The pirate’s expression became skeptical. “Go on.”

  “We have a formula,” Captain Hansen continued, “that can prevent mutation. It can even reverse some conditions. I believe it would be beneficial to your people.”

  The freak seemed taken aback. He turned to consult with his fellow rebels. Their reactions were mixed. Some were adamant that their mutations were a source of strength, something that set them apart from the rest of humanity. They also hinted at having powerful allies that we were not aware of—and that they wouldn’t be pleased by such a medication.

  Others, however, saw the good side of our proposal. They argued that if they could find a way to control their mutations, life would be easier for them.

  The rebel leader eventually silenced everyone with a huge, twisted limb. He raised it high as if to backhand anyone close by. Those around him shuffled away and shut up.

  He turned back to Captain Hansen. “We will consider your offer, but we need a sample of the formula first. In return, we will release Lt. Quinn as a show of good will.”

  Captain Hansen nodded, agreeing to the terms. She had a quick huddle with Commander Kaine. That bastard flicked an eye and a single finger in my direction.

  I knew what was coming next. I could feel it in my bones.

  Captain Hansen turned to me. “Sergeant Starn, I’m charging you with the responsibility of making this exchange. You will meet the rebels on the surface of the asteroid—alone. Can you handle this?”

  I met her gaze, and I did my damnedest not to show the alarm I was feeling inside. “Yes, Captain. I’ll do whatever it takes to bring Quinn back safely.”

  Captain Hansen placed a hand on my shoulder, showing her appreciation for my dedication. “Sergeant, I’m not ordering you to do this. I can’t—it wouldn’t be ethical. For all we know, these pirates will gut you and a do dance around your dying carcass. Are you sure?”

  We eyed each other. I swallowed hard, just once, but I didn’t think she noticed.

  “Absolutely,” I heard my dumbass mouth say.

  “Good. Let’s go down to visit Sharaf in her labs. She’s the only one who has this medication, right?”

  I nodded. It had been a secret for more than a year—but there was only so long you could hide something like a man with a tail, or a single massive arm.

  “With luck,” she said, “we can resolve this conflict peacefully.”

  Captain Hansen and I marched into Dr. Sharaf’s lab. “Doctor,” she said, “we need a sample of the mutation prevention formula. It’s crucial to securing the release of Lt. Quinn.”

  Dr. Sharaf frowned. She shook her head emphatically. “Insanity. I can’t simply give you the chemical formula. It’s a complex mixture, and it can’t be reproduced by amateurs. If these rebels attempt to make it themselves, they could cause more harm than good.”

  A fresh argument began. Captain Hansen and Dr. Sharaf went at it until I became bored.

  That’s when Ana stealthily approached me. She held a small vial filled with a thick liquid. She handed it to me discreetly. “Here Devin, take this. It’s a free sample.”

  I accepted the vial, stealing a quick kiss and a squeeze. “Thanks, girl. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

  Ana looked worried. She gripped my hand tightly as I turned away. “Just make sure you come back. I don’t want to live on this ship without you.”

  Captain Hansen and Dr. Sharaf were still arguing about the feasibility of the exchange when I left the lab and made my way to the airlocks. There was no time to lose.

  Chapter 10: A Daring Exchange

  I trudged out onto the alien landscape of 944 Hidalgo alone. The desolate rocks stretched out before me, lifeless and strange looking. Somehow, the landscape was more alien when there was no one else around. There was no one talking in my ear, puffing their breath into their headset and saying stupid things—like Ledbetter always did. In short, I missed my squad.

  The AI running my suit’s life support systems began complaining right off the bat. Apparently, I was throwing red flags with my blood pressure and breathing rate. I stopped and took a few slow, deep breaths to settle down. You didn’t want to hyperventilate in space—and it was easy to do with the oxygen-rich mixture of gasses our suits tended to be filled with.

  The truth was, I didn’t often wander the surface of strange rocks alone. As when deep-sea diving—which I’d never done—but I figure it’s a similar experience, spacers were taught to go with a partner. A group or squad was even better. Your odds of surviving an equipment failure were much higher if there was someone with you who could help—or get help.

  Space was dangerous enough even when a partner to watch your back. It was positively deadly when you were alone. Anything—anything—that went wrong could prove fatal in a hurry.

  Today, I wasn’t just wandering a strange asteroid alone, I was also surrounded and outnumbered by the enemy. They could literally pop up from behind any of the countless boulders that were strewn all around me.

  Ignoring all these inconvenient safety rules, I turned toward the enemy base and began to hop along, kicking up a trail of dust. With each step, I surveyed the horizon. I was worried about walking into an ambush. Sure, the pirates supposedly knew I was coming—but had all their subcommanders gotten the message to stand down?

  I could easily see myself dying due to a moronic mistake. A sorry mutant would report in that he’d nailed one of the invaders—only be to be informed he’d gone against his master’s wishes. In such a case, Hansen would either send another willing sacrifice, or she’d ditch the whole plan and go back to the hot-war conditions we’d been in with the mutants since we’d arrived. Either way, I’d be a popsicle lying on this rock forever.

  The only sounds that accompanied me were the rhythmic noises made by my spacesuit. Life support systems gurgled and hissed. Tiny fans whined. These were happy sounds, but most of what I heard was an oppressive silence.

  As I passed the remnants of our recent battles, I was stricken by the scenes of carnage. We’d killed a lot of mutants. There was no way that the rank and file of this pirate den were happy to be engaged in a truce with us—especially as we were the invaders from their point of view.

  I walked past a ghastly carpet of discarded equipment, damaged weapons, and fallen corpses. The lifeless bodies haunted my eyes.

  Every footstep left an imprint in the powdery regolith that covered the asteroid’s surface. Sometimes, I seemed to be walking in fresh powder, an unspoiled region of dust that had never been imprinted before by any living being. These were the kind of things that you never noticed unless you were alone.

  After walking for nearly an hour, a warning tone from my helmet indicated I was nearing the designated meeting point. The oppressive atmosphere of this desolate world was getting to me by then. There was a creeping sense of dread in my bones. It would really suck to die out here. Hell, I would be willing to bet no one would ever find my body—not even a mutant scout.

  Without warning, two varied-looking mutants suddenly appeared before me. I nearly pulled the trigger on my rifle but managed to stop myself when they didn’t attack. Instead, I halted and addressed them. They spoke with an odd accent, and they demand I follow them.

  They looked really weird—even for mutants. One of them had an elongated head and limbs, while the other had what appeared to be extra eyes. That guy was the worst. The extra eyeballs, which looked non-functional and dead, gave his face an almost insect-like appearance.

  It was a hard thing to follow these two into the unknown. I was the proverbial lamb being led to the slaughter. But I felt I had to do it for the sake of my comrades.

  With my laser carbine slung to show I was in a peaceful mood, I cautiously followed the two mutants. They led me toward a massive outcropping of jagged stone.

  We trekked through a landscape filled with sharp rocks arranged in strange formations. The desolation of this alien world was plain to see all around us. My two guides weren’t big talkers, either. My breath, heavy and labored, was the only sound I could hear inside my spacesuit as we moved forward.

  Eventually, we reached the entrance to their base—a makeshift tunnel drilled into the side of a massive crater. I wasn’t looking forward to whatever horrors lay within.

  We trudged to the entrance, and it was then that one of the mutants gestured for me to give up my weapons. Reluctantly, I handed over my guns.

  One freak twisted his overly long neck and regarded my arm as I unslung my rifle.

  “Your arm…?” he said, eyeing my swollen, powerful left arm. He seemed honestly curious.

  “Yeah, you spotted that, huh? I’m a mutant—just like you are,” I replied.

  The pirates gave each other shocked looks.

  “You don’t look like one of us,” the guy with the extra eyeballs said. He shuffled closer and peered into my helmet.

  It was all I could do not to shy away from the horror I saw staring out of his faceplate into mine. I shrugged as if I wasn’t ready to shit my pants and gun them both down into the dust. “Different mutations, I guess. But we’re all just trying to survive out here in deep space, right?”

  The two monstrosities seemed to accept my explanation, although they continued to eye me warily as they led me into the depths of their lair.

  The interior of their base was startling. It was an entire webwork of tunnels and chambers that had been carefully carved into ancient rock. I began to understand how a small base could host so many living beings. The top was small—but then, so was the entrance of an anthill. Underneath, they’d dug a complex that was full of their bustling relatives.

  Every passage down here was lit by the dim glow of flickering lights. They’d done an impressive job making a permanent home for themselves. Sure, it wasn’t a palace, but the surface was far more inhospitable.

  As we walked through the winding passages, I tried to engage my captors in conversation. I was hoping to befriend these guys and learn more about them before they spit-roasted me, or something.

  “What’s life like for you guys out here?” I asked, trying to sound casual.

  The elongated mutant let out a bitter laugh. “It’s no blood-feast, if that’s what you’re asking. We fight, we scavenge—we do whatever it takes to stay alive.”

  Blood-feast? I thought to myself. What the fuck was that? I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know.

  “But we’re free,” the other mutant added, his extra eyes rolling oddly. “No one can tell us what to do or who to be. We make our own damned rules.”

  It was quite a price to pay for freedom, sure, but despite the hardships they’d faced, these guys had a certain sense of pride—that much was obvious. That realization intrigued me as we continued to trudge deeper down into their base.

  They led me into a larger chamber where their odd-looking rebel leader stood. He was flanked by a handful of equally strange-looking pirates. He stared at me intently as I approached, sizing me up.

  “My name is Calix,” he said. “I rule here.”

  “Sergeant Starn,” I said. I considered saluting or offering him a hand to shake, but it didn’t seem appropriate, so I made no such moves.

  “You’re the one from Borag?” he asked. His voice was raspy and filled with suspicion. “You have something for us?”

  I nodded, reaching into my pocket to retrieve the Lot Six sample. “Here,” I said, holding it out to him. “This is what we’re offering in exchange for Lt. Quinn and his men.”

  Calix eyed the small vial carefully, then snatched it from my hand. He gestured to one of the mutants who’d guided me around the base. It was the guy with the extra eyeballs.

  “You,” he barked, “come here.”

  The mutant hesitated. His working eyes widened with fear. But the leader grabbed him by the arm. He forcefully pulled the smaller man forward.

  The rest of the room watched in tense silence as the leader prepared the injection.

  “What is this shit?” the frightened mutant asked, struggling to break free from his master’s grasp.

  “It’s a chance,” Calix replied coldly. “A chance to see if what they’re offering is worth anything.”

  With that, he plunged the needle into the mutant’s arm. I flinched but kept quiet. These guys obviously had their own ways of doing things.

  The mutant who’d been jabbed gasped in pain. He tried to pull away, but the leader held him firmly in place until the injection was complete.

  The head honcho was even stronger than he looked. Perhaps that was why he led this motley band of unfortunates.

  The room was tense. All eyes were on the now-trembling mutant, waiting to see what would happen next.

  I cleared my throat, trying to regain some sense of control in the situation. “It takes a while for the medication to work. It isn’t instantaneous.”

  “Disappointing…” Calix grumbled. “But logical. It’s not supposed to be magic, after all.”

  “No… Well, Calix, we held up our end of the bargain,” I said. “It’s time for you to release Lieutenant Quinn and his men.”

  “No one said anything about releasing them all!” the rebel leader boomed at me.

  “Oh… yeah. Okay, just give me Quinn, then. As agreed.”

  The rebels glanced at each other, muttering among themselves. One of them, a particularly fierce-looking mutant, spoke up. “We should keep this one,” he said, pointing at me. “He’s strong. He could be useful.”

  Calix studied me for a moment, then shook his head. “No,” he said firmly. “A deal is a deal. We agreed to release Quinn in exchange for the sample. We’ll honor that.”

  He gestured to one of his subordinates, who disappeared down a dark corridor, returning shortly with the weary-looking lieutenant. His hands were bound, and he looked as though he’d been through hell, but he was alive.

  “You may have your officer—but you must allow me to show you something… wondrous.”

  By this time, I’d figured I couldn’t turn down their hospitality, so I nodded. “Okay, sure.”

  “Careful, Starn,” Lt. Quinn said.

  The rebel leader sneered at Quinn, but then looked at me with curiosity. Half of his mouth showed some snaggled teeth. After a second, I figured out he was smiling at me. What a frigging nightmare his mouth was—but I didn’t let on. I just hoped he wasn’t finding me too interesting.

  “You’ve got guts, Starn,” the mutant said. “Not many would walk into the lion’s den like you did.”

  I met the rebel’s gaze, showing him I wasn’t afraid. “We all have our reasons for doing what we do.”

  The leader’s eyes fell on my swollen left arm, and he raised his eyebrow. “You’re one of us, aren’t you? A mutant like the rest of us here?”

  I nodded, suddenly feeling a sense of understanding for these people I’d been fighting against. “Yeah, I am. The reason my mutation hasn’t progressed further is in that vial—Lot Six, they call it.”

  The leader leaned in closer, an excited gleam in his eyes. “Do you want to see something amazing? Something that might help you understand what you and I really are?”

  I hesitated, unsure of what he was offering, but intrigued by the possibilities. After a moment, I decided to take the risk. “All right. What the hell… Show me.”

  Calix smiled crookedly again and gestured for me to follow him. We walked deeper into the dark tunnels, and I wondered if I was going to end up in a stewpot.

  Chapter 11: Secrets Beneath the Surface

  Calix led me through a series of winding tunnels, deeper and deeper beneath the surface of the asteroid. The rough rock walls eventually gave way to smooth, metallic surfaces, unlike anything I had ever seen. The air seemed to grow colder every level we went down. By the time we stopped, I was closing up my spacesuit again.

  “What is this place?” I asked. My words bounced off the strange walls.

  “A secret,” the rebel leader replied. “We discovered these lower tunnels when we first set up our base out here. It’s a hidden alien laboratory. Originally, it sat under our own tunnels for years—but we eventually discovered it. This place has been here for thousands of years, I’d wager.”

  His words brought back memories. When Borag had traveled out to Eris, a distant dwarf planet, we’d found a place like this. It was similar to a tunnel complex built by ants—but these ants were as big as men. They’d dug tunnels and coated them with metal, and they were cyborgs themselves.

  We continued walking, and eventually, the tunnel opened up into a vast chamber. This large space was full of bizarre, alien machinery.

  I stared in awe at the strange devices, the likes of which I’d never seen before—not even out at Eris. The chamber echoed with our footsteps.

  “Do you know what any of this is for?” I asked, gaping at the alien equipment.

  Calix shrugged. “Some of it, but not all,” he admitted. “We’ve been studying various items, trying to understand their purpose, but most of it is beyond anything we’ve ever encountered. We believe some of these artifacts might hold the key to our mutations—or to our true potential.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Have you noticed we’re not quite like others of our kind? That we’re a bit more… extreme?”

  I nodded. It was undeniable. These were the worst-looking mutants I’d ever run across. Hell, some of them didn’t even look human.

  “That’s by design. We’re exploring our malformations. We’re driven to learn what we might be if our potential is fully released.”

  “Why the hell are you telling me all this?” I asked.

  Calix reached out, and I flinched a little. A spiny claw touched my big left arm. “You’re halfway there yourself. Don’t you want to know what you would look like if you let the process proceed to its natural conclusion?”

  I was flat-out horrified at the idea, but I tried to fake a smile. He smiled back, with a row of crooked broken teeth on the top and the bottom.

  Looking around, I suddenly understood why the mutants were so interested in this particular rock. Why they were so determined to keep possession of it. They felt it was the key to figuring out their mutations—even why they were mutating at all. What had the plan been for the aliens that had studied Earth for so very long?