“Is it war you’re after?” I asked. “To destroy us?”

  “We don’t need to do anything to destroy you. You’ll destroy one another. All we need to do is put the right pieces in play and watch your civilization burn.”

  “You know I can’t let that happen.”

  “You’re too late to stop us. Even Duke Sedaya believes the nobles Blorb is set to elevate are under his thumb. Not so.”

  “You replaced those nobles with Aleal, didn’t you?” I said. “Sedaya has no idea.”

  Mae laughed. Kine and Malo actually smiled. “Now you’re beginning to see the bigger picture.”

  “How many of your kind are in the Spiral?”

  “Not enough. Not yet. But that will be resolved soon.”

  “Ben,” Gia said, interrupting the conversation. “The comm line was open. Are you there?”

  “Now’s not the best time,” I replied. “Is it important?”

  “I have the information you were asking for.”

  “I don’t really need it right now.”

  “And something else. I’m seventy-three percent certain Prince Hiro is still on Cicana with you.”

  “I’m about ninety percent sure you’re right,” I agreed, locking eyes with Mae. “But how do I convince you to give him up?”

  “You can’t,” she replied. “You’re the one who will give up. Or you will die.” Her eyes flicked to my chest. To the hole in my shirt and the blood that stained the wound before it could heal. “You don’t have your sigils to save you.”

  “I don’t need them.”

  “Are you counting on your crew to help you? Turn around. Look out the window.”

  I laughed. “I’m not that dumb. Shaq, check it.”

  He shifted on my shoulder, his tail swatting me in the cheek. “Looks bad,” he admitted. “Heavy fire from the ground.”

  “That doesn’t mean they’re hitting anything.”

  “You have comms,” Mae added. “Ask them.”

  Part of me didn’t want to ask, and I definitely didn’t want to distract Matt if he was busy up there. “Gia, what’s Head Case’s status?”

  “They’re taking heavy fire from both ground-based batteries and guard ships that jumped into orbit. Three shield nodes are down. He’s still trying to reach you.”

  My stomach dropped, expression shifting enough that Mae continued grinning malevolently at me.

  “You see? It’s over, Benjamin. There’s no reason to prolong the inevitable.”

  I glanced to where Meg remained unconscious on the floor before looking back at Mae. How long would Matt last out there if it was really as dire as Gia made it seem?

  “What does my surrender look like to you?” I asked. “What happens to us?”

  “We’ll hold you here until the decrees are made. Then you’ll be released.”

  “You’d let us go? Why?”

  “Because with the power of the Hegemony resting in our hands, you’re of more use to us as a distraction to Sedaya than you are a threat. Otherwise, we would have killed you on Omega Station.”

  “Wait a second. Are you saying—”

  “That we knew Dryka would come to investigate? Yes. That you would survive your own ordeal? No. But it worked out in our favor that you did, until now.” She paused to think about it. “It’s still working out in our favor.”

  “Ben,” Gia said. “Head Case is taking a pounding. Matt won’t give up, but I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

  “I heard that,” Matt growled through the comm. “I’m coming, Ben. We’re going to make it.”

  “Shaq,” I whispered. “Hit my comm badge for me, will you?”

  “Really?” he questioned, wondering why I would want to lose the link to Head Case right now.

  “Do it.”

  He reached across my body to tap the badge.

  “If I agree, will you call off the attack on my ship?” I asked.

  “If you call off your ship’s attack on us,” she replied.

  “How do I know I can trust you? Everything you do is a deception. Even your appearance right now. You killed Usari and his employees, I assume?”

  “It was necessary,” Mae answered, her skin, clothes, and hair fading into a solid brown humanoid. She didn’t make her outer layer clear, likely knowing what valuable information that would reveal to me. Kine and Malo reformed the same way. They looked like a trio of golems. “You have no choice except to trust us.”

  She was right, of course. Matt would die and take everyone on board Head Case with him to come to my rescue. I had zero doubts about that. The only way I could save them now was to surrender. If they really did plan to let me go later, then maybe we could do something to affect the outcome of the inevitable war.

  “Okay,” I said. “We have a—” I stopped talking, my chest suddenly overcome with a wave of intense heat that quickly spread across my construct, signaling that my body had healed enough for the integrity of the fractal to be restored.

  The Aleal golems seemed to sense it too. Realizing that surrender was no longer my intention, they charged.

  CHAPTER 39

  I still didn’t shoot. Without being able to see the vital dark mass inside the Aleal golems, I would only be guessing, and with only three rounds left in the old revolver, there was absolutely no way I could risk expending the bullets and missing even one of my targets. Now that my construct was repaired, there were other ways to deal with them.

  I activated excite, superheating the air and setting the carpet on fire, turning it into an impromptu flamethrower. The Aleal shrank away from the flames, Malo too slow to react. The heat seared its gelatin shell, melting part of it before it could maneuver away. The damage left part of it translucent for only a second, but that second was all I needed. I swung the revolver toward Malo and fired, using all three rounds to take it out. One of the bullets found the mark, blasting through the Aleal's dark sack. One down.

  I spun toward the motion in my peripheral vision, cancelling excite as Kine rushed toward me. His arms had become barbed tendrils that snapped toward me like whips. I pushed him away, throwing him across the room before he could get to me. Mae rushed me from the other side, her form changing into a catlike creature that instantly made me think of a displacer beast from Dungeons and Dragons. Her tendrils snapped out at me too, while her teeth and claws aimed for my chest, likely hoping to again cut apart the construct.

  I dove out of her way as Shaq leaped from my shoulder, landing on her face and raking her eyes before jumping onto the floor. Mae landed and slid to a stop facing me again, Shaq’s damage already repaired.

  “I don’t think you can hurt her much, bud,” I said, dropping the revolver. Kine was back on his feet, remaining in humanoid form as he regrouped next to Mae. “Well, what are you waiting for?” I asked them.

  Knowing it would be more challenging to push them away if they came at me from two directions, they separated as they rushed at me. I pulled the display case with the sword in it, yanking it into Kine and sending him sprawling as he tried to circle around me. The blow conveniently knocked the door open, freeing the sword. I pulled it toward me as Mae prepared to rush me a second time. She ducked low as I pushed and pulled the blade through the air to stab her in the side, finally sinking the sword in deep but missing her vital mass. She leaped at me, raking my back, her claws unable to penetrate my coat as she flew overhead.

  I turned to face her, pulling the sword through her side as she moved. She cried out but didn’t go down, a tendril wrapping around the hilt of the weapon to yank it from her body. She tried to maintain her grip on it, but Shaq jumped onto the tendril, biting and clawing through it. The moment the sword fell from her grip, I pulled it to me, catching it.

  Just in time.

  Kine was back on his feet, lunging at me with his barbed tentacles. I chopped one of them off with the sword as I jumped back, reflecting Mae away from me when she pounced again. This wasn’t going as well as I hoped, the fight lasting way too long and costing me too much energy.

  I hit the sword with separate, shattering the blade into a hundred smaller shards. Pushing and pulling them around in a circle, I created a whirlwind of metal between Mae, Kine, and me. Shaq snuck under the tornado, again coming to roost on my shoulder while the two Aleal glared at me, afraid to resume the offensive.

  “Ben,” Gia said, breaking through on my comm badge. “Duck!”

  I didn’t hesitate, maintaining my steel shield and dropping onto my stomach. Shaq held onto my coat as a wave crashed against the window behind Mae and Kine. The water subsided, revealing Head Case. One of its ears and gun turrets were completely missing and smoke poured out of its back. But it was here.

  “I told you I’d make it,” Matt said through the comms.

  The other gun turrets glowed bright blue for an instant before spewing hot ions through the transparency, melting it at once. I dropped the sword shards and threw another wall of reflect up as the blasts burned into the two Aleal, melting them to puddles of smoking goop.

  “Better clear out before the next wave hits,” Gia warned both Matt and me. I hurried to scoop Meg up from where she was sprawled nearby on the floor, the ion blasts having missed her as they blasted by overhead.

  Head Case pulled away from the window as the roar of the ocean grew louder, the next huge wave bearing down on the room. I raced through the open door, pulling it closed behind me as I stumbled out into the outer corridor. The hallway shook as the seawater rushed through the damaged transparency and into Usari’s office. The door behind me rattled but held as water spilled under it and into the hallway, immediately soaking my socks. I ran for the elevator carrying Meg, looking over my shoulder every few seconds and expecting to find an army of Aleal giving chase.

  “Damn, that was close,” Matt said.

  “What about the enemy assets?” I asked, amazed he had outmaneuvered them to come to my rescue.

  “Gia disabled the stationary batteries. I took care of the gunships that jumped in.”

  “We took care of them,” Leo corrected.

  “I kept us alive long enough for you to shoot them down,” Matt countered.

  “But I still shot them.”

  “Fine, we can share the glory. Nice work, Leo.”

  “You too, Matt.”

  “We’re on our way to you, Boo!” Emerald shouted excitedly. “Don’t kill everyone without me!”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” I replied, a smile spreading across my face. “Leo, come down with the others. I need you to get Meg back on board Head Case.”

  “Is she hurt?” Leo asked, voice quivering with concern for his twin.

  “No, they slipped her a sedative. But you need to hurry. I think there are reinforcements coming my way. I’ll try to meet you at the surface.”

  “Ben, I don’t have access to the elevator controls,” Gia said. “I think I can hack into it with Quasar’s help, but it might take me some time. If you come up, you won’t be able to get back down until I crack it.”

  “How much time are we talking about?” I asked.

  “Possibly an hour or two.”

  “The Aleal know I’m here, and they know that I know Hiro is here. I don’t think we can wait that long.”

  “I agree. That’s why I warned you.”

  I gritted my teeth, cursing under my breath. “All right, I’m going to put Meg in the elevator and send her up. Catch up to me when you get access. And bring my boots.”

  “Ben, you can’t take on a bunch of Aleal alone,” Emerald said.

  “I’m not alone. I’ve got Shaq. And I don’t see that I have much choice. Just get down here as fast as you can.”

  “We’re landing now,” Quasar announced. “Hang in there, Ben.”

  “I can hold out. I’m putting Meg in the elevator now.” I reached the pedestal and opened the cab, setting her gently down inside and backing out before the doors closed. “Gia, you said you had a map. How do I get further down?”

  “There’s a stairwell at the other end of the level you're on,” she replied. “It leads to what the schematic says is power generation and storage.”

  “Three guesses what they’re storing,” I said.

  “Peanuts?” Emerald ventured.

  “Durr,” Shaq buzzed in my ear.

  “Why would you say peanuts?” Matt groused. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “You’re right,” Emerald replied. “You did say underground. I bet it’s wine.”

  “He means Prince Hiro,” Quasar snapped in annoyance. “Geez.”

  “Prince Hiro? Is that like Prince Albert? Is he in a can too?”

  “Nevermind.”

  I appreciated the tension-breaking spirit of the banter, though I wasn’t sure if Emerald was playing at being so obtuse.

  Spinning around to return the way I had come, I cursed under my breath when a muscular man in combat fatigues came around the corner, plasma rifle swinging my way.

  CHAPTER 40

  With nowhere else to go but toward the muscular man in combat fatigues, I enhanced my strength, raised a barrier of reflect ahead of me, and sprinted in his direction. He opened fire with his plasma rifle, the bolts hitting the shield and ricocheting back at him. He didn’t stop shooting, not even when a few rounds hit him in the shoulder and chest, creating holes that didn’t bleed. Another Aleal, but I had expected as much. Until proven otherwise, I assumed anything I encountered was one of the aliens.

  He stood his ground, only ceasing fire when I was nearly on top of him and the bolts were bouncing back too often to be worth the risk of one hitting his own vital mass. The soldier dropped his rifle then, his form shifting to the opaque golem look Mae and Kine had used. Its back sprouted half a dozen barbed tentacles, all hovering behind him, ready to strike.

  I lowered my shield as we collided, its tentacles lashing at my face and chest as it moved to grapple with me. Shaq scampered across my coat, his claws slashing through one of the incoming appendages while I grabbed the enemy by the throat and activated calmed-to-death. I had no idea if the sigil would work on an Aleal, but it would have been nice to find out that it did.

  The action didn’t kill my opponent, but it wasn’t totally useless. The Aleal convulsed in my grip, unable to fight back. If I had another hand and a blade, I would have been able to slice off its limbs or cut it in half in search of its vital mass. Without that, I only had one other grotesque option.

  I activated separate to tear it into dozens of smaller gelatinous fragments. It left me holding its head and neck as the rest of its body crumbled to the floor like a statue hit with a sledgehammer. The sudden massive damage forced the false pigment from the pieces, allowing me to see the dark sack in what had been its right leg. None of the other damage had made it cry out, but when Shaq jumped down and ran his claws through the vital mass, the mouth on the severed head screamed out in pain before falling silent.

  I dropped the head, nauseated by the disgusting result of the encounter. I knew Aleal could regenerate as long as their vital sack remained intact. I hadn’t known that the organisms remained remotely connected even when they were separated. I shuddered at how many times I might need to repeat the tactic I had just used to kill this one.

  At least it had left me a rifle. It took me a few tries to pick it up so that I could hold it at the ready, the stock resting against my armpit, finger on the trigger. By enhancing the bolts as they emerged from the barrel, they would hopefully be deadly enough to take out a few of the Aleal. Calmed-to-death, with separate added, was so resource intensive that I wouldn’t have any juice left to transit back to Atlas if I had to use the sigil combo against too many of the peculiar aliens.

  Retracing my steps toward Usari’s office, I slogged through icy water that left my shoeless feet dependent on restore to keep them from becoming frostbitten. Poking my head around the corner leading to the office, I saw the door had given way to the pressure of the water crashing in from the shattered window overlooking the sea. Three more guards, likely the reinforcements Mae had sent for, stood at the far end of the hallway, surprised by the flood. They didn’t notice me as I ducked back behind the corner. I had to get past them to reach the stairwell down to storage. Not an easy task. Even an enhanced plasma rifle would have trouble with three at a time. It had taken Head Case’s ion cannons to help me deal with just two at once.

  I couldn’t help smirking when a fresh wave of water hit the corridor and splashed off, sending a few inches of seawater over my feet. I peered around the corner again, noticing the Aleal had timed the wave, using the break to advance, already having reached the doorway. They stopped there to check the office, probably looking for Mae and the other Aleal.

  I activated dampen, using the action on the water, channeling the event through my feet. It took a little more effort to freeze saltwater, but not too much more. The top layer whitened as the salt separated and the liquid turned solid, spreading quickly across the surface of the flow toward the enemy in a silent sneak attack. They didn’t realize their feet were frozen to the floor until the next wave approached and they tried to move away, turning in my direction to continue their advance. I stepped on top of the ice and around the corner. I wanted them to see me.

  They didn’t open fire, likely knowing I could defend myself from their plasma. Looking down, they saw how they were stuck to their ankles and started pulling, struggling to break free. But they hadn’t left themselves much time to avoid the wave, and their heads turned to the doorway again as the corridor shook, the water crashing through and hitting them like a freight train. All three were smashed against the stone wall of the hallway, flattened like pancakes, their vital sacks crushed. As the water spread and flowed over the ice I had made, one mangled mess rode the current in my direction while the other two drifted the other way. I hated killing anything, but I appreciated the lack of blood from the Aleal.