“Did you?”

  “That’s what I led them to believe. I returned over the next few months and excavated the cubes. Once they were freed and arranged together, they came alive.”

  “The singularity in the center?”

  “Yes. I brought the cubes back here and stored them in a secure vault.”

  “Huh. That’s reckless for a scientist. So close to your family.”

  “I was stupid, for certain. I was obsessed.”

  Royal pulled on his pipe. Now the familiar elements arrived.

  “Did they sing to you? Did they invade your dreams?”

  Bonju reacted as if he’d been slapped.

  “Wait. This happened to you?”

  “Recently. Yeah. Amayas warned me ahead of time. He had the same experience when he was first surrounded by Splinters.”

  “How long have you been working with Amayas?”

  “Not long. I took a few detours before I found him. Actually, he found me.”

  “You said ‘surrounded by Splinters.’ Did he find a cache of cubes like I did?”

  “Cache ain’t the word for it. Try motherlode.”

  “Describe it.”

  Royal weighed his options. Dare he go into specifics? If he provided intel that could be used against Alpha …

  “Splinters as far as you can see. Not a vein inside a mountain.”

  "A rock in space?”

  Royal didn’t see that coming. It wasn’t a lucky guess.

  “Maybe.”

  “It has a name. A place where the Splinters exist to hold together the relationship between time and organic life.”

  “Maybe. Why don’t you say the same yourself?”

  “I’m not allowed.”

  “Wait. What? That makes no cudfrucking sense.”

  “You’ll understand soon enough. If you’d please, tell me the name.”

  “You pretty much said it. They hold together time and life.”

  “I know. Say the name, Royal. It matters.”

  “Fine. It’s called The Hold.”

  Bonju’s features relaxed. His shoulders sagged.

  “Thank you. There used to be more of these Holds. Didn’t there?”

  “That’s what Amayas told me. He wasn’t sure, but he theorized the others were destroyed when the universe fractured.”

  “Yes. And the one that remains is doing all the work of holding the fabric of reality in place.”

  “That’s the gist. Amayas said you knew that part.”

  “I do. I know it all, Royal. The vein I found in the mountains was a remnant of a Hold. These segments are likely scattered across eight universes. Some in open space. Some hurled into stars. Others buried inside planets. They lost their connection to the Origin. Without it, they’re not strong enough to perform their job.”

  “Yeah. The Origin. He said the Jewels of Eternity call it the Temple of Creation.”

  “What are the Jewels?”

  “Huh. Guess you skipped that class. Never mind. I don’t think they’re important. Amayas only talked about them once or twice.”

  “What did he tell you about the Origin?”

  Royal put this thoughts together, wondering how much to divulge, then realized he didn’t have anything.

  “Come to think on it, Amayas really never said much else.”

  “Because he can’t. He’s like me. Did he tell you about meeting me there?”

  “Ah. Well. He was kind of coy about it.”

  “What exactly did he say? This is important.”

  Royal took a moment to find the precise memory.

  “Amayas said he met you and one other. It was strange. He never named the other guy. I asked where. He said, ‘Not here, nor there.’ Then he asked if you ever told me about the Origin.”

  Bonju’s smile suggested genuine pleasure in Royal’s answer.

  “Amayas deflected the truth because he’s not allowed to say it. He and I know what happened. We see it and feel it in our memories. It’s all there. We can use vague adjectives like amazing or transcendent or mind-boggling. But we can neither speak nor write about our experience. The facts, the specific details, the theories we drew about it. The Origin is a lock without a key.”

  “Huh. Smart me says you found a convenient way to dodge. Splinter me says I believe it, after all I’ve been through. So, just for the record: You and Amayas have seen where all this shit began?”

  “Possibly. We don’t know.”

  “You’re making my head hurt.”

  “I’ve been taking pain medication every day for years.”

  Bonju double-tapped his ear bead and threw open several holos. He tossed them aside but for one.

  “This is called the Imfeeli Nebula. Do you recognize it?”

  Royal shrugged. He didn’t understand the sudden diversion.

  “I’m not much of an astronomer.”

  “It’s five thousand light-years from our system. Its light appeared two hundred years ago, and its arrival spawned the Risen Church. The nebula itself spans five light-years. I have no proof, but I believe the Origin may exist somewhere in there. That’s why I was hoping you’d heard of it. If the nebula exists in Alpha universe as well, then we have a very interesting target.”

  “How’s that even possible? How did you and Amayas find it in the first place?”

  The light in his eyes dimmed for a moment.

  “I can’t tell you. I’m not sure I even remember.”

  “You’re no help at all.”

  “Welcome to my frustration. Royal, we can’t directly relate our experiences in the Origin, but we can extrapolate from what we learned and use new discoveries to advance our cause.”

  “Like learning how to use the Splinters as nav tools?”

  “Yes.”

  “Crossing the divide?”

  “Indeed.”

  “Tethering?”

  “We were close, but Amayas succeeded. If you can show me how it is done, I can apply those principles and reconstruct our program. I can do this within days. I can present proof.”

  “To the Empress? Yeah. Fuck that.”

  “We will figure out the rest in time. I won’t allow the Swarm to carry their crusade to Alpha universe.”

  “Easy to say. You’re not in control.”

  “I can be, with your help.”

  They reached the edge of the beach. The sand was white and pure. The water was a crystalline blue.

  “You got me excited once before, and I had to go through the worst shit of my life to learn how you fucked with my life. Now? You want me to put you back in control? You’re a piece of work, Bonju.”

  “Aren’t we all?”

  The rhetorical question sounded like something Ham Cortez might say. Back then, Royal hung on the ex-Chancellor’s every word.

  “Amayas said I’m not allowed to kill you. Rule number one, he called it. He said if you die, he dies.”

  “He said that?”

  “Maybe it’s the Origin talking, but I don’t believe him. So, if you ever cross me, I’ll slit your throat.” Royal heard voices down the beach. He saw two figures approaching. “I’ll do it in front of your family. We good?”

  Bonju tensed when he saw the children at a distance.

  “Yes. We’re good. If you don’t mind taking the other way back, Royal, I ….”

  “Oops. Too late. Looks like that little girl is waving. Guess you’ll have to explain away the guy with the wolf on his head.”

  Bonju cursed under his breath. The girl ran, stumbling through the sand. Her teenage escort did not try to keep up.

  Oh, Moon. You clever boy.

  “Hey, Father! Who’s your friend? Is that our guest?”

  The girl had to be three or four at most. She wore pigtails and a floppy, one-piece swimsuit. Bonju scooped her into his arms.

  Royal loved the false joy in his features.

  You are NOT in control, you cudfrucker.

  “Sela, this is Royal. Royal, this is my youngest daughter, Sela.”

  “Hello! You have a funny head.”

  “I’m a funny guy.”

  “Are you coming to dinner tonight?”

  Bonju began, “Sela, Royal is not … well, he’s …”

  “Moon said he’s coming to dinner. Mother’s going to set another place. She said we’ll eat outside tonight.”

  Moon approached with a confident saunter. Father and son spoke many words without moving their lips. Royal enjoyed the moment.

  “A home-cooked meal,” Royal told the girl. “Can’t wait.”

  “We always like to make our guests feel welcome,” Moon said. “It’s important for everybody to feel like they’re on the same team. C’mon, sweetie.” He took Sela from her father’s arms. “The crabs are crawling today. I know you like to watch them.”

  She waved goodbye. Moon said nothing else.

  Royal leaned in to his host.

  “I think your son grew a spine. Damn, I’m hungry.”

  23

  R OYAL HAD A BLAST. He entered the Taron home expecting a timid reception. What sort of cartoonish character had Father brought to dinner? Should we be afraid of him? Who paints his head like that? He predicted polite but distant greetings followed by cautious murmurs. Instead, the children clung to his every word. The smaller ones insisted on rubbing his scalp. Good food, good chatter. A far cry from the last two times he visited a house owned by Tarons.

  The five-year-old twins, Liu and Lin, invested the most curiosity in his tattoo. Their questions bounced off each other.

  “Did it hurt?” “How long did it take?” “Did your hair fall out?” “Will it grow back again?” “How much did it cost?” “Can you take it off?”

  Royal answered their questions during appetizers of fish eggs and crab rolls. He might have eaten the entire tray if he weren’t forced to hold court. He answered the boys with little concern for accuracy. Bonju’s eyes followed him everywhere.

  “When you grow up, you might feel different from everybody else,” he told the twins. “I wanted to stand out from the rest.”

  “You sure did,” Liu said, with Lin nodding. “I never heard of anybody painting their head like that.”

  “You’d be surprised. I know Hokkis don’t go for it so much, but there’s a lot of planets out there. People paint their bodies.”

  “I like my hair,” Lin said. “I don’t want to cut it off.”

  Royal thought of the Converted, with their bald scalps and red scarves. These kids had no idea what was happening to their people. Bonju’s anxious eyes made it clear: Keep them in the dark.

  Yep. That’s too much to handle.

  “That’s good,” he told the boy. “When I was a teenager, I had hair down to here.” He motioned to his shoulders. “I wore it in braids and dyed it a bunch of colors.”

  He might have said too much. The twins turned to their parents and spoke as one.

  “Father, Mother. Can we?”

  Dyna Taron, whose consistent half-smile and terse comments mystified Royal, finished off a glass of wine and rolled her eyes.

  “What color?”

  The boys looked at each other as if shocked she didn’t say no.

  “Purple?” Lin asked before Liu jumped in.

  “No. Yellow.”

  She giggled. “Why not both?”

  The boys high-fived each other.

  Royal saw contradictions in Bonju’s wife. She wasn’t sober, but she was observant and, to his estimation, drawing conclusions about her guest that probably weren’t far off the mark. She and Bonju did not appear in sync. They spoke in fleeting whispers, and their eyes drifted away from each other. He thought it strange because their attention wasn’t being pulled in many directions.

  The household ran like a well-honed machine from the moment Royal entered. The children had clear roles, contributing in some way to the meal and setup. Even little Sela stood on a stool and stirred a bowl. At one stage, when Royal offered to help, Moon told him to relax. Moon and Yong, the oldest children, proceeded to set up the rear patio. They were expert in arranging place settings and silverware.

  At dinner, the family sat at two adjacent tables denoted by seniority. Royal joined the parents, teen boys, and twelve-year-old Muna.

  “How long will you be with us?” Dyna asked early in the meal.

  Royal visually checked in with “the team” of Bonju and Moon.

  “Hard to say, but I don’t stick around one place too long. I wear people out.”

  “Oh? I think you’re being too generous. A man like you gets easily bored. Most people aren’t all that interesting.”

  Was that an inside shot at someone else? Or did she have a special brand of insight? The remark drew confused if fleeting stares. Either way, she was right. Royal didn’t have patience for ordinary folks.

  “I keep moving, Ms. Taron.”

  She moaned. “Oh, I hate that. Makes me sound like Mother. Dyna.”

  “So, yeah, Dyna. I get around. See something I don’t like, it’s time to move on.”

  “You must be working on important matters these days if you’re here to consult with my husband.”

  There it was. The anticipated awkward moment. Royal allowed Bonju to carry the load.

  “Like you said, Sweets, Royal is too generous. He’s an outstanding scientist. His work blends with my own at the moment. We’re fortunate to have him here.”

  Bonju’s blank expression instructed: No further embellishment.

  Royal complied.

  “I’m here to help in any way I can.”

  She replenished her wine and her half-smile.

  “I’d ask what you mean, but my brilliant husband will surely say it’s classified. No worries, Royal. How’s your bisque?”

  She’s not part of this. He’s keeping her out of the loop. Why?

  “I’d love a second bowl. You’re a brilliant cook.”

  “Actually, the honors belong to Muna. She has become quite the chef. Better than I was growing up.”

  The girl, who wore her long black hair in a ponytail, showed off rosy cheeks. The children at the second table applauded her. Fifteen-year-old Yong patted her on the shoulder. To Royal’s left, Moon displayed a smile more convincing of a father than her actual dad.

  “We couldn’t be prouder,” Moon said. “Not only did she prepare this bisque, but she completed her Tier 7 Mathematics exam today.”

  “How did I score?”

  “Ninety-six percent. Brilliant.”

  Moon was her teacher? Interesting. Did he teach all the children? Royal noticed from the outset how they followed Moon’s lead. Moon wasn’t just the oldest, he was a surrogate parent. No wonder he hated being treated as a subordinate in the lab.

  Toward the end of the entrée, Dyna wiped her lips with a cloth and chuckled.

  “I apologize, Royal. I never asked about your accommodations. I assume you’ll be staying with us. My husband and my eldest never mentioned needing to prepare a room.”

  Like earlier, Royal waited a beat to allow Bonju to answer.

  “We have a sufficient room in the lab, Dyna. I’m sure Royal will be comfortable.”

  “Huh. The lab?”

  “It’s fine, Dyna. I don’t need much. Give me a cot and a pillow, and I’m good. I travel light.”

  “We have a guest room. I’m sure it’s more …”

  “No, no. Seriously. I’m best out there. Dinner’s been great. Love meeting the clan, but I like being alone. Suits me.”

  He appreciated the niceties but also found them ludicrous. She was carrying on like a good host while other Hokkis were being slaughtered wholesale or converted to mindless Church drones. She must have known the scale of it. Surely, Bonju wasn’t keeping her in the dark. Yet she and these children behaved as if their lives weren’t about to fall over a cliff.

  When dinner ended, Yong and Moon cleared the plates and two girls – Meena and Nan – served everyone a slice of lemon cake. Only then did Royal realize the one child who didn’t speak throughout the meal was Yong. He was much shorter than Moon, making him appear a bit juvenile for his age. Royal couldn’t recall him making eye contact.

  After dessert and table cleanup, Royal made a point of sidling up to the brothers while they huddled.

  “You eat like this every day?” He asked them.

  Moon nodded. “We’re very fortunate.”

  “For now,” Yong added.

  His first words were sullen.

  “Difficult times,” Royal said. “But you’ll get through it, one way or the other.”

  “You aren’t Hokki. Where were you born?”

  “I don’t know, Yong. I was adopted. Grew up on Hokkaido.”

  Yong’s eyes ballooned with curiosity.

  “You’re from here?”

  “Always been kind of an outsider, though.” He pointed to his scalp. “I like to do it my own way.”

  “What have you seen out there? How bad is it?”

  The awkward moments kept coming. Bonju probably feared the kids would ask these questions. Moon tilted his head just enough to beg Royal off. So, they couldn’t trust a fifteen-year-old with reality?

  “It’s not the best, Yong. The Swarm are tough. But it can’t be all bad if I traveled here. Right?”

  Yong showed no sense of relief.

  “What about the cities? Have you been there?”

  “Not for a while. I passed through Sai-Por. It was quiet.”

  Yong looked around the patio, narrowing his eyes as they latched upon his parents, who remained at the table drinking café. He saved his strongest glare for his older brother.

  “I wish everybody would stop lying to me. I’m not an idiot.”

  “We’re doing what’s best for the family,” Moon said. “We’ll always be straight with you.”

  “We? That’s the problem, Moon. They tell you the truth but think the rest of us can’t handle it. Nobody but you and Father can enter the lab. You train me how to use a gun, but not why.”

  Royal suspected this was not a new argument. Moon did not appear flustered. Yong wanted to force his brother’s hand in front of a witness.

  “You will soon, Brother. I promise. Royal came to help us.”

  “Do what?”

  Royal played a wildcard.

  “To save the universe, kid.”

  Yong responded with the expected indignance.