The two monsters were trying to box them in, but they weren’t out of options. “East,” Nathan said. “Back to the gate.”

  They ran toward the second monster, turning at the next street and cutting east. The two creatures gave chase, one moving more quickly than the other. It swung around the corner behind them, its body carried forward in an awkward slapping gait. It was the smaller of the two but still towered over them, each tentacle nearly twice Nathan’s formidable size.

  The gate was visible ahead, though it hardly resembled a gate anymore. Between the fighting and explosion in the spire, the metal barrier had been torn apart, leaving huge gaps and torn metal scattered around the area. The hundreds of trife corpses were hardly recognizable, leaving only a field of dark earth and ash and the awful stench of death.

  Nathan didn’t want his soldiers added to it, but what could he do? He had no weapons save the strength of his powered armor—finite compared to the many limbs of the enemy. Even so, if he could delay the creature for a few minutes he could give them time to get away.

  “Damn it, Pyro. Where the hell did you go?”

  He slowed down, letting the others get ahead of him. Caleb noticed almost immediately, and he turned his head, looking back. It was the expression that told Nathan the man was who he said he was. A warrior. A Marine. Caleb was ready to sacrifice himself—the same way Nathan was—to make sure they all made it out. No indecision. No hesitation.

  Nathan couldn’t shake his head in the armor, and he didn’t want to call out to Caleb to let him do what he had to do. He had to trust the man would lead his people to safety. He had to know that if they both died, they would all die.

  Caleb turned his head away again.

  Nathan pulled to a stop and turned around.

  The monster was a hundred meters back, and it groaned loudly when it saw Nathan stop, lowering its body into a more aggressive posture.

  “Come on then,” Nathan said, increasing the power output to the armor’s artificial muscles. He punched his right fist into his left palm, crouching slightly to wait.

  Someone started shooting behind him, a pair of rifles sending what was left of their ammunition over his head and into the creature. Nathan looked at his HUD, noticing his men had all stopped moving. What the hell were they doing?

  The creature groaned in response, raising two of its tentacles to protect its many eyes. The bullets sank into its flesh, slowing it slightly.

  Nathan took a step toward the alien. Another round hit it, but not from the rifles behind him.

  From the air.

  Plasma rained in on the creature, round after round striking the tentacles trying to protect its central mass. Nathan looked up as the dropship swooped in from the smoke cloud above, slowing and sliding laterally as it moved into position behind him.

  Nathan began backing away. The second creature was coming, turning the corner behind the first. The dropship continued firing, keeping the enemy at bay while Nathan turned and ran under the craft as it came to a low hover , its rear ramp already down.

  “Let’s move!” Nathan shouted. He didn’t need to tell his people twice. They rushed the ramp, helping one another aboard.

  Caleb came to stand with Nathan at the bottom of the ramp. “Taxi service is a little spotty out here,” he said.

  “Better late than never,” Nathan said, sharing a grin with Caleb.

  The ramp was already coming up as the two of them walked up it into the dropship. The craft immediately began ascending, climbing out of the creatures’ range and blasting away.

  32

  Isaac

  “Activating fold generator in five…four…three…two…one…” Able reached forward, tapping the button that would send them across four light years in a matter of seconds.

  Isaac knew what to expect. He had been through it once before. The ship’s generator began emitting enough energy to pull at space and time, twisting it out of shape around them and piling one part of the fabric of the universe on top of another. While the fold on the way to Proxima had been nearly invisible, this one was a bit different. It turned the universe ahead into a spiral pattern, shaping the stars in such an odd way that Isaac’s stomach immediately began to complain.

  He wasn’t alone. Rico grabbed at her mouth with her free hand, and Able shut her eyes, turning her head away. Looking somewhere else didn’t help the nausea. It continued to increase as the ship guided itself into the fold, an unexpected force pressing in on them and spinning the ship as if it were an amusement park ride. Isaac was thrown sideways by the sudden shift, hitting against the bridge’s port bulkhead. Able was yanked hard into the back of her seat and then forward into her straps as was Rico at the command station.

  “What the hell?” Drake shouted through the comm. The rest of the Organization soldiers were in seats in the common area in front of the bridge. They hadn’t buckled in. Traveling through folded space was usually a smooth affair.

  The ship redirected again. Isaac barely grabbed onto the side of the command station to keep from being thrown into the rear wall and then dumped forward toward the primary display.

  It was over in seconds, the ship becoming serene again as the fold generators deactivated and space flattened out on the displays. Isaac reached out to balance himself, his mouth filling with saliva as his body threatened to rebel.

  He closed his eyes and swallowed, fighting the urge to vomit. He opened his mouth to take in more air, noticing the others on the bridge were doing the same. For a second, Isaac thought he was safe. Then a new sensation washed over him, and he dropped to a knee to puke on the floor.

  He coughed when he was done, his stomach immediately beginning to settle. The door to the bridge slid open beside him.

  “You too, eh?” Drake said, looking down at him. “Hell, Able. You just made half my team wretch.”

  It took Able a few seconds to answer while she overcame her own nausea. “It was the new algorithm. I don’t know what that was exactly, but I don’t think any of us liked it all that much.”

  “Did we get to where we were trying to go at least?”

  “It looks like it,” Rico said. “Ship’s computer puts us about five AU from Earth. We’re closer than we expected.”

  “Updating ETA,” Able said. “Looks like we’ll be there in eighteen hours.”

  “Haeri said they thought we would arrive in two days. That’s a huge win.”

  “Let’s hope it’s not the only one we get,” Drake said. “Ike, there’s probably a bucket and mop in one of the storage compartments back aft.”

  “Isaac’s a VIP, “ Rico said before Isaac could reply. “Lucius is the rookie. He’s got puke duty.”

  Drake laughed. “I’ll make sure to tell him it was your orders.”

  “You do that.”

  Isaac got back to his feet. “I made the mess,” he said. “I’ll clean it up. I’m a Space Force Marine, not a delicate flower.”

  “That may be true,” Rico replied. “But we have other business.” She looked back at Drake. “Lucius cleans the puke, Spot drives the ship. Got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Able, once you get us tracked for Earth, I want you and Bennett with Ike and me in the conference room.”

  “Are we in trouble?” Able asked.

  “We’re all in trouble. I lost Steven over this, and I want answers. I think Ike deserves to hear them too.”

  “Copy that, Major,” Able said.

  “I’m not a major. Special Officers don’t have ranks, and I was a sergeant before I resigned from the CSF.”

  “That may be true, but we have to call you something. Ma’am is too formal, Rico is too informal, Special Officer is a mouthful and Specoff sounds downright dirty. You’re part of the Organization now, and Haeri put you in charge of this mission.”

  “Major it is,” Rico said. “You okay with that, Ike?”

  “It’s fine with me,” Isaac replied. “But we didn’t ask to be part of the Organization.”

  “Do you want to stop the Relyeh from enslaving humankind?” Able asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then why wouldn’t you want to be part of this?”

  “I didn’t say I didn’t want to be part of it.”

  “So what are you saying?”

  Isaac stared at the older woman. He had only known her a short time, and she already tended to make him feel like he was arguing with his mother.

  “Maybe we should head to the briefing room,” he replied.

  She returned a condescending smile. Was she doing it on purpose? “Give me a minute to lock the path. I’ll meet you there.”

  “I’ll give you five,” Rico said. “Come on, Ike.”

  She took the lead off the bridge, heading back along the port side corridor to the room immediately behind it. The briefing room was small, with a single round table and eight chairs surrounding it.

  “How well do you know Able?” Isaac asked as they entered.

  “That depends on how you mean it,” Rico replied. “She’s been in Centurion Intelligence since before my model existed.”

  It was still hard for Isaac to think of the clones as clones, and the statement made him uneasy. “How long ago was that?”

  “The first Rodriguez came out of replication twenty-four years ago. I’m sixteen.”

  “What is that like? Being a clone?” He paused. “I’m sorry. Maybe that’s a rude question?”

  “It’s okay, Sergeant. I know who and what I am, and I’m comfortable with it, even if some people on Proxima aren’t. Honestly, it isn’t all that much different from your experience as a human. The memories are randomized for uniqueness and implanted, so while I know I’ve only existed for sixteen years, in my mind I’ve got twenty-eight years of life to look back on. An entire childhood.” She smiled. “A pretty good one too.”

  “But you were made to be a soldier, right?”

  “A Centurion Space Force Marine,” she corrected. “And I’ve loved every minute of it.”

  “Because you were designed to love it.”

  “I suppose.”

  “That doesn’t bother you?”

  “Why would it? It isn’t torture to do what you enjoy doing whether you were called to it or made for it. As long as you’re fulfilling the purpose you’re supposed to fulfill.”

  “I’m sorry if I’m being forward or rude.” He waved his hands. “Everything about this is so new to me. I’m trying to process it all.”

  “I get it,” Rico said. “I really do. You can’t offend me. I want to help you get acclimated. I’d have to say I think my situation is easier to handle than yours. To wake up after two hundred years...you’re a strong man to still be sane.”

  “I promised my wife I would never give up on Earth. That promise, her memory, those are all the motivation I need.”

  “You’re a good man, Ike.”

  “I try to be.”

  The door to the room opened. Bennett and Able walked in. They stood at attention inside the door, waiting for Rico to respond.

  “Relax,” she said. “Have a seat.” She waited a few moments while they found a place around the table. “We can loop the rest of the team in as necessary, but I didn’t want either of you withholding anything from me or Ike that may be classified to the others. I’m sure the Organization has plenty of secrets.”

  “We do,” Able admitted.

  “So tell us how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

  33

  Isaac

  “It’s probably one of the best-kept secrets in the universe,” Able said, her eyes dancing from Rico to Isaac and back. “Incredible, considering it’s a human endeavor.”

  She paused, collecting her thoughts.

  “We don’t know when the Relyeh first arrived on Earth,” she continued after a moment. “We have a little better idea about the Axon, but only because we found one of their ships. And because Tinker found one.”

  “Who?” Isaac asked.

  “Tinker,” Able repeated. “Does the name John Stacker mean anything to you?”

  Isaac nodded. “He was a USSF General. He refused to be part of the Generations program because he believed we could overcome the trife.”

  “That’s right. Depending on when you went into stasis, you might not know he ended up splitting with the USSF, along with about fifty-thousand assorted military personnel. They weren’t ready to give up on Earth.”

  “I might have joined him if I were awake at the time.”

  Able smiled. “I bet you would have. In any case, he had a wife and they started a family. That family turned into Tinker.” She looked at Rico. “It also turned into a lot more than that.”

  “What do you mean?” Rico asked.

  “John Stacker’s wife Mary was a scientist. She was the first person to manage a successful adult replication with an intact memory stack.”

  “She invented cloning?”

  “Yes.”

  “From Earth?”

  “That’s right. John wasn’t completely wrong about his ability to manage the trife. He set up a base of operations in Norfolk, Virginia and started launching missions against them. He managed to clear about a hundred square kilometers around the city.”

  “That sounds familiar,” Isaac said.

  “Hayden,” Rico said.

  “That’s right,” Able replied. “Sheriff Duke isn’t the first person to try to create a safe zone for survivors. John Stacker did it two hundred years ago, and his offspring held it for a while. But the trife are hard to keep back forever. They recovered all of the territory except for the walled-in portion of Norfolk. Until Tinker came along.”

  “What made him different?” Isaac asked.

  “He was a scientist first, a soldier second. He focused on solving the trife problem from a higher level, which led him to his discovery of the Axon’s presence on Earth. He recovered one of their ships from the ocean and harnessed the power of its energy source to create a shield around the city, which he renamed Edenrise.”

  “Hayden told me some of that story,” Rico said. “After Steven died. They got tangled up with Tinker and a clone of John Stacker.”

  Isaac glanced over at Rico, surprised by how the two stories were becoming interwoven the more Able spoke. But there was something there he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Was there some truth she didn’t want to admit?

  “An unfortunate circumstance,” Able said.

  “Steven’s death was more than an unfortunate circumstance,” Rico snapped, suddenly angry.

  “I’m sorry,” Able replied. “A poor choice of words. Steven was a good man. A great Centurion. But he was loyal to the CSF. Too loyal to trust with our secrets. It wasn’t my call to make, but yes, his death was a result of that fact, and I am sorry for that.”

  Rico leaned back in her seat without responding. Able continued.

  “The Organization spent years in trade with Tinker, shipping him raw materials in exchange for advanced weaponry under the auspices of the Trust. He never knew our goals, and we never knew his. But he was allowed to keep some of the weapons he made. It was all preparation for the day when the Relyeh truly arrived, and we figured Earth would be more ready if they had a man like Tinker doing what he did best. We never guessed his real motivation until it was almost too late.”

  “And Hayden saved your collective asses,” Rico said.

  “And at the same time might have cost us a chance to escape Relyeh attention. Would they have been so interested in coming to Earth now if Tinker had succeeded?”

  “They were already on Earth,” Isaac said, getting Able’s attention. “They were already interested. They have been for years.”

  “Oh?” Her eyes shifted to Rico. “That wasn’t in your report.”

  “I may have omitted some details,” Rico replied.

  “Care to tell me about it, Ike?” Able asked.

  “Not really,” Isaac replied. “You know the pertinent parts, and the rest was dealt with.”

  “And Sheriff Duke is trying to form an alliance with the Axon after he stopped Tinker from doing the same.”

  “From what I understand, Tinker was a madman,” Rico said. “Hayden isn’t. In any case, we’ve gotten off-track. I want to know the history of the Organization, not a rehash of how you’ve screwed things up.”

  “Us?” Able said.

  “You mishandled the situation with Stacker. You nearly got Ike here killed. I’m sure you’ve screwed up more than that.”

  “If Riley Valentine was part of the Organization, she’s at least partially responsible for the death of my son,” Isaac said. “It was her research that got him killed. Her research that put me in stasis. And it was her research that nearly gave a Relyeh Ancient a foothold on the planet. I’m willing to bet her recklessness is the reason we’re here today.”

  “You can’t blame one scientist for everything,” Able said.

  “To hell I can’t,” Isaac replied. “You do understand the Relyeh communicate with one another through a quantum tunnel to another dimension, right? They’re all connected, so when one learns something, it can share that knowledge with the rest. Valentine opened a portal to an Axon world the Relyeh were in the middle of trying to conquer. You can’t tell me that action hasn’t affected the narrative since then.”

  “Can we all just stop for a second?” Bennett said, speaking up for the first time. He got to his feet. “We can throw blame around until we all pass out from exhaustion. It doesn’t change the here and now. A Relyeh ship is on its way to Earth. We have to stop it. It’s important to understand the history because yes, it is important that we trust one another, if only because it’s equally important that Hayden Duke trusts us when we arrive. We need to work together on this. All of us.” He looked at Able. “Including John Stacker.”

  The room fell silent. Isaac glanced at Rico. She stared at Bennett, her eyes soft. Affectionate. He knew she saw her late husband in the clone’s outburst.

  “Ryan’s right,” Able said. “Let’s put everything related to the present aside while I start over from the beginning. Okay?”