When he reached the bottom, the nearest chamber lit up. The walls were smooth but revealed nothing of age or metallurgy. The antechamber led to a wide corridor. At one end, downward stairs. At the other, a rounded bend. The Jewel drew him toward the bend.

  A cube danced in Valentin’s vision. Perfect in geometry. An orb at the center, as if the heart of the universe, pointing in eight directions.

  “Each one offers a wonder and a warning,” the Jewel said in words understood through the imagery.

  “What is it?” Valentin asked aloud.

  “The better question: Are you prepared to give up everything to know their secrets and chart the future?”

  “I have a choice?”

  “Until you round the bend, yes. Then you will become a prisoner to the future.”

  Valentin did not turn back.

  PART ONE

  THE ASSASSIN

  “All iterations of humanity teach their children the art of killing. It is justified as the tool for survival, be it the sport, the hunt, the conquest, the revenge, or the rage. A select few are born with an instinctual predisposition toward the art. Once surrounded by the proper environmental factors, these outliers embrace savagery against humans as their default worldview. Their predatory nature guides every major decision, even those which on the surface appear to be laudatory. Medical science has referred to them by many names: Psychopaths, sociopaths, serial killers, among others.

  Our research suggests they are, in fact, geniuses whose vision so departs from accepted societal norms that we fail to acknowledge a disturbing truth. Namely, that they are the only ones who evolved as the God of All Universes designed us. By extension, we must conclude the remainder of humanity to be mundane.”

  -Dr. Simone Herod

  “Lessons from the War of the Nine”

  1

  The Hold

  2000 light-years from Collectorate space

  Standard Year (SY) 5366

  R OYAL ARRIVED ON THIS ROCK ready to play. Only hours after he slaughtered Ya-Li Taron and everyone else on the man’s estate, the former Ryllen Jee leaped from a docked ship ahead of Shin Wain and soaked up the beautiful darkness. It was perfect for him. Just as he abandoned his former name, Royal also removed the burden of giving a shit about others. Only a creature like him would have created a place such as this so far from the reach of civilization.

  Standing on the polished-glass cutaway, Royal had a few questions for Shin.

  “What about fresh food? I’m not big on processors or kiosks.”

  The Hokki walked with a tired pace, white-gloved hands tight against his chest. The squadron which rescued Royal from Huryo and helped him decimate the Taron estate filed past them.

  “You’ll always have a full stomach, Royal. We are well-stocked.”

  “How about a nice bed? Been years since I had one of those.”

  “You’ll be pleased.”

  “And these soldiers? I can pick whoever I want when I need a quick workout. Yeah?”

  “They’ll accommodate your needs, Royal.”

  “And the new armor goes to me first. Right?”

  “Amayas will have the final say, but I think you’ll enjoy it. You can kill without fear of defeat until your hunger is satisfied.”

  “Sounds like all the perks of home. Let’s do this.”

  As they descended through the narrow vault, Shin massaged his temples before sighing with exhaustion.

  “You do understand, Royal. There will be rules. Inviolate rules.”

  “If you don’t have rules, you got anarchy. Don’t need that shit.”

  “Was that one of the lessons the Scroll taught you on Huryo?”

  Odd damn question.

  “The only thing that fat Kohlna taught me was to embrace my true self. He did a good job.”

  “Ah. And what are you?”

  “Death.”

  “Metaphorically or literally?”

  “Yep.”

  Royal saw the man’s disdainful scowl.

  “You got no room to judge, Shin. And frankly, there’s no better feeling than knowing what you are. How many people ever see the truth about themselves?”

  “All of us, Royal. The challenge is one of acceptance.”

  “Fair enough. What did you accept about yourself after your people killed Kai Durin? What did you accept after you shot me down over the ocean?”

  “I accepted that I am a prisoner to the future, like you’re about to become, Royal.”

  They landed.

  A man greeted them in the antechamber. Royal didn’t need an introduction, although the Inventor’s age stunned him.

  “Shit. You can’t be more than two, three years older than me,” he told Amayas Knight. “I was expecting an older fella.”

  Amayas shook his hand wearing a black, silky glove.

  “I feel as if I’ve lived a few lifetimes. I’m pleased to meet you at last, Royal. I anticipated the movement toward this moment, but it has come with fits and starts, and not the outcome I projected.”

  “I’m sure there’s a shitload of details embedded in that story, but let’s skip to the outcome. What did you project?”

  “Two immortal soldiers to stand as my generals. I’m sorry Exeter Woolsey’s life took a different road. I did what I could for him.”

  Royal knew it should have hurt, but he felt nothing at the mention of his second lover’s name.

  “Shin said X was beyond my reach.”

  “He is. There was so much I wanted to explain to him. Exeter was a good boy who rose above horrors no child should endure. I thought I was following the dictates of the future, but he was a victim of far too many variants.”

  That passage should have triggered questions, but Royal found himself lost in the Inventor’s voice. Ever since the first words, he felt a surprising familiarity. He was certain their previous encounter was brief yet important somehow. It was …

  Cud!

  “It was you,” he said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Mangum Island. I wouldn’t have taken the Splinter if not for you.”

  The Inventor’s shoulders sagged. His eyes did not mask the guilt.

  Now Royal understood. Shin Wain wasn’t the only one who orchestrated Ryllen Jee’s death beneath the ocean and eventual leap across universes.

  That night, while Ham Cortez and others surrounded Alliance members on the landing port at High Cannon Collective, Ryllen raced inside the spherical ship Ham called Invictus. He hoped to find Shin Wain and complete his revenge. Instead, he found a ship unlike any he ever imagined, encased in a sunset red glow. His eyes focused on a tiny glass case that appeared to be central to the ship’s control mechanisms. It drew him in. It spoke to him.

  “It’s called the Splinter. Take it now.”

  The voice did not come from inside the cube.

  “You’re out of time. Take it. Run.”

  The speaker appeared to be Ryllen’s age with features of an Earth-born. Blood poured from his left ear, and he held his right arm tight against his body, as if it were broken. He transmitted as a holo.

  “Who are you?”

  “Everything starts here,” the speaker said. “Take the Splinter and run, or the rest will be lost.”

  Sounds of battle erupted outside the sphere.

  “They’re here,” the speaker said. “You have to take the Splinter. They know how to kill immortals.”

  Ryllen acted on instinct and grabbed the cube. By then, the speaker’s holo vanished. Ryllen killed many Alliance reps who tried to assault him on the landing port then escaped with the Splinter. He felt compelled to hijack a rifter. Not far offshore, another ship like the Invictus appeared in a flash. Seconds later, Ryllen crashed into the ocean clutching the Splinter.

  Royal stood before the speaker at last.

  “How did you do it, Amayas?”

  “Hmm. I expected your first question to be why. Yes, Royal. I projected myself into the sphere. It had to be done, for the future’s sake. Everything is done for the future.”

  “That sounds like a dodge, but there’s a problem. The voice was yours; not the face.”

  “True. I projected a false variation of my features. I needed to create a sense of desperation. A badly injured man would encourage you to make the bold choice. In that context, it worked. As for the why? I’ll soon show you. Down the corridor, and around the bend.”

  Royal pointed to Shin.

  “So, that’s how you knew where and when to find me. Do you know what it’s like to drown, you cudfrucker?”

  “Horrific, no doubt.”

  “That too.”

  Where was the rage? The surprise? The resentment? Had Royal already grown numb to these grand revelations?

  “So, what you’re telling me is, all of it – from Kai’s murder to shooting me down over the ocean – was designed to bring me right here. That’s the bottom line. Have I nailed it, guys?”

  Amayas nodded.

  “You’ve oversimplified it, and we encountered many cross-currents along the way, but yes. Those events were a means to an end, Royal.”

  He might have been standing in the presence of two madmen playing with something not meant for human consumption, but Royal did not care in the least. The puzzle of his life now complete, he said something he never would have imagined.

  “Thank you. I’m honored.”

  Amayas and Shin shared a confused glance.

  “You are?” Shin said.

  “Sure. I’ve become the man I was always meant to be, but I never would’ve met him if not for you two and those crazy bastards, Ya-Li and Bonju. I’m pure now. The real deal. It’s time to play with some serious chips. Amayas, you said something about going down that corridor, around the bend?”

  “Yes, Royal. All the answers. Why, how, and when.”

  “In other words, the good bits. Nobody lives inside a rock two thousand light-years from mouth breathers unless they're sitting on the good bits. Show me what you got.”

  Amayas wrapped an arm around Royal.

  “Shin has told you what will happen?”

  “Oh, yeah. Something about becoming a prisoner to the future.”

  “And rules that cannot be broken, no matter your temptation?”

  “Yep. Got it.”

  “Good. Shin, you look exhausted. You’ve had a long journey. Feel free to retire for the evening. Yes?”

  “Thank you, Amayas.”

  Royal didn’t allow the right-hand man to disappear quietly.

  “Remember what I said earlier, Shin? About killing you?”

  “How would I forget?”

  “It’s still gonna happen. Just so you know.”

  Shin replied with an air of apathy.

  “I’ll plan to look over my shoulder until the tragic end.”

  When they were alone, the Inventor said:

  “He’s my closest friend, Royal. He’s given up everything for our cause. As long as the three of us work together, please treat him with appropriate respect.”

  “That would be what? Little or none?”

  “Oh, you have a sharp wit, Royal. Listen to me. The future is uncertain in many regards, but not in one. You will kill Shin. Take comfort in that nugget and put it out of your mind for now.”

  They started down the corridor toward the bend.

  “Amayas, how do you know so damn much about the future?”

  “It’s my life’s work, Royal. I want to preserve it the best way I can. When I’m finished, they’ll remember me for the good things.”

  “Who?”

  “Everyone. They won’t utter my family name like a curse.”

  “Oh, yeah? X told me Amayas wasn’t your real name, and that your face was a transplant.”

  “Bouchet. My name was Valentin Bouchet. I was the first immortal created by my parents. Then they went on to create twenty-six hundred others, including you. We don’t share the same genes, but we are brothers in a sense. Are you surprised?”

  Royal laughed. “I’m just adding it to the checklist.”

  “We’ve done horrible things, you and I. We’ve killed so many people. Most did not deserve to die.”

  “But die they did, and we’re gonna kill a shitload more. Right?”

  “We are, but not simply for the sake of being agents of death.”

  “To be honest, I get a thrill out of it.”

  “I know you do. That’s why you’re necessary. What lies in front of us requires heartlessness. It will mean the sort of cruelty only killers like us can fathom. But it will be in the service of a greater mission.”

  “Which is?”

  “We will save this universe from her enemies. We will repair what was lost in the early times and restore order from chaos.”

  They turned the bend. A sunset red glow bathed the corridor, which widened rapidly. It was far more intense than what he experienced inside Invictus.

  Royal sensed the scale of it before he saw it.

  A deep well of joy lifted his spirit.

  Cudfrucker!

  When he stood at the edge of a wide cavern which stretched beyond his vision, Royal came to a conclusion: Every man, woman, and child he killed was worth the price of this admission.

  He saw Splinters.

  Not hundreds. Not thousands.

  Millions.

  Wait.

  How big was this rock?

  Big enough for billions.

  2

  W E HAVEN’T COUNTED,” Amayas said in response to Royal’s first question. “We estimate two and a quarter billion. It’s a peculiar number.”

  “Why?”

  “First, you must understand what a Splinter is now as opposed to what it used to be.”

  He hadn’t even gotten around to the who, what, and why bits, and already Royal tingled with exhilaration.

  “You saying these things evolved?”

  “Altered out of necessity. It’s a characteristic of evolution, but the Splinters did not adapt. Their change was manufactured.”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “The quantum singularity at the center of each Splinter is small, but crucial to the larger organism.”

  “Orga … whoa, Mr. Inventor. These things are alive?”

  “I want you to think of each Splinter as a red blood cell. Your body contains trillions of cells, creating millions of new ones per second. So if I remove a few thousand, you’re not likely to notice. What might happen if I withdrew most of your blood and stopped your body’s ability to produce new blood cells?”

  “Nothing good.”

  “Even for an immortal, this would be deadly. Yes?”

  “No blood to pump, no pulse.”

  “What if your blood cells had to sustain you and a few thousand other people all at once all the time?”

  “Guess I’d be the most generous blood donor in history.”

  “You’d also be dead, Royal.”

  The Inventor pointed farther down the winding path between the forests of cubes. Royal followed.

  “OK, Amayas. I’m not always the brightest light, but I got an idea where you’re headed. The Splinters are blood cells. This rock is a heart. The universe is the body. And the Splinters are acting like blood cells for this universe and all the others. They weren’t designed to do that.”

  “Well done. Faster than I expected, Royal. The cubes contained a focused singularity when they were created. By whom and when, we don’t know. At some point, whether through a natural cataclysm or most likely an orchestrated event, our universe fractured into eight others. The singularities lost focus. They reached out to hold the other eight universes intact as well. In effect, they are stretched thin.”

  “Not enough blood cells for so many bodies. They’re trying to keep it all together. How?”

  Amayas shaded his eyes.

  “The exact mechanism is unclear. But this much we know: The Splinters are bonded to human life and to time itself. The way we perceive time and construct it to fit our standards is built into the cubes and maintained from this place.”

  “This rock controls time?”

  “Only our perception of it. Nothing actually controls time. Tell me, Royal. When did you arrive here?”

  “Little while ago. Less than an hour.”

  “Don’t be so sure. I took a nap before you arrived. That nap lasted ten hours, but I know it was thirty minutes Collectorate standard time because the clock inside my stack told me so. Yet The Hold tells me I slept ten hours, and even that is a concession to humans who define routines by constructed time.”

  “You’re losing me.”

  “Consider your own experience. You left Hokkaido less than two months ago per the Collectorate calendar. You fought the Swarm for six years. Your memories are real. Your body aged six years. There is no denying it. Yet you returned to Mangum Island a few hours after you left. According to our construct of time, you aged only a few hours. This wasn’t a case of time dilation or compression because in the grand truth of this place, those things do not exist. All we have is a constant and our perceptions of that constant.”

  Royal whistled as he tried to digest the explanation.

  “I’ll take your word for it. Remember, I’m not the brightest light. Handy with a pistol, but I’m not scoring aces in quantum physics. Amayas, how do you know all this?”

  “I had help, but that’s a story for another day. I need you to stay focused, Royal. You’re about to see the most exciting function of The Hold. I need you to understand these other elements first.”

  “OK, OK. For all the rings, get on with it.”

  “Time should be constant through every universe. If you leave one and spend six years across the divide, you should return six years later. Not six hours. When Alliance members speak to their counterparts through the Splinter, a conversation perceived as lasting minutes on one side may seem like hours or days on the other. And that variance changes depending upon the universe in question and who initiates the contact. You know of this. Yes?”

  “Shit yes. Bonju Taron told me about it once when he was talking with Ya-Li. It took him less than a year to bring Ya-Li along, but for Ya-Li, it was nine years. My head was spinning by then. I was so excited about returning home, I didn’t think about the implication.”