“This is about the black rock you took from Harvest, right?” Marcus asked.

  King glanced over his shoulder. “Good call, genius. This is about the black rock.”

  “What is it?”

  “The future,” his father replied.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough. Like I said before—plan, patience, intelligence. Try to keep up.”

  Marcus clenched his hand in a fist. He could take King’s barbs when they were alone. But now his old man was hitting him in front of Bauer, and making him look like a fool. He had done the same plenty of times in front of Pig and his Scrappers, but knowing Bauer was a trained Centurion and not some drug-addled asshole playing soldier made the verbal stabs worse.

  He kept his mouth shut as they traveled the length of the hallway, turning the corner and moving to a pair of two-way doors. Marcus followed King and Bauer through them to the loading dock, freezing behind them after entering the room.

  Corporal Vikram had tried to describe a xaxkluth to him earlier. As frightening as he had imagined the creature would be, the real thing was worse.

  Much, much worse.

  And this one was alive.

  21

  Marcus

  The xaxkluth nearly filled the entire loading dock.

  A dark, slimy mass, its huge appendages were wrapped around an even more hideous central form which was home to hundreds of dark eyes and the largest, most terrifying round maw Marcus had ever seen. Rows of razor teeth lined the interior of its dark purple mouth, each six-inch dagger coated with shreds of flesh and stained with blood.

  The alien’s tentacles were no less frightening. Too numerous to count, each one ended in a tip hardened like a claw, with its own set of dark eyes and a smaller version of the same disgusting mouth making them seem like individual creatures rather than part of a whole.

  The sight of it made Marcus’ blood run cold and sent a sharp chill down his spine, especially as the tentacles seemed to shift slightly, turning to bring the three humans into its full view. Every basic instinct told him he should run, but King’s casual posture in front of the monster forced him to fight that emotion. For whatever reason, his father wasn’t afraid of the thing.

  He couldn’t afford to be, either.

  “Beautiful, isn’t he?” King asked, looking back at Marcus. He started laughing. “I’ve never seen you look so pale.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re doing here,” Marcus replied. “Or what you need me for. Unless you plan to feed me to this thing.”

  “Tempting, but not at the moment,” King said. He turned back to the xaxkluth. “I brought him,” he shouted at it. “Do you think you can move aside now?”

  The tentacles around the creature began to unwind, and for a moment Marcus felt certain the thing would attack. He remembered how Vikram had said Sheriff Duke had killed more than one of these things on his own. How? Standing in front of the alien, it seemed impossible.

  The appendages spread out, slapping against the walls as they repositioned, stuffed as they were inside the loading dock. Marcus couldn’t guess how the xaxkluth had gotten inside the area. The loading bay doors were all closed, though it couldn’t have fit through them anyway. There were no holes in the walls. No gap in the ceiling above that it could have fallen through.

  Marcus wasn’t sure it even mattered. What the shifting tentacles revealed was more important than how it had arrived inside the tower. The dark rock the Custodians had destroyed Harvest to recover had been buried beneath the limbs. Now it sat uncovered a few feet ahead of the xaxkluth’s awful mouth.

  It was his first really good look at it. The object was larger than he had expected, nearly the size of one of the box trucks outside. The outer material was so black it would have appeared as a hole in the universe if not for the ridges all along it that helped shift the minimal light it didn’t absorb. It was nearly flat on the bottom, helping it sit firmly on the floor of the loading dock.

  “What is it?” Marcus asked. “Some kind of egg?”

  King laughed, facing him again. “A stupid answer, but not completely off the mark. It is a vessel.”

  “Vessel as in a container, or vessel as in a ship?” Marcus replied.

  King’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment Marcus thought his father would hit him again in retribution for the remark. “A little bit of both,” King said instead. “As for why I needed you, personally, I don’t. As far as I’m concerned Bauer here is a better choice than you’ll ever be. But it’s not my decision to make. The Grand Custodian says it’s you, so it’s you.”

  “Why?” Marcus asked.

  “Beats the hell out of me. All I know is that you told Rasha you killed the Sheriff, Rasha told Grandie, he told me to wait for you to arrive. I guess you win the prize for shooting Duke.”

  Marcus had already started to regret his decision to shoot the Sheriff. The explanation made him regret it a little more. “Wait for me to arrive, to do what?”

  The doors opened behind them. A pair of Custodians carried an armored box into the room before waiting for King’s instruction.

  “Put it there,” King said, pointing to the floor in front of him. The Custodians hesitated a moment too long, apparently nervous about getting that close to the xaxkluth. “I said put it there, you grepping pansies. If that thing was going to eat you, it would have done it already.”

  The Custodians brought the box forward, retreating the moment it touched the ground.

  King bent over, undoing the latches on the box and lifting it open. He glanced up at the xaxkluth as he did. The moment the crystal came into view, the monster began to shiver, its tentacles rattling like a snake, the sound filling the room.

  Marcus swallowed hard, doing his best not to look as frightened as he felt. He didn’t want any part of this, whatever this was.

  “Marcus, come here,” King said. “Now!” The command triggered his inner child again, and Marcus hurried to his father’s side. “Pick it up.”

  “Me?” Marcus said. “What is it?”

  King rolled his eyes. “For grep’s sake, pansy.” He grabbed the crystal from the box and shoved it toward Marcus. “This is the least dangerous thing in this room right now.”

  Marcus caught the crystal against his chest. Looking down at it, he noticed the interior seemed composed of a seemingly endless array of reflective surfaces, each of which duplicated him and reflected back and forth deeper inside the material. He had never seen anything like it before, and found himself staring far too long for King’s taste.

  “What, do you like fancy rocks like some kind of girl?” King said. “Go to the pod. Bring it with you.”

  Marcus tore his eyes away from the crystal, moving them to the rock a few meters ahead. “And then what?”

  “I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out.”

  Marcus looked up at the xaxkluth. Going to the alien pod would bring him within easy range of the huge maw. He could already smell the stink of its breath. He didn’t have much of a choice. There was no way he could run. If the alien monster didn’t get him, his father would. How had he ended up in this lousy situation?

  He winced because he had brought it on himself. He should have stuck around Houston after Sheriff Duke took his arm. Ruger’s reprisal had to be better than this. Especially since he had failed to kill the Sheriff. He could hardly believe the man had survived. There was something about him that wasn’t right. Wasn’t human.

  Marcus started forward, approaching the rock. The xaxkluth shuddered, teeth beginning to clack together in anticipation. Was it because of his help with whatever they all wanted him to do, or because he’d be a tasty snack? He hoped it was the former.

  Something changed in him then. Not an outside force, but an internal break. He froze in place, looking back at King, looking down at the crystal, looking over at his missing arm, and then ahead to the xaxkluth and the rock. It all seemed so crazy. So surreal. So impossible to be standing here in the midst of all this. And in that impossibility he found renewed courage. What the hell was he afraid of? King? Maybe he had fancy tech to stop Marcus from killing him, but the point was, he had tried to shoot him. He’d had the guts to try. That was the important part. As for the xaxkluth? It was huge and alien, but the worst it could do was kill him, and that had to be better than continuing to stand here in fear of it and of his father like a whimpering kid.

  The rock? There was nothing frightening about it. It was a static thing, and even if it wasn’t, the equation between his life and his fear remained the same. He had grown up afraid, casting those fears aside when he set out on his own. He had remained strong for over six years...until he had ended up back in King’s presence.

  Screw that.

  Whatever was going to happen next, let it happen.

  King started to say something, probably to get him moving again. He didn’t pay any attention to him, rushing forward instead, practically running at the pod. He raised the crystal in his hand, ready to slam it down on the rock’s outer shell, figuring that was the only reasonable thing to do.

  Reaching the rock, he brought the crystal down in a hard overhead arc.

  And fell through the side of the object as if it wasn’t there at all. Stumbling forward, he landed on a soft, moist floor, the crystal falling from his grip as he was enveloped by overwhelming nothingness.

  22

  Hayden

  Hayden leaned over Rasha’s corpse, patting down the dead man’s uniform until he located a tablet computer in one of the pockets and lifted it out. One side of the device consisted of a screen that occupied its entire face. The other side bore the eagle and claw seal of the USSF. Hayden transferred it to his pocket before standing up again.

  His duster had sloughed off all of the blood and gore that had splattered on it. It was too bad his arm hadn’t done as good a job on his face. He didn’t have time to find the head and wash it off. Fairy and the others were still waiting, though he had no idea how long they would stick around.

  He headed out of the control room, returning to the office where he had left the tech. With everyone else gone, he couldn’t just leave the man.

  He found the Custodian tech outside the room, crawling along the corridor floor on his belly, a narrow bloody trail stretching out behind him. He’d pulled off his belt, cinching it tight above the worst wound or he probably wouldn’t have made it as far as he had without bleeding to death.

  The man froze when he saw Hayden, cringing at his bloody face. “I found Rasha,” Hayden said, crouching in front of him. “He wasn’t very helpful either. But I did get my eyes on the mainframe. Was that system already here, or did you bring it up from the Southern Reach?”

  The tech’s expression started out defiant, but it faded fast. He seemed smart enough to realize his side had lost this one. “Part of it came north a couple of months ago. I integrated it with the existing system.”

  “Did you ever look at what was on it?”

  “No. I didn’t have clearance. Only Rasha and his immediate subordinates could run queries on the database.”

  “I figured. I got some interesting intel off it, but not a location. I don’t suppose you changed your mind about telling me where I need to go?”

  “I couldn’t if I wanted to. We keep a strict separation of concerns, Sheriff. For obvious reasons. None of us are going to let you stop it.”

  “Do you even know what you’re starting?” Hayden asked. “Because that intel I found makes me think I might, and to be honest, I’m not sure you’d feel too good about what you’re participating in.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve heard the stories about me, haven’t you?”

  “Everybody has, Sheriff. But they’re bullshit.”

  “Not everything about them is bullshit. I’m out here to protect people. I don’t care if they’re friends or enemies, so long as they aren’t trying to take advantage of one another. That includes you. I don’t like killing. I don’t like causing pain. I just do what needs to be done to help folks live a better life in this world. The point being, I’m not into lies and manipulation, and the stories ought to bear that out.”

  “Yeah, I suppose they do.”

  “Good. I don’t know what’s going on with your leadership, but it seems to me they’re trying to bring the Hunger back to Earth.”

  “Bullshit,” the tech spat reflexively.

  “Come on now, didn’t we just discuss this? I’m telling you the truth. From what I’ve learned, that’s what I believe. I know your Grand Custodian has been pushing for you to get back to Proxima. I think he wants to deliver the Hunger there too.”

  “I thought you were going to tell me Rasha was a traitor or something. Not that my people are in league with the enemy. How can that be possible?”

  “That’s a long story, and I don’t have time to spill it all. I’m asking you to believe me based on my reputation. A longshot, maybe. But I need to throw it out there because I don’t want to be your enemy. Not in this.” Hayden stood up again. “Turn yourself over, I’ll carry you to sick bay.”

  The tech stared at him a moment. Hayden could see the internal struggle reflected in his eyes. He wanted to trust, but it was hard for the man to align himself with the Sheriff. Even so, he shifted position, rolling from his stomach to his back.

  Hayden leaned over, lifting him carefully into a cradle. “Which way?”

  “Down the hall, turn left, go straight to the end,” the tech replied.

  Hayden started walking, carrying him. “What’s your name?”

  “Nils. Danesh Nils.”

  “Interesting name.”

  “We’ve had a lot of culture mixing on Proxima, Sheriff. It’s definitely led to some names that aren’t considered conventional by Earth terms. But that isn’t saying much.”

  “If you call us savages, I’ll drop you on your head.”

  The man almost smiled. “Copy that.”

  Hayden carried Nils to the sickbay, pushing through the door into the reception area. He recognized the medi-bot right away after being treated by a similar machine in Houston. He carried the wounded Custodian over to it and lowered him in. The tile around the machine had been torn up, and the wiring was jury-rigged, but it apparently still worked. He moved to the Custodian’s feet to help him with his boots and clothes.

  “It’s kind of you to do this for me, Sheriff,” Nils said, grunting as Hayden pulled his pants off past the bullet wounds. “We try to kill you, and you take care of me like one of our nurses.”

  Hayden glanced over. “You had nurses here?”

  “Yes. Two nurses, a doctor. A few other techs. Rasha sent them out the back door when the fighting started. I had to stay behind to wipe the network. Lucky me. You don’t need to worry about them. They’re non-combatants who got stuck here and became Custodians by default.”

  “Is that your deal too?”

  “Yes. Service in the CSF is compulsory on Proxima, but I’m a tech by trade.”

  “How’d you wind up on Earth?”

  “Do you know about the Trust?”

  “Pozz.”

  “Then I don’t need to explain.”

  Hayden helped finish stripping Nils, leaving him flat on his back in the medi-bot. He went to the touch screen behind Nils’ head, tapping it to turn it on. The display was still set to the last patient who had used the device.

  Marcus.

  The machine showed a scan of his body, with green outlines around the areas it had repaired. His cheek had mended. His arm was gone, replaced with a control ring for an augment. He had been here, and they fixed him up.

  “Do you know what happened to the man who was in the medi-bot before you?” Hayden asked. “Marcus?”

  “Separation of concerns, Sheriff,” Nils replied. Meaning he didn’t know because it wasn’t part of his job to know.

  Hayden backed out of the diagnostic, returning to the main screen. It had plenty of technical options listed at the top that he didn’t really understand. It also had a button on the bottom that simply read START.

  He pressed the button, and the machine immediately came to life. The transparent shell slid up from the sides, sealing over the top. A few motors whirred into action, balancing the temperature in the pod. The mount at the end of the medi-bot slid over the top of Nils on rails created by the sealed transparency, multiple sensors activating and beginning to create a diagnostic of the Custodian, just like it had with Marcus. It captured Nils entire body in less than thirty seconds, highlighting the wounds to his legs.

  “Take care of yourself, Sheriff,” Nils said, voice muffled inside the machine. “If things are what you say, then I hope you succeed in stopping it. If not, I hope they stop you.”

  “Fair enough,” Hayden replied. “If, after you’ve given it some thought, you want nothing more to do with the Custodians, head for Houston. Tell Ruger I sent you.” He waved goodbye to Nils and hurried from the room.

  It only took him a couple of minutes to get back to the hangar door at a run. The bots had gone dormant behind it, recognizing they couldn’t get through and choosing to conserve battery power. Hayden removed the tablet from his pocket and turned it on. He had control access to the three Butchers through the device, but not the two Shields. With the network erased, he wasn’t sure if the Centurion bots would remain active or had permanently shut down, their link to the control room broken. He wasn’t taking any chances.

  He activated the feed through one of the Butchers, getting a view of the hangar through a camera mounted in its forehead. He was glad to see the Osprey was still there and that Rasha hadn’t bothered to close the doors to the hangar bay. He was less pleased to see the Shields were just outside the inner hatchway, still activated and waiting for him to come back through.

  He exited the feed, switching to a tactical view that showed the entire hangar as mapped by the Butcher’s software. The Shields were gray objects on the display. Neutral. Hayden changed that, marking them as hostiles and then activating two of the Butchers to destroy them.