“Great,” Druck said. “Well, if that’s all we’ve got right now, there’s a spa tub filled with lavender scented suds calling my name.”

  “You have an hour,” Matt said. “And then I want everyone back here so we can go over the plan. Got it?”

  “Copy that, Sarge,” Druck said. “David, you’re welcome to join me if you like bubbles.”

  “What?” David said, face flushing.

  “Gotcha,” Druck teased, cracking up as he left the room.

  “Ugh,” David said once he was gone. “How do you stand that guy?”

  “He’s a good fighter,” Matt replied. “And an even better mech pilot.”

  “Too bad we don’t have our mech,” I said.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” Gia said. “I’m going to find an empty bedroom and continue my data crawl. I also need to check in on the automated systems back home and make sure everything is still running smoothly. I’ll be back in an hour.”

  “Let us know if you learn anything valuable.”

  ‘You know I will.” She hurried past David and down the hallway to one of the rooms.

  “Damn, she was supposed to tell me more about the neural link,” David said. “If anyone has a Thunderbolt adapter, I can plug in my laptop and do some tinkering with the simulator.”

  “We’re on the other side of the universe,” Matt said. “I doubt they still use Thunderbolt here.”

  “What? You’ve never heard of backwards compatibility?”

  “Like two thousand years backwards? No.”

  “Sorry Davie,” Keep said. “No Thunderbolts here.”

  “How am I going to charge my laptop? My work is useless if I can’t actually work on it.”

  “Alter can make you something compatible when we have more time,” Keep answered. “I’m going to take a quick nap, recharge a little.” He left the room too.

  The spread of food near the middle of the room caught my eye. “I know how I’m going to spend the next hour.”

  CHAPTER 21

  All of us except for Gia and David exited the Galaxian at eleven o’clock local time, stepping out onto a street much less crowded than when we had arrived. Atlas’ sun had set two hours earlier, leaving this section of the city illuminated by warm yellowish light from narrow poles that rose out of the edge of the sidewalk at thirty foot intervals. The air traffic had thinned out considerably as well, and the setting of the sun had allowed for a wider flow across the entirety of the streets, making it appear even more sparse.

  It was a beautiful night. Idyllic, if not for the reason we were on the planet and walking toward the outer perimeter of the palace grounds. This place was everything an Earth city should be, and maybe would be in the future. The colonists had left Earth four hundred years from now, and this is what they built after they arrived. Would Earth follow the same path?

  “Hey Keep,” I said, sidling up alongside him.

  “What is it, kid?” he replied.

  “I was just thinking. The original settlers of the Spiral came from my Earth, four hundred years in the future, right?”

  “That’s how the story goes.”

  “So there must be information about what Earth was like when they left. Videos? Photos? Written history that goes beyond my present?”

  He glanced over at me, expression tight. “Look kid, there’s a lot of complexity to the whole wormhole through spacetime thing. And considering you’re even asking the question now, I assume Alter warned you about all of that already.”

  “She just said Head Case’s datastore doesn’t carry any information going that far back. And honestly, I never gave it that much thought before now. We’ve been so busy running toward or away from danger, it hasn’t been top of mind.”

  “We’re still kind of busy right now.”

  “I know, but looking around at this place, it feels like you could just drop it on Earth and it wouldn’t feel that alien at all. Kind of like Paris.” He smirked at my joke. “And it’s incredible. Clean. Well lit. No apparent sign of crime or homelessness. So it got me thinking about the colonists and why they left in the first place, if Earth was anything like here.”

  “Also like an American tourist in Paris, you’re only seeing the highlights,” Keep replied. “Lots of places look great on the surface. You’ve gone deep enough to see the blemishes and you’re still falling for it.”

  “You mean Old Haydrun?”

  “Bingo. The point is, Atlas is far from perfect. You’ve already seen that the Hegemony at large is far from perfect. But when you’re talking about hundreds of planets, trillions of life forms, perfection isn’t attainable. Even pretty good is a rough go. The goal is to keep the peace. To give every individual in the Spiral a chance to live a decent life. If Sedaya has his way, he’ll throw this place into such turmoil, the whole thing will fall into chaos. With sigiltech, he’ll come out ahead in the end, but I guarantee it’ll be bloody and awful for everyone. And for what? So he can go to bed in there at night?” He pointed to the palace, stunningly lit in the darkness.

  I remained silent as we reached the twelve foot steel fence that surrounded the palace grounds. A guard on the inside marched along the perimeter, dressed in a mustard yellow uniform with dark plates of body armor over it and carrying a thick rifle. The outfit was functional but also ceremonial, reminding me of a Samurai. He didn’t shift his gaze from straight ahead as he passed us, keeping a perfectly steady gait.

  Keep was right. I had already dismissed Old Haydrun as though it was a totally separate world like Furion. It was especially easy to do since we had traveled from there to here in total darkness and nearly died in the process. I wasn’t sure if the way the city handled the darker aspects of society was the right one or not. Like Keep said, on the surface it sure seemed so. But I wasn’t ignorant enough to think there weren’t layers of nuance I didn’t have the experience to see.

  “Okay, but that doesn’t answer my original question,” I said. “Is there information about Earth’s future stored somewhere? Like maybe in the original archives in Old Haydrun and transferred when it went offline?”

  He shrugged. “Probably. To be honest, nobody here thinks that much about Earth, if at all. There’s a good chance the intel exists, but it’s probably stored in a central location and hasn’t been accessed in a long time. I don’t really know.”

  “So you don’t know what happens in Earth’s future?”

  “Nope. Don’t care, either. And neither should you.”

  “What if by bringing Matt and me here, and now David, you changed the future so that the colony ship never left?”

  “You watch too many movies, kid. Anyway, everything that’s happened has already happened. It can’t unhappen. And even if you knew what the future held for Earth, and that future remained on the same course that sent the original settlers into space, what good would that do you? If the news is bad, then you have to live with the knowledge of what might be. If the news is good, whoop de-doo. You aren’t alive then to enjoy it anyway. You’re alive now.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I decided.

  “I’m glad you agree.”

  We made our way along the perimeter. Two more guards passed on the other side of the fence, with the same perfect march and blank expressions as the first. Each time, Keep pushed back his sleeve to check a cheap I heart New Haydrun wrist watch he had picked up in the Galaxian gift shop. Reaching the corner, we continued following the fence, passing two more guards.

  “When I give the word, we go,” he said through our embedded comms, alerting the entire crew at once. Nobody responded to the statement. We had gone over the plan multiple times back at the hotel. We all knew what to expect.

  The next guard walked past on the other side of the fence. He was about twenty feet away when Keep gave the signal.

  “Now,” he hissed over the comm. Immediately, his sleeve glowed beneath his coat, lifting Alter into the air and pushing her up over the fence. Dressed in one of the Samurai-like uniforms for a cover story just in case someone spotted us, she was still in the air when Keep’s push hit me, sending me over the fence right behind her. Even expecting the boost, my heart pumped in nervous excitement, and my stomach dropped as I hit the top of the arc and started falling.

  It took effort, but I managed to land on my feet, stumbling forward a few steps to keep from falling and dirtying my pants. Oddly enough, such a simple thing was one of the most important parts of our deception. Matt came down behind me, also staying upright. Quasar and Druck followed us and then Keep.

  As soon as he landed, he pulled the sigiltech glove from his coat and slipped it on, tucking his hand beneath his jacket to hide the glow from both the glove and his sleeve. Absorb and negate canceled out the environment surrounding us until it faded into darkness. The lights closest to our position went dim, the two sigils shrouding us as we dashed across the open space toward the rear gardens. I looked both directions as I ran, spotting the next guard as he reached the corner of the property.

  Keep had the timing down. He deactivated the sigils, allowing light to flow through the area once more just as we ducked into the garden, hidden there by the foliage. The guard noticed the change in light and slowed a couple of steps, confused by it. Shaking it off, he picked up the pace for a moment to regain his expected position and continued on without raising an alarm.

  “We’re in,” Keep said. “Badabing badaboom.”

  “Gia,” I said. “Any hints we’ve been spotted?”

  “Negative,” she replied. She couldn’t listen in to the encrypted chatter on the guard’s comms with her neural link, but she did have a means of measuring the traffic. If anyone had reported anything out of the ordinary the volume of communication would pick up as well.

  “We’re go for Phase Two,” Keep said, checking his watch. “Alter, thirty seconds.”

  She nodded just before she ditched her Samurai-clad persona. Left in her bland humanoid form, she reformed into Enigma, all in the required thirty seconds. Without a word, she turned and sprinted away from us, darting toward the palace and quickly vanishing from sight.

  I didn’t need to tell Druck and Matt they were up next. They waited for Keep’s go-ahead. When he gave it, they headed away, cutting across the garden to get into the palace through a service entrance. We had already concocted a story for them to use if anyone tried to prevent them from entering, and if that didn’t work they could head out through the front gate. Getting onto the grounds was the challenging part. Getting back out would be easy.

  “I’m in,” Alter announced over the comms.

  Keep and I glanced at one another, our eyes passing the same message to one another. Already? She had slipped into the palace almost a minute ahead of schedule.

  We waited for the perimeter guards to clear before Keep gave Quasar and me the go-ahead. I locked eyes with him momentarily before we headed away from him at a normal walk, arm-in-arm as if we had come out to the garden for a stroll. He would move on the palace last and on his own, ducking in through a maintenance door.

  “I thought this would be a lot harder,” Quasar said as we made our way along a meandering path through beds of flowers, colorful trees, and other exotic vegetation.

  “A good plan, well-executed, should seem a lot easier than it really is,” I replied imitating Keep’s voice. He had said the same thing at least a dozen times while we were going over the plan. “Badabing badaboom.”

  Quasar laughed, which only helped sell our dalliance as another couple came into view further down the path. A younger man and a woman in a maid uniform, sitting on a bench together. They looked our way as we neared.

  “Nice night, isn’t it?” I offered.

  “It is,” the maid replied. “And a perfect time to be outside and away from the tension.”

  “Krissa, mind your tongue,” the man warned, glancing at us. His eyes narrowed. “I haven’t seen you around the palace before.”

  “We’re visitors,” Quasar replied. “Emissaries from Kolten.”

  “Emissaries? I thought all of the meetings were canceled through the week, on account of—”

  “Who needs to mind their tongue, Bertru?” Krissa said, cutting him off. “Excuse him. He's been suspicious of everyone these last few days.”

  “I’ve heard rumors that the Empress’ son was taken,” I said. “Even if it isn’t true, just the idea would put one on edge, I would imagine.” I clenched my jaw after channeling my best Bridgerton formality, worried I was trying too hard.

  “No doubt,” Bertru replied. “Enjoy your walk sir, madam.’

  “And you, your leisure,” I replied.

  Matt and Druck reported they made it into the palace as Quasar and I continued on, bypassing a few more palace employees out for a stroll on our way across the garden. I decided not to speak to any of them just in case they questioned our credentials again, and they didn’t try to speak to us either. In fact, everyone we passed seemed uptight and nervous.

  “Something's definitely happened here,” I said. “Whether the prince was kidnapped or not.”

  “Yeah, everyone we pass seems like they’re walking or sitting on eggshells,” Quasar agreed. “Canceling all meetings through the week? That’s unheard of.”

  “I’m in,” Keep announced over the comms.

  “Damn, how are we last?” Quasar asked.

  “We took the scenic route,” I replied.

  We reached the edge of the garden. A pair of large wooden doors a short distance away led into the palace proper. A pair of Samurai guards flanked it, heads up, eyes forward.

  “Act like you belong here,” Quasar said.

  “I was about to tell you the same thing,” I replied.

  She kept her arm wrapped around mine as we approached the door. It began swinging open on its own when we neared. Neither guard moved a muscle. I only realized I had been holding my breath once we entered an insanely grand corridor and I finally exhaled.

  “We’re in,” I declared over the comms. “Phase Three is a go.”

  CHAPTER 22

  The massive corridor that followed the perimeter of the palace interior managed to make the exterior seem bland by comparison. Decorated in gold, marble, and dark wood, it was lined with massive portraits of the Hegemony’s rulers dating back to the founding over two thousand years earlier. Looking down the length of the passage made our search for the Empress’ location feel like an impossible, needle-in-a-haystack task. I had to remind myself that we had three other teams scouring the palace for her, and now that we were inside we didn’t need to worry as much about time. As long as we could roam freely within the walls of the gigantic building without drawing undo attention, we didn’t need to stress about how long we spent wandering.

  Quasar and I turned left from our entrance point without pausing, walking as if we knew exactly where we wanted to be. With the late hour, only a few other palace guests and employees were in the hallway with us. Consumed with their own thoughts, they didn’t pay us any mind as we crossed paths.

  My gaze drifted to the portraits as we traversed the passageway, taking in the faces of each of the former rulers. A nearly even mix of men and women, they all had the same thick, dark hair, various shades of olive complexions, and big, bright smiles. The oldest person in the portraits looked to be in his sixties, the youngest no more than twelve. It was amazing to me that a single family could maintain their grip on power for so long, until I considered how they had nearly lost it during the first sigiltech war, and now they were under threat to lose it again if Sedaya got his way. How many other close calls had there been over the years? Over the centuries? Undoubtedly, remaining in control for that long hadn’t been easy.

  Did their reign benefit the Spiral or hold it back? It was an argument Quasar and Druck had fought over more than once since they’d joined the crew. I still hadn’t chosen a side and didn’t think I ever would. Life was too short to spend it worrying about stuff like that. Especially for me. It wasn’t like the Spiral and any of the issues within it were up for a democratic vote.

  We left the grand hallway through an archway leading into another corridor that took us toward the southern corner of the palace. Still large compared to what would be considered standard but tiny compared to where we had just been, the textured plaster walls were broken up by more framed paintings and photographs. It appeared each had been taken on a different planet, intended to reflect what made the location unique.

  The goal of Phase Three was to locate the Empress, with each team following a predefined path to the places she was most likely to be at this time of night. Alter was on her way to the Empress’ personal quarters, while Quasar and I were headed for what outsiders called the throne room. By the looks of it, it was more like a military operations center where she would receive constant flows of information from her many advisors. According to Keep, a lot of people believed her role was mostly ornamental and ceremonial. They didn’t realize how much time and effort the Royal Family really put into keeping the Hegemony running as smoothly as it did.

  Keep was on his way to the Empress’ private offices, not that far from where we were going. His separate route would help reduce the chance we might miss her along the way. Matt and Druck would recon the underground gym, swimming pool, motor pool, and hangar—all places she might be if she was enjoying a little bit of leisure time before turning in for the night. Outside of finding her ourselves, we had our eyes and ears open for clues we might pick up, either from the movements of individuals including the Royal Guards, or from any other actionable tip they might give us. Fortunately, Keep knew the interior of the palace like the back of his hand, and he had taught each of us our paths from a memory which turned out to be spot-on.

  Quasar and I followed our route, maintaining a look of tense annoyance, as though we were late to wherever we were headed. We went up three flights of stairs, past a number of intersections, made a few right and left turns, and kept going to another staircase.