Yasmin smiled. He could see the look of apology in her eyes, though he knew she wouldn’t verbalize it in front of the others. And the truth was, she had nothing to apologize for. He hadn’t felt out of control. Quite the opposite. But if she said he had been, he believed her. He leaned in close, putting his lips next to her ear.

  “Thank you for looking out for me.”

  She turned her head and kissed his cheek before he straightened up.

  “I’m going back to the flight deck. I want a ten second countdown before the next slip. No surprises. Okay?”

  “Yes, sir,” Yasmin said.

  “Oy, I just remembered a joke me mum used to tell dinner guests back in the day. I used to sneak to the top of the steps to listen in on them while they had their parties.” She paused, looking at Briar and Scott. “Well, to be honest, it’s a bit dirty. I didn’t even know what it meant until I was about your age.”

  “We’ve heard dirty jokes before,” Scott said, rolling his eyes.

  She looked at Nicholas. “Cap’n? Any objections?”

  “Don’t look at me,” he replied. “After what these kids have just been through and seen, I’m not about to censor what they hear too. They can decide for themselves.”

  “Let ‘er rip, Mace,” Briar said.

  “Affirmation,” Max agreed.

  Nicholas didn’t stick around for the joke. Returning to the flight deck, he strapped into the pilot’s seat and by the time the collective groans echoed in from the main compartment, the tension had started to fade.

  And they were one slip closer to saving Luke.

  Chapter 41

  Ten minutes later, Nicholas initiated the next slip, taking them to another random location in another layer within the stack. Max entered the flight deck immediately following the slip.

  “Attention. Captain Shepherd.”

  Nicholas glanced at Max over his shoulder. “What is it, Max?”

  Nicholas still didn’t know what to think of the Intellect. He was an inconsistent oddity that was often a contradiction of even himself. One minute he seemed considerate of others and the next he didn’t even blink a mechanical eye over the imminent deaths of future Foresight crews who came along after the next one.

  “Consideration. When we locate an appropriate layer, we must remain cautious. As mentioned previously, to change too much will be detrimental to the future of that layer and may create alterations that will make the final outcome worse than it might already be.”

  “And you can say that because you know the final outcome, right?”

  “Hahaha. Haha. Awareness. I know what happens in my origin layer. It may be slightly different where we end up.”

  “But the trife are still already on Earth. We’re already in trouble. I’m not sure how we can make it worse.”

  “Confession. Believe me, you can. It has happened in other layers. We must defend those we can protect.”

  The tone of Max’s voice sent a chill down Nicholas’ spine. “Okay. Do you have a suggestion on how to interfere without interfering?”

  “Affirmation. I believe I do. We may not have much time to act once we arrive in a suitable layer. Requirement. We must be prepared.”

  “What’s your idea?”

  “Consideration. I would like to communicate it with the entire group.”

  “Not until I approve it.”

  “Acceptance. Awareness. It is dangerous, but necessary.”

  “Just spit it out, Max.”

  “Explanation. Scott informed me of the sequence of events leading to your escape from Earth and through the slip. As I understand it, Koth, or perhaps one of his Norg Generals, seized control of a trife queen and sent it and its brood to assault your base.”

  “Koth sent them?” Nicholas said.

  “Affirmation. That is the alteration he made. Simple. Effective.”

  “Son of a bitch.”

  “Agreement.”

  “But he’s part of the layer now, right? He’ll be there when we arrive.”

  “Negation. He is an anomaly. He does not repeat within the layers. Just as we will not repeat.”

  “I see. So how did you copy yourself to become Grimmel?”

  “Clarification. The replication was literal, not figurative. I built duplicates of myself in each layer. As a result, they were not anomalies. That was my alteration.”

  “Wait a second. I’m still confused. I get that you built them in one layer, and they echoed out into subsequent layers with trailing timelines. But if you weren’t in those layers also, did they just appear out of thin air?”

  “Negation. They were created by the Grimmel family. As I said, alteration is delicate work, not a blunt instrument.”

  “Unless you want to screw up the entire timeline.”

  “Affirmation. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha.”

  “Okay. Keep going with your plan.”

  “Decision. The trife queen killed Luke. So, to save Luke, we must kill the trife queen.”

  “And the other trife. He’s not out of danger until the attack is under control.”

  “Affirmation. Depending on the timing, we will have two options. First, send the Vultures to the solar array to destroy the queen and her brood before they can attack Fort Hood. Second, send the Vultures to Fort Hood to aid in the defense. Simple. Effective. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha.”

  “Except there’s nothing simple about that,” Nicholas said. “For one thing, we don’t have the Vultures. They’re dead, remember?”

  “Negation. Caleb Card is alive.”

  “Okay. The rest of the Vultures are dead. Semantics.”

  “Affirmation. However, the visors of Advanced Tactical Combat Armor are tinted and most of the people in Fort Hood have never interacted with the Vultures before. Caleb Card can sell your crew as his team. And, as you mentioned, Caleb is an exemplary warrior.”

  “That’ll still be more dangerous than hitting the trife at the solar array ahead of time.”

  “Affirmation. Exponentially. We may not have a choice. Agreement. Do you like my idea?”

  “No. I hate it.”

  “Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha.”

  Nicholas sighed. “But if we need to use a scalpel instead of a hammer, I can’t think of a better way to be subtle.” He paused, thinking about the idea. “I have a couple of questions. One, how do we get the so-called Vultures to the base without Foresight being spotted? Two, how long will it take you to modify the armor to fit Briar?”

  “Question. Have you noticed that the surface of Foresight bears resemblance to my skin?”

  “I’ve noticed it’s made of the same material, yes. But you have more—for lack of a better word—scales.”

  “Affirmation. But that is also a matter of scale. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Hahaha.” Max paused, waiting for Nicholas to laugh. When he didn’t, the Intellect continued. “Foresight is larger. It does not require as many refraction points to cast a hologram. In the TOYBOX folder is another folder named CAMO. It contains a software update to enable holographic projection along Foresight’s surface. The damage to the exterior will make it imperfect, but it will be good enough to stand up to light scrutiny.”

  “If I had known about that,” Jennifer said, content to just sit in the copilot's seat and listen till now, “maybe I would have been more careful about getting hit.”

  “You couldn’t have done any better than you did,” Nicholas replied.

  “Affirmation,” Max agreed. “We can disguise Foresight as a USSF dropship identical to the one most often used by the Vultures. No one will question it. Briar’s armor can be completed within one hour.”

  “We lose more time that way.”

  “Consideration. She can remain behind.”

  “She won’t like that,” Jennifer offered.

  “Selection. We cannot save time and make armor.”

  “We already burned four hours sleeping,” Nicholas said. “We probably shouldn’t have. But, given that, one more hour might not be catastrophic. And Jennifer’s right. Briar will be upset about being left behind. Luke was her friend too. Besides, it will take at least half that time to get everyone else into their armor and given some basic training on it. So we’ll only lose thirty minutes at most. And we can keep slipping during that time, so we won’t really lose anything at all unless we happen across the right layer on the first try.”

  “Consideration. Requirement. We must be prepared in case we do happen across the right layer on the first try.”

  “Okay. Then we lose thirty minutes at most. I can live with that. Every additional Vulture we can throw out there improves our odds of success. I assume you’ll be disguised as one of them, too?”

  “Affirmation.”

  Nicholas released his restraints and got to his feet. “Okay, you start working on the armor modifications. I’ll explain the plan to the Knights. Well, the Vultures for now. Yasmin can also install the CAMO update.”

  “Affirmation. This is a good plan. I like this plan. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha.”

  “Jennifer, you have the stick.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Max, let’s go.”

  Chapter 42

  “This is so cool,” Briar said as Caleb finished equipping her with her modified armor. “I almost feel like a real soldier.”

  “Wait until I put your helmet on,” Caleb replied, turning to accept it from Macey.

  Max had done a fantastic job resizing one of the suits to fit Briar’s more rounded proportions, and Nicholas thought her beaming smile made it worth the extra time it had taken before launching the op.

  Not that any of them were looking forward to what lay ahead of them. They had taken in the plan in silence, asked a few questions, and seemed eager to change the outcome of what had happened to their Luke at Fort Hood, but Nicholas had sensed the fear behind their affirmations when he asked them if they were good to go. It was the right mix for them to have, though he wasn’t sure how long they could sustain it if locating a usable layer took more than a few slips.

  Caleb dropped the helmet over Briar’s head. “How does it feel?”

  “A little snug, but I’ll live,” she replied.

  He pushed down on the top of it until an audible click signaled the connector on the bottom of the helmet had joined with the body armor. “Now?”

  “A little more snug. I’ll still live.” Even though her visor was up, her cheeks were a bit squished in on her mouth, muffling her voice.

  Nicholas was already wearing his helmet, visor down and sealed, the HUD of the system displaying the names of the Vultures they had replaced in the top left corner of his visor. Small icons indicated their health status. Right now, all of them were showing green. He wanted to keep it that way.

  With his plasma rifle magnetically attached to the power pack on the back of the armor, the HUD didn’t give him a reticle or targeting information, but he could pull up different diagnostics at any time with specific eye movements the system translated to commands. As Caleb had explained, the visor also had some valuable passive functionality, such as auto-dimming, night vision, IR, and other available filters to improve combat performance.

  Caleb stepped back from Briar. “Try walking around a little bit. The assistant synthetic musculature takes a minute to get used to, but you’ll be doing backflips in no time.”

  Briar walked across the hold, moving a little too fast and nearly crashing into Scott. Laughing, she turned and jumped off the deck, having to put her palms up to keep from crashing into the overhead. “Wow!” she blurted, landing gracefully back on the deck. “This is more fun than a trampoline!”

  Nicholas noticed a full blown smile appear on Caleb’s face, his first as far as he knew since coming aboard. Maybe he was finally starting to feel like one of them.

  Caleb had Briar go through the rest of her HUD options to make sure she understood them all before giving Nicholas a thumbs up. He motioned for everyone to put their visors down. When they sealed, he winked his left eye to bring up their comm channels on his helmet’s internal HUD. A second wink highlighted all eight internal channels, including his.

  “Comms are active,” he said. “If you can hear me, put your hand up.”

  They all raised their hands.

  “Jennifer, do you copy?”

  “I copy, Captain Shepherd,” she replied.

  “We’re all set down here. Do you have a handle on the CAMO upgrade?”

  “Yes, sir,” Jennifer responded. “The dropship image was already in Frank’s database. It was as easy as tapping a button on the command pad to bring it up.”

  “Perfect. Yazz, you have the coordinates already programmed?”

  “Yes, sir,” she replied.

  “Okay. You all know the plan. Keep in mind we may have to slip as many as three hundred times. If that happens, it’s going to get tedious. We’re going to get tired, bored, frustrated. Not to mention, Foresight will run out of power at some point and need to be recharged. It’s important that we recognize when we’re losing our cool and speak up. It’s better to lose this layer than to risk losing someone’s life to carelessness. Agreed?”

  “Yes, sir,” they replied.

  “When we hit the right layer, things are going to happen fast. Once we’re off Foresight, remember that Caleb will have lead. Everyone, including me, does what he says.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Remember, the queen is the primary target,” Caleb added. “I’ll carry the microspear with a goal of sticking it into her anywhere I can as quickly as I can. Once she’s down, the rest of her brood will be stunned for at least a few minutes. They probably won’t retreat, but they won’t have the same amount of fight in them and we should be able to take them down pretty easily.”

  “Copy that,” Scott said.

  “All I need from every one of you is to cover me and give me a clear path to her. I’ll give you specific directions once we’re on the ground.” He paused. “I know you’re nervous, anxious, afraid, and probably a little excited. All of that’s normal, especially for civilians. But you’ve all survived the trife, which means you understand the enemy and what’s at stake. You’re on this ship and in combat armor because you want to fight. I promise you, if we stick together, follow orders, and don’t let the moment get the best of us, we’ll come out of this just fine.”

  “All for one, and one for all,” Macey said.

  “That’s the Three Musketeers,” Briar said. “Not the Knights of the Round Table.”

  “Well, what did those blokes say?”

  Briar shrugged. “I don’t think they said anything.”

  “We need some sort of rallying cry, don’t you think? Caleb, I bet you had one with your original team.”

  “We were all Marines,” Caleb replied. “We just used oorah, but that’s reserved for Marines only.”

  “How about booya?” Briar suggested.

  “Ugh, no,” Scott replied.

  “Hooah?” Yasmin said.

  “That’s the army, love,” Nicholas said.

  “Ni?” Macey offered.

  “Ni?” Scott questioned.

  “Monty Python,” Macey explained. “Classic comedy. The Knights who say Ni. From Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

  “You’re dating yourself, Mace,” Briar said.

  “Let’s keep it simple,” Nicholas said. “Go Knights.”

  “Go Knights!” the others repeated.

  “Not bad. Jennifer, execute the slip.”

  “Copy that, Captain. Entering shift in ten...nine...eight..”

  “Max,” Scott said. “Considering probabilities, is the first slip more likely, less likely, or equally likely to have the desired outcome?”

  “Consideration. The first slip is equally likely. As it is then removed from the remaining number of slips, each successive slip becomes more likely compared to the original set.”

  “But equally likely compared to each other?”

  “Affirmation.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Briar asked.

  “Two...One..Executing slip.”

  The lighting in the hold went out, leaving them in the dark for a few seconds.

  “How do we know if we’re in the right layer?” Yasmin asked.

  “Information. I am scanning terrestrial broadcast channels, including encrypted USSF channels.”

  “Captain Shepherd,” Jennifer said. “Slip complete. I’ve got Earth in the forward view.”

  “How does she look?” Nicholas asked.

  “Beautiful, but scarred. We’re definitely post-war.”

  “Affirmation. I have picked up USSF comms from Fort Hood, raising an alert that the first checkpoint is breached and requesting backup.”

  “What?” Nicholas said. “That’s only about twenty minutes before Luke is killed.”

  “Exultation!” Max replied excitedly. “What are the odds? Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha.”

  “Perfect timing,” Scott added.

  Nicholas glanced at Max, his eyes obscured by his visor. It seemed almost too perfect. A small knot formed in his gut. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t trust this happening on the first try.

  He also couldn’t afford to waste it.

  “Jennifer, bring us in.”

  Chapter 43

  “Are we going to make it in time?” Briar asked. She stood with the others at the rear of the hold, braced against the cabinets as Foresight plummeted from orbit.

  “We’ll make it,” Nicholas said, glancing over at Max.

  The Intellect had erased Nicholas’ features from his blank face, hiding any hint of his intentions. Nicholas wanted so much to trust him, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had ulterior motives, even though he couldn’t imagine what those motives might be. It wasn’t Max who triggered the slip early or took Gill’s life. In fact, everything Max had told them seemed to be true.