“You didn’t die fighting.”

  “To hell I didn’t. I died protecting my family. Trying to protect you. I don’t want you to feel guilty for me. I don’t want you to mourn for me. I know you will, but I don’t need that. We had a great life. We loved one another. We found purpose that was above ourselves and one another. Real meaning and real goals. People like us weren’t made to be selfish, Hayden. We were born to hurt. Born to sacrifice. Born to serve people who might not deserve it, but we do it because it’s the right thing to do. I did it the best I could every day. And you need to keep doing it for as long as you’re alive.”

  Hayden felt tears run from his human eye. What the hell was Nyla doing to him? Nat wasn’t really here, but he felt her as if she were. The words were her words, the way she would have said them. It seemed impossible, but somehow she was with him.

  “I explored the Q-net, Sheriff,” Nyla said, her image returning in front of him as her hand dropped away from his face. “Through it, I saw what happened to your wife. To your children. The Axon who killed them sought to keep Natalia’s experience as a memento of his victory. He uploaded her mind map to the network, where I immersed myself in it. I lived her life, Sheriff. Every second of every hour in a blink. I learned things Father never wanted me to know. Understanding, compassion and strength. He believes the Q-net will make him unstoppable. He believes he’s discovered the true purpose of being. But I disagree. The Q-net will be his downfall. The true purpose of existence isn’t to conquer all things.”

  She stared up into his eyes. His heart was pounding, tears running down his jaw. In the span of a few seconds she had given him a gift he could never repay. A gift he would cling fast to for the rest of his life, however long it lasted.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  Nyla smiled. “Please, trust in me.”

  Hayden nodded, looking up at Caleb. “Let’s end this.”

  62

  Caleb

  The teleporter let them out in an area Caleb recognized.

  “Sanctification,” he said softly, looking at the individual pods lining the hard walls, each hidden behind a fleshy membrane that acted as a curtain or door.

  “What was that?” Hayden asked.

  “Sanctification, Sheriff,” Caleb said. “The Hunger have a process that fixes organic abnormalities. They could regrow your arms, for example.”

  Hayden looked at the pods. “No bull?”

  “No bull.”

  “It’s true, Sheriff,” Nyla said. “The technology exists.”

  “How long does it take?”

  “It depends on the nature of the abnormality. To restore you would take a week at least.”

  Hayden only sounded mildly disappointed. “Easy come, easy go.”

  “Why aren’t there any Relyeh here?” Caleb asked.

  “Father doesn’t believe in Sanctification. He believes in hybridization. This area was abandoned for his new technologies, where Relyeh become part organic and part machine.”

  “Like you.”

  “And Mother, yes. That’s where I was created. The first of my kind.” She shook her head. “Hopefully the last.”

  “Is that part of Vyte’s plan? To create armies of hybrids like you?”

  “Not like me. Abominations like no race has ever seen.”

  “Abominations?” Hayden asked.

  “The Abominations are the Hunger’s efforts at doing what Vyte is doing now,” Caleb said. “They’re a hybrid of monster and machine, not nearly as refined a design as Nyla.”

  “You think me refined, Caleb Card?” Nyla asked.

  Caleb smirked. “You beat the hell out of Max.”

  “Max?”

  “An Axon Intellect,” Hayden said. “He’s on our side against Vyte.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Earth.”

  The group continued through the Sanctorium and out into another corridor.

  “This isn’t the closest path,” Nyla said. “But I believed the Sanctorium would offer the right combination of access and distance. Mother’s chambers are near.”

  There was no sign of enemy targets...so far. Would they have a free path to Nyarlath? Would that make any of this easier?

  He didn’t think so.

  Nyarlath wasn’t going to just let him kill her without a fight. He didn’t think Nyla would either. There was nothing magnanimous about her aid. She was helping her mother break free from her father, regardless of how she defined the assistance.

  And that was only if they could get to the chamber unmolested, which was also doubtful. Vyte knew where they would ultimately go. Vyte would put guards in the area to stop them from getting there.

  And we’ll remove them.

  Only if necessary. They needed their strength for Nyalarth.

  What about Vyte himself? Would he make an appearance before this was done? Caleb didn’t think so. The Axon hybrid preferred to make others do the hard work for him. He would remain wherever he was on the damnation, watching them from…

  From where?

  He raised his head, looking at the ceiling. The material was hard but porous, with irregular holes lining the tunnels the damnation carved out during its growth cycle. Any one of those holes could hide a camera, a drone or a small Relyeh observing them and passing the data through the Collective to the Q-net.

  Or all of them could be in play.

  It was an impossible problem to solve, so Caleb decided not to think about it. If Vyte could see them clearly, would the Norg guards have given chase to the other Marines? Maybe if the Axon wanted them down here. Maybe if this were a trap like Hayden had suggested earlier. But Nyla had convinced Hayden of her honesty, and Caleb was certain Sheriff Duke didn’t trust that easily. He already knew the sheriff was an excellent judge of character. In fact, he was willing to bet that if he had spoken directly to Krake instead of Hicks, he would have seen right through the ruse and Natalia would still be alive.

  There were too many possibilities to prepare for them all. The only thing he could do was try to be ready to react to anything and hope his small assembly of warriors, his new team of Guardians, could still carry the day.

  “Sheriff,” Caleb said. “I’ve been thinking.”

  “You have a plan?”

  “Maybe. What do you think about splitting up?”

  “I think we don’t have much to split.”

  “I know, but getting to Nyarlath is going to be hard enough, and overpowering Vyte will be easier if he’s distracted. Plus, you wanted a shot at him.”

  Hayden glanced at Nyla. “Vengeance isn’t as important to me now as saving what’s left, but if I can do both, I won’t say no. Except we don’t have any proof Vyte is on board.”

  “He is,” Nyla said. “He accesses the Q-net through the core. The metal there is a powerful conductor.”

  “Core?” Hayden asked.

  “The center of the damnation,” Caleb replied. “The ship’s nervous system and brain are located there too.”

  “So worst case I can at least take out the ship?”

  “Only if you want to perish,” Nyla said. “And the creature has done nothing to you other than provide shelter from the cold of space.”

  Hayden nodded. “Pozz. How do I get there? I don’t have time to learn Axon so I can use the teleporter.”

  “I can lead you to Father.” Nyla looked at Caleb. “Mother’s chamber is down this corridor. I don’t want to be there when you end her life.”

  “I never said—” Caleb started to say.

  “You don’t need to. I lived through her eyes. I saw what Father wanted and why. I also know what she did with the technology. I understand your need.”

  “And you’re okay with that?” Tora asked.

  “Mother is as guilty of destruction as Father aims to be. That’s their path. The one I reject. As I said, I’ll guide you, but I won’t help you. Don’t make the mistake of thinking Nyarlath, Queen of the Hunger, will be easy to defeat. You’ll fight, and one of you will win. The same goes for you, Sheriff Duke. But wasn’t this always how it was supposed to end?”

  “Pozz,” Hayden replied. “I believe it was.”

  “I’ll lead you to the core.”

  Caleb looked at Hayden, their eyes meeting. He put out his hand. “Good luck, Sheriff.”

  Hayden clasped it. “You too, Colonel.”

  They held the connection for a moment, and then Caleb disengaged. He looked over at Stacker and Tora. “Stay sharp. Let’s get this done. We’ll make our move in thirty minutes.”

  “Yes, sir,” they replied.

  He’s going to die.

  It was likely. Maybe even inevitable.

  For anyone other than Sheriff Hayden Duke.

  63

  Hayden

  “You really lived her entire life?” Hayden asked as Nyla led him back through the Sanctorium toward the teleporter.

  “That’s the best way to describe it, but it isn’t exactly like I was there. The Axon created mind-mapping technology to immortalize themselves. Save the memories and mind as a data stream, and then transfer it to a machine body.”

  “I take it that didn’t work.”

  “Not yet. They’re still trying. Father isn’t wrong that the Axon are limited by their lifespans. While they’ve managed to prolong themselves hundreds of Earth years, they still die of old age sooner or later. And they aren’t replenishing quickly enough. The Axon as a race have lost interest in reproduction.”

  “But they must have tech that can make little Axon without intercourse if that’s their concern. Or even clone them directly into adulthood if they don’t want to deal with infants. Even humans have those capabilities.”

  “To the Axon, clones are inferior Intellects.”

  Hayden smirked. He understood how they might see that as true. “And you used the mind-mapping to understand Natalia’s experience.”

  “Yes. She was a very impressive human.”

  “I thought so too.”

  “And you’re a very impressive man, Sheriff Duke. To start where you started and end up here.”

  “A lot of that was because of her. She always believed we could change things for the better, whether it was on the Pilgrim or on Earth. And I was starting to believe that, even after everything with King. With Tinker. With Shurrath. And then the xaxkluth destroyed Sanisco, and Krake murdered them.” He sighed heavily. “I was losing hope. Losing direction. But you changed that in an instant.”

  “She changed me, Sheriff. I was never in favor of what Father planned or what Mother is. He produced me to be his perfect goddess, and I failed him in that way. But I never spoke out. I never took action. Not until that moment when the mind-map was transferred through the Q-net. Not until I saw her. Not until I felt her joy, her sorrow, her fear, her love. And her strength. And then I knew I had to act.”

  “What will you do if we win?” Hayden asked.

  “I don’t know. There’s no place for me with the Hunger. No place for me with the Axon. I want to help stop the killing. I’ll find a way. You?”

  “Honestly, I can’t even look that far ahead. But I want to stop the killing too.”

  Nyla smiled. “Then maybe we won’t have seen the last of one another.”

  “Maybe not.”

  They entered the teleporter room. Nyla activated its pedestal, tapping on the resulting projection to change the coordinates. “This will bring you right outside of the core. Father has a Norg hybrid who guards him when he’s in the Q-net. You’ll need to get past it to get inside. You don’t need to kill Father to help Caleb Card. You only need to disconnect him from the amplifier.”

  “He’ll try to kill me when I do.”

  “Yes. Then you will need to kill him if you want to survive.”

  “But I have to get past the Norg first.”

  “Yes.”

  “Any tips?”

  “Tips?”

  “Ideas about how to defeat the hybrid most efficiently.”

  “You’re very adaptable, Sheriff. That will serve you well.”

  It wasn’t much of a tip, but he would take what he could get. “Are you coming through?”

  “No. I don’t want to observe this either. I’ll wait for you here. The coordinates are set. When it’s done, tap on the pedestal and then touch this symbol.” She pointed it the matching one on the existing projection. “Then step on the platform.”

  “Pozz,” Hayden said. He looked into Nyla’s white eyes. They were more expressive than he had first realized. He could tell she was in conflict over her treason. He couldn’t blame her for that. But she was doing the right thing because of Natalia. She had reached past the veil of death to help him one last time. “Thank you again.”

  Nyla offered a small smile but didn’t speak. Hayden motioned as if he was tipping his hat to her, and then stood on the platform. She tapped on the projection, and then he was somewhere else.

  64

  Hayden

  Hayden took a few seconds to gather himself in his new surroundings. He glanced at his HUD, noting that the sensors couldn’t pierce the room he was standing in and that the environmental readings suggested it was even hotter, more humid and less hospitable in the core than it had been further away from the center of the damnation. He wasn’t sure how long he would survive if his helmet were broken. His ability to heal would only slow the effects.

  It was better to keep his helmet on and intact.

  He looked down, checking the remaining loadout on his bandoliers. He had plenty of revolver rounds. He stuck the rifle to the back of his armor and drew his guns, making sure they were fully loaded. Then he slipped them back into their holsters and started toward the door.

  A thin membrane acted as the door to the room, and it pulled itself aside as he approached, offering access to a corridor beyond. He stepped out cautiously, hands near the handles of his revolvers, eyes piercing the hazy, humid atmosphere. His tactical was clear.

  He was alone.

  His eyes drifted to the walls and ceilings of the tunnel. He could see the veins of ore running through the stone, a matte purplish color mingling with the darker iron. The rock was denser here, with none of the pitting and depressions he had seen before. The boring was cleaner, the marks of the damnation’s teeth slightly visible around him.

  He didn’t want to confront the head of this monster if he could avoid it.

  He started walking along the passage, keeping his hands at his sides. He glanced at the clock on his HUD. Twenty-four minutes had passed. He had six minutes to find Vyte and hopefully distract him.

  He walked faster, passing through the corridor to an arch at the end. He felt the change in the atmosphere through his armor, the air suddenly becoming cooler despite consistent humidity. Approaching the arch, he could see there was a deep chasm on the other side, with an island in the center bridged by a web of material similar to the xaxkluth’s secretions. He slowed as he neared it, remembering what Nyla had said about the Norg hybrid guarding Vyte. There was no sign of it, visually or on his sensors.

  He reached the arch, stopping and looking up as he did. The weblike material expanded into an entire network above him, reminding him even more of a spider’s web. He saw that there was another island further up, the top of it facing down toward him. Thick cables emerged from the stone, snaking along one of the bridges and vanishing through the wall of the cavern, while a soft glow emanated from an opening that led into the cave.

  Hayden’s hands wrapped around the handles of his revolvers as he spotted Vyte’s guard. The Norg hybrid was standing almost directly above him, inverted and motionless.

  It was as if the gravity were completely reversed ten meters over his head.

  What the hell?

  The Norg looked down at almost the same time Hayden looked up. It looked like the other soldiers they had encountered, with a squid-like face and a muscular body. Except its eyes were glowing blue and it was wearing a thin layer of what looked like the purple ore he had seen a few minutes earlier as armor.

  And it was bigger than the other Norg soldiers.

  Much bigger.

  Hayden drew his revolvers as the Norg pushed off what served as its floor, decelerating in its jump for two meters before the gravity did indeed seem to change, suddenly pulling it downward. It flipped over expertly as it dropped toward Hayden, disrupting his aim as it opened its hand and launched a blast of energy at him.

  Hayden jumped back, careful to watch the edges of the platform where he was standing. The energy sank into it and dissipated, the weapon clearly designed not to harm the material.

  The Norg landed gracefully on the platform in front of him, squealing in challenge.

  Hayden’s hands whipped up, revolvers firing. The large caliber rounds hit the armor, leaving small dents along it as the material stopped the impact, leaving him standing in front of the guard with his guns empty.

  “Shit,” Hayden cursed. The Norg lunged toward him. He tried to sidestep out of the way, but the Norg caught him with one hand, hitting him hard enough with the other one to throw him off balance.

  He slipped over the edge.

  He was going to die.

  Instead, he found himself standing on the side of the platform, clinging to it as if his horizontal position was up, leaving the Norg at a ninety-degree angle behind him.

  What...the...hell?

  His eyes flicked to the clock on his HUD. He had two minutes to reach Vyte before Caleb would launch his attack. He needed to figure out the rules of this place and find some way to take down the guard. Its armor was dented from his close-range, high-powered rounds. Maybe if he hit the same spot multiple times, he could punch through.

  He had to get his bearings first, and the Norg wasn’t going to give him time to do it. The Relyeh leaned over, making an odd jump from the top of the platform to the side and stretching his hand out again for Hayden. He dropped and rolled, over the side and back to the top of the platform, avoiding the attack. He looked up, considering his next move. Would it work?