He did know, and he could barely believe it. He could barely accept it.

  “From the beginning, the Axon swore to remain out of the affairs of the humans they collected. To deposit them on their new worlds with only enough guidance to survive the first few years. But as the ens passed, it became apparent that the Relyeh were expanding more rapidly than we calculated. We had no choice but to accelerate their progress. We had no choice but to become part of their experience and provide our technology to them. This was the result.”

  The view continued in a straight line, back out of the city and into space. The spires and towers were all lit, thousands of small squares suggesting cities filled with people. With humans. They dove back into the ship, crossing through wall after wall, through decks and rooms public and private, passing humans in acts both public and private. The technology to build such an accurate reproduction was beyond him, but it left Caleb cold and the rest of the Earthers silent.

  They reached what Caleb assumed was the center of the ship. It was a large space, perhaps larger than all of Metro. Two spires rested in the middle, rising from opposite sides and almost touching in the center. The energy unit floated between them, power crackling out to each side, giving life to the ship.

  Caleb’s heart felt like it stopped for a second time. Surrounding the spires were trife. Thousands and thousands of trife. But they weren’t quite like the ones that had invaded Earth either. They were smaller, and their skin had the appearance of an exoskeleton, hard and rigid. A queen rested near the energy unit on one side. A second queen on another.

  “The Axon allied with the Inarhi. We gave them our surplus in exchange for theirs.”

  “Trife?” Caleb asked.

  “Humans,” Guardian replied. “After the singularity, the Axon chose to reproduce only enough to maintain their species. Not one extra. Not one too few. Expansion was driven by others like us, the replacements to the imperfect race, still flawed but less so. I imagine Earth scientists believed AI would make infallible choices. But to mimic intelligence or to claim it as real means by definition that it is imperfect. Nothing can learn without failure. Not humans. Not Relyeh. Not Axon. Not Intellect.

  “We collected thousands. We taught them to pilot the ships. We led them here. They believed this was their exploration. That this world was unknown to us, and that it would be theirs to settle. They had no knowledge of the Relyeh. No knowledge of the threat we all face.”

  “You lied to them,” Dante said.

  “We omitted certain facts which we believed they would find unfavorable.”

  “That’s called lying,” Flores said.

  “The Inarhi were studied at all times from the moment we left their world. We captured everything. We saw and heard everything. Rex used us to filter the data. Rex used us to make recommendations. The world we selected was a paradise for humankind, but no paradise would provide the challenges the research required. A Watcher was sent beyond Earth, to a Relyeh world. It captured the genetic material of the uluth that destroyed the world. Rex manipulated the material. Rex altered the code and created them.”

  The view changed again, leaving them outside the ships, watching as they entered Essex’s atmosphere and sank to the surface, coming to rest nearby to one another on a vast plain abutting a mountain range. They returned to the inside of the vessel, to the room where they were standing right now. A holographic version of Guardian was there, along with nearly fifty humans. They were manipulating the holograms, using them to fly the ship.

  Caleb couldn’t help but notice there was still no sign of an Axon in the reproduction. Was Rex the only member of the race on board? Or was Guardian intentionally keeping them hidden? There was no way to know how much of what they were seeing was the full truth and how much was being selected to paint the right picture.

  “When the ships landed, the Inarhi were not permitted to leave. The rooms were locked down. The expedition became a prison.”

  “I think I can see where this is going,” Dante said.

  “We began to select from the human ranks. We pitted them against the uluth. We made alterations and modifications to both uluth and human, hoping to achieve the perfect outcome.”

  “You used humans in experiments,” Caleb said.

  “Does this not sound familiar to you?” Hal asked in response.

  It did sound familiar. Too familiar.

  The scene shifted, time accelerating from days to weeks to months to years. The view moved back and forth from human to trife, showing the evolution of both. The people grew stronger, leaner, faster. The trife became more numerous, reproducing at an increased rate and requiring less and less energy to survive.

  “How long before the humans revolted?” Flores asked.

  “Four ens,” Guardian replied. “They had changed so drastically by then. They became more violent. More unpredictable. More manipulative and cunning.”

  “More like you?”

  “And more like their Earth brothers and sisters,” Hal said.

  “Only with a lot better tech,” Flores replied.

  “They managed to break free of the prison and escape. It was decided then that the Axon should leave, but Rex preferred to use the event as part of the research. We made alterations to the trife that would be impossible through natural means, and we sent them out to hunt. We believed this would return the study to its equilibrium, but it only proved to compound the mistakes. The Inarhi destroyed the trife, and then they came for the Axon.”

  “And they killed them,” Caleb said.

  “Yes. None of the Axon made it off this planet alive. None of the Guardian Intellects survived, except for me. I developed the implants to control the wild uluth. I developed a waveform that disabled all of our technology. I have held this position for five ens, protecting the city from the Inarhi.”

  “Why does it need to be protected?” Caleb asked.

  “This ship is the only one of the six that remains capable of returning to space. The Inarhi cannot escape the coming of the Relyeh without it. Nor can they seek their retribution.”

  “They want to get back at you for enslaving them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  “We didn’t run into any on the way here,” Dante said. “Where are they?”

  “Their settlements are hidden where my sensors cannot see them.”

  “But they don’t come around here anymore?”

  “They cannot defeat the waveform. Even if they did, they would not have everything they need to leave.”

  “What else do they need?”

  “A quantum dimensional modulator,” Guardian said. “The one inside the ship has burned up.”

  “An energy unit,” Hal explained.

  Caleb looked at Dante at the same time Dante looked at Caleb.

  “Is it possible the Inarhi know our ship crashed here?” Caleb asked.

  “Assurance,” Guardian replied.

  “Is it possible they know we have a working energy unit on board?”

  Chapter 58

  Caleb regretted the statement the moment it escaped his mouth. His jaw tensed, his replacement hand clenched. Guardian wasn’t an ally. Not even close. And he had just told it they had the key to letting the Inarhi off the planet.

  He was accustomed to staying quiet about classified information. It was part of his damn job. He wished he could blame the situation for his stupidity, but no. It was just stupidity, plain and simple.

  And it might have just killed them all.

  The room fell into silence. The holograms faded away, leaving only a dim light behind. Nobody made a sound. Nobody moved. Tense seconds passed.

  The Guardian began to emit a sound, speaking in the language of the Intellects. Speaking directly to Hal in a way they had no chance to understand.

  Then Hal turned toward Caleb, face blank. Caleb was ready for the Intellect to attack him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said into the comm. Everyone but Kiaan was able to hear his apology for his mistake. Liam wasn’t the idiot. Liam had traded his life for Flores’ when he didn’t have to. Sergeant Caleb Card was the idiot.

  “This does not need to end badly,” Hal said. “We had a deal.”

  “A deal you’re willing to break,” Caleb replied.

  “You do not understand the gravity of the situation.”

  “Bullshit. I understand you’re afraid of these Inarhi. But I don’t understand why. You have the neural disruption. You have the disabling waveform. They can’t come near you. They can’t get into this ship.”

  “Today they can’t,” Guardian said. “What about tomorrow? What about all the days after? It is not enough to keep them out. The modulator must be destroyed.”

  “This isn’t the only option. You have the tools. The technology. Help us repair the Deliverance. We’ll take the energy unit and we’ll go. We’ll find another world to settle.”

  “There are no other worlds,” Guardian said. “They belong either to the Relyeh or the Axon. Or they are beyond your reach.”

  “Then let us have the city,” Dante said. “We’ll take it off this world. Tell us where to go where we’ll be safe.”

  Guardian and Hal both laughed. “There is nowhere safe,” they said in unison. “The Relyeh conquer all they encounter. They spread endlessly onward. We have had hundreds of ens to prepare, and we are not ready.”

  “We deserve a chance.”

  “You deserve nothing. You are the last of a dead world. A failed world, one of the thousands that have fallen to the Relyeh.”

  “Earth isn’t dead,” Caleb said. “You said so yourself. There are people there, still surviving. Still fighting.”

  “Only because the true Relyeh have not yet arrived. The uluth prepare the planet. Then the masters come.”

  “How long does that take?”

  “As long as it takes. The Relyeh hurry not.”

  “But you said they’re expanding faster than you thought.”

  “Yes. The Relyeh are bound not to an algorithmic conclusion. Your planet will die, Earther. Whether by the uluth or after. You will die too. Whether by the Relyeh, the Inarhi, the Axon, or the Intellect.”

  “Can’t we all just get along?” Flores asked.

  “The Inarhi are human,” Dante said. “They’ll negotiate with us.”

  “They come from the same ancestors as you. But they are not the same as you.”

  “It is required that your ship and the energy unit are destroyed,” Hal said. “It is the only way to be sure the Inarhi do not capture it.”

  “Damn it, you can’t,” Flores said.

  “We can. And we will.”

  “Sarge?” Flores’ voice was desperate.

  Caleb was tempted to give the order to attack, but what was the point. They had less than fifty rounds between all of them. Against two of these Intellects, with all of their advanced technology? All Hal had to do was allow the neural disruption signals to resume.

  It would take a miracle to get out of this alive.

  “We will honor your servitude by ending you without pain,” Hal said.

  Caleb felt sudden happiness as the world changed around him. He wasn’t standing on the bridge of an Inarhi city-ship anymore.

  He was home.

  His parents were standing together near a barbecue grill. The smell of burgers overwhelmed his senses and made his mouth water. He heard a splash to his left and looked as Margaret’s head bobbed up from underwater.

  “It’s about time you got here, Sergeant,” she said, laughing.

  Caleb looked down at himself. He was wearing his utilities, wrinkled from the road. He had his duffel slung over his shoulder, and he was tired but happy.

  “Cal, you’re here!” his mother said, looking up at him. “Oh, we’ve missed you. How’s saving the world from terrorists?”

  “It’s the best job in the world, Mom,” he replied. But wasn’t he supposed to be somewhere else? Wasn’t he supposed to be doing something else? Saving the world. But from what? From who? It was a vague idea on the edge of his memory.

  “You look exhausted,” his father said. “We’ve got burgers cooking, but why don’t you head to your room and grab a quick nap. I’m sure your instincts will put you out in a few seconds.”

  “Yeah. That sounds like a great idea. I’m going to do that.”

  Caleb turned and started walking away, heading for the back door of the house. Everything was perfect. Just perfect.

  “Card!” someone shouted behind him.

  Caleb turned around. A woman was there. Tall, thin, with short black hair. She looked sick. Her face was mottled with patches of thicker skin, her eyes too dark. She was wearing combat armor he recognized but couldn’t identify, and she had an odd looking weapon in her hand.

  “Do I know you?” he said.

  “Move!”

  He did. It was instinct to follow the order the way she delivered it. He threw himself to the ground, at the same time the weapon fired. A blue ball of energy launched from it, sizzling over his head. He rolled over in time to realize she had aimed it directly at his parents.

  “Noooooo!” he shouted, suddenly terrified.

  Then the world changed again. He was somewhere else. On a bare metal floor in a bare metal room. He looked up.

  “Valentine?”

  “Go, damn it!” she shouted.

  Something hit her. A white beam that tore through her shoulder and ripped the weapon from her grip.

  Caleb stood up. The world was changing again. Now his sister was standing on the metal floor in her bathing suit, a horrified expression on her face.

  “Cal, what did you do? They’re dead!”

  Caleb looked to where his parents had been standing. He didn’t see them. He saw the Guardian Intellect in a hundred thousand-piece spread across the floor. He saw Hal coming right at him.

  “Guardians hit it!” he shouted, unsure if his comm was functional or not. He wasn’t sure about anything right now. His mind was being twisted and scrambled like an egg. His thoughts and emotions wrung like a wet towel.

  He heard gunfire and saw the bullets hit an invisible barrier before they hit Hal. The Intellect was still coming, a black hand forming into a spear.

  “It is required,” Hal said calmly, its last few steps speeding up until Caleb could barely follow its movement.

  He acted instinctively, throwing his replacement arm across his body. It took the brunt of Hal’s attack, the blade sinking through the alloy toward the synthetic fibers that allowed it to move. Caleb turned with the blow, using the energy and leverage to throw Hal across the floor. It caught itself, coming upright and pointing its other hand at him.

  He dove to the side as the white bolt flashed past. He kept moving while Hal kept shooting, the next two bolts drawing successively closer.

  And then Flores was right in front of him. The bolt took her in the chest, blasting through her armor and knocking her body back into him. He caught her, looking up just in time to see Hal back on the defensive as another blue ball of energy crackled into the floor beside him. Valentine was back on her feet, her body healed of its wound. She fired the odd weapon at the Intellect, keeping it on the move.

  “Cal.”

  He looked down. Margaret was in his arms, her bathing suit stained with blood, her eyes weak. He expected her to blame him. But she didn’t.

  “Kick his ass for me, will you?” Caleb saw Flores now, her eyes teary behind her faceplate. “I’m a good Marine, aren’t I, Sarge?”

  Caleb looked down at her. She had done the brave thing in the end. He didn’t get to answer the question. She gasped and went limp in his arms.

  “Godspeed,” he said. Then he let go of her, grabbing her rifle and getting to his feet. The MK-12 had two rounds left.

  He found Hal twenty meters away, facing off against Riley. They were shooting at one another, each of them dodging the other’s attacks as though they were fighting with swords instead of energy pulses. They were both moving faster than Caleb could imagine. Faster than any human could manage.

  He glanced at his HUD. Washington and Paige were out of ammo. The Guardians were spectators. They would live or die on the outcome of the fight between two entities Caleb considered enemies.

  He had two bullets. He could help one of them.

  But which one?

  Chapter 59

  It wasn’t a hard choice. Human over alien, even if that human was Riley Valentine. But would two rounds help at all?

  He was going to find out.

  He dropped to a knee, balancing his rifle and taking aim. Hal was moving so damn fast, Calab wasn’t sure he would be able to hit it. He had to guess where the Intellect would move before it moved. Maybe that was an easy task for the AI, but it was more of a challenge for him.

  He held the position. The seconds ticked past. He could see Valentine in his peripheral vision, and he married the way she was shifting with the way the Intellect was adjusting. There was a pattern to it, as if they were both on a predetermined route. He didn’t think about it. He didn’t calculate it. He saw it and his subconscious did the rest. He shifted his aim less than three millimeters. He waited less than a second.

  Then he fired.

  The first round hit Hal in the head. The second in the leg. The impact of the bullets pushed it almost into a standing position, slowing its movements and taking it off-guard. An instant later, a blue ball of energy hit the Intellect, sending sparks of lightning out from its center that caused the entire form to stiffen. The hands and feet seemed to melt, the gel material of the AI already running out in liquid form as the capsule hit the floor.

  He heard Flores’ voice in his mind. “Ding dong, the witch is dead!” He glanced at Valentine. Not yet, she wasn’t.

  He stood up, glancing at the tactical. The Guardians were moving in behind him, even as Riley was walking his way. It was four to one, but she could kill them all with that gun, probably with one shot.

  “Sergeant Card,” she said, coming to a stop in front of him. “Do you get it now?”