Mosh Koo-Ti spit his answer.

  “I’m ready to slice and dice these coits. Put me in a Recon tube. I want that armor.”

  “Let’s not move too far ahead. Muna? Po?”

  Muna shrugged. “Whatever it takes. I’m here to protect Hokkaido. It’s more than you’d get out of anybody else in the Fei clan.”

  Po rubbed his hands and delivered a deep exhale.

  “I thought I was brave until today, but I’m not a coward, either. Whatever you need me to do.”

  “Chi?”

  She felt a sudden wave of hope and enthusiasm.

  “Already died once today. I think the odds are pretty slim it’ll happen again. Like Po said, whatever you need.”

  “OK then.” Yusef slapped his hands together. “We have ourselves a fighting force. Here’s our situation. And, for the record, it’s not good. We know nothing about our enemy or his intent. We don’t know what’s happened in the last standard hour. We might find our team dead when we return. Yes. I know. But we need to brace for the possibility.

  “If we face the worst-case scenario and find ourselves at risk, we’ll have to fight for our lives. Whether that puts us on offense or defense, I cannot say. We must be prepared for either. We will follow Talon protocols for divided forces against a superior enemy. To the quick: We will jump into the system at the outer range of personal comms. We will assume our team on the ground has prepared a package with appropriate data and found a way to transmit without the enemy’s knowledge. Our comm stacks can scramble signals to resemble background noise. We will hope our team has found something we can use against the enemy.”

  “If they haven’t?” Mosh said.

  “Then we make a hard choice.”

  “We attack their ship. Right?”

  “Possibly. What if the ship has taken prisoners? Do we risk them?”

  “What choice do we have?”

  “Many. One of which includes fulfilling our mission to find the Inventor of the Splinters and learn his secrets. I might not be Admiral or Colonel, but we entered this journey together, knowing full well some might not survive. We lost three already. If everyone is compromised, and we cannot save them, we will have to move on to the next stage. The planet called Aeterna.”

  “But we’re going to do everything we can to …”

  “Of course. Here is my plan. I am going to calculate several slips. This will take time. I’ll use the data we have to assess their ship’s most likely orbital position. I’m going to ask Hiro to give each of you a crash course in combat landing and emergency retrieval. Then we’ll suit you up. You’ll have everything you need for zero G combat and AF survival.”

  “AF?” Chi-Qua asked.

  “Atmosphere Free.”

  “Armor?” Mosh asked, his excitement obvious.

  “Not like Talons, but strong enough. You won’t have enough time to adapt to our armor. The HN20 – the helmet – is more likely to drive you mad than save you. If we had time, we could train you.”

  “Fine. What about weapons? Ours are pop guns.”

  The Talons shared a silent moment. Hiro nodded.

  “If you have need for the turbos,” Yusef said, “we are more than likely headed over a cliff. But we’ll train and equip you. Questions?” When no one responded, he added, “You will. Time we set to work.”

  Twenty minutes later, Chi-Qua held the monstrous weapon that slaughtered so many at Kara’s wedding. She put those images out of her mind. It was easier than she expected.

  Stay tough, Kara. I’m on my way.

  24

  F OR THE MOMENT, HAM WAS WINNING. It wouldn’t last, of course. These prickly, bureaucratic types always found their way out of the knot. Ham did not believe Dayton Romilius ever served among the troops in the Unification Guard. If he ever was an admiral, as claimed, he received a special exemption. Hardliners with huge leverage over the Admiralty sometimes slithered their way into the leadership body. It was prestige they sought. This man knew nothing of ship design or military tactics. Ham devised his next move.

  “I must admit, Dayton, I am confused. I warn you of a dangerous flaw in Scylla and propose an alliance to advance your cause. Yet on both scores, you accuse me of being a liar.”

  “I do. I’ve begun to doubt you possess a Splinter.”

  “Oh, I never claimed to possess it. Only to know its location. I know the planet. The city. The residence. Taking it will be simple. It’s too bad you refused to ally yourself with my team purely on account of their mixed ethnicity. I wonder, Dayton. You have a prestigious family name. How far do you trace your lineage?”

  He grunted with the satisfaction of the supreme.

  “All the way, Hamilton.”

  “Oh? To Ayden Romilius himself?”

  “None other. I am the last of his direct descendants.”

  “Are you now? You must take great pride – although I’m not sure whether it’s the bloodline or the fraud that tweaks your vanity.”

  His demeanor changed with a scowl.

  “You accuse me of fraud? Who will believe the claims of a traitor to our caste?”

  “Anyone who knows history. I read all of Romilius growing up. I believed it. Elevation Philosophy. The works. I also studied his descendancy. The Romilius family was plagued by a genetic disorder passed down to each generation. They died out two hundred years after Ayden left us. There was, of course, a foolish attempt to revise history. From time to time over two thousand years, long-lost relatives laid claim to his name. All frauds. All cons.”

  Dayton pushed back his chair, which scratched the floor.

  “You bastard. I will never …”

  “You call me a liar, Dayton, but you built your career and leverage on the altar of a mockery to the name of an inspirational man.”

  Amid the tensest moment of their talks, the bug chimed in:

  “His shuttle is en route to Artemis,” Paul said. “It will be here in nine minutes. I’m listening to Kara. She’s close. She’s found a discrepancy. Cando is returning. He confirmed your theory about the tunnels.”

  Thank you, Paul. I just need to set this asshole on fire.

  Dayton flailed his arms like the puppet Ham suspected him to be.

  “I know who I am, and whose blood flows through me. I will not defile our history and our genetic superiority by working with a man who defied that legacy and allied himself with a union of mudbricks.”

  “Of course you will. You lack alternatives. If your faction chokes down its pride and returns to Earth, you’ll have to abide by the Genoa Peace Treaty, which eliminates the Chancellory as a distinct political and biological caste. You will live among mixed ethnics – the servant class we once called Solomons. Now called humans.”

  Dayton waved hair from his face with a theatrical flourish.

  “The treaty won’t last. The human race needs a defined hierarchy. Without it … I think … you see … we lose direction. The ethnics will celebrate their differences only long enough to resent their differences. Earth is lost. The Chancellory does not have to be.”

  “Please, Dayton. Sit. Your temper does not become you.” To Ham’s surprise, his guest complied. “I might have agreed with you about the Chancellory thirty years ago. I wore the Red with great pride. Coming down from the sky with my brothers and sisters like gods … knowing we would slaughter the enemy with impunity … it was a boy’s dream. But we are not boys, you and I. The Chancellory has collapsed with unimaginable speed. All that remains is to find a new way forward.”

  “Which is what we seek.”

  “No. You seek to reinvent the past. You cling to the relics of ideology and fanaticism. Chancellors like me realized what we had become long before the collapse. For everyone who went native like myself, a hundred dreamed of the same but lacked the courage. I wonder what might happen if your faction allowed itself to dream of something new.”

  “We do, Hamilton. It’s why I’m here. You promised the Splinter.”

  Ham ran through a series of calculations and considered the delicacy of the math. As soon as the shuttle landed, Dayton would consider his business closed.

  “Indeed. Now we come to it. How often did the Inventor take you inside the Splinter?”

  “Myself? Four times.”

  “When did he promise it to your faction?”

  “The day we joined his Alliance. He said we would be the only members to possess a cube.”

  “So, he gave you a glimpse into its power, made a bold promise, and allowed you to indulge yourself until it became an addiction. This is about more than a promise. You need it. Yes?”

  “To save my caste. Yes.”

  “And how will the Splinter accomplish this? It is not a weapon.”

  “Not in the military sense, Hamilton. It’s greater.”

  “It is? Explain.”

  Dayton wrapped his knuckles against the table and studied Ham, who realized he might have phrased his questions without disguise.

  “Only a man who has never been inside needs explanation.”

  “I protect the cube from falling into mischievous hands. I never said I looked inside, though I have witnessed its impact on others.”

  “Ah. And these adherents to the Splinter? You found them to be of what manner?”

  “Detached from reality.”

  Dayton wagged a finger. “More than the sum of themselves.”

  “Willing to die without a fight.”

  Same finger. “Embracing the better option.”

  “Megalomaniacal.”

  And again. “Visionary.”

  “Obsessed.”

  “Seeing the light of all things.”

  “Hmm. Aren’t semantics fun? Dayton, this tat-for-tat might carry on for hours. If I am to risk my life and my crew to hand over this cube, I need you to explain why it’s essential to your future.”

  Ham knew much of what Dayton might say. He sat down with Exeter in advance of the attack on Kara’s wedding and listened to the stories. The details gutted him. How could anyone resist such wonder? But Exeter was an immortal without counterparts across the divide. Ham needed to know a mortal human’s story.

  “Do you remember your birth?” Dayton asked.

  “No. Who does?”

  “Me. I’ve seen all five. I felt them. I was inside my mothers. And they were inside me.”

  This, he did not expect. Dayton’s tone settled into the submissive, peaceful style Ham encountered on Mangum Island.

  “Tell me what happened next, Dayton. And please, feel free to invite in the others.”

  25

  K ARA FOUND IT. HOW THEY might use the design flaw against Scylla was a different concern. She needed Cando’s expertise to prepare this data for the transmission they planned to send Horn. He was returning from a wasteland where the factory once processed brontinium, claiming to have important news. She worked alone while the group, now assembled in the shadow of the lift, prepared for the worst.

  “Kara, you need to put on your suit,” Shoan Gui said. “We’re not protected like the Talons.”

  Shoan and Ryllen returned from an assignment to retrieve pressure suits for the Hokkis. She ignored them at first, directing their urgency to Myra Faun and Jai Zaan, who remained dazed from her brother’s death. Now, the attention turned to Kara.

  Shoan was suited up and carried his helmet under his right arm. Kara flashed back to her eighth birthday, when she floated among the Kye-Do rings in a sleeker, less awkward suit. She hated the distraction from her work. Surely, they had enough time.

  “It’s heavy,” said Shoan, whose wild red and violet mane contrasted with the dull green suit. “Hard to move around. But we need to test them and make sure the tanks work. They’ve been gathering dust for years. It’s why we brought extras. Please, Kara.”

  She assessed her options. The Talons – Ryllen, Lin, Meena – were huddled around June Serrano, whose rants and moans did not portend well. Kara overheard discussion that June’s armor might have suffered fatal injuries, preventing her from using her autobreath or hydrofeed valves. Would they strip her of the armor or be forced to outfit a pressure suit on top?

  Myra and Jai talked quietly, far apart from the Talons, as they fiddled with the externals of their suits.

  “It’s important, Kara,” Shoan said, following her eyes. “The four of us need to make sure we’re ready for whatever’s coming.” He leaned close. “I have a feeling, if the worst goes down, the Talons won’t wait for us. Their suits do it all. Ryllen said they can breathe in a vacuum for thirty hours. But us? Not so lucky.”

  “How much oxygen?”

  “The primary tank gives us five hours, and that’s figuring on it to work at max efficiency.” He pointed to canisters on the rifter. “The backups have forty minutes, and we’ll have to carry them.”

  The picture came together in a hurry.

  “So, if it all goes bad, we’d best have an escape plan and a pickup. Anything less, and we’re in trouble.”

  “Horn will come for us. You’ll see.”

  “I hope we all see. Fine, Shoan. I’ll slip into a suit.”

  She set aside her Tachtron and examined the cumbersome bodysuit. The fit was too tight to allow for the thermal coat that brought reasonable comfort to this frigid hole. Shoan took to the mechanics and helped her dress. He understood key connectors and how to look for possible defects.

  “Did some utility work for Bwohang Station last year,” he explained. “Wasn’t my thing. Left after a month. But I learned plenty about pressure suits. These aren’t too different.”

  When he dressed her, Shoan called over the other Hokkis, who brought their helmets. He pointed out the display on their arm, how to properly judge their resources, and modify the oxygen flow.

  “The suit monitors your vitals. That’s how it knows what to do. Keep your head level and your emotions flat. And check the readings every minute. Be paranoid about it. The second you feel like your mind’s drifting, you’re in trouble. You might have a leak. Trust me, I know about leaks.”

  Kara felt comforted to see a steady hand emerge in Shoan. Earlier, when asked to help not long after the explosion, he spoke with cavalier reflection on his drive-by killings for Green Sun.

  She dropped the helmet over her head and connected it to the neck brace. The suit vibrated for a few seconds then settled into a steady whisper. The air was different – chilled but pleasant. She inhaled an artificial sweetness but did not feel as cloistered as she expected. Nonetheless, the suit posed a problem until she completed her more pressing work. Satisfied, she disconnected the helmet, gave Shoan a thumbs-up, and removed the suit’s bulky gloves.

  Cando’s return on a rifter calmed her nerves. She thought he was the only one who might know how to translate her findings into usable form. No one topside – Paul or Leto – appeared qualified, and Ham was occupied. Cando called everyone together.

  “I’ll be fast,” he said. “The Admiral was right. He said a single exit for a facility this large made no logical sense, but we found nothing on the station designs. In fact, there are three tunnels leading from the ruins. Exhaust ports, to be precise. They extend fifteen kilometers before reaching the surface. I believe they were to double as escape routes in the event of a catastrophic failure.”

  “In other words,” Ryllen said, “what we might be facing.”

  “Yes, Colonel.”

  “Fifteen K is a nice jog,” Lin said. “Are they structurally sound?”

  Cando grimaced. “There’s the rub. One collapsed entirely. I suspect it was in use when the facility exploded. Each exhaust port appears connected to a different core system. The other two suffered damage. I ran a substrata survey.” He threw open a hologram.

  “The central port is clear for two hundred meters before we’d encounter blockage. There are three other obstacles along the way, each a few feet thick. The southernmost port takes us four kay without a problem, but these readings bother me. I think the entire port’s structural frame is unstable. Any excessive vibrations might bring it down on top of us.”

  Lin groaned.

  “If we can’t escape topside, what choice do we have?”

  “None.”

  “How big are these things?”

  “Too small for rifters. We’ll move two abreast. Six-foot clearance. So yes, most of us will be ducking.”

  Lin pointed to his fallen sister. “What about June?”

  “The stretcher you rigged will have to do.”

  “What’s your recommendation?” Ryllen said. After a beat, he added, “Major.” Kara heard the indignation in his tone.

  “If we have to do this, I recommend the central port. We’ll have to clear rock along the way, but this one has the strongest spine.”

  Shoan stepped forward.

  “Major, that will slow us down. Our suits won’t hold up.”

  “I know. But it should go quickly.” He shared a nod with the Talons, who appeared to understand his strategy. “We’ll use the turbos.” He held up his massive weapon. “We’ve burrowed out of nasty situations a time or two.”

  Lin, Meena, and Ryllen shared a smile.

  “And there’s no danger,” Kara said, “of creating instability when you fire those weapons?”

  She never asked Cando if he was one of the Talons who invaded her wedding in the phase-shifting shield and contributed to the slaughter among the guests. She did not, however, doubt the power of these weapons. They carved a perfect six-inch hole through a human body by consuming the innards in a super-heated cauldron. So long as she lived, Kara would never forget how those people fell like chopped timber.

  “There is a chance,” he said. “But we’ll combat it by targeting our pulses to cut a narrow swath through the center.”

  “The pulse will weld the rocks and fortify the new wall?”

  “Yes.”

  She thought it through. “Good. That can work. But Shoan’s right. This has to be fast.”

  “It will be.” He faced the Hokkis. “I promise. We came as a team; we leave as one. I hope we exit topside. But we have a backup now.”

  “Either way,” Ryllen said, “this comes down to Horn. Have we sent the package, Major?”