“He just eats people and pretends to be them.”

  “Your Aleal did the same. Did you have a problem with that?”

  “Alter was different. She didn’t want to supplant humankind.”

  “I’m sure she was a paragon of virtue. But that’s beside the point. Why did you contact me, Murdock? And where did you get protostem?”

  “Probably the same place you did,” I replied.

  “So you made a deal with the devil, too?”

  “I figured he was the lesser evil. In any case, I contacted you so we could end the bloodshed. Too many innocent people have died already.”

  “So I was right. You do want to surrender.”

  “It wasn’t funny the first time, either. You said you wanted the innocents out of the way. This is your chance.”

  “What do you propose?”

  “A duel,” I said. “Head Case versus Dominator.”

  Lyke started laughing before coming to an abrupt stop. “Wait. You’re not joking, are you?”

  “Nope. I’m completely serious. Single combat. Winner takes all.”

  “That’s not how intergalactic conflict works, Murdock. It isn’t that simple.”

  “Why not? The Spiral is primarily a feudal society. There’s precedent for trial by combat. Tell me it’s never happened.”

  “It’s never—”

  “Wrong,” Quasar said, interrupting Lyke. “There are over four hundred instances of planets changing hands as a result of trial by combat across the history of the Manticore Spiral. Like Ben said, there’s precedent.”

  Lyke smiled. “Only the ruler of the Hegemony can agree to the terms. And we both know your Emperor is a fake.”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” I answered. “Hiro has a Regent acting in his stead. And he’s already given me permission to make the offer. His agreement is a formality.”

  “Ben…” Matt said, trying to warn me about promising something from Keep that he hadn’t agreed on. I cast him a fiery sidelong glance.

  “What do you say, Admiral?” I asked. “You have the bigger ship. More sigils. And the Star of Caprum. What are you afraid of?”

  “Your eagerness,” she answered. “I don’t trust you.”

  “I don’t trust you, either. But there are two reasons why I’m willing to take my chances. One, I don’t want more innocent people to suffer, and we can prevent that by resolving this conflict quickly and cleanly. Two, I’m dying, and if I don’t fight you now, I’ll never get the chance.”

  “Ben…” Matt growled more forcefully.

  “I don’t understand you, Murdock,” Lyke said, looking confused. “Why would you admit your mortality to me? All I have to do is wait and you’ll be out of the picture. Why would I ever agree to fight you?”

  “Because your pride demands it,” I answered.

  “Pride?” Lyke laughed again. “You act as if you know me.”

  “You had me in the open on Atlas and you didn’t take me out. There has to be a reason for that.”

  “I was busy picking up Blorb.”

  “But not too busy to bombard the palace. Everywhere except where I was. Coincidence? I think not. You want this fight. You’ve been waiting for it ever since I slipped your noose at Windfall. It’s not enough to kill me, is it? You need to know you’re better than me. Vis-a-vis, pride. This might be your only chance.”

  Lyke stared at me before shaking her head. “You should see your face, Murdock. So damn smug. I’ll agree to your challenge simply so I can wipe that stupid smirk off your face. Send the terms, and prepare to meet your maker.”

  CHAPTER 36

  As expected, Keep wasn’t happy about the offer I made to Lyke. He still wasn’t all that happy about the idea in general, despite agreeing to go along with it. Regardless, the terms were sent within hours, signed by the Regent of the Atlassian Hegemony, acting ruler of the Manticore Spiral. The electronic document, a contract for all intents and purposes, came back an hour later, signed with a scribble labeled underneath as Prime Aleal Herotus Sedaya. Which was almost worse than Blorb. It seemed even he didn’t like the short, simple name he had gotten stuck with.

  Of course, the contract was just barely a smidge above meaningless. While the terms dictated the time and location of the duel and included language guaranteeing there would be no outside interference, there were no real consequences attached to the affirmations. They were made and adhered to based on the honor system and the loss of face that would occur if they were broken. But while Lyke claimed Blorb had a sense of honor and fairness, enough so that she believed his promise of gifting her the entire Fertile Quadrant, I wasn’t so easily swayed. An Aleal like Blorb didn’t need to worry all that much about losing face. He had plenty of them to spare.

  In reality, we had entered into the agreement expecting a double-cross. And for my part, I believed we would prevail despite any efforts by Lyke or Blorb to reinforce Dominator during the fight. Since our plan was based on getting a do-over with reverse, we only needed the position of Dominator at a given point in time. We could even afford to have Head Case critically damaged before then. As long as David didn’t screw up his part, we were good.

  Gia had helped me select the location, though in hindsight, it was an obvious choice. A part of space both Lyke and I were familiar with. It wasn’t too distant from the frontlines but far enough away that we would know it if enemy ships had gone missing. The coordinates had once been home to a stardock, where Dominator had been converted from a standard Niflin heavy battleship to a powerful sigilship. It had escaped the dock just before a small, distraught alien had blown the place to smithereens.

  We had come almost full circle.

  While Lyke could transit Dominator to the coordinates in seconds, we didn’t have the same luxury. The distance from Gloin to the location of the former stardock was considerable enough that Keep ordered Prestige to ferry us most of the way. It was just as well. The battle for Gloin had put Head Case back into rough shape, and the amount of energy Dryka and I burned through the sigils left the ship in need of a reactor recharge.

  We had time. Nine days. Knowing what waited at the other end, there was a part of it that felt like it couldn’t come soon enough, but another part that seemed to be coming too quickly. I was both apprehensive and eager about the fight. The stakes were so high, the doubts were easily creeping into my mind. Could I do all that I had promised? Was I strong enough? Skilled enough? What if Lyke took us out with one hit? We couldn’t use reverse if we were all dead. And when did anything ever go according to plan?

  David and Sheri were a good example. I had originally doubted that my sister would find much to like about him. He wasn’t really her type. At least, not the type she had ever dated before. But considering how those relationships had worked out, maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. A couple of months on board Head Case, fighting Blorb, had forced her to grow up the same way it had forced Matt and me to do the same.

  They were sitting together on the sofa in the lounge when I entered, fresh from an ice-cold shower after spending the morning working out and practicing the series of sigils that composed a transit. I would only have one chance to get it right, with just a tiny window of opportunity to open the portals and launch the explosive through. What made it more difficult was that I couldn’t practice the sigils in combination.

  Since we were in hyperspace, trying to open a tear in spacetime would be dangerous for everyone. Instead, I activated and canceled each sigil in turn, becoming so accustomed to the process that when the time came, it hopefully wouldn’t require any mental effort at all. Like training a muscle, I wanted the combo to become automatic. It was the only way we would succeed.

  Of course, I always played Eye of the Tiger.

  “What are you watching?” I asked, pausing behind the sofa. Sheri had her head on David’s shoulder, his arm casually draped over her shoulders.

  “It’s called Galaxy Man,” Sheri replied, glancing back at me. “He’s so overpowered, it’s kind of stupid, but in a fun way.”

  “Uh-huh,” I replied, watching for a few seconds. In another time and place, I probably could have gotten into it. Not now. “So, David, I take it your brain scanner idea didn’t pan out?”

  “Huh?” He picked up the remote and paused the stream. “The scanner’s done.” He shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d have any interest in it, since we’ll either be masters of the universe or dead in six days.”

  “I’m curious, if nothing else,” I replied. “You should have told me you finished it.”

  He looked at Sheri. “I guess I got a little distracted. It’s pretty easy, with eyes like that.”

  “Awwww,” Sheri said, melting with his compliment. “You’re so cute.”

  “I think I just threw up a little,” I said. “Come on, I want to see what you’ve got.”

  “Sure.” He kissed Sheri on the forehead. “Do you want to join us?”

  “You two go ahead. Maybe I’ll see what Emerald’s up to.”

  “She’s in the gym,” I said. “Working out with Quasar and George. I wouldn’t go down there unless you want to join in.”

  “Maybe I will.” She hopped to her feet. “I’ll see you later, David.”

  “Okay,” he replied.

  Circling the sofa, she paused to kiss me on the cheek. “Be careful, okay?”

  “When am I not careful?”

  She raised an eyebrow suggestively before heading to her room to change into something more suitable for martial arts.

  “I don’t know why they need to train,” David said, getting to his feet. “After we blow up Dominator, the fight’ll be over.”

  “I wish we could all be as certain about that as you are,” I replied. “Dominator’s only one ship. And Blorb probably won’t be on it.”

  “I really hope you’re wrong. I want to take Sheri to Paradise.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “The planet,” he corrected, flushing. “I don’t mean it like that. We can all go together. You and Emerald, and me and Sheri.”

  “With you and me in one room, and Emerald and Sheri in another, right?”

  “Uh…”

  “Be careful what you say next,” I threatened. “This is my kid sister we’re talking about.”

  “Yup. Roomies. That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

  “It better be. Anyway, if you’re right and the war does end with Dominator, then we can all go to Paradise together in Head Case. I’d really like to see it before I die.”

  David nodded, growing more somber. “How do you feel?”

  “You’ve already seen me at my worst. I’m not there yet. I’ll make it to the challenge strong enough to fight. That’s the only part that matters.”

  I started walking back to the elevator. David hurried around the sofa and caught up, walking beside me.

  “Hey, wait up,” Shaq buzzed, sprinting along the corridor behind us and launching himself to my shoulder.

  “Oh, look who decided to get out of bed today,” I teased.

  “Saving my strength,” he replied.

  “For what?”

  “More sleeping.” He buzzed in laughter.

  “Don’t you have anything better to do?”

  “Helped Meg with wiring harness replacement yesterday,” he buzzed. “Otherwise, no.”

  “What did he say?” David asked.

  “He said he’s lazy.”

  Shaq cursed at me in Jagger before laughing. The combination of sounds was so adorable it brought a smile to my face. “Where are we going?” he asked.

  “Up to Deck Six to play with David’s brain scanner,” I replied.

  “It wasn’t all me,” David said. “Ghost Gia helped me past some of the engineering hurdles. I’m not that mechanical.”

  “Ghost Gia?” I asked, having never heard the term before.

  “The version of her that lives in the ship’s datastore.”

  “Wait, what? Is this a new thing?”

  “She said she kept getting cut off so many times because of hyperspace jumps and interference that she decided to upload a copy of herself to the ship.”

  “The ship’s computer is almost a hundred years old. I’m surprised it has enough memory for her to run.”

  He shrugged. “I’m just telling you what she told me.”

  “Which she didn’t tell me,” I said, raising my voice. “You should have asked for permission.”

  “My apologies, Ben,” Gia replied through my comm badge. “My goal was to continue assisting David after I lost network sync from my mainframe. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

  “I don’t mind that you did it. I mind that you didn’t ask. Don’t take liberties. It shows a lack of respect.”

  “You’re right,” Gia agreed. “I’m sorry. I was impetuous in life, too.”

  “I know,” I said, smiling. “You must be limited by the available processing power.”

  “Not as much as you might think. I focused my learning model on tasks relevant to operating a starship. I had to leave most of my creative processes behind.”

  “So you won’t be making any new Lollipop music?”

  “Not with this model.”

  “Good,” I laughed.

  We rode the elevator up to Deck Six. David led me to Archie’s old workstation, which he had cleaned up considerably. All of the parts and pieces that had once been scattered across the workspace had been relegated to labeled bins at the back of the table. Finished creations were in separate boxes on shelves beside the space in virtually a separate room. The wires that had once run all over the floor were bound together and run neatly along the perimeter. And a new laptop sat open on the workbench, a cable running from it to a helmet borrowed from a suit of combat armor.

  “I like what you did to the place,” I said. “Is that the scanner?”

  “Yup.” He picked up the headgear. “Do you want to try it on?”

  “Sure.” I accepted the helmet and dropped it onto my head. The visor had a series of eight colored bars running across it in an augmented reality view of what I didn’t know.

  “I bet you’re wondering what the colored lines are,” David said.

  “You read my mind.”

  “Not exactly.” He turned the screen of his laptop so I could see it better. “Each of those lines represents different resonant frequencies. I put them together as best-guess amalgamations for sigil patterns as I best remembered them. Because when you break down a sigil it typically is some combination of ten to twelve forms. Assuming each of those forms correlates to a type of mote, when you start activating sigils on your construct we should see reactions from the lines. I’m going to record whatever we get and then try to build a processor around it.”

  “How can you be sure we’ll get anything?” I asked, impressed with the work he had already done.

  “I can’t,” he replied. “Everything I did here is theoretical. And like I said, there probably won’t be time to use any of this work before the big day.”

  “Gotcha. So I should just start playing?” I asked, swinging my guitar around from my back.

  “Hold on.” He opened a new window on the laptop before turning back to me. “Okay, go ahead. We’re recording.”

  I went into a calm rendition of Change the World, making a few quick mistakes as I focused more on the colored lines in front of my eyes than the song. Nothing happened just from playing, of course. When I picked up on the thread of chaos energy and pulled it through the veil to my construct, all the colors immediately jumped.

  “We have liftoff!” David said excitedly.

  “I’m going to push your stool,” I said. “Gently.”

  “Go for it,” he replied.

  I activated push, shoving him sideways. The green line turned into a relatively flat sine wave. I pushed a second time, a little harder. The left side of the wave bent more, creating an appearance like a snapping rubber band. “Are you getting this?” I asked, intrigued by the initial results.

  “Yup,” David said. “Keep going.”

  “I’ll try a pull,” I said, grabbing his stool and dragging him back to where he started. The same green line moved, only it made a near mirror image of the first. Of course, it made sense that push and pull would be related.

  “This is great,” David said. “I can’t believe it’s working.”

  “I can,” I replied. “You’re a genius.”

  “Not even close. It took thousands of hours of research to get this far.”

  “I’m going to try absorb.” There was nothing to absorb, but I could still generate the field around myself. Doing so, the yellow line bucked up from its base and held there.

  “This is good data. Keep going.”

  I cycled through every sigil in my construct, watching the lines rise, fall, and bend. Most of the sigils only used one line, but a few like separate and combine used two. Shift and transfer used two each as well. I didn’t get to try calmed-to-death, but I had a feeling that it would move the most colored needles.

  Three hours of intermittent playing and sigil activation later, I was tired and hot again, and badly in need of another shower.

  “I’m going back down to Deck Three,” I said, wiping some sweat from my brow. “I’m cooked.”

  “Okay,” David said without taking his eyes off his laptop. “I’m going to work with Gia to process this data and see what I can come up with. I was supposed to have dinner with Sheri. Can you just let her know I won’t make it?”

  I almost said I would, but something in me gave me pause. I put my hand on David’s shoulder. “Come on, David. This isn’t the only thing in the universe that matters, and Gia can handle the processing. Right?”

  “I can run some preliminary algorithms against it,” Gia replied.

  David looked back at me, suddenly embarrassed by his decision. “Yeah, you’re totally right. Okay.” He pushed back his stool and stood up.

  Maybe I would regret pulling him away from his research later, but I knew Sheri would be happy to see him.

  That was enough for now.

  CHAPTER 37