“You expect me to say yes after you just gunned down a dozen innocent people in cold blood? They dropped their weapons.”

  “They betrayed my trust,” Harai countered. “They showed no honor in turning on us. But you knew they would. It was well played. Casualties of fate.”

  Riley was looking out of the cockpit viewport. She shifted her attention to Harai. “Sergeant, why are we going south?”

  “Very astute. Doctor Valentine,” Harai said. “We have some business to attend to before we return to Arluthu’s Citadel.” He leaned over and patted the energy unit, which he had placed between his feet.

  “The Seeker?” Caleb asked.

  “Yes. The Free Inahri put up an honorable fight. They did try very hard.”

  “What happened to them?”

  “Most of them died. A few of them ran. They won’t get far.” He gazed at Riley. “You can help us with that.”

  Caleb glared at her. “Haven’t you helped enough already? You know what they plan to do with the energy unit, don’t you?”

  “Yes, Card. You like to speak to me like I’m an idiot. Does it make you feel like less of one? The Relyeh will use the modulator to launch the Seeker and take it back to Axon space. I imagine many Axon will die.”

  “That isn’t possible,” Harai said. “There aren’t many Axon remaining, and even we don’t know where their homeworld lies. But we’re going to find it. We know they have a portal there.”

  “A portal?” Caleb asked. “Like a teleporter?”

  “Similar. It takes more power and is longer range. It opens a quantum wormhole between destinations. Between planets. Between galaxies. From the beginning of the Hunger to the end. The Relyeh want the portal technology very badly.”

  “And you’re going to give it to Arluthu,” Caleb said.

  “Not exactly. We Inahri don’t know how the portals function. We know how to operate them, but that’s all, and it isn’t enough. You need at least two portals to make a connection, and the Seeker is only one. The Axon, they treated us like children before they treated us like slaves. They tried so hard to make us into them. They gave us technology and asked us how to use it for war. And still we would be their slaves if not for Arluthu.”

  “So you’re his slaves instead. Nice upgrade.”

  “With Arluthu, there is opportunity to be more than a slave. To end beyond where you begin. Isn’t that all we can hope to ask for? A chance to succeed? We respect Arluthu, and he respects us. And I respect you, Sergeant Card. You will make a fine challenger, whether you choose to do it willingly or not.”

  “Not.”

  “We shall see. But it makes no difference. Doctor, will you help me again?”

  “I don’t know. What’s in it for me?”

  Harai smiled and tapped the energy unit. “For this, an audience with Arluthu. I understand you want a cure for your disease. It can be arranged.”

  “How do you know you can cure me?”

  “Arluthu can cure you. I’m sure of it. The Hunger mastered genetics hundreds of ens ago.”

  “I want more.”

  “For the small favor I intend to ask? I don’t know how much more I can promise. I’m only a sergeant. I have superiors too.”

  “Small favors can have huge returns.”

  “What is it you want?”

  Riley glanced at Caleb. “I want the trife gone from Earth.”

  “Trife?”

  “Uluth. The creatures Arluthu sent to our homeworld to destroy our civilization. I want them destroyed. All of them. If the Relyeh are masters of genetics, then they can make a disease that kills them, the same way they made a disease to kill us.”

  “Why would Arluthu destroy your people and then agree to help you save them?”

  “Because the Axon are more valuable.”

  “That is true, but we already have what we need for that.”

  “Thanks to me.”

  “Yes. You already bargained the modulator.”

  “I have something else to bargain, beyond what you want me to help you with.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I know about the portals. I know how to direct them.”

  Harai’s smile grew. He was intrigued. “Really? You are a most valuable and honored guest if that is the case.”

  “You’re lying,” Caleb said.

  “I’m not.”

  “How can you know anything about Axon portals? You didn’t know anything about the modulator before David activated it.”

  “We found a portal with the ship,” Riley said. “A portable portal. From what we gathered, the Axon deploy them ahead of their ships and pass through them to fast travel to other parts of the universe. I spent two months with the team working on it. Of course, we never had enough juice to turn it on, but the science team had a good idea of what it did and a solid theory of how it did it.”

  “Did you bring it with you?”

  “No. We sent the portal out to Area 51. Last I heard, it was on the Pilgrim with the team researching it. But that was two hundred years ago.”

  “That part might be true. I’m still not buying that you know how Axon tech works.”

  “Because girls can’t do advanced mathematics?”

  “No, because you’re a manipulative, lying bitch.”

  Riley looked like she wanted to punch him. Instead, she turned back to Harai. “That’s the deal. Can you make it happen?”

  “I can’t promise with complete certainty, but both myself and the Advocate will do our best to convince our Relyeh commander and Arluthu himself.”

  “Advocate?” Caleb asked.

  Harai nodded, grabbing his right sleeve and pulling it up, revealing a worm-like creature wrapped around it. Caleb was sickened by the sight. “What the hell?”

  “This is my Relyeh Advocate,” Harai said. “It’s what allows me to speak to you in your tongue. It is part of me. A symbiote.”

  It reminded Caleb of a giant leech.

  “We are losing time, Doctor. What is your decision?”

  “What’s your question?” Riley replied.

  “The Free Inahri base. We have been searching for it for many cycles. You know where it is.”

  “I do.”

  “Guide us to it, and our deal is made.”

  “Riley,” Caleb said. “You can’t. There are innocent civilians there.”

  “Innocent Inahri civilians, Card,” Riley corrected. “Why do I care about them?”

  “Are you kidding? Is there not a single ounce of humanity left in you?”

  “We don’t kill the innocent, Sergeant Card,” Harai said. “We aren’t monsters.”

  “See, Card. They don’t kill innocents. You heard Sergeant Harai. I give up the Inahri, and they help us get the trife off Earth. That seems like a good deal from where I’m sitting.”

  “It’s been two hundred years. How much do you think is left to save? And even if you did save it, what happens when the rest of the Relyeh arrive? They’ll just take the planet back again.”

  “You’re never satisfied, are you Card? Everything I do is wrong to you, even when it’s right. I came here to avenge Earth. I’m going to save it instead.”

  “And destroy the colony in the process.”

  “It’s worth it.”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  “So try to stop me. Oh, you can’t. Because you’re a prisoner, Card. Because you’re on the losing side. Give up on the colony. Give up on the Deliverance. You’ll be happy you did. I know I am.”

  “I’m not like you, Valentine. I care about others. I care about honor, respect, and duty.” He looked at Harai. “I’ll keep fighting you until I’m dead.”

  Harai bowed his head. “And I honor you for that, Sergeant. Doctor, we have a deal. Show us the way.”

  Chapter 50

  Caleb couldn’t do anything to stop Riley from leading Sergeant Harai to the Free Inahri base. Surprised she had captured so many of the details so perfectly, especially the location, he listened while she described where it was, what it looked like, and how to find it.. Then again, she had taken the same gene editing formula as David, and it had made him exponentially more intelligent than before. There was no reason to think her outcome was much different.

  The transport circled for nearly thirty minutes while Harai communicated with the Relyeh base, wherever it was, and had reinforcements sent up to meet them in the proximity of the Free Inahri compound. Sergeant Harai didn’t speak to Caleb again, and thankfully neither did Riley. They planned and plotted together, leaving him to sit and listen.

  Soon enough, there were four Relyeh transports in the area instead of their one, all of them loaded with soldiers from Harai’s company, which was commanded by an Inahri he called Cox Ae, which Caleb figured meant either Major or Colonel. Not that it mattered. He only heard the sergeant respond with “Chi Cox” multiple times. Yes, sir.

  The transport accelerated suddenly, turning south and gaining velocity. Caleb assumed the other transports did the same behind them.

  “It’s time,” Sergeant Harai said, looking at Caleb. “We’re launching an attack on the Free Inahri compound, and I want you to be part of it.”

  “I’ll die before I attack them,” Caleb replied.

  “That won’t be necessary.” He smiled, lifting his sleeve and revealing the Advocate again. It unrolled itself from his arm as he did, revealing dozens of small punctures and bruises along Harai’s biceps and shoulder. Hundreds of legs carried it across his chest and down into his lap, where it stopped to look at Caleb.

  Caleb wanted to vomit. The Advocate had a pair of black eyes on the front of it, too intelligent for something that looked like the cross between a slug and a millipede. It made a series of high-pitched tones he took as speech before bunching itself, preparing to leap the chasm between Harai and Caleb.

  Riley reached over unexpectedly, grabbing his replacement hand and quickly tapping in the code to deactivate it on the control ring. His prosthetic fell limp, the weight pulling him slightly to the side.

  The soldier next to Harai stood, grabbing Caleb’s left arm. He held it out, while Caleb gritted his teeth, trying to figure out how to keep the Advocate away from him. The Relyeh jumped, crossing the aisle and landing on his lap. It was lighter than he would have guessed but even more disgusting up close.

  It got even closer, hundreds of legs gripping his flesh and climbing out toward his arm.

  “What the hell is it going to do?” Caleb asked.

  “Convince you to do the right thing,” Harai replied. “Believe me; the Advocate is very convincing.”

  Caleb looked down at it, struggling to move. There was no way he could overpower a battle-armored soldier.

  The Advocate stopped directly in front of his face, large black eyes taking him in. It made a sound like a laugh before crawling the rest of the way to his arm and quickly wrapping around it. He felt the burn of dozens of needles jabbing into his muscle, the creature attaching itself to him, hooking itself up in a method he didn’t understand.

  He turned his head, looking at the creature. He couldn’t see the front of it anymore, only its body wound around his arm and moving subtlety up and down as though it were breathing. He looked back at Harai, confused.

  Sergeant Caleb Card.

  The voice was no voice at all. It was more of a feeling. A suggestion. And yet it registered clearly in his mind.

  United States Marines special forces. Sister Margaret, deceased. Parents, deceased. College dropout. Suppression of many emotions. Loss. Sadness. Guilt. Pain.

  Caleb closed his eyes. It spit his entire life back at him, too fast for him to keep up. He felt every emotion, going through them full-bore within a span of seconds. All the time, the pressure of the suggestion continued to build in his mind, a confusion that began to overwhelm him.

  “Stop,” he said.

  No.

  It continued. He didn’t see his life flash in front of his eyes, but he experienced it again all the same. Joining the military, the arrival of the trife, the death of his parents and sister, joining Space Force. The Vultures. Losing Banks and Habib. Boarding the Deliverance. Sho. Everything, all the way up to the present in the space of a handful of seconds.

  I know you, Sergeant Caleb Card.

  To Caleb, it felt like someone was at his back, watching everything he did. Reading his every thought and emotion.

  Because I am. My name is Ishek. I am an Advocate, sixteenth in the Advocate Descendancy of our Lord and Master Arluthu, Ancient of the Relyeh. I have seen you, Caleb Card. You will make a fine host.

  “Fine host for what?” Caleb said out loud.

  I wish to experience the downfall of the Free Inahri. I wish to place a hand in their destruction. As you have seen, I have no hands of my own.

  Ishek laughed, a human laugh in Caleb’s mind.

  “What does that mean?” he asked.

  We are the Relyeh. The Hunger. The Darkness of the Universe. The Ancients of Ancients. All of space and time will one day be ours. All intelligent life will fall under our domain. We conquer all. Devour all. That is our purpose. Our reason to exist. Yet it is rare we have the opportunity to fulfill the obligation so personally. I savor the occasion. I relish you as well, Caleb Card. You who have stood against our uluth. You who have overcome the challenge of our nature with strength, and whose pain is a bounty to feast on.

  “You still haven’t told me what you mean.”

  I’m going to kill, Caleb Card. I’m going to slaughter the Inahri, one by one. And I’m going to use you to do it.

  Chapter 51

  The Relyeh transports took only minutes to reach the Free Inahri base. Caleb stared out the forward viewport window, watching the approach to the projected waterfall that protected the compound. His heart raced as they closed on it. The Advocate, Ishek, had been silent since its final murderous statement, but its presence was omnipotent in his mind, overseeing every thought, every movement, every breath.

  He tried to control all of those things, to keep himself as closed-off to the Advocate as he could. Somehow, it was going to use him as a tool to slaughter the Inahri. He would try to fight it, but in the back of his mind, he already knew resistance was futile. It was only speaking to him now, but the sense that it could do much, much more was ever-present.

  “Prepare to disembark,” Sergeant Harai said, standing up. He was speaking in Inahrai , the Advocate translating to English so Caleb would understand.

  The rest of the soldiers in the transport stood. So did Riley.

  “If it moves and isn’t ours, you have permission to kill it,” Harai said. He motioned to one of his soldiers, who went to the back and retrieved an Intellect Skin for the sergeant. Harai stripped and quickly put himself into the Skin before turning to Caleb. “I prefer battle armor, but you made a mess of mine.”

  He moved to the hatch, turning and facing forward. Caleb looked back out the front of the transport. The waterfall was only a hundred meters away and closing fast.

  Three more heartbeats and they were through.

  The transports entered the Free Inahri compound, facing a stiff line of fire as they did, the Inahri Dancers having spotted them coming with only minutes to spare. Blue bolts lashed out at the transports, flashing against the cockpit glass and smacking harmlessly into apparent shielding. The transport dropped hard toward the ground, hitting so violently Caleb expected its landers to crumple beneath the impact.

  The hatch slid open beside Harai. “For Arluthu!” he shouted, jumping out of the craft ahead of his soldiers.

  “For Arluthu!” they shouted back.

  “For Arluthu!” Caleb found himself crying out, through no intention of his own.

  “For Arltuthu,” Riley said. She turned to him, reactivating his replacement arm and getting to her feet. “I’ll stay close to you.”

  “I don’t want you anywhere near me,” he replied.

  “I’m not talking to you,” Riley said.

  Caleb’s body betrayed him then, his legs working to bring him to a stand, his arms bringing his Intellect Skin back up over his upper body and sealing it closed, lifting the mantle over his head and then carrying him to the rear of the craft, to the open hatch. One of the soldiers handed him a rifle as he reached it, bowing his head reverently.

  “For Arluthu,” the soldier said.

  Then he was out of the transport, joining the Relyeh Inahri in a charge toward the Free Inahri rebels, aiming and firing his rifle at them, completely out of control. He could sense the Advocate’s excitement in his mind, the bloodlust and thrill of the fight. He tried to push against it, to find his limbs and regain motor control. It was as though the Advocate was stopping all of his brain activity from reaching the rest of his body, capturing it and replacing it with a will of its own.

  No Advocate was controlling Valentine’s actions. She charged ahead with the other Relyeh, firing into the rebel forces, helping to bury the weak defense in an avalanche of offensive destruction. The Free Inahri fell one after another, the assault against them barely slowing, their defenses shattering beneath the onslaught. Sergeant Harai barked orders to his team over the comm, the Advocate following them, letting Harai lead Caleb into the compound toward the central ring, a path of death in their wake.

  This is better than I ever imagined.

  The Advocate decided to speak to him. Caleb didn’t know why.

  “Go screw yourself,” he replied. His hands were already responsible for killing one Free Inahri soldier. But it was only his hands.

  I believe it could be better still.

  Caleb’s hands opened, the rifle falling to the ground.

  “Sergeant Harai,” he found himself saying. “I want to get closer.”

  “Good idea,” Harai replied. “Inahri, let’s make this more personal.” The sergeant stowed his rifle, speeding up the charge toward the corner of a building, where a pair of unarmored Free Inahri were shooting at them. He raised his forearm, energy shield blocking their assault until he reached them. He grabbed one, throwing him easily out into the open before taking the other and placing his palm against his chest, a flare of energy from the Intellect Skin burning into the Inahri’s heart and killing him.