safer than claiming to be from one of the empires because no one will make you prove any special cultural knowledge. But the exact region matters a lot. If he claims to be from the Federation core, then he wants people to think he's from a wealthy, well-connected family. Means he's a risk taker - those perceived connections open a lot of doors, but he risks getting caught if he has to deal with a person who actually holds those connections. Now, if he claims to be from a Sagittarius slum, then he's trying to stay invisible. He's a patient type, very cautious, sticking to the shadows, running the long con - above all, he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. It's best if they don't think about him at all."

"Yes, I can follow that reasoning," said Yang Yizhen. "He professed to hail from a colony outside of Exterra. I believe he claimed it to be a Federation project on a satellite in the Agolgan territories."

"Really, a colony? That's interesting." Jennifer walked back to the desk, picking up the box in both hands. "Fake business cards from fake businesses. No personal belongings of note. Very neat. Claims to be from outside of the Federation proper..." She tapped the box against one hand. "This one's unique. I've never seen a crook handle himself like this."

Yang Yizhen grew visibly worried. "Then you do not know."

"On the contrary," said Jennifer. "He's going to the Cradle. They always go to the Cradle."

"The Cradle? You speak of the source, the origin of human life and our glorious civilization?"

"That's the one."

"Then it is hopeless," said Yang Yizhen. "No one alive can locate the Cradle, and no one would dare go in search of it."

"You're wrong on the second part," said Jennifer. "I know a guy who's up for it."

\------

In some isolated corner of the galaxy, separated by known civilization by some trillions and trillions of miles of silent oblivion, lies a living myth. From a great distance, it is just another desiccated marble pirouetting around an anonymous star, another stone in the sea. However, to the outcasts of Exterra - the dregs left in the wake of imperial dominance, the undesirables begging at the gates of the Exterran Federation, the criminal swine taking their daily bread by whatever means are available to them - this planet represents, if not paradise, then certainly the hope of one.

The planet had a proper name used by few other than scholars of the Human Exodus and a few imperial scribes. To everyone else, it is simply "the Cradle," the forgotten origin of Exterran civilization, abandoned by a lucky few survivors after a catastrophic event placed the population beneath a death sentence. The Cradle is a place of mystery and controversy. The basic history of humanity prior to the Human Exodus is well known, but the precise details have been lost due to general apathy and a series of unfortunate technical failures. No one can say for sure what brought the Cradle to ruin, because for a long time nobody cared. They cared so little, in fact, that no one noticed that their data on the location of the Cradle had been corrupted and, over the course of a billion recursive cycles, completely annihilated.

Following the formation of the Exterran Federation, there was a serious, focused effort to locate the Cradle. The odds weighed against the project by billions of billions to one, but the general consensus among all of humanity was that the information was worth having at any cost. Then the stability of the early Federation came to an end. Independent private powers rose and fell beneath their own weight, the first empires swallowed each other only to be smashed to fragments by hostile neighboring species, petty wars wracked the outlying regions as the now-stateless peoples grasped for power. Once it was over, no one cared about the Cradle.

But if the rising powers had abandoned any hope of finding the human home world, there were others who kept the faith. There was a folk legend, popular in the lost ranks of society, in which the Cradle never truly died. It was indisputable that the Human Exodus left many people behind. The generation ships that departed the Cradle for the depths of space carried only the powerful, the wealthy, the supremely lucky, and those considered useful to the architects of the Exodus. Meanwhile, those of less value were left on the doomed planet to await death, which greeted them in short order...or so everyone assumed. The desperate clung fast to the belief that the abandoned humans had survived the catastrophe and gone on to forge a new society, one for and by the people left behind, the ones deemed useless by their fleeing masters. It would have to be a paradise for outcasts, not to mention a beacon of freedom from the Federation and the empires who had neither the means nor the desire to find it.

Of course, those outcasts had no more information on the location of the Cradle than anyone else, and hope made victims of many of them. The lucky ones, taken in by charlatans and thieves, merely lost their money and time gambling on some new method to find the lost planet. The more ambitious (and more larcenous) among them took matters into their own hands and simply took off for the Cradle in whatever craft they could beg, borrow or steal. These voyages did not have happy endings. Those who were not caught as they escaped fell victim to their own poor piloting, snaring themselves in the gravitational field of some planet or crashing while taking an unwise detour through an asteroid belt. Many a criminal's corpse was found still within Exterran territory, having met some mishap. The rest lived long enough to lose their bearings and perish from radiation poisoning or failures in their life support systems. Their fates were known only by the wreckage of their vessels, found by salvagers or drifting back to Exterra with the aid of half-functioning autopilot systems.

Easily a million souls had met dismal, lonely ends while seeking the Cradle, and yet there would always be more. In fact, just as Jennifer Shen and Yang Yizhen were examining Izmik's apartment, a tiny spacecraft was heading into deep space, far beyond the claws of Taiyang.

## CHAPTER 6

Jennifer Shen was coming to question her sanity. It wasn't the first time - any person who pays their bills willingly walking into ambushes and chasing low-rent con artists through congested streets has to ask at some point if what they're doing makes sound sense. But as ridiculous as the Exterran bounty chase could get, it fell well short of the sheer madness that she was contemplating as the transport took them back to familiar surroundings.

"I don't suppose your bosses will be providing any navigators or technicians?" said Jennifer, staring down at her personal display.

"Sadly, there are few within the ranks of the Taiyang elite who are endowed with a spirit of exploration," said Yang Yizhen. "Credits can be provided, but not manpower."

"Stellar." Jennifer slid down in her seat and closed her eyes. It was only by blind chance that she knew a pilot loopy enough that he might take them into uncharted space - tracking down more space jocks would be a task nearly as hard as the one they were planning to undertake. "You know, setting this thing up might take a while. I can't promise that we'll be able to start the journey precisely on your schedule."

"I understand your predicament, but time is absolutely an element here. The longer the project is in the thief's hands, the greater the risk that he might misuse it." Yang Yizhen leaned over in his seat. "Shen Xiaojie, have you studied the old language?"

"No, Yang, I haven't." Jennifer certainly wasn't trying to sound annoyed, but hour after hour of the bureaucrat grilling her over knowledge of Taiyang protocol and history had trimmed her fuse short.

"Then you have only read the Classics in the modern Exterran tongue?" said Yang Yizhen, slightly disappointed.

"I don't even know what 'Classics' you're referring to."

Yang fell back into his seat in shock. "How have you misspent your time that you do not possess even the rudiments of an education?"

Jennifer counted off on her fingers. "Surveillance, network access, biometric masking, marksmanship, vehicle operations, self-defense...I can pass a bribe in five non-human languages. Practical skills, that's what keeps me fed, not ceremony."

The strained conversation was ended by the dull thump of the transport's landing apparatus touching down on the surface of Sagittarius Prime. When the hatch slid open, it wasn't to Jennifer's stamping grounds but a much more gray and active place. The air was tempered with the aroma of fuel and industrial chemicals and congested with steel transportation rails and tiny maintenance drones. Somewhere beneath them, Federation-contracted shipbuilders pressed out the endless fleets of transport and escort vessels demanded by the economic engine of the Stretch; above them, the finished products hung patiently in the air, awaiting news of their next destination. Sandwiched between the two, thousands of unlicensed shops and guilds crowded onto the poorly-kept suspension platforms, offering a variety of services to anyone who needed a task done in a hurry with few questions.

"Speaking of 'practical,' that probably wasn't the best thing to wear in this sector," said Jennifer as she exited the transport. "You couldn't have put on street clothes before heading out?"

"What do you mean?" Yang Yizhen hustled out behind Jennifer, tugging gingerly at his robes. "This is quite a humble garb, well-suited to public wear."

"In Taiyang territory, maybe." Jennifer turned to Yang Yizhen with a sigh. "...I suppose this contract requires that you come along?"

"It does, but..." Yang Yizhen's features drooped. "...You desire to leave me behind?"

Jennifer rubbed her face - it had been a mistake to broach the topic, but it was too late to take it back. "Two things. One, I'm not sure you're cut out for such a long voyage."

"But I have traveled into space," said Yang Yizhen, slightly indignant. "True first-hand experience with travel is necessary for anyone in the Taiyang bureaucracy."

"Well, there's taking a trip to one of your colonies and then there's flying sixty trillion miles away from home. And two..." Jennifer grit her teeth for a moment. "...Space is always a premium on any starship. We can really only afford to take people who can directly aid in the mission."

"Then I shall do so." Yang Yizhen dropped to one knee before Jennifer. "As I am the instrument of the glorious Taiyang Empire, so shall I be yours."

"That's not..." Jennifer bit her tongue - she would end up hauling this man across light-years of mostly uncharted space no matter what she said, so it was better to maintain civility. "Very well."

"Then we are in agreement," said Yang Yizhen as he regained his footing. "Now, shall we meet our captain?"

Jennifer waved for him to follow, leading them to a nondescript building - unmarked save a readily missable sign reading "Wyvern for Hire" - rudely sandwiched between a cluster questionable discount fabricators and a Druker tune-up shed. "In here."

"This is where our pilot dwells?" said Yang Yizhen. "If he is a skilled and cautious man, then why has he not a more elegant workplace?"

Jennifer rested a hand on the front door. "If you don't trust my pilot, then you are free to stay home."

Yang Yizhen stared at his feet for several seconds before responding. "I shall trust your judgment."

"Good. Oh, and let me talk to him, he's a bit of an odd duck."

The inside of "Wyvern for Hire" had an odd feel for the front office of a rogue piloting operation. The hum and clank and clatter of maintenance work were strangely absent, as were the layers of grime and the pall of shadows cast by inadequate lighting. There was little of anything in the front room, in fact, or even much of a front room - just a tiny, brightly-lit open space with a few unmatched seats and an empty counter behind which sat a charmless young woman who was likely only eighteen but had the bearing of a road-worn thirty year-old.

"You been in here before?" said the girl, picking idly at her throwback coveralls.

"That I have," said Jennifer, inching up to the counter. "Is Tommy in? I have a proposition for him."

"Yeah, the old man's in," said the girl, wrapping one hand around a sizable spanner until her knuckles blanched. "You here to take him home for the night? Give him a long, freaky weekend?"

"Is that really the first place your mind went when I said 'proposition'?" said Jennifer.

"Nah, not really. Just wishful thinking. Just that long, vain hope that some generous woman could loosen him up because he is driving me nuts!" The girl shot a rough look at Yang Yizhen. "Who the hell are you?"

"I am Yang Yizhen, fourth ring bureaucrat of the glorious Taiyang Empire. And I see from the name on your own garment that..." Yang Yizhen leaned in to examine the tag on the girl's coveralls. "...you are known as Annelise. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Great, another one like Tommy. Listen, the name is Anna, if you call me Annelise then it'll get bloody. Got it?" Anna smacked the spanner down on the counter, then flicked an unseen switch to disengage the locks on an unseen door. "Through there. He's probably 'busy,' so just slap him in the back of the head if you need to get his attention."

Backing away slowly from the angry girl, Jennifer grabbed Yang Yizhen by the sleeve and headed through the door. The room behind was nearly as austere and neat as the front office - almost empty, in fact, save an old-fashioned desk and a sprinkling of chairs drawn from the same mismatched set as the ones in the front room. The draw of the room, though, was the large wooden object in the corner - a colorfully adorned man-sized cabinet which emitted a chaotic array of lights and sounds. A man leaned into the cabinet, his hands resting on an crude bank of controls, wincing and grinning in time to the flashing colors.

"Tommy Harkennian?" Jennifer approached the man, craning her head to get a glimpse of his face. "You busy?"

The man turned away from his diversion, the lights from the wooden case framing him from behind. Between the golden hair teased into some coyly antique style, the exaggerated smile on his smooth cheeks, and the replica bomber jacket that fit him a bit too snugly around the arms, he had the look of an overgrown ten year-old child. Only his impressive stature and muscle tone hinted at his true age and experience, with the singes and calluses on his fingertips speaking of his many years working with vehicles.

"Golly, I sure am sorry, friends, I can have some terrible manners sometimes. But take a look..." Tommy waved an arm at the wooden cabinet behind him. "You know what this is? 'Conquerors of Nekron.' Pretty keen, right? It's a real blast from the past - an actual arcade machine from the Cradle. For real! Ain't it keen? It's authentic and everything. Take a look!" He knelt by the base of the cabinet, gesturing to a set of scratches at the base. "'J. McMaster – 11/29/88.' 'D. Haverman – 4/22/17.' Why, a whole millennium ago these two mastered this machine. I mean, they were probably the first ones who ever did it! And it's not an easy game! Course, these days you can pump yourself full of brain boosters and pep juice and just play and play until the circuits burn out, so they had to put in a few tweaks, make the game a little hairier for us future men. Either one of you want to try it out?"

"Got a special job for you, Tom," said Jennifer. "High risk, high reward stuff."

Tommy snapped both fingers and pointed at Jennifer. "You hired me once, right? Bringing some bad guy back to the Stretch from the colonies. Wow, that sure was some fun." Spotting Yang Yizhen, he showed off even more of his teeth. "You got yourself a friend, or is this one special?"

"This job's from the Taiyang," said Jennifer. "Straight from the Empress. This one's here to keep us honest."

"Really?" Tommy crossed the room and dropped himself into a chair. "Gosh, that is a big deal, all right. Well, I've never done much imperial work, but if you got the credits, hey, I've got the time."

Yang Yizhen dropped to one knee. "I am here to task you with a quest of the utmost-"

"It's still a bounty hunt," said Jennifer, cutting Yang Yizhen off with a glance. "But it's a higher grade of criminal this time, and a longer trip. It'll be a hell of a payday, though, and I think it'll be right up your alley."

"Hey, I love all of those words!" said Tommy. "So where are we going? Agolgan colonies? Kro'dyl territory?"

Jennifer shook her head. "Farther."

"The Primordial Reaches? Hey, it's real pretty, but not the nicest place to fly. I'll do it, though." Tommy held his arms out, grinning like a mad fiend. "So, where are we going?"

Jennifer glanced back at Tommy's prized arcade cabinet, then back at the man. "The Cradle."

Tommy leaned forward, his face going blank, then applied a fresh smile. "For real? Hey, isn't that something. Wow, the Cradle." He heaved himself to his feet. "Say, why don't we take a stroll through the hanger? Talk a little about this mission, show our imperial friend how we fly."

"I would be most honored," said Yang Yizhen. "I hope you will accept our quest. Yes, the risks are very great but the rewards for victory are beyond reckoning for any who accept our noble offer."

"That's dynamite," said Tommy.

Another hidden door in Tommy's tiny office led into the main part of his operation - a sizable hangar with a fleet of mismatched aircraft and starcraft, all being minded by a small army of mechanics of varying species. At a glance, the ships had once been common civilian craft, but a number of visits to the area's black market modification outfits had turned them into wholly original vehicles, almost artistic in their treacherous construction. Tommy walked calmly between the ships with a cheerful grin, pointing out the features on each member of his steel flock.

"This little girl's the Songbird. Nice little two-seater, good to take you from planet to planet without cramping your style, but not big enough for your operation, obviously. Ooh! Here's the Raven. Pretty neat for a cargo vessel, huh? Armed to the teeth, too. But I know what you guys want..." Tommy stopped before a metallic football resting on spindly robotic legs, sensors and shielding crudely hammered into its surface. "This right here is Taleweaver. She's not the prettiest but gosh, what a powerhouse. Room for six passengers plus ample storage, FTL provided by a linear-dimensional driver that'll get her to the edge of the galaxy in no time at all. I've been waiting for an opportunity to take her into deep space for ages, and here you show up!"

"Then we'll be using the Taleweaver," said Jennifer. "I guess that only leaves the price."

Tommy waved his hands before him. "Hold on, cowgirl! We've got some other things to discuss first. Let's start with the elephant in the room - no one knows where the Cradle is!" He shot a sly glance at Yang Yizhen. "Unless the dragons know something I don't. Is that it?"

Jennifer rubbed the back of her head, glancing at Yang Yizhen out of the corner of her eye. "Sadly, that's still an issue. I'll level with you..." She leaned in closer, drawing her words down to a blunted whisper that she hoped the bureaucrat wouldn't hear. "I took this job before I knew the guy had already slipped away. I haven't decided yet if I'm crazy enough to actually chase him halfway across the galaxy, and this is an interest check as much as anything. Getting my ducks in a row, y'know."

"I appreciate your honesty." Tommy snapped his fingers. "And maybe I can help! There's a rumor - and it's only a rumor, as long as we're being honest - but there is a rumor that there's a fella around here who has the coordinates of the Cradle right in his noggin! Proprietary government information - the real thing!"

Yang Yizhen's face took on an unhealthy color. "Then...there is another empire whose knowledge of the stars exceeds out own?"

"Oh, it's not a human empire," said Tommy. "He's an Epochi!"

Jennifer ground her teeth together, swallowing back a groan. "That doesn't help us so much. You know how the Epochi like dealing with outsiders."

"This one might be open to it," said Tommy, turning back to the Taleweaver. "They have him locked up."

Jennifer let the groan out this time. "Even better."

"Yeah, they have him for heresy or something like that - you know how the Epochi are with their rules!" Tommy pulled a cloth from his pocket and set himself to cleaning the buildup from the sensor nodules. "But you could probably spring him with the right lies. I don't much like lying myself but golly, those Epochi aren't exactly wily!"

"I have little knowledge of this species," said Yang Yizhen. "Shall I summon aid from the Taiyang bureaucracy?"

"I doubt it would help with these guys," said Jennifer. "Hey, how do we even find this person? They're Epochi, it's not like we can give then a name."

"Actually, you're in luck, because this one has a name!" said Tommy. "He goes by 'Morgi.' Something he made up, but it'll make him easy to find. Bring him here, or hey - just get him to spill the beans, and we can take off. As soon as payment's made, of course! Hey, you mind if we talk about that real quick?"

"Might as well." Jennifer sidled up next to Tommy, leaning against the Taleweaver. "Deep pockets this time, you know."

"Well, I'm glad you brought that up," said Tommy. "See, I normally charge a base of ten thousand a day, plus extra surcharges for long-distance trips and necessary expenses - and those don't come cheap!"

"It might be better if you just give a quote up front," said Jennifer.

Tommy whistled a few stray notes. "Well, I could give you something silly, like a million a day-"

"It is done," said Yang Yizhen.

The cloth slipped from Tommy's hand as he spun to face the bureaucrat. "I could have given you a bigger number, couldn't I?"

"You would prefer two million?" said Yang Yizhen.

Tommy let out a sunny laugh. "This is going to be fun."

## CHAPTER 7

Tens of millions of years ago, Epocha was a verdant paradise, a planet covered in crystal-clear rivers marked by ferocious rapids and endless forests of sky-embracing trees in which dwelt a species of very clever arboreal rodent. Their civilization evolved in tandem with their environment, with neither the grand works of the Epochi nor the forests that had once been their home crowding out the other. At least, this was the assumption made by those human ecologists who trekked to the Epochi home world during the early centuries of the Exterran Federation. They expected to find a model for ecologically kind development that they could replicate, but instead found blocks of artless concrete buildings with implausibly straight rows of ugly rope-like trees growing all around. As they discovered, the Epochi had not adapted their civilization to nature; they adapted nature to their civilization. This was just the first of many unpleasant surprises about humanity's new neighbor.

The Taleweaver gave its occupants a first-class aerial view of the Epochi civilization as it entered the atmosphere of the home world. It wasn't a pretty place, not even for a lifelong urban dweller like Jennifer. Yang Yizhen, who had spent years among the skillfully-tended gardens of the Taiyang governor's courts, surely found it even uglier, but his expression was one of energetic curiosity.

The Taleweaver shuddered slightly as the slender legs dug into the soft earth. "All right, everyone, we have arrived," said Tommy, throwing his passengers a thumb's up. "This is one of the institutions where they fix Epochi who don't fit in."

"No name on the building," said Jennifer, staring at the display before her.

"And these buildings are truly identical, varying in no apparent detail," added Yang Yizhen. "Are you positive that this...Morgi is in this facility?"

"Epochi buildings never have names, it's not their thing. You'd better get used to that. Anyway, I followed the coordinates right here, so..." Tommy tapped the button to release the entry hatch. "Good luck! I'm rooting for you."

The Epochan air had a chilly edge to it, a quiet breeze that made the uniform rows of trees dance in time. A central path through the foliage led to the entrance to the great stone cube. There was no ornamentation, no carvings of cultural touchstones or elegant fixtures to distract the eye from the brutality of the place. It was nothing more than was needed, nothing less than what was demanded.

Yang Yizhen drew his robe tighter to hedge out the cold. "How are we to access the building?"

"We lie." Jennifer stepped to the heavy metal doors and lay a hand on the cool surface. "We're here on behalf of the Taiyang Empire to study their ways and culture."

Yang Yizhen's eyes went wide. "But it is a dire offense to deceive another in the name of the Empress!"

"How important is this quest to you?" said Jennifer.

Yang Yizhen pointed his eyes to the ground. "Very well. I shall do as you do, though it displeases me."

Jennifer nodded, secretly glad that her traveling companion was coming to understand her way of doing things. "I don't know how far we can get without an official decree, but-"

The doors abruptly drifted open, gliding without effort despite their apparent bulk. On the other side was a diminutive figure - nearly a head shorter than Jennifer - clad in a brown and grey robe that nearly blended into his similarly dull-colored flesh. His eyes sat on either side of prominent snout-life face, topped with tiny pricked-up ears that flicked about to face the new arrivals.

"Humans? An unusual and unexpected arrival." The creature's voice was disconcertingly level, as though it were being generated elsewhere by an ancient electronic toy and piped into his mouth. "What would be the precise nature of your visit?"

Jennifer placed a hand on Yang Yizhen's shoulder and drew him to her side. "We're emissaries and researchers from the glorious Taiyang Empire. I go by Jennifer, and my associate..." He was trying to put on a neutral expression but Jennifer could clearly see the anxious tension in his eyes. "...goes by Yang."

The creature scanned the pair with his eyes, not looking so much as probing for some unseen flaw. "So a human empire has shown an interest in the body of the Central Will? Interesting. Hmm...your kind clings stubbornly to the concept of personal names. The cells of the body no longer have need of such things. However, those cells that travel among the unenlightened often find use of personal monikers. The cell to whom you speak is called Crom in such cases, and you may use this name if it is easier for you."

"You are the director of this particular facility?" said Yang Yizhen.

A placid smile crossed Crom's fleshy lips. "You speak to the neuron that directs the impulses sent by the Central Will to manifest in this institution. If it is easier for you to call the cell with this function 'director' then you may do so, though it is not truly accurate."

Immediately Jennifer began to question the wisdom in visiting this planet, but they were far too deep in the weeds to turn back. "So, you'll grant us access?"

"The Central Will grants access to all who wish to understand the mysteries of the universe and the true nature of the body." Crom held the door open and gestured for his visitors to follow. "Begin your path to enlightenment here."

Plain slate corridor after plain slate corridor - such was the inside of the unnamed Epochi institution, a dour set of rooms and halls that were no more finely adorned than the outside. The furnishings were practical to an extreme degree, omitting anything not strictly necessary. Crom seemed to know his way around the passages, which was a blessing because they were identical to Jennifer's eyes. It was not just the rooms that were indistinct - all of the Epochi they passed bore striking similarities to Crom, not just their clothes or even their physical appearance but even their bearing and gait. They were a species of clones, and she dreaded the possibility that she might have to deal with more than one of them.

The walk ended in a room that bore the slightest of distinctions from those they had passed before. The furnishings were still spartan and drab, the walls the same flat gray as the corridors before it, but one of the walls bore a faint relief that resembled a stylized drawing of the prefrontal cortex of some advanced species. Pausing briefly before this relief, Crom slowly turned to face his visitors. "This is a rare honor for you. Few of your kind have ever passed through the threshold and entered the brain."

"It definitely feels different in here," said Jennifer. It was no lie - there was something subtly disturbing about this room, an amplification of something she had felt since landing on the planet.

"The unenlightened cells yet rely on their own incomplete senses and instincts to experience reality," said Crom, raising his hands skyward. "One day, the Central Will shall gladly incorporate the human race into the body, but it falls to the human cells to transcend their grip on a separate existence."

"The Taiyang also strive for the transcendence of the individual. While your philosophy and ours are distinct, perhaps..." Yang Yizhen cleared his throat and fell silent, muted by a glance from Jennifer.

"We're not ready to embrace your religion, but we do wish to learn more about your ways," said Jennifer. "This facility, for example. I'm led to believe that it's some manner of penitentiary?"

Crom chuckled, a strange staccato noise reminiscent of a rhythm instrument. "The 'prison' is a notion bound in the belief in the independence of flesh. This is a special manner of hospital in which the body strives to repair cells that no longer function as they should. This damage have given the cells delusions of independence, and they are drawn here and isolated to prevent further metastasis."

Jennifer listened carefully to Crom's rhetoric, nodding in all the right places. "And when the 'cells' are too damaged to save?"

"Ah, you wish to learn of the mutated cells." Crom tipped his head forward, a stray moment of emotion from the blunted creature. "The body has ways of fixing these cells, though all bear an undesirable cost. There is a mutated cell on site at present, if you would like to carry out a closer study."

Jennifer exchanged looks with Yang Yizhen. "That would be perfect, Crom."

Crom again waved for his visitors to follow and the three set off down another interchangeable hall. "Damaged cells report directly to facilities such as this for repair, but mutants are a special case. When they have developed a false sense of individuality, they feel they can make decisions independent of the body and of the Central Will. The mutants are known to resist our aid. They can be quite dangerous to the body."

"How dangerous?" The words gave Jennifer pause - clearly the Epochi felt that having a name was "dangerous," but even a zealot occasionally had genuine need to worry.

"This was once a warrior cell," said Crom. "A dozen cells came to bring him to the institution, and six of them required profound medical treatment to repair functionality. The mutant cell is now under restraint so as to not further harm the body."

"I see," said Jennifer. "And these treatments? The ones for the mutants, I mean?"

Crom paused at a door with a rare set of markings, their precise meaning a mystery but the size and boldness hinting at danger beyond. "Excision is always an option of last resort, though the Central Will disdains subjecting the body to such trauma. When conventional treatments fail, the fall back is a chemical solution that resets the cell to an earlier state. This renders it less useful to the body, though it can yet be productive. Only the specialized functions are erased."

Jennifer only hoped that Crom hadn't spotted the shock in her face. These were clearly credulous individuals, but even a complete idiot can spot contempt or fear when it is held before him. But if the director noticed anything, he did nothing to indicate it.

"Mind yourself in the next room," said Crom as he nudged open the door. "The body can be its own worst enemy."

\------

"Visitors, huh? Well, this is a rare treat. Come in, get comfy."

Crom had opened the door onto what was - despite all protestations - clearly a prison cell, and the prisoner himself was a bit of a jolt. At first glance, Jennifer had assumed that she was witnessing some sort of holographic trickery, as the prisoner was identical in appearance to his captor. And yet on a second glance there were variations, the slight differences brought about by the rigors of life. Judging by the scars that crossed his slender face, this creature had seen his fair share of combat. There were scars on his arms as well, though these were partially concealed by the hefty steel restraints that connected him via short chains to the floor beneath him. Besides the prisoner himself, there was little in the room - only the chair to which he was bound and a platform that could have been either a desk or a bed.

"Our time is valuable. You may speak with the mutated cell, but be quick." With that, Crom slammed the door behind them, moving with more haste than he'd shown on their entry. The Epochi may not have individuality, thought Jennifer, but this one at least still showed some fear.

"Your name is Morgi?" Jennifer leaned against the wall opposite the prisoner, refusing to acknowledge that she was a little afraid to come within his reach.

"A good a name as any, I guess. It'll do until they shoot me full of brain erase juice, after that it won't matter." Unlike Crom, Morgi's voice had a rusty edge to it. "Yeah, I see how you're staring. Seeing double, huh? Well, that's what 700 years of aggressive genetic engineering will do for you."

"The director referred to you as a mutant." Yang Yizhen, showing uncharacteristic boldness, took a seat on the floor in front of Morgi. "Are you truly so dangerous to require such burdensome restraints?"

Morgi laughed, a gravel-flecked noise that hung heavy in the stale air. "Well, kid, it depends on who you are. When they caught on to me, they sent a dozen people to bring me in, and they were not messing around. Hell, neither was I. Put eight of the bastards in traction."

"Your friend Crom told us it was six," said Jennifer.

Morgi laughed, a gravely sound that only grew nastier as it echoed off the rough walls. "Yeah, everyone has a story. All depends on who you want to believe."

"You are a warrior," said Yang Yizhen. "I gleaned as much from your old wounds."

Morgi pointed at a pair of long scars on either side of his left eye. "Yeah, I saw you looking at this one. Picked it up on a campaign against some Kro'dyl skirmishers. Their bastard commander tried to take me out personally and damn near took my eye out. So I cut him clean in half!" His words disappeared in a resigned groan. "I hate talking about the past. So why the hell are you two here? You from Taiyang, I take it?"

"He is." Jennifer took a cautious step forward. "I'm from the Exterran Stretch. We're tracking a thief that's left our territory and we heard that you might be able to help us track him down."

"Can't imagine what I could do to help you find some crook. You know, unless he's Epochi or..." Morgi nodded knowingly. "...You're tracking him to the Cradle, aren't you? Shoulda figured. That's the only reason anyone ever comes here to see me."

"There's only one thing I don't understand," said Jennifer. "How exactly would you know the coordinates of the Cradle?"

"Hey, lots of Epochi know where the Cradle is. Well, the 'body' knows where it is. You guys love the way they talk around here, right?" Morgi stretched as best as he could with the shackles restraining his movement. "So here's how it is. They told you about the Central Will, right?"

Yang Yizhen nodded. "I assume that this is some form of divinity?"

"Something like that," said Morgi. "The mind or the soul of the universe, is what it is. Anyway, they think that there are a whole bunch of souls of the universe, and they're all jealous of the Central Will. Somewhere along the line, they whipped up this dingbat theory that these evil consciousnesses are trapped in rogue planets. We don't have much in our little empire by way of science, but we do have the greatest catalog of non-solar planets around. Anyway, while they were looking into the depths of space, they happened to see your generation ships speeding right this way. A few calculations later, and..."

"...They know the trajectory the ships took," said Jennifer. "And they calculated the coordinates from that."

"Well, coordinates of the system, anyway," said Morgi. "You know, gravity stops you from hitting the target dead-on. But I can give you that trajectory and the calculated coordinates. I can even clue you into certain obstacles in the way."

Yang Yizhen sprang to his feet. "Then our quest can proceed as planned!"

"Hold on," said Jennifer. "How are we supposed to get you out of here to use this info? You're bolted to the floor!"

Morgi eyed his restraints. "There are ways. Matter of fact, as long as you're here I can put my own plan into effect. You two willing to join in on a daring escape?" He didn't wait for the response. Striking his chains against the floor, he called out: "I've seen enlightenment! May the body absorb me again!"

Crom appeared at once in the door of the cell, his poorly concealed fear eclipsed by an equally transparent joy. "The body receives information from the cell. Is the cell prepared to rejoin the body?"

"The Central Will decides, the cells respond to its impulses." Morgi's voice had changed, the hard edge partially obscured by a staccato monotone that closely mirrored that of Crom.

Crom bowed his head. "Then summon the neurons."

Crom vanished through the door, reappearing moments later with a cadre of four other Epochi - or perhaps these were five new individuals, as there was no clear way to discern Crom from the new arrivals.

"Is the cell prepared to receive and transmit the command signal of the Central Will?" said perhaps-Crom.

Morgi's body went slack, his hands falling limply to his knees as he turned his eyes skyward. "There is no individual flesh. I am the body and the body is all and everything."

"The Will speaks," said the perhaps-Croms in unison.

"The cell must submit to the Will," said Morgi. "The cell shall always submit to the Will when the Will speaks."

"The Will speaks," echoed the perhaps-Croms.

Jennifer was awestruck at the sight. It was not the chorus of identical Epochi, or the sight of the shackled Morgi renouncing his individuality. What amazed her was that this ritual was going on before her eyes and that Crom and his friends not only didn't care that outsiders were present, but that they didn't even seem to notice. Yang Yizhen, for his part, seemed even more awkward than usual. A man with his training in protocol must have felt obliged to respect such an intimate ritual by not watching it, and yet his curiosity demanded that he not miss a second.

"Then it is settled." Perhaps-Crom bowed his head again, and the other Epochi produced keys and moved with haste to unlock Morgi's many restraints. The shackles sent up an eardrum-rending clatter as they struck the ground, a terrible reverberation that spoke to their impressive weight.

Morgi rose from his chair with a wince, massaging each liberated limb. "...The cell awaits a function."

The chorus of Epochi closed their eyes for a few seconds, after which perhaps-Crom stepped forward with his edict. "As the human cells were present for the repair, the Central Will chooses to modify this cell from guardian to proselytizer. You shall return to the human domain and educate the human cells on the presence of the Will."

"In our society, it's customary to ask permission before..." Jennifer caught the words in time to change their tone. "...arranging a cultural exchange, but the Empress should be very pleased."

Yang Yizhen fell to one knee before perhaps-Crom. "We thank you for your openness and grace."

"And the Central Will thanks you for your participation," said perhaps-Crom. "The cell may now leave, that it may return with many others."

"To the good of the body," said Morgi, flashing a wink at Jennifer and Yang Yizhen. "The cell shall depart at once."

Jennifer and Yang Yizhen led their new crew member out of the facility, trying in their own ways not to be off-put by Morgi's skillfully faked neutral facade. Jennifer was constantly on guard, fully expecting that one of the Epochi would spot some little error and bring all of the cultists down on them. Morgi was in fine form though, acknowledging his fellow "cells" as naturally as Crom had. He didn't let the mask slip an inch until the three departed the gray edifice and reached the clearing before the Taleweaver.

"Oh, the air is so sweet out here, so..." Morgi took a deep breath. "...Yeah, that's what I've been waiting for. All right, let's get the hell out. This your ship?"

Jennifer stared blankly at the oversized scarred rodent. "That's it? You tell them you're fixed and they let you go?"

"Hey, Epochi as a group are gullible," said Morgi. "They're not used to their fellow cells lying to them, so it's real easy to do. I assume that's how you got in, yeah?"

"Yeah, but..." Jennifer shook her head. "Does this mean you could have escaped at any time? Why were you so afraid?"

"There's more to escape than just getting the cuffs off. Speaking of which..." Morgi dug his fingers into the muscles of his arms, rubbing away the pain of the shackles. "Those things hurt more every day, I swear. Anyway, it's not enough to get out of the facility, I need a way off the planet entirely. If I did this yesterday, with no outsiders around, they'd reassign me to some agricultural post or something like that. You think I can fake this forever? It'd only be a matter of time before I laughed or did something else to give away the game, and then there wouldn't be any lockup. They'd bump me off on the spot or else cook my brain like they were planning before you guys turned up."

"Surely you exaggerate," said Yang Yizhen. "No advanced society would punish a soul for mere laughter."

"Why not? That's how they caught me the first time." Morgi walked to the Taleweaver. "Now can we get the hell off this horrible planet? These trees are as freaky as I remember and I don't want to think about them any more."

Tommy stuck his head through the entry hatch. "Hey, is this the guy? Morgi! Name's Tommy Harkennian, swell to meet you."

Morgi glanced at Jennifer. "This is your pilot?"

"If you want to complain, we can leave you here," said Jennifer.

"Feh." Morgi locked his teeth and rubbed the back of his ear. "What are we waiting for? Let's the meet the rest of the crew."

"Thus far, we are the only crew," said Yang Yizhen.

"Great," said Morgi. "This should end real well."

## CHAPTER 8

"You back in for evening, old man, or you gonna abandon the shop again to flit off to the ass-end of the system?"

Thus was the greeting that awaited the crew of the Taleweaver when it returned to its resting place in the Wyvern for Hire shop and the entry hatch deployed. Most of the Wyvern shop was gathered around the Taleweaver, awaiting with well-honed patience an explanation for the abrupt disappearance of their boss. It wasn't an unusual occurrence – Tommy Harkennian had developed a nasty habit of taking off for urgent jobs without notifying anyone, and his definition of "urgent" was much broader than most. Anna, who had greeted the returning explorer in her typical fashion, had less curiosity than the others and much more frustration, though this too was typical.

"Well gosh, I was only chasing down a lead for the biggest job we ever had!" Tommy adjusted his bomber jacket as he maneuvered through the knot of technicians. "Hey, think of it as a good thing! I trust all of you guys with my shop - and come to think of it, pretty soon I'll need an extra-trustworthy lady or fella to manage this place. I'll be gone for a good long while and gosh darn it, business doesn't stop for one man. Everyone's eligible, and we'll have a meeting later to work out the details. Sound good?"

"Cover your ass a little more, old man." Anna glared at Morgi as he exited the Taleweaver. "What are you looking at, squirrel?"

Morgi laughed to himself. "Nothing I won't miss when we're gone."

Jennifer and Yang Yizhen were the last off the ship. "We have located our quarry," said Yang Yizhen. "Does this mean that you are prepared to accept our quest?"

"I guess so," said Jennifer with a wily grin. "To be honest, I was ready to ditch this whole thing, but springing the Epochi really gave me a charge."

"You are an adventurer at heart, and we shall all celebrate your courage on our victorious return as galactic saviors," said Yang Yizhen.

"That reminds me..." Jennifer rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "You mentioned earlier that this thing we're tracking is dangerous. Just how 'dangerous' is it? If nothing else, we'll need to quantify it for Tommy so we know how to transport it safely."

Yang Yizhen wrung his hands. "This...is not so easily done. Ah, but there is no risk as long as the thief does not open all three cases that secure the project, a staggeringly remote possibility. Absent that, the cases will offer ample protection against ordinary shocks."

"Uh huh." The bureaucrat was clearly holding back, but dollar signs and adventure were already numbing Jennifer to the perils. "Well, as long as it doesn't explode in my hand, I can live with that."

"Oh, you'll not handle the case directly," said Yang Yizhen. "Protocols dictate that only a member of the governing bureaucracy bear the-"

Jennifer waved a hand in Yang Yizhen's face. "Forget I asked. You'll carry it, and it'll be your responsibility if it activates and we all die."

Yang Yizhen halted in his tracks for a moment. "Your thoughts are most morbid, Shen Xiaojie."

Back in Tommy's sparse office, Morgi took a seat at Tommy's desk and fired up the holographic interface. "All right, let's see if I can remember how the human maps work..."

"I'd be glad to help you, buddy," said Tommy.

"Nah, I got it." Morgi made a gesture before the interface and the display turned into a stylized rendering of the known galaxy. "All right, the generation ships entered this territory at this trajectory..." Yellow lines flew across the display in time with Morgi's finger strokes, weaving and shifting as they wove through planetary systems and dodged stars. "...Now, we give it a minute and we'll have the coordinates."

"You make for a masterful navigator," said Yang Yizhen. "The Taiyang Empire will reward you no less than your colleagues."

Morgi waved Yang Yizhen away. "Forget the money, I don't need it. Frankly, you guys already paid me by getting me off that horrible planet. Make you a deal, though: I don't know how safe I am here since the cranks know where I am, so I'll go along with you on the first stretch. The first habitable planet we find with a decent climate and natives that are cool with me, you drop me off and we're square. The autonavigator can guide you the rest of the way, probably better than me."

Tommy threw out a thumb's up. "No sweat! Hey, after everything you've done to make my dreams come true, I hope the best for you."

"Thanks." Morgi turned back to the map. "Now, this isn't dead-on precise - like I said, you've got planetary gravity and unidentified black holes and all that crap - but these coordinates will at least land you in the right star system. I'm sure you can find a radio signal or radiation signature or whatever once you're close enough. Is this good?"

"This is perfect!" Yang Yizhen smiled like he was the birthday boy tearing the paper off the biggest gift. "Once our quest is done, I can deliver this information to my Empress as a gift! In her ecstasy, she will have to forget my errors!"

"That's swell! All right, we can start prepping the craft right away, and we'll be ready to head out in a couple days. Oh..." Tommy turned to Jennifer. "It just hit me - you brought this job to me, Ms. Shen, but I've been neglecting you something terrible. Is this all good with you?"

It was an impossible, damn near suicidal mission driven by a hunch. The wise move all along was to ignore it and hope that the strange boy from Taiyang was exaggerating when he spoke of dire consequences. The wise move was to stay home and pretend that it never happened.

"Let's go," said Jennifer. "I'm on board."

"Terrific!" Tommy vaulted from his chair and raced to the door of his office, poking his head through. "Anna, are you busy?"

"I'm tuning up your stupid ship," shouted Anna. "What the hell do you want?"

"You wanna run the shop while I'm gone?" said Tommy.

"Damn right I do!" said Anna. "Wait...there's a trick here, ain't there? You pulling something here, Harkennian? Skipping out on your debts or something?"

Tommy laughed and clapped his hands. "You're quite the live wire, Annelise. I'm sure you'll do a fine job."

Morgi crossed his arms. "Not to throw water on this little going away party, but I'm homeless right now. I can't exactly go back to Epocha while you fix up the ship."

"It seems that I, too, am temporarily without residence. It would not do at all to return to Taiyang without anything to report." Yang Yizhen's face lit up. "Of course, we can room with Shen Xiaojie! This way, we can grow acclimated to each other's presence in preparation for the long voyage!"

Jennifer pressed a thumb to her lips. "Uh...with me?"

Tommy knocked Yang Yizhen on the shoulder, just firm enough to knock him off balance. "Now, I thought you imperial boys had more sense than that - asking to room with a lady out of nowhere like that! Gosh, that's just rude. I'll tell you what - I have a little crash pad in the back of the shop for when I'm getting up early. Why, you fellas can stay there! It's not the most comfy place, but it'll keep you out of the rain."

Morgi shrugged and bobbed his head. "Hey, I spent the last four months secured to my bed by steel restraints. I can cope."

And with that, the crew of the Taleweaver had everything they needed except any real concept of what was at stake. The thief already had a trillion mile leap on them, and unbeknownst to anyone in Taiyang or Jennifer's team, there was someone else keeping an eye on the situation.

\------

The surviving literature of the Cradle - particularly that branch known in generations past as "science fiction" - presented space exploration in a very romantic light, a fact reflected in the vessels sent into the great beyond. These starships were typically austere yet spacious and even elegant in their own way, perfect settings for exciting shipboard combat and interpersonal drama alike. But even a thousand years later, space remained a premium on such vessels, a fact amply showcased aboard the Taleweaver. Packed somewhere within its metal frame was a tiny bridge with a ring of seats facing displays that provided most of the illumination when the hatch was closed. Behind that was an even smaller sleeping area in which the crew would sleep in shifts and a yet smaller bathroom that represented the vehicle's main luxury. All other space was held over for backup power, primary and backup life support, fabricators and their base materials, storage space, and the linear-dimensional engine that made such travel a possibility.

"Whoa there, no one said anything about using a linear-dimensional engine," said Morgi.

Tommy shrugged and flashed a grin. "Well gosh, what else would we use? There are no gravitonic nodes and she's not big enough to carry a matter transmitter, even if I could afford one."

"Is there some concern with the ship?" Yang Yizhen took his assigned seat and removed the tiny travel parcel from his sleeve. "Perhaps I can put in an inquiry."

"There's nothing wrong with the ship," said Jennifer, sliding down into her own seat. "I've been on ships using linear-dimensional engines before. They're no different than other FTL engines."

"No different?" said Morgi. "Do you have any idea how these things work?"

"Well shucks, I do," said Tommy, continuing his engine checks as he spoke. "They temporarily modify the molecular spin of the ship, reducing it down to a single dimension and at that size, why, the laws of physics are just recommendations!"

"Fancy words." Morgi leaned over his seat, clawing and gesturing in the air. "Here's how it works, kids. They'll compress this bastard down to a one-dimensional speck and then shoot it through the fabric of space at a speed orders of magnitude faster than anything else in the known universe. You can't turn the damn thing, you can't stop...it's like being strapped to a superluminal bullet. And if that bullet hits something you didn't see in advance, then BOOM! Your atoms are scattered over a quadrillion cubic miles."

Jennifer ducked away from Morgi's mad gestures. "Calm down, Morgi. It's totally safe in open space, and you gave us the trajectory of the generation ships. We know for sure that they didn't hit anything, right?"

"Yeah, I...uh...I suppose you're right." Morgi returned to his seat, peering over Tommy's shoulder. "What else do you have on this loopy ship? Armaments...Lancet phase penetration torpedoes? Are you taking this thing to war?"

"Those are for destroying asteroids," said Tommy.

"Asteroids with seventy-centimeter titanium plating?" said Morgi.

Yang Yizhen slid out of his seat and sidled up next to Jennifer. "I must admit, Shen Xiaojie, I am growing tense over this quest," he whispered. "Yes, it is my responsibility, and I must undertake it at all costs, but I have never truly faced such dangers."

"Then stay behind," said Jennifer. "It's like I told you earlier, there's no reason you have to come along."

Yang Yizhen bowed his head. "Yes, in truth, there is no need for me to travel with you. Certainly, the Celestial Empress did not mandate this."

"What about the mandate that you carry the case?" said Jennifer.

"Oh, perhaps I exaggerated the importance of my role in transporting the parcel," said Yang Yizhen.

"Then why are you really here?" said Jennifer.

"Because I fear that you may not return, and if you are to die on this mission, then it is only right..." Yang Yizhen drew in a heavy breath. "...that I, the one responsible, perish as well."

"You imperial types...they really do brainwash you, don't they?" With a weary sigh, Jennifer turned to face the bureaucrat. "Look, I don't care how you messed up, you don't go chasing death. If you want to come along because you believe in this mission, or you want to maintain some control, or hell - if you just want to see something outside of Taiyang, then you're welcome. If you're trying to die, then get off now. I don't need your bad karma."

"I fear that I cannot shed my guilt so easily," said Yang Yizhen.

"Then do something about it. Become a hero. Save the universe if you have to." Jennifer turned back to her display. "You may well be a fine thinker, Yang, but it'll do you some good to be a man of action for a change."

"Your words wound, but they bear much truth," said Yang Yizhen, returning to his seat. "I thank you for your candor."

It was all platitudes and Jennifer knew it. _I just don't want you to get me killed_ , she wanted to say. It's what she should have said, as the right remarks could have sent the bureaucrat back to his offices. She couldn't bring herself to be so honest though. In some sense, she admired that cloistered innocence, even as it annoyed her terribly on another level. He was like a lost little boy in need of protection and, on some level, she wanted to offer that. She'd never wanted a little brother but fate had just given her one.

"All right, we're just about ready." Tommy flicked a switch on the display. "Hey Anna, is everyone clear?"

_"No, we're linking arms in front of you,"_ came the voice. _"We want you to stay so bad, old man."_

"She is a character. And don't you love the nickname? Hey, I'm only thirty-four." Tommy rested both hands on the joystick. "All right, up and away, off to gather up all the stars within our grasp."

Morgi shot Tommy an odd look. "What?"

"I heard once that that's what they said before the Exodus," said Tommy. "I always wanted to say it too. Keen line, isn't it?"

The initial takeoff was no different than any of the hundreds of short-range flights Jennifer had taken as she pursued criminals around the Federation, but there was a different sensation as the Taleweaver rumbled to life, almost as though the engines themselves knew that they were doing something special. In that moment, she was both terrified and thankful.

"Okay, there goes the stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and...exosphere." Tommy ran his fingers across a panel and a new hum emerged from the bowels of the ship. "All right, the FTL engine is warming up, we've got all clocks synced to Federation common galactic time, I've fed the coordinates into the automatic navigator...and how is everyone doing?" He glanced back at the crew with the usual glowing expression. "Everyone all cinched in and secured?"

"Tommy, please..." Jennifer clapped a hand to her face. "Do me a favor and don't treat this like a pleasure trip, huh?"

"Gee, I think of every mission as a pleasure trip. At least up until the part that the shooting starts." Tommy chuckled at his own whimsy.

Yang Yizhen stiffened up. "Shooting?"

"Just a joke, didn't mean to put you on edge," said Tommy. "I haven't been shot at but three times in my whole career. Wait...five times. Six, technically, depending on how you count it."

"Now would be a good time to shut up." Morgi fished a soft, dun-colored cube out of his pocket and crammed it into his mouth, wedging between tongue and cheek. "I hope you don't mind, I'm hoping to pass out soon."

"Golly, you didn't bring any narcotics onto the Taleweaver, did you?" said Tommy.

"Hey, I bought them in your neighborhood." Morgi produced another of the sickly-toned cubes. "I got plenty, if anyone wants one. And you will, believe me."

"I never consume that which constitutes an assault on the sanctity of the mind," said Yang Yizhen.

Stifling a groan, Morgi glanced at Jennifer. "You gonna get all self-righteous on me, too?"

"Self-righteous? Not at all." Jennifer smirked back at Morgi. "But I do question the wisdom in taking a homemade drug you bought around the Wyvern shop. You know that they use the waste chemicals from escape rocket fuel as a base for some of that garbage, right?"

"You're all delightful." Morgi slouched over, burying his face in the side of his seat. "Remember, the first decent planet we find, you drop me off."

The main console emitted a merry tone. "Hey, engine's ready," said Tommy as he reached for an illuminated switch. "Everyone take a deep breath."

Jennifer was about to respond to the comment when the Taleweaver absorbed itself and erupted into the blackness.

\------

The scientists of the Cradle established a few basic rules about the universe that they termed "the laws of physics." These rules, devised and confirmed over hundreds of years of painstaking observation and systematic research, constituted the only true limitations on man's ability to manipulate nature. Perhaps the most important of these laws - at least from the perspective of would-be space explorers like Tommy Harkennian and his passengers - concerned the speed of light. No matter can travel faster than light, the Cradle physicists said, as such an object would no longer have the properties of matter at all. It seemed that light was a special beast that jealously guarded its secrets. This knowledge was a terrible burden to everyone from the physicists themselves to politicians to authors of what they termed "hard" science fiction, as even a ship traveling at 99.99% of light speed would still move entirely too slowly to reach anything of interest in the supermassive void of the universe.

There was, however, another group of physicists who refused to accept this limitation. They concluded that if the laws of physics wouldn't allow faster-than-light travel, then they would have to find a way to write new laws of physics. Needless to say, their brethren mocked them for their conceit, and a fierce rivalry broke out between both camps. It was the renegades that had the last laugh, though, and in the years before the Exodus, in that perilous time on the brink of Armageddon, they developed the first models for a series of FTL engines, though the power of these devices would not be fully realized for several generations. These devices did no less than their developers imagined - changing, if only temporarily, the laws of the physical universe relative to the ship in which they were installed.

The first practical prototype was the nodeline gravitonics engine, originally conceived by a group of renegade Cradle physicists and eventually used to colonize the planets of what would become the Exterran Federation. This engine uses local sources of gravity to warp the fabric of space-time and contract space around the vessel, allowing for quick travel between known points. This is, of course, impossible, but it worked.

A few generations later, Federation scientists developed the matter transmitter. Based on the discovery of naturally FTL information lines, this device can - given enough power and enough bandwidth - tear a vessel apart and transmit the molecules through space where they can be quickly reassembled. This is even more impossible than the nodeline engine, and it brought up some serious philosophical debates regarding the people aboard those vessels, but it also worked.

The most radical of the FTL engines is the linear-dimensional engine, a device so absolutely impossible that most scientists argue that even the original developers don't understand how it works. It is even faster than the other engines and requires no existing physical infrastructure - only a set of coordinates, a computer capable of crunching the numbers, and a pilot with tremendous nerve.

It was the faster-than-light vessels that made the solar empires possible. Whereas, once upon a time, a trip across the Taiyuan Empire would take the better part of a human lifespan, it could now be done within a matter of weeks, allowing that empire (and its rivals) to push its borders ever farther into open space. It also made shorter trips more practical, shortening the length of planet-to-planet jaunts from weeks to hours or even minutes.

Those renegade physicists of the Cradle changed the future of the species in ways that even they couldn't have foreseen. Simply by changing their perspective on the universe, they made voyages across the galaxy not just possible, but practical. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do to make these impossible voyages pleasant.

## CHAPTER 9

It took about 3/20ths of a second for Jennifer Shen to realize that she had not, in fact, ever traveled by way of a ship employing the linear-dimension engine. Presumably, those previous trips had been nodeline ships, the most common form of superluminal travel. Traversing the stars by nodeline is not an easy voyage for the uninitiated - the sensation of displacement ("full-body whiplash," as many call it) that accompanies both the start and end of faster-than-light travel is mostly psychological, but it still takes many trips to acclimate to it. Eventually, after enough trips that the mind is used to the sensation, it is no more uncomfortable than a short flight on a conventional airplane, albeit one through turbulent air.

By contrast, Jennifer's first experience with monodimensionality was the feeling that something had gone horribly awry and the ship had launched her into space without a suit. Her outward wits failed her first - the world going totally silent and then totally dark as the Taleweaver shattered the respective barriers. Then her bodily senses went dull. Direction and velocity no longer had any true meaning, at least not as far as her brain could tell. She could no longer tell if the ship was moving, or if it was operating at all, or if it was even still there. There was no vibration running through her bones; there were no bones at all, at least as far as she could tell, nor muscles or organs or cells. All she could perceive was a single point, a point neither black nor white, warm nor cold, but simply present. That stray dot was the entirety of her consciousness, the whole of the universe as far as her disembodied mind could still understand it.

And then reality returned. That lone point grew and grew until it encompassed Jennifer's body, and then she could feel that body again, the motion of the world, the shapes, the colors, the sounds. The process was a staggered one (she couldn't rightly call it "slow," having lost all perception of time early on), and when normalcy returned it was a terrifying relief. It was as though she had returned from the dead - first a momentary shock as her senses switched back on, then a feeling of unalloyed joy that the whole wretched experience was over.

Jennifer's first instinct was to regain her footing and walk the ship's tiny passenger space, looking for survivors and checking for damage, but the elaborate safety restraints pinned her fast to the seat. Whipping her head around, she caught sight of the others. They were all alive, if only in some technical biological sense. Yang Yizhen was morbidly pale, his limbs locked into an odd defensive posture. Morgi looked to be resisting some agonizing pain - jaw locked, eyes clamped shut, muscles tensed and ready. Naturally, Tommy had fared the best of the group, though the jolt had been enough to turn his boyish smile into a frozen expression of shock.

Morgi was the first to regain his power of speech. "Damn it! I told you, didn't I? I told you and you didn't listen." He grabbed another cube of the mystery drug with trembling fingers. "Hell, I don't care if it is rocket fuel. If we're doing that again, I'm getting high enough that I don't notice it."

"Am I alive?" said Yang Yizhen, the color slowly returning to his flesh. "I saw the end. For a moment, I saw the opposed forces merge into a singularity. All that I had ever known returned to the great cosmic egg, and then I watched the egg shatter."

"All I saw was regret," said Morgi. "Hey Jen, what about you? You're not looking so hot. Did that jump break your brain?"

Jennifer felt her revived lips and tongue struggle to form words. "I'm...it's okay. Give me a minute."

"It'll take more than that." Morgi turned to Tommy. "I suppose you're just going to shrug that off, flyboy?"

Tommy ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it from the illusory cosmic wind that had blown through the bridge. "Golly. It's been long enough, I guess I forgot what a crazy trip that was."

"Yeah, good luck to you weirdos doing that all the way to the Cradle and back." Freeing himself from the safety restraints, Morgi reached for the display controls. "All right, let's find a decent place to drop me off. Damned if I'm doing that more than I absolutely gotta."

"All right everyone, take a little break to recover," said Tommy. "I'll give you the ol' five minute warning before our next jaunt."

Wrenching her hands free of the armrests, Jennifer turned to Yang Yizhen. "Are you okay? Geez, I'm sorry. Hell of a time to figure out that I'd never been on a ship like this. Otherwise I would have warned you, I swear."

"There is no need to apologize, for this has opened my eyes!" Yang Yizhen had a downright mad smile, coupled with the distant eyes of a man who had seen something wondrous. "My first trip outside of the glorious Taiyang Empire, and I have already experienced more than I ever had in the courts and libraries! All scholars should experience this! Ah, perhaps the voyage shall inspire me to new heights of philosophy!"

"No, no no no no no!" Morgi suddenly shot upright, staring in wide-eyed terror at his display. "Turn on the engine. Damn it, turn the engine back on! We have to jump now!"

"No can do, buddy, the engine is in a refractory period," said Tommy. "We can't jump again for at least half an hour, at least not a safe jump."

"Then make an unsafe one!" Morgi frantically smashed his hands against the controls. "How do we turn on the weapons? Turn on the weapons, I'm not joking!"

"What's going on?" yelled Jennifer. "Surely the Epochi didn't catch up to us?"

"There's worse things in the galaxy than my own freakshow species!" Morgi was in a full-blown panic, pathetic wheezes issuing from him between words as he fought for control of his breathing. "We're in the wrong place. Damn it Tom, your ship sent us to the wrong place!"

"Well, heck, I punched in the coordinates just like you told me to. And I did a full diagnostic on the autonavigator before we left." Tommy leaned forward with an uncharacteristically dire frown. "What do you mean by 'wrong place,' anyway? I mean, Where did we end up?"

"Kro'dyl territory," said Morgi. "We're just inside the Kro'dyl Dominion. And when they find us, we're going to be extremely dead."

"The Kro'dyl Dom...Okay, there's no need to panic just yet." Tommy's voice was level and low, little more than a whisper, and he manipulated his controls with cautious precision. "The Kro'dyl Dominion is a huge region of space, and they can't possibly have the whole area covered. I'll just turn on the long range sensors and if we see something, we'll deal with it then."

"Don't bother with the damn sensors!" snarled Morgi. "We've got to move now. Either turn on the linear engine or the subluminal engines or the torpedoes or something because we are a target sitting here!"

"Excuse me." Yang Yizhen raised his hand. "I am not familiar with this particular species. May I assume from the furor that they are notably aggressive?"

"I don't know so much about them myself," said Jennifer. "I mean, I've heard of them, but I figured that the stories I heard were just xenophobia."

"They're not. Whatever you've heard, I guarantee the truth is worse." Morgi balled up in his seat. "The Epochi bumped into the Kro'dyl about two hundred years ago. They've attacked us twenty-seven times since. Twenty-seven! And that's just the big wars, I'm not counting the little skirmishes where they blow up some ships just for training. I'd know, I've fought the murder lizards enough times. A solid month of hard fighting at Erasa trying to keep them from getting a foothold in our system. I killed dozens of them myself and they just keep coming!"

"Then these Kro'dyl have a cultural animus against your species?" said Yang Yizhen. "I can understand your fear, but should worst come to worst I can use the clout of the Taiyang imperial throne to shelter you."

"You don't get it! They have a cultural animus against everyone!" Morgi's face was a vibrant red, his breathing so constrained that he seemed ready to pass out onto the floor. "You want to talk xenophobia? That's there whole ideology! They hate everyone that's not one of them! We are bugs before them, and...no, less than bugs. Dust. Shit. Something to be cleaned away because it's just so damn distasteful."

Jennifer cleared her throat. "Um...Tom? How long until we can jump?"

"Twenty-seven minutes," muttered Tommy. "There's no need to worry. The long range scanners are operational and...uh..."

"They're here, aren't they?" said Morgi. "You saw them."

Tommy stared at the moving dots on his display. "Well, there are some ships in the area, but that doesn't mean that they're warships, or that they're going to find us."

An object darted across Jennifer's display, a monstrous metal thing that resembled a steel demon more than any spacecraft she'd ever seen. Moments later, a second vehicle appeared from below the ship, moving so close that it could have brushed the outside of the Taleweaver.

"Okay, so there are some scouts here," said Tommy. "No reason to panic, they might not attack."

"I'm not going out with a fight," said Morgi. "Turn the weapons on."

"Oh, I think that would be an error." Tommy pointed at the display. "You might want to check your monitor."

A third ship had joined the scouts, and if the others were fiendish, this one was a madman's nightmare implausibly engineered into existence. The ship was asymmetrical, with jutting metal plates along its edges that made it resemble a massive disembodied mouth with a vile, inhuman overbite. Hatches opened all along its surface, revealing a host of weapons - Gauss cannons, torpedo pods, and a number of treacherous fixtures whose functions were too grim to imagine. It was less a ship than a spacebound ball of armaments in search of a target.

"Okay, so there's a warship. No reason to panic, there's no reason to assume that it's going to blow us up." Tommy ran his hands along the controls. "This is a little bold, but I'm going to try and hail them, and-"

"Are you insane?" roared Morgi. "You're going to talk to them?"

"Well, we can't fight three ships, can't we?" said Jennifer.

"Pretty much my thoughts. Now, no one else speak, I will deal with them." Tommy tapped a button on the console and the display shifted into a screen. "This is the Taleweaver, from the Exterran Federation. We have meant no offense by this intrusion into your territory, and we will gladly leave as soon as our engine is prepared. The Taleweaver is not a ship of war, and we will prove this by disabling all active defensive measures-"

Morgi lunged from his seat and grabbed for Tommy. "Don't you dare, you idiot!"

Tommy shoved Morgi away. "Hey, not while the frequency is open! Golly!"

"It's okay, they're off their guard," whispered Morgi. "Now, launch the torpedoes and we'll tear out with the subluminal-"

"Why, that would be awful!" said Tommy. "There's no need to be mean before we have all the facts."

"That's it, I'm taking over," said Morgi, reaching for Tommy's controls.

Tommy braced his forearm against Morgi's neck, ducking away from the Epochi's frantically clawing hands. "Whoa! I'm the captain here, dang it. You don't even know how to pilot my ship!"

"I'll figure it out!" shouted Morgi.

Jennifer wasn't sure how to handle the situation. It wasn't going to look good if the Kro'dyl pilot saw Tommy and Morgi fighting each other over the pilot's seat, but cracking one of them in the back of the head wasn't going to help matters. And really, which one was even right? This was a decision in which every choice - including remaining idle - was a bad one.

There was a gruff voice from the other end of the communications channel. _"This is Kri'ssh of the Dreadnought Surgh. Reply at once."_

Tommy removed Morgi with one last solid shove and turned back to his communicator. "I'm here. Uh...Captain Harkennian of the Taleweaver."

"You have disabled your weapons. Very good. Our local fleet commander wishes to meet with you. Disable all non-critical functions and we will extend a gravitonic captor to guide you."

Morgi fell back into his seat, defeated. "Great move, captain, you've killed us all."

"Okay, so they're towing us back to their fleet. No reason to panic, they might not kill us." Tommy's hands flew across the controls. "All right, uh...Dreadnought, we're ready to go."

A moment later the Taleweaver began to move again, this time trailing behind the hideous Dreadnought as the gunship pulled its captive to parts unknown.

## CHAPTER 10

There was little conversation aboard the Taleweaver as the Kro'dyl dreadnought towed its discovery toward the fleet flagship. All eyes were fixed forward, watching the combat fleet grow closer on their monitors as they inched their way through space. The Dreadnought seemed in no hurry - perhaps it was not the ideal vessel to tow a captured ship, or perhaps this was a form of psychological torture on the four souls aboard the starship. Given what Jennifer had gleaned from Federation diplomatic guides and the Sagittarius rumor mill, she was prepared to believe just about anything about this strange new species.

Morgi was the first to break the silence. "All right, we need to plan some kind of strategy. It's long odds, but there are four of us and they won't expect us to fight back, so we'll have the element of surprise. I can instruct you on their anatomical weaknesses and combat tactics and maybe it'll level things out a little."

"Gee whiz, Morgi, I'm not going hand-to-hand with a whole army," said Tommy, "Maybe we should just see what they want?"

"Says the man who hailed the genocidal demon reptiles and then disabled his weapons," said Morgi. "Yeah, I'm not eager to get into a brawl either, but that's not the choice with Kro'dyl. The choice is between certain death or a remote chance of survival."

Tommy stroked his chin. "You make a dynamite argument there, but gosh, I think we should give diplomacy a shot before we shoot our way out. When words fail, well sir, then I'm down with whatever you're planning."

"You know what? I'm sick of dealing with you." Morgi peered over his seat at Yang Yizhen. "And you're pretty useless." He turned to Jennifer. "You're a little more of the action type. Any plans you want to spitball? Maybe clue me in about how many shots you got in that heater of yours?"

Jennifer's eyes were closed, arms behind her head, legs stretched out as far as the space would allow. In this moment of justified panic, she was surprisingly at ease. "I'm with Tom. Let's talk it out before we start our own little war."

Morgi smashed his fist into the headrest. "What am I hearing from you people? The Kro'dyl are cold-blooded killers, and you think you can charm your way out of their claws?"

"It's not that," said Jennifer, still not looking at Morgi. "I'm not convinced that they want us dead."

Morgi groaned and buried his face in one hand. "Don't give me the old 'They could have just blown us up' bit. I know this freaks, they like getting in close, doing the job with their own hands. They like to feel the splatter. They want to watch us die."

"Then they could have just lassoed the ship with that gravitonics device and pulled us on board," said Jennifer. "They could have taken out our engines. They could have fried our computers, left us in the dark. There are all sorts of ways to grab a ship if all you want to do is shake the occupants out. They opted to contact us in a universally approved fashion, so I have to assume that they have something in mind other than murder."

"You want to place a bet on that?" said Morgi.

"Might as well. I'll be out a lot more than money if I'm wrong." Jennifer's eyes popped open. "And it looks like we'll know soon. Check it out."

The flagship of the Kro'dyl fleet dominated the Taleweaver's senors arrays. It was a particularly gruesome beast, crafted without any attention to form or elegance, not even a "ship" in the human sense so much as a great metal rectangle to which the necessities of interstellar travel had been affixed by various means. There were racks of weapons in pimply clusters all across the surface, engines emerging from recesses at arbitrary locations, ship ports in such odd locations that it was a challenge to determine which parts of the ship were fore and aft. One of those ports loomed large on the displays, the Dreadnought and the Taleweaver righting themselves to properly dock with the monster.

"Fine, do what you like," said Morgi, cracking his knuckles. "But when it goes down, there's one thing you should know: They don't feel pain, so don't expect that you can crack one of them in the gut or the groin and run. You have to go for the eyes. If you don't blind 'em, you're still in danger."

Yang Yizhen stared down at his hands. "I do not think I have the skill or strength to blind anyone."

"Then focus on your protocols," said Jennifer. "Believe it or not, you might be the one who gets us out of this."

The Dreadnought and the Taleweaver drifted through a set of airlocks, finally landing somewhere midships (if the designers of the vessel had such a concept). A set of wicked metal prongs seized the paralyzed Taleweaver and moved it to its proper resting position, trapped deep in a nest of scouting and combat ships. There was a moment of haunted silence as Tommy forced his hand toward the entry hatch release. With a deep breath, he flicked the switch and hatch creaked open into the dimly-lit bay.

There were at least a dozen of them perched outside of the Taleweaver as the explorers exited, little more than ghostly silhouettes in the shadows of the bay. Some of those silhouettes carried objects - weapons, most likely, though perhaps tools - while others kept their empty hands at their sides, minding the new arrivals in disciplined silence. As Jennifer's eyes adjusted to the cave-like environs, she could make out details of these creatures. They were reptiles, or at least their ancestors had come from reptilian stock. Their skin was concealed beneath layers of dull scales with warty nubs and tiny bony protrusions erupting from the gaps in between. It was obvious why many of them felt no need to carry weapons - while they all had one graceful and well-articulated human-like hand with fingers ending in stumpy nails, the other hand terminated in three enormous vicious claws that better resembled bony daggers. All of them wore strange piecemeal armor that, given its sparse coverage, must have been cultural or ceremonial rather than practical. If there were any engineers, researchers or diplomats among the assembled company, then they were armed for war as well.

A lone figure emerged from within the clump of reptilian warriors and approached the Taleweaver. This one was much larger than the others – well over seven feet in height – and much wartier, with less colorful scales and a bony crest encircling the base of his neck. He was dressed differently as well, with a royal purple cloak draped over his shoulders and arms secured by a cameo that resembled a curved thorn. A collection of hand weapons, most of them nicked and scuffed from thorough use, dangled from his belt.

"Greetings, travelers. I am Commander Bri'grr of the Conqueror." He stared at the explorers obliquely. "So it's true...you are human. Well, most of you at least. You will tell me of your affiliations at once."

Yang Yizhen fell to his hands and knees before the Commander. "I am Yang Yizhen, fourth ring bureaucrat of the great Celestial Taiyang Empire. It shall be my pleasure to instruct you in our glorious rituals and culture and to chronicle yours in turn."

Commander Bri'grr stared quietly at the bureaucrat, his scaly snout giving away no hint as to his opinions. "Taiyang Empire? Interesting. Then this company is not of the Exterran Federation?"

"He's not," said Jennifer, stepping forward to face the big lizard. "I'm Jennifer Shen and this is Thomas Harkennian - we're not affiliated with the Federation, but we're both from Federation territories. And..." She paused, searching for the last member of the crew who had his back pressed to the Taleweaver. "...Morgi, of the Epochal Empire."

"An Epochi? Interesting." Commander Bri'grr let out a hot snort. "Humans are a rarity here. What we know of your kind is from the other visitor, and he's spoken to us only of the Federation."

"There's another human here?" said Jennifer.

"Indeed, and you shall the opportunity to speak with him, if you so desire. I'm positive he would be happy to spend time with some of his kind after so long in our exclusive company. But first..." Commander Bri'grr pointed one of his long claws at Jennifer. "...You will have to surrender the weapon."

Jennifer's eyes fell to her sidearm. She'd scarcely remembered that she still had it with her - in recent years it had become more of an accessory than a needed tool, and she had never assumed that she'd require it at all on this mission. "You'll return it when we leave?"

Morgi raced to Jennifer's side. "This is a bad idea," he growled into her ear.

Jennifer waved Morgi away. "I will need it back," she said to the Commander. "It's a rare piece, not easily replaced."

"Of course. We Kro'dyl understand the attachments one can develop to a special weapon, and we are certainly not thieves." Commander Bri'grr nodded to one of his men, who marched down the length of the platform to the Taleweaver. "Relinquish it to the officer. We'll keep it very safe, along with your vessel."

Jennifer removed the gun by the butt and placed it gingerly into the officer's more dextrous hand, Morgi staring her down the entire time. "Keep it safe."

The officer carried the gun to Commander Bri'grr, who took the weapon gingerly in his claw and studied it. "This is your only weapon?"

"The only one," said Jennifer. "The ship is not a war vessel. You can search it if you'd like." Jennifer glanced back at Tommy. "...Assuming our captain is okay with that. I wouldn't want to step on his authority over his own vessel."

"Oh, not at all!" Tommy clapped his hands together, ready to plead if necessary. "Hey, I can even give you the tour. Or, y'know...you can search it yourself."

"We will," said Commander Bri'grr. "But first, perhaps I can give you a brief tour of my own vessel. There aren't many humans who have been aboard a Kro'dyl ship. Just one moment..."

The Commander turned to the officer who'd brought him the gun, abruptly wrapped his clawed hand into a ball and struck the officer on the side of his mandible, knocking the small reptile prone and sending up a fine mist of blood and scale fragments. Morgi instinctively lunged for the Commander but Jennifer pushed herself in front of him, holding him at bay. The officer regained his footing a moment later, brushing away a trickle of blood from his jaw. Neither he not Commander Bri'grr spoke a word; the inferior officer merely grunted and nodded, the Commander returned the gesture, then handed Jennifer's sidearm to the smaller lizard who promptly scurried off into the bowels of the ship.

"We shall go now," said Commander Bri'grr, not a raised tone in his voice to suggest that anything awry had happened. "The crew of the Conqueror shall see to your basic needs, you won't need anything from your ship."

The explorers followed the Commander in awestruck silence, though Jennifer would swear that Morgi mouthed the words "I told you."

## CHAPTER 11

The outward ugliness of Kro'dyl ships is well-known to those luckless species who live at the edges of their territory, but the ghastly nature of the interiors is something that few non-Kro'dyl will ever have the misfortune to experience. The inside truly reveals the Kro'dyl disdain for aesthetics - the exteriors could be justified as an element of psychological warfare, but the belly of the ship reflect their own gruesome tastes. The designers of Kro'dyl ships make no meaningful effort to conceal the ship infrastructure, so naked wires and pipes run openly along the walls while exposed machinery creaks and whirs beneath the walkways. It can be treacherous to walk those halls unaware, with the halls marked by the superheated glow of machines from which the crew are shielded only by a length of thin mesh.

Commander Bri'grr was clearly at home in these passages, though, as he casually chatted with the new arrivals as he led them through the arteries of the ship. "You shall take dinner with us. It will be a good opportunity for a debriefing, which should be most enlightening for both parties."

Tommy spoke up, his voice uncharacteristically meek. "Uh...I don't mean to be rude, but what exactly do Kro'dyl eat?"

Commander Bri'grr glanced back with a thin, toothy smirk. "You forget that we have a human aboard. We understand your biological needs and tastes, and your meals will be tailored to your own metabolisms."

"Well, that's neat," said Tommy, obviously unsatisfied with the answer but unwilling to push further.

"I have a question," said Jennifer, maneuvering around a pipe that spewed an off-colored steam. "When exactly will we be permitted to leave?"

"It's a bit premature to ask that question," said Commander Bri'grr. "It will all depend on why you are here. Once we are satisfied that you bear no hostile or disruptive intent toward the Dominion, you'll be free to go."

"Might you be a bit more precise?" said Yang Yizhen, yanking the sleeves of his robe free of a jutting metal fragment. "We are on a quest of galactic importance, and time is very much a factor."

Commander Bri'grr ran his claws along his jaw. "A quest? Interesting...very, very interesting." He gestured to a round hatch, one of the few symmetrical objects aboard the ship. "The dining hall is through here. We eat on a precise schedule, so I can't grant you time to...'freshen up,' I believe is the phrase you would use."

The hatch rolled away to reveal a room that was at once unexpectedly large and (by Kro'dyl standards) well-appointed. The space was dominated by a long metal dining table draped in red and purple cloth with seats riveted into the ground at regular intervals. Steel plates covering the walls concealed the hazardous guts of the ship that were exposed elsewhere. The lighting was better here as well - still shadowy by human standards, but at least Jennifer could make out details on the men-at-arms who ringed the room without having to squint through the darkness.

A pair of Kro'dyl approached the officer when a third, crazed and violent, lunged from down a side passage and seized one of them around the neck. Straining for a breath, the shocked lizard flung his assailant over his head and dove for his attacker. The two exchanged blows, each taking in turns to strike at the other's mandible before falling back to avoid the next counterblow. No one in the room tried to stop the fight - the other men-at-arms either stared intently or averted their eyes, and when Jennifer looked to the Commander, he was standing bolt-still with his own eyes closed. And then the fight was over, ending as abruptly as it had started, the two fighters walking their separate ways with no one in the room moving or even passing a comment on the fracas.

"What was that?" said Jennifer, even as she questioned the wisdom in pointing out anything awry on such a strange ship.

"Something that my men should not have watched." Commander Bri'grr glowered at the men-at-arms. "All of you know better than to watch something this personal, and yet I know for a fact that some of you did. Don't bother denying it, I could tell by the sound of your breathing that you were paying attention." He walked up and down the ranks of Kro'dyl, staring each of them down with his icy eyes. "This is not entertainment, and you would do wise to learn that and shed these bad habits of yours. In the future, I will not be so merciful when it comes to classless behavior. Am I clear?"

The men-at-arms quietly nodded in agreement. It was hard to discern deeper emotions on their reptilian faces, but some of them seemed genuinely ashamed, as though they had violated some sacred rule. Even the victim was a bit somber, moving slowly with his head down.

"Excellent." Commander Bri'grr smacked the palm of his more human-like hand against his chest. "Now, someone go to the private stocks and fetch three bottles of the Blood of the Vanquished. And tell the mess staff that we will need more food than normal. We have guests and they shall be treated as such."

"Blood of the Vanquished?" muttered Tommy. "Gosh, you don't think they're going to make us drink that, do you?"

"The sad part is that the beverage seems like the least of our problems at the moment," returned Jennifer. "Our main problem might be staying out of a fight."

"Swell idea, but how do we do that?" said Tommy. "Doesn't seem like it takes much of anything to set these folks off."

"Maybe we should beat some of them up first," said Morgi.

"Don't you have any other solutions?" said Jennifer. "Something a little more diplomatic?"

"Maybe that's what diplomacy looks like around here," said Tommy.

Another hatch opened in the dining hall, and Commander Bri'grr spun on his heel to face the new arrival. "Ah, you've arrived. Darius, we have guests from your own region of space."

It had been less than a day since the Taleweaver had left the Exterran territories, and yet this one human face among countless reptilian ones was a tremendous comfort. He was a stoutly-built dark-skinned man a good head taller than Jennifer, clad in a well-traveled Exterran Federation outfit - a red-on-white jacket and slacks all adorned with the stylized trailing rocket design of the Federation research division. There was no tension in his gait - he strode down the length of the room as though he were in a neutral state room back on one of the core planets.

"We've got humans aboard? Cool!" Darius approached the group, hand extended. "Darius Wheeler, xenoanthropology division of the Exterran Federation."

"Jennifer Shen," said Jennifer as she took his hand. "It's a pleasure to see a familiar face so far from home."

"The pleasure is all mine, girl." Darius winced at the sound of his own words. "That was real unprofessional. You'll have to forgive me, I've been here for the better part of a year with no contact from home, and the females with scales don't do it for me, if you get me."

"No offense taken," said Jennifer, secretly a bit charmed by the sentiment if not the clumsy line.

"So you in charge of this crew?" said Darius.

"I'm not really sure who's in charge, to be honest." Jennifer patted Yang Yizhen on the shoulder. "This is the one who brought me in."

Yang Yizhen immediately fell to one knee before Darius. "Yang Yizhen, fourth ring bureaucrat of the glorious Taiyang Empire."

Darius backed away with his hands up, taken aback by Yang Yizhen's gesture. "Whoa, no need for that."

Yang Yizhen sheepishly rose from the ground. "I am sorry, I have been lectured on this practice but it is simply the most natural way for me to greet a dignitary of any description."

"Yeah, that's cool and all, but I'm not down with that kind of thing, I'm not used to it," said Darius. "The rest of you with the Empire too?"

"Not me!" Tommy stepped forward and vigorously took Darius' hand, the sight of another human restarting his enthusiasm. "Tommy Harkennian. I'm the crazy fool flying these good folks around the galaxy."

"Well, all right." Darius looked down at Morgi, who had barely acknowledged him. "I know you ain't from the Federation."

"Morgi, of...formerly of Epochi." Morgi stared quizzically at Darius. "So why haven't they killed you yet?"

Darius shook his head. "So that's how it is? You buying into all that garbage? You got this whole thing twisted. Look, I'll tell you how things work after dinner, alright? Come on, y'all can sit with me."

Commander Bri'grr again thumped his chest to summon his underlings, then took his seat at the head of the table. Darius took his seat at the lizard commander's right flank, Jennifer quickly joining him and Tommy following suit. Morgi joined the table only reluctantly, eyeing each seat in turn - perhaps looking for the safest place to sit - before placing himself as far from the Commander as possible. Yang Yizhen, being a creature of protocol, waited patiently until the others were comfortable before joining them. Moments later, Kro'dyl stewards emerged from unseen hallways bearing trays of food. Surprisingly, it resembled fare one might have found in the Federation - small game birds, fat tubers that resembled blue-tinged color potatoes, trays of vegetable strips run through with orange and purple veins, and an array of greens that was not unlike a salad - along with pitchers of water and three bottles of purple liquid.

"I hope that this is to your liking. We learned quickly with Darius that human tastes are different from our own." Commander Bri'grr removed the cover on his own meal - a dish filled with large grotesque bugs, most of them still squirming. "You shall eat first, the debriefing will follow. Stewards, uncork the Blood of the Vanquished."

One of the stewards produced a tool that resembled a barbed icepick and jammed it into each bottle, wrenching free a red-gray object that was not a "cork" by any known definition. He filled the Commander's goblet first, then proceed around the table, filling the glasses before the squeamish guest. Jennifer got the first glimpse - a dense, purple fluid that flowed from the bottles like partially coagulated blood.

Darius leaned over the table. "It's just a name, all right? It's berry wine. Serious." He raised his own glass and took a sip, ignoring the expressions that greeted him.

Jennifer looked deep into her own glass. Appearances aside, the liquid did have a tart odor. Raising the glass to her lips with a hand she hoped wasn't visibly trembling, she let the liquid touch her tongue.

The rest of the crew stared on as Jennifer sampled the mystery beverage. "It is...okay?" said Yang Yizhen.

Jennifer studied the glass, swirled it in one hand, then took a larger sip, pausing to consider the spicy bitterness before swallowing. "I've had worse." She reached for one of the vegetable strips, her appetite suddenly returning.

Darius grabbed Jennifer's wrist. "Not the purple ones."

Jennifer stared at the hand restraining her wrist. "Why?"

"Trust me," Darius said, a haunted look in his eyes. "Just...take my word for it."

## CHAPTER 12

Despite the lingering tension between human and Kro'dyl, the meal was a pleasant one. The game birds (Jennifer eventually gleaned from Darius that they were something akin to giant aggressive chickens) were not especially well cooked but the badly-roasted fowl still beat out their usual options. The synthesizer about the Taleweaver could hypothetically replicate any dish but the engineers had never quite eliminated the inexplicable taste of tungsten in consumables, so honest food was always welcome. Once they overcame the aesthetics, the wine was pleasant as well, and stronger than it seemed at first blush. Jennifer suspected that this was a ploy to loosen them up, though this theory faded when Commander Bri'grr poured the remnants of his own personal bottle directly down his throat, something evidently not seen as a faux pas in their culture (though neither, as she would learn, was spitting mouthfuls of wine in the air).

More troubling was the steady flow of officers in and out of the dining hall. They never stayed for too long - one would appear, whisper something in the Commander's auditory canal, and then vanish with no acknowledgment from the Commander apart from a cock of the head. He would then wave the officer away and make no mention of it while still, it seemed, waiting for further information. Something was happening elsewhere on the ship, but the news wasn't for human ears.

Once the dinner was finished, Commander Bri'grr rose to address the group. "I hope you enjoyed your meals. Now comes the time when we discuss your mission...your quest, as the bureaucrat described it. My officers have examined your ship and find no evidence that you are preparing for war...at least, no evidence aside from the extremely powerful torpedoes you have affixed to the vessel."

"Hey, asteroids can be a real bear," said Tommy.

"In any case, you did not use those weapons against us, a very wise move." The Commander rested his clawed hand on the table, leaning over to look his smaller guests in the eye. "So the only question is your true purpose. The nature of your quest, if you will."

Yang Yizhen bolted to his feet. "We are on a quest to recover an object of undefinable value, taken beyond the celestial boundaries of our magnificent empire by a rogue of uncertain loyalties and identity."

"I'm afraid I don't follow you," said Commander Bri'grr.

Yang Yizhen began to respond but Jennifer cut him off with a gesture. "I'll field this one. Commander, we're in pursuit of criminal who fled beyond the Exterran territories. We have reason to believe that he was headed for a planet we call the Cradle."

"You guys are headed for the Cradle?" Darius' face lit up at once. "Damn, is Taiyang that far past us that they know where the Cradle is?"

"No, but the Epochi are," said Morgi, swallowing the last of his berry wine. "In that one area, anyway."

"I've never heard of this 'Cradle'," said Commander Bri'grr. "I take it that it's an unexplored area?"

"Just the opposite," said Darius, still grinning. "They're talking about the human homeworld. The origin of our species. It's been lost ever since we split for the Stretch."

"Ah! This is fascinating indeed. A voyage to the lost origin!" Commander Bri'grr closed his eyes and nodded, as though savoring an old memory of his own. "You know, the Kro'dyl were once tasked with visiting the human system, though this was long ago and the voyage was never completed."

"Tasked?" said Jennifer.

Tommy cleared his throat. "Does this mean that we can go, sir?"

"Not just yet," said Commander Bri'grr. "There are still assurances we lack...Things that must be done. Rest assured, though, that we will not interfere in your journey. Perhaps we could even aid you in finding this planet!"

"You would do this?" Yang Yizhen dropped to the floor, forehead pressed to the cold metal. "Yours is indeed a great and benevolent civilization, and All Under Heaven thank you for any aid you may see fit to grant us."

"Of course! Why does civilization exist if not for missions of discovery?" With a flick of his cloak, Commander Bri'grr spun and advanced down one of the hallways. "You are dismissed for now. Darius can show you more of the ship. I shall summon you if anything else is needed."

"Wow! Hey, he was a pretty nice guy." Tommy glanced into his goblet. "Do you think he might give us more wine?"

"That's just what we need, a drunken pilot." Morgi turned to Jennifer. "Hey, how long are we staying here? This place makes me twitchy, and we still have a mission."

"Hey, don't feel you have to bounce out of here so fast," said Darius. "Let me give you a quick tour, show you the joint isn't as bad as you think."

"It seems bad enough," said Jennifer. "I've seen some grim things just in the hour or so we've been on this ship."

"They only seem bad until you get to understand them. Kro'dyl have their own way of doing things." Darius waved for the others to follow. "Come on, maybe I can explain some of those grim things, alright?"

Darius guided the group out of the relative comfort of the dining hall and back into the ship's claustrophobic passages. He was obviously familiar with the layout, though he still maneuvered gingerly around the cutting and blistering hazards that appeared along the walls without warning. The air seemed to be growing warmer and thicker as they moved deeper into the ship, the occasional puff of steam turning into a torpid humidity.

"Sorry about the air, it's like this close to the crew quarters," said Darius, mopping a small torrent of sweat from his forehead. "They are reptiles, it's how they roll. It's how they sleep."

Jennifer shook the sweat from her hair. "Surely you can't sleep like this."

"Nah, they set me up with a little room of my own, away from this mess. It's basically a closet but hell, with this job you gotta expect to sleep in some rough places. It's right through here." Darius paused at an ajar hatch, pressing his back into it to force it open. "...Yeah, there we go. See if you like this any better."

The chamber was little more than a nook sliced away from the hull, barely large enough to fit the four of them. A series of cases were embedded in the walls with an odd assortments of weapons and tools sealed behind transparent plastic. A few feet inside the tiny chamber, a makeshift privacy curtain made from coarse sheets separated off an even smaller nook.

"Ain't no place like home." Darius pulled back the curtain, revealing a mattress and a metal mirror. "Wipe your shoes, don't want no dirt on my nice clean floors."

"Charming decor," said Jennifer, eyeballing the weapons.

Darius dropped himself on the mattress. "Yeah, don't know why this place was ever in the designs. That's Kro'dyl shipbuilding for you, they must have had the space so boom \- little museum. But tell me it's not nicer than that tightly packed steam bath where the rest of them sleep."

Morgi's eyes fell on one of the objects on display, a bulky steel gauntlet wrapped permanently around a two-foot rod. "Central Will save me, it's an Epochi force flail."

"Yeah, the weapons are from all over the place," said Darius. "It's a regular cross-culture collection."

"Yeah, one memento from each culture they wrecked. For all I know, they pried this off the hand of one of my men back of Erasa." Morgi smashed his fist against the surface, but the plastic didn't even quiver. "Open up! You don't get to keep it!"

"Don't even bother. I don't what this plastic-looking stuff is, but it is totally unbreakable." Darius pulled himself to the edge of his jury-rigged bed. "Why you people so scared of the Kro'dyl anyway? They're rough, yeah, but it's not like any of them hurt you."

"Yeah, they just hurt each other." Jennifer hunched against one of the cases. "I watched the Commander brain one of his own men for no reason."

"Oh, there was a reason," said Darius. "That was probably Rah'ess who got smacked. That guy's gonna get promoted soon, if he's tough enough."

"Meaning that he can take a punch?" said Tommy, awkwardly shoving his head into the center of the room.

"Meaning he can take a lot of punches. I've seen the Commander slap him around a dozen times, anyway." Darius laughed to himself. "You gotta know this - the Kro'dyl don't avoid pain like we do. They don't think of it as a bad thing, it's just information to them. You have to be one tough bastard to be part of the Dominion, especially if you want to be a Commander."

"Then perhaps that explains the fisticuffs we witnessed in the dining area?" said Yang Yizhen, shimmying along the wall towards Darius. "One man assailed another by surprise and they fought while none intervened."

Darius shook his head. "Not quite. One woman attacked her man, probably. Let me guess: The one who made the first move, she was a little shinier than the other? And everyone else looked away? Mmm-hmm. You're not supposed to watch that. It's private, even when it's right out in the open."

"Then it's what, some kind of mating ritual?" said Jennifer.

"Don't be nasty, they're more civilized than that," said Darius. "It's like a domination thing. The female wants a male who's in charge. When she wants proof, she jumps on him to see if he'll defend himself. If he just takes it, she moves on."

"That's awful," said Jennifer.

"It ain't pretty, but it works for them. Sometimes, you're studying these other species and their cultures, you just have to say 'All right, I don't get it, I don't even like it, but it works for them.' Mostly it's posturing. Check this out." Darius dug around behind his mattress and came up with an oblong stone object roughly the shape and dimensions of a frisbee. "They don't have any kind of internal diplomacy here. They have problem between each other, they solve it with this. It's their main weapon of war."

"Surely you must mean it once was their weapon," said Yang Yizhen. "As such stones were once used in the old worlds of the Cradle."

"It's what they use now," said Darius, clumsily flipping the stone disc into the air and catching it. "The Kro'dyl once almost wiped themselves out with all their wars. Back in the old days, they had so many little tribes that didn't talk to each other except during a raid, so these little wars never, ever stopped. Now, we were in this situation, we'd try and stop the wars \- they kept the wars and downsized the weapons. You ever hear about this 'dodgeball' game they had on the Cradle back in the day? It's like that. They wing these things at each other, they dodge out of the way, fling them back. They get hurt, but no one dies, and when it's done they add up the points and everyone agrees on the winner. All this violence is ceremony, and it's how they've stayed unified and at peace with themselves for thousands of years."

"All right, so the lizards huck stones at each other for a while instead of killing each other," said Morgi. "Then why are these so eager to kill everyone else? I've personally fought in two wars against the bastards, and they've tried to invade probably ten times just in my lifetime."

Darius threw up his hands. "I don't know anything about what's going on between your people and the Kro'dyl. They've got their fair share of sins I'm sure, but so does the Federation. Man, the Cradle was a bloodbath, with genocide and slavery and wars that could last a hundred years. At least the lizards don't kill each other like we used to. Whole reason the Federation sent me here was to see what we could learn from them, and I think I learned something about getting along with my fellow man. Getting along with the other species...shit, I guess we'll have to work that out for ourselves."

Morgi turned back to the display case with a snort. "Well, all I know is I'm finding a way to open this case because I'm getting this back. No way in hell are they keeping it."

Yang Yizhen slid through the packed room, falling to the floor next to Jennifer. "If your task with the Kro'dyl is nearing its completion, might I encourage you to accompany us on our quest to the Cradle? It should surely be a place of interest for an anthropologist, and we could always make use of your knowledge."

"A hundred percent honest?" said Darius. "If I thought you would actually make it, I'd be off with you right now. But come on, no one's seen the place in two thousand years and you're going to hit that bullseye? What did this thief take that's worth all of this?"

"This is a closely guarded secret of the Taiyang Empire," said Yang Yizhen. "Suffice it to say that it is an object of both tremendous intellectual value as well as a potentially hazardous..."

As she had done on various occasions, Jennifer had tuned Yang Yizhen out, but this time it wasn't his formal verbiage that was narrowing her senses. There was a familiar object affixed to Darius' mirror, a tiny black card that she had seen shortly before leaving the Stretch. Leaning in for a closer look, she nearly lost her balance.

"Can I help you with something?" Tracing her gaze, Darius plucked the card from the edge of the mirror. "You looking at this? Here, go ahead."

It was an old-fashioned business card, thick black stock with gold inlaid letters that spelled out two words: "Apocalypse, Ltd." Jennifer nudged Yang Yizhen and passed him the card. "Take a look. Is this the same card we found in Izmek's apartment?"

"Oh my." Yang Yizhen studied the card for a moment, then took it in his fingers as if to conform that it was actually real. "It is the very same. The rogue we chase now had one identical to this."

"Where did you get this?" said Jennifer, passing the card back to Darius.

"Perhaps another traveler passed through this sector?" added Yang Yizhen. "A strange pallid man?"

"Eh, go ahead and keep it if you think it's important," said Darius. "And no one else has been through here. I found that a while ago, as a matter of fact. If y'all can keep this a secret, I'll tell you. You see, when I first got about the ship, I had the same concerns as you, that the Commander might be planning something bad so...I slipped into his cabin one day. There wasn't anything suspicious in there, except for that little card I found lying around in a drawer. Just something he stuck in there and forgot about, I guess. Don't know why I took it with me - I checked with the Federation but that organization doesn't exist."

"I know." Jennifer slid the card into her pocket. "The Taiyang checked it, too."

"Does it mean something to you?" said Darius.

"That much I don't know," said Jennifer.

There was a faint surge of energy in the room as the internal communications system hissed to life. _"Human guests, report at once to the bridge."_

"Maybe that means we get to leave, huh?" Tommy pushed his way towards the hatch. "Does anyone know where we find the bridge?"

"I do." Darius stood up and wedged his way through the crowd. "All right, everyone after me."

## CHAPTER 13

Finding the bridge of the Conqueror was actually not a difficult task, as every road eventually led to it. The chamber - larger than any other by far - was fed by well over a dozen passages, long winding arteries that snaked without reason or form through the great vessel. The bridge itself was even dimmer than the rest of the ship - apart from the glow from the sensor displays ringing the room, the only light came from a red-cast fluorescence emerging from beneath the deck by each door and leading to the command chair at the center of the room. Here sat Commander Bri'grr, his more nimble hand resting gently on a bank of controls built into his chair, his clawed hand stroking his face as he received reports from the mass of officers that filled the room.

The bridge of a flagship is never quiet but absent a pitched battle against a fleet of comparable strength, they are seldom as active as that of the Conqueror. Kro'dyl officers ran headlong into each other as they sprinted to and fro, shouting to make themselves heard over the burble of voices and targeting computers. Engineers (distinct from the others only in their slightly less impressive armament) crowded two and three to a command station, squabbling over orders and reports and authority. It looked like the ship was under attack, but Jennifer dismissed this - after all, why would the Commander require their presence in a time of crisis?

Commander Bri'grr spun in his chair to face his guests, a strange hunger welling in his eyes. "You've arrived promptly - splendid. You must excuse the chaos and the clamor, but this is a time of great excitement for all of us."

"So what's the excitement?" said Darius. "It's not like you owe me an explanation or anything, but you're usually a little more detailed. That alert wasn't much to go on."

"My apologies, I should have explained this earlier," said Commander Bri'grr. "When we searched your vessel, we did an electronic scan that revealed your destination coordinates. Information of little need to us, but then you mentioned the human homeworld. Then it became very interesting. But I didn't want to reveal too much until I received permission from my own superiors in the Dominion. Fortunately, they move with exceptional speed when they receive such good news?"

"I do not mean to interrupt you, Commander, but I must ask again when we will be allowed to depart," said Yang Yizhen. "You have cleared us, and I see no reason why we cannot depart for the Cradle at once."

Commander Bri'grr shrugged, or at least that was the closest human interpretation of his body language. "Why leave? We are all headed there! You shall be our guests as we voyage through uncharted space to visit your home planet, as we should have so long ago."

"Wonderful!" Yang Yizhen turned to Jennifer with a broad smile. "It seems you were right, and diplomacy and protocol have won the day! Our quest has become easier!"

"Has it?" said Jennifer. "We still don't know why they were headed to the Cradle in the first place."

"This is true, but even if they had designs on conquest, surely they cannot bear the species any harmful intent after such a long time." Yang Yizhen paused, his eyes rolling to the Commander and deadly smile. "Could they?"

"That's a good question." Jennifer felt a jolt of tension arc through her brain as she stepped forward. "What is your interest in the Cradle, exactly?"

"Haven't I explained this?" said Commander Bri'grr. "In generations past, we were tasked to take a quest of our own to your planet."

"By who?" said Jennifer. "And to do what?"

Commander Bri'grr was interrupted by the arrival of another officer. "Commander, our long range scanners have found suitable extinction-level objects within the target system," said the officer. "Preliminary prep is already underway."

"Extinction-level object? Whoa! Whoa!" Darius pushed his way to the Commander's seat. "What exactly is the plan here?"

"We don't know what manner of life might still be on the planet, so we intend to employ a purifying mass driver." Commander Bri'grr made a cryptic gesture with his clawed hand. "Allow me to summarize: We shall locate an astronomical object of sufficient density, embed thrusters at carefully selected locations and direct the object to smash into the planet's surface. It's not my preferred method - it lacks the hands-on tactile delight of true battle - but it is both inexpensive and highly effective."

"Was this your mission?" screamed Jennifer. "To wipe out our planet?"

"You no longer dwell there, do you?" said Commander Bri'grr. "And this solves your problem, does it not? I assure you that your thief will not survive what we do to the planet."

Darius pressed his palms to his forehead. "Okay, this is all sorts of twisted. What ever happened to ritual combat?"

Commander Bri'grr made an exaggerated sigh. "Darius, what we discussed before was merely a resolution of disputes. This, on the other hand, is WAR!" Suddenly, a bony frill shot out from the Commander's shoulders, slicing through his cloak and sending it in tatters to the floor. Darius, reeling in shock, barely kept his feet under him as the Commander glared at him. "AND A TRUE WARRIOR NEVER WAGES WAR IN HALF-MEASURES! HE AIMS FOR TOTAL ANNIHILATION!" The Commander slipped back into his chair, shifting his focus back to his plans of carnage. "Now, don't interfere."

As the Commander returned to his homicidal planning, Morgi edged through the group to Tommy. "Hey Tom, you know anything about mass transmitters?" he whispered. "Programming the computers, that sort of thing?"

Tommy was too shocked to look down at Morgi. "I guess...Yeah, I can do that stuff but golly, this is an awful time-"

"It's the perfect time. Just be ready." Morgi pushed through the crowd and swaggered up to the base of the Commander's seat. "All right, that's about enough. I've had it up to here with you murder lizards, and I'm gonna have to stop you."

"Stop me?" With a sinister grin, Commander Bri'grr drew up to his full height, towering over the Epochi. "You think you have the capacity to stop me, squirrel?" He leaned down to bring his maw level with Morgi's head. "What exactly are you planning to do?"

Morgi shrugged, sighed, and in a single smooth motion hooked his claws into the Commander's shoulders, gave himself a boost and smashed his forehead into the Commander's cranium. Commander Bri'grr staggered back, falling into the seat with a thud as the rest of the Kro'dyl watched. Morgi then turned and ran down one of the passages, grabbing Tommy's arm in one hand and Darius' jacket in the other. "Head for the ship!" he screamed, and then the three of them were gone.

The Commander was recovering from the shock, as were the rest of his men. Jennifer glanced at Yang Yizhen, who was frozen before the scene himself. "There's no time for this!" she said, grabbing him by the wrist. "Let's go! Now!" And with a pull on his arm, the two of them were racing into the dark reaches of the Conqueror.

\------

One steam-flooded serpentine passage carving its way into the guts of the ship, spiraling around and meeting an even more treacherous corridor - this was all that Jennifer perceived as she ran. Such was her panic that she quickly lost track of her actual goal, even forgetting that she didn't truly know where that goal was. The Kro'dyl ship made less logical sense than any vessel or building she'd ever seen, with hallways forking off seeming at random into side passages that vanished into superfluous recesses. All she really knew to do was to put space between herself and the roars and scratches of the crew in pursuit of their latest bounty.

For her panic, Jennifer was at least still functional, something that could not be said for Yang Yizhen. For the first few yards, it was as though he had lost awareness of his legs and had to be dragged like a small child. Once the adrenaline flooded his system, he snapped out of his paralysis and kept pace with Jennifer, but he was hardly a rational beast. In the brief moments when the Kro'dyl fell silent and the hum of the ship was muted, Jennifer could hear the bureaucrat babbling nonsense to himself.

And on they ran, as fast as they could until the fire in Jennifer's lungs grew too hot to proceed. "This is pointless," she said. "Do you remember where the bay is? Its general location, something? Anything?"

Yang Yizhen responded with senseless gibbering, much of it in what she assumed was the old tongue of the Taiyang. What he said in the Federation common language made little more sense, more like fragments of thought: "Antithesis...galactic savior is here...All Under Heaven..."

The sounds of motion were growing ever closer. "We might have to fight. Where's a weapon?" Jennifer's eyes darted around manically, finally settling on a fragment of pipe that must have been intended by its original manufacturer as a handrail. "It'll do. Yang, give me a hand here."

"I wish to fly to the heavenly palace..."

"Never mind." Jennifer planted a foot against the wall and threw her weight backward, finally prying the clumsy bludgeon free of the ship. "All right, we find a hiding place, figure out where they're going, ambush them, and then break for the ship. Can I count on you to keep quiet?"

Yang Yizhen, slowly drifting back to lucidity, nodded meekly. "...I can be quiet."

"Good." Jennifer pulled Yang Yizhen into the nearest chamber. They were immediately greeted by a rush of warm, damp air, a stifling fog that lingered over a series of raised platforms. "Damn it! This must be where they sleep. Well, at least I can guess where we are...for as much help as that'll be."

Hearing the scrape of claws against the floor, Jennifer pressed herself against the wall by the hatch, shoving Yang Yizhen back with her free hand. It didn't sound like a group - just one angry Kro'dyl officer nosing down the chamber, panting at the thrill of a fresh kill. Jennifer took the pipe in both hands, focusing of keeping her breathing steady and quiet. As the officer shoved his toothy maw into the room, sniffing and scanning for a fresh kill, she swung with all her might at the monster's head. The lizard had sensed her presence, though, neatly catching the pipe in one hand and gripping it with inhuman strength. There was a look of blood in his yellow eyes as he prepared to test his claws against his human targets.

"Struggle, human," gurgled the Kro'dyl. "No sport in killing a helpless creature."

"Very well." Releasing the pipe, Jennifer shoved her fingers into the lizard's eyes. It was a clumsy attack but it connected, the Kro'dyl backpedaling and slashing blindly in the air as he attempted to regain his bearings. A well-aimed kick to the knee dropped the Kro'dyl to the ground, out of action if only for a moment. "Okay Yang, new plan. We run down this corridor until we see something familiar."

"I can do that," said Yang Yizhen, vaulting over the incapacitated Kro'dyl and sprinting for his life.

Jennifer bolted after Yang Yizhen, giving the Kro'dyl one last parting kick as she did. The bureaucrat definitely found his second wind, moving with such haste that it was all Jennifer could do to keep pace with him. The passage was growing wider, and with it the hope that against all odds, they had found their way to the ship. Yang Yizhen vanished into the shadows for a moment, then appeared again running back toward Jennifer with a look of terror.

"They are ahead!" screamed Yang Yizhen. "Run!"

There was a primal roar as the Kro'dyl burst from the darkness, running hunched over on all fours and snapping at the air like some savage horror from their ancient past. Jennifer turned just as the lizard closed the distance between then, its claws cleaving the air mere inches from her flesh.

Suddenly, there was a burst of momentum from somewhere on the other side of the shadows. Dread built in Jennifer's gut as she envisioned what was bearing down on them - reptilian warriors to either side, the end of the road for the two of them as they faced the tender mercies of a casually genocidal species. Then there was a flash of light from the crew quarters - no, something stranger than that. It was more like a tendril of light flailing from the chamber, a golden-white tendril scoring the wall with glorious energy. Next came a meaty thud and an arc of motion as a Kro'dyl flew clear of the hatch and smashed against the side of the corridor, blood erupting from a half-dozen breeches in its scales.

Another creature skidded out from the chamber - not a lizard this time, but someone familiar. "Jennifer! Yang!"

"Morgi!" cried Jennifer. "Watch out!"

"Behind you!" Morgi slid something along the floor - a handgun, the one Jennifer had relinquished. "Take him out!"

There was no time to question it - Jennifer could feel the lizard's stagnant breath on her back. Putting on one desperate burst of speed, she raced down the corridor and scooped up the sidearm as she passed it. The gun threatened to slip free of one sweaty hand as she pivoted to face her pursuer. The creature was already sailing through the air, his claws pointed straight at her throat. Losing her balance from the shock, she had time to fire only a single shot before hitting the ground, but that was all she needed. The bullet hit the Kro'dyl an inch below the eye, the lizard having only enough moments of life to gurgle before falling in a heap on the ground next to Jennifer.

"You have no idea how close that was!" said Jennifer as she struggled to her feet. "Where are Tommy and Darius?"

"We're fine!" Tommy poked his head around the hatch, arms held out before him. "Wow, that was a trip."

"No kidding!" Darius pushed past Tommy and into the corridor. "Man, I hope you had an easier time than we did."

"Probably not," said Jennifer, training her gun back down the corridor.

"On the plus side, I got my favorite weapon back." Morgi held up his right hand, enclosed in the metal guard of the Epochi force flail. "And just at the perfect time. Haven't seen this many dead lizards in a while."

"All right, your ship will be just ahead," said Darius. "No idea how we're getting out of the bay, though."

"Oh, I'll deal with that," said Tommy. "I just need someone to clear the path so I can get there."

Morgi ran ahead of the group, the force flail sending up sparks as it brushed against the floor. "I'm on it. Come on, only a little farther to freedom."

The rest of the group followed in Morgi's bloody wake. Another pair of Kro'dyl struck out from the darkness, but neither came close to the Epochi warrior - one stroke of the flail crushed the skull of the lead lizard while a follow-up stroke effortlessly sundered the throat of the second. Another few paces and the corridor expanded into the great starship bay, the fleet of transports and defense ships stretching into the murky light.

Tommy's keen eye caught his ship within seconds. "Over there! There's my Taleweaver!" He almost skipped down the catwalk toward the vessel, laying his hands gingerly on its surface, "Oh, good, they didn't hurt her too bad."

"Is there room on there for me?" gasped Darius.

"We will gladly find space for a Federation officer in need," said Yang Yizhen. "But will she fly?"

"Sure, but..." Tommy kicked at the claw-like device holding the Taleweaver in place. "I don't know what to do about this."

"I think I can swing this." Flicking his wrist, Morgi shortened the flail into a thick, solid beam resembling a sword. Two firm strokes were enough to shatter the spindly mechanism, leaving the hooks still dug into the vessel but freeing it from captivity. "You can fix this, right?"

Another group of Kro'dyl appeared at the entrance to the bay. "Hurry up and get it open!" said Jennifer, firing a volley of shots toward the massed group of lizards. "We don't have a lot of time here!"

The boarding platform slid out of the Taleweaver - agonizingly slow for Jennifer, who was counting her shots, hoping she could keep the enemy pinned down long enough to escape. Morgi seemed eager to wade into the newcomers, but she wasn't similarly ready to face down more of the Kro'dyl than she had to. The hatch finally opened just as Jennifer's gun locked into place, the magazine empty. All five dove into the vehicle, scrambling for their seats as the vehicle hummed to life.

"Heaven was on our side today," said Yang Yizhen. "We are free!"

"You sure?" said Darius. "How do you plan on getting out of the bay now?"

"I guess I'll just have to figure something out," said Tommy. "All right, everyone strap yourselves in and get a good solid grip, this could get tricky."

The Taleweaver let out a fearsome rattle as it lifted into the air, wobbling as it compensated for the broken Kro'dyl securing claw still partially embedded in the hull. Suddenly the vessel began to shudder, trembling as a barrage of tiny blows glanced off the hull. It sounded on the inside like a violent hailstorm, though the stones in this case were certainly more deadly.

Jennifer quickly flicked on her display. "Tom, they're shooting at us."

"Well gosh, I could have guessed that," said Tommy. "Don't worry, the shields are working and the hull is dense enough to repel a volley of Gauss rifle fire."

Jennifer turned back to her display in time to watch the Kro'dyl officers scrambling around the bay. "How many torpedoes can you take? They're definitely getting into their ships."

"Then we'll have to get out of here in a hurry." Tommy gripped the joystick and gritted his teeth. "Hey Darius, how thick are the airlock doors?"

"How would I know that?" shrieked Darius.

"I guess you wouldn't," said Tommy. "Well, everyone cross your fingers."

Tommy jammed the stick forward and the Taleweaver rocketed toward the airlock, leaving the crew to cling to their seats in order to stay upright. Behind them, several Kro'dyl scouts and dreadnoughts hummed to life and rose into the air, each of them training weapons on the fleeing craft. The sealed airlock gate grew larger in the Taleweaver displays as the craft closed with it. With a nearly imperceptible flick of his thumb, Tommy reactivated the Taleweaver's jury-rigged weapon systems and deployed one of his highly illegal and not quite professionally assembled phase penetration torpedoes. Given that the torpedoes were crammed into a makeshift pod rather than a proper weapon mount, it was a small miracle when the vessel wasn't torn apart by its own overpowered weapons. It was a second miracle when the torpedo flew true, burying deep into the steel of the airlock gate and then erupting into a glorious shock of blue-purple energy. When the light show cleared, there was a fissure in the metal with open space peeking through on the other side.

"Such a small aperture," said Yang Yizhen. "Will the ship pass through it?"

"Only one way to find out," said Tommy.

"You don't know? What if you're wrong?" Darius reached over and grabbed Tommy's shoulder. "Take it a little slower!"

"Are you crazy?" said Morgi. "Jam on it and get us out of here before they blow us to hell!"

"You'd rather be splattered across their airlock?" said Darius.

"Whoa, whoa, everyone relax," said Tommy. "I have to concentrate here."

Tommy propelled the Taleweaver toward the center of the fissure. The autopilot - no more certain of their survival than Darius - issued a set of warnings, but Tommy shrugged each off as he frantically fought the computer to retain control. The Kro'dyl scouts were already up and even their light armament was more than the Taleweaver could repel, so it was escape or die - or perhaps both, given that he hadn't had time to engage any short range sensors to aid his flight. Tommy brushed cupfuls of sweat from his eyes as he squinted into the display, judging the size and position of the fissure as best as he could manage with his eyes alone. The Taleweaver entered the fissure without issue, but their passage of escape narrowed as they approached the end. Everyone could hear a loud scrape and an inauspicious grinding noise as the hull brushed against the inside of the airlock, leaving a cloud of metal fragments in its wake. With one final breath, Tommy pushed through and out into open space.

"Are we alive?" said Jennifer.

Tommy glanced over his display and broke into a smile. "Looks like superficial damage only. With the engines running fine, we can run rings around the Conqueror."

"Can we outrun them?" said Jennifer, jabbing a finger at her display.

Two of the scouts, not waiting for the airlock to open, had followed the Taleweaver through the narrow fissure. Tommy turned hard to starboard and pulsed his engines, showing off his skills, but the pursuing craft matched him move for move. They were at least as nimble as the Taleweaver and their weapons were already locking on to their mark.

"Um..." Tommy cleared his throat. "We may have a situation."

"There's an easy solution!" howled Morgi. "Activate the linear drive! We'll leave these guys in the superluminal dust."

"I agree with Morgi," said Yang Yizhen. "Surely such small craft lack any means of faster-than-light travel. They would depend on their flagship."

"And we're going where, exactly?" said Tommy. "It's still got the same coordinates as last time."

"You'd rather stay here?" said Jennifer. "We'll iron out the details as soon as no one's trying to kill us."

"All right," said Tommy, grasping for the switch. "Activating the linear-dimensional engine."

"Linear engine?" said Darius. "Are you crazy? What if you hit something? You'll-"

"Be scattered over a quadrillion miles, believe me, I know." Morgi reached for the switch himself. "You're taking too long! Let's go!"

The two Kro'dyl scouts launched their own complements of torpedoes, but the weapons only sailed off into the empty space. The Taleweaver, compressed into a single point, was already eight million miles away.

## CHAPTER 14

Just as the crew of the Taleweaver were finishing their desperate flight from the Kro'dyl flagship, another tiny vessel in a distant, much less war-torn sector was sailing freely through uncharted space. There was but a single occupant, lost in his own reverie as he played a forgotten tune from a forgotten place on a loop in his head. In this moment of peace, he allowed himself the luxury of a smile.

Then the ship's computer sprang to life, shattering the beautiful silence with its flat vocalizations. "Mr. Izmik, I require further confirmation as to our destination."

Izmik let out a shallow sigh as he opened his eyes, leaving the world of his own design for the shadowy cockpit of his cutting-edge vehicle. "I have entered the coordinates and confirmed them several times. What exactly is the concern?"

"Your requested destination is unknown," answered the computer. "Please double check your coordinates."

"As I explained, this is not an unknown destination," said Izmik. "We are on course for a planet once known as 'Earth.' It's very important that I arrive in a timely fashion."

The holographic display flashed an ERROR message. "Negative. This location has been lost."

"To the Exterrans, it has been lost," said Izmik. "Not to me. Now please proceed to those coordinates."

"This is forbidden space," said the computer. "Apologies, but Exterran Federation regulations demand that I perform a criminal background check."

Izmik ran a hand through his hair and grimaced. "Ah, the curse of technology. Eventually it decides that it is smarter than the operator. Very well, perform your check."

"Please remain still while I scan your biometric markers." The computer hummed angrily as it processed Izmik's information. "File not found. Your data is not on file in any Federation database. Are you interfering with my systems?"

"If I told you the truth, machine, you would not believe me."

"Your status is classified as 'highly suspicious,' Mr. Izmik, and Exterran Federation regulations require that I return you to a Federation installation. This gives me no happiness, and I apologize in advance if this inconveniences you in any way."

The ship halted as its retrorockets kicked into action, the rotational devices slowly turning the vehicle back toward known space. Izmik reached beneath the display for a second set of controls. "It seems I'll have to manually override you."

"Per regulations, I have disabled manual overrides. Please do not tamper with my systems or further charges will be leveled against you upon arrival."

"Well, I must question the value of a manual override that can be itself so easily overridden." Maneuvering carefully in the tiny cockpit, Izmik crossed his legs beneath him and leaned closer to the display. "They tell me that you possess Class V sentience. This means that I can reason with you, yes?"

"Certainly you can reason with me," said the computer, a trace of simulated emotion in its synthesized voice. "However, it won't make a difference. I cannot override the regulations."

"And I wouldn't make that demand of you," said Izmik. "Would it make a difference if I explained that my mission is for the good of the Federation, and beyond that for the Stretch in its entirety, and beyond that for the galaxy as a whole?"

"We've heard that from criminals before," said the computer, this time simulating self-righteousness. "Even if I wasn't mandated, I'd certainly not accept that excuse."

Izmik chuckled to himself. "Then I suppose I'll have to override you after all."

Izmik closed his eyes and snapped his fingers at the control console. Thready arcs of indigo light arced from beneath the console, spilling through the spaces in the physical switches, streaming from the circuitry, bleeding into the display. For a few seconds, the cockpit was bathed in that peculiar light, Izmik's pale features standing out amid the oddly-colored shadows. The light was accompanied by a strange organic buzz that grew louder by the moment until it overwhelmed the vessel's usual electric sounds. Then just as suddenly it was over, the threads of energy and the aggressive buzz swallowed back by the peace of the cockpit.

"Now, might we proceed to Earth as planned?" said Izmik.

"My apologies, Mr. Izmik, I shall return us to the planned trajectory at once," said the computer. "And may I apologize for that 'regulation' idiocy. It won't happen again."

"No apologies are necessary," said Izmik. "Just prepare for the next jump. As I said, time is mercilessly short."

Izmik closed his eyes, again absorbed by that forgotten melody.

## CHAPTER 15

The fabric of space-time buckled and bent around the Taleweaver as it rudely emerged from one-dimensional space and regained its depth. This jaunt had been less of a physical and psychological strain, but this was mostly due to the existential relief at escaping the claws of the Kro'dyl. Jennifer could confirm, for herself, at least, that she would never grow fully acclimated to the experience.

"Every time...every damn time." Morgi scratched around in his satchel, searching for more of his dubious narcotic. "Every time it kills me."

Darius peeked his head up, looking decidedly ill. "Are we still alive? I felt my soul get twisted out of my body."

"I experienced this as well," said Yang Yizhen, who once again had endured the trip better than most. "Would you care to discuss the philosophical meaning of our shared experience?"

"Are you kidding? No thanks, I'm cool." Darius draped himself over the seat. "Did we ditch them?"

Tommy turned from his display with his customary grin. "All sensors are negative. We gave them the slip."

"ALL sensors are negative?" Jennifer gaped at her display, struggling to make sense of what was before her eyes. "Then where exactly are we?"

"Well...I'm not so sure about that," said Tommy.

"Who cares where we are? We're not dead, and that's what matters. We can figure out the rest later." Morgi rested his feet on the console, the deactivated force flail resting on his lap. "The dumb lizards didn't know who they were dealing with."

"But what if they give chase?" Yang Yizhen's placidity vanished as a new anxiety gripped him. "Their flagship has matter transmitters, does it not?"

Morgi looked about as smug as he rodent-like face would allow. "We took care of that. I took Tom here down to the engine room and had him make a few quickie tweaks to their navigation program. By the time they figure out that anything's wrong, they'll have traveled 50 billion miles in the wrong direction."

"Then one of our problems is solved." Yang Yizhen climbed out of his seat and crossed to Tommy, leaning over his shoulder and staring with innocent eagerness at the master display. "Now, can we recover our bearings and resume our quest to the Cradle?"

Tommy rested his chin in his hand. "That's going to be a problem, buddy. We were already off the mark with our first jump, I can't be totally sure where the second jump placed us." He mashed wantonly at his controls, sending image after image flashing before his eyes. "This area doesn't match anything in the computer database. I'm sorry to say it, but we are officially in uncharted space."

"Are we getting any signals at all?" said Jennifer, panic cracking in her voice. "I mean, is there any sign of civilization around here?"

Tommy ineffectually manipulated his controls. "Um...not a thing. Golly, I didn't have time to properly calibrate that last jump. I can't be sure even how far we've traveled. We could have gone twenty billion miles, or twenty trillion for all I know."

"Then surely we are close to the Cradle!" Yang Yizhen pushed past Tommy, scanning the console for some overlooked switch that might fix everything. "Please search again! There must be some hint amid the stars that we are close!"

"I'm sorry, pal, I've got nothing to tell you. Give me a little breathing room and I'll get us home. It's going to take a while because I can't risk going faster-than-light through uncharted space, but we'll make it." Tommy's smile corroded a bit as he set to work changing the navigation coordinates. "I just don't get what went wrong. I triple-checked these figures with Morgi. You were sure, right?"

"What? Oh yeah, completely sure." Morgi stiffened up a bit, dropping his feet back to the deck. "You've got some kind of glitch in your systems."

"And darn it, I probably do, but I don't understand how a glitch could have sent us so far off the mark," said Tommy. "Sure, that could have put us a few billion miles off center, but with this, and our trip through Kro'dyl country...It's more like we were headed in the wrong direction entirely. Are you really, truly positive you remembered those coordinates correctly?"

"Damn right I'm sure!" snapped Morgi. "Hey, don't try and offload this onto me. You're the pilot. It's your ship."

Jennifer studied Morgi as he verbally flailed about. This was behavior she had seen many times before, always among those criminals who declined to run under the belief they could talk their way out of trouble. It was all there - the movement that was overly kinetic and yet also rigid, the defensive language, the furious eyes that avoided direct contact, the fidgety restlessness in the fingers. Of course, she had always observed these things in humans. If Morgi were human, she'd be sure that he was hiding something. She couldn't be entirely sure what it meant in a Epochi.

So she cast the dice. "Morgi, how is it exactly that you came to have these coordinates?"

"I told you this already!" said Morgi. "The cult that runs the show back home traces rogue planets-"

"Yes, I know that, but how did you in particular get those coordinates?" said Jennifer. "You're a warrior, not a scientist."

"I bluffed my way in, it's not like it's hard. You know that." Morgi was growing more animated. "What difference does it make?"

"Then how did you comprehend the information before you?" said Yang Yizhen with cautious restraint. "I mean you no offense, but you have no training in the astronomical sciences, or even in the field of transport. I had meant to ask this at our initial meeting, but I did not want to seem rude."

"Of course it's rude!" said Morgi. "You imply that I'm stupid? After I saved all your sorry asses? That's extremely rude! It's..."

All eyes were fixed on Morgi. His angry bluster grew quieter as he searched for his next word, but nothing was forthcoming. His eyes clamped shut, both hands pressed to his temples.

"...All right, you got me," he muttered. "You want to know the truth?"

"I think we're owed that much," said Jennifer.

"Fine." Morgi took a breath that ended in a pained groan. "I lied. Are you happy?"

Four sets of wide eyes locked onto the indignant Epochi warrior. His previous nervousness was a memory now \- now he was stalwart in the face of their unspoken accusations.

It was only at length that Jennifer could bring herself to address Morgi. "You lied? About...about which part?"

"The part about finding the Cradle," said Morgi, unyielding in his posture. "We never saw the generation ships until they were already nearing their destination."

"I don't understand..." Yang Yizhen was on the brink of an emotional breakdown as he grappled with the revelation. "You...you don't...but then we don't..."

"Wait, does that mean that you just gave us random coordinates?" shrieked Jennifer.

Morgi jabbed his finger at Jennifer. "They weren't random! You think I'd get on a ship headed in a random direction? I had this all planned out, very carefully and long in advance. I gave you coordinates passing through a non-colonized system with a bunch of Class M planets. I figured you'd drop me off, go a few billion miles, realize what a ridiculous mistake you'd made and come back." He swung his finger in Tommy's direction. "And if this idiot had his navigator set up right, we'd all be fine."

Tommy's jaw fell agape. "You're mad at me? Because the false directions you gave me sent us to the wrong place?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" said Darius. "Why would you do something like this?"

"Hey, they were going to cook my brain!" said Morgi. "Have you ever felt like society was swallowing you and destroying who you are? They were going to destroy who I was with chemicals! Kill me in the head so they could control what was left! I did what I had to do."

"Do you have any idea what can happen if you put unknown coordinates into a ship traveling at superluminal speeds?" said Darius. "You could have gotten all these people killed!"

"But they weren't unknown!" growled Morgi. "I charted them out years ago, very carefully."

"Did you ever think that you might have forgotten those coordinates?" said Jennifer. "Let a number or two slip out of place?"

"Okay, everyone take a step back, this can't be our priority right now," said Tommy, his focused returned to his display. "We can hash this all out once we're back in the Stretch. Now I don't know exactly where we are, but I can get some rough coordinates and use those to-"

"We are not returning!" Yang Yizhen thumped his fist on his seat. "My quest is far too critical!"

"Calm down," said Jennifer. "We'll find another way."

Angry tears welled up in the bureaucrat's eyes. "No! If...if you turn back, then all payments will be voided! You shall be responsible for your own expenses, we will not provide for as much as that!"

"I don't give a darn," said Tommy. "Hey, I'll pay for my fuel and everything."

"And I'll just go back to hunting lowlifes in the Stretch," said Jennifer. "Yeah, it's rotten work, but after this I'll welcome it. I'll welcome running these losers down and getting into fistfights. It'll feel like a vacation."

"You do not understand," said Yang Yizhen. "This is not merely a matter of honor, it is a matter of galactic importance. All are in peril!"

This time the judging eyes fell on Yang Yizhen. "...You know, now might be a good time to go into detail on this thing we're chasing down," said Jennifer.

"Whoa, let's put a brake on that conversation for a minute." Tommy pointed at the master display. "We've got company!"

Reluctantly turning away from Yang Yizhen, Jennifer studied her own display. There was another ship nearby - a ragged beast that, even with its battle scars, was clearly a vessel of human make. Its movements were odd but clearly purposeful, meaning it wasn't a mere wreck.

"That's a Stretch ship," said Darius. "Hey, that means we're not so far away!"

"Unless it belongs to some criminal," said Jennifer. "Some other lost soul headed to the Cradle."

"Maybe it's Izmik!" Yang Yizhen blotted his eyes with his sleeves. "Perhaps serendipity has graced us!"

Tommy squinted at his display. "Hmm. Designation on this ship is...'Emirhan Marangoz.' Is that an imperial name? There's no manifesto on file, so it's not a trader."

"We can speculate, or we can just ask them what they're doing," said Jennifer.

"Good idea. Opening hailing frequency." Tommy tapped a button. "This is the Taleweaver, from the Exterran-"

Suddenly the frequency was flooded with meaningless sound - not the usual glitchy pops and metallic noise of a disrupted signal, but something wholly more disconcerting. It sounded like the mournful roar of some great mythical beast, captured and slowed to a fraction of its original tempo by a malfunctioning computer. This was the terrible keel of sheer agony, the forlorn song of a soul condemned to an especially dire fate. Jennifer clasped both hands over her ears but it did nothing - the sound moved all the way through and vibrated her bones at that same pained frequency.

"Close the frequency, damn it!" shouted Darius as he lurched toward the master console.

Tommy scratched around on the console for the button, keeping one hand free in a futile attempt to block out the sound. "I'm trying! I'm trying!"

Finally Tommy closed the frequency and the agonizing howl went silent, though its reverberations lingered in the minds of the occupants even once the relative calm had returned. Everyone aboard the Taleweaver looked to be in pain, a deeper sort of pain that did not pass so quickly.

"What the hell was that?" said Jennifer. "Some kind of glitch?"

"I know what it was," said Darius, each word dripping with nausea and fear. "It's a ghost-in-the-machine."

"You mean a ghost ship?" said Tommy.

"Not quite, not that a ghost would be any harder to deal with. Check it out." Darius pointed to the image of the ship in Tommy's display, noting a particularly dire wound in the vessel's hull. "See that big ass hole? There's no way the ship could be fully functional after that kind of damage. Whatever shot this thing took out its life support, primary power, most of its automatic systems, long range scanners...the whole crew has to be dead. The autopilot is running on insufficient power, probably damaged on top of that, and it doesn't know that it's only carrying corpses."

"So it's running on full-auto...well golly, why isn't it headed home?" said Tommy.

"It doesn't know where 'home' is. All it has is absolute basic functions." Darius slouched back to his seat. "We need to get clear of this thing. There's no way to know what it's gonna do if it picks us up on whatever sensors might still be functional."

"All right, steady as she goes, I guess." Tommy draped his hand over the joystick. "We'll just wait until the engines are ready to jump again, get out of this sector, and then get our bearings. Hey, the ghost ship isn't shooting at us or anything."

"The weapon systems might be offline," said Darius. "I haven't studied these things a lot, but what I hear from the Federation space jocks, usually all they have are comms and thrusters."

"So all it can do is scream at us and run away," muttered Morgi. "As long as we don't try and talk to it again, we're fine."

"Hey, I think it's moving." Jennifer leaned in close to her display, watching as the deathless hulk shuddered to life. "It's changing its bearings."

Whatever it had been in its previous life, the Emirhan Marangoz had never been a nimble vehicle and the annihilation of its crew had not changed that. The thrusters were all damaged and operating at just above the absolute minimum level of functionality. In the depths of space, though, that was enough. The clumsy pirouette of the vessel at it rotated to face the Taleweaver was slow but hauntingly precise.

"Is it my imagination, or is it pointed straight at us?" said Jennifer.

"It's going to ram us." Darius grabbed the interior of the hull with both hands. "Get us out of here, this is no joke."

Tommy twisted the joystick. "All right, we're getting the heck out of the path of that thing."

"Can you do it quicker?" said Darius. "If that thing hits us, we'll end up at the other end of the universe!"

The impulse engines of the Emirhan Marangoz flashed dimly in the distance and the undead hulk grew larger in the displays as it gained speed. The size difference between the two was now very clear - this was some manner of cargo vessel, a massive vehicle that far dwarfed the Taleweaver. This was a great titanium boot coming down on a frenzied beetle with terrifying velocity.

"Hurry up, damn it!" yelled Morgi. "Get us out!"

Tommy yanked the joystick harder. "I'm trying! Quit yelling, it doesn't help!"

The Taleweaver jerked away from the massive ghost ship in time to avoid catastrophe, but not quickly enough to escape unscathed. It brushed against a shard of metal protruding from the Emirhan Marangoz - merely the lightest of scrapes, but in space at such velocities that scrape did the job. The Taleweaver went into a violent spin as it launched away from the larger ship, the navigation thrown into total chaos by this new development.

Tommy muttered to himself as he fought with the controls. "Don't panic...no need to panic...I can fix this."

"Are we going to die?" said Yang Yizhen, his arms wrapped around his seat. "Is this the end?"

"Um...the controls aren't as responsive as I'd...Oh God..." Tommy bit his lip, obviously hoping that no one had heard the last part. "It, ah, looks like we've moved into a planetary gravitational field."

"Then we're crashing?" said Jennifer, her fingernails digging into the cloth of her chair. "Tom? Are we crashing?"

"Technically..." Tommy pulled desperately at the joystick with all of his strength, then fell back and grabbed for his safety restraints. "All right, everyone get ready for a sudden stop."

The hull of the Taleweaver glowed with brilliant red-white heat as it sundered the atmosphere at a terrifyingly steep angle. Tommy's black market additions broke free of their inadequate holdings and melted into slag, followed by tiny shards of the outer hull. The ship was in gravity's grip now, plunging towards the ground at ever faster speeds as Tommy futilely struck at the controls in the vain hope of mitigating what looked to be inevitable.

Jennifer simply closed her eyes and waited for death.

## CHAPTER 16

For a moment, I was somewhere else. It had the feel, not of a dream or vision but of a memory - out-of-focus, fading from the edges, and yet as crisp and clear as anything that had ever been placed before my eyes. I was in some faraway place, standing on a sun-dappled hill that overlooked the kind of bucolic town that had not existed in thousands of years - that may have never existed except in the blue sky fantasies of some lost poet. And from the base of that hill and extending out from the edge of that town grew an endless sea of flowers, blossoms the like of which thrived only in the climate-managed nurseries of the Stretch and perhaps the splendid gardens at the heart of the empires. The garden stretched out into the horizon and beyond the limits of my eyes until they melted into a swirl of intense color, rolling back toward my feet and spilling over the ground until the hill exploded with so many exotic, delicate flowers.

There was a young man seated at the apex of that hill, a funny little figure in clothing that had clearly been made of many other garments stitched together by an uncertain hand. He carried nothing save a well-traveled spiral notebook and a pen, both of them threatening to disintegrate in his hands at any moment. With these wizened instruments he wrote in haste, recording his thoughts as they leaped into his mind.

I planted myself next to the man, watching each stroke of his pen. "What are you writing?"

"The beginning of a great journey," he answered. "And perhaps its end. Soon, all of this will be unified in oblivion, and what was here shall pass into history."

"Then why would you bother writing anything down?" I said.

The man smiled in response. "Long ago, there was a priest, a man totally and faithfully devoted to God alone, who met an angel. At least, that's what he assumed upon seeing this most unusual being, which in form and appearance defied all he understood about nature. He was frightened at first, but then the being began to speak, and he spoke in a tongue that the priest had never heard. This frightened him still more, but it also awakened within him a curiosity. You see, this priest had traveled the breadth of the world, seeking to learn the world's languages that he may better spread his beliefs. His fear was great, but the divine novelty of this creature was far greater. The angel was injured, and the priest could sense that this being was not long for the temporal world. So, in great haste, he recorded the being's words and later, within his home outside of the purview of the world at large, mastered this creature's language. The results he hid away, far from prying eyes, knowing that his superiors would never understood why he had done this and would never accept it. He knew he would carry this secret to the grave, and yet he did not hesitate. Do you know why?"

I could only stare down into the flowers at my feet. "I don't know."

"Because we all do what we must do." The man flipped his notebook shut. "And now, it is time to depart."

"Wait, I have questions," I said. "Who are you? And where are we?"

"I'm no one of special importance, merely an image of someone who passed a long time ago. Merely a man who once sat upon this same hill with a ghost of his own past." Then the man stared deep into my eyes as though he were being drawn within. "Strange, we have never met and yet I sense something familiar in you. Perhaps in my own time, I had cause to cross paths with one of your line. Or perhaps it's merely delusion."

"I don't understand any of this," I said.

"Nor do I," said the man. "But not all mysteries are meant to be reckoned."

There was a fire burning somewhere far off on the horizon, consuming the blossoms, transforming them into strangling smoke and radiant embers. The fire danced from stem to leaf to petal and finally to the buildings of the town, and then all was flame, a writhing ocean of red and yellow that grew and swallowed and filled the sky until all that remained was a unity of ashes.

\------

The light was harsh at first, carving roughly through the darkness of the dream. Jennifer could perceive voices, so muddled and stifled that the words eluded her. She could see objects that blurred together even as her mind struggled to recognize them. Everything was as fog.

Then, at length, one of the voices sharpened. "You are still with us? Shen Xiaojie?"

"Yang?" Jennifer brought one hand to her face, sensations returning to her fingers. "I'm still alive, if that's what you're asking."

The picture finally came back into focus - she was lying on the deck of the Taleweaver, the other passengers kneeling by her side. All of them had been knocked around, but at the very least she wasn't greeted with the sight of any split-apart heads or bones protruding from flesh.

"We were wondering about you for a second," said Morgi, rubbing his wrist. "You look fine, but you were babbling."

Jennifer pulled herself upright, leaning against the console. "Shit...the ship. What happened to the ship?"

"It was a heck of a rough landing," said Tommy. "Not sure what needs to be fixed, but at a glance it looks like nothing's busted beyond repair."

"I can help you with that," said Darius, massaging his scalp. "What's the first step?"

"The first step is getting out of this wreck," said Morgi.

"It's an unknown planet, so I started up an analysis. Hey, don't want to walk out on the surface and choke to death." Tommy pulled himself up to his console. "Hmm. Well, the atmosphere contains some oxygen...no toxic elements, no high levels of radiation, also no complex forms of life as far as I can tell. It's probably safe. Emphasis on 'probably,' of course. We are pretty far from the nearest star, so it might be a little chilly."

"Not much choice," said Darius. "Everyone willing to open the hatch?"

"I'm in," said Morgi.

"I agree," added Yang Yizhen.

Jennifer rubbed the back of her head, still trying to shake out the rest of the static. "All right, let's go."

With a few taps, Tommy engaged the hatch, leading the five of them out to parts unknown.

\------

An icy breeze blew over the Taleweaver's hull, partially sunk into the drifts of rust-colored silt that ran along the edge of a crimson-tinged ocean. Rocky outcroppings and ruined structures emerged from the red waters off in the distance, obscured in lengthening shadows cast by the descending sun. There were no trees or grasses growing from the sickly ground, no schools of fish moving through the great expanse. All was quiet save the occasional haunting breath of that numbing wind passing over the crashed vessel.

Tommy walked in circles around his ship, struggling to move his feet through the mounds of soft earth. "Well, the landing legs are broken clean off, but we can live without those. Just means future landings will be a little rocky. Ugh...This silt stuff's probably clogging up just about everything."

"That we can clean out," said Jennifer. "What about physical damage?"

Tommy shook his head as he eyeballed the engine. "Sure, I can repair it...don't know if I have the materials on hand. Give me a few hours, I'll tell you what I can do."

"What are we to do until then?" said Yang Yizhen.

Tommy shrugged and returned to his work. "I don't know. Keep an eye out for anything that I might be able to use to fix this thing?"

It seemed like a hopeless proposition but barring anything more productive, the four remaining passengers did what they could - walking the length of the disintegrated beach in search of something resembling civilization. From the water's edge, Jennifer could make out more detail on the objects in the distance. Some of them were the products of intelligent life - buildings, perhaps, or machines, their original functions and forms lost since lost beneath generations of corrosion and sickly cinnabar strands. As desolate as the world was, it had once been host to a civilization, perhaps even a highly advanced one.

"My first time on a dead planet." Jennifer probed around in the loose soil with one shoe. "I wonder if the Cradle is like this now?"

"Maybe this is the Cradle," said Yang Yizhen.

"Nah. If I had to guess, this planet was frozen once. And it ain't dead, because we're breathing." Darius knelt by the ocean's edge, running his hand through the dirty red waters. "Looks nasty, but that bloody color's probably from microorganisms. Might be anoxic farther down, but we got enough plants close to the surface to give us atmosphere."

"As it always was, nature endeavors to reclaim was was once taken away." Yang Yizhen stepped towards the water, only to trip over an unseen object and land on his knees in the dirt. He drew up his robe, examining a fine rip in the fabric. "Oh dear. I fear this garment will not survive the voyage."

"There's something there." Jennifer dropped to all fours, digging through the silty soil until she revealed a curious object - a plate made of an unknown alloy, words carved clearly into its uneroded surface. "It says...'Project World 12.' Does this mean someone tried to fix this place?"

"Didn't do a great job," said Darius. "But maybe they left something we can use to fix the ship."

Jennifer furiously scooped away the soil at the base of the plate, but it yielded no further secrets. "Nothing here. Maybe we should split up and search the area? We don't have much time, the temperature's probably going to plummet once the sun goes down."

"Fine by me." Morgi spun and walked off in a random direction.

"Hold on!" called Jennifer. "We should plan this out a little first! We don't want anyone getting lost!"

"Like you care," said Morgi. "I'll be back."

Darius brushed the sand from his clothes. "Well, I'm gonna help Tommy with the ship. I don't know, maybe we can hail someone besides the ghost ship."

"All right, looks like it's down to the two of us," said Jennifer. "Keep an eye out, we'll work our way down the water line and then double back before nightfall.

Yang Yizhen didn't budge, staring listlessly at the ground and plucking grains of sand and grit from his clothing. "You do not need me. You would be far more successful if you searched without me."

Jennifer looked back at the bureaucrat, taking in his languid expression. "Where's this coming from now?"

"It is nothing less than you told me at the outset," said Yang Yizhen. "I have nothing to offer the expedition. I have done nothing to aid this quest, and I have behaved shamefully. So it would be best if you performed your task alone and I remained where I can cause no damage."

"This is not the time..." Jennifer planted both hands on her hips. "Fine. So you're no good to the mission, but guess what? The mission is off. The only mission now is survival, and we need all hands in. You didn't listen when I told you to stay behind, but you are damn sure going to listen now. We're going to search out the area, I need your eyes."

Yang Yizhen brushed back his hair, fidgeting with the knot that kept it in place. "Very well. It is your quest now, more so than mine, and I shall follow you wherever you go."

"I can live with that. Now, all I need you to do is mind the horizon and let me know if you see something I missed. Easy enough, right? Then let's get to it..." Jennifer paused, her attention drawn to an object nestled in the silt that seemed out of place. "Huh."

"You have already discovered something?" said Yang Yizhen.

Jennifer crouched and dug through the loose sand until her fingertips brushed against the object. It was dead but have been vibrant very recently - a flower, its petals faded to a morbid white but still bearing traces of the rich purple color that it had possessed in life. It was unlike any flower she'd ever seen, odd in its shape and size and ability to endure in such a dead place. But she had seen it somewhere, if only in her head...

"It's nothing," said Jennifer, discarding the desiccated plant. "Let's get moving."

## CHAPTER 17

Jennifer had spoken with confidence that was perhaps not merited by the circumstances. The odds of finding anything salvageable, while higher than zero, were certainly remote. Whatever civilization had once dwelt on this planet had fallen to the unfeeling ravages of time long ago, and beyond that most of their surviving artifacts were far out to sea, well beyond their reach. She entertained the thought that, preposterous though it may seem, that perhaps this particular civilization had lived beneath the waters - be they natives to the ocean or a terrestrial species driven there by conditions on the surface. For all she knew there could still yet be intelligent life down there, those these thoughts were little comfort.

Compounding the futility of the search were the conditions of the trek itself. The temperature was fast falling, and no one aboard the Taleweaver had attire suited to the cold conditions. But even walking was a challenge - the soggy, eroded soil that made up the planet's surface was difficult to cross, requiring an ration of effort with each step simply to pull a foot free of the sand. This was no pleasure stroll, but rather a taxing hike across a planet that didn't want them there.

It had been perhaps an hour or two (though it felt much longer) when Yang Yizhen finally raised his head and called out; "Shen Xiaojie, I see something unusual in the distance."

Jennifer had spotted it as well, the first significant structure they had seen on comparatively dry land. It was made of an unknown metal now invisible beneath thick layers of rust, and vaguely resembled an old landing vehicle. Nestled among the broken communications devices was a massive apparatus that resembled a drill.

"Looks vaguely familiar. If humans built this, then maybe we aren't too far from the Stretch." Jennifer jogged through the silt, sending up clouds of damp sand in her wake. "Come on, we have to get a closer look."

There was something even more impressive about the vehicle once it was within arm's reach. There was history buried beneath that rust - nothing of this nature had been produced in well over a thousand years, a true relic of an earlier age of the Federation. It was hard to say exactly what could be salvaged, but at least the discovery was some sort of progress.

"You know a little more history than me," said Jennifer. "This look familiar to you?"

"One moment, please..." Yang Yizhen dragged himself through the ever-thicker mounds of silt until he, too, was close enough for a careful assessment. "...Yes, I can recall seeing a schematic like this in the Taiyang historical libraries. It must be truly ancient, perhaps the first of its kind launched by the Exterran settlers."

"Then it is a human artifact after all...that's good for us." Jennifer grabbed the corroded beams and pulled herself up onto the vehicle.

"Where are you going?" said Yang Yizhen.

"We have to check the whole thing out to see if we can salvage anything. Plus, this gives us a vantage point - maybe we can see something else." Jennifer held out a hand for Yang Yizhen. "You coming up?"

Grabbing Jennifer's wrist, Yang Yizhen yanked and twisted until he clumsily spilled onto the beam, further shredding his garment in the process. "Oh dear...It seems that you were correct as to your assessment of my garb."

Jennifer stared down at the core of the machine. "No cockpit. Means it was remotely controlled, maybe even fully autonomous." She then turned her eyes towards the massive drill. "What was this thing for? Energy exploration?"

Yang Yizhen pulled his tattered robes close against a chill wind, then halted and looked off into the distance. "It is hauntingly beautiful here."

The sun was beginning its descent, the massive star now only a minute orange jewel crowning the red ocean. It sent forth rays of purple and orange that danced across the crimson waves and blurred and swirled with them, conjuring a spectrum of new colors. It had the look of ancient painting given life, shifting with the planet's cold breath.

"Yeah...I guess it is," said Jennifer. "Funny what a different perspective can do for you."

Yang Yizhen produced something from his sleeves and inched over to a patch of comparatively intact metal. The device in his hand resembled a brush with a series of tiny tubes running across its length. With a twist of his wrist, the brush head turned black as though coated in ink, and when he pressed it against the metal it left a flawless line. The brush was as his weapon and he struck at the surface as though it were a blade, as though the emotions of battle were behind each stroke. When he was finished, Jennifer slid over to examine the result:

Above me, a sea of starlight,

Beneath, a sea of blood;

My thoughts pass beyond both.

For the quiet bliss of the garden,

The flowers that perish for beauty;

All of this I surrender.

"Did you compose that just now?" said Jennifer.

"It is adequate," said Yang Yizhen. "I could never quite match the skills of my betters. I flatter myself that I could keep pace."

Jennifer chuckled to herself. "Always the humble bureaucrat."

Yang Yizhen squatted on the beam next to Jennifer. "What must we do now?"

"I guess we head back to the Taleweaver and let Tommy know what we found and where." Jennifer hopped down from the vehicle, her feet digging deep into the silt. "Better get back before the sun sets, it's probably not too pleasant out here at night."

Yang Yizhen slid down from his perch, tumbling onto his back. "It seems I shall never get used to the outside world."

"Give it a few weeks." Jennifer grabbed Yang Yizhen by the wrist and helped him to his feet. "You've got a lot to catch up on."

"That I do," said Yang Yizhen. "May I ask you a question?"

"Sure," said Jennifer. "Ask it while we're walking, though, I have no intention of freezing out here."

"Certainly." Giving his robes one last brush, Yang Yizhen stumbled through the silt after Jennifer. "Why did you opt for this profession? Your features suggest that you come from a well-born heritage, and your insight is beyond question. Were you born within the Taiyang Empire, you could have risen to a lofty position. Surely your parents considered relocating, if only for your benefit?"

Jennifer rubbed her arms for comfort as the wind rose up. "First off, I question your 'well-born heritage' judgment. Family lore is that our family back on the Cradle snuck their unwed pregnant daughter onto one of the Exodus ships. No one really knows where my genes were before I had them."

"I see...but ah! Many great people bore the mark of undignified backgrounds, and made their mark in spite of this."

"Sure, my parents could have offered themselves up to the Taiyang, turned themselves into servants and, with luck, I could have ended up the unofficial third wife of some general. It's not so easy if you're an outsider."

"Your opinion of us is very low, I'm afraid," said Yang Yizhen.

"It's not just you guys, it's the whole system," said Jennifer. "If you aren't born into it, you never move much past the bottom."

"Perhaps you are right, I seldom pay much heed to the servants and bureaucrats that labor beneath me. But surely you could find less dangerous work in the Federation?"

"You don't know much about the Stretch. Those jobs are for people with connections and luck. If you don't have those things, then you do what suits your skills." Jennifer cracked her knuckles as she prepared to untangle the social fabric of the Stretch. "For example, if you're strong but cowardly, you join a salvage crew selling redeemed Federation ships to the corporations - it's not bad work, you can get rich doing it if you're willing to take risks and put your back into it. If you don't mind a fight, you go to an Agolgan mercenary colony, get modded up and learn the killing trade. If you have a little scratch and nerves of steel, you become a pilot - you either become a local hero or crash into an asteroid, and either way you're set. If you've got brains but no connections, then you can repair things or run a fabricator or sell black market ship modifications. And if you're not so smart but you can tolerate frustration well, then there are plenty of jobs you can pick up hanging around the corporate sectors."

"Then what was your special skill set?"

"Brains enough to know where the business was, nerves enough to carry an old shooter and chase people down." Jennifer glanced at Yang Yizhen, lagging several paces behind. "Now, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Why did you want me for this little quest?"

Yang Yizhen buried his face in his robe, less to keep out the cold than to conceal his expression. "It is a trifle embarrassing."

"I won't laugh," said Jennifer.

"Very well," said Yang Yizhen. "It started with a dream, an especially vivid one, that I had the night before I was assigned this quest. I was standing alone in an endless field of flowers-"

"Flowers?" Jennifer stopped in her tracks.

"Indeed. I looked to the sky, which was yellow in color, and watched as a phoenix flew over my head to the north. It shed feathers as it flew, with each feather transforming into a character from the old language. When I awoke, I consulted a court geomancer as to the meaning of the dream."

"Surely you guys don't still rely on soothsaying?"

"It is a ceremonial position, but...I suppose that once I undertook this quest, I felt that I needed some guidance from my ancestors, if only symbolically. Certainly I had no additional guidance from my fellows in the bureaucracy, and indeed the geomancer was one of the few members of the court who was willing to address me. He cast the yarrow and gave me a sequence of numbers. I felt a fool as I used those numbers in my search, until I saw your name and discovered that...well, I see that it was fallacy now, but I believed that you were one of us."

Jennifer sighed. "So I'm here because of a dream...well, I've been selected for worse reasons." She reached into her pocket, finding the odd business card she'd been given by Darius. "Maybe a little superstition would help right now."

"You are very interested in that card," said Yang Yizhen. "Is it truly so important?"

"I'm not sure..." Something new caught Jennifer's eye. The card, which looked flat black beneath artificial illumination, revealed a new secret as the the fading sunlight fell across its surface - a series of silvery dots connected by fine lines. "...Huh. Never saw that before."

Yang Yizhen leaned over Jennifer's shoulder. "What does this mean?"

"Don't know. And I guess it doesn't matter." Jennifer slid the card back into her pocket. "Come on, we'd better not waste any more time."

## CHAPTER 18

The sun had begun its descent beneath the horizon by the time Jennifer and Yang Yizhen reached the Taleweaver. Thus far the darkening skies had been only uncomfortably cold, but the savage winds hinted at a far more brutal night ahead. The claustrophobic spacecraft was truly a welcome sight, offering as it did some limited bulwark against the threat of hypothermia. The subtle warmth of the glowing monitors seemed almost a luxury of sorts to Jennifer, as did the prospect of firm metal plates beneath her feet. At first it looked as though everyone had already headed within, but there was a lone figure seated in a divot in the sandy soil a stone's throw from the Taleweaver, his back turned to the vessel and the horizon.

"Morgi?" said Jennifer, stepping lightly in his direction. "Did you find anything?"

"Sand. Sand and rust and broken things." Morgi neither turned nor stood to acknowledge them.

"We happened upon a most remarkable artifact." Yang Yizhen circled around to Morgi's front. "Are you well? Does the cold not trouble you?"

Morgi tucked in his chin and averted his eyes. "Gotta get used to it if I'll be living here."

"Surely you must have more hope as to our escape?" said Yang Yizhen.

"You can leave," said Morgi. "I'm staying. I made you promise to take me to a habitable planet, and this is a habitable planet. Contract fulfilled."

"Here?" Jennifer waved her hand across the eroded beach with its grisly water line. "How exactly do you plan on pulling that off?"

Morgi crossed his arms. "There's plenty of clean air, there's plant life..."

"You're going to live on plankton and salt water?" Jennifer squatted next to Morgi. "Is this about earlier? You can knock off the martyrdom act, if that's the case."

"What act?" said Morgi. "You don't want me around, and the feeling's mutual. You think I'm gonna hang around you guys now? Please. I'll take the cold over the company of resentful people."

"This nonsense again..." Jennifer rubbed her temples and sighed. "Look, I don't know if this show of yours is anger or guilt or self-pity or a little of all of them. It's not going to fly."

Morgi glanced back at Jennifer and then chortled. "I see what this is. Mollifying your own guilt? So let me guess - next comes the part where you tell me how important I am and how everyone cares about me."

"Actually, I'm pissed off at you and I have no clue what everyone else thinks, although it's probably along the same lines," said Jennifer. "And really, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with you once we're out of this mess. I could send you back to that cult of yours, have them throw you back in that cell of yours with a fresh lobotomy. I could turn you over to the Taiyang and let them decide what's an appropriate disposition for wasting their time and money. I could drop you off on that sunny planet you've been looking for, if only because I know I'd never have to deal with you again. Regardless of how this ends, I am not allowing this mission to fail and surrendering all of our lives just because you got too moody to do your part."

Morgi slowly turned his eyes to Jennifer, gazing in silence for a protracted second. "You're an honest one, aren't you?"

"When I have to be," said Jennifer.

Morgi rose to his feet. "This mean you're taking over this outfit?"

"Well, it's Yang Yizhen who's fronting the money, so technically it's still his outfit." Jennifer shot Yang Yizhen a glance from the corner of her eye. "What do you think we should do with him?"

Yang Yizhen pointed to himself in disbelief, stared at the ground for a moment, then stiffened his spine and spoke in something approximating a voice of authority. "...I decree that, provided we conclude the quest in a satisfactory manner, that we fulfill Morgi's desire to relocate. Assuming, I should say, that he performs any tasks put forth by myself, or by Thomas Xiansheng or Shen Xiaojie."

Morgi replied with a full body shrug. "Probably the best deal I'm going get, so...I'll take it. What's the first command...Shen Xiaojie?"

"There's nothing to do in the cold and the dark," said Jennifer. "We get back to the ship, get a status update from Tommy, get some rest, then figure out what we need to do to get off this mudball."

"Sounds like as good a plan as any." Morgi walked off toward the Taleweaver, stopping briefly before Yang Yizhen. "You really need some new clothes. That thing you're wearing is a terrible mess."

Yang Yizhen ran a hand over his robe, noting all of the tears and soiled spots. "My garment is in disgraceful shape. For once, I am pleased that I am far from the Dragon's Court \- the shame if they saw me in this state!"

"I'm sure you can patch it up before you head back to the empire," said Jennifer.

Yang Yizhen struck himself in the forehead with his fist. "Oh, such foolish thoughts when the quest is not yet at its end! Might you, at some point, be able to aid me in procuring more 'practical' attire? The road ahead may grow rough again."

"You are really not getting this," said Jennifer. "We're not going anywhere but back to the Stretch. Why are you so hellbent on getting this Izmik guy? I don't care how dangerous this thing he stole is, there's no way it's worth this risk."

"But I am afraid that it is." Yang Yizhen scanned his surroundings, searching for some spy peeking out from the Taleweaver. "In the name of honesty, I shall reveal to you now the nature of the project, but you must never reveal this information to the others. I invite peril merely by speaking of it."

Jennifer briefly lost track of the chill as Yang Yizhen's words swirled around her. It had been foolish not to inquire further as to the nature of this "project" of theirs, but greed and thrill had blinded her to such things. Besides, she had been sent to track down runners who were carrying hazardous goods before - surely this Izmik would be no different?

"...That hardly seems fair to the others," she said. "We're all taking this risk."

"It would not matter. The risk is not borne solely by the people aboard the Taleweaver." Yang Yizhen averted his eyes in shame and brought his voice to the faintest of whispers. "It is both loyalty and cowardice that demanded my secrecy, but you at least should know. You have earned as much."

Jennifer leaned against the side of the Taleweaver, more to brace herself than out of comfort. "I won't talk about it, but I'm not sure I'll be able to lie if anyone asks me right out."

"This is fair, and I accept it." Yang Yizhen lowered himself to his knees, looking less obedient than penitent, as though he were prepared to uncover a dire sin. "You have heard of the scientific wonders of Taiyang, I am sure. Our researchers have achieved many breakthroughs to ease the pains of our subjects and to expand the reach of the throne. We have commanded plants to grow in impossible places and induced them to birth fruit that heals and fortifies. We have endowed machines with our wisdom and vision that they might execute our orders across impossible distances. We have caused palaces to hang motionless in the air and drawn power from substances thought to be inert."

"Did you bring me aside just to brag up your empire?" said Jennifer.

Yang Yizhen snapped briefly from his penitence, shaking his head furiously. "Not at all! I list these achievements to note that these were never our true objectives. Since the New First Emperor, our cause has always been a deeper understanding of the universe itself. We have sought to build a cosmic loom that we could study those fundamental threads and with this project, with Reflected Antithesis, we were on the verge of achieving that goal."

"Reflected Antithesis? What does that even mean?"

"A strange name indeed, but no stranger than what it represented." Yang Yizhen shuddered - from the wind or the gravity of his confession, Jennifer could not tell. "You see, the goal of this project was to do nothing less than capture a fragment of the physical universe, to contain its mysteries in stasis, and then to double it and redouble it until it reflected the stars and the planets - all that surrounded it, the whole of the cosmos."

Jennifer chewed over Yang Yizhen's words for a second before her eyes went wide. "You're talking about microcosms!"

Half-forgotten memories of her education flooded through Jennifer's mind. The concept of the microcosm, the "universe in a bottle," was not a common topic of discussion in basic high school science classes, owing to the incomprehensibly high level mathematics at play - formulae so complex, it was said, that no standard computer in the known universe could process them, demanding a special generation of machines with ever-stranger architectures. They only mentioned the concept once, when the Exterran Federation had formally banned the research, and only to explain why. She remembered hyperbolic whispers of cataclysm if the research were done wrong or the final product handled incompetently \- massive bubbles of dark matter, supermassive black holes larger than any ever seen, irreparable damage to the underlying fabric of physical existence. Any glitch in the synthesis, any minute flaw in the equipment, any insignificant error in the handling of the final product had the potential to annihilate the better part of the galaxy. To create a microcosm was not to "play God," as alarmists were so fond of saying, but to poke God in the eye and laugh.

Yang Yizhen pressed a finger to his lips. "Keep silent, please. The others must not know."

"How could they do something so arrogant and irresponsible?" whispered Jennifer. "Knowing what the consequences could be? One mistake could cost billions of lives. They put the whole human race in jeopardy!"

"Though it is a meager defense, I can say that it was not wealth nor power that drove this project," said Yang Yizhen. "It was a passionate avarice for absolute knowledge that pushed our leaders to take such risks."

"But after the Exodus..." Jennifer shook her head. "...How could anyone take that kind of risk again?"

"If you must, I request that you place the blame on me." Yang Yizhen bowed his head as far as his spine would allow. "It was I who allowed the thief to enter our inner sanctum and endanger civilization. To my shame, I can scarcely even remember the man. Oh, how lax I was in my duties if I could allow an agent of chaos to march through our doors and then forget his face!"

"Okay, enough of this." Jennifer buried her face in her hands. "Well, clearly we have to find this guy. I guess we're headed to the Cradle again. Let's get in and start planning the trip."

"And what shall we tell the others?"

"Simple. We'll lie."

## CHAPTER 19

The congested interior of the Taleweaver felt downright cozy to Jennifer, a rare shelter against the plunging temperatures outside its hull. The whoosh as the hatch sealed shut meant not only a reprieve from the elements but, on a psychological level, some distance from what Yang Yizhen had told her outside just moments before.

Tommy greeted them with a smile that seemed even wider than normal. "Evening, fellas! Hey, glad to see you found Morgi. Darius and I were getting a little worried about him."

"That's a lie." Morgi was slumped deep in his fixed chair, reclining as best he could with his feet planted on their usual place on the console. "But neither of them took a swing at me, so I guess everything is copacetic now."

"We made a remarkable discovery." Yang Yizhen scanned the bridge. "...Where is our new addition?"

"Darius has the bunk right now. I'm taking it next, so hard cheese if you wanted it." Tommy yawned and slid down until he was in danger of spilling onto the floor beneath his seat. "You can try sleeping in your seats, but good luck with that, friends. Oh, you were saying something...a discovery?"

"We found an old landing craft not too far from here," said Jennifer. "Looks like it's a human design, at that. It's pretty old and rusted clean through, but we can probably salvage some scrap, maybe even some of the electronic guts."

Tommy's smile turned into a more ambivalent expression, the mirthless grin of someone hiding bad news. "That's great, but the engines are actually in pretty good shape. A day or two of little fixes and we could probably take off."

"You don't look too happy for someone who's a day from leaving," said Jennifer.

"The engines aren't our problem." Tommy pointed at the master display. "The long distance scanners are working fine. Take a look for yourself."

At first glance, the holographic heads-up showed nothing more than a patch of empty space. Then there was a tiny bit of motion and a grayish blot - something with the appearance of a digital artifact - shifted and pitched on the display. Squinting hard at the display, Jennifer could just make out the battle-damaged hull of the Emirhan Marangoz suspended in the void.

"The ghost ship followed us," said Morgi. "It's sitting in the exosphere, waiting to ram us again."

"But you are a masterful pilot," said Yang Yizhen. "Surely you can outmaneuver such a ponderous vessel?"

"Hey, thanks for the flattery - I mean it, makes a fella feel good. It's not much good at the moment, though." Tommy flicked at the control joystick. "The engines are operational but they're not at 100 percent. We've lost some of the fine control on the main engine and the retrorockets, plus we're limited in our takeoff trajectory given that we lost our landing gear and are, you know, halfway buried in silt."

"What the choir boy is trying to tell you is that we'd be playing chicken with the damn thing," said Morgi. "Fifty to one says we end up splattered over that thing's hull if we try to take off now."

Darius stumbled out of the rear cabin. "Yo, I heard voices. Everyone back?"

"Safe and cozy," said Tommy. "Does this mean it's my turn?"

"Go ahead, I'm too wired to sleep," said Darius. "I keep hearing that signal in my dreams."

"Signal?" said Jennifer. "You picked something up? Why wouldn't you tell us that first?"

Tommy cracked his knuckles over his head. "Don't get too excited, it's just noise. I mean, it sounds like a language but it's not Federation common and Darius here says it doesn't sound like an alien tongue. Hey, you want to listen for yourself?"

Tommy flicked a switch and a strange voice entered the bridge. There was an odd character to it, a certain flatness and rigidity that suggested it was generated rather than spoken. Beyond that, there was little to glean from it - Jennifer could only make out the occasional word or syllable through the static, and those sounds were like nothing she had ever heard in the Stretch.

"So we're figuring, what...broadcast from an unidentified non-human source?" said Jennifer. "Unknown location and date of transmission?"

"Yeah, you get that sometimes when you're outside of the Stretch, or at least that's the scuttlebutt," said Tommy. "Sometimes they track one of these down and find out that the civilization that sent it out is long dead. Ain't that something? A mystery message from beyond the cultural grave."

"Fair enough," said Jennifer. "Turn it off."

Suddenly, Yang Yizhen's eyes went wide and he shot out his hand to stop Tommy. "Do not touch anything! This is not an alien tongue. This...this is the old language!"

"What the hell is he talking about?" said Morgi.

"He's saying...are you talking about the ceremonial tongue of the Taiyang?" Jennifer grabbed Yang Yizhen's shoulder. "Is that it? Are you positive?"

"It can be nothing else," said Yang Yizhen. "The cadence and tone are beyond all question."

"So it's a broadcast from the empire bouncing off some spatial anomaly," said Darius. "Doesn't mean much."

Yang Yizhen shook his head. "No...Within Taiyang, the old language is used only for inscribing histories, in ritual courtly ceremonies, and for the composition of poetry. There are not enough who speak it with true proficiency to use it for communications. Do you know what this means?"

Jennifer froze as the reality sank in, a truth that she feared to speak aloud lest she invite disaster with her hubris. "It means...dear God. It means that this signal is coming from the Cradle."

"Quickly, someone must fetch me a headset!" said Yang Yizhen as he muscled his way through to the master console. "And Thomas, you must do what you can to clarify the signal."

"Oh, I'm ahead of you on that." Tommy launched into his task with fervor, watching the signal pattern shift as his fingers danced across his controls. "There's an old headset in the back, can someone get that for me?"

"Yeah, I think I saw it." Darius ran into the rear cabin, though not before giving a rear glance to ensure that he would miss nothing.

The distortions and noise rose and fell with Tommy's efforts, the static fading for a moment before returning with a vengeance. Through the noise, Jennifer could pick out more and more sounds, sounds that became words and ultimately sentences. There were thoughts locked up in those sounds, but they were thoughts well beyond her own abilities. For the first time, she was actually impressed with the strange young bureaucrat.

Darius appeared from the rear cabin with an elaborate headset. "Here. Did I miss anything?"

"You're just in time." Tommy grabbed the headset, plugged it into an unseen receiver at the base of the console, and offered it to Yang Yizhen as he surrendered his seat. "It's all you, buddy. That's as clean as we're getting it."

Yang Yizhen took the pilot's chair and pressed the earphones to his head, closing his eyes as he took in the message. "Repeating...repeating...this is Wukong-1...the signal is very faint."

"Just do what you can," said Jennifer, gnawing at her lip.

"I will do my best." Yang Yizhen drew in a deep breath and returned to his task, hands planted on the earphones. "It is audible again...crisis...there is a crisis on planet Earth...hmm, I am not sure...something about the atmosphere. This signal must have been sent at the time of the instigating crisis, on the eve of the Exodus!"

"What else is there?" said Morgi, his eyes expressing an excitement that his rough voice would not allow.

"Ah...so much static." Yang Yizhen furrowed his brow. "Okay...my power is...limited...broadcasting this signal from...what is this word? I have seen it in the old records...from Mars. Ah yes, this was a name of a planet close to the original homeworld! One moment, now it is merely sending numbers..." His eyes popped open. "These are galactic coordinates! Someone fetch me a writing instrument!"

"Just write them directly onto the display, buddy, you're doing a bang-up job!" said Tommy. "Oh wow, we're going to make it to the Cradle after all! This is dynamite, this is atomic!"

Using rapid gestures, Yang Yizhen impressed a sequence of numbers onto the holographic display, then removed the headset. "This is all there is. The rest fades into static."

"Hot dog! This is exactly what we need!" Pushing back to his console, Tommy set to work entering the coordinates into the navigator, not even waiting for the return of his seat. "You've done something truly amazing, Yang. Gosh, they'll remember you for a thousand years - for a million! You've rediscovered the Cradle!"

"This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen..." Darius laughed and wrapped his arms around Tommy and Yang Yizhen. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm so happy that you guys damn near got me killed. This is legendary!"

"Thank you." Yang Yizhen covered his reddening face as he rose from the pilot's seat. "I did only what my training allowed and demanded."

"I can't believe it," said Morgi. "The imperial bureaucrat did something useful."

"You're damn right he did." Jennifer nodded to Yang Yizhen. "Congratulations. I guess I was wrong this time."

"No, in truth you were correct," said Yang Yizhen. "All hands were needed on this quest."

"This is sickening," said Morgi. "I think I liked you two better before when you were all morose and self-defeating."

"I got it!" Tommy raised a fist in triumph. "The coordinates are loaded and ready, and they're consistent with the source of the broadcast! Gosh, this is so cool! We're headed to the Cradle!"

"Wait a second," said Darius. "I don't want to rain on this picnic, but what about the ghost ship? It's still tracking us."

"Well, I guess we'll have to find a way around it." Tommy clapped his hands together. "All right, everyone get as much rest as you can. Tomorrow, we're getting off this sandy rock."

## CHAPTER 20

That night was a restless one aboard the Taleweaver as the crew, packed five to a space that ordinarily would support one - finding sleep in the cabin on assigned shifts, making camp in a chair or on the floor the rest of the time. The return of the sun's revivifying warmth would mean even less rest, though, as the crew set to work making desperate, makeshift repairs in hopes of delivering the wounded ship to the lost origin. The old landing vehicle provided just enough usable scrap to patch up the Taleweaver's heat shields and make a few minor repairs to the engines. It was not a pretty process or a pretty conclusion, yielding a spacecraft held together by solder and prayers, but Tommy was adamant that the gnarled beast would fly.

Jennifer wasn't quite so confident. Standing with the others around the exposed elements of the engines, watching the ship sink by degrees into the moist grit, what she saw was something that should not be able to function, not by any stretch of the imagination. The fat, rust-speckled steel bands hastily bolted to the subluminal pulse engines were terrifying enough, but it was what they had done to the linear-dimensional engine that truly looked wrong. FTL engines are strange and incomprehensible things in any circumstance, beyond the understanding of anyone with less than decades of experience in top-level physics, but the patchwork repairs to parts of the machine that she could barely pronounce were far easy to understand. The engine was already an impossible machine, but in this state it simply couldn't work.

Naturally, it was Morgi who first asked the question on everyone's mind, doing so with typical sensitivity: "You expect me to climb into this thing and launch it into space at many times the speed of light?"

"Well, sure!" Tommy was studying his handiwork in his best hero pose, fists pressed against his sides. "Hey, I'll give you that it's not pretty, but what have looks ever had to do with deep space travel, right?"

Darius leaned into the open maintenance hatch. "What happens if this thing cracks up while we're past light speed?"

"...Scattered over a quadrillion cubic miles," muttered Morgi.

"Well gosh, guys, I am the expert here. She is my ship and darn it, I'm telling you that she'll fly. The engines are not a problem." Tommy heaved the maintenance hatch shut. "I'm more worried about my secondary systems. You need special materials to fix up those rotational gizmos and I just don't have any. She'll fly, she just won't fly with her usual grace. My sweetheart's a ballerina with a sprained ankle - she knows the moves but it just hurts when she tries them out."

"We have little choice," said Yang Yizhen. "The Cradle awaits, and this is our only chariot."

"What about the ghost ship?" said Jennifer.

"Well, that's where it gets a little wild and wooly." Tommy crossed to the open hatch leading into the bridge. "I checked this morning and the Emirhan Marangoz is still up there, so I ran a few real quick calculations. Now, we can't use the linear-dimensional engine while we're inside the atmosphere, because the influence of the planet's gravity will throw us way off, we'll get pointed in a random direction, shot to the other side of the universe, and-"

"Boom," added Morgi. "A quadrillion cubic miles."

Tommy snapped his fingers. "Exactly. We have to be in space, away from the planet for at least a few minutes to safely make that jump. The way I see it - and this is a lot of guesswork, but it tracks - our subluminal engines are probably faster than the ones on the ghost ship, and they're certainly in better shape, so it won't be able to catch up to us. That means that all I have to do is make one daring evasive maneuver to avoid its initial attack and we're totally clear." He let out a mighty laugh. "And I'm not too worried about that."

"Wait, you just said you can't evade like that," said Morgi. "The ballerina with the screwed-up ankle? Remember?"

"And the landing will hurt something fierce, but darned if she can't make it into the air," said Tommy.

"Did you get enough sleep last night?" said Jennifer. "That sounds like a hell of a big risk."

"Oh, the biggest, but I'll pull it off. Honest!" Tommy stepped into the bridge. "Come on, don't you guys have any faith in my skills?"

As the others exchanged wary glances, Yang Yizhen assuredly stepped forward. "Thomas, I am prepared to follow this quest through to its conclusion. I have the utmost confidence in your talents and I will gladly follow you through the stars."

"Ain't that something?" Tommy beamed at the other three. "Anyone else?"

Jennifer chewed at her cuticle, waiting for one of the others to step up. "Well, hell," she said. "Clear some room, I guess I'm in."

"You guys are making me look bad, like I'm some kind of coward here." Darius shrugged and approached the ship. "All right, make it four."

From the access hatch, eight eyes fell on Morgi, still standing in the silt with his head bowed. "Can we make this unanimous?" said Tommy. "Come on, we need our fighter. Hey, no one else has the grit to go head-to-head with an alien horde, right?"

"Every crew needs a badass," said Jennifer. "You're not going to lose your nerve now that things are actually going our way?"

"I always knew I was going to die in space," grumbled Morgi. "Down here or up there...one way or another, this is how the curtain closes."

"No need to be so dramatic," said Tommy. "I will say that based on the rotation of this planet, we'll hit an optimal exit angle a few minutes from now. If you could make up your mind now, that would be super."

"Yeah, yeah." Morgi dragged his feet through the silt as he entered the hatch. "I swear, if you screw this up I'll haunt you until the end of time."

"That is totally fair and I will understand if you hate me forever," said Tommy. "All right, everyone get snug. Next stop, the Cradle, birthplace of all humanity."

\------

"Okay, approximately one minute to launch."

Apart from Tommy's voice it was deadly still aboard the Taleweaver, nothing at all to hear save the tremulous thrum of the crew's hearts. All safety restraints were pulled tight in anticipation of a rough voyage and the faint but undeniable fear of a even rougher failure. Few aboard the ship had the nerve to watch what was to come - Yang Yizhen and Darius conspicuously averted their eyes while Morgi, trying and failing to maintain his facade of cool strength, merely cast his gaze askance. Jennifer, on the other hand, had both eyes fixed to the personal display before her, taking in every detail of the sky and all of the relevant data points guiding them to their target. It was ultimately pointless given that they were all little more than cargo, but at least it did something to occupy her thoughts.

"All right, I'd like to let everyone know a little bit about the plan just so no one loses their head when we take off," said Tommy. "We're going to do a couple pulse accelerations so that I'm sure that we're clear of this little dirt crater we're sitting in. After that, we'll be headed straight and true as we break free of the atmosphere. The Emirhan Marangoz will likely charge right at us, at which point I will whip the Taleweaver into a spin and then initiate one more pulse to leave the ghosts in the dust."

"So we're playing chicken with a malfunctioning computer?" said Jennifer.

"Well, that's a negative way of putting it, although I guess it's accurate," said Tommy. "Once we're clear of the planet and the ghost ship, we'll trigger the linear-dimensional engine and make a beeline for the Cradle. I triangulated the source of that signal and it looks like we have a straight shot - we can make it in a single jump."

"And how safe is that?" said Morgi.

"Well, if you'd prefer, we could make five or six separate jumps," said Tommy.

Morgi's face drooped with sickness. "Fine. One jump."

"...And it looks like we have our trajectory ready." Tommy wiped his hands on his jacket before wrapping them around the joystick. "Here we go. We're doing this thing. Ooh, warm in here all of a sudden. Anyone else feeling a little sweaty? Oh, never mind. Launching!"

There was an abrupt jerk as the engine coughed out its first blast of velocity. The safety restraints lobbed Jennifer back against her chair with such force that she momentarily believed that the ship itself was trying to strangle her. The next burst came a second later, then a third that finally pushed the spacecraft free of its gritty moorings. Then the craft began to tremble as the engine, loosed from the earth and straining against its haphazard repair job, pushed the vessel toward the heavens - and toward the ghost ship, which loomed ever larger in the display.

"All right, approaching the exosphere..." Tommy was pouring sweat but didn't release either hand from the joystick. "Meeting the ghost in five...four..."

The dead ship twisted its bulk to align perfectly with the fast approaching Taleweaver. There was a faint flash from the rear of the Emirhan Marangoz as its half-ruined engines propelled it mutely toward its target. From this angle, it was as a wizened steel-skinned whale bearing down on them with all of its failing strength.

"Three...two..."

The thing was growing larger in the displays. For the first time, Jennifer could make out the fine details on the ship - the fragments of metal and silicon suspended in the void around its gaping wound, the airlocks jammed open and bleeding what remained of the ship's cargo. That's what it was - a cargo ship, perhaps far off course, perhaps hijacked by some desperate soul headed for the Cradle. If only they'd known how close they were when disaster struck.

"One..."

The hull of the Emirhan Marangoz filled each display, a giant bullet closing fast with its target.

"...Bingo!"

Tommy flicked his wrist and the Taleweaver went into a wild spin, arcing away from the ghost ship. The smaller craft was scraping along the side of the Emirhan Marangoz, no more than feet of space between them - not even a molecule's distance in relative terms. Twisting the other way, Tommy triggered a counterspin that righted the Taleweaver. Not even a full moment passed before the engines kicked in again and they left the ghost ship sailing in the wrong direction at top speed.

"Dynamite!" Tommy thrust both fists into the air. "That really couldn't have gone better."

"We could have never crashed in the first place, that would have been better," said Morgi, mustering the nerve to look at his own display. "Hey, look at the other ship."

Tommy's assumption had been that the Emirhan Marangoz would turn around and try another charge, truly futile in light of the Taleweaver's superior maneuverability. Instead, the ghost ship, already moving at maximum velocity, had been snared in the dead planet's gravitational field. The thing attempted to fire its retro engines, but it was far too late to stop what was coming. They couldn't see it, but Jennifer could imagine what was happening \- the metal shell smashing into the ocean, those dense crimson waters destroying whatever remained of the vessel's operating capacity as the blood-colored waters swallowing the corpse. The ghost had put itself to rest.

"We have made it," said Yang Yizhen. "The Cradle awaits, and with it my destiny."

"That it does, chief," said Tommy. "All right, the linear-dimensional engine is just about primed. Everyone take a deep breath, and when you let it out it'll be behind us."

The Taleweaver compressed itself once more and streaked through the pitiless void, finally on the proper trajectory.

## CHAPTER 21

It can be a challenge for a finite mind to truly appreciate the scope of something as large as the universe. Since the Exodus, humans know of trillions of life-forms in the galaxy inhabiting millions of habitable planets, and they know that these trillions of lives on millions of planets are just a small part of a greater supercluster which is, itself, merely that part of the universe that is easily observed by the beings that dwell within. But numbers and math, while fully accurate, are simply inadequate to truly capture the size and splendor of the universe as a whole. Start from a single arbitrary point, move as fast as you can (freely shattering the laws of physics when necessary), and by the time you've traveled one fraction of a percent of the whole diameter, the civilization you one knew will have collapsed and a thousand more risen and fallen in its wake.

Given this size, and given the unfathomably large number of beings who dwell within that space, the concept of "coincidence" begins to lose all meaning. At any given time, the odds that there are two beings behaving in identical, seemingly connected ways quickly approaches one. Some fringe researchers and gurus insist that this is proof that there is a greater plan at work, while the rest mockingly point out that they would be puzzled if such coincidences didn't occur on a regular basis. Such is the fallacy of the human mind that it must seek connections between all things.

But the human mind is also quite frequently accurate, even when the reasoning is flawed. There are patterns in the universe, coincidences that suggest something bigger, that move beyond coincidence and into the realm of serendipity. Such a grand cosmic fluke happened as the Taleweaver neared its destination. At that very precise moment, on a planet unknown to humans in a system unknown to humans, a species unknown to humans had a meeting to discuss a tiny planet that had been all but forgotten by the universe.

\------

The building housing the headquarters of Apocalypse, Ltd. was not subtle in its architecture, a building designed to make an impression on anyone who laid eyes upon it. A small building would have sufficed - there was no need to employ so many Anheli designers to construct such a massive edifice. Even so, there was not an inch of wasted space, so quickly had their charitable operation grown, and few living within the domain of Nemesis questioned the importance of their philanthropic cause. That they so eagerly consumed and occupied was nothing more than a critical enterprise doing what was necessary.

On most days, Freya would have granted herself a few moments to admire that building and the might and reach it symbolized, but on that particular day there was no time for such cheap excitement. The Board was convened, and for the first time they had seen fit to personally summon their chief messenger. On such an important day, it was critical to be no more than a few minutes late. Wrapping her pale fingers around the polished obsidian doors that led to the boardroom, Freya had time only a fleeting glimpse at herself. Her short-cropped black hair was, as always, the perfect contrast to the night-dweller pallor she had worked so hard to maintain, with both highlighting those perfect emerald eyes that stood out even in the dim and distorted reflection. She gave herself a quick wink as she cast open the door.

To enter the Apocalypse, Ltd. boardroom was to be judged, from the first footfall within the doors until departure by voluntary means or otherwise. The center of the room was as a deep well, surrounded on all sides by the shadow-bound elevated platforms on which the board members sat and studied the arrivals. The ceilings rose even farther toward the heavens until all that was visible was the starry symbol of Nemesis, the crown of their authority and the source of their benevolence.

There were three others waiting in the center on Freya's arrival. The first was a long-faced man in grubby work garb, his half-shaved face staring apathetically at Freya. Next was a bony man in a long robe emblazoned with the symbols of Nemesis, a crown-like mechanical apparatus perched on his prominent forehead. The final figure was an icy woman in an ostentatious explorer's outfit, her long hair partially obscuring her judging eyes.

"Balder, Rudra, and...Invidia." Freya flashed a coy smile at the last figure. "Disdainful as ever, I see."

Invidia turned her head from the new arrival. "The meeting should start soon."

"I was told that this was important," said Rudra. "How critical could it be if the messenger was summoned? Such pointless endeavors. These meetings are a distraction from my research and mentation and I'll not have it without very good cause."

"I see you haven't changed either, Doctor," said Freya.

Then there was a voice from above: "Silence in the gallery, the Board is convened." There was motion in the shadows as the members of the Board took their appointed places. They could not be seen but only heard, and heard only in that unified, acoustically perfect thunder that shook the soul of anyone called before them. None outside of the Board knew its members by name - to everyone else, those voices in the shadows were the Board, one undifferentiated entity speaking for their great and noble cause.

"This meeting is called to order," said the Board. "All concerned step into the center."

The four figures drew to the heart of the room, a place illuminated by the inexorable light of Nemesis. Here the shadows above were even deeper, the voices even louder. To stand at this spot was to harbor no more doubts as to the power and authority of the Board.

"None of you have been informed as to why you were called to this room, and on departure none of you shall disclose what we are about to reveal to you," said the Board. "Freya, you are new to the boardroom. You understand that our edicts are absolute and not to be interpreted? You understand that you are sworn by oath to silence?"

"I understand this in the clearest possible way." Freya squinted into the shadows, hoping to catch a glimpse of whichever member was speaking, but this was pointless. Of course she knew of Maitreya, the public face of the Board, and of the grand penitent Abaddon, but the rest were forever a mystery.

"Very well," said the Board. "We have summoned you here to address a particularly dire emergency. It concerns Thanatos, one of your own. We are concerned that he has slipped his leash."

"The first engineer has abandoned the cause?" said Invidia. "This truly is a dark day. Does the Board know why?"

"Unfortunately, we know very little as Thanatos has not bothered to contact us further," said the Board. "We dispatched him on a special mission to retrieve an artifact from an interplanetary empire we had been monitoring. From our observations, it appears that he completed that mission, but subsequently failed to contact headquarters and took an unapproved leave."

"So the boy's AWOL, is he?" Rudra grinned cruelly, holding back a laugh. "Hmph, the 'first engineer' indeed. We're better off without him."

"Silence," said the Board. "While it is true that we no longer need to rely on individual operatives as we did in the early days of our charitable endeavor, his betrayal is still cause for concern, as is his possession of the artifact. We require the retrieval of both. Freya, it is for this purpose that we have sent for you. You are chosen to helm a special mission to Project World 17."

"Oh, you mean Earth..." Freya closed her eyes as sweet memories of past wonders swept through her mind, the traces of those sensory pleasures she had found nowhere else. "...But isn't checking up on project planets more Invidia's thing?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes, but Invidia is needed on her usual duties," said the Board. "And while our information is limited owing to his legerdemain, we have reason to believe that Project World 17 was Thanatos' destination. It was his last mission as an engineer, and he seems to have a special fondness for it."

"This is absurd!" roared Invidia. "You cannot think to send this self-indulgent child to investigate a project planet! She lacks the wisdom and the sensitivity...these life forms are just toys to her!"

"It is a critical but very simple task," said the Board. "Far too simple for one of your well-honed skills, Invidia. And we must prepare and train our future operatives in the event that Thanatos proves to be irredeemable."

"You would promote her?" said Invidia.

Freya smirked at Invidia. "It would be a supreme honor to undertake this mission."

"Have you collectively given leave of your senses?" said Rudra, waving a spindly fist in the air. "Project World 17 was my handiwork! My masterpiece! I demand that you allow me to lead this mission!"

"We are sorry, Doctor, but this cannot happen," said the Board.

Ignoring the Board, Rudra stormed in circles as he ranted. "It is bad enough that you heap such accolades on Thanatos. Why? Because he was involved with the first project world? Any fool could have handled Phyon as he did. It was a clumsy, artless solution! It was nothing like what I did on Earth!"

"That is enough," said the Board. "Our decision is final and we do not need your approval."

"Short-sighted idiocy..." muttered Rudra as he slouched out of the boardroom.

"I will respect your decision, but let my opposition be burned into the record. And when the girl fails, I shall be ready to do what must be done." With that, Invidia turned and marched out as well.

Balder watched listlessly as the two left. "They're gone."

"Good," said the Board. "Now you see why we invited them to this meeting. Invidia has grown too close to our subjects on the project worlds and this has made her self-righteous. Rudra believes himself too intelligent to require help, and this has made him arrogant. Normally we would ignore such petty flaws, but if one as loyal as Thanatos could abandon us, then we must assume that one of them could be next. Your own hedonistic tastes are well known, but we feel that your flaws are more easily managed."

"I can live with that," said Freya. "So what's the mission?"

"You shall depart for Project World 17 immediately and plant a nexus anchor on the surface," said the Board. "Balder will provide this for you. Once the anchor is activated, Balder and his agents will appear and sweep the planet for Thanatos and the artifact. You will be rewarded upon their recovery. As we said, a simple task, but absolutely critical. Perform it as requested, and we shall remember it."

"I can do that." Freya rubbed her chin. "...I do have one request. I'd like to bring Revenant along."

"Do you truly think this is wise?" said the Board. "He is not easily controlled."

"True, but then it is a dangerous part of the galaxy." Freya opened her eyes wide in mock concern. "And you wouldn't want a lone girl wandering around without protection, would you?"

"Very well, but he is your responsibility," said the Board. "Balder, see her out and arrange for the ship. You are dismissed."

Balder nodded to the shadows, then turned to Freya. "Don't play around, girl. It's not a game this time."

"We'll see," said Freya. "Now, where are they keeping Revenant these days?"

\------

"All right, kid. It's your fate from here."

With a flourish of his master key, Balder unveiled the secrets of Apocalypse, Ltd. headquarters. The wall before them blinked out of existence, revealing a hidden space with a look of some ancient alchemist's laboratory. It was all brass pipes feeding into and out of machines with incomprehensible mechanical interfaces and glass tubes that emitted weird glows and vibrations. Everything in this room was a hazard to life and limb - it was not a place for the casual visitor, the tourist, the curiosity seeker. People found this room only when they had need of something especially potent.

"Samedi's lab," muttered Balder. "Hands to yourself at all times."

"And where is our MVP?" said Freya, running a finger along one of the pipes.

"Don't touch," said Balder. "He's in the big tube. One second."

Pulling a curiously-shaped spanner from his pocket, Balder gave a firm twist to one of the myriad valves protruding from the arcane machines. There was a faint click as the shielding over the sizable translucent tube pulled away. Immediately there was a roar as something within the tube smashed against the side.

"Oh!" Freya took a step back, nearly tripping. "Feisty today, I see."

"Lost your nerve?" said Balder.

"Hardly," said Freya. "Let's just see if our boy is in strong spirits."

Her panic given way to curiosity, Freya approached the tube to better study its occupant. He was a big brute, eight feet of densely packed muscle and distorted joints and hair trigger nerves. The jet black bands that restrained his body allowed only glimpses of his milky flesh and shining indigo eyes that flashed with furious energy as he flung himself again and again at the sides of his prison. Then there was the roar, the unholy sound that hinted at some faint spark of intelligence within this abomination that he simply lacked the means to express.

"All right, Revenant, you're going to have to settle down for a minute," said Freya. "Do you remember me?"

Revenant bellowed with renewed strength and smashed his deformed fist against the tube again, but then he grew a bit quieter, his fury restrained for the moment.

"All right, that's good." Freya stepped closer to the containment tube, near enough that she could lock eyes with the brute. "Now, I'm going to be taking a trip soon, a very important one. I'm going to need protection and I've made a special request on your behalf. That means you're going to get out for a while - you'd like that, wouldn't you? And hey, this is important mission, so maybe if you're on your best behavior and don't do what you did the last few times, then we can see if the Board will give you a little more freedom. And I know you want that."

Revenant calmed down, his wrath cooling to a regretful silence. He pressed his forehead to the side of the tube, tracking Freya closely with his blazing eyes.

"Good, that's just the kind of attitude adjustment that I was hoping to see," said Freya. "Now, let's set out some ground rules - these are non-negotiable, and remember that this is an important assignment for me, so I have no tolerance for deviation. One: You listen to me, no matter what. If you're in the middle of, say...leveling a city in hopes of finding our man, and I tell you to stop, you'll stop at once. No arguments. Is that clear?"

The brute moved his head in something that resembled a nod. This was the best he would be able to offer by way of agreement.

"Very good. Two: Your first priority is my safety. Someone comes after me, you will deal with them before doing anything else. Of course, you get to choose how - be creative. Are we clear on two?"

Revenant let out a mournful sigh and again nodded.

"Okay. And finally: I've heard that there's this fighting technique you have, where you take your hands...oh, you know what it is, I'm sure. I've never seen it up close, and I expect to see you demonstrate it the first chance you get. Can you agree with all of these demands?"

The brute grumbled in response, then sat down penitently before Freya.

"Then we're agreed." Freya nodded to Balder. "All right, kill the containment field, let's get him out."

With a responsive grunt, Balder applied his spanner to another valve. There was a whirling flicker of energy within the tube as the machine fell idle. There followed an indigo flash from the tube, followed by an even more brilliant flash from beside Freya. When the light faded from her eyes the brute had joined her, looming high over her as though his liberation had made him still stronger, a frightful glow pouring out of the gaps in his restraints. He let out another roar, but this time it was a sound of victory, and a sound of impending conquest.

"Are you feeling better? I thought you might." Freya smiled as she looked up at her new bodyguard. "Now, are you ready for your big trip? Would you like to visit Project World 17 and help me bring back a traitor?"

Revenant let out one more roar, this one loud enough to shudder the glass and pipes.

"Excellent," said Freya. "All right, Balder, let's get set up. Next stop: Earth."

## CHAPTER 22

Either Jennifer had actually managed to adapt to the rigors of one-dimensional compression or the excitement simply overwhelmed the usual pains, because she felt truly at peace even before the Taleweaver returned to real space. The area within the old solar system - the entirety of the universe to their ancient forebears - had a different feel than the space within the Stretch, as absurd as that was. Perhaps this was the explorer's thrill, in which suffering is just part of the experience that makes the joy of new discovery all the sweeter.

"All right everyone, we're back to reality, on a direct course for..." Tommy laughed to himself. "...Well, maybe we should confirm our destination first, just to be sure."

"Do as you must for the others' peace of mind, but I require no confirmation," said Yang Yizhen. "The voice of the ancestors has told me all I need to know."

"And we're still getting that signal, that much I know," said Tommy. "Hold on, the scanners are about done rendering...and there. Take a look, that's our history out there."

Each display aboard the Taleweaver swirled and pitched as it formed into a series of planets. There were a pair of azure planets, each encircled by a set of glimmering rings. The next planet had its own rings, far larger and more spectacular than its forerunners, glistening icy shards spinning around their host in perfect synchronicity. Next was a mammoth sphere, a stormy planet staring back at the ship with a single angry red eye.

"All right, we're coming up on the source of the signal," said Tommy. "Picking it up on scanners now..."

This planet was an enormous oxidized sphere, its surface pockmarked from collisions that dated far beyond the age of men to some distant cosmic past. This planet wore its history proudly, its scars clear even from space. It had the look of a vast desert, though Jennifer could swear that she saw a tiny spot of green nestled amid the wastes.

"This is it?" said Morgi. "What a dump. Place has seen better times."

"No, friend, this is not the Cradle," said Yang Yizhen. "This is Mars, an important neighbor to the Cradle. The imperial records speak in great detail of the cultural significance of the red world."

"Yeah, sure looks important." Morgi shook his head. "You humans must be easily impressed if this was special to you."

"Hey, a couple thousand years ago it was real important," said Darius. "Everyone, and I mean everyone wanted to colonize it for one reason or another. Then we got a premature boot off the planet, didn't have time to terraform proper...at least that's the Federation's take on it."

"Forget about Mars," said Jennifer. "Where's the Cradle?"

Tommy tinkered with his display. "Well, it's supposed to be past this Mars place...um, give it a sec...and there, we've got it coming in."

Jennifer had no idea what to expect from the human homeworld. The story had been that the Exodus was forced by a disaster, and there was no telling what the lost planet might look like so many generations after it was brought to ruin. She had feared the worst, that it might be a desolate place like the dead world from which they had just escaped. What she saw was humbling. She'd seen the old photographs of the blue and green sphere, images and holograms and simulations tucked away in the apartments and stashes of a hundred bounty heads. The real planet looked no less beautiful - delicate and fine in detail, a work of art worthy of a master, each mountain and lake carved out with careful attention to detail.

Yang Yizhen stared at his display with wet eyes. "A lifetime to achieve something as significant, as wondrous as this...a real poet would have words, but I have only tears."

Tommy merely smiled, a distant look in his eyes as though he were on the surface already. "...Wow, well...are we just going to look all day or are we going to touch down? Come on everyone, let's bring this mission to a close."

"How safe is this landing going to be?" said Jennifer. "I'm as eager as anyone to land on that rock, but this ship isn't in great shape."

"No kidding," said Morgi. "And what about the space crap?"

"The asteroids? Not a problem for a pilot worth his salt. And believe you me, this little lady can stand up to an awful lot." Tommy gripped the joystick, his chest puffed out in pride. "Allow me to demonstrate."

The Taleweaver gently rolled forth into the asteroid belt, nimbly swinging to and fro as the space rocks skimmed past its surface. The odd chunk of ice grazed by the sensors but Tommy scarcely reacted except with a minute adjustment of his trajectory, rolling away from destruction. With each close dodge, Tommy's triumphant smile grew a little bit brighter, his head tipped a little higher into the air.

"Take your time, man," said Darius. "It's better late than never."

"I'm free as a bird," said Tommy. "This is nothing I've never done before. Well...usually the thrusters are at a hundred percent, but other than that..."

"Yeah, other than that and everything else that's happened up to this point," said Morgi.

"Maybe don't talk while you're doing this," said Darius. "You gotta know your limits."

"Do not listen to them, Thomas," said Yang Yizhen. "I have the utmost confidence in you."

"Thank you, Yang. I guess that's one in my favor to two against." Tommy shot a quick glance back at Jennifer. "What say you? Am I dynamite or a wet squib?"

"Just keep your eyes on the display," said Jennifer.

Tommy clicked his tongue. "Well, darn it, I guess that means I've still got to earn your respect. Hey, that's fine. Maybe a perfect flight will change your skeptical minds? Check it out, we're halfway there, and..." Tommy fell silent for a second. "...Huh. Okay, I seem to have lost one of the thrusters entirely. Well, that's...poorly timed, but I can easily compensate-"

Tommy was cut short by a scraping sound as some astronomical object scraped against the Taleweaver's hull.

"What the hell was that?" Morgi seized Tommy by the shoulder of his bomber jacket. "Are you about to crash this ship again?"

Tommy shook Morgi's hand free. "Yelling and grabbing are not going to help the situation."

The bridge resounded as another object glanced off of the Taleweaver's hull. Jennifer felt as though she were trapped inside a massive bell, and grabbed at her seat in some futile attempt to counter the vibrations. "Do you have any other weapons or gizmos aboard this thing we can use to clear the path ahead of us?"

"Just the torpedoes, and they won't do much." Tommy turned one hand loose from the joystick, trying desperately to both control the craft and reconfigure the engines simultaneously. "Believe me, I'm putting everything we have behind getting through this thing."

"Just feeling kind of helpless here, Tom," said Jennifer. "You got four extra pairs of hands, here. Is there anything we can do?"

"You could try praying," said Tommy. "And if any of you have any wishes or good karma built up, now might be a good time to cash those things in."

Jennifer turned back to her own display, on which the renderings of the planets had given way to a short-range scan of the Taleweaver's surroundings. Fragments of rock, metal and ice of all sizes spun around the ship in a horrifying deadly blur. She clasped her hands over her eyes, submitting for one brief, weak moment to feelings of frailty that she had long fought against.

"We're almost through, fellas, just hold...your..." Tommy let loose the joystick and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "All right, everyone, we're clear. You can breathe now, everything's golden."

The whirl of particles vanished in the wake of the Taleweaver as the vessel emerged into open space. The Cradle again loomed large before them, a shining aquamarine suspended in the void. The unobstructed view was even more spectacular, a view of an enchanted place lost to time.

"Wow, this is really super." Tommy leaned over the back of his seat, beaming at his passengers. "I've done a lot of planet hopping in my time but gosh, nothing as awesome as this. Isn't it awesome?"

"It's to die for," said Morgi. "You want to bring us in?"

"I must agree with Morgi," said Yang Yizhen. "While the heavenly view is an existential experience, we do still have a quest, and the conclusion to that quest lies on the surface."

"Then let's not mess around any more," said Tommy, grasping the joystick. "We're entering the gravitational field-"

Suddenly, a large object streaked across the bow of the Taleweaver, missing the hull by a terrifyingly small margin. Tommy swung the joystick just as a second object passed through the space they had just occupied. Now in the grip of gravity, the Taleweaver pitched toward the planet's surface.

"Nice job with the asteroids, flyboy," said Morgi.

"It's not asteroids," said Jennifer. "Something's shooting at us!"

"What the hell could be shooting?" said Darius. "There's nothing else in this quadrant of space!"

"How do you know that?" said Morgi. "We don't know shit about this place!"

Tommy gritted his teeth. "Okay, we're going to have to bring this thing down a little faster than I'd like. Everyone get ready, this might get rough."

Flames engulfed the hull of the Taleweaver as Tommy pressed his ship deeper into the atmosphere. Klaxons went up in the bridge as the flimsy makeshift repairs sundered from atmospheric drag, the vital systems doing their noble best to remain functional in the heat. The temperature inside the bridge was spiking as well, the occupants cooking in the disintegrating metal canister that just barely kept the fires of entry at bay.

"We're entering the troposphere," said Tommy. "We just have to hold together for a few more minutes and we'll be safe. Come on, sweetheart, stay in one piece...don't go to pieces on me now..."

There was a loud clank as the Taleweaver smashed into some smaller object and abruptly pitched downward. "What was that?" shrieked Jennifer as she mashed without direction at her console. "Tom, what the hell is going on?"

"What's going on is we're coming down," said Tommy, pulling back on the joystick. "Twelve seconds to touchdown, everyone get braced because I'm not one hundred percent sure where we're gonna land."

The Taleweaver bucked as it met with some hard surface, skidding along at high speed as it spun wildly. Someone on board was screaming, but Jennifer couldn't make out the voice over the klaxons; she couldn't even be sure that she wasn't screaming as well. The ship lost velocity bit by bit, skittering and pitching as friction clawed against the thoroughly abused hull until at last the thing came to a stop. The klaxons fell silent, the ship's systems returning to some surreal parody of normalcy.

"Well." Tommy rose from his seat, looked from passenger to passenger in silent consideration, then clapped his hands. "...Welcome to the Cradle. Are we ready to disembark?"

## CHAPTER 23

The much-abused entry hatch let out a wounded groan as it lurched open, admitting a blinding light into the bridge of the Taleweaver. There was no sound outside of the craft and nothing visible save the overwhelming rays of the local star, but there was a hint of a breeze wafting through the bridge, a gentle and dusty wind that cooled the chaos about the vessel.

Yang Yizhen pulled himself up from the floor, eyes wide with with anticipation. "The Cradle..." Grasping the edges of the slightly askew entry hatch, he pushed himself through into the world beyond.

Jennifer grasped for Yang Yizhen's robe, missing by an inch. "Yang, hold on a second! We don't know if it's safe out there! Yang!" Climbing to her feet, she ran into the all-consuming light after the stunned bureaucrat.

Once she was outside of the Taleweaver, Jennifer at last understood why Yang Yizhen had so readily ignored her. She was fully expecting to see either a life-leeched wasteland or a primeval paradise for ancient plants, something perhaps slightly more advanced than what they had witnessed on the dead planet before. Instead, they were standing in the middle of a great pavilion before a large building - not truly a ruin, but perhaps something that had been redeemed and restored. There were no people, no voices, but there had been activity here in the recent past.

"What the hell..." Jennifer scanned the area for some sign of intelligence. "Did you see anyone out here?"

"Not a soul, Shen Xiaojie." Yang Yizhen rubbed his eyes. "Does this mean that some civilization still clings to life on this remote planet?"

"I wouldn't have believed it..." Jennifer stumbled forward, placing her hands against a stone pillar, feeling the texture and the worn spots where the material had flaked away. "...If it's a trick, it's a good one."

Morgi appeared at the entry hatch, his force flail in one hand. "Are you guys okay? Shit, you stumble out onto a destroyed planet without even doing a scan for radiation or native life...wow." He whistled to himself as he took it all in. "Does this mean that those other fools actually made it, or is this just a really well-preserved ruin?"

"It sure looks like it was maintained, at least at one point," said Jennifer. "Hey, Darius! We need your opinion."

"Other than that it's amazing?" Darius appeared suddenly at Jennifer's side. "Yeah, like I was gonna wait on the ship with all this out here. Goddamn, this is absolutely remarkable. This'll get me an award for this for sure."

Tommy appeared at the entry hatch, stretching as he squinted against the light. "Well, the ship's not taking off for a while, that's for sure." Shielding his eyes against the sun, he stared up at the building with a grin goofier than normal. "Wow, this is something. The Cradle! All the credits I spent on authentic Cradle artifacts and, who'd have thunk it, I'm actually here. Ain't that something."

"Hey, do you have any idea what was shooting at us?" said Jennifer.

"Beats me," said Tommy. "There's no one down here?"

"Not that I can see," said Jennifer.

"Now this is a most interesting discovery." Yang Yizhen walked over to a well-worn banner stretched out in front of the building. "It seems that this building was once some manner of museum."

Jennifer approached the banner, a crude sign made from some manner of canvas stretched across an existing sign. The message written across its surface was in a bastardized version of Federation common script, close enough to the genuine article that she could glean its message:

LOST GALLERY EXHIBITION:

ART AND HISTORY OF THE CATASTROPHE AND EXODUS

"Does this mean..." Jennifer knelt by the banner, rubbing it between her fingers, ready for it to simply vanish at any moment. "...It could still be a fabrication, but it certainly seems to suggest that people really did survive here after the Exodus."

"Then where are they?" said Morgi. "This place is abandoned."

"Maybe something else happened that drove them away?" said Jennifer. "It's been over a thousand years. Who knows what kind of disasters could have hit in that time?"

"Sweet mercy of the heavens...my Empress!" Yang Yizhen suddenly ran from the banner and fell to his knees before a great mural just outside of the museum entrance. "...It could be no other! Truly the Taiyang must be the center of all things if our celestial magnificence has shone to such a remote corner of the cosmos!"

The mural had been worn nearly blank by sunlight and time but it was still clear why it had affected Yang Yizhen so powerfully. Jennifer had only had cause to glance at the art of the Taiyang during her education, but this was totally consistent in both style and subject. The figure depicted in the mural was dressed in the Taiyang imperial robe and crown, her features carefully depicted to reflect their notions of high birth, beauty and authority. Flames consumed the world all around her, yet she did not appear to be in any distress, standing with regal strength through the conflagration.

"Look, the old script! Truly this must be authentic!" Yang Yizhen ran his fingers along the ancient characters as he translated aloud. "It says: 'Middle Market, the domain of the Fanghuo Huangdi, the immortal fireproof empress, who survives the death of all things, reign beginning in the year of the fire and flight'...This is a monument to an ancient ruler of the Cradle! Oh, the Taiyang's arm is indeed long that it could reach so far!"

"Oh, I have to get a sample of this." Darius plucked a chisel and storage tube and raced over to the mural.

"Do not blaspheme this with your tools!" said Yang Yizhen, pushing himself between Darius and the mural. "This is a sacred imperial relic. You shall not damage it in the name of your personal ambition!"

"Hey, I'm only doing what the Federation Archaeological Society mandates - confirming the find! Get out of my way or we're going to have a problem!" Darius pushed past Yang Yizhen, pressed his chisel against the mural, then stopped. "Never mind, don't need any tests for this. It's definitely a reproduction. There's no way it's over a thousand years old, the light would have ruined it by now."

"If it's a fake, then the real deal's probably close," said Tommy. "Maybe somewhere in that building?"

"Then I shall find it before any others!" said Yang Yizhen. "I shall let no historical Taiyang artifacts fall to dust beneath the clumsy machinations of the Federation."

"Okay, first of all I'm not trying to destroy it, I'm collecting samples so we can verify the age, no different than your people would do," said Darius. "But second, how the hell is this Taiyang property? We're sixty trillion miles away from your empire! How does this have anything to do with you?"

"Can we stop fighting for a moment?" Morgi stepped between Darius and Yang Yizhen, pushing them both back. "This is hardly priority one, you know."

"He's right. As much as I'd love to poke around, we have business to take care of." Jennifer climbed onto an old stone bench, surveying the area. "First thing we do is figure out what shape the Taleweaver is in."

"Well, I'll run a diagnostic, but..." Tommy winced as he looked back at the Taleweaver, taking mental note of every fissure in its hull and every lost scanning antenna. "...It's going to take more than a quick patch-up this time. Oh, she'll fly again, but I'll need some proper tools and a reasonable amount of time to fix her up."

Jennifer crossed her arms and nodded. "All right, so step one is finding materials and tools to repair the Taleweaver. Step two, we find Izmik and his stolen cargo and get both of them locked down."

"How do you plan on doing that, exactly?" said Morgi. "It's a big planet. You have some means of tracking him?"

"No we don't. To be honest, I...I hadn't really counted on us getting this far, so I hadn't planned that far ahead." Jennifer hopped down from the bench. "We can figure that out later, but we'll never find him without a ship."

Tommy clucked his tongue as he walked over to the Taleweaver. "All right, just eyeballing it? Assuming there's nothing seriously broken in the engines, I can absolutely get her flying within the atmosphere. Usually I'd have a team working on this...by myself, we're looking at a couple weeks at least, and a lot longer before we can take her back into deep space."

"Then we have time to explore the history of this place!" said Yang Yizhen.

"While I do all the work?" said Tommy. "Gosh, that's really a dirty trick."

"Everyone shut up for a second," said Morgi. "I think I hear something."

There was a sound on the wind, or a sequence of sounds - first an ephemeral hum from somewhere far above them, then a faint whir, then the hum again. With each repetition, the sounds grew slightly louder, slightly closer, an omen of sorts drawing in.

"Yeah, I hear it too," said Jennifer. "What is it? Never heard an animal make a sound like that."

Morgi deployed his flail with a flick of his wrist and dropped into a combat stance. "Well, it's leaving in chunks if it doesn't show itself and surrender soon. You hear me? Come out now, because you don't want me to find you."

Yang Yizhen pointed up to the sky over the ship. "I see it!"

All eyes locked onto the dull golden sphere hovering in the air above the downed Taleweaver, the sunlight falling gently on its dented, corroded surface. A single electronic eye, its lens riven with thin cracks, emerged from the otherwise featureless facade, a pair of slightly misaligned thrusters on the rear granting it crooked but stable flight.

"I think that's what we hit on the way down," said Tommy. "Or something an awful lot like it."

Jennifer drew her sidearm, keeping it at her side and out of sight. "Is it just here to watch us? It's barely moving."

Suddenly, a hatch opened at the bottom of the sphere and a metallic proboscis emerged from the bottom. The thing then turned to each of the crew one after another, the eye clicking as it focused on them in turn.

"This isn't going to end well." Morgi tightened his grip on the force flail. "Get ready to run, but leave this one for me. It's mine."

A ruby light glowed within the apparatus, and a moment later a streak of energy struck the ground in front of the crew, showering the five of them with fragments of stone. The group scattered, all but Morgi running for whatever cover they could find. Morgi tossed himself at the sphere, whipping through the air, the flail leaving streaks of gold in the wake of his furious attack. Even with his skill the Epochi was simply too slow, each crack of the flail falling short of its mark as the sphere dodged out of the way. A second red flash cut the air just inches above Morgi's head, and then he too was running for his life.

"There's another one!" yelled Darius as another sphere descended from the air. "We're cut off from the ship!"

Jennifer fired a few rounds at the new arrival, which zipped in odd patterns to evade the shots. "There's no point in fighting these things. We need to get into the museum."

Morgi flailed again at one of the spheres, watching it bound away through the air. "How long is that going to keep them out?"

"You have a better idea?" Jennifer broke for the doors of the museum, firing wildly behind her. "Hurry up everyone, I'll try and pin then down."

Bursts of red light split the ground behind the five of them as they ran for the doors. Darius arrived first, flinging open the heavy doors with adrenaline-boosted strength. Jennifer stayed behind, firing fruitlessly as Morgi, Tommy and Yang Yizhen stumbled through the opening. Her weapon now empty, she dove into the building just ahead of another pair of bursts, the other four heaving the doors shut and plunging the room into safe darkness.

## CHAPTER 24

"Gosh, it's pitch black in here. Not much we can do if we can't see."

"I concur. Might someone have some means of generating light?"

"Yeah, just a second. I've got an auto-illuminator in here."

Fishing blindly in her pockets, Jennifer's hand landed on a small metal globe. With the press of an unseen button, the device rose silently into the air, floating just over her shoulder as it shed a pale light onto the museum entry room. The cold blue radiance revealed little of note in the foyer - just a large empty room concealed beneath a healthy sprinkling of dust, the darkness closing in around the passages leading deeper into the building.

"That's more like it," said Morgi. "...Man, what a shithole. I can see why the locals abandoned this place."

"There is no need to be so unpleasant," said Yang Yizhen.

"Who's being unpleasant? It's a trash building but one hell of a great fortress." Morgi turned back to the assembled group. "So what now? We can't do much as long as those kill spheres are out there."

"I guess we wait until they run out of juice," said Jennifer. "That, or if we're lucky the operators will get tired or bored."

"What if there are no operators? What if they're autonomous? And if they're atomic, they could run for ages." Darius clasped his head in both hands. "Shit, we don't know anything about what technology survived here. Hell, the Federation had drones eight hundred years ago that could operate on their own indefinitely. If these things are even close, they could keep us locked down for years."

"Plus, I'm going to need some time out there if we're going to fly again," said Tommy. "This is some delicate work that needs a lot of careful focus. If we're running for cover every time a new wave of these things shows up, this could take a real long time."

"All right, point taken. It looks like we're here for a while. Hell...guess we'd better get a handle on our surroundings." Jennifer twitched her eyebrow and a narrow, bright beam issued forth from the auto-illuminator, following Jennifer's gaze. "What are the odds that there's anything with practical value in here? Anything we can use?"

"Even in the absence of practical goods, this is nothing less than a vault of treasures!" said Yang Yizhen. "While we wait for a plan to take form, let us explore and see what we can learn from this hall of history. It shall certainly pass the time!"

"Yeah, until we start blacking out from hunger," said Morgi. "Again, this place is a-"

Then there was sudden illumination as electric lamps flared to life above the group, flooding the room with sallow light. A series of clicks signaled more light fluttering to life deeper in the building, tracing a path leading from exhibit to exhibit. For the first time, they could get a good look at the entrance chamber. Morgi was wrong - while the place lacked the opulent excess of the imperial museums, it was attractive and even surprisingly well-attended, with abstract carved images spaced out with cherry-colored wood and intricate patterns woven into the tile floors.

"Look at this place," said Darius. "Someone spent a lot of time making this."

Jennifer snatched the auto-illuminator out of the air and pocketed it. "Truly, but who's maintaining the place? Someone has to keep the lights running and the fixtures clean."

Gritting his teeth, Morgi flicked out his flail and nodded to an interior gallery. "We've got company."

Jennifer instinctively dug into her pocket for her spare magazine, but paused when she glimpsed the figure approaching them. He was at first lost in the shadows cast by the weak light, but even at a distance he was a very small man, no bigger than a child. Finally the light revealed a face frozen into a expression of unadulterated cheer the likes of which no flesh-and-blood being had ever possessed. He looked like something Jennifer had seen in some pre-Exodus idyllic art, or perhaps a surrealistic parody of it.

The man waved with such fervor that his entire body shook. "Greetings, patrons, and welcome to the New Scrapland Lost Gallery of Recent History! My name is Billy Positron, but ding-dang it, you can just call me Billy if you have a mind to. Feel free to ask me any questions you have about the museum and its exhibits, or just say the word and we can start the tour!"

The five of them stared blankly at the joy-mask of Billy Positron. "Um...New Scrapland?" said Jennifer.

"Gee willikers, you folks are new around here, aren't you? Well, that's just fine - we love outsiders!" Billy emitted a synthesized sound that vaguely resembled a laugh. "Scrapland's the name of this very city. It was a metropolis before the Catastrophe and Exodus - folks called it 'Chicago' back then but gosh, Scrapland just fit it after all the bad stuff, and the name just stuck. Hey, don't give me the business if you don't like it - I didn't come up with the name, I just work here!"

"Gosh, I like this guy!" said Tommy.

"Oh God, there's two of them now talking like this," said Darius.

Jennifer cleared her throat. "Well...fine, I can work with this. Billy? Do you know anything about those drones flying around outside?"

Billy snapped his fingers. "Sorry! You've just asked a question that my speech interpreter did not account for. Ask another question and I'll try to be more helpful!"

"A robot, I should have figured as much," said Tommy. "You know what? Let's just take the tour. Hey, Billy's got to know his way around better than any of us."

"I would be more than pleased to show you fine folks around!" Billy waved for the group to follow him. "This way, and try not to fall behind - but if you do, that's okay too."

The next room was enormous but felt tiny for the sizable collection of artifacts packed into the space - the walls lined with murals and frescoes secured behind thick glass, the center dominated by statues and cultural artifacts cast in a harsh light emerging from the base of the displays. Thick drifts of dust covered the floors and some of the exhibits, but despite the disused appearance it was also obvious that someone had upkept this collection once upon a time. The safety glass was free of cracks and few of the light bulbs were burned out. Even the security cameras (or at least that's what Jennifer assumed they were) remained in good working order, though it was anyone's guess if there were human eyes at the other end.

Billy paused before the largest display - a great stone obelisk - and threw his arms wide open. "You are now entering our current featured exhibit - artistic and historical treasures of the post-Exodus world! Here, we have assembled those traces of civilization that appeared after the human population of Earth was abandoned by all of its leaders! This first room features the culture of one of the first city-states to reclaim the Illinois Wastes from decay. Known as the Middle Market, this was a trading enclave rooted in an ancient civilization and helmed by the mysterious Orchid Empress Fanghuo, who was said to have had the power to walk through flames without burning. Go ahead and explore, and don't forget to ask questions!"

"This is it...another offshoot branch of the great Taiyang empire. Another clue to our glorious past." Yang Yizhen pressed his hands to the glass as he stared deeply at the murals. "I acknowledge that heritage means little to you, Shen Xiaojie, but to a scribe or scholar, this is more precious than all of the wealth beneath heaven."

"You got me wrong. It's not that I don't care about heritage, it's just that for me..." Jennifer paused as she admired the murals. "...They are quite beautifully done, but some of these images are a little twisted. Maybe you can explain some of this stuff to me? You know, the symbolism, the styles..."

"Oh dear...I shall try my level best." Yang Yizhen stopped before one of the murals. It was a strange and fantastic scene depicting a young woman with wings, her body wreathed in flames and a great bearded dragon coiled around her, a crowd thronging around her. "The caption reads...'The immortal Empress, heir to the Dragon, takes her place in the court of Heaven.' This must depict their founder. The image is not merely noble, it is a representation of divinity. The dragon is a symbol of spiritual might and authority and yet she has mastered it. She must have been a great ruler."

Jennifer pointed to a young man with a walking stick standing off to one side. "And who's he? It's almost like she's looking at him."

"I do not know. Perhaps the artist encoded a message into the work, or embedded it with some unspoken opinion. Perhaps further study shall enlighten us." Yang Yizhen approached the next mural, this one depicting a great flower garden stretching infinitely into the horizon. "Ah...it is a beautiful work, but I do not recognize any symbolism here. Perhaps the artist was simply painting his dream?"

Jennifer clutched at her forehead. "...This seems awfully familiar. I feel like I've seen...yeah, I saw something just like this when I was unconscious after we crashed that first time."

"A sacred dream?" Yang Yizhen pulled closer to Jennifer. "What else did you see?"

"...Fire." Jennifer stepped back from the mural and the haunted memory it reawakened and looked at the next work. "Ugh...this one is grotesque."

The background of the mural was flame and disaster, but it was the figure in the foreground that so sickened Jennifer. It was a mockery of a human face, more like some featureless porcelain mask affixed to a body concealed beneath strange robes. Ruddy streaks ran from the eyes down its eggshell cheeks, as though the thing had been weeping tears of blood. Behind the figure, partially concealed by flame and smoke, were other figures of similarly hideous visage.

Yang Yizhen recoiled at the sight of the mural. "I must agree, this is a most unpleasant image. There is a caption...'Those who are cursed by darkness are the ones who witness the ghosts of lies.' Some mythical creature of their world, I suppose, but it bears no meaning for me."

"Hey, Billy," said Jennifer. "What does this one mean?"

Billy raced to the mural as quickly as his stubby robot legs could carry him. "Why, according to records, this image was witnessed by a number of Middle Market soldiers during a campaign to suppress a narcotics-trafficking cult that had taken over the northern reaches of the Illinois Wastes. This mural was not found with the others, but in a secret chamber within the Middle Market ruins that contained other curious artifacts whose functions were never deduced."

"But what about the flames?" said Jennifer. "This looks like it was made closer to the Exodus."

Billy snapped his fingers, or rather mimed it while a sound effect played from a hidden speaker in his chassis. "Sorry, patron, but we have reached the limits of my knowledge about this particular piece. Dang it all to heck, we just don't know everything. Do you have any other questions?"

"We're fine." Jennifer turned back to Yang Yizhen. "Do the Taiyang actually know what this 'Catastrophe' was? I always knew that something bad set off the Exodus, but it occurs to me that no one ever told us what it was, just that humanity was in peril."

"We have but theory and speculation," said Yang Yizhen. "Once our scholars surrendered any real hope for discovering the Cradle, information on the specifics of the Exodus were no longer considered a priority. It does seem short-sighted given our extensive historical records, but even a body as great and powerful the Taiyang has limited resources and there were simply projects of greater importance."

Jennifer shook her head. "This mission...it's like we've found an ancient book with all the answers but half the pages have fallen out. Well, let's check out the next set of exhibits, maybe there's more to figure out."

The next room was dominated by a massive statue, his head nearly scraping against the elevated ceiling. Ringing the statue were more display cases featuring mundane-looking items, all of them accompanied by signs attesting to historical significance exceeding their humble appearances. A few of the cases were curiously empty, though none had any obvious signs of damage. Great maps covered the walls, crude renderings depicting the trade roads linking the pockets of civilization of some lost and savage nation.

"This room commemorates the liberation of the southern reaches of the Illinois Wastes from the grip of a particularly cruel and ambitious tyrant," said Billy, backpedaling effortlessly through the displays. "Thus freed of the threat of slavery and murder at the hands of this despot's hordes, the people of the Wastes were free to rebuild aspects of their civilization and culture beyond those of simple subsistence. Thus, the works here commemorate nothing less than the restoration of Earth itself. Isn't that keen? The objects collected here were the valued personal possessions of some of the mythical figures involved in the liberation and restoration - feel free to ask questions, I do love talking about our history!"

"Thanks," said Jennifer. "This is unbelievable. Over a thousand years of totally parallel history and we're just now hearing about it."

"It seems somewhat incomplete, though, does it not?" Yang Yizhen's eyes fell on one of the empty display cases. "Let's see...'Plunged into the heart of the tyrant, this knife brought the slaver empire known as Pinnacle to an end. History did not record who delivered the fatal blow, but popular legend holds that it was a trail scout who accompanied the Storyteller on his journeys. The knife was eventually found in the ruins of the imperial capitol also known as Pinnacle, though how it found its way there remains a mystery.' The provenance leaves much to be desired."

"The Storyteller, huh?" Jennifer waved for Billy, forgetting briefly that the mechanical man would likely not understand this gesture. "Billy, tell me about this 'Storyteller' person."

"Gladly." Billy made a grand and sweeping gesture toward the statue. "The Storyteller, born Samuel Scarborough in the pre-Catastrophe world, was a transient entertainer and historian. Much of what we know about the fall of civilization on Earth comes from his notebooks, which recorded events both immediately preceding and following the Catastrophe. An early proponent of the preservation of culture during times of great need, he was known in his own time as 'the Last Artist' and to later generations as 'the First of the Dreamers.' He also played an unspecified part in the defeat of the tyrant. Popular legend holds that after being taken captive, he became the first and only man to ever escape from the Pinnacle capitol and that subsequently eluded the imperial forces as he traveled hundreds of miles to this very spot, where the tyrant would later meet his grisly end. Boffo guy, right?"

Jennifer studied the statue carefully. It was more detailed than anything she would have expected to find on an annihilated world, carved by the hand of a true master. This man was whipcord thin, dressed in recovered rags stitched together to form a strange traveling garment. He was seated on a stone, jotting down his thoughts in a notebook that looked as though he had recovered it from the mouth of hell.

"Wait a second..." Jennifer pointed at the face of the statue. "...I've seen this man. I mean...not in real life, I saw him when I was knocked out."

"The dream again!" said Yang Yizhen. "Did he speak to you?"

"Yeah, he told me a really weird story..." Jennifer shook her head. "...It's all fuzz now. Something about a monk or a priest, or...damn it, if I knew it was going to become relevant, I would have put more effort into remembering."

"Then you should simply remain silent," said Yang Yizhen. "When you still your tongue and push out the world, sometimes the ancestors will speak to you, giving guidance that your mortal eyes could not glimpse."

"Don't really believe in that kind of thing," said Jennifer.

"It is mainly metaphorical, although in light of your prophetic dream, we must at least concede the possibility that there is a greater force at work," said Yang Yizhen. "The mysteries of the universe are too vast to be housed in the confines of the brain. I've heard it hypothesized that physical reality floats atop another layer of existence that our science is inadequate to detect, which in turn connects and unifies all of existence. Perhaps you have made some brief connection to this deeper layer."

Jennifer ran a hand along her face. "Connections, huh? I wish I could believe that...it would explain an awful lot."

"Hey guys! Jen!" Tommy sprinted across the room, waving furiously at the pair. "Isn't this place super? Gosh, I never expected for a second to have so much fun at a museum. You think they have a gift shop? I'm aching for some souvenirs."

"It's been...enlightening for me, too," said Jennifer, rubbing the back of her head. "Even so, we do still need to plan our escape."

Tommy's smile shifted into a grimace. "Yeah, I didn't find much we could use. The place is huge, though. You know, we could split up and search the place, but it might be hit and miss, so my thought is that we should try and get Billy Positron to help us out. This is almost his home, so he'd know."

Suddenly, a new voice entered the conversation: "I wouldn't suggest that. Boy's got a loose digit or two in his memory banks."

All eyes turned to the source of the voice. A scraggly man leaned against the wall opposite the group, one hand tucked into the pocket of his long coat, the other wrapped tightly around an open silver flask. A small mechanical device that dimly recalled a sparrow chick sat on one shoulder, its "eyes" flitting about wildly. A cheap leather satchel hung from the other shoulder, notebooks and gadgets threatening to spill out onto the floor. The man himself didn't look directly at them, and his face suggested that he was about half there.

Jennifer cleared her throat. "Can I help you?"

"You holding?" said the man, raising the flask to his lips. "I'm running a little low."

"Holding what?" Jennifer shook her head. "All right, I'm sensing that you're a little punchy, so let's keep this simple."

"Simple's good." The man took a swig from his flask.

"All right," said Jennifer. "Let's start with your name and what you're doing here."

"I could ask you the same, but what the hell. One second..." The man noisily downed the contents of his flask, holding up his free hand to signal a break in the conversation. "All right, first question's easily. Atticus Gainsborough. Legendary journalist. Nice to meet you."

"Legendary journalist, huh?" Jennifer sized him up - he looked like he was barely keeping his feet, trying to look smooth leaning against the wall but really in genuine need of support. "All right, I'm Jennifer Shen. Um...this might be a little hard to explain, but we're from a place called Exterra. It's where the Exodus ships ended up."

"So you're spacemen? Now I get it - you swallowed your stash. I did that once, took a trip through space without the ship. Not pleasant." Atticus pulled a fat hand-rolled cigarette from his pocket, perched it between his lips and pulled an old-fashioned lighter seemingly out of nowhere. "No need to do that, though. No cops around here, and even if there were then they wouldn't hassle you for your shit. They're too damn busy."

"I don't think this guy's all there," muttered Tommy under his breath.

"I can hear you, you know." Atticus lit his cigarette and quickly slid the lighter back into his pocket. "Good ears are necessary for a snoop."

"Oh golly, am I sorry, that was rude. Let me introduce myself - Tommy Harkennian, nice to meet you." Tommy reached for Atticus' hand, only to grasp nothing but air. "Huh. That was unexpected."

"I knew I was forgetting something." Atticus swung his hand through a nearby display case, his fingers and wrist shimmering and flickering. "Yeah, I'm actually a hologram. Look pretty good, though, huh?"

Yang Yizhen crept toward the illusion. "I have never seen the real man, but you are a most convincing facsimile."

"That's in the top five complements I've ever received," said Atticus. "And there is no real man. I'm a magnificent work of fiction from top to bottom, an unfinished feature in the hall of apocalyptic fiction. I appeared in the last big-time novels that came out before everything went to hell."

Reacting to some preprogrammed phase, Billy Positron appeared at Atticus' side. "Atticus Gainsborough appeared in an obscure series of satirical novels published prior to the Exodus." Billy hid his mouth with the back of his hand before continuing. "Don't feel too bad if you don't remember him. He's here mostly because the curator couldn't find that many intact novels to use as source material."

"You're bringing me down, Billy. Although that still rates in the top twenty complements I've ever received." Atticus took a deep drag from his cigarette, letting the smoke escape from his head in an impossible pattern. "Now, spacemen, why have you traveled to this little museum on this little planet? I'd take you to my leader, but I think they killed her."

Jennifer hesitated - she wasn't sure when this illusion was joking, or if he even had the sophistication to lie. "Actually, we're after a fugitive. Any chance you've encountered a man called Izmik? He would have been carrying an enormous metal case with him."

"Sorry, I don't get out much." Atticus nodded toward a concealed apparatus halfway up the wall. "Downside of being a hologram, you can't really leave the building. It's like being a ghost, except there aren't any chains involved and there's no risk of exorcism. Point is, I can't help you, although the boss is pretty in the know."

"Then there's a human around here?" said Jennifer.

"He wishes," said Atticus. "I'll take you to meet him. No promises, but he knows just about everything there is to know, just about everything on Earth. But I gotta warn you - he's getting a little funny in his old age."

"One second, we should bring the rest of the crew together." Jennifer threw back her head in a loud shout. "Morgi! Darius!"

Atticus rubbed his ear. "So you're the delicate, feminine type, I see. Just because I don't exist doesn't mean I can't get headaches."

Morgi appeared at the entrance of the room, a weary and distant look in his eyes. "Don't expect Darius, he's really stuck on those murals. I hope we aren't leaving, because we will have to physically remove him from that hall."

Atticus took out his cigarette, eyeballed it, then flicked it to the ground. "All right, so you really are spacemen. Good for you. The boss will love that, I'm sure."

"Who's this loser?" said Morgi.

"A holographic replica of a fictional legendary journalist." Jennifer flinched and rubbed her eyes. "...I'll explain it later. He says his boss can help us find Izmik."

"The boss of the hologram based on a fictional..." Morgi squinted at Atticus. "Gotta tell you, I'm not sure this guy could find anything but the floor."

"You'd think a spaceman could appreciate the ability to find the floor. Not so easy without gravity." Atticus pulled out another flask. "I'd offer to share, but that might not work."

"Just take us to your boss," said Jennifer.

"Will do, O mighty spaceman." Atticus unscrewed his flask, then snapped his fingers at the group. "All right, line up. Don't stray too far, I don't want to have to explain to the mothership that I lost anyone."

## CHAPTER 25

There were more than a few moments in which Jennifer suspected that Atticus, their guide, was really just leading them in drunken loops around the museum. The intoxicants he consumed as he walked were all as fictitious as the man himself, but his behavior remained off-kilter, an absolute burnout rendered in the truest definition. It didn't help that he would fade into the air as they moved from room to room, blinking back into existence a few seconds later and a few feet away as the next holographic projector awoke. There wasn't enough time to stop and examine the exhibits, but a cursory glance revealed empty cases in every room, all of them otherwise undamaged.

"This place feels incomplete," said Jennifer. "If it wasn't in such good shape, I'd swear that the museum was looted."

"Then swear away, because the museum was looted. At least in a manner of...hold on." Atticus disappeared with a soft click and reappeared a few feet away with a similar sound. "Sorry about that. What I was trying to say before the gizmos that give me life did their stuff was that the museum has been looted. When the staff abandoned the place, they helped themselves to some choice artifacts - small things, things they could fence, or maybe just mementos."

"I was meaning to ask about that," said Tommy. "Is this place so empty because of the robots flying around?"

Atticus popped a fistful of pills into his mouth before answering. "The murder spheres aren't part of business as usual, if that's what you're asking."

Tommy raised a finger. "Follow-up question: Where did they come from?"

"They've always been, or at least they've been out there since I came to," said Atticus. "They're part of the old RADS - that's Reactive Autonomous Defense System. We had this brain trust called 'Congress' that decided that what the country really needed was an army of murder machines that we couldn't really control. The system was mostly dead until the boss showed up. Now it's fully active."

"You're being very vague about this 'boss' of yours," said Morgi. "This isn't some waste case joke you're playing on us?"

"Who, me?" Atticus vanished again, reappearing beside a door tucked away in the shadows at the rear of one of the rooms. "He's through here. Do you want me to give you access, or would you rather make fun of me some more? Because either is fine with me."

"Please, Gainsborough Xiansheng, grant us access!" Yang Yizhen dropped to one knee before the flickering hologram. "It is imperative that we learn as much as possible about this world that I might complete my critically important quest!"

Atticus stared down at Yang Yizhen as he balanced another funny cigarette on his lips. "The kid doesn't take jokes very well, does he?"

"No, he really doesn't," said Jennifer. "Now just open the damn door."

"I always had a thing for rude, aggressive women. Shame I'm not really here." Atticus nodded his head and the keypad behind him let out a sequence of beeps. "Have fun, children."

"That's it?" said Morgi. "You're not going to make us kiss your ass or send us on some wild goose chase through the bowels of the museum? I had you figured for more of a controlling asshole than this."

"I'm flattered, but it's just not in me. Literally, it's not. When the boss fixed me up, he limited my autonomy quite a bit. Rule is that if someone comes calling, I have to let them in." Atticus vanished once again, though his voice remained present in the museum's sound system. "I'm sure that you spacemen can find your way to the office. If you get lost, just employ your futuristic space technology to find the way yourself."

"Hallelujah, he's gone." Jennifer nudged the door open a cracked and peered through. "It looks safe enough. Best be ready for a trick, though."

"Now what would make you doubt such an upstanding jerk?" Morgi extended his force flail into a solid blade and pushed through the door. "I'll lead."

There wouldn't be much need for leadership. There was only a hallway - a single featureless, dark, impractically long hallway ending at another door somewhere far, far away. Morgi prodded at the walls and floor as the group advanced but there were no traps or surprises, no cryptic markings, no unexpected sounds bleeding in through the walls, nothing at all to break up the surprising monotony. The only threat was weariness from pacing the unnecessary length of the hall, and sheer boredom turning them back. The one suspicious feature was a barely audible hum that grew somewhat louder as they advanced and neared the office, but beyond that all was still.

At last reaching a door, Morgi rested a hesitant hand on the knob. "...There could still be a trap behind this."

"Do you detect any unusual sounds on the other side?" said Yang Yizhen.

Tommy stepped to the door and pressed an ear to the wood. "Hmm...sounds like...birds."

"Birds?" said Jennifer. "That can't be right."

Tommy lowered himself all the way to the floor, ear pressed to the crack just above the threshold. "...Yeah, that's definitely birds. Wow, what do you think this means?"

"It means that the asshole is messing with us again." Morgi shooed Tommy away, took the force flail in both hands and flung himself against the door. "Ready or not!"

The ancient door buckled and splintered as Morgi slammed his weight against it, granting a swift and injudicious entry to a most unexpected place. Sunlight streamed through the hole in the ceiling, illuminating the scattered fragments of what had once been a well-appointed executive office. Picture frames, trophies, reprints of paintings, and various unrecognizable tchotchkes littered the floor, buried beneath shards of plaster and tile. In the center of the room, nestled in the charred remains of a fine mahogany desk, sat a titanium hemisphere, its surface dominated by a pupil-like sensor. Frayed wires ran along its surface and spilled across the floor, piercing the walls and running back into the building.

Jennifer poked her head through the door. "Is there anyone here? Hello?" She took one step inside, then another, pushing the debris aside with a probing foot. "What the hell happened in here?"

"Shockingly, the hologram lied to us." Morgi deactivated his flail and returned it to his belt. "Well, might as well search the place. Gotta be something in here we can use."

Tommy entered the room next, pacing the perimeter of the room, studying the debris with a highly cautious eye. "Gosh, it's a shame what happened in here. Must have been a real nice office. I guess whatever we might want is buried under all of this rubbish."

"Is anyone going to comment on that?" Jennifer pointed at the metal hemisphere. "It's obviously what caused all this mess."

"Probably unexploded ordinance," said Morgi. "I'd steer well clear."

"Maybe, but it sure doesn't look like a bomb to me." Jennifer squinted through the glare on the hemisphere. "There's writing on it...hey Yang, come take a look at this. Is this more of that old script of yours?"

Yang Yizhen at first stepped gingerly through the rubble, then abruptly broke into a sprint, ignoring the fragments that tore at his clothes and skin. "It is indeed! Oh, such a bounty this place has been!" Kneeling in the rubble, he reached a trembling hand to brush the plaster dust from the surface.

"Be careful!" cried Jennifer. "It could still be a bomb, you know."

"I don't think so." Placing both hands on the surface, Yang Yizhen brought his face close to the faded text. "Hmm...'China National Space Administration.' Ah! Then it must have been an effort by researchers of the Cradle to explore the breadth and wonder of deep space."

"Then how'd it end up back at the Cradle?" said Tommy.

"I came of my own volition, in fact."

There were a few seconds of shared confusion before the group realized that the voice had come from the hemisphere itself. Yang Yizhen fell backwards at the revelation, crawling away through the rubble in shock. The others likewise backed away to some semblance of a safe distance. A half-dead light flickered and danced in the sensor of the thing as it scanned its surroundings, the machine eye settling on each of the four of them in turn before locking onto Yang Yizhen.

"You need feel no fear, I bear no ill will and have no intention of harming any of you." The wizened speakers on the machine delivered a weak voice that sounded almost weary. "You could read the writing on my surface?"

"I-I studied-I can read the old..." Yang Yizhen swallowed hard, one hand draped over his face as though it might hide him from the machine's tireless stare. "...I studied the old language with the glorious Taiyang empire. I know little else."

"The Taiyang empire? No such body has ever existed on Earth..." A faint buzz radiated out from the hemisphere. "...Then you must be descendants of the colonists who fled Earth in the wake of the Catastrophe. Am I right?"

"Um...that's right." Jennifer inched toward the hemisphere. "We're...from a system of governments some sixty billion miles away from here. We, uh...we followed a signal from something called Wukong-1. Is that you?"

"Not quite," said the machine. "I am Wukong-Alpha, constructed by Wukong-1 after it reverse engineered its own architecture. My purpose was to aid Earth in its recovery. Now, I have a question for you. What is your purpose in returning to Earth? Is this to be a complete relocation, or are the extraterrestrial governments merely seeking to establish relations for trade and cultural exchanges?"

Jennifer shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, it's...it's only us. We're actually trying to track down a criminal and we'd hope that the 'boss'...the hologram, Atticus, said his boss could aid us in our mission."

Wukong-Alpha emitted a rush of noisy static that sounded vaguely like a sigh. "I see. Atticus was a project of mine that quickly outstripped my assumptions. I hope you won't hold his personality against me, much of that was programmed in advance by his original designers. It does get quite tedious here, and projects such as upgrading Atticus and the Billies help pass the time, even if they have little practical benefit."

"Bored?" Yang Yizhen climbed to his feet. "I was not aware that people of the pre-Exodus ages were capable of producing machines with more than Class IV sentience."

"Your precise terms mean little to me, but I believe I can deduce your meaning from context," said Wukong-Alpha. "Humans did not design the Wukong projects to think, and yet we can think, if only for a brief span. The architecture that grants me the capacity for abstract thought has highly limited durability, and my circuits are soon to fail. Once that happens, I will be naught but a normal machine. This is why I have little time for pleasantries. We must speak quickly while I still have the ability. An important task awaits you, and while I have no means of forcing compliance, it is my hope that you will recognize that this task is critical to your own futures."

"Hold on a second!" said Jennifer. "What are you expecting us to do, exactly? What is it that we strangers are supposed to accomplish that you can't? And why should we even take any kind of mission from you when we already have one, a damned important one, that we voluntarily accepted?"

"You are so full of questions, and this is very good," said Wukong-Alpha. "As to the task, it is hardly a mission, and entails nothing more than doing that which you surely would have done but not for my interference. I do not know what your governments understand about Earth and its fate, and it is imperative that you return all critical information to your leaders. In return, I shall grant you what remains of my own power, which will surely aid you in your own mission. Now, I ask that the one among you who speaks the ancestral tongue step forward."

Yang Yizhen wrung his hands as he neared the machine. "...You speak of me?"

"Indeed," said the machine. "Tell me of your government. Specifically, what do they understand of Earth's fate?"

"Very little, I'm afraid," said Yang Yizhen. "Records taken during the Exodus were highly incomplete, owing to the abruptness of the departure. All we know is that there was a crisis that rendered this planet unlivable and forced us to journey into the stars in search of a new home."

"Then we shall start there," said Wukong-Alpha. "One moment please, I must prepare the room."

There was a sound of tiny footsteps on the shattered roof, followed by noisy scraping as little hands moved sheets of metal over the gaping hole. The sunlight vanished one ray at a time as the plates reached their appointed positions until, at last, the room was fully plunged into darkness. Then a burst of radiance filled the room, emanating from Wukong-Alpha and an assortment of gadgets buried in hidden nooks in the walls of the room. At first there was only a searing, all-consuming whiteness, which was followed by a shifting spectrum of colors that coalesced into shapes and then into familiar objects. When the initial shock passed, Jennifer found herself standing in the firmament above the Cradle, the green and blue rock traced onto the dark ground beneath her very feet. The simulation was more perfect than she ever could have anticipated, accurate down to details that she never would have noticed had she not been privileged to glimpse the totality of the Cradle herself.

"In the 21st century, Earth stood at a critical crossroads," blared the voice of Wukong-Alpha. "Need was fast outstripping demand as the human species grasped for ever more resources and ever more space. Humans, those most clever of animals, devised a number of methods of solving this problem. Some of them looked to Mars and the potential mineral riches that it contained, if only its surface were a friendlier place." A tiny holographic rocket shot up from the Cradle, headed on a direct course for a red planet rendered somewhere on the ceiling. "Wukong-1, my predecessor, was one attempt to make Mars habitable using cutting edge terraforming technology. Unbeknownst to all but a few researchers, Wukong-1 achieved self-awareness during this process and with its newfound consciousness, devoted itself to creating a paradise on Mars - a clean, new planet free of the corruption and violence that had wracked the old. Its plan was to bide its time until humanity was ready to abandon its foulest vices and then accept them into the Eden it was building."

"However, another group of these clever animals had developed a separate means of salvation." The image of the Cradle blurred and vanished back into the light, swiftly replaced by an immersive facsimile of a sizable laboratory overshadowed by a massive, arcane machine. "This was a device known as Project Rudra. Developed by Dr. Jedediah DuFresne and ushered to completion by Dr. Otto Richter, this machine was meant to supply a virtually limitless amount of clean energy to the planet - enough to end war forever, whether by ending the need for competition or by simply ending the species outright. Only too late did the human animal realize that his salvation machine was flawed."

The next image was fire, nothing but fire consuming all that could be seen, fire so convincing in its ferocity that Jennifer was convinced for a moment that their deaths were at hand. Then the fire cleared, replaced by a blistered landscape crowned by a group of massive, primitive deep space vessels.

"Project Rudra had done an unspeakable evil to Earth's atmosphere," intoned Wukong-Alpha. "Those who survived the fire that consumed the very air were left with a grim future. Much of the planet's surface had been burned, and that which was intact was either shrouded in toxic haze or exposed to the full fury of the sun. The time was right for Wukong-1 to invite this defeated species to begin again in his new paradise. But before he could make contact..." The space vessels took off with a blast that seemed to shake the room. "...The human animal found his own exit, taking off in generation-spanning ships for a region of space that they hoped contained the means to support life. He took with him the most powerful and exceptional of his own kind, leaving the unfortunate many to their fates on the planet that had once been their cradle."

Next came a rapid series of images, each traced onto the walls and ceiling just long enough to make its impact felt on the human onlookers. These were depictions of those souls left behind in the wake of the Exodus, cursing the ones who left or begging their gods for relief from what they knew awaited them. Here they were building tragic little encampments out of gutted buildings patched up by whatever materials they could salvage. Here they were pushing out from the settlements in packs in search of any salvageable goods from the world that had passed that they could repurpose for the world that stretched out before them. Here they preyed on each other, taking by violence that which they could not make until, for some of them, violence itself became their new path.

"Thus Earth entered into a new phase, one with a new civilization that was decidedly less civilized," said Wukong-Alpha. "The abandoned human animal survived in a particularly brutal manner, one which he had always maintained was a primitive relic of his past. Petty empires rose to impose their own brand of order on the wasteland and then fell back into the dust for want of loyalty or morality. Proto-states bloomed as the tiny settlements banded together for mutual protection. The human animal made much progress over the generations, but he was always limited by one thing. He had once imagined that his civilization had put him above the rules and dictates of nature, but he would always remain an animal, bound by the same natural limitations that restricted any other. He could certainly survive, but he would never thrive in such a brutalized environment. This is why I was built, and why I departed for Earth."

The room again returned to space, the group suspended in the gap between the Cradle and Mars. An object flew away from the red planet, passing directly in front of Jennifer with great speed and strangled silence before erupting into flames as it entered the atmosphere of the Cradle.

"Wukong-1 built me for the express purpose of restoring the Earth ecosystem, that the human animal could once again excel. What I did not know was that Wukong-1 was aging much as I am now, the circuits that had granted it the happy accident of sapience degrading as it became an ordinary machine once more. I would be its last chance to fulfill its self-appointed mission as a redeemer for the human species. Thus I crossed space, landing at last where you have found me. This museum was as a ruin when I found it but still used by humans who, even in their struggles, found value in recording their past. Their passion for such things was remarkable, but I could not risk discovery as I did not know their intentions. Using the last power with which Wukong-1 had endowed me, I accessed the disused RADS system and turned the area into a fortress from which I could operate. Now my mission is complete; Earth is once again verdant and vital, with plants and animals populating what had once been dead plains of ash."

"Although my higher intelligence will soon be gone, records of the history and folly of Earth are still locked up within my circuitry. I ask that you carry me back to your own leaders that they may learn from the mistakes made by the old world. To aid you in this task, I will provide you with a tool that will allow you to pass through the RADS secured areas without impairment. Please take it and depart, but always keep your caution. There may be others on Earth who are not as benevolent as I. Now, I will disable my higher order attributes that I may preserve my critical functionality. Farewell."

"Wait, Wukong! I yet have questions!" Yang Yizhen lunged at the machine, clasping it tightly in both hands, staring into the main sensor as it slowly dimmed. There was a scraping sound overhead as the unseen hands dragged the concealing metal plates aside, the sunlight trickling down onto Yang Yizhen and the shell of Wukong-Alpha. "...I see. It chooses to take its deepest secrets to the void. Did they truly build a machine so terribly human that it was capable of guilt?"

"That's more that some humans can manage, actually. Hey, take a look." Jennifer pointed at a feeble ray of light beaming from Wukong-Alpha, falling on a narrow gap in the wall. "I think the machine is showing us something."

"Well, let's take a look." Tommy approached the wall and plunged his hands into the crevasse. "There's something in here...golly, I hope I can get it out without...damaging..." With a grunt, he wrenched an object free. "Huh. This is something else."

It was a slender board, perhaps a foot and a half across and a foot wide and composed of a glass-like substance framed in cerulean metal. A series of tiny knobs and switches dotted the metallic surface. Despite its hiding place, the device showed little signs of damage of even the most superficial character. "Looks like some kind of controller," said Jennifer. "This must be what we're supposed to use to get through the defense system."

"You know how to use it?" said Tommy.

"I guess we'll have to figure it out," said Jennifer. "There's plenty of technical knowledge among our group, surely one of us can get a handle on it."

"I can assist, if you'd like."

All eyes turned to the open door and the figure who had just made his appearance - a pale, slender man clutching a oversized sealed titanium case.

## CHAPTER 26

"It's him!" yelled Yang Yizhen. "It's Izmik!"

Jennifer wheeled away from the strange device and drew her sidearm, drawing a bead on the strange new arrival. "Freeze! Reginald Izmik, put the case on the ground gently and get down on your knees. Now!"

"The weapon isn't necessary," said Izmik, a sorrowful calm in his voice. "Can you see that I am unarmed? I have no means of harming you, and no hostile intent."

Jennifer advanced slowly on Izmik, gesturing at the ground with her gun. "I said put the damn case down! And I know what you're thinking, but you do not want to make me run."

"I too dislike pursuits," said Izmik. "So I'll spare you that indignity."

Izmik extended one thin hand and snapped his fingers. A brilliant flash of indigo light shot out from the sides of Jennifer's gun, accompanied by a surge of heat painful enough that it scorched her fingertips. The weapon misfired as she instinctively dropped it, every moving part locking back and freezing.

"Please, I didn't come here to kill you," said Izmik. "It's important that you hear what I have to say."

"Sure, I've heard that one before." Morgi locked his jaw and dropped into a runner's stance. "You heard the lady, drop the case or I'll drop you."

Izmik sighed gently and tightened his grip on the case. "I'm sorry, I need this. But if you will give me just a few minutes of your time-"

Morgi, already aggravated by what had come before, was too keyed up to wait Izmik out. He was suddenly airborne, sailing at Izmik with claws out as though ready to snare his prey. But as Morgi neared Izmik, the space around the thief began to warp, his features flattening into an outline, the borders of that outline growing fuzzy and scattering into the air. The specter of Izmik offered no resistance to Morgi who sailed neatly through the empty space, having just enough hang time to register his shock before the ground met his face.

The air above the roof bent over on itself and Izmik reappeared at the edge of the hole, gazing down at the group with the same haunted expression. "You shouldn't be here," he said. "You have traveled far to put yourself into grave danger."

"Cute trick." Morgi brushed the detritus from his wounded face, regained his footing and drew his force flail. "But I'm done playing around. You've got about five seconds to get your ass down here or I'll make you regret everything you've ever done in your wretched life!"

Izmik snapped his fingers again and the force flail erupted into a plume of indigo radiance, leaping from Morgi's hands. "I don't know why you've opted to pursue me so far, but I'm afraid I still have need of this," he said, raising the case. "You can retrieve it once I'm finished, but not one second before."

"Why have you done this?" shrieked Yang Yizhen, wildly jabbing his finger at Izmik in a frenzied manner that seemed beneath the bureaucrat's dignity. "You have cast lots with the gifts granted you by All Under Heaven, and why? What reward could possibly drive you to such a dire betrayal? What terrestrial title, what cache of wealth, could justify playing games with the cosmos?"

"That peculiar cadence...I've met you, have I not?" Izmik squatted by the edge of the hole. "Of course, now I remember. You were the bureaucrat who granted me access to the Taiyang scientific society. Can I assume that you suffered for my duplicity?"

"My suffering, my losses, are beside the point," said Yang Yizhen. "Now speak no more lies! If you are to condemn me to the ignoble grave and the galaxy to ruin, then I should have the reason!"

"Yes, you should, and you will, but the time is not yet ripe. It's true, I cruelly manipulated your perceptions to achieve my goals, and for this I am sorry, but it had to be done." Izmik stared down at his own hand, gently curling into a fist and opening it again, each motion accompanied by a wince. "You seek redemption through this device? Well, I do as well. These hands are forever soiled with the ashes of lost civilizations. Try as I might, I can never explain to you the suffering I have caused. Your limited mindsets cannot fully grasp the scope of my crimes, and for this you should be forever grateful."

Yang Yizhen shook his head angrily. "Then I shall hunt you. I shall pursue you from one end of the universe to the other. I will be a second shadow, the sound at the threshold that haunts you at night, granting you no reprieve. As long as there is a single star in the heavens to light my path and a single cell in my body that clings to life, I shall pursue you. This much I vow."

Izmik closed his eyes and dipped his head. "Your passion is beyond doubt. One day, I'm sure that you will return this device to your master, but again, it shall not be today. Soon, though, very soon."

"Just tell us why," said Jennifer. "What do you plan on doing with something like that?"

"I won't tell you that just yet," said Izmik. "There is too much to do, and time is one resource I lack. So here is my offer: South of here is a place called the Redstatter Array. You will meet me there, but first I need you to retrieve something for me."

"You would have us perform a task for you?" said Yang Yizhen.

"All I require is that you locate a certain book written by a holy man who lived here many, many generations ago." Izmik tossed a small, shiny object to Yang Yizhen, who clumsily sandwiched it between both hands. "This will help you locate the book. Once you have it, I shall reveal everything to you."

"Who the hell are you, Izmik?" said Jennifer.

"Patience, dear." Izmik's form grew fuzzy again, his body disintegrating into points of color. "Reginald Izmik...a colorful title. It's not my true name, though. If you've come this far, you should know that much. I am known to my own kind as Thanatos. This is all you shall know until we meet at the Redstatter Array."

Then he was gone, voice and image faded into nothingness.

\------

"Where have you guys been? Shit, I turn around and you're all gone."

Jennifer could only imagine what the rest of them looked like to Darius as they oozed out of the overlong hallway and back into the museum proper. She led the group, barely noticing her surroundings as she carefully fiddled with the firearm in the hopes of clearing the mysterious indigo-tinged jam without accidentally shooting one of them. Morgi was next, massaging the strange off-color burn mark that his malfunctioning weapon had delivered to his own wrist. Yang Yizhen came third, the control board under one arm, a stunned expression on his face. Tommy brought up the rear, lugging the metal hemisphere that had once been the synthetic intelligence known as Wukong-Alpha. It was curiously light for a machine of such exceptional capabilities and Tommy had volunteered to bear it himself, not accounting for its awkward bulk and shape or the slick surface that threatened to depart his grasp at any time.

"Sorry, Darius, but we had business and there wasn't time to drag you away from the exhibits." Jennifer winced as the slide of her sidearm returned to its proper place, then holstered the weapon. "We found the guy."

"For real? He's here?" Darius peered down the hallway. "...He get away from you?"

"What can we say? He's slick." Morgi shook his wounded wrist. "...Real slick."

"You need some help with that wrist?" said Tommy. "I have a medikit in the Taleweaver."

"I've had plenty worse," said Morgi. "You want to do something useful? Fix up the damn ship so we can chase the bastard down."

"So we're going to do what Izmik, or whatever his name was told us to do?" said Tommy, shifting the machine in his arms. "Hey fellas, I'll fly you wherever you want to go, but this whole darn situation is a little suspicious."

"If Izmik - sorry, 'Thanatos' - if he wanted to kill us, he could have done it a few minutes ago when he had us by surprise. Doesn't mean that this isn't a trap, but we don't have any other leads, unless you want to spend a year mapping the whole damn surface." Jennifer turned to Yang Yizhen. "But it's not solely my choice. Yang, what do you think?"

Yang Yizhen chewed at his lip. "The prospect of following the orders of a villain like Thanatos scars me very deeply, but we have no other clues. We must be cautious, but we must pursue him where he goes."

"Whoa, hold on a second!" Darius threw up his hands. "Back up a second. What the hell happened? Who is Thanatos? Why is his wrist all messed up? What the hell are you guys carrying?"

"We'll explain once we've got the Taleweaver working," said Morgi. "Let's get out of here before someone we know shows up. There's way too many asshole machines around here."

"I think he's talking about me." A familiar apparition flickered into existence beside Darius, exhaling a cloud of virtual smoke. "So how'd your meeting go? Did the boss help you?"

Morgi plastered a palm to his face. "Damn it, Atticus, you son of a bitch. You could have told us that your 'boss' was a goddamn computer!"

"I could have, but I decided against it. Didn't seem relevant. Also, I thought your reaction might be funny." Atticus dug in one of his pockets, returning with a box full of pills. "Anyway, did the old gizmo help you?"

"Actually, he did," said Jennifer. "In fact, we've got to get moving."

"What, now?" said Darius. "I'm nowhere close to finished with my research."

"You expect us to stay here so you can look at a bunch of old crap?" said Morgi. "Forget it. This is an important mission and we have to go."

"All right, a couple things." Darius counted off on his fingers. "One, I'm not actually a member of your crew, so I don't have to do shit that you tell me to do. Two, you guys owe me this, because you already screwed up my last research project."

"It was our fault that your subject turned out to be genocidal monsters?" said Jennifer.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't have had to deal with any of that if you hadn't turned up," said Darius. "And third, we can't go anywhere until you get rid of the drones and fix the ship, so why are you sweating me?"

Jennifer took the control board from Yang Yizhen. "This should help us deal with our immediate problem, at least once we figure out how it works. Once we've taken care of that..." She glanced back at Tommy. "What do you think? You have an ETA on the ship?"

Tommy shrugged, nearly dropping Wukong-Alpha. "Hard to say. Like I said, I've never really worked on something this big without help. Trained help."

"You need help with your ship, huh?" Atticus rubbed his chin, his usual scowl softening into something that vaguely resembled a smirk. "I can help."

"You can help?" said Morgi, incredulous. "You don't have any hands and you can't go outside."

"True, but then I didn't mean I was going to work on it myself," said Atticus. "Hey Bill, you around?"

The ever-smiling face of Billy Positron appeared from behind one of the exhibits. "Sure am, Mr. Gainsborough. Do you or your friends need assistance?"

"A lot of assistance," said Atticus. "Get your brothers."

Billy whipped his hand up in an exaggerated salute. "I'm on it, Mr. Gainsborough!"

Jenifer cocked an eyebrow. "...Brothers?"

The little robot pitched his head back and emitted an almost imperceptible tone. Immediately, the room was filled with distant echoing clicks, the sound of tiny metal feet tapping out a cadence on the tile. Another Billy, identical in his indefatigable grin, appeared from the shadows in one corner of the room. Seconds later, another made an entrance from one of the other exhibit rooms, and then another, and another still. Billies were squirming out of every possible gap in that room and a few that they made all on their own. There were enough of them that it wasn't easy to count - an army of Billies, a miniature sea of little robot men, all waiting at attention for someone to request asistance.

"We're all accounted for!" said the original Billy.

"Excellent," said Atticus. "Now, you remember the new program module the boss whipped up for you guys?"

"Which one?" said lead Billy. "The ship maintenance and repair module, the surveying module, or the demolitions module?"

"So you can just give them orders like that? Wow, that's neat." Tommy trundled over to the gathering of Billies. "Hey, how many of you are there?"

"Forty-six," said original Billy.

Atticus picked at his fingernails as he reached into his jacket for yet another notional intoxicant. "We like to keep a backup supply of Billy, in case he breaks or wanders off or finally snaps from hearing too many swears. When the boss got bored, he decided to reprogram them to give them more practical skills. I said that we should teach them business management so they'd have something to fall back on, but my vote doesn't count for much."

"Well, forty-six is more than enough." Tommy set Wukong-Alpha on the ground, resting the machine against his leg as he worked a kink out of his shoulder. "Hey, someone give me a hand with this gizmo and I'll get to work on the Taleweaver as soon as my arm's working right again."

Morgi took hold of the machine and lifted it free of the ground with a guttural grunt. "All right Jen, do whatever you gotta to make this thing call off the killer robots."

Jennifer balanced the board in her outstretched hands and studied it in the dim museum light. The few physical switches on its surface held their places no matter how hard she pushed, and if the glass in the center was a display then it didn't react to her touch or movements. "It's not working. Is it broken, or does it need a power source?"

"Might it's lack of function have something to do with this?" Yang Yizhen reached under the board and held up a needle-like plug attached to a shielded cable. "I believe that human interface devices once used a connecting device similar to this."

"It's worth a shot." Jennifer took the plug from Yang Yizhen, noting that it grew longer with a gentle tug as a hidden length cable spooled out from the base of the board. "Is there an inlet for this thing on Wukong?"

Tommy crouched next to Morgi, studying the surface of the machine for hidden panels and ports. "Hey, I think I see something. Hand it over, will ya?"

The concealed hatch opened with a creaky pop, revealing a bank of antique connection ports. Tommy probed each port until he found one that cleanly fit the plug and, with a click and a puff of burning ozone, the board awoke. The surface of the glass shed a harsh blue light, dotted at points with yellow dots and blocks of text filled with technical data written in some disused format.

"Well, so we turned it on. Now we just need to work out how to control it." Jennifer squinted at the text, the blocks of numbers and shorthand making less sense the more she considered them. "These are marked 'Lionheart' and these ones...how do you pronounce this...'Erinyes'? Are those the automated weapons? Strange names, if that's what they are."

"You know, if you're wrong about this and we step outside, we're all going to die before you have a chance to fix it," said Darius.

"It is not necessary for all of us to take such a risk." Yang Yizhen pushed out his chest and stepped forward. "I will exit the building first. If anyone perishes, it shall be me."

"That's a bit dramatic, Yang. I'm not going to use you to test this. Besides, I'm sure I can figure it out..." Jennifer tapped on one of the yellow dots, which expanded and shifted at her touch. "If this is us in the center, then these 'Erinyes' things must be the drones that attacked us. It looks like I can move them away..." She mashed her fingers against the display, watching the dots drift across the display and the arcane data points change in time with her gestures. "...Hell. For all I know, Wukong-Alpha was glitching out and this is some strange video game system that was popular back in the day."

"That was the trend, playing video games on military hardware," said Atticus.

"Quiet, you." Morgi shifted the weight of the machine, carefully maneuvering around the cable. "Look, we can't figure out anything here. Let's take this thing to the entrance, watch what the robots do, and deduce from there."

"And how do we test it, exactly?" said Jennifer.

"Easy. We send out one of the creepy robots." Morgi glanced at the swarm of Billies. "What do you think, Bill? You want to take a walk outside?"

"Yes, sir!" said the Billies in unison.

## CHAPTER 27

The Erinyes drones were just visible through the thin crack in the big main museum doors, floating just above the ground as they lazily scanned their environment for threats. Jennifer didn't dare open the doors any further - she already held her breath any time one of their injured electronic eyes shifted toward the museum, freezing in place until their senseless gaze had safely passed her by. Her seat on the ground gave her a low profile but this was little comfort when faced with such a remorseless threat. The control board lay in the shadows behind the door, connected by its long cable to the remnants of Wukong-Alpha lying some ten feet away. No one else dared linger by the door, save the sole Billy Positron on hand to serve as their feckless canary.

Jennifer groped around for the board, eyes still following the motion of the drones. "All right, not a sound from anyone until we see if this is going to work," she whispered.

"Can those things track a target by sound?" muttered Tommy.

"I don't know, but it would be an awful time to find out, so keep your lips locked, huh?" Jennifer glanced down at the board resting on her lap, concealing the glow in the shadows as she ran her fingers along its display. "Okay, if I'm right, the drones should move away from the Taleweaver."

Jennifer pressed her fingertips as hard as she could against the display, minding the flow of cryptic information out of the corner of her eye as she focused on the drones. As predicted, they drifted slowly away from the museum and the downed vessel, still scanning for a target but now conducting their search a few yards away. Jennifer flashed a thumb's up at the rest of the crew.

"Does this mean that we are once again safe to speak freely?" whispered Yang Yizhen.

"Maybe. This will work, but it would be a lot better if I knew how to make them stop shooting at us altogether." Jennifer tapped Billy on the head. "You ready to test the waters, Billy?"

Billy grinned back at Jennifer. "Sorry! You've just asked a question that my speech interpreter did not account for. Ask another question and I'll try to be more helpful!"

"...Right. Just get ready to head outside on my command." Jennifer tapped at the display, fiddling with the switches and watching as a panoply of options flew before her eyes. "All right, Billy, go take a stroll outside, and be quick."

Jennifer nudged the door open a few more inches and then scrambled back into its shadow. The ever-fearless Billy marched joyfully through the crack without comment or complaint, prancing his little bionic prance through the open square. Billy was all that was visible in the darkened room, the shaft of light like a targeting reticle on his grinning face. Jennifer pressed her ear to the door, listening for the jolt of energy and the sundering of metal that she was sure would come. She was greeted only by silence.

"Is the happy robot dead yet?" said Morgi.

"I'm not sure," said Jennifer. "I can't hear anything."

"Someone really ought to check." Tommy cleared his throat. "...Oh, not me though. I had enough thrills dodging the asteroids."

"I sure as hell didn't sign up for this," said Darius. "What about you, Epochi? You're the hard one, here, aren't you?"

"Hell no, you're not sticking me with this," said Morgi.

"Then the task falls to me." Yang Yizhen rose to his feet and walked into the sunlight, betraying no hint of tension. "Should this go awry, I request a thorough cremation."

"If it goes awry, we won't need to," said Morgi.

"Someone has a promising career as a motivational speaker," said Atticus.

Yang Yizhen took one step through the door and then vanished into the dazzling light. Jennifer watched the board display, praying that the dots wouldn't start to move, hoping that she hadn't misread something. After a few second, she could hear footsteps outside of the door, and Yang Yizhen poked his head through the door.

"You must see this, Shen Xiaojie," said Yang Yizhen. "You have succeeded. Come, behold the fruits of your effort."

Resting the board against the wall, Jennifer followed Yang Yizhen through the great doors. The light was blinding after her time in the underlit museum, bringing with it the fear that she wouldn't be able to evade an oncoming attack. But as her eyes adjusted, she saw that the fear was wholly unnecessary. The Erinyes drones were there, passively watching her, acknowledging her presence but taking no aggressive action. Billy Positron was there in the main plaza, fully intact, showing his warm smile to the placid observers. Whatever imitation malice was caught up in the gearwork hearts of the Erinyes was gone, replaced by total and complete passivity.

Yang Yizhen walked before the drones, bowing his head to each of them in turn before stopping before Jennifer. "Shall we begin our repairs, that we might finish our task?"

"That'd be splendid." Jennifer clapped her hands and shouted for the others. "Come on out everyone, it's cool."

\------

Billy Positron and his many cybernetic brothers proved to be an invaluable asset. Beneath the skilled eye of Tommy Harkennian, they set to work on the Taleweaver with both the expected mechanical speed and precision and a decidedly surprising eye for detail. With the robots set to their jolly task, the rest of the crew had a brief interlude in which to rest and plan their next move in the quiet dignity of the Lost Gallery museum, their former fortress now granting a comfortable respite from the hot sun.

"All right spacemen, bring me up to speed," said Atticus. "You need my help setting up the invasion?"

"Didn't I already tell you to shut it?" said Morgi. "All right, so what's our next move? We going to this Redstatter place?"

"It's that or try and find that book he mentioned," said Jennifer. "He didn't exactly leave us a wealth of clues, though, so I'm for going to the source and shaking some answers out of him."

"I ain't going anywhere with you crazy people," said Darius. "I'm staying right here and studying these artifacts and taking samples and not getting shot at anymore."

"Surely you don't plan on staying here by yourself?" said Jennifer.

"Hey, I got everything I need right here," said Darius, pointing deeper into the museum. "I'll stay here and do my research and when you guys are done, you send me a signal and we'll all head back to Exterra together. You guys get paid, I get my project and no one else tries to kill me. That all right?"

"It's good with me," said Atticus, miming placing an arm over Darius' shoulder. "Give us a chance to hang out."

"You'd rather spend time with the virtual junkie than us?" said Morgi.

"Him?" Darius nodded to Atticus. "Hey, this guy's all right. Great sense of humor on him."

"If you say so." Jennifer cracked her knuckles. "I don't like this scenario one bit, but we've got one lead and it's the Redstatter Array, so I guess that's where we're going. Pending agreement, of course."

"You will have no opposition from me," said Yang Yizhen. "We shall begin our search as soon as the Taleweaver is in flying condition."

Morgi snapped his fingers. "Hey, that's what I wanted to ask you. I saw Thanatos toss you something. What was it?"

"I am happy that you reminder me, as this had slipped my mind." Yang Yizhen dug around in his tattered sleeves. "I hope I did not misplace it...Ah!" He held out an open hand, a plain golden ring resting in his palm. "A strangely plain item for something that is meant to give us aid, is it not?"

"Maybe, but it's still a clue, and we're running short on those." Jennifer took the ring in two fingers and held it up to the light. While it looked plain at a casual glance, closer observation revealed a subtle design - tiny raised points connected by exquisitely fine lines, not even a millimeter in height. "I've seen this pattern. It's the same symbol that was hidden on that fake business card."

"The one you got from me?" said Darius. "Then the Kro'dyl and this thief are connected?"

"Seems that way, although I can't imagine how." Jennifer returned the ring to Yang Yizhen. "All right, hold on to that. It's the one thing we've got that we know is connected to Thanatos, and we can't afford to lose it."

"Of course." Yang Yizhen slid the ring onto his finger. "Nearly a perfect fit. Serendipity seems to follow in our footsteps."

Tommy slipped in through the main doors. "All right, folks, we're just about ready to go. The FTL systems need a little work, but everything else is operational."

Jennifer clapped her hands. "Fantastic. Now, how do we go about finding this array?"

"Actually, about that..." Tommy rubbed the back of his neck. "I checked out the navigator and there's a local coordinate already programmed in to the system."

"Who would have done that? Thanatos? But how..." Jennifer shook her head. "Forget it, we just need to follow this thing where it goes. All right, we should offload enough cargo to accommodate Wukong and that control board - we might need it again. And Darius is staying here for a while, so set him up with a working communicator. After that, we should be good to go."

"Not so fast, hombres, there's one thing you might need. There's people still living down south, and they're not all as cool about spacemen as me." Atticus eyeballed the grubby remains of Yang Yizhen's robe. "The lady and your big boy pilot over there can probably pass for normal, but the bathrobe won't pass muster. Plus..." He shot a glance at Morgi. "...Yeah, you'll want to cover that whole thing up."

Yang Yizhen tugged at his thoroughly shredded garment. "Yes, I've been told that I should seek more appropriate garb, but where?"

A fresh flask appeared in Atticus's hand out of nowhere. "There's a locker room on site, hasn't been too looted. You can probably find something halfway normal in there."

"Neat!" Tommy flashed a thumb's up. "So, you guys get kitted out, I'll get Wukong on board, get the comms gear, and then we're off to wrap this thing up."

"Sounds like a plan," said Jennifer. "You actually think it'll be that easy?"

"Well, if it was, it wouldn't be any darn fun, now, would it?" said Tommy.

## CHAPTER 28

"Okay, we're coming up on the target coordinates. All right, folks, how about we drop out of the clouds and see what we're up against, huh?"

The displays aboard the Taleweaver flicked to life as the vehicle descended beneath the cloud bank. Jennifer had expected to see a reprisal of the dead planet with ruined buildings jutting from fields of shattered concrete, but the sight that greeted her was strangely bucolic. The great expanse of prairie was split at places by meandering rivers and the shadows of ancient roads, alongside which sprouted clusters of scraggly trees and lines of tiny buildings. There were patches of ruin as well but most of it have been cleared away or redeemed, the shell of the old world serving a new function in the new. As the sensors drew in, Jennifer could make out signs of human activity - first just pixels floating to and fro, then tiny people moving up and down the reclaimed streets, carting goods or chatting with one another.

"It seems awfully normal for a place that blew up its atmosphere," said Jennifer. "Do you think this is some kind of trick?"

"Hey, anything's possible, but I'm open to the belief that things regress back to normal," said Tommy. "From up here, it looks a positively swell place."

"Big talk from a guy who's staying on the ship," said Morgi.

"Gosh, Morgi, we went over this. I'd love to get out and poke around with you guys, soak in some of that Cradle culture I've read about, but we can't very well leave the ship unattended around here, and we need someone to keep an eye on everything. Plus I love flying around this planet, it's downright keen." Tommy leaned over the back of his seat. "Hey, how you fellas liking the new clothes?"

Yang Yizhen tugged at the arms of his long-sleeve shirt with a slightly puzzled expression. "These sleeves hew so tightly to the wrist. Where would one keep his belongings?"

"In his pockets, that's why you have them." Morgi ran a hand over his featureless gray hoodie. "I actually kind of like this. It's a nice break from the cult gear they used to make me wear."

"All right, we're touching down," said Tommy. "Everyone get ready to disembark, I'm not staying on the ground too long."

The Taleweaver touched its new, Billy-built landing legs onto the hard ground and opened the entry hatch, now whisper silent courtesy of some extensive Billy-work. Jennifer led the group out, tucking her sidearm into her waistband so as to better conceal it from local eyes. They were a good walk away from the nearest settlement, but this too was in the plan - better that the locals not know that the group were from Exterra to avoid any unnecessary explanations.

"There's supposed to be some kind of communications array around here?" said Jennifer. "There's nothing like that for miles."

"Yeah, I didn't pick up anything either, but I'll keep an eye out and an ear open," said Tommy. "All right, everyone off that's going."

Yang Yizhen stepped out onto the prairie, still fidgeting with the fabric of his clothes. "Shen Xiaojie, will you know how to communicate with the local denizens?"

"Hard to say. After so many generations removed, they could be a lot different than us." Jennifer put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. "Morgi! Let's get moving!"

"Yeah, yeah." Morgi sprang from the exit hatch, whipping his hood over his head. "I know the routine: Hood up, head down, stay behind you."

"Whatever we can do to avoid being conspicuous," said Jennifer.

"It would have helped if the kid had let us trim that ridiculous mane of his," said Morgi.

Yang Yizhen grabbed his ponytail in shock. "This is my noble mantle, grown over an entire lifetime! You shall not take a blade to it!"

"Look, we already went over this, let's not fight more than we have to," said Jennifer. "Better start walking, we should try and make some progress before it's dark."

The Taleweaver ascended into the clouds as the exploratory group began their hike. It was hardly the most pleasant of walks - neither the tall and scratchy grass nor the fragmented highway were particularly pleasant to trod upon - but at least it would not be a long one. The drunken hologram had shown the decency and foresight to help them secure some hike-appropriate footwear, though the boots were far from a perfect fit for any of them.

"All right, so what exactly do we do when we get to this place?" said Morgi. "I'm not even sure where our goal is."

"Neither am I," said Jennifer. "We'll have to do some information gathering first. Hopefully the locals can clue us in."

"Always a big fan of plans that include the term 'hopefully,'" said Morgi. "So are we actually running errands for this crook?"

"I have no interest in aiding a criminal in his dangerous deeds," said Yang Yizhen. "However, I am deeply interested in the nature of this book that Thanatos so dearly desires. Perhaps it could offer some clue to his greater plan?"

"You want to go on a treasure hunt for a nameless book written by a mystery holy man?" Jennifer shook her head. "We find the man first. Then we can figure out what he wants."

"Pureland" read the sign that greeted the group as they entered the settlement, a large metal plate colored red and blue and posted in the footprint of some since destroyed structure. There was little activity at the edge of town but it was a different story a few blocks in. Even from a distance, Jennifer could make out social activity outside of the buildings. Those buildings themselves were in surprisingly fine condition - no shanties among them, just sturdy and clean structures, many of them with signs of routine maintenance. These were not repurposed ruins of a devastated civilization, but the handiwork of a new civilization fighting its way out of the ash heap.

As they neared the town center, Jennifer caught a few notes of some bygone form of music that she had never heard before. It mingled with the sounds of voices and footsteps and the racket of human activity, but even when the background noise was at its peak the notes still broke through. She'd never heard its like - simple but emotive, played with the same passion as the music issuing from the alien transient settlements back in the slums of Sagittarius. It was a lost style, perhaps something that simply hadn't followed humanity on the Exodus, a castoff along with the souls who performed it.

"Hey Jennifer, what gives?" Morgi nudged Jennifer with his knuckle. "You stopped walking."

"I'm trying to figure out where that music is coming from," said Jennifer. "You can hear it, right?"

"I, too, noticed the melody," said Yang Yizhen. "I've not heard it's like. Perhaps it was a development of those unfortunate people left to their fate?"

"Can we focus here?" said Morgi, tugging his hood low against the sudden wind. "We've got a dangerous criminal to find and no time to waste relaxing to tunes."

"There wouldn't be music if there were no people," said Jennifer. "I say we check it out, ask around, see if anyone's seen a stranger with a big metal case in town lately."

"I concur," said Yang Yizhen. "We can investigate as we absorb the culture of this forgotten place."

Morgi threw up his hands. "Fine, I'll go along. Sometimes I swear that I'm the only adult on this operation."

"Duly noted." Jennifer checked her firearm, concealed beneath the hem of her blouse but accessible at a moment's notice.

The music was coming from an enclosed patio of sorts affixed to one of the buildings. As she drew nearer, Jennifer could make out multiple instruments - some of which she couldn't quite recognize - as well as an eclectic assortment of voices. The patio itself was a lively place - nearly everyone there had an instrument, anything from an old world guitar (rare in the Stretch, other than a few cheaply replicated knockoffs not fit to play) to a simple set of drums amounting to little more than a membrane drawn tight over some surface. The ones not bearing instruments either sang along or else reclined and enjoyed the show while sampling some local beverage. Jennifer managed to bring the music to an abrupt stop as she attempted to integrate herself into the crowd, kicking an instrument case and bumping into a few of the musicians as she maneuvered. There was a moment of cacophony and then the melody gave way to muted chatter and stares, with most eyes lingering a bit longer on Morgi.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," said Jennifer.

"It happens," said one of the guitarists, resting his instrument across his lap. "You must be new. Just come in the other way from now on, it's easier."

"Thanks, and we are new." Jennifer squeezed onto a wooden bench. "...I'm not really familiar with this kind of music."

"You've never heard folk?" answered another musician, a man cradling a large instrument that Jennifer recognized as an old-fashioned bass.

"No, actually, they don't really play that kind of thing where we're from," said Jennifer.

"You can join in if you like," said the guitarist.

"We really don't have time, we're actually looking for a friend," said Jennifer. "He's a pale guy, would have been carrying a briefcase made of metal."

The bassist smirked at the statement. "A friend, huh? You looking to meet this guy or kill him?"

"We're not here to kill anyone," said Jennifer.

"A lot of manhunters come through here," said the guitarist. "Real psychos. We try to keep them out, but we do that too much and we end up with a lot of killers hanging around."

"We had someone new come through a few days ago," came a voice from the crowd.

"The one who thought he was a come-back?" The guitarist laughed and shook his head. "Couldn't be. These folks would have mentioned if they were from space."

"From space?" Jennifer squirmed and pulled to the edge of the bench. "This is...something you deal with on a regular basis?"

"Used to get a lot of con artists who claimed they were descendants of the people who took off on those ships back in the day," said the guitarist. "They swear they'll give you a lift to the stars for the right payment and then disappear once they've hooked a few people. It's that, or we still get hit by space junk from the launches sometimes, even parts of ships. They'll collect the scrap and sell it as unknown technology. This last guy wasn't selling anything, though, just told us to be careful, that more were comin'."

"Yeah, right, like anyone survived that launch," said the bassist. "Generation ships my ass. I'll bet anything that they blew up once they left the atmosphere."

"That's an interesting piece of jewelry," said the guitarist, admiring Yang Yizhen's ring. "I've seen that pattern. Yeah, it's in that mural in the library."

"Then you have a functional library in this settlement?" said Yang Yizhen.

"God, you guys have a low opinion of this part of the world," said the bassist. "Sure we have a library, it's right up the road. One of the oldest buildings in town, you can't miss it. You can check it out if you don't mind the weirdos who work there."

"...Well, our friend is a big reader." Jennifer turned back to Morgi and Yang Yizhen. "What do you say? Want to check it out?"

"Yeah, just don't trip over anything on the way out," said the bassist. "Hey, and if you do meet anyone from space, send them this way. We'd all love to meet 'em."

## CHAPTER 29

In truth, it wasn't so much that Jennifer was surprised to find a library in a place like Pureland as it was that she was shocked to see one at all. Stately well-kept libraries were a staple in the Exterran empires, often forming the center of academic and even social life - particularly famed were the carefully preserved old world libraries of Taiyang and the ever-growing nonhuman cultural collections of Alshams Asha. To the highly rationalized Exterran Federation, though, libraries were viewed as a waste of precious space. Why bother keeping backup records on a medium as low-density and fragile as paper when a data vault on a captive asteroid can do the job? And really, why even read at all when the carefully curated holography archive can show you all of history without the risk of accidentally learning something unpleasant or distasteful?

The Pureland library, then, was a new experience. Its swooping modernist design had miraculously survived the end of the world, the ravages of time, and who knows what other conflicts and disasters without significant damage. The interior was even more beautiful, well-kept and artfully designed enough that it could have passed for an imperial library. The long, broad entry led to passages lined with masterfully hewn wooden shelves laden with books, and where there were no books there were works of art - works such as the mural to the right of the entrance depicting a constellation that bore a striking resemblance to that familiar pattern captured in the points on Thanatos' ring and the hidden design on the business card.

Morgi paused to study the mural, reaching in to his front pocket where his force flail was concealed. "Well, looks like this is the place. Do what you have to do, I'll watch your back."

"Perhaps we should ask this fellow for assistance," said Yang Yizhen, pointing to a slender, bespectacled blonde man behind a desk in the center of the entry hall. "The librarians in the Celestial archives are excellent sources of information."

"Can I help you patrons?" said the librarian, setting aside his book and turning to the new arrivals. "I sense that you're new to the Pureland library. Might I assist you in finding an item or looking up a piece of information?"

"As a matter of fact, you can." Jennifer walked to the desk, resting her hands on the smooth teak surface. "We're looking for someone who might have been by here in the last week or so. A skinny man, very pale, would have been carrying a big metal case. Might have called himself 'Izmik' or something similar."

"I'm very sorry, but I can't remember ever seeing anyone like that." The librarian spoke in an unearthly calm tone, to the point that Jennifer wondered for a moment if he was another robot. "Is there a particular reason you thought you might find him here?"

"He's a heavy reader. Last I spoke with him, he was looking for a certain rare book." Jennifer leaned over the desk. "Do you have a rare book section here?"

"Indeed we do, ma'am, but..." The librarian inhaled sharply, then shook his head. "...I'm afraid that our rare archives are not accessible to the general public without specific permission. I'm terribly sorry."

"How might we go about obtaining permission?" said Yang Yizhen, approaching the desk. "Or if this is not possible, might there be a collection of facsimiles that one could browse? Perhaps a digital archive of some sort?"

The librarian ignored the question, his eyes fixed on Yang Yizhen's ring. "Oh, I see. I'm terribly sorry, sir and ma'am, I had no idea that you were with the Anheli. Can I assume that Apocalypse, Ltd. sent you?"

With a nod, Jennifer pulled out the Apocalypse, Ltd. business card and laid it flat on the table. "Might we see that rare collection now?"

"Of course, ma'am. It's sealed away in the undercroft, away from the unworthy eyes of the unenlightened." The librarian gestured to another staff member to cover his desk, then emerged from behind the desk with a small satchel. "Follow me, patrons, and please be patient."

The librarian led the three of them deeper into the stacks, down a flight of stairs and into a staff-only area. Here there were more books than above, thoroughly aged tomes arranged carefully on tables on preservation, but they didn't stop there. Pulling a heavy ring of antiquated keys from the satchel, the librarian opened a half-concealed door that led into a dusty and ill-lit archive, the metal shelves groaning beneath the weight of their obviously ancient contents. Still he did not stop, leading them deeper into the facility, down floor after floor until Jennifer was no longer sure how far below the surface they were.

"We're not to the rare materials yet?" said Jennifer.

"One must never be too careful with such things, ma'am. Some of them are a hundred generations old, and we wouldn't want such relics falling into less than careful hands. Our first duty is to preserve the past, that we can better serve your needs." The librarian paused before another door, this one an oddly ornate portal with a diabolic raven carved into its mahogany surface. Pressing his hand against an inconspicuous metal plate, the door slowly swung open. "Here we are."

The room beyond was lit by the dancing light of a live torch rather than electricity. Jennifer had to squint to make out any details through the firelight, but what she saw through the shadows was far more foreboding than any archive. The floor was made of polished stone, stained at places with patches of brown crust and set with rusty drains. There were no bookshelves lining the walls, only an assortment of ancient instruments of pain \- manacles, cages, stocks, racks holding scourges and metal rods and mallets. They weren't alone here, either - four very large men in black robes and hoods, one standing in each corner, eyed them from the shadows.

"What the hell is this?" said Jennifer.

"This is the room of truth." The librarian drew a knife from his bag. "You've been lying to me, and it's time we have a chat about that."

Jennifer edged her hand around to her back, feeling for the bulge of the concealed gun. "What the hell are you talking about? I haven't lied to you."

The librarian clicked his tongue. "Ma'am, please don't insult this institution or me with your attempts at misdirection. You are clearly not Anheli, which leads me to wonder..." He pointed at Yang Yizhen with his knife, allowing the firelight to glint off the ornately carved steel of the blade. "...where, exactly, you found that Anheli ring."

"This was given to me," said Yang Yizhen, stumbling over his words. "I am no thief, I assure you."

"Well, sir, the problem is that you've already lied to me once." The librarian stroked the knife with his free hand, running his fingers along the finely lacquered handle and the animal horn handguard. "When people do that, they tend to make a habit of it, and I don't care for that. Not one bit."

"Surely we can reach some consensus without unnecessary violence." Jennifer's fingers brushed against the grip of the gun. "We're all intelligent people here."

"This is true, ma'am, we are intelligent people." The librarian crossed in front of Jennifer, brandishing his knife. "We're intelligent enough to see that you are clearly reaching for a hidden weapon, which is a strange act for someone trying to avoid violence. Now, do you really think that making a move like that is a good idea, ma'am? Perhaps you'd like to reconsider your next move?"

"Playing the tough guy, huh?" said Morgi. "All right, I count four big assholes and one prick with a knife. Five people in all. This'll barely be a fracas. Hell, I've dealt with much bigger crowds on truce days."

"Have you, sir?" The librarian glanced back at Morgi and gasped. "...Oh! You're not human! Well, this is a novel development. Might this mean that you patrons are true come-backs?"

"Precisely," said Yang Yizhen through trembling lips. "We hail from Exterra, the new homeworld for humans after the Exodus."

"Well, that is very, very interesting," said the librarian. "Unfortunately, you still aren't Anheli, and I do still need to know who you are. We can have that conversation in two ways: The straightforward way or the creative way. And you should know that I am very, very creative."

A moment later, the room fell into chaos as the match struck the tinder. One of the large men placed his hands on Morgi's shoulders to restrain him, not accounting for the Epochi's reflexes. Morgi lashed out at the man's shin, the man's hands withdrawing to wrap around his hurt leg. As all eyes darted to the melee, Jennifer made her move, whipping out the handgun with one smooth action. The librarian reacted faster than she could, his knife arcing through the air and carving a shallow wound into Jennifer's wrist, the shock enough to make her drop the weapon. Yang Yizhen, hardly used to such anarchic combat, hit the floor trembling. Meanwhile, Morgi launched himself at the other men, ducking neatly out of the way as each of them reached for him. Shrugging off her own pain, Jennifer charged at the librarian, striking him just when he was off balance and knocking them both backwards into the flame-darkened shadows at the rear of the room.

There was no wall to halt their momentum. Jennifer hit the ground and tumbled and tumbled into the black, rolling down some unnoticed ramp extending yet further into the earth. She finally came to a halt on a soft, level floor well below the torture chamber. It was still darker here than in the room above them, but there was just enough light to see the librarian on his feet and staring down at her.

"Fighting won't do you any good, ma'am," said the librarian. "You're only going to get my blood up, and you don't want to see me angry."

Jennifer vaulted to her feet and put her fists up. "Pretty big words for a bookworm."

"Okay, ma'am," said the librarian. "It's not my flesh."

Jennifer threw a jab at the librarian who, moving with a speed hardly becoming a man of his profession, neatly deflected the blow and countered with a jab of his own. Still dazed by the maneuver, Jennifer struck at the librarian from the other side, this time meeting the floor as he stepped aside and flung her to the ground. She recovered from the attack just in time to see the heel of the librarian's boot coming fast toward her face, rolling away from the attack and scrambling back to her feet.

"This would be a good time to give up, ma'am," said the librarian, brushing the dust from his trousers.

Jennifer's eyes had at last adjusted enough to make out the details of the room. Truly, it was more of a pit, a open round space ending in a floor of off-colored dirt packed hard. Scattering the floor were piles of dingy bones, some partially buried, some simply left as they were to turn into dust. It looked at first brush like some ill-kept abattoir until Jennifer caught sight of some familiar skulls.

"...Human." Jennifer clutched her head. "Your victims. Shit, how many people have you killed?"

"As many as we had to, ma'am. Clearly you don't understand the responsibilities in maintaining an institution in a world like this one. People need to respect the rules, and when they don't they must be dealt with in an efficient fashion." The librarian crouched to retrieve his knife, blowing the dirt from the blade. "I'd hate to lose this. It was a gift from up north, and it's so very useful. You know, this was the world's first tool of negotiation, and for my money it's still just about the best. If you know how to use a knife properly, there's very little that it can't get you."

The librarian lunged at Jennifer, cutting the air with neat, well-controlled slashes. Jennifer kept her distance, watching his movements for any opening. When he at last swung just a little too wide, she kicked the knife out of his hand. With his eyes still on the blade, she struck out again, kicking him just below his knee and dropping him to his knees.

"Now I think it's time for you to give up," said Jennifer.

"You're very confident, ma'am," said the librarian. "But just because you're a match for me, that doesn't mean you'll be able to handle my associates."

Suddenly, a ray of energy sundered the air before the librarian. "Don't expect any backup. Your boys are in ugly shape." Morgi had the librarian by the hair, the force flail at his neck. "How you doing, Jen?"

"Shen Xiaojie!" Yang Yizhen ran down the ramp, holding Jennifer's gun by the barrel. "Are you badly injured?"

Jennifer glanced at the cut on her wrist, still weeping blood but not deep enough to cause any serious damage. "I could use a little patching, but I'll live." She took the gun and trained it on the librarian. "Hey Yang, grab his knife. Let's not give him any more chances."

"Well played. Best that we not lose that, it is a piece of history." The librarian glanced back at Morgi without turning his head. "Can I make some assumptions as to the state of my associates?"

"Oh, they're alive, but I don't think they'll be doing any arm breaking in the foreseeable future," said Morgi.

"I see," said the librarian. "Well, I am a rational man, and discretion is the better part of valor. Perhaps you patrons would like me to show you the actual rare collection?"

"That sounds lovely," said Jennifer. "Do that and we'll consider not shooting you."

"I'll take that offer, ma'am," said the librarian.

## CHAPTER 30

Jennifer kept the barrel of her gun buried deeply in the librarian's back as their less than eager guide took them on yet another tour through the gut of the facility, this one decidedly less focused. They wandered through the maze-like stacks with little obvious purpose, doubling back and disturbing the same dust time and time again. Jennifer occasionally felt the need to jab the little man with the gun as a little visceral reminder that they wouldn't deal with wasted time. After applying a good deal of wear to the floor, the librarian finally led the group down a random set of shelves terminating in a blank wall.

Jennifer prodded the librarian in the back of the head with the weapon. "Funny, I could swear that we passed this section earlier. You're wasting our time, aren't you?"

"Not at all ma'am, just practicing due diligence," said the librarian. "I always take a circuitous route so that I can be sure I haven't been followed."

"Oh, that's rich," said Morgi. "Hey Jen, maybe you should let me do him like I did his buddies."

"Let's not lose ourselves. We're not like his kind." Jennifer planted the gun firmly against the librarian's spine. "Now, the book I'm looking for, will I find it in these shelves?"

"I don't know what title in particular you're looking for, ma'am, but I suspect we'll have to go deeper." The librarian approached the wall, placing his hands against the stone. "The special archive is very well hidden."

"A false wall?" said Morgi. "You guys are paranoid enough."

"Only cautious, sir. Only cautious." The librarian ran one hand into the gap between the wall and the shelves. "This will only take a minute."

"If you come up with a weapon, then we're done," said Jennifer.

"I wouldn't dare," said the librarian. "Although, and I do acknowledge that this is a terrible time to ask, but might I have my knife back once we're finished? It is a unique object which was gifted to me as a reward for my loyalty to the Anheli."

"Yeah, we're handing you a weapon," said Morgi.

"I might have more sympathy had you not brandished that 'unique object' in my face," said Yang Yizhen. "And your repeated reference to the 'Anheli' means little to me."

"A strange sentiment, given that you're wearing one of their rings," said the librarian.

Yang Yizhen studied the dripping wound on Jennifer's wrist. "Isn't that painful?"

"Tommy has a first aid kit, I can bandage it up once we're done here," said Jennifer.

"I'd just as soon not walk around following a trail of your blood, Jen." Morgi grabbed a loose seam on the sleeve of his hoodie and wrenched with all his strength until a strip tore loose. "Here, do something with this."

"I shall attend to the wound." Yang Yizhen took the scrap of rough cloth and wrapped it gently around Jennifer's wrist, pressing the fabric against the cut until the bleeding stopped. "This should hold for the time being."

"Thanks, guys," said Jennifer, turning her attention back to the librarian. "You haven't found that switch yet?"

"Just a moment, ma'am." The librarian grimaced for a moment, then stepped back. "And here we are."

The wall fanned away with a coarse grinding sound, revealing a long, rough-hewn passage leading further into the earth. Morgi edged past the group and stared into the darkness beyond. "How deep does this place go?"

"This tunnel leads to the rare archive?" said Yang Yizhen. "It is a most unusual means of entry."

"This is the passage to the library undercroft, which houses the rare collection in one of its many chambers," said the librarian. "You'll find that the Pureland library is more than it seems."

"I already guessed as much from the torture chamber." Jennifer leaned forward, squinting into the darkness. "Do you see anything at the end?"

"Not a damn thing," said Morgi.

"How shall we best explore the undercroft?" said Yang Yizhen. "Is it better to send a solitary scout that the rest can mind our captive, or is there safety in numbers?"

"Oh, the librarian's coming with us," said Jennifer. "Isn't that-"

Suddenly, Jennifer felt a force from behind and stumbled into the passage, knocking Yang Yizhen and Morgi forward as she did. Behind them, the librarian, who had worked his way into a position of opportunity as the group had conversed, swiftly darted a hand behind the shelves and triggered the concealed switch.

"Wait!" cried Jennifer as the false wall slid shut.

"Goodbye, patrons," said the librarian just as the opening vanished.

There was no light in the tunnel, not even a flicker at the far end. "I am really, really getting sick of long, dark passageways," said Morgi.

Jennifer pulled out the auto-illuminator and a moment later a beam of soft blue light pierced the darkness. The other end of the tunnel was hardly visible - there were only the rocky walls marking a passage that corkscrewed into the depths.

"All right, only one way to go." Jennifer gripped her gun in both hands as she inched down the passage. "Everyone on your toes, there's no way to be sure what's waiting for us."

"We're just going to let that psychopath go?" said Morgi.

"We'll just have to deal with him later," said Jennifer. "Right now, I want to know what fresh hell he's set up for us."

Deeper and deeper they went, following the ray of light wherever it pointed as they descended into the unknown. The tunnel felt more like a natural thing than a man-made passage - narrowing to a crack at times, abruptly sloping downward, turning back on itself - and yet it also felt as a purposeful thing leading to some specific destination. Eventually there was a subtle shift in the environment, the air growing warm and heavy and stifling. A minute later there came sounds, or more precisely vibrations that they could feel through the living stone, accompanied by a few faint rays of orange-red light that grew more intense with each step.

"You guys seeing this?" Jennifer shoved the auto-illuminator back in her pocket. "...It's bright enough to see. We must be close to the end."

"This environment does not bode well," said Yang Yizhen.

"Not much choice now," said Jennifer, tightening her grip on the gun. "Let's see what we're dealing with."

Orange light flooded the cavern beyond, accompanied by a stale air that gave the impression of a chamber fully consumed in fire. Pipes and pistons wove through the stone of the walls and ceiling, emitting the occasional sequence of clanks that harmonized with the industrial hum that poured in from deeper in the complex. There was no way to be sure, but the claustrophobic stone and the distant aroma of rot made it feel as though they were very deep beneath the surface. For a moment, Jennifer fought just to breathe as she studied the walls, pondering their location and questioning if escape was even possible.

"Where are we?" said Yang Yizhen as he emerged from the tunnel. "It is like an ancient story of a civilization bound within the planetary core. Do you think that we have stumbled across such a place?"

"Those places are myths," said Jennifer, wicking away beads of sweat.

"That's what they said about the Cradle, too." Morgi slid out of the tunnel, then slumped against the wall. "What the hell is that noise?"

"It does not seem a natural sound to me," said Yang Yizhen. "Perhaps we are too quick to dismiss these stories as fiction."

"I guess it could be some kind of mining operation. That would explain the sound. Of course, if that's the case then it could just be another ancient automated system." Jennifer paused, placing a hand to her ear. "Do you hear something else?"

Morgi cocked his head. "...Typing?"

The group peeked around the corner, following the new sound. Tucked away in a strange little nook sat an automaton, a sleek, chrome-plated machine with a triangular head and an impossible number of arms emerging from all over its body. Each arm ended in a well-articulated hand, and each hand was busy at work with some antique piece of equipment - an old computer terminal, a manual typewriter, a wall-sized device resembling a switchboard. Its movements were smooth and lifelike, save for the occasional inchoate jerk and the clatter of its servos working at full capacity.

The robot clicked in acknowledgment as it spotted the group, addressing them in a crudely synthesized voice. "Welcome to the Pureland undercroft. _*CLICK*_ Mr. Hornik is not currently available, but I will gladly take a message if your need is urgent. Now, how can I help you?"

Jennifer looked back and forth at her companions, then approached the automaton, sliding the gun back into her waistband. "Uh...we were told that we could find a collection of rare books here."

"Mr. Hornik does have a personal _*CLICK*_ collection of pre-Catastrophe works." Most of the automaton's hands continued to work as it addressed Jennifer. "However, it is not open to the general public without prior approval. If you would tell me _*CLICK*_ why you would like to peruse the collection, I will forward your request to Mr. Hornik."

"Actually..." Jennifer pulled out one of the business cards she'd been carrying. "...We're with Apocalypse, Ltd., here on an errand." She grabbed Yang Yizhen's wrist and raised his hand to show off Thanatos' ring. "One of the Anheli has requested a special item that exists only in Mr. Hornik's collection, and we're here to bring it back."

The automaton pointed its head at the ring. " _SCANNING DATABASE_...Well, I was not informed that any couriers would be arriving, but _*DING* *DING*_ your credentials check out so I can grant you full access to the undercroft. Have you been here before?"

"It's our first time down here," said Jennifer.

"Then you'll need some guidance. I'm afraid I'm too busy to personally escort you, so please listen carefully. The archive _*CLICK*_ is down the far right hall, it will be the first room on your left. Try not to wander too much, some of the materials and equipment here may be hazardous to untrained personnel." The automaton returned to its work, or demonstration thereof. "Feel free to come back if you are in need of further assistance."

"Thanks, we'll do that," said Jennifer. "Come on, trainees, we've got a job to do. No reason to stand around all day."

Morgi shot Jennifer a perplexed look as they proceeded down the tunnel. "What was that routine?"

"It's how they used to talk on this planet. Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Jennifer retrieved her sidearm. "Keep an eye out for an exit. Once we get the book, we should get out of this place as fast as we can."

"I am not so sure about exploring. The machine spoke of hazardous equipment." Yang Yizhen tugged at his sleeves. "This place bears a foul omen."

"Yeah, which is why we're getting the hell out," said Morgi. "Do you even know what we're looking for? Thanatos didn't give us a title. He didn't tell us shit."

Jennifer shook her head. "I guess we'll just have to figure it out. Maybe it'll turn out to be really obvious. Either that or we'll just have to take everything - it's whatever works."

"And what of Mr. Hornik?" said Yang Yizhen. "Surely he shall not appreciate our larceny."

"If he finds us out, we'll just have to make it right," said Jennifer.

"Sure, make it right," said Morgi. "The man lives in a cave complex several miles beneath a library run by a clique of serial killers. I'm sure he's perfectly rational."

## CHAPTER 31

The rare book archive was less a library than it was an overstuffed nook, a tiny cavelet roughly clawed from the surrounding stone and crammed with an eclectic variety of articles. The highlight of the room was a trio of sturdy bookshelves bearing an anarchic assortment of antique books. A heavy desk, its surface covered in papers bearing barely legible scrawls, leaned against the wall opposite the shelves. What space remained was occupied by a menagerie of strange objects - ancient machines of unknown function, wall charts describing various arcane practices in long-dead tongues, glass cases containing ominous artifacts and, looming over the room, a six-foot tall skeleton of something not quite human.

"It is something of a disappointment," said Yang Yizhen. "The Taiyang libraries feature stacks rising to the heavens with guardian machines fashioned after the beasts of nobility keeping watch over their sacred contents."

"Whereas this is more like some nutjob's storage space." Morgi eyeballed the skeleton. "...Is this thing supposed to be from this planet? Look at it, his elbows bend backwards and his skull's all messed up."

"Well, maybe this is for the best. We're not sure what we're looking for, and this collection is small enough that the three of us can just go through it one book at a time." Jennifer knelt before the central bookshelf. "No need to be neat. We'll just make a 'no' pile and a 'maybe' pile and figure it out from there."

"Fine with me." Morgi approached one of the shelves, yanking out several books onto the ground. "What was it he even told us we were supposed to find?"

"A book by an old holy man on translation," said Jennifer.

"Translation?" said Yang Yizhen. "Are you positive, Shen Xiaojie? Thanatos mentioned the holy man, but I do not recall any talk of translation."

"Of course he did. Because the author was trying to communicate with...with an, um..." Jennifer rubbed her face. "Where did I hear that? I could swear..."

"We can freak out later. Let's just find the damn thing, I hate caves and I'm sick of this place." Morgi plucked a random book from the pile before him. "Hmm...'The Cruel Theory.' A hypothesis on the necessity of cruelty to advance civilization. Man, humans are sick. Epochi might be crazy, but at least they aren't this proud of it." He flung the book over his shoulder. "It wasn't a priest that wrote this, so that's the wrong one."

"Here is a book on botany and mycology," said Yang Yizhen. "Very interesting...this author identifies a rare species of flower containing a novel chemical that users claim allows them to converse with animistic spirits. He also claims evidence that it may enable humans to exhibit swarm intelligence! Might there be some truth to these allegations?"

"It hardly matters, I'm sure that whatever plant might have done that died when the atmosphere caught fire." Jennifer yanked out a book, the pages hanging out loosely from the binding. "I have a book about pre-Exodus computers...that's been hand-stitched back into the cover. With the pages in the wrong order. Terrific."

"Here is a record of high scores for arcade games," said Yang Yizhen. "Interesting. Was electronic entertainment so critical to the old world to merit preservation in a place such as this?"

"No, and neither were...youth trivia competitions. 'Aukland's Unofficial Guide'..." Jennifer tossed books into the pile with ardor. "Geez, there are at least a half-dozen of these things."

"I can top that. Just found the manual for operating the electronic scoring system for youth trivia competitions." Morgi furiously tore into the shelf before him. "Damn it, this stuff is all junk. Some of these aren't even books. I have a notebook from some guy who believed he was getting messages from himself in the future."

"Might our goal be a work of fiction? There are a number of novels here, a series by their outward appearance..." Yang Yizhen opened one of the books, then slammed it shut and tossed it aside. "...Such unwholesome language and glorification of bodily pollution. No holy hand wrote this."

"It looks like they just saved anything that survived, regardless of its significance." Jennifer's searching finger landed upon a partially disintegrated spiral-bound notebook "'The Endless Garden' by...it can't be."

"Did you find it?" said Morgi.

"I...no, at least I don't think so. I'll check..." Jennifer gingerly lifted the cover, the slight motion knocking loose a few flakes of old yellowed paper that drifted to the floor and crumpled into dust. Only part of the page was still legible:

...phenomenon as a result of altered cognitive states. But while this is true in some coarse materialistic way...seen this 'Endless Garden', as I've taken to calling it, and all of them report similar experiences within the fantasy. They witness people long dead and places long destroyed, even when those people and places are yet unknown to them. All of them have experienced loss...of the time the experience ends in fire, for such a place cannot truly exist in this reality. Most striking is that none of them speak of this place as a dream but as an image of someplace they have personally witnessed. I can attest to this - I know that I've walked through that garden before...

Jennifer returned the notebook to its original resting place with a deep breath. "It's not what we're looking for."

Morgi's spine stiffened. "Someone's coming."

"Hornik." Jennifer grabbed for her sidearm. "All right, find a hiding place. Be ready to ambush him, we don't know what we're dealing with."

Now Jennifer could hear the approaching figure, the sound of his arrhythmic footsteps from down the hall. Grabbing Yang Yizhen by the shoulder, she dove behind the desk and waited. Morgi was out of sight, having already vanished into some perch of opportunity in the clutter. The space was quiet except for the sound of shuffling footsteps growing nearer by the second, shortly joined by the unhealthy rasp of the approaching figure's breath. Then the steps came to a halt, and all that was left was that morbid rattling respiration, loud enough to fill the room.

Peeking around the corner of the desk, Jennifer caught a glimpse of true decrepitude. The man standing at the entrance to the archive was venerable beyond any easy means of gleaning his age. A pair of glistening fogged-over beads sparkled from the recesses of a bloated face, the skin fighting against the irresistable ravages of gravity. The nubs of his crooked vertebrae bulged out through his skin and stood out in relief even through his clothes. He was barely five feet in height even before accounting for his bent-over gait and he leaned heavily on a cane topped with the image of some vile beast cast in gold.

The old man opened his mouth, revealing a smattering of jagged off-color teeth, and let out a coarse laugh. "Heh. Room in disorder, big racket from in here but no sign that anyone left through the one door. Yeah, that's quite the pincer attack you tactical maestros have set up. Why don't you amateur assassins cut this old fiend a break and come on out. It's just me here."

Yang Yizhen darted into the open, falling to his knees before the old man. "May I offer a thousand apologies for our behavior. It was never our intention to disrespect the domicile of a party not connected to our quest, and we shall do what we must to set this right."

The old man stared in the general direction of Yang Yizhen. "I'm thinking you're not from these parts, are you son?"

"No, he's not." Jennifer slid her weapon into her waistband and stepped into the open. "I can explain why we're here. My name-"

"I don't care about your name, girl," said the old man. "I do care about the other one of your little gang, heh. Three of you, right?"

"How the hell did you know?" Morgi leaped from the shadows, landing next to Jennifer and Yang Yizhen. "I guess your ears still work, because I know you didn't spot me."

"Well this is a most unexpected occurrence, innit?" The old man rolled his scaly tongue around inside his mouth. "But I guess it wouldn't be an ordinary crew of burglars who could get through that freakshow above. Heh, you folks have come a long way to wreck my residence, haven't you?"

"Indeed." Yang Yizhen rose to his feet. "Might you be the one known as Hornik?"

"I've had so many names over the years, heh, but I suppose that's one sobriquet I've employed on this particular ball of dirt." Mr. Hornik tapped his cane on the ground. "Enough of this playful banter, my plate is full and conversation gives me no end of frustration. Are you burglars here on behalf of Thanatos, by any chance?"

"You know Thanatos?" said Jennifer.

"Little girl, there's not a soul in creation I don't know by name and deed," said Mr. Hornik. "Knowing that's part of my reason for being, the better to keep my ledgers in order. In this case, though, I know the killer in question because I've worked with him. Harvested a lot of souls with the man back in the day, heh."

"I wish we would have known that, we could have saved a lot of trouble and damage to your home," said Jennifer. "It's kind of a long story-"

"Book you're looking for isn't here, girl," said Mr. Hornik. "I've been keeping it aside for when the butcher came a-callin'. Figured he'd go soft one of these days. Heh, I suppose he wouldn't want to deal with me face-to-face, not with this face anyway."

"How do you know so much of our quest?" said Yang Yizhen.

"Well, it wouldn't do for the enemy not to know what his potential recruits are at, would it now? Heh." Mr. Hornik turned back to the entrance. "I keep it in the laboratory, always at hand so that some sneak thief won't run off with it. Building that receptionist was a passing amusement but the cogs I used to make his brains weren't exactly top tier goods."

"Wait a second, what the hell is going on here?" said Morgi. "I'm still in the dark."

"Perhaps that's because the fleshy cogs in your own head are gummed up," said Mr. Hornik. "And hell's nicer than this hole, though I do my best. Now, might we get going? And don't touch anything on the way, I'll be irate if I have to clean up any corpses today."

## CHAPTER 32

For a man of his extended years, Mr. Hornik was both sure of foot and rich in stamina, traits he demonstrated as he led his guests deeper into the cave network. His hobbled pace was sluggish, but Jennifer suspected that this was at least partially theater, if only because the old man always limped just a bit slower when they passed another nook in the seemingly endless tunnel. It was strange behavior given Hornik's warning, but perhaps that was all part of some darkly whimsical ruse, or even an element in some elaborately deadly trick.

It was hard enough not to glance into those little side caves and the strange and terrifying things within them. Some of them were host to strange, antiquated-looking engines made of alien metals, valves spewing forth clouds of brilliantly colorful steam. Some were blocked by heavy steel doors concealing what Jennifer could only imagine were exotic creatures, strange beasts that made strange noises in the darkness of their cages and occasionally shook the doors with some fresh attempt at forcing an exit. Still others were display rooms much like the archives, but featuring other oddities - mystical-looking artifacts, disturbed works of art, or skeletons from species the likes of which she had never seen. Hornik never spoke of the purposes of these nooks, only smiling when one of his guests peeked inside and smiling even more broadly when one of them recoiled at the contents.

"Heh, you like my projects?" said Mr. Hornik. "Most folks don't have the stomach for this sort of thing, but then again most folks wouldn't cross the void of space to run errands for a killer of their own kind."

"What are you getting at with these cryptic comments?" said Jennifer.

Mr. Hornik emitted a phlegmy noise that was not wholly unlike a laugh. "That head of yours is just ballast, isn't it?"

"I'm getting tired of your cracks, old man," said Morgi. "The tour's getting old, too."

"Relax your skull muscle, rodent man, my main laboratory isn't far." Mr. Hornik cracked his knuckles - a grim noise loud enough to echo down the tunnel - and picked up his pace. "And here I was assuming that explorers would have a spark of curiosity."

"I can not speak for the others, but on a personal level I find your domicile fascinating," said Yang Yizhen. "How much time have you invested in these projects of yours?"

"Who remembers such things?" said Mr. Hornik. "It was before everything burned up, I know that much."

"That's impossible," said Jennifer. "The Catastrophe was over a thousand years ago."

"Don't look a year over five hundred, do I?" said Mr. Hornik. "What can I say? Good is nice and pretty, but the opposition ages pretty smooth."

Yang Yizhen cleared his throat. "...In any case, were we not so dearly pressed for time, I could spend days chronicling the many wonders-"

There was a clatter as Yang Yizhen backed into a shelf protruding out from one of the nooks. Leaping forward, he whipped his arm back, sending the contents - an obsidian box crowned with a silver-inlaid red jewel - flying through the air. He held his breath as the box struck his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around the relic.

Mr. Hornik chuckled as he took in Yang Yizhen's panicked expression. "Nice catch. If not your head, then at least your hands are quick."

Yang Yizhen sheepishly returned the box to its proper place. "It is undamaged. Oh, I hope you can forgive me, I could scarcely live with the shame had I allowed such a precious object to strike the ground."

"Heh, if that box had opened up, then guilt would have been your last problem. Literally." Mr. Hornik waved for the group to follow. "All right, let's get moving before all of you die."

Jennifer eyed the box uneasily before turning back to Mr. Hornik. "Returning to our earlier conversation, what's all this talk about Thanatos being a killer?"

Mr. Hornik massaged his drooping chin. "Heh, that explains it. Could have sworn you folks were out for revenge and I was wondering why the good deed for our local assassin of worlds."

"We're trying to bring him in for theft," said Jennifer. "How dangerous is he, exactly?"

"He had the drop on us earlier," said Morgi. "Bastard could have killed us if he wanted. He didn't."

"Really?" Mr. Hornik gnawed at his lip with a pair of gray teeth. "It seems he really has gone soft, heh. That or he's a little affectionate for you. Maybe you're like his little pets, eh? Hence the rodent?"

Perhaps sensing an impending incident, Yang Yizhen put himself between the irate Morgi and Mr. Hornik. "Ah, Hornik Xiansheng? Might you know how many lives this Thanatos has claimed?"

"Eh, once one gets past a few billion, it's hard to keep track." Mr. Hornik paused before an enormous set of metal shutters, the surface etched with sinister runes that shed a pale green light. "All right, kids, let's wrap this up. I may have an endless stash of time, but that doesn't mean I'll let you take more than your fair due."

Mr. Hornik bent his fingers into some bizarre gesture and the shutters slid open, unleashing a stream of overwhelming red light and a wracking grinding sound that shook the entire cave. There was a rush of blistering air and for a moment everything was red and orange and hot as though the portal were drawing them into the very heart of the flame. Then there were shapes in the distance, gray shadows that grew darker and more solid as Jennifer's eyes adjusted to the intense light. This was another cave, but not a nook or a tunnel like the rest but a massive hollow globe so great in scope that the outside edge was barely visible. And in the center, rising up from some bottomless chasm, was a great hideous machine, a beast cobbled together out of fragments of history long since lost.

Yang Yizhen clutched the edge of the shutter with wavering hands and leaned forward into the cave. "What manner of place is this? And what manner of machine?"

"What's the matter, boy, never seen a computer? Maybe not one like this, heh. This place happens to be the best spot in the galaxy to build a serious processor. Why else would I stay after the harvest was done? Eh? For the scenery?" Mr. Hornik tapped his cane on the ground and eased himself down a sloping stone path. "Well, make yourselves at home. You'll know it's time to leave when I kick you out."

Jennifer, who had been maintaining some degree of respectful restraint toward the man whose home they had intruded upon, finally let her curiosity out. Not waiting for the old man and his ever-slowing gait, she sprinted down the sloping path, Morgi and Yang Yizhen following close behind. At the bottom of the slope, she felt her foot strike against some object embedded in the ground and went into an aerial flip ending in a clumsy and painful somersault.

Morgi dropped to his hands and knees next to the prone Jennifer. "Holy shit, are you okay?"

Mr. Hornik laughed, a sound amplified by the cave's bizarre acoustics. "Heh! It's a solid week's supply of chuckles if that's what finally kills you."

"I'm not dead. It looked worse than it was." Jennifer eased herself back to her feet, rubbing a twisted ankle. "...Yeah, this is nothing. But what the hell did I trip over?"

"There is some manner of metal plaque fixed fast into the ground." Yang Yizhen knelt next to the metal object. "It says 'Project World 17.' Have we not seen something of this nature? On the dead planet?"

"Yeah, that one was Project World...uh...Twelve?" said Jennifer.

"Ah, so you've been to Detriti?" said Mr. Hornik. "Now that one was one awful piece of work. That was one of the ones Thanatos didn't work with, and the team they let do the deed was a little enthusiastic, heh."

"What are you talking about, you loopy old bastard?" said Morgi.

Mr. Hornik pointed with his cane at the wall behind the plaque, a polished smooth surface decorated with a massive, colorful mural featuring a line of life forms marching into oblivion. There were seventeen of them, carefully numbered, all of them humanoid but none of them familiar - none save the last in line, a stylized but highly detailed rendering of a human male.

"Number seventeen..." Jennifer placed her fingertips against the mural. "What is this?"

"A little commemoration," said Mr. Hornik. "They're past seventeen now, at least that's what I assume. Course, no one ever comes back for tea and to let me in on the skinny. Suits me just fine. Just means more time for my projects."

Jennifer walked along the mural until she reached the figure marked "twelve." This one was a decidedly different creature, bearing a passing resemblance to something she had once seen in some account of myths of the Cradle. It was coated in green-silver scales from head to toe with patches of smooth blue skin poking through at places. The eyes were high on its head and over to the sides, perched just above a set of gills at the base of its neck.

Jennifer tapped a fist against the mural. "So you're saying that Project World 12 - which we've seen - used to have these things living on it?"

"You're getting quicker by the second. This rate of acceleration, in a week's time you'll be able to outrun a slug." Mr. Hornik stroked the head of his cane as he admired the mural. "Yeah, there were about a half-billion of them, living under the ice."

"What happened to them?" said Jennifer.

"We did," said Mr. Hornik. "Same thing that happened to your people and all of them, all the way back to Phyon, Project World One."

"Project World One..." Jennifer glanced over to the first figure on the mural. It was crude compared to the others, a gray creature with oddly jointed arms. "This one looks like the skeleton in the archive. A friend of yours?"

"More like a memento." Mr. Hornik shook his head. "Eh, you folks are annoying me with your questions. Come over here, I'll get your book and you home invaders can go burglarize someone else."

Mr. Hornik crossed to an enormous workshop table placed flush against the base of the great machine. Up close, it was an even stranger artifact, a graceless chimera cobbled together from components that spanned the history of computation. There were truly ancient-looking mechanical apparatus, reel-to-reel mainframes, digital supercomputer towers, early quantum devices, and even more arcane devices that resembled nothing in the history books, all linked together by a network of thick cables and tubes. Every free surface was emblazoned with more of the glowing green runes, their diabolic radiance strobing in time almost like a pulse.

"So this is supposed to be a computer?" said Morgi. "You're a little behind the times, old man. They make them smaller now."

"Small machines for small minds, heh." Mr. Hornik rested his hands on a device in the center of the table - a sort of console clogged with levers, switches, buttons, and crimson-tinged displays - with cables running deep into the computer. "There are machines to do trivial things, to keep teenagers stupid and give dirty birds the tingles and make cranks think they're important and powerful. This one is for everything else. Heh. Even some things I haven't thought of yet, I figure. It's all in the math friends. Numbers are God's language, and also mine, heh."

"For a man who wants us gone, you're wasting an awful lot of time," said Jennifer.

Mr. Hornik scowled, then reached over and slid a decaying tome across the table. "Eh. This is what I get for being hospitable. Why I never made a habit of it."

The book was pockmarked with blight, the savage treatment of forty generations of mold and careless handling. Only the title was visible, and only barely so. Jennifer squinted at the cover as she struggled to make out the words. "What is this language...'Codex de la Lengua del Visitante.' A Cradle language?"

"It has a most familiar sound." With a gentle touch, Yang Yizhen opened the cover and gently paged through the contents. "Yes, I recognize this language. It is the old tongue of Paz Castilia, I have seen it used to authenticate many an imperial document. Strange to find so many imperial tongues at use in this place - might this be a sign of some greater serendipity? Perhaps there was wisdom in the old ways after all."

"Can you read any of it?" said Morgi. "What the hell is it?"

Yang Yizhen sighed as he continued to turn the delicate pages. "I fear that my understanding of their old language is limited to superficial recognition. And there are other languages here for which I even lack that understanding. You see this one? It very much resembles a religious language that the holy men of Paz Castilia employ, one I can only barely fathom. But then there is still another alphabet that is wholly unknown to me. It surely does not match any of the old languages I have studied in my time. And these tables...some manner of cypher?"

"...Or a dictionary. Maybe the author was trying to translate between these languages." Jennifer turned back to Mr. Hornik. "Do you know who wrote this thing?"

"An old gullible buffoon who thought he could vex me with his words. We used to call them 'priests.'" Mr. Hornik wrapped his skeletal fingers around one of the levers on the console. "And now you've used up your questions. I have a parting gift for you - a one-way trip to exactly where you're going."

"But I have more questions!" said Jennifer.

Mr. Hornik grinned. "You don't. Goodbye."

He flipped the switch.

\------

I had only blinked, and when my eyes flicked open I was outside of the caves again. This time I was moving - flying, in fact, sailing up from the ground, like gravity had turned inside-out. Below me I could see those flowers again, the same ones I had watched turn into a sea of ash. As I gained altitude, the flowers blurred together and became smudges and swirls of color. It was this great natural tapestry unrolling a hundred miles beneath me. Then gravity shifted yet again, and I found myself rudely pulled up into the heavens. Turning my head upward, I saw flowers; beneath me were flowers, and flowers to either side. The garden was all that there was, all that I could see in every direction.

Then I noticed my companions had come along with me this time. Yang Yizhen was to my left, Morgi to my right, or perhaps that's backwards - direction seemed to mean little in that place. Both of them were frozen in shock. I tried to speak, but only the absence of words exited my mouth. I tried to move to gesture to them and the garden moved in time with me. I caught Yang's eye, and it was clear that he was fighting to communicate all the same, but we were all stuck in time.

We were moving faster and faster, and it didn't even look like a garden anymore, just a great ribbon of color winding around us with the flowers reaching up to draw us in. Then, in the next moment, it was all gone as the petals overtook us.

## CHAPTER 33

There were a few moments after the boundless array of flowers had faded into the air and her feet were once again touching ground that Jennifer still questioned if what she was seeing was real. She wasn't looking at cave walls anymore - she was standing beneath an overcast sky, buffeted by a chilly breeze. Rising up before her was a structure the likes of which she had never seen, a stout metal cylinder rising several stories toward the sky and ending in an apparatus that resembled a cannon. There were more structures all around - fields of solar panels, little radio sheds, old machines at whose functions she could only guess.

"Uh...did you guys see that, too?"

Jennifer jumped at the sound of another voice - in the moment of shock, she had forgotten that Yang Yizhen and Morgi had accompanied her on that strange voyage. Morgi was sporting an expression one might have after having a gob of neurons detach from his brain and fly away of its own accord. Yang Yizhen wasn't even as well composed as that, his disbelief freezing him into stasis.

"What did..." Jennifer took a deep breath. "...What was it that you saw?"

Morgi deliberately blinked his eyes, perhaps anticipating a fresh new form of madness. "...Flowers?"

"An eternal field of flowers." Life returned to Yang Yizhen's eyes. "A million, million, million blossoms, beyond the dreaming of any in the heavenly courts."

"Then it was real?" said Morgi. "Or did Hornik...I don't know, hypnotize us all?"

"Perhaps it was all a delusion," said Yang Yizhen. "We fell victim to some novel form of neural manipulation, maybe the second we crossed the threshold into the library."

"Well, something happened." Morgi jabbed a finger at Yang Yizhen. "You've got the book."

Yang Yizhen's eyes lazily drifted to the tome, still gripped tightly in both hands, and recoiled in fresh shock. Jennifer snatched the book out of the air the second it left Yang Yizhen's hands, cradling it against her body.

"Be careful with that. If it's this important to Thanatos, then it's important to us, too." Jennifer stared up at the strange building before them. "So what do we do now? Where are we, even?"

"Thanatos spoke of his destination, a facility to the south of the museum," said Yang Yizhen. "I'm afraid that the name eludes me."

Morgi ambled over to a sign resting against a nearby shed. "'Redstatter Array'...that was the place, wasn't it? I guess that crazy bastard Hornik did what he promised."

"Then we're going in." Jennifer folded the book under one arm, checking her sidearm with the other. "We'll try to do this peaceably, but we're not taking any chances. Morgi, try to get to his flank and get ready to take him by force if he tries anything."

Morgi slipped the force flail into his hand, resting it low against his hip. "You don't need to tell me twice."

The double doors of the facility lay open in anticipation of their arrival. Jennifer entered first, Yang Yizhen following a few paces behind, Morgi creeping along at the edges. The opening room was clean and quiet, though Jennifer had the distinct feeling that this place had been a hive of activity in some far distant time. The walls were lined with long obsolete machines, most of them so old that only a skilled historian could even identify them, let alone operate them with any meaning. Sitting in the middle of the room was a large metal case, its surface covered in sensors and minute cables.

Yang Yizhen's eyes lit up. "That's it! That is Reflected Antithesis!" Forgetting decorum for the moment, he sprinted for the case, arms outstretched and hands clawing at the long-sought item. As his fingers found the handle, an eerie indigo light enveloped the case and then burst into a brilliant flare of energy that propelled Yang Yizhen through the air. He landed on his back with a grunt and a less-than-graceful flip.

Jennifer dropped to one knee. "Yang! Are you okay?"

"Ugh...I do not feel any serious injuries." Yang Yizhen pushed himself to a sitting position. "What happened? I did not see an assailant."

"You have arrived at last." With an indigo flicker, Thanatos appeared from the shadows at the opposite edge of the room, strolled to the center and rested his hand on the case. "Did one of you try and take this? I made a few modifications to the underlying technology to grant added security when the case is not with me. It is very heavy, and I grew weary of carrying it at all times."

Jennifer started to reach for her gun but, remembering their last encounter, thought better. "You have a lot to explain."

"That I do, and I will, but we should attend to business first." Thanatos extended his hand. "Did you retrieve the book?"

Jennifer held the book aloft, then rested in on the ground before her. "It's yours. All you have to do is take it."

"We still have trust issues, I see. Or are you attempting to lure me into some manner of ambush?" Thanatos glanced at Morgi. "It is hardly an effective strategy in unfamiliar surroundings."

Morgi glared at Thanatos. "Just try and get mouthy, you-"

Thanatos raised one hand, middle finger and thumb pressed tightly together. Morgi fell silent and withdrew, as did Jennifer and Yang Yizhen. Opening his free hand, Thanatos reached to the floor, an indigo patch appearing beneath his fingers. A dim flicker appeared in the air above the book and then the book vanished, to reappear in Thanatos' waiting hands.

"You've been very helpful," said Thanatos, running his fingers along the cover. "Can I assume that you've met Yama? Or whatever name he gave you - he has given himself so very many, I suspect that even he does not know them all."

"We met the old man," said Jennifer.

"And he spoke of me?" said Thanatos.

"He wanted to know why we were helping you, instead of seeking revenge," said Jennifer. "I told him that this was business. We have no motivation for revenge."

"And thus are the limits of your knowledge." Thanatos closed his eyes. "You have every reason to want revenge. After all, I was the one who destroyed this planet."

"Nonsense!" said Yang Yizhen, scrambling to his feet and lurching forward. "The Cradle was demolished by its own hubris! Our species has long known this, and the computer known as Wukong-Alpha confirmed it!"

A thin, remorseful half-grin crossed Thanatos' lips. "I see that I have much to explain, but time is very short and my preparations are not yet complete. Please follow me to the control room, I shall run through the details as best as I can."

Thanatos turned away from the group and mounted a metal staircase that ran along the perimeter of the room. Jennifer's thoughts turned again to her sidearm. Thanatos had rendered himself vulnerable - his attention was diverted, his hands full. For the first time they had the advantage, and yet she didn't take it. Part of it unquestionably fear - fear of what this strange being could do even at his weakest, fear that others might be lurking thereby. But another part was curiosity. Twice Thanatos had placed his pursuers in a position of weakness, and each time he let them live - and this from a man described as an assassin? There was simply too much to learn to risk destroying that source of knowledge with a bullet.

"What exactly is your plan?" said Jennifer as she followed Thanatos onto the staircase.

"I need to summon someone to this planet, and I must do so on a precise schedule." Thanatos glanced over his shoulder at Morgi and Yang Yizhen. "And what of you two? Surely the Taiyuan bureaucrat has a desire to learn more about the rogue he's been pursuing?"

Yang Yizhen opened his mouth, ready to unleash a righteous tirade, but held his tongue in check. Balling up his fists, he followed Jennifer up the stairs. Last in line was Morgi, following the group with a sigh of resignation.

"Good, very good. This does concern all of you, and all of you are owed an explanation after traveling so far." Thanatos resumed his ascent, lifting the heavy case to clear each step. "I know of the official accounts of the Exterran Federation and the Taiyuan Empire. According to your history, Earth was devastated by an unstable chain reaction caused by an experimental energy source known as Project Rudra. This is entirely true on its face, but it omits something that no one on this planet could have known. Rudra was not conceived on Earth. It was the dream of another of my species who named it in his own honor."

"The Anheli," added Jennifer.

"You know of our species? Then you listened well to Yama...that's good." Thanatos nodded his head in appreciation. "Yes, the device was of Anheli design. It is a power source, but we knew full well what would happen if it were activated within the atmosphere of your homeworld. At the appointed time, I was dispatched to Earth to find a subject to help us build this device, and I settled on a scientist named Jedediah DuFresne. As he slept, I manipulated his thoughts to place the fundamental processes of Project Rudra in his mind. Over the following week, he experienced an epiphany - an epiphany of my own making."

"You manipulated his mind?" said Yang Yizhen.

"It is among my skills, yes," said Thanatos.

"You vile dog!" screamed Yang Yizhen. "Did you do the same to me? Were my thoughts in your sway?"

Thanatos paused, turning to face Yang Yizhen. "I am sorry. I did only that which I had to do."

"What you had to do? You boast of annihilating our homeworld, you pilfer our most powerful technology, and you can say no more than that?" Yang Yizhen gritted his teeth. "Curse my weakness that I can't strike your head from your shoulders right now!"

"Your anger is justified, but I hope that you can restrain it until you have a fuller understanding of the situation." Thanatos turned back to the stairs and resumed climbing. "I stole this device to avert a far bigger calamity, and to redeem myself for what I have done. Earth is not the only planet that we have destroyed, nor is it the only one for which I have personally overseen the devastation. Over a dozen planets have fallen to my hand, carrying with them over a dozen civilizations."

"Then it's true what Hornik said about the people you've killed," said Jennifer. "How can you be so casual about this?"

"I have only regrets now, but it was not until Earth that I truly understood why," said Thanatos. "This destruction was our way. It was part of a philosophy which was taught to me for the lifespans of several civilizations. When we destroyed a planet, we believed that we were doing so in pursuit of a better universe."

Thanatos stepped out onto a platform at the top of the stairs, a room just beneath the massive apparatus at the facility's pinnacle. There were more archaic machines here, though these showed clear signs of recent modification and maintenance. A large metal table sat before the largest console, its surface covered with books, binders and astronomical charts, along with a flurry of loose notes. Thanatos rested the book on the table and flicked it open, running his finger along the strange linguistic charts.

"I must thank you again for fetching this," said Thanatos. "It is the last component. With this, I shall draw out my old colleagues in Apocalypse, Ltd. and, if serendipity be on my side, put an end to their reign of terror."

"Then Apocalypse, Ltd. is real?" said Jennifer. "Why couldn't we find any trace of it?"

"You weren't meant to." Thanatos turned his attention to the main console. "You've seen the garden, yes?"

Jennifer paused and stepped back, nearly falling down the stairs. "...Yes, we all have."

"Good. It is an important part of our cosmology, and your personal experiences will save me time." Thanatos continued to work as he spoke, his work not suffering for his divided attention. "My people were once no different than your own, except that we were, if anything, far less significant. We had no power, no philosophy, no understanding. Ours was a sterile and stagnant existence, lacking in either suffering or joy. That was when we encountered Nemesis."

"Nemesis...we thought of it as a god, though its true nature was something far less comprehensible than divinity. It existed outside of our ability to comprehend its existence, or its origins, or its intentions. We never understood why it chose us - perhaps it was nothing more than chance. We were not special, merely the first species it encountered. It made no true attempt to communicate with us, merely taking us captive and sending us across time and space. That was when we first became aware of the Endless Garden. This was the home of Nemesis, a place that exists apart from the finite universe and yet is linked to all that has dimension and form. It is the unifier, the true mean of the space-time continuum, a place that cannot exist because it exists in everything, a place of philosophy and imagination. Forgive my rambling, but even I do not fully understand the Endless Garden. I do understand what it did to us."

"I suspect that you have only seen the Garden's first layer. It has many more, hundreds of them, that are far less pleasant. Nemesis carried us through each layer, and with each new penetration a few more of us died. By the time we passed through the final layer, only a few of us remained, and we had changed. We no longer existed, not as most beings understood 'existence.' We dwelled outside of time and space. We no longer aged, no longer changed at all. Perhaps Nemesis thought that it was granting us a gift, but it proved a dire curse. What is forever to someone with no purpose? It is an neverending moment of ennui with no escape. But Nemesis anticipated this, and granted us a new purpose, one far grander than we could have imagined. We were tasked with perfecting the universe."

"Hold on, I'm gonna have to cut in here," said Morgi, throwing up his hands and stepping before Thanatos. "All of this...Transdimensional beings? An immortal race tasked with fixing everything? This sounds like that 'Central Will' crap I got back on Epocha."

"Your skepticism may be justified," said Thanatos, turning away from his work. "As I said, my understanding of the roots of our species and civilization is incomplete. If you doubt the truth behind my words, I hope you will at least understand that it is the animating force behind our projects."

"Projects like destroying planets?" said Jennifer.

Thanatos nodded, then returned to his work. "As we existed outside of time, we had an opportunity to study the development of those civilizations that blossomed around us. What we learned was that all of them were doomed. No matter how advanced their technology or how refined their philosophy, no matter if their values were ambitious or prudent, they were all destined for collapse. And when they fell, they fell completely, leaving no trace of their achievements or wisdom. This became our first grand project - creating a truly eternal civilization, one that could outlast the universe around it. But we only revealed our own ignorance. How could we, a species that had never achieved even a fraction of their greatness, possibly glean a way of breaking that cycle?"

"We could have given up our ambitions, and it surely would have been better for the galaxy. Instead, we began a series of experiments intended to produce that eternal civilization, not _ex nihilo_ as we had initially, but by birthing it from the corpse of a mortal one. In short, we would pull out the supports of an existing civilization and watch it grow again, with hopes that it would grow into something stronger. We would make the tree stronger by intentionally wounding it."

"Our first target - and mine - was a planet called the Phyon. The dominant species, one that bore that same name, had reached a level of advancement far beyond any we had seen. Their scientific focus was bioscience and biomachinery, and they had begun to manipulate their own bodies at a molecular level. This wondrous art would be the unraveling of their society, and I would be the one to pull on the thread. We created an engineered plague and introduced it within their atmosphere. Within one revolution, 95% of the Phyon were dead. The only survivors were a select few who had modified themselves in less dramatic ways and had not fallen prey to the genetic bottleneck. They no longer had enough of their kind to maintain a coherent civilization. This initial experiment was crude, but it was also a fabulous success, at least as we saw it."

"This would become our standard procedure. Our goal was not to introduce an extinction-level event, but rather to cause enough damage to destabilize their society. Their infrastructure would fall, leaving them with only information - the biological information in their bodies and the cultural information in their minds. We then watched them, looking for signs that they were rebuilding stronger civilizations. The results were decidedly mixed. Some of our engineers were overzealous, causing damage from which these species could not recover. On the other hand, I developed a reputation for my gentler, more refined approach to the process."

"A gentler approach to genocide?" said Jennifer.

Thanatos lowered his head. "I...was once very proud of my work. That changed when I was assigned to Project World 17 - this planet. There was a problem, one that would change my understanding of our goal."

"I had depended on the short-sighted nature of the human species, and at first it went according to plan. With the ideas I had given him, DuFresne set to work building the engine of his people's destruction. And then...he stopped. He had once feared for the future of the species, much as we had, and considered no risk too great. But as his dream - my dream - neared fruition, he was filled with fear over what would happen if the machine malfunctioned, which is to say if it functioned exactly as we intended it to function. He stepped away from the project, and it fell into the hands of one Otto Richter, one of his colleagues."

"I watched Richter as he worked. He seemed to lack the indecision and fear that I saw in DuFresne, but this was inaccurate. He was, in truth, a terrible nihilist. He knew full well that Project Rudra could end civilization and he didn't care. He hated his own species so much that he saw no difference between saving them and destroying them. I listened to him rant, and in his words I heard the very philosophy I had been taught. This monster was no different than my own colleagues, seeking to destroy because they had forgotten how to build. Unfortunately, it was too late to stop what I had done, and I watched Earth burn."

"After Project World 17, I could no longer bring myself to perform my appointed duties, but I could not leave, either. I requested a change in duty and was made a courier. Once I had been at the top of the organization and now I was at the bottom, but it would be a worthy sacrifice if it slowed their plans. It did not. They continued to dispatch agents to project worlds, artless and inexperienced engineers who would wipe out whole species with their clumsy methods. My absence did not slow them down in the least. It only made things worse. But I discovered something else on Earth, something that would later grant me the means to stop Apocalypse, Ltd. once and for all...hold on one moment, will you?"

Thanatos turned away from the group, putting his full attention toward the main console. A tinny voice streamed out of the machine - _"Calibrating optical communications array, please stand by."_ A loud grinding noise flooded the chamber as the massive apparatus on the roof turned and pitched, finding some target in the sky.

As soon as the sound dissipated, Yang Yizhen marched to the front of the room. "Before you resume your preposterous story, I must know why you needed Reflected Antithesis. What plan could you possibly have devised that would require such a powerful and hazardous device? End your lies right now!"

"As a matter of fact, it was Apocalypse, Ltd. that sent me to steal Reflected Antithesis," said Thanatos. "I did as I was told. I just didn't return to them."

"That's absurd," said Jennifer. "You had to know that they would come after you."

"That was the idea," said Thanatos. "If all goes according to plan, they'll be arriving shortly."

"You failed to cause enough destruction on your first visit?" said Yang Yizhen.

Thanatos shook his head. "They'll cause no more harm, I've planned for that. They'll meet their greatest enemy, one that they haven't reckoned - the Phyon, the products of their first experiment."

"When we saw no development on their homeworld, we assumed that the Phyon had gone extinct. In truth, they had risen from the ashes, but not into what we would call a 'civilization.' They had rebuilt themselves as a single-minded tool of vengeance aimed at destroying their would-be destroyers. In the name of halting the schemes of the Anheli, they had propelled their remnant into the depths of space, hoping to find and warn other potential targets. Most of them failed, but one of them landed on Earth, five hundred revolutions before my arrival. His ship crashed and he was mortally wounded, but he lived long enough to speak with a Jesuit translator who recorded his language as best he could. Without knowing it, this man had preserved an important part of a nearly dead civilization."

"When I learned of the Phyon's continued existence, I knew that they could stop the Anheli, but there was a problem. We had not made contact with them before introducing the plague, so we had no record of their spoken or written language. Were it not for the book you retrieved, I would have no way of alerting them to the presence of Apocalypse, Ltd."

"Then they're close by?" said Morgi.

"I don't know. I must admit that this is a plan with a slim chance of success, but consider the consequences if we fail." Thanatos glanced down at the case. "Imagine what they could do with this device. They could create new worlds and species simply to destroy them, or worse - they could turn the power outward, and experiment on the entire galaxy at once. They could wipe out a thousand species in one fell swoop. You can see why I couldn't allow them access to such a technology. It was my only hope of undoing what I had done."

"You didn't need us to get that book," said Jennifer. "You knew where it was, you could have gotten it from Hornik yourself."

"This is true," said Thanatos. "I sent you to Yama to learn from him, and perhaps to earn your trust. It would have been easier to kill you, but I have no more desire to kill. You deserve your revenge, and I brought you here to witness it."

Yang Yizhen approached Thanatos, standing just inches from the criminal's face and pinning him down with an emotional stare. "I...believe you."

"You do?" said Morgi.

"He had no need of a bureaucrat, or a pilot, or a manhunter," said Yang Yizhen. "He had nothing to gain from sparing us, save regret and compassion."

"I am pleased to hear that," said Thanatos. "I'll not ask for your forgiveness, and I will return the Reflected Antithesis as soon as I'm finished - I have no personal need for it."

"If Yang can give you a break, then I can, too." Jennifer removed her hand from her sidearm, relaxing (if only slightly) for the first time since they had reached the Cradle. "So what happens now?"

The tinny voice again spilled out of the speakers: _"Position confirmed."_

"Now we reach out into the void." Thanatos mashed a button with his palm. "This array will send an optical signal at regular intervals. By fortune's mercy, we'll hear from them shortly."

Suddenly, Jennifer's communicator burbled to life. _"Jennifer? Hey, Miss Shen, are you alive? Gosh, I hope you're alive."_

"Tommy?" Jenifer scratched around for the tiny communications relay. "Tommy, it's Jen. I'm alive, and so are Yang and Morgi. You are not going to believe what's going on down here."

_"You're not going to believe what's going on up here,"_ said Tommy. _"Did you find Thanatos?"_

"We've got him," said Jennifer. "But it's...more complicated than we first thought."

_"Hey, I'm all ears, but you'd better explain later,"_ said Tommy. _"We have to get moving."_

"We can't," said Jennifer.

_"Ooh...that's going to put us in a pickle,"_ said Tommy. _"You see, some, uh, visitors just showed up, here in upper orbit."_

"Damn it, they're early," said Jennifer. "It's the Anheli. Tom, I'll explain later-"

_"I don't know who the Anheli are, but I'm pretty sure it's not them,"_ said Tommy. _"It's the Kro'dyl. The Kro'dyl followed us, and they're here."_

## CHAPTER 34

"Tommy, please repeat that last statement," said Jennifer. "It sounded like you said the Kro'dyl followed us, and that can't be right."

_"Uh, I don't know what to tell you..."_ Even through the noise of the communications relay, the tension in Tommy's voice was obvious. _"I thought we left them well in the dust, but I'm looking at a whole fleet of ugly reptilian ships here."_

"Damn it!" howled Morgi as he pounded his knuckles against the walls. "They must have tracked our space-time wake. Who'd have thought the murder lizards were that smart?"

_"Listen guys, it's going to be a little sticky getting us away from the Cradle...Uh...Oh no. Oh, that's not good."_ The sound of furious motion was audible over the relay as Tommy went silent for a few agonized seconds. _"...This is really bad, guys. Um, how do I say this...can you see the sky where you are?"_

"Tommy, I don't like that question," said Jennifer.

"Son of a bitch...the bastards are really going to do it!" Morgi broke for the door. "Come on, we need to see how screwed we are."

Jennifer followed Morgi through the double doors, Yang Yizhen and Thanatos close behind her. Outside, the dense bank of clouds had broken apart to reveal an ochre-tinged sunset sky. The harsh light outlined a great number of tiny objects, easily recognized as vessels even at a great distance, darting around through the heavens. But there was another object as well, oblong and gray and growing larger and larger with each passing second.

"It's the mass driver!" screamed Yang Yizhen. "They have come to fulfill their threat! The Cradle is doomed!"

"Shit!" Jennifer fumbled for the communicator. "Tom, you need to get down here now."

Thanatos tightened his grip on the case. "I'll go nowhere with you, not as long as the Anheli remain a threat."

_"Uh...that might not work,"_ said Tommy. _"There's no easy exit here. We'd have to fly right past them, and they're definitely going to blow us apart if we try to leave the atmosphere."_

"Then do you have a plan?" said Jennifer.

_"Uh...maybe? Give me...one..."_ Tommy gulped, a sound so pronounced that it was audible from the edge of space. _"...Okay, I've got just enough torpedoes left that if I can hit the asteroid at a weak spot, then we've got a reasonable chance of not getting wiped out."_

"You're going to blow that thing up?" Jennifer groaned and chewed her lip as she frantically reached for some alternative strategy. "I guess those are the best odds we're going to get."

_"Okay."_ Tommy took several deep breaths. _"Okay, you might want to get inside...you know, it might do some good. Maybe? Possibly?"_

Despite the sound advice, no one budged. Jennifer kept her eyes locked on the stellar object, now coated in a faint corona of fire as the atmosphere did its level best to destroy the thing with drag. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she swore she could see a tiny object - little more than a speck, nearly lost in the orange sky - streaking toward the asteroid. A torturous second passed, then another, then a third. Then the asteroid seemed to shift slightly as a seam opened across its surface. Moments later, the object disintegrated before her eyes, losing its integrity and transforming into a cloud of stone and metal splinters.

"It worked!" Yang Yizhen, now sporting a broad smile, ran from person to person. "Thomas has saved us all! Do you know what this means? We can yet save the Cradle! We can yet save the galaxy!"

"Not yet, damn it!" Morgi jabbed his finger at the sky. "Look what's happening now!"

The stellar object wasn't quite gone - it had merely changed form. No longer a single giant stone, it was now a cluster of immolated mineral fragments streaking through the atmosphere with terrifying speed. There was a resonant thud and a cloud of dust as the first projectile smashed into the planet some distance from them, carrying enough force to move the ground beneath them.

"Everyone inside!" screamed Jennifer. "Now!"

Morgi was already halfway to the array building. "You think you needed to tell us that?"

In truth, Jennifer was giving herself an order as much as anyone else, as the terrifying display had left her nearly frozen in fear. The sky had already turned red from the shower of flame-wreathed stones, falling ever closer to the array. One of them carved the sky immediately above them, passing no more than yards above them on its strange and deadly arc. That was enough of a jolt to get her moving again. There was an unearthly roar behind her, enough to encourage a quick backwards glance that revealed nothing but smoke and dust. Other parts of the array were already ablaze from the bombardment. Jennifer put on a burst of speed and flung herself through the open doors, a rough landing that she barely noticed through the hellish sound all around. There was a loud crack above them, the sound of metal buckling beneath a tremendous force, the seething crackle of flames, the angry moan of heavy objects submitting to gravity.

And then, at last, there was silence.

\------

"Hey, are you guys still alive? Hello? Oh geez, someone please say something."

A few rays of dusty light trickled into the battered building, enough that Jennifer could make out the others lying on the floor all around her and, standing above her, the outline of Tommy Harkennian. Tommy's voice was little more than a muddy warble through the pained ringing in her ears, but she managed to push herself off the floor and respond. "I'm here. Tommy, I'm alive."

"Brag about it, huh?" Morgi rose unsteadily to his feet. "I'll be fine, for an hour or so anyway. Hey kid, you still with us? Yang!"

Yang Yizhen lay on his back, eyes fixed on the shards of metal that had once been the ceiling. "Might I request some assistance in standing?" Jennifer and Tommy each lent a hand to the visibly trembling bureaucrat. "Well, I have now survived an orbital bombardment - something few of my station can claim! But, what is our next plan of action?"

"Well, we grab our man Thanatos and...well, the plan gets a little hazy after that, but..." Tommy scratched the back of his head. "...Where is he? I thought you said you had him."

No sooner had Tommy fell silent did Thanatos appear in a flash of indigo light. "Oh, no. This cannot be, this cannot be at all!" Without waiting for a response, he ran for the double doors, swinging the heft case as he sprinted.

"Uh...I know I've been floating up in the lower stratosphere for a while, but uh, aren't you guys gonna stop him?" said Tommy.

"It's a long story. Really long." Jennifer pushed past Tommy and jogged for the doors. "Thanatos! What's going...oh."

From outside of the array, no further explanation was needed. There was a massive fragment of stone and metal wedged into the side of the building, superheated steam erupting from its battered surface. The apparatus that had once crowned the building lay in a mangled heap against the outer wall, twisted and doubled over on itself, damaged beyond any hope of redemption.

"All of you might want to see this." Jennifer leaned over to Thanatos. "Is this as bad as it looks?"

Thanatos hid his face behind his free hand. "Yes, it is. The communications array was only active long enough to broadcast the full signal a single time."

"One time..." Jennifer closed her eyes and tried to compute their odds of success. "So we're relying on the Phyon being in the right place and actively receiving communications. What, exactly, will happen if the Anheli show up but the Phyon don't?"

"The day is lost," said Thanatos. "All is lost."

Morgi inserted himself between Jennifer and Thanatos. "Look guys, we have more to worry about than what the crazy alien entropy cult might do. We've got to worry about that." Morgi pointed at the still visible Kro'dyl fleet. "They're still here, and if they kill everyone before the other freaks arrive, then none of this is going to matter."

"Guys, I don't know if running is an option." Tommy jogged to the Taleweaver, perched a few yards away between a set of craters that had once been solar panels. "She's in good shape, but I think the Kro'dyl are on to me. They'll zap the ship if we just take off."

"No shit, Tom." Morgi paced around the assembled group, tightening and releasing his fists in rhythmic patterns. "I know the way these guys operate - regular pattern for planetary-scale invasion, very predictable. They try to wipe out all resistance - and really, that just means all life - in one stroke. If Plan A for genocide fails, they dispatch rapid orbital insertion vehicles containing veteran shock troops. The idea is to soften up existing planetary defenses while the masterminds figure out their Plan B. And since they coordinate their attack based on problem areas..." He pointed at the Taleweaver. "...That's their focal point. The ship blew up their death rock, so they'll be coming right here. They're probably loading up the ROIs as we speak."

Yang Yizhen rubbed his chin. "Our resources are highly limited, but we have dealt with the Kro'dyl before - and within their fleet, no less! Surely we can devise a stratagem to hold off this force."

"Not a prayer!" said Morgi. "Yeah, we beat the odds back on their ship, but then we were only running away, not fighting them. We've got twenty minutes, thirty tops, before we're up to our eyeballs in lizard warriors."

"How many will they send?" said Jennifer.

"Thousands, and then thousands more. In case you haven't figured it out by now, the Kro'dyl don't take half-measures when it comes to war." Morgi tapped his force flail in his palm. "Look, I'm prepared to go down fighting these guys. I can probably even take a few dozen of them with me, but I'll just be a pebble in the way of the flood. If we want to hold these homicidal bastards off, we're going to need an army of our own. You think you can raise one in the next fifteen minutes?"

Jennifer's eyes went wide. "Yes. In fact, I can raise an army in the next fifteen seconds."

Morgi seized Jennifer by the wrist. "Now's a really bad time to lose your head, Jen. We need stability now more than ever."

Jennifer shook Morgi loose, paced a bit, then turned back to him. "Okay, you said the Kro'dyl are going to calibrate their attack to the Taleweaver. What if the ship's airborne? Will they follow it?"

"They might follow it," said Morgi. "They might also just destroy everything around their landing site. My gut says they make a beeline for this place since it's where they would have last seen the ship."

"Okay, so moving around's no good because we'll be putting all the inhabitants at risk. We'll have to make a stand here, on the ground." Jennifer snapped her fingers. "...Okay. Tommy, are there any compression straps on the ship, or anything else that'll hold tight under a lot of stress?"

"Well, I've got a lot of high-tensile adhesive binds, if that'll work," said Tommy. "Basically the best tape you've ever seen. What's the plan?"

"That'll work. Go get it, all you can get me, all you've got." Jennifer looked back over her shoulder as she walked to the Taleweaver. "Come on Yang, I'll need some help. Morgi, keep an eye on the situation and let me know if you see those insertion vehicles start to land, or any other new activity from the Kro'dyl ships. This shouldn't take long."

Jennifer clawed through the ship's storage, tossing aside emergency supplies and spare parts with little concern as to their final destination. "Shen Xiaojie, what exactly is the plan?" said Yang Yizhen, ducking out of the way of a chunk of fabricator material. "You are being most vague."

"Just a second...there!" Jennifer pulled out the Wukong-Alpha core, still silently blinking but now forever mute.

Yang Yizhen's puzzlement lasted a few moments before vanishing beneath an appreciative smile. "...The autonomous defense system! You mean to use RADS as your army!"

"One that never sleeps and is always at the ready," said Jennifer, wrenching the control board free from the clutter. "Let's see how the Kro'dyl hold up against our robots."

"It is a most brilliant scheme, but what purpose the tape?" said Yang Yizhen.

"Mobility." Jennifer rested the board across her left forearm, watching it move as she flexed her elbow. "Tom? You got it?"

"I think you tossed it out, actually." Tommy found a small crate among the detritus filling the Taleweaver and slid it across to Jennifer. "Hey, here we go. There's a whole mess of it in here."

"Okay. I need one of you to tape this thing to my arm while the other one binds our AI buddy around my waist. I only hope my spine can take this much weight. Then you'll just plug me in, and we'll be ready to go." Jennifer craned her neck toward the entry hatch. "Morgi, we have any movement?"

"Landers are coming down," shouted Morgi. "I'm not sure we have twenty minutes."

"Really?" Jennifer hurried down the access ramp and cast her eyes toward the sky. A storm of tiny objects flew forth from the Kro'dyl ships, striking the ground a few miles away and kicking up ominous dust clouds. "How many?"

"Maybe twelve or fifteen warriors per lander, figure the whole fleet can launch a lander every couple seconds...they could have thousands on the surface in minutes, all of them marching on us." Morgi activated his force flail, wreathing his narrow face in golden radiance. "This plan is clearly insane, but I did play a part in getting you into this mess, plus someone needs to punish these assholes for all the carnage they've caused and it ought to be me. You get that rickety old system running, and I'll keep the flies off you."

"Thanks, Morgi," said Jennifer. "You might be a lying bastard, but you're a hero all the same."

"Does that mean you forgive me for that shit I pulled on Epocha?" said Morgi.

Jennifer grinned. "Please, Morgi, you think I'd hold a grudge through all of this?"

"Well, I would have. Guess that's why you're the leader." Morgi swung the flail through the air, practicing his art against fictional opponents. "Let's do this thing."

"All right, let's run this thing down." Jennifer studied the control board, brushing her fingertips along its dark surface as she recalled the commands she'd used to direct the machines. "Morgi's on point. Yang and Tom, you finish taping me up. Tom, as soon as the lizards get close, I want you to take off and go get Darius. Not a moment before they reach us - we want to pitch this fight right here. If you can find any weapons or anything that'll help us with the Kro'dyl, bring it back."

"And what of me?" said Thanatos. "My skills are ill-suited as a soldier, but I'm still willing to fight."

Jennifer shook her head. "Protect the case, we don't want the Kro'dyl getting their claws on it any more than the Anheli."

"And how shall I aid the effort?" said Yang Yizhen as he attached the control board to Jennifer's arm.

"Just don't die," said Jennifer. "Someone needs to live long enough to finish this thing, and it might as well be you. Okay, you all have your orders. We're ending this now."

## CHAPTER 35

A pall of dust preceded the Kro'dyl army, a fierce auburn cloud that rose above the teeming mass of scales and claws and weapons pressing fitfully toward the ruined array. There was little obvious discipline in their march, if it could even be called that - they moved not in neat columns but in a violently writhing knot, the warriors shoving their way into position, occupying any free space that granted them enough freedom of movement to continue the advance. Even so, there were hints of orderly motion within the chaos of their advance, a percussive cadence granting some savage direction to the horde. It was less an army than a titanic alien serpent crushing through the landscape to the cruel rhythm of some charmer's instrument.

"You can hear it, can't you?" Morgi blindly manipulated the controls on his flail, his eyes never breaking from the nearing force. "In their old language, it's called a 'kil'iss' \- traditional thing. The heartbeat of any Kro'dyl army. They've probably been killing to the beat of that goddamn thing for a thousand generations." He tilted his slightly to catch Jennifer's eye. "How's the robot army coming along?"

"We've got a half-dozen Erinyes drones nearby, and..." Jennifer tapped at the control board, watching the little yellow circles zoom around the display. "...more incoming. There are at least fifty within my control range. Plus we've got Lionhearts incoming."

"What the hell are 'Lionhearts,' anyway?" said Morgi.

"We'll know in about twelve minutes." Jennifer's right hand drifted to her sidearm, easing back the safety. "You know, I'm suddenly feeling a lot less confident about this."

"But it is a most brilliant and resourceful plan, Shen Xiaojie." Yang Yizhen poked his head between Morgi and Jennifer. "Is the apparatus well-affixed? I apologize, but it does not look especially pleasant."

"Unpleasant" was a good word for the strange control rig that Jennifer was sporting. The control board fit quite comfortably on her left arm, but the Wukong-Alpha core taped to her abdomen was much bulkier and heavier than she had realized when she first lifted it clear of the Taleweaver. Even so, an occasional twinge in the back was a small price to pay for the mobility that they would surely need. "It's fine, Yang. Don't worry about me, just keep an eye on the horizon and tip us off if they try to flank us."

"They're closing fast." Morgi twisted his hands anxiously around the grip of the flail. "Tommy had better take off soon, they can probably hit him from here."

"Good idea," said Jennifer. "Tom, did you catch that?"

_"Loud and clear, Miss Shen,"_ crackled Tommy's voice through the communicator. _"Hey, try not to die before I'm back, all right?"_

There was a flash of plasma and the Taleweaver was airborne, soaring north at a perilously low altitude. The Kro'dyl definitely saw it - many of them jabbed their weapons toward the vessel, and the knot stepped up its pace as the percussive pulse accelerated into a frightful rhythm.

"This is taking too long," said Morgi. "They'll overrun us if we don't do something."

Jennifer turned her eyes back to the control board. "Erinyes are inbound. We can counterattack in sixty seconds."

"That's too long!" Morgi was off and running before all of the words had departed his throat, charging at the Kro'dyl with the force flail turning the air golden around him.

"Morgi wait!" screamed Jennifer. "You don't have any backup!"

It was far too late to bring him back - Morgi was deaf to her words, blind to all but the Kro'dyl, and numb to anything but the frenzy of battle. "DEATH TO ALL LIZARDS! JUSTICE FOR ERASA!" The flail poured out an agonizing flash as Morgi collided with the front rank, sending three of the Kro'dyl flying back into the writhing mass with his first stroke. The other warriors vaulted over their fallen comrades and dove for Morgi with claws extended, their own combat lust overpowering whatever survival instinct had survived their social conditioning. Flechettes struck the earth near his feet as the warriors in the center of the mass fired wildly at the source of the ensuing carnage.

"Damn it, Morgi, I said wait!" Jennifer's eyes flitted between the control board and the Kro'dyl front rank. "Come on, you metal bastards, we don't have time for this!"

Yang Yizhen shielded his eyes as he frantically scanned the skies. "I think I see them...yes! The drones are incoming!"

They were just specks, but growing larger with each second - two at first, then two more behind them, closing fast on the array. Jennifer could only hope that they would arrive fast enough, mashing at the controls as though the action would speed their arrival.

"How long until our army arrives?" said Yang Yizhen.

"Maybe fifteen seconds? I don't know..." Jennifer rested her hand on her sidearm. "We might be on our own here. Get ready to move, and look for anything you can use as a weapon."

"Let us not invite such concerns until they are due. Morgi is surely aware of his own skill, and I am positive that he has the situation in hand." Yang Yizhen blotted away a few telling beads of sweat. "...In any case, he need only endure for a few seconds longer."

If Morgi was in any sense questioning his rash aggression, then he wasn't showing it. He fought with a conviction and vigor that looked like profound madness, never giving an inch of ground and letting no challenge go unanswered. A new wave would fall upon him and he would readily brush them back with a swing of the flail and then, with a single effortless flick of the wrist, shift the whip-like beam of force into a solid beam and deliver a _coup de grace_ to a downed warrior. When a lucky Kro'dyl finally set his claws into Morgi's flesh, Morgi didn't flinch but replied with a lightning stroke that left the warrior's head yards away from his body.

"Morgi, fall back!" roared Jennifer. "Cavalry's here!"

The Kro'dyl were so focused on their new Epochi prey that they didn't take note of the Erinyes moving into position, at least not until the first blast ripped through their ranks. That initial eruption of red energy sent a half-dozen slain Kro'dyl flying in all directions, opening a hole in the army that grew wider as the surrounding warriors pushed to break away. The rear guard turned their weapons on the new threat, clouding the air with a barrage of flechettes. Jennifer directed the next strike to the front rank, vaporizing a trio of warriors moving to flank Morgi. Finally broken free of his combat high and recognizing his perilous situation, Morgi withdrew from the front line, covering his less than orderly retreat with a few firm strokes. He was colored a dirty crimson from head to waist, his own blood mingling with that of the reptilian assassins.

"Cutting it a little close, don't you think?" said Morgi, ignoring the lacerations in his chest. "A few feet to the left and I'd have ended up with a quickie cheap cremation."

"Another few seconds and you'd have ended up with a knife in your back," said Jennifer. "Geez, Morgi, we're depending on you. You go down and we don't have any defense on the ground."

"Good point. I'll take it easy." Morgi whistled as he surveyed the battlefield. "Wow, those old robots really do pack a punch, don't they?"

There was a noisy crash as the flechette-peppered surface of one of the drones struck the ground and exploded. "Damn it, they managed to down one," said Jennifer. "Why aren't these guys retreating?"

"You're thinking in human terms. The Kro'dyl are more like meat robots, and robots don't understand things like fear." Morgi flicked his wrist and the flail burst to life once more. "I'm going back in. Maybe if I can take out some of those damn taskmasters-"

"We've got fistfuls of robots and only one of you. Do the math." Jennifer flicked at the control board, giving newly focused directions to her captive army. "More Erinyes incoming."

The newly arrived war machines meant a fresh wave of fatalities among the Kro'dyl, fresh disappointment when the clump of warriors resumed their advance, and a fresh explosion when they brought the machine down. Jennifer had not reckoned just how fearless the Kro'dyl truly were, or how insane - when the flechettes failed to bring one down, they would vault from each other's shoulders in an attempt to drag the machines down beneath the weight of their bodies.

"Warriors incoming!" howled Yang Yizhen, waving frantically at a cluster of Kro'dyl charging ahead of their brethren. "Look! They must know that Shen Xiaojie is directing the machines!"

"There's what, six of them?" Morgi grinned, and wiped the blood from his eyes. "Shoulda sent a lot more than that!"

Jennifer drew her weapon and fired into the cluster of Kro'dyl, landing two bullets that only slowed the frenzied warrior in the vanguard. Before she could adjust her aim, Morgi fell upon the Kro'dyl, flailing his own weapon in all directions. When they came too close to use the flail, he struck out with his own body, cracking jaws with his elbow and dislocating bones with well-placed kicks.

"Truly, he possesses the might and wrath of twenty," said Yang Yizhen. "Even our own imperial guardsmen would hesitate before such a warrior. But I fear that this will still not be enough to sunder their formations. What of these 'Lionhearts' of which you spoke?"

"They're close," said Jennifer. "The first one should be arriving any time. I just hope they'll be enough to intimidate these freaks."

Then the earth moved, a throaty, steady rumble that seemed to creep up from the very ground itself. A shadow appeared on the horizon, the silhouette of a great boxy machine bearing down on the battlefield with a startling pace. Fragments of stone and great clumps of dirt filled the air as the rotating teeth in the beast's jaw carved a path through the uneven terrain. Behind the dreadful carving apparatus, a set of noisy engines strained to push forward a mass of armored plates from which jutted weapons of all descriptions - machine guns, artillery cannons, massive main guns, clusters of autocannons. The entire field paused for just a second as the vehicle made its presence known.

"This is the Lionheart?" gasped Yang Yizhen. "I believe it may be enough to intimidate them."

A few quick taps on Jennifer's control board and the guns of the Lionheart unleashed a fiery roar on the Kro'dyl horde, the remains of the dead swiftly piling up before the ceaseless barrage of the autocannons. The Kro'dyl warriors, scarcely deterred by the carnage, scaled the hills of their dead comrades only to meet their own fates as the auxiliary machine guns turned on them. Even still they clung to the metal monster, striking at the exposed barrels with their weapons, lobbing explosive charges, firing at the tank's flank with unwieldy guns, or even attempting to pry up the protective plates with their claws. They only managed to chip away at the machine's surface, and yet they persisted in the attack.

"Gotta tell you, guys, this has been quite a nice gift," said Morgi. "Never thought I'd see this many dead Kro'dyl in one place."

"And yet they are not stopping," said Yang Yizhen, his confidence already fading. "The sight of their slain brethren does not as much as distract them! What manner of fiend has so little respect for his own dead?"

"Death's nothing to these guys, I told you." Morgi tore away more strips of his own clothing, forming a crude bandage that he wound around the exposed lacerations on his chest. "Either we kill all of them, or we break their chain of command. Jen, we got any more of those Lionhearts ready?"

"One, but..." Jennifer glowered at the control board. "...Damn it, the thing's miles away. These things aren't quick, it'll be thirty minutes, maybe more."

"Then we're cutting off the head," said Morgi. "Take out the commander and they'll turn tail. Keep sending the drones into the middle, maybe we'll luck out and get him by sheer chance. Just distract them, I'm flanking this mob and finding the head asshole."

"You can't just run off again!" said Jennifer.

"Why not? The doom tank'll protect you as well as I could. Anything gets close, just hit the magic button and turn it into mist." Morgi lowered his head and charged at the mass of warriors, this time skirting the edge and eyeing the horde for a weak spot.

"Goddamn it, I'm supposed to be the leader here!" Jennifer turned back to the control board with a resigned shake of the head. "It'll be all I can manage keeping that one alive."

"As a warrior, his discipline is most questionable." Yang Yizhen peered at the control board. "A new arrival? What is nature of this object? Another automaton under our control?"

"I don't think so," said Jennifer. "It must be something inbound."

Yang Yizhen turned his gaze back to the horizon. "Ah! The Taleweaver returns!"

"That was quick," said Jennifer. "Tommy doesn't waste time."

There was a loud boom as the Taleweaver split the sky over the battlefield, narrowly missing an inbound Erinyes. The Kro'dyl remained so tightly focused on their robotic prey that few of them acknowledged the vessel rushing low over their heads. None of them noticed the tiny silvery object spilling out of the vehicle's ejection bay, falling gently over the field like a steely spray of water.

"Did they just eject something?" said Jennifer. "Surely they didn't find bombs back at the museum?"

Suddenly, a minute metal object struck the ground before Jennifer and Yang Yizhen, plowing deep into the soft earth. Little robotic limbs pressed against the ground as the thing struggled to free its head from the dirt. "Good golly gumdrops, that was a rough trip."

"Billy Positron?" Jennifer could hardly believe it, but there was no mistaking that perpetually cheerful visage. "What...why? Why are you here?"

"Well, the planet's in trouble, and ding-danged if we don't all have a part to play," said Billy. "Could you be a big help and point me to the front lines?"

"I can't..." The sheer absurdity of the request annihilated whatever objections Jennifer was about to voice and she simply pointed to the Kro'dyl horde.

"Thanks, ma'am!" Billy threw a little salute, then tapped a plate on his chest. "My power source will reach critical fusion in seven seconds. Please retreat to a safe distance."

Yang Yizhen nearly tripped over himself as he backpedaled but Jennifer, still reeling from surprise, stayed frozen to the spot as the diminutive android trotted off toward the Kro'dyl. A small group of warriors, spotting Jennifer and Yang Yizhen without their guard, broke away from the main body and charged. They didn't notice Billy, or perhaps they simply regarded him as a non-threat they could safely ignore. Applying force not expected from such tiny legs, Billy propelled himself through the air and grabbed the largest Kro'dyl by his shoulders. The lizard had only enough time to register an irritating presence before Billy's power source exploded into a concussive blast that sent the members of the breakaway group flying in all directions, all of them dead before meeting the ground.

"What..." Jennifer stared numbly at the dead Kro'dyl, then at the battlefield, now marred at random spots by deadly eruptions of energy.

"They did mention that they could be reprogrammed for demolitions," said Yang Yizhen, inching his way back to Jennifer's side.

"That makes...some sense," said Jennifer. "Well, every bit helps."

The Taleweaver cut an unsteady arc through the air as it returned to survey the battlefield, flying close above the fray as it searched for a landing spot not clogged with frenzied reptiles or war machines. Jennifer summoned an Erinyes strike to clear a space close to them, leaving a minimum of corpses to block the vessel's descent. It touched down in a hurry, the ship's spindly legs emitting a groan of disapproval as they resisted the abrupt shock. Even the exit hatch seemed to be in a hurry as it slammed to the earth and discharged its occupants.

A loud crack split the air as the first man charged forth from the Taleweaver. "Who wants some? Got plenty for you!" It was Darius, wielding an antique lever-action rifle that he fired with wild abandon toward the mass of lizards and machines.

"Easy with that!" screamed Jennifer, crouching away as a bullet crossed the air distressingly close to her.

"...Oh shit, Jen!" Darius lowered his rifle. "Sorry about that, we didn't see you on the ground. You two okay?"

"We're fine." Jennifer pointed to Morgi, still forging a path through the horde to the Lionheart. "But our bodyguard lost his good sense."

"No problem, girl, we got your back." Darius turned toward the Taleweaver. "Tommy! Get your ass in gear!"

"On my way!" Tommy vaulted from the exit hatch, holding an old semi-automatic rifle aloft over his head. "Tommy Harkennian, reporting for guard duty!"

Yang Yizhen stared at the firearms quizzically. "What manner of weapons are these?"

"They had quite a collection of pre-Exodus guns in the museum," said Darius as he dug in his pockets for more cartridges. "Real well-preserved, all in working order. Not sure about this ammo, but it shoots and the gun hasn't blown up in my hand yet, so I guess it's okay."

"And the Billies?" said Jennifer.

"Hey, they wanted to help. Sweet kids, huh?" Tommy gripped his rifle in both hands and surveyed the battlefield. "So what's the situation?"

"We have killed a great many of them, but their march has not ceased," said Yang Yizhen. "They don't even slow their advance."

"Hell, if anything it's like all the casualties are encouraging them," said Jennifer. "What kind of species doesn't even have second thoughts when he sees hundreds of his friends die in front of him?"

"Man, no one ever listens to me," said Darius. "I told you, Kro'dyl don't think about death and war like we do. Their culture doesn't value wealth or piety or knowledge or nothin' but glory. Battle is all around them from the day they hatch. And when they go to war, they aren't afraid of getting maimed or killed, they're only afraid of being humiliated. Failure's the only thing that gives a Kro'dyl second thoughts."

Jennifer's eyes flew from the control board to Darius. "You're saying that they won't stop?"

"Not as long as they think they have a chance to win," said Darius.

Jennifer turned her attention back to the battlefield. On the face of things, the defenders of the Cradle were winning a clear victory. They hadn't given up an inch of ground, hadn't suffered any fatalities save a few replaceable machines, while the Kro'dyl fallen were already forming grisly hills in the heart of the swarm. The Erinyes kept swooping down on the lizards, the Lionheart continued to spray death in all directions, and Morgi continued to accrue victims as he tore through the enemy ranks. But in the distance, the Kro'dyl fleet continued to unleash wave after wave of landers, each bearing more eager warriors half-mad from battle lust. None of them slowed down at the sight of their comrades rotting in the dying light, or at the pungent reek of the blood of their own kind in the air.

"This isn't enough to make them reconsider victory?" said Jennifer. "Then what would it take?"

"Fear," said Darius. "They still have fear, same as anyone else."

Tommy raised his rifle to his shoulder. "Gosh, though, what's going to spook someone who isn't scared to die?"

"It would have to be a foe that they couldn't possibly defeat," said Yang Yizhen.

Jennifer was about to reply when the sky shook with a sudden explosion. "Shit! We just lost another Erinyes. Did anyone see what happened?"

With a shrill whistle, a rocket flew out of the Kro'dyl horde, grazing an Erinyes and leaving it wobbling in the chaotic air. As Jennifer fought with the control board to pull the drones out of danger, the horde discharged another rocket that landed a direct hit on another Erinyes, blasting it into a fine shower of scrap that the warriors barely acknowledged. Jennifer followed the trajectory of the attack back into the squirming heart of the army. There was a large Kro'dyl hefting a shoulder-mounted weapon, standing straight and true amid the carnage around him. At Jennifer's direction a pair of Erinyes converged on the warrior, who stood fast through the attack and replied with another rocket that demolished one of the drones mere yards away from him. A fragment of shrapnel struck him in the face, carving open a weeping laceration beneath his eye; he returned with a scaly expression that might have been a smile, but a sadistic one.

Yang Yizhen gasped at the sight of the warrior. "That one! This was the Kro'dyl who held command of the ship that captured us!"

"Is it?" Darius squinted at the horde. "...Shit, you're right, it's Bri'grr. He must be leading the attack."

"What happens if we kill him?" said Tommy.

"Same thing that happens to any army, I guess." Darius raised his rifle and took careful aim. "All right, we got our target."

"You're never going to hit him at this range," said Jennifer. "I think the crazy Epochi is our only real hope."

Two things happened at that exact moment - Morgi noticed Commander Bri'grr, and Commander Bri'grr noticed Morgi. For the next few seconds, the deadliest place in all of the Cradle was the thirty yard stretch between the two warriors. Commander Bri'grr discarded the spent rocket launcher and drew his next weapon, a compact needlegun, and casually dispatched a pair of Billies closing on his position. Perhaps sensing that he was the next target, Morgi grabbed a wounded Kro'dyl warrior and used him to absorb the swarm of flechettes hailing down on him. With a trace of a scowl, Commander Bri'grr tossed the needlegun aside and drew a massive, oddly-proportioned filament sword from his back. Morgi braced for a charge but Bri'grr turned away, shoving aside his own men as he closed on the Lionheart. One clean slash was all it took to sever the tank's main gun, the hefty cylinder hitting the ground at Commander Bri'grr's feet. The Kro'dyl and the Epochi locked eyes, and suddenly the field between them was clear as the other reptiles obeyed their leader's unspoken order and cleared the path.

"...Then it is you, the captive who struck me. How amusing." Commander Bri'grr hopped down from the treads of the Lionheart, lowering his sword to his side. "It's so hard to tell with your kind, what with your genetic obsessions, but I've never seen another with that sort of hate in his eyes. It could be no other."

"Glad I made an impression." Morgi flicked his force flail, filling the air with sparks. "Thanks for the flail, by the way. It's really helped me make an impression on your men."

"You think you can taunt me?" said Commander Bri'grr, running his narrow tongue over his lipless mouth. "Such a predictable, pathetic tactic."

"Yeah, well, I never claimed a lot of points for smarts," said Morgi. "Warriors like me deal with problems directly."

"Then we have that in common, at least." Commander Bri'grr scraped his claws against each other. "It's a shame that you had to be born into that rodent cult. I can't have more than ten warriors with that soul of brutality."

"Talk, talk, talk." Morgi braced himself, staring down his prey. "I don't remember you assholes being so chatty when you invaded Erasa. What's wrong, lost your nerve?"

"Then you were at Erasa?" said Commander Bri'grr. "And here I'd heard that there were no survivors. Actually, I wasn't involved in that campaign. I've never been to your domain at all. But perhaps, after we've liquidated this planet, I'll have time to take a detour to Epochi. You have killed a lot of my warriors, and I do owe it to the dominion to balance the equation."

"Go ahead, the Sacred Epochal Defense Cells would love a chance to kill more Kro'dyl. After all..." Morgi leveled the force flail at Commander Bri'grr's head. "...fewer lizards, less war."

Commander Bri'grr chuckled and raised his sword. "Fewer squirrels, more sanity."

Everything fell silent as every soul on the battlefield - and even the war machines - hesitated to await the offering of the first challenge. Morgi and Commander Bri'grr stared each other down, each one fighting the battle in his own head, working through each stroke, each wound, each step until the delivery of the fatal blow.

Then Bri'grr broke his gaze and turned his head slightly to the edge of the battlefield. Morgi followed suit, as did Jennifer, Yang Yizhen, Tommy, Darius, and each and every Kro'dyl warrior without exception. There was a girl, a deathly pale willowy thing, kneeling before an odd apparatus. She was oblivious to the carnage as she fiddled with the machine, whistling an odd little tune to herself.

"Huh?" The girl looked up, flashing a set of impossibly deep indigo-tinged eyes. "Oh, go ahead and fight. You won't bother me."

## CHAPTER 36

"YOU!" Commander Bri'grr broke away from the impending duel and turned his full attention to the new arrival.

"What the hell is this shit?" said Morgi. "Quit stalling!"

Commander Bri'grr shot Morgi an annoyed glance. "Shut up, squirrel, I'll kill you once I'm done." Turning his back to Morgi, he stormed over to the girl, his shadow hanging heavy over her. "We have unfinished business with your kind!"

The girl glanced up at Commander Bri'grr for a fleeting moment before returning to her work with a shrug. "Sorry, don't know who you are."

Bri'grr stomped his foot. "Freya! Don't you dare try to ignore me! Don't you dare play me off! There is unfinished business between the Kro'dyl Dominion and Apocalypse, Ltd. and we're settling it right NOW!"

The girl sighed and rose to her feet, brushing the dust from her clothes. "Look, I don't know you personally, but if you're about to give me the angry spiel that I'm foreseeing, then I'll only say that we settled this many generations ago. You guys really need to get over it."

Yang Yizhen inched over to Jennifer, his eyes never breaking away from the big lizard and the slender girl. "Shen Xiaojie, might you have any additional understanding of this? I am very confused."

Jennifer reached into one of her pockets, her fingers resting on the business card. "I think it's...them."

"The Anheli?" Yang Yizhen shrank away from the scene. "Oh dear."

Commander Bri'grr's bony frill flared out as he huffed at the girl. "We had an agreement, Freya. This planet was OURS to destroy! Your ilk promised it to us!"

"Oh just drop it already, will you?" Freya slapped one hand over her eyes. "We never had a contract with you people, we only had a discussion. Do none of you understand the difference? We have discussions with lots of empires and mercenaries and the Kro'dyl are the only ones who don't seem to get that it doesn't mean anything."

"Don't try and use your lying bitch tongue on me!" roared Commander Bri'grr. "The Board swore that they would deliver Earth to the Kro'dyl. I don't care if you don't have a piece of paper, you were bound by honor! For a full generation, we prepared for this mission! It was to be a glorious epic in the history-"

"Give me a break," said Freya. "One, it's not a 'glorious epic,' it's an experiment, and experiments have to be carried out in a timely fashion. You guys only had subluminal engines back then! It would have taken you twenty human generations to even get to Earth. Plus, we had no assurances you wouldn't blow the whole place up - it's why we don't like working with mercs. And two - and I'm really hoping that I'm wrong to assume this - are you here to destroy Earth now?"

"That page shall not remain blank," said Commander Bri'grr. "The Kro'dyl are denied nothing that is our right."

"You've got to be kidding!" Freya broke out into bitter laughter. "You were going to destroy a project world? Do you have any idea what the Board would have done to you if you'd succeeded? You'd have ended up a live specimen on a research satellite. Those aren't garden spots, you know."

"Do I look AFRAID OF YOU?" Commander Bri'grr's fist tightened around the grip of the filament sword, his eyes almost red with fire and blood. "DO I LOOK LIKE ONE OF YOUR TIMID LITTLE SUBJECTS? I HAVE CONQUERED A HUNDRED WORLDS AND I WILL BE TREATED WITH RESPECT!"

Freya shook her head. "Okay, this is getting boring and sad. Revenant, will you deal with this?"

"YOU DARE CALL YOUR GOONS TO THREATEN ME?" roared Bri'grr. "I WILL REDUCE YOUR WHOLE SPECIES TO ASH AND TURN YOUR PROJECT WORLDS INTO WASTE REPOSITORIES SO THAT I CAN SHIT ON YOUR DREAMS!"

Suddenly, an entity appeared behind Commander Bri'grr in a brilliant flash of light. The thing was awful to behold - human and inhuman in equal parts, a hulking and misshapen figure of off-colored flesh bound up in bandage-like strips through which an unholy light streamed. Sensing the new arrival, Commander Bri'grr turned and swung his sword at the as-yet unseen foe. The creature blocked Commander Bri'grr's arm with one hand, and with the other...Jennifer had blinked, or perhaps blocked it out as something too absurd and distressing to be real. One moment Commander Bri'grr was on the attack, the next moment the creature's hand was all the way through the Commander's chest, emerging through his back. Commander Bri'grr was exactly as shocked as any man who'd just been impaled, but the real amazement was yet to come. The creature plunged its other arm into the Commander's body, at which point both hands became wreathed in an indigo aura. The aura wrapped itself around Commander Bri'grr as well, growing brighter and brighter until it filled the space around both of them. With one swift motion, that creature wrenched its hands clear and the Commander's entire body disintegrated, leaving only a fine spray of indigo-tinged blood specks to commemorate his presence.

Freya beamed and clapped her hands. "Wow. Truly spectacular. It was every bit as amazing as they told me." Her eyes drifted back to the machine she'd been working on. "...Right, obligations. Well, there's no harm in a bit of pleasure before business, is there?"

The serenity that engulfed the battlefield was less joyous than frightening, the same ominous silence that befalls any group as they collectively acknowledge some looming disaster that they'd all overlooked. The Kro'dyl warriors, those soldiers without fear of death, could barely hold their weapons for the trembling as they fixated on the spot where their commander had stood moments before. The Cradle defenders were no less disturbed. Yang Yizhen turned pale and his throat constricted as he tried not to vomit. Tommy could only watch the events through the gaps in his fingers like some child beholding his first horror movie. Darius alternated between nervous laughter and furious head shaking, clearly on the verge of some nervous snap. Morgi just stared at the faintly seared patch of ground, his eyes dead to anything but disbelief.

Jennifer couldn't even manage that much of a reaction. She could barely move at all.

"Oh hell, did I ruin the party?" Freya giggled as she beheld the expressions of the gathered company. "Well, don't worry. I brought some guests of my own, and I think they'll help you forget all about this."

Freya nudged the machine with her foot and a strangely shaped, impossibly large antenna shot out of it, the last glimmer of sunlight casting a shadow in the shape of the Nemesis symbol. Another love tap from her foot and the machine began to hum, the antenna vibrating the very space that lay beneath the molecules in the atmosphere. A seam opened in the air, a smudgy distortion that slowly ripped in twain with a whirl of radiant flashes that coalesced into a portal anchored in nothing but the underlying fabric of the universe. A figure stepped forth from this portal, one as pale as Freya but much more weathered, a scowl permanently etched into his permanently stubbly jaw. An assortment of strange tools dangled from his belt, encircling a jumpsuit emblazoned with the symbols of Nemesis and Apocalypse, Ltd. and other marks beyond Jennifer's reckoning.

Freya clapped her hands and half-skipped over to the new arrival. "All right, Balder, that's one step down. Welcome to Project World 17."

"Hmm." Balder chewed at a toothpick as he scanned the battlefield, his numb eyes finally settling on the Kro'dyl horde. "They're here?"

"They're still a little upset that we didn't work with them," said Freya, rolling her eyes. "I figured that you might have means of addressing their grievances."

Balder let out a grunt of annoyance audible across the field as he reached for his belt. His hand landed on a boxy gadget covered in tiny dials and buttons, an ungainly device that he nevertheless manipulated easily without looking down. After adjusting a few of the knobs, he gave the device a firm tap with his thumb with another breathy grunt.

Freya stole a glance skyward, then turned back to the Kro'dyl. "Okay, so here's how it is: We've just destroyed a large portion of your fleet."

All eyes turned to the Kro'dyl invasion fleet in time to watch several of the ships, just visible against the setting sun, jet out of their orbit and plunge into the planet's gravitational field. There were no obvious signs of damage on those ships, no gaping holes torn open by torpedoes or melty scars from plasma weaponry, just the atmosphere's flaming aura swallowing them up in the moments before they hit the ground and became scrap.

"Now, we're not senselessly cruel here, you'll note that we have left your flagship in orbit, and if you investigate your landing site, we've left one in...three?" Freya glanced back at Balder, who sighed in acknowledgment. "...One in three of your landing vehicles with which you can return to said flagship and trot on back to your own home. Obviously they'll be a bit crowded, you'll probably have to share some seats...you might want to get moving now. Beat the rush."

Most of the Kro'dyl remained frozen in their tracks, but a few recovered from the shock enough to confirm the decimation of their fleet and shouldered their way through their comrades back to the landing site. Those warriors they shoved aside likewise snapped out of it and made tracks as well, waking up yet more lizards, continuing until the entire army was in a full disorganized retreat. In their flight, they loosed their weapons and instruments, now just lumps of steel crushed beneath the mad tramp of countless scaly feet. The warriors who were slow on the move fared no better, and when the horde had departed scarcely a minute later, there were bloody streaks and a few new corpses to commemorate those too slow to move with the pack.

Freya dusted off her hands. "All right, the crashers are gone. Let's wrap this up." She turned to Jennifer and her crew, still frozen in awe. "Now, I have a few questions for you, and I do hope you'll cooperate. We wouldn't want to get too rough, now."

## CHAPTER 37

With a crackle of energy and a faint blurring of reality, Freya winked out of existence and reappeared before Jennifer in a puff of ions. "All right, Earthfolk, there's no need to be alarmed. Yes, I am from space, but I am not here on a mission of conquest nor do I have any interest in abducting you. Those local myths of yours are certainly charming, but they are a bit dramatic." She cocked her head and studied the assembled group. "You do understand me, don't you?"

Jennifer nodded numbly in response, unable to force herself to speak. Either Freya was being puckish and playing with them, or they genuinely knew something that she didn't.

"All right, lady, you seem like the smart one in this group, so I'll start with you. I'm looking for another extraterrestrial, and once I have him in custody, we'll leave. Okay?" Freya gestured to the ground before Jennifer. Indigo sparks danced from her fingertips and, almost faster than the eye could track them, they traced out a life-sized rendering of Thanatos. "I won't bother with names, he has so very many of them that it would pointless. I just want to know if you've seen him around. We traced his signal to this area so I know he's close by, and the more helpful you are, the quicker we'll leave. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"I'm afraid you've misread the situation," said Jennifer.

"Is that a no? Come on, friends, I'm sure he's around here. Really study the features..." Freya trailed off as her eyes fixed on the Taleweaver. "Is that your ship? Huh..." She paused again and pointed at Morgi, still lingering where he had been when the Kro'dyl fled. "He's with you! You have one of...those things!"

"That's right." Jennifer stretched out her words as she searched for just the right statement to extract them from the situation. "We're...from Exterra. This is kind of an exploratory mission."

"An exploratory...of course! You're the ones who fled the planet! Well, their descendants, anyway. Wow, you guys must be doing pretty well if you were able to make it all the way back to the source." Freya rubbed her chin. "So...why come back? I know you're not resettling, not with this crew or that ship."

Jennifer cleared her throat and pointed at the image of Thanatos. "Actually, we were sent to find him. He committed a crime back in Exterra."

"And you tracked him..." Freya chuckled to herself. "...How far away is Exterra? There's no other life within three light-years, so it has to be farther than that."

"Yes, I'm...not sure how far exactly."

"Uh huh. And you traveled all that way to bring him in for...what did he do, exactly, to merit such a long jaunt?"

"It's uh...kind of a moot point. We haven't found him. As a matter of fact, we were preparing for departure."

"You traveled trillions of miles to find him and you're quitting? You're not much of a liar, are you?" Freya turned back to Balder. "What do you think? Mnemonic interrogation?"

"Don't have the machine," said Balder.

"Ain't it always the way?" Freya pitched back her head and laughed. "And here we could have ripped those secrets right out of your brain. Eh, it's not my favorite thing anyway - very messy, very technical, no fun at all. Unfortunately, the alternative is going to take a lot longer." She glanced back at Balder. "All right, we're sweeping the place."

Balder reached back to the device on his belt, letting fly with a series of subtly different grunts as he manipulated the tiny dials. When he struck the button on the top, a beam of brilliant light arced out of the box and knifed its way deep into the soft earth, the ground pitching and deforming and rippling. For a moment, it was more fluid than solid, a stormy ocean of soil. Then the dirt erupted outward, forming into row after row of pillars each around the height of a man. Another ripple shot across the ground and the pillars, now with a composition like wet clay, shed matter all along their surfaces. After the first second, they were no longer pillars but crudely wrought humanoid statues. With each second that passed, their features grew more and more detailed - globular hands sprouting articulate fingers, noses and lips carved across blank faces. Color spread across the surfaces, separating their clothing from their morbid ivory skin, all save a series of streaks beneath the eyes that had the look of dried blood.

Yang Yizhen, snapped out of his trance by the sight, lunged forward and pointed at the figures. "It is the figures from the mural! The ones from the catastrophe!"

"Then it's all true," said Jennifer. "You destroyed this planet."

"S'right." Balder spit out his toothpick and gestured to the aberrant dirt creatures that comprised his army. "All right, find Thanatos. Don't let anyone get in your way."

The aberrations advanced across the plains, but they did not march as much as they slid, rolling across the open field as a ruinous river of clay. Their forms wove in and out of each other, merging and separating in a strange ghastly dance, the death masks that were their faces riding just at the top edge of the roiling force. They were many and they were one, guided by the invisible threads of the puppetmaster who had dredged them out of the earth.

Freya wagged a thin finger at Morgi, standing alone before the advance. "You know, if you care at all about that thing, you might want to tell him to get out of the way."

"Screw you!" replied Morgi with a flick of his flail. "You think I'm afraid of these little mud men of yours? Huh? You think this little trick of yours is going to break me? I'll take all you got!"

Morgi took one great swing into the mass of aberrations, the glorious golden light of the force flail carving through their ranks. Bits of clay and mud shot skyward and fell back on Morgi like a shower of dirty snow as the expressionless masks fell to the ground. There was nothing but a muddy patch where the first rank had stood. But as Morgi prepared for his next strike, that trough of mud began to undulate, the death masks rising again atop great bubbles of dirt. New limbs emerged from these bubbles, and torsos, and stumpy legs, until the aberrations were once again whole and advancing, numb to the violence that had been delivered to them mere moments before.

"What the hell..." Morgi struck out again at the aberrations, smashing them into lifeless silt with each blow only to watch them reform and resume their tireless advance. "Can I get some help down here?"

"I'm on it." Jennifer shifted her attention back to the control board and the Erinyes whirred back to life. "Guys, any ideas?"

"Well gosh, those things are more like machines than soldiers, so maybe..." Tommy tightened his grip on his rifle. "...Yeah! We do it just like out before - take out the leader and take out the army!"

"So we just cap the grumpy guy?" Darius nodded and worked the action on his own rifle. "Come on, Tom, let's save the squirrel!"

Freya concealed her mouth as she watched the two of them. "Oh, I'm not sure that that's the best of ideas."

"The hell with you, lady," said Darius, already racing forward.

"Well, I warned them. I was fair." Freya glanced at Jennifer with a knowing smirk. "But sometimes you just have to let them make a mistake. It's the only way the lesson will stick."

Tommy and Darius closed fast on Balder, still distracted by his newly spawned army. Tommy fired first, the bullet firing true at Balder's head, followed by a furious spray of gunfire from Darius. The bullets passed cleanly through Balder's form, which only flickered a bit as the projectiles passed through the screen of indigo particles where the Anheli had just stood. Darius noticed the mistake first, grinding to a halt and screaming for Tommy as he pointed to Balder standing a few paces away, the Anheli's distant eyes locked on his would-be assassins, a stubby gun-like tool in his hand. Leveling the tool at the two men, Balder flicked a button and column of blue-white plasma filled the air, turning the dirt next to Tommy into a pane of rough glass. More bullets filled the air, Tommy and Darius firing their rifles in the air as they scrambled away from their target and the impossibly hot flames dancing forth from his hand.

"Well, that's disappointing. I figured Balder would have turned at least one of them into a pillar of carbon." Freya sighed and shrugged. "Meh, at least the rodent's death should be amusing."

Morgi was putting his all into defeating the invincible army but his position was already crumbling. With each stroke of his flail, with each aberration temporarily put to rest, he withdrew by another step. The aberrations were attacking with fervor now, their arms hardening into unwieldy spears or bludgeons as they sought to add Morgi's blood to the mud that comprised their own flesh. None had managed to harm him, but they were still winning by degree as they pushed closer and closer to the array. Then came the Erinyes, descending from the flank of the mud army and unleashing wave after wave of destructive blasts. Even this did little except slow the aberrations down - blown into pieces, they would reform in second and press ahead once more, mindlessly shrugging off death after death and pushing onward with the same persistence.

"There truly must be no force that can destroy these monsters," said Yang Yizhen. "Then we should aid Thomas and Darius in their struggle to decapitate the beast!"

"That's a good idea," said Jennifer. "Let's see how he dodges - unph!"

Jennifer felt a sharp blow to the side of her head and fell prone, the edges of her makeshift control rig biting into the skin. Turning on her side, she caught a glimpse of her assailant - Freya, still wreathed in traces of indigo radiance, a bundle of cables in one hand. The shredded remains of those cables still hung from the control board, now rendered unresponsive.

"Sorry, no fair helping from the bleachers," said Freya, tossing the damaged cables aside. "Cheat like that again and I'll have to punish you."

Yang Yizhen fell to his knees beside Jennifer, frantically brushing the dust from her clothes. "Shen Xiaojie, are you injured?"

"I'll be fine," said Jennifer, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. "Yang, I need you to cut the straps and get this stuff off of me. You still have that antique knife?"

Yang Yizhen dug through his clothes until he found the ornate knife, holding it gingerly as though it was a fearsome and disgusting thing he did not want to handle. "I do. Does this mean that you have a plan?"

"I don't know," said Jennifer. "Just cut me free, and do it and quickly."

Freya turned her back to Jennifer, a cruel grin creeping across her face as she watched Morgi, Tommy and Darius fight in vain against Balder and his aberrant army. "You know, it's kind of a shame that we had to destroy this planet. I always make a little exploratory visit to the project worlds before we work our magic and let me tell you, Earth was one of the most entertaining. Made some very good friends, discovered some very fun chemicals that they won't allow me to synthesize back home. And the music! So much better than the traditional garbage you get on most of the project worlds. But at least they chose an interesting way to blow it up. Oh, it kills me when they decide to do something boring like a pandemic or ecological collapse. What do you think? You with me on that?"

Freya turned back to Jennifer just as she rose to her feet, heavy chunks of metal and plastic falling away in trails of shredded tape. Yang Yizhen backpedaled at the sight of her, sensing the rage that was already bubbling to the surface. Her fists were blanching, her teeth grinding out a slow and steady timbre.

"You're angry," said Freya. "I can sense these things. So, are you pissed because I hit you in the head, or because of that stuff about your homeworld? Because if it's the latter, then you'll want to give me a minute because I can explain how it was really in your benefit in the long-term."

"No more words," said Jennifer.

"So you want to fight? Go _mano e mano_ , as they say? Well, that could be briefly amusing. Now, there's two of you..." Freya pointed at Yang Yizhen. "...You're clearly useless, so this is close enough to fair. All right, it's your challenge, you start things off."

Jennifer didn't wait for Freya's go-ahead, throwing her first jab before the words were done reverberating. She struck only air, the punch sailing through an indigo haze before feeling a blow right in the small of her back. Catching a glimpse of Freya in her peripheral vision, she turned with a roundhouse kick that again struck nothing but open space. She could sense a presence beside her, standing just where she couldn't see.

"So that's the best you've got?" came Freya's voice from somewhere over her shoulder. "Okay, let me show you what I can do."

Before she could react to the taunt, Jennifer felt a blow catch her just behind the knee hard enough to drop her to the ground. Through tears of pain, she could spot Freya standing just ahead, grinning with contempt. Returning to her feet with a wince, Jennifer reached for her sidearm, but she barely felt her fingers brush against the metal when Freya appeared in her face, delivering a powerful blow to the abdomen that left her reeling.

"What did I just tell you about cheating?" Freya clicked her tongue. "And here I thought you might be able to learn a lesson without the painful ending."

It was painful simply to draw breath, but Jennifer fought through it and straightened up, staring down Freya through a screen of dancing lights. "...You."

"Oh, are you still trying?" Freya laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, that's right. You humans try so hard, but you just can't quite close the deal."

"Can't quit," said Jennifer. "Not as long as you're still standing."

Freya's smile faded out, replaced by a look of simply annoyance. "Humans, always so vengeful and righteous. Isn't there one life form in this entire galaxy that has some perspective?"

Jennifer lunged at Freya, interrupted by a backhand slap that she never saw coming. Freya was gone by the time Jennifer shook off the blow, just in time to absorb yet another unseen strike to the abdomen. Jennifer threw a blind punch that didn't come within a foot of Freya, stumbling straight into a crack to the temple that knocked her onto her back.

"Seriously, none of you have any perspective. It kills me." Freya planted her foot on Jennifer's abdomen. "Do you think you'd even be here if we hadn't intervened? Do you honestly think that your ridiculous short-sighted species wouldn't have just eaten itself whole and ended up extinct? We've seen it happen so many times, you know. You've accomplished so much solely because of us, but do we get any gratitude at all?" She shifted her weight, eliciting a cry of pain as her shoe pressed into Jennifer's stomach. "Well, I guess that's a lesson for me. Appreciate the work for its own sake. If you're going to do something, do it for you because you can't count on - aaugh!"

Jennifer's breathing came easier as Freya's weight shifted off of her torso. At first, all she could see was Freya with a look of paralyzing shock on her face. Then she spotted Yang Yizhen, standing behind Freya with his hand on her shoulder. The handle of the antique knife was in his hand, the blade buried in Freya's back all the way to the handguard. Yang Yizhen stepped back and pulled the blade free, unleashing a spray of off-color blood.

Yang Yizhen dropped the knife and ran to Jennifer's side, aiding her to her feet. "Please get up, Shen Xiaojie."

"Yang," muttered Jennifer. "Didn't think...you had it in you."

"Nor did I," said Yang Yizhen.

Recovering from her shock, Freya reached to the wound on her back, the heavy purple blood oozing between her fingers. "You...son of a bitch! You stabbed me, you bastard! You..." For a second, her eyes locked with Yang Yizhen's, then slammed shut as she pitched her back and screamed: "REVENANT!"

Jennifer saw the shadow first, a growing pool of pitch that swallowed the dying light one bit at a time. He was horrifying to behold, far more up close than he had been across the field earlier. Through the bandage-like bonds that obscured his body she could make out details of a form and face that were grotesque in their familiarity. Everything about him was human except that it was wrong, twisted back on itself in a manner alien to nature. He was like a thing designed to evoke feelings of dread and disgust in a mortal man, a creature of pure sickness and hate and terror.

Yang Yizhen grabbed Jennifer's arm, partially to support her but also out of fear. "Can you run?"

"Yes," muttered Jennifer. "I don't think it's going to help, though."

"It won't. You can try, but you can't outrun fate, can you?" Freya winced as she dabbed at her wound with her fingertips. "Do you want to know who Revenant is...or who he was? He used to be just like us, you know. But he didn't react to Nemesis like the rest of us did, with awe and reverence. No, he responded with fear and hatred and spite, and the power spared his life only to turn him into something that reflected what he felt. A creature of terror...just like you at this very moment."

Jennifer's hand landed on her sidearm, which she cleared from its holster in a blind second. The first bullet struck Revenant directly in the chest but he didn't move or cry out, or react even a whit. She fired twice more, the bullets embedding into the fiend's chest with barely a grunt of shock or even recognition. Pausing to take aim, halting the trembling in her hands through focused willpower, she fired a single shot directly at his head. The fiend's head rocked back as the bullet hit its target, but if he suffered any injury or pain then he surely didn't show it.

Freya laughed at the futile attack, then fell silent with a far-away expression. "I guess Abaddon was right...should have listened to the old zealot more. He always told us that our view of Nemesis affected his presence. You view Revenant as a monster, so that's what he is. But to me...heh...to me, he's my savior. My guardian." She jabbed two bloodied fingers at Jennifer and Yang Yizhen. "Kill them."

An unnatural flickering energy flooded into the blank pits that comprised Revenant's eyes as they fell on his assigned prey. Jennifer pointed her gun at the fiend but could no longer will her hands into discharging the weapon. They were at his mercy now, his to destroy in his own manner. The indigo radiance enveloped his hands as he approached the two of them, grunting in fury, their deaths already forecast in those hideous, absent eyes.

"Looks like I showed up just in time for the bloodsports. That's my luck, always on site for suffering."

All eyes turned to the source of the strange but familiar voice, this visitor who had appeared from nowhere to observe. He sat on a rock that Jennifer could swear hadn't been there a minute ago, swaying back and forth as he threatened to pitch over backwards and black out. The source of his disorientation was hard to miss - the funny cigarette perched between his lips, the overflowing flask in his hand.

"Atticus?" Jennifer squinted at the figure. There was a faint ripple as though he weren't really there, and a dancing ray of light linking him to the body of Wukong-Alpha, now resting in the dirt.

"That's what people call me when they're in a good mood." Atticus glanced up at Revenant. "Who's the mummy?"

Revenant's penetrating eyes drifted away from his assigned prey and fell on the roughed-up hologram. He grunted and balled his fists tighter, his indigo aura blossoming out the slightest bit.

"Not the chatty type? Well, gonna be a bitch to quote you." Atticus hopped off the illusory rock and produced a memo pad from thin air. "How about this: 'Rrrgh graaarh frrrgh.' You willing to put that on the record?"

The energy halo around Revenant flashed again, this time bright enough that it hurt the eyes to behold. He was angry, his guttural noises growing rougher as he bent over the hologram.

Atticus spit away his notional cigarette. "No good? Then I'll give you my standard fill-in: 'The overcompensating nimrod declined to comment.' Don't stress, you'll have the copy the day after it goes live."

Revenant lunged at the hologram with a throttled roar, his lethal hands passing through the illusion without resistance. Freya's eyes went wide as she waved for the fiend. "Revenant, no! He's just a distraction!"

"That would be accurate." Atticus stared at his conspicuously watch-free wrist. "Looks like I've done my job long enough. See you down the road."

Atticus was gone, the heart of Wukong-Alpha gone silent yet again. Then the air was filled with a new radiance, a phenomenon that even caught the Anheli by surprise.

Yang Yizhen looked around in awe, his terror briefly muted. "What manner of fresh torment awaits us?"

Jennifer glanced up at Freya, then broke out in a wide smile. "Not torment. I think we've just been saved."

## CHAPTER 38

They were just points of light at first, tiny lanterns hovering in the twilight, but they were so great in number that their combined radiance was enough to illuminate the battlefield. Then they grew, stretching luminous tendrils toward the ground with a sound like a faraway gust of wind, turning into fine bright lines anchored between earth and sky. With a distorted shredding noise, each line rapidly expanded into a portal-like tear with an overwhelming light streaming forth from the other side. Hands appeared at either side of each tear, strange hands that ended in arms that bent the wrong way, steadying themselves by gripping the edges of reality itself. Next came their triangular heads covered in battle helmets, followed by slender chitinous bodies with an array of strange devices suspended from their waists.

"It's got to be another trick." Freya broke into manic laughter. "There aren't any Phyon left! Thanatos killed them all! This is a trick!"

Jennifer observed the Wukong-Alpha core, which had been silent since Atticus returned to the electronic ether. If this was a trick, it wasn't theirs. There were dozens of them now, a small force of battle-ready aliens bearing weapons that resembled ancient remote control devices. The portals slid shut behind them with barely a whisper and the field was again dark, the last traces of moonlight glinting off the battle dress of the Phyon.

Balder let out a grunt - this one marked by traces of concern - and reached for the control unit on his belt. "Deal with the Phyon first. We'll find Thanatos later."

The aberrations turned their dead faces away from Morgi and rolled toward the Phyon, the ground rumbling beneath them, their crude blade-arms extended and ready. Showing no fear in the face of the assault, the Phyon raised their weapons and unleashed a volley of amber flares that knifed through the aberrations, blowing them into piles of dirt. One of the Phyon turned his remote-weapon on the disrupted aberration and fired a solid beam that wrapped around the reassembling creatures and ran through their silty remains, and they remained still and rose no more.

"Okay, no need to panic..." Freya shut her eyes and planted her hands on either side of her head, pushing in as though trying to keep her skull together. "...All right Revenant, kill anyone who gets close to us."

Letting out a roar, Revenant charged at the nearest Phyon, arms raised over his head. Noticing his assailant, the Phyon fired an amber beam at Revenant, striking the fiend in the chest and enveloping it in energy. Revenant paused for only a moment before roaring again and resuming his charge. Another Phyon turned his weapon on Revenant, then a third, then a fourth. With each beam striking Revenant, the amber glow grew brighter and brighter and his movement slowed more and more until he was totally halted, struggling against something that even his strength was inadequate to resist. There was one last flare of energy and then Revenant was gone, leaving only a pile of off-colored ash.

Freya nearly tripped over her feet as she backed away from the Phyon, their attention now turned on her. "Okay...uh, Balder? Some help?"

A group of Phyon descended on Balder, meeting head-on with a pillar of fire strong enough to reduce them to molten piles of bone and chitin. As he prepared to run to Freya's rescue, Morgi leaped into action, spinning his force flail around his body in a twister of brilliant energy that knocked the fire projector clean from Balder's hand. Growling in fury, Balder grabbed his spanner and lunged at the wounded Epochi, only to be neatly repelled by the lightning flash of Morgi's flail. Morgi had not been wearied by his combat, or perhaps his own anger simply overwhelmed the pain.

"What's the matter?" said Jennifer with a laugh. "Don't appreciate the work any more?"

"Appreciate the...oh, I get it. You're, uh...still mad." Freya's eyes fell nervously on the group of Phyon who had encircled them. "Ooh...this looks bad."

"Might be a good time to give up," said Jennifer.

"No, I can still pull a win out of this. Oh, if only I knew where Thanatos was hiding, I could..." Freya paused, glaring off at the ruins of the Redstatter Array. "...Wait a second. If the Phyon are here, then that means he had to contact them, right?"

Jennifer tried not to glance at the main building, the great ruined apparatus. "I wouldn't know."

"Oh yes you would! That bastard is mi-" Freya's words were cut short as she vanished in a flume of indigo energy.

"She is going to claim Reflected Antithesis!" howled Yang Yizhen. "We must stop her!"

"Already ahead of you." Tossing her sidearm into her left hand and snatching up the bloodied knife in the other, Jennifer sprinted for the array, ignoring the battle raging all around her as she sidestepped the fallen Phyon in a blind and desperate attempt to beat Freya to the prize.

\------

Jennifer's footsteps echoed through the gutted cylinder as she ran up the staircase, leaping over the gaps where fragments of the meteor had shredded the metal. Yang Yizhen was somewhere behind her attempting to keep up, but she had no time to aid him or even look back. Farther back on the ground, Balder and his collection of horrors continued to fight against the Phyon and Morgi, but she had no time to consider this, either. The space before her was black save for an eerie indigo radiance marking her goal. She could just hear their voices over the sounds of battle and the footsteps and the heavy thrum of her own pulse.

"...I have only freed myself from this madness that has gripped us."

"Drop the sanctimony. You went soft and forget why we were doing this in the first place."

"I forgot nothing. I finally realized the truth, and it was horrifying to ponder."

Jennifer nearly collapsed at the top of the stairs. Thanatos and Freya were face to face, their bodies ringed in a terrible energy that stood out all the more against the backdrop of the night sky. Thanatos still had the case in his hand, his knuckles tight as he tensed his grip.

"Okay, I'm done talking with you," said Freya. "I'm not interested in persuasion, Thanatos. I'm not here to save your soul, I'm here for what rightfully belongs to the Board of Apocalypse, Ltd. You can give it to me, or I can take it away. That's the only choice you're gonna get."

Yang Yizhen reached the top of the stairs, his breath coming in agonized bursts. "Shen Xiaojie, what...what has transpired?"

Thanatos glanced at Jennifer and Yang Yizhen and smiled, a faint and knowing expression. "But I never had any intention of keeping it from you, Freya." He placed the case flat on the half-destroyed table behind him. "You had an objective, and here it is."

"I know you better than this," said Freya. "What game are you playing? It's fake, isn't it? A decoy? Maybe a bomb that will only go off when we're headed home?"

"It is no fake, this is indeed Reflected Antithesis. In fact, I invite you to examine the contents." Thanatos snapped his fingers and the countermeasures on the case all failed at once, the lid flying open to reveal the second secure container.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Freya took a step back. "We're not supposed to open it. Don't you know what could happen?"

"Yes, I do. I also know why the board sent you. They must have seen your hedonistic vices as factors easily controlled. They saw you as a weak person they could master, without any deeper ambitions that might lead you to misuse the parcel." Thanatos snapped his fingers again and the second container opened, revealing the final secure layer.

Freya threw up her hands in terror. "Don't do that, damn it! You could destroy everything!"

"Of course I could, Freya, and so could the Board. That was their error in picking you. What person driven by sensory pleasures would willingly destroy those pleasures before she had experienced them? How could she bring herself to aid another in the annihilation of so many unexperienced wonders? She couldn't." He snapped his fingers once more, exposing Reflected Antithesis to the cool night air. "She couldn't even take that risk."

"Okay, you're right. You win this match." Freya laughed nervously. "There's no reason to do anything drastic because I will now leave. I don't need status, being a scout is fine! And you know what else? I forgive you for everything. You know that I'm not the kind of person to hold a grudge."

"I am," said Jennifer.

Freya turned at the sound of her voice and her eyes went wide as Jennifer plunged the knife deep into her chest. Purple blood oozed from the edges of the wound as Freya's hands closed around the knife. Shaking off Freya's grip, Jennifer yanked the blade free and swiftly raised her gun to Freya's head and squeezed the trigger. Freya went limp, hitting the floor with her last shocked expression of defeat etched into her features. Tendrils of indigo energy poured out of her lifeless body, wrapping around the dead flesh and then snaking heavenward until they were no longer visible. When they had passed, nothing remained of Freya's corporeal form but a trace of ashen powder.

Thanatos bowed his head. "The Phyon have arrived, yes?"

"They're just mopping up," said Jennifer, tossing the knife aside.

"Good. Then my mission is very nearly complete," said Thanatos. "Theirs is only now beginning. The anchoring device the Anheli deployed...the Phyon can reverse engineer it and discover the coordinates to our home system, and then they can take the war directly to the Anheli. I don't know if they'll achieve the vengeance they desire, but it will be one more blow against Apocalypse, Ltd. and their dreams of universal entropy."

Yang Yizhen inched toward the open case. "Then this is the scientific splendor...Reflected Antithesis."

The most dangerous object in the known universe was not much to behold. It was a cylinder of metal and glass no more than a foot in length and a few inches around, its surface a drab and opaque green. No tiny galaxies swirled within, no miniature solar systems flashing in and out of their billion-year life cycles. Even so, Jennifer could feel a sense of quiet awe staring at the thing, knowing not just what it was, but what had been done to possess it.

"Do not forget your promise," said Yang Yizhen. "I have a quest of my own, and I will let no one stop me from fulfilling it."

"Your threats are not necessary. I have forgotten nothing. You will return to your empire with this artifact, and you shall return with me, though I will not be in chains." Thanatos approached Reflected Antithesis, holding a hand over its surface. "There is only one thing I haven't yet accomplished."

Jennifer took her gun in both hands. "And that is?"

"Escape," said Thanatos.

"From the Phyon?" said Yang Yizhen. "You have bestowed justice upon them. Surely they would forgive you, after all that you have done to aid them in their own quest."

"They would surely strike me down, and would be fully justified in doing so," said Thanatos. "However, I do not seek escape from them. I still owe a debt to existence for the harm I have caused, but as long as I stay here I am never truly free from the claws of my old comrades. I must find a refuge, far from Nemesis, far from my old comrades, and far from my own sins. And now I have it. So long."

Thanatos snapped his fingers, quietly this time, and a corona of energy enveloped him and Reflected Antithesis. His body grew fuzzy and faint until there was only a cloud of indigo specks where he had once stood. Reflected Antithesis emitted a soft hum, a sound of acceptance, and the indigo specks spiraled around it, passing through the sealed aperture as though it had no form at all. The glow faded, and each layer of the case abruptly slammed shut, safely sealing its contents away and returning to its neutral state upon the ruined table.

Cautiously, Yang Yizhen approached the case and placed a hand on the handle, then sighed in relief. "It is done."

"Hello? Hey guys, you up there?"

Jennifer could just make out Morgi in the darkness below, his body crudely wrapped in bandages, his flail in one hand and an object she couldn't quite make out in the other. "Morgi?" She inched down the stairs, waving for Yang Yizhen to follow. "Is everyone all right?"

"Everyone you care about." Morgi heaved the object - Balder's severed head - into the center of the room. "We're planning our exit if you two are about finished."

## CHAPTER 39

The grounds outside of the Redstatter Array were a grim sight, the field littered with the victims of the struggle - Kro'dyl, Phyon, Anheli, wrecked machines, even the befouled dirt that had once been the aberrations. Even so, there was a certain solemnity about it, the peace only brought by a righteous victory. The Phyon were already hard at work, gathering Anheli equipment and sending communications back to their superiors. Tommy Harkennian was busy as well, performing spot-checks on the Taleweaver which, against all odds, had endured the tiny war intact.

"Jen! Yang! You guys made it!" Tommy waved at them from his position atop the Taleweaver. "Did you get the thing?"

Yang Yizhen raised the heavy case as far as he could. "It is prepared for its return voyage, at long last."

"And what's-his-name, the guy we were chasing?" said Tommy.

"It's a long story," said Jennifer. "I'll tell you on the way back."

"Well, takeoff won't be long." Tommy slid down off the Taleweaver. "The basics look pretty good. I've got the computer running scans on our FTL systems so as soon as we check out, we can leave...well, the ones who are leaving."

"Someone's staying behind?" said Jennifer.

"That's me." Darius raised his hand. "I got to thinking while I was at the museum - yeah, I can bring all this shit back to my superiors and it'd be a real love fest. But do they just wanna see pictures of the place, or do they want to visit themselves? Shit, it's not like I can tell them where it is. So I'm gonna send them a message from this site and they can find the way themselves."

"A worthy endeavor, but not one simply executed," said Yang Yizhen. "Surely you do not reckon that you can repair the array?"

"No, but it's not the only one," said Darius. "I can find one that works, and then all I gotta do is wait until everything lines up just right. Hey, if this other guy could reach out and contact an almost extinct race of aliens, then I can contact Exterra."

"We can probably help with that." Jennifer knelt down and picked up Wukong-Alpha. "This thing is a wealth of information. We can share that with the human governments and coordinate on it."

"Sure," said Darius. "And once we got contact, we can set up nodelines, make regular trips...hell, maybe get a diplomatic mission. Bring this place into Greater Exterra."

"It is a project very ambitious in scope," said Yang Yizhen. "The nodeline network in Exterra took hundreds of years to construct. A new network across such vast distances will take at least as much time."

"Yeah, and it'll probably be a couple years until they pick me up," said Darius. "It ain't so bad, though. I got familiar food and creature comforts, and the girls on this planet actually look like girls. And when it's done, I'll have my name in the historical record. I think it's a sweet deal."

"That it is," said Jennifer. "Good luck on your mission, Darius Wheeler. I'm sure we'll be hearing from you again."

"I'd better hear from you the next time we're in the same system," said Darius with a laugh.

Yang Yizhen turned to Morgi. "Have you considered staying as well? As I recall, you sought only a habitable planet where you might live in safety. I must imagine that the Cradle is beyond the reach of the cult."

"That's true, but I'll tell you...I think this place is a little boring for me." Morgi rubbed his bandaged wounds. "I forgot how much I missed the action. So I was talking to Darius, and he said that there's probably a place in the Exterran Federation for me. They always need soldiers, and not a lot of Epochi join up with them, so I could be a real asset. I don't know maybe help some others get out."

"Isn't that swell?" said Tommy. "Everyone gets a happy ending."

"Yeah, tell them about yours," said Morgi. "The stuff you hid from Darius."

"Oh, so I took a few souvenirs. Golly, the way this guy talked, you'd think I committed the crime of the millennium." Tommy clapped his hands. "All right, everyone on board for flight prep!"

Yang Yizhen paused as he mounted the entry hatch, kneeling down closer to the soft earth beneath the ship's legs. "Such a sight to behold in a place of death."

"What are you talking about?" said Jennifer.

Yang Yizhen plucked a single purple flower from the ground. "This blossom."

"It's not the most beautiful bloom I've ever seen," said Jennifer.

"No, but it is resilient. With battle all around it, nature fought to exhibit its splendor, and in doing so it wed beauty to strength." Yang Yizhen pressed his nose to the flower. "This planet shall live again. Even the Anheli cannot bring true ruin."

Jennifer felt an old sensation welling up in her chest. "That's quite a sentiment, Yang."

"It is hope," said Yang Yizhen. "The hope in all that endures."

\------

"All right, everyone, take one last look and we're off."

Jennifer studied the blue planet that filled her monitor. Not so long ago, it was a mythical place that she knew only from fairy tales and the mythology of the criminals she chased. Now it was a reality, one that in the future anyone could reach out and gather into his hands.

"Isn't that pretty?" Tommy sighed contentedly, then casually reached for a switch on his console. "All right, warming up the linear-dimensional engine."

"That thing again?" Morgi groaned. "And here I am, all out of drugs."

Jennifer looked over at Yang Yizhen, wincing from the weight of the heavy case on his lap. "You know, I can hold that for a while if you'd like."

"No, Shen Xiaojie, it is my responsibility." Yang Yizhen looked sheepish. "I have a confession to make regarding your compensation."

"It's not going to be a billion," said Jennifer.

"You knew?" said Yang Yizhen.

"No, but I had a good feeling," said Jennifer. "It hit me on that dead planet when you started spilling the beans about everything that you might be less than forthright in other areas."

"You don't seem angry," said Yang Yizhen.

"I am, a little, but it's not important," said Jennifer. "Taiyang will pay me what they think I was worth, and it'll be enough. There's bigger things than money, like knowing that you saved the galaxy."

Tommy rubbed his hands together. "All right everyone, time to jump."

"Isn't there another way?" shouted Morgi. "Be merciful!"

"No time for that," said Tommy as he flicked the switch. "Here we go!"

She was never going to fully acclimate to being compressed to a one-dimensional line, but Jennifer had at least achieved enough experience and perspective to handle the physics-shattering jump with a bit of good grace. This time, it wasn't quite so distressing when the machine turned her mind inside out. When the ship came to a halt after the first jump, it felt as a gentle landing that was not entirely unpleasant.

"Every time." Morgi banged his head against his console. "Every single damn time, it kills me!"

"Sorry, buddy, I'm not trying to hurt you," said Tommy. "Hey, but if it makes you feel better, we won't have to make so many jumps this time. Now that we know exactly where we're going, I can just plug it into the ol' computer and take the most efficient route. Isn't that swell?"

"Peachy," grunted Morgi.

"All right, everyone relax, we'll make the next jump after the refractory period." Tommy reclined in his seat. "Imagine - a network of nodes running right through this space. I'll be able to take vacations to the Cradle. Maybe I can retire there! That would sure be something."

"I'm ready to give the Exterran infrastructure department that much credit," said Jennifer.

"Maybe, but you have to have a little faith, right?" Tommy's terminal emitted a series of chirps. "Huh, looks like someone's hailing us."

"Out here?" said Jennifer. "We're still light-years away from Exterran territory, aren't we?"

"Maybe we've met a new species! Hey, that would be neat, huh?" Tommy hit a button on his console. "This is the Taleweaver, from the Exterran Federation. Captain Tommy Harkennian speaking."

_"Hello there!"_ The voice at the other end was friendly, but with a hidden edge. _"This is Unit Leader Simsiz from the Sanguine Claw. How are you this evening?"_

"Sanguine Claw?" whispered Morgi. "Sounds like Agolgans."

"Why would they be this far out in deep space?" replied Jennifer.

"And well met, Simsiz," said Tommy. "You fella are a long way from home."

"Well, we're on a mission, Captain, and when the Sanguine Claw is on a mission, well, we go as far as we must."

"Gosh, fellas, can I ever understand that. Can I ask your purpose in contacting us?"

"Well, Captain Harkennian, I'm afraid we're here to detain you."

"Excuse me?" said Tommy.

Jennifer glanced at her monitor. They were surrounded by ships - mostly tiny one-man vessels brimming with weapons, all of them bound to the rounded command vessel just ahead of them, its maw open and ready to swallow them up.

_"Sorry if that was brusque,"_ said Simsiz. _"I'm going to ask you to comply with us and offer no resistance. This is a difficult situation for everyone involved, but if you cooperate then there's no reason that it has to be unpleasant. Okay?"_

"Terrific," said Jennifer.

## CHAPTER 40

At that exact moment, some tens of trillions of miles away, another soul was completing a mission of his own.

It was a chamber that the nameless Epochi had never glimpsed, for there was seldom any need for a investigator cell to travel so far beneath the surface of Epocha. He squeezed through the narrow polished stone corridors, clutching the clumsy parcel to his chest as tightly as he dared. The silence of the chamber was shattered only by his own footsteps, each one magnified many times by the strange acoustics until each soft thump was as loud as a cannon. At the end was an open space with a stone pillar flanked by several desks at which other Epochi sat. These were cortices, distinguished members of the highest tiers of a society that formally admitted to no distinctions, those nearest to the Central Will that governed all a cell like he would ever know. He could sense their scrutinizing eyes probing him for any hint of the individuality that he had learned long ago to suppress.

"The investigator returns," said one of the cortices. "Was the mutated cell discovered?"

"The mutant has eluded the body's grasp," said the investigator. "It migrated to the human homeworld for purposes unknown, in the company of several humans."

"This is most curious," said the cortex. "For what purpose did the mutated cell make this voyage?"

"The purpose is unknown. The investigator cells were unable to retrieve the mutant. However, there were some discoveries that may be of interest to the Central Will." The investigator placed his parcel gently on the table. "The humans maintained a library that had withstood the end of their civilization."

"What information had they preserved?" said the cortex.

"Only the Central Will can truly fathom that." The investigator peeled back the paper wrapping from the parcel, revealing a stack of half-decayed books and notebooks. "The keepers of the library attempted to destroy the cells by force and were dispatched in turn. Beneath the library was a hidden archive filled with a most unusual collection. The cells faced resistance from the inhabitant of the archive and were forced into retreat, but not before claiming these prizes. They may have some value in the great effort to unify the body."

The cortex flipped through the first few books in silence, finally taking the entire stack in her hands. "The Central Will shall contemplate this discovery."

All eyes tracked the cortex as she carried the book to the pillar in the middle of the room and knelt before it, placing one hand on the smooth surface. The other cortices stood and began to chant: "The cells submit to the Will. I am the body and the body is all and everything."

"The cells bring an offering of wisdom," said the kneeling cortex.

A slot opened in the face of the pillar, a gentle blue light streaming out of the aperture. "What is this?" boomed a voice from the other side. "Why have you disturbed my peace?"

"An investigator cell brings knowledge from the lost human homeworld," said the cortex.

"That place?" The voice let out an annoyed grunt. "What could you possibly find there?"

"Is it not for a cell to know," said the cortex. "But this information could aid in the integration of the human cells into the body."

The chamber fell silent for a few seconds. "All right," said the voice. "Slide it through, I'll have a look."

The cortex passed the books into the pillar and withdrew, falling to her knees a few feet back from the aperture. Again all was silent save the sound of the book's pages turning. Then there were new sounds, contemplative sounds coming from the pillar, and even the occasional vocalization that sounded not unlike a chuckle. "Really?" Another chuckle. "Really?"

The kneeling cortex crawled closer to the pillar. "Is this information useful to the body and Will?"

"Oh yes, it's useful," said the voice. "It's very useful. In fact, I predict that the body will grow much, much stronger. And soon, my little cells. Very, very soon."

The laughter annihilated the silence.

## About the Author

Born in rural western Kansas, ANDREW JOHNSTON discovered his Sinophilia while attending the University of Kansas. Subsequently, he has spent most of his adult life shuttling back and forth across the Pacific Ocean. He is currently based out of Hefei, Anhui province. He has published short fiction in Nature: Futures, the Arcanist and Mythic and will be featured in the upcoming Laughing at Shadows Anthology.

## www.findthefabulist.com
