“You can have it delivered.”

  “What? And never see the sky?”

  I shrugged. I rarely saw the sun on Earth. But I did like my tiny balcony where I could watch the city go by.

  “I get it. You’ve gone to seed here on Haven-7.”

  “Precisely. I plan to be the agent representing XCU on this sad little planet until the day I die.”

  And so, we waited. The minutes ticked by like hours. The night grew deeper, the stars twinkling in the sky above. But still, no rift appeared. I tried to push away the growing sense of concern, the fear that something had gone wrong. I had to trust in XCU, and in the Preacher’s abilities. They would come through for me. They had to.

  Chapter 38

  I jolted awake to the sounds of shouting and crashing woodpiles outside Silas’ hut. Listening and blinking bleary eyes, I decided the Dusters were having a loud argument. There wasn’t anything unusual about that.

  The Preacher stirred on the far side of the room, his eyes blinking open in confusion. It took us a moment to notice something else of great significance.

  There was a shimmering light in the room. It pulsed gently in the center of the hut.

  “The rift,” I breathed, scrambling to my feet. “It’s here.”

  The Preacher sat up, his eyes widening as he took in the sight. “It must have been there for some time,” he said, sounding rough from sleep. “We were both out cold.”

  I nodded, my mind racing with the implications. XCU had come through, just as the Preacher had said they would.

  The rift spun silently, its light casting an odd glow over the hut. I got myself lined up to step through—

  Suddenly, a loud noise shattered the moment. The Dusters I’d thought were fighting outside had stepped it up to a whole new level.

  There was sudden shouting, followed by the unmistakable sound of gunfire. I whirled around, my hand instinctively reaching for my buzzblade.

  “What the hell?” I muttered, moving towards the wrecked door.

  Before I could take more than a few steps, the flimsy door exploded inward, splinters of wood flying through the air. I ducked, shielding my face with my arm as a massive figure burst into the hut. A big shape darkened the entrance.

  My bleary eyes had difficulty taking in the sight before me. It was a Tusker, its hulking form filling the small space, eyes glinting with a feral rage. It let out a deafening roar, its massive fists clenched at its sides.

  I reached for my blade, but the Tusker charged forward, its bulk slamming into me with the force of a freight train. I flew backwards, my head cracking against the wall. Pain exploded through my skull as I hit the ground, my vision blurring at the edges.

  Through the haze of pain, I could hear the Preacher shouting, his reedy voice barely audible over the chaos. The old man’s eyes were wide with fear as he scrambled backward, his hands raised in a futile gesture of defense. The Tusker turned away from me and stalked him, its movements slow and deliberate. It was a predator reaching for an easy dinner.

  And then I saw it. This Tusker wasn’t just any Tusker—it had a single tusk that gleamed in the early morning light.

  One-Tusk? Callista had sent One-Tusk in here? What a bitch.

  My mind raced, putting the pieces together. Callista must have sent her favorite minion after me. A final act of revenge after I’d rejected her.

  She must have gone up onto the cliffs around the town, just as Janson had done, and sent her beast jumping down into Cinder Hollow. What a jealous witch.

  I struggled to my feet, my hand reaching for my belt. My fingers closed around the hilt of my buzzblade, the weight of it familiar and comforting in my grip. It was no match for the Tusker’s brute strength, but it was all I had.

  Very quickly, my mind weighed my options. The rift was right here, waiting. I could step through and get away cleanly.

  But the Preacher would be toast if I did that. The Tusker was sure to kill him. In fact, it looked like it was planning to do that right now.

  I could charge it, of course. Go in close, clinch-up, and try to stab it to death—but I didn’t think that would work. I’d tangled with old One-Tusk before. He was cagey, and the way he was moving in so slowly on the old man… yes, I thought he was luring me—pretending to ignore me, pretending to give me a chance to charge him.

  Maybe he was the one with the plan. Maybe he was trying to lure me into charging him.

  I came to a sudden decision, and I put it into play immediately.

  “Hey, orc-face!” I shouted. “Over here!”

  One-Tusk turned, its eyes locking onto me with a feral intensity. It took a step forward, its massive fist clenching at its side.

  I brandished the buzzblade, the blue light of its energy field casting a glow over the scene. “Come on, you overgrown freak,” I taunted. “Let’s do this. I know you want to. Callista loves me more than she loves your mangy carcass.”

  That seemed to do it. I’d touched a nerve. Maybe old One-Tusk was in love with his mistress. Maybe she’d teased him about it.

  Whatever the case, One-Tusk roared at me. The sound shook the rattling sticks that made up this shitty hut.

  Then he charged at me, his footsteps slapping the packed earth floor.

  With a mocking laugh meant to piss off old One-Tusk just that much further, I threw myself into the portal. One-Tusk was right on my heels, his hot, crap-stinking breath puffing on my back.

  My body tumbled through the shimmering portal and into the unknown.

  For what felt like several long seconds, I tumbled through nothingness. Jumping into a rift was a weird experience. Sometimes it was light, sometimes it was dark. Sometimes it was unimaginably loud.

  This time, it was utterly dark and silent. It felt like deep water—deep, cold water.

  Then my body slammed against the hard floor of the XCU laboratory. The stinks of Haven-7 had instantly transformed into new, but equally unpleasant scents. Chemical stinks, such as ozone and bleach rammed into my nostrils.

  I gasped for breath, and it felt like my lungs were on fire. I coughed out whatever crept into a man during a cold jump through the void. Maybe I’d sucked in a breath while diving through the rift. You weren’t supposed to do that—it might collapse a lung.

  “Dane, what in the name of Hades is this?” Dr. Renn’s demanded. His words were an octave higher than usual. He did that when he got excited. “Fully dressed and carrying that damned dagger again? Do you have any idea how expensive such transmissions are, with all that unnecessary clothing and that...that hunk of useless metal?”

  I bounded off the floor, doing a hard push-up that left me standing. “Doc, we’ve got a situation—”

  Before I could finish my sentence, a deafening roar shook the lab. Dr. Renn’s eyes grew comically wide, as did his lipless mouth.

  I spun around as One-Tusk emerged from the rift, his massive form filling the space.

  Dr. Renn finally stopped sucking in air and let out a high-pitched squeal. He stumbled backward, his hands scrabbling for purchase on the smooth metal of the lab tables. Something expensive went over with a crash and sparks flew.

  “Dane Tanner. What did you bring—?”

  “Contact the Station Chief!” I shouted to him. My fist hammered on the intercom emergency button. “Ops center, we have an incursion, Transmission Lab!”

  One-Tusk lumbered forward, his single tusk gleaming in the harsh fluorescent light. He swung his massive fist, smashing through a bank of computers with a sickening crunch.

  I lifted my buzzblade and flicked it on. One-Tusk seemed to be confused by the change of scenery—he hadn’t zeroed in on me yet. He was taking it out on every object that dared to cross his path. I took the opportunity of his distraction to back away and roll a few more monitors and scanners into his path.

  Dr. Renn bolted for the exit, his lab coat flapping behind him as he fled. I could hear his panicked footsteps echoing down the hallway, mingling with the sound of shattering glass and twisting metal as One-Tusk continued his rampage.

  My first thought was to get the Tusker back into the rift and sent home—but that would have been expensive—and besides, the rift was fading out. The beast had stomped on some critical power-lines and broken the connection.

  Fortunately, it didn’t take long for every emergency light and siren in the facility to light up and go off. The noise almost drowned out the sound of pounding footsteps and shouting voices from the passages outside the lab. I felt a surge of relief as the door burst open, revealing Dom and a robot guard.

  “Goddammit, Tanner! What did you bring home with you?” Dom ordered. “Take that thing down!”

  The robot guard surged forward, his weapon trained on One-Tusk. I stepped out of the way as a hail of gunfire erupted. The sound was deafening in the enclosed space.

  The lab erupted into chaos as One-Tusk rampaged, his massive fists smashing through delicate equipment and sending shards of glass and twisted metal flying through the air.

  “You’re hitting lab equipment!” Dom howled. “Go in and throttle it to death!”

  Suicidal orders were no problem for a robot. The guard dropped its gun and surged forward. Its mechanical limbs whirred as it tried to grapple with the Tusker.

  But One-Tusk was too strong, too fast. With a roar of fury, he grabbed the guard and ripped it in half, tossing the sparking remains aside like a broken toy. He took a swing at me, next, and managed to knock my buzzblade out of my hands. It went flying away and dug a hole in a table with its blurring tip.

  “Dane!” Dom shouted over the din of the alarms. “We need to take this thing down, like, yesterday!”

  Ducking under One-Tusk’s flailing arms, I let my fists pummel his midsection with all the strength I could muster. The beast roared in anger, his single tusk slashing through the air inches from my face.

  We fought like demons, our bodies fueled by desperation. One-Tusk was a formidable opponent, his strength and speed nearly overwhelming.

  Finally, with a last, desperate lunge, I managed to get behind One-Tusk and wrap my arms around his thick neck. I squeezed with all my might, my muscles screaming with the effort as I tried to choke the life out of him.

  Dom saw his chance and took it, firing a point-blank shot into One-Tusk’s skull. The Tusker convulsed, his body going rigid as the pulse of energy tore through his brain. With a final, shuddering gasp, he collapsed to the floor, his single tusk shattering against the hard concrete.

  I staggered back, my chest heaving. Around us, the lab was in ruins. Once-pristine equipment had been reduced to smoking piles of rubble. But we had won. One-Tusk was dead, and XCU was secured.

  For now, at least.

  I slumped against a wall, my body aching from the brutal fight. Dom stood nearby, his pulse rifle still smoking as he surveyed the destruction.

  The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the ruined lab, and I looked up to see Tina rushing to us. She carried a medical kit in her hands, her knuckles white from the force of her grip.

  “Dane! Chief?” she cried, with emotion. “Are you guys all right? What is that thing?”

  “Just another day at the office, girl. You got a two-foot long bandaid on you?”

  She knelt beside me, her hands already busy unpacking the medical supplies. “This is serious, Dane. You’re hurt. Both of you are.”

  Dom waved a dismissive hand, his face split by a cocky grin. “Nah, we’re fine. I could’ve taken that overgrown freak out all by myself. Didn’t even need Tanner’s help.”

  Tina and I exchanged a knowing look, our eyes meeting in a moment of shared exasperation. We both knew that Dom was full of it, but there was no point in arguing with him when he was in this mood.

  Tina set to work, her hands gentle but firm. She used nanite pastes and a molecular printer to seal our wounds. I gritted my teeth against the sting of the antiseptic, enjoying the feeling of her touch against my skin.

  “You’re lucky,” she assured me. “These cuts are deep, but they’ll heal. You’ll have some new scars to add to your collection.”

  I chuckled, the sound turning into a hiss of pain as she pressed a bandage against a particularly nasty gash on my arm. “Just what I always wanted—more scars. Turns on the ladies you know.”

  Dom glared at us. “Are you two about to bone right here in the office? Is that it? Well, celebrations might be premature. Do you have any idea how much this incident is going to cost you, Tanner?”

  “Cost me?”

  “Yeah. You brought that stray dog home with you. That’s against regulations. When you go off-script, you eat the—”

  The sound of footsteps echoed through the ruined lab, and I looked up to see Dr. Felix Renn stumbling through the debris, his face a mask of horror and disbelief.

  “My lab!” he wailed, his hands clutching at his hair. “My beautiful lab! How can you hold expensive research in such contempt, Tanner? Not to mention the effort. It took years of hard work to calibrate and—”

  “Why does everyone seem to think this was my fault? We sent the signal about fifteen hours ago. You guys took your sweet time to spin up the rift. By the time you did, we had a visitor right on top of us. I think the blame for this rests squarely on XCU.”

  Dom strode over, his face set in a scowl. “Tanner, you brought that thing back here. Don’t even try to say otherwise.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but Dr. Renn cut me off with a sharp gesture. “I don’t want to hear it. This is unprofessional, even for you. We have procedures in place for a reason—procedures that you completely ignored!”

  I rubbed a hand over my face—but I soon stopped. Tusker blood was all over it. That, and long, burnt hair. The ruined lab was impressive to look at. I took a moment to admire the shattered equipment and sparking wires. It did look expensive. They were right about that.

  But I didn’t much care. Haven-7 was at peace. The Preacher had lived. The rest of it…? Well, that was just the cost of doing business.

  Chapter 39

  The lab was a wreck. Smoke curled from shattered machines. Sparks spit angrily from severed wires. Dr. Renn darted around like a maniac hummingbird. He kept scooping up bits of broken tech and whining over it.

  “Ruined! The primary emitters—all of them—ruined!” he wailed, clutching a twisted chunk of metal to his chest. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to calibrate the quantum field generators? That alone—”

  I didn’t know much about each piece of equipment in the lab. Didn’t much care, either. I had bigger problems.

  “Uh… so… am I fired?” I asked, looking at Dom.

  The Station Chief scowled, his arms crossed over his chest. “You should be. Protocol exists for a reason, Tanner. You can’t just go leading stray animals through rifts whenever you feel like it.”

  I bristled. “I didn’t have a choice. One-Tusk was going to kill our agent. I had to act.”

  “That thing was going to kill Silas?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  Dom squinted at me. He didn’t know if he should believe me or not.

  “So, you finally found Silas and then you bugged out? What’s his status? He hasn’t reported in for months.”

  I thought that over. “I would say his status is semi-retired. He didn’t want to come back to Earth. If he gives you any more reports—”

  Dom lifted a plastic computer scroll. “He sent in his report. He makes you out as some kind of planet-saving hero. I’m not buying it. That’s not your style.”

  Another man might have gotten mad about that—but I really couldn’t. I didn’t always stick around on a world after my work was done and try to save the place, but this time, I had.

  “The Techborn and the Dusters are no longer at war. The agent on the spot is reporting in again. I would say it was a job well done.”

  Dom nodded. “I would agree, except for the cost.” He waved around at the destruction. “As to your flight status—I’m going to leave that up to Brandt. I don’t know what he’ll say. But you should go up there and pucker up to start kissing whatever he wants kissed. Pucker hard.”

  Brandt was the big boss, the one who pulled all the strings. If he wanted to see me, it could be good news or bad news. Either way, it was a big deal.

  I kind of wanted to head home and take a real hot shower. My first in weeks. But XCU didn’t work that way. There was always a debrief. Always.

  The door to Brandt’s office wasn’t anything special. I rapped on it until he buzzed me in. The old man sat behind his desk, and he was playing poker today. His face was inscrutable.

  “Tanner…” he said, in the tone of a man who was cursing—or maybe spitting. He gestured to a chair. “Sit.”

  He had real leather chairs—or at least, if they were fake, they were the good kind of fakes. Either way, they creaked under my ass as I sat on them. After Haven-7, which probably didn’t have an upholstered stick of furniture to be found, it felt pretty good.

  Brandt steepled his fingers, and he fixed me with his weird, piercing gaze.

  “You cost us a lot of money on your first mission.”

  “I’ve worked here before today, sir. It wasn’t my first...”

  “We’re not going to talk about your previous stint here. That’s erased, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah…”

  That was a good thing, from my point of view. If people didn’t talk about my past—that was always for the best.

  “What we’re doing here today,” Brandt said, “is figuring out if you want to keep working here.”

  My mouth folded up, as I considered. “Well, I guess so.”

  “Good. Now, you owe us a lot of money.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me—the wrecked lab, extra transmission costs. As far as I’m concerned, you’re in the hole, Tanner.”

  Shaking my head, I snorted. “I don’t have a lot of money, sir. If you expect—”

  He put up a hand and held it there until I stopped talking. “We’re going to figure that out. We’re going to let you work it off.”