“I don’t love that idea.”

  “You still have another option,” he reminded me.

  “Two different kinds of torture. I guess sitting with you will hurt less.”

  “Smart-ass kid,” he muttered. “Here we go.”

  He held his hand out toward the blast door, which didn’t have controls on the inside. They started rattling and shaking as whatever strange technology the sleeve used put pressure on them, prying them apart.

  “Uh, kid,” Keep grunted as the doors separated, attracting the attention of the guard stationed outside. The doors closed halfway again before pushing back open. “I can’t…” He trailed off, but I understood what he meant.

  So much for not needing kung-fu.

  The doors opened enough for me to fit through, and I charged the guard as he drew the blaster on his hip, smacking a button on his station with his other hand. While the alert didn’t cause any obvious environmental changes, I was sure more guards would already be on their way.

  That was a problem for later. I reached the guard just as he brought the blaster in line with my face. Before he could fire, Keep used the sleeve to rip the weapon from his hand, leaving him unarmed and surprised. I threw a hard right hook that cracked solidly into his jaw, turning his head sideways and knocking him back a step.

  He recovered quickly, grabbing me as I went in for another strike, turning me and throwing me into his station. I hit the desk and tumbled over, landing hard on the floor. The guard went for his blaster on the deck nearby, only to have it slide away from him.

  And right to me.

  I picked it up as the guard lunged at me, getting it into firing position just before we collided. He landed on top of me as I pulled the trigger, sending three rounds into his gut and through his armor. A sharp grunt and exhale and he went limp on top of me.

  Keep appeared next to the desk as the blast doors slammed closed behind him. He put his hand down on the desk to steady himself. A bead of sweat ran down his brow and across his even paler face.

  “Stop messing around,” he whispered. “I’d hoped to get to the elevator before the alert went out.”

  I groaned as I shoved the dead guard off me and stumbled to my feet, still holding the blaster.

  “I’ll take that,” Keep said. “That one’s yours.” He motioned to a rifle mounted on the wall behind the guard’s chair. I passed him the blaster and claimed the rifle. “Two prison breaks in a month,” I said. “I should get an award or something.”

  “We aren’t out of here yet, kid.”

  We ran through the dark passages toward the lift. Or at least, I ran. Keep limped along behind me, struggling to break into anything faster than a jog.

  “Maybe you need a wheelchair,” I suggested, slowing when I got too far ahead of him.

  “Maybe you need to focus your attention that way,” Keep replied, aiming his blaster and firing it past my head. By the time I looked back down the corridor, it was filled with guards.

  “Shit.” I ducked back to the intersection where Keep had paused, making it just ahead of a series of bolts that hit the bulkhead directly behind me. “There’s a lot of bad guys that way.”

  Keep activated the sleeve, aiming his hand at the busy corridor. "That’ll slow them down for a minute or two." Whatever he did, I heard shouting and blaster fire behind us. Keep attracted my attention, motioning to the adjacent passage. “ We can go around this way.”

  We hurried along the corridor as quickly as Keep could go. The guards were trapped behind what had to be an invisible wall long enough for us to get deeper into the maze of passages before the wall gave way.

  “How does that work, anyway?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, exactly,” he replied. “Something about harnessing the power of alternate dimensions.”

  “Like a multiverse?”

  “I guess so, kid. I never gave it much thought.”

  “Really? You’re throwing up invisible walls and melting cell bars and you never thought about how any of it works?”

  “Do you give a lot of thought to how your starship works?”

  “Not that much. Alter takes care of it.”

  “Bingo. I don’t need to know all the science behind a thing to use it.”

  We reached another intersection, pausing more cautiously this time. Peering around the corner, I ducked back as a trio of guards emerged from another passageway at the far end.

  “Three bad guys,” I said.

  “How’s your aim?” he asked.

  “Mediocre,” I replied, shifting my grip on the rifle. “But I’ll make do.”

  “Ready?”

  I nodded.

  We both stepped out from behind cover and opened fire, a rain of bolts pouring into the unprepared guards. They dropped before they could get their weapons up.

  I ran down the passageway, leaving Keep further behind so I could collect one of their sidearms, shoving it into the empty holster on my thigh. I picked off one of their helmets as well, dropping it onto my head.

  “Bennie, take that off!” Keep snapped, sharply enough that I ripped the helmet from my noggin and threw it aside. The inside sparked and smoked with enough fury to have killed me if I had left it on.

  “Geez,” I cried in response to the violence.

  “They’re keyed to the wearer,” he said. “No stealing the armor and pretending to be one of them.”

  “I just wanted to eavesdrop on their comms.”

  “It won’t help, they’re all speaking Niflin, anyway.”

  Keep’s shout had apparently attracted the attention of the guards behind us. Their footsteps echoed in the corridors, further away but getting closer.

  “The elevator’s that way,” Keep said, pointing in their direction.

  “Is there another way around?”

  “The longer we lollygag down here, the more guards we’ll have to go through to get to the elevator. Sorry, kid. I got hit in the leg the night of the coup against Ninaya, and it never healed right. I’m just too slow.”

  “If we can’t go around, then we’ll go through them. You can use the sleeve to put up a wall. Can you throw a shield up ahead of me? Just leave a space in front of the muzzle.”

  Keep nodded. “I can do that.”

  “Then do it. And stay behind me.”

  Keep whispered his focus word, which sounded to me like he said ippitwee. I couldn’t see the force field. I couldn’t feel it either. And as the first unit of guards rounded the corner, I could only hope the shield was really there.

  It took all of my nerve to hold steady when the guards opened fire, their energy bolts sizzling down the passageway toward me. The invisible barrier Keep had erected held fast against the onslaught, catching the attack and dissipating it as though the bolts weren’t even there. It was almost as if he had created a rift in time and space and the energy disappeared into it instead of me.

  Maybe that was exactly how it worked.

  Either way, I remained unscathed and shot back, strafing the corridor without bothering to aim. My bolts smashed into the guards, ripping at their armored chests and digging pits in the plating. I continued depressing the trigger, sweeping the weapon back and forth as if I were watering a garden. The guards continued shooting, every round vanishing ahead of me without a trace. Unbelievable.

  They continued to advance, more guards bringing up the rear, followed by a few more as the first of the lead group fell. With only fifty feet between us, they would close the gap in a hurry.

  “Keep, you need to do something to slow them down.”

  “And keep the barrier up?” he wheezed. “I’m doing my best, kid.”

  “Maybe if you quit smoking,” I replied. “Come on, old man.”

  He grunted before whispering something else. The front line of guards was suddenly thrown back into the row behind them, knocking them all over. I kept shooting as they tried to get back to their feet, feeling guilty for shooting them like fish in a barrel. The guards still on their feet behind them decided they had seen enough. They turned and ran, retreating from our insane charge.

  We kept moving forward, nearing the downed guards. A few were still alive and unharmed, and they put up their hands as we approached, their eyes on Keep, terrified by the glow emanating from beneath his skin.

  “Don’t come after us, and nobody else has to get hurt,” Keep growled at them. “Bennie, grab a fresh rifle.”

  I dropped my current gun and picked up a discarded weapon as Keep’s wrist stopped glowing. “Are we near the elevator?”

  “Not too much further,” he replied. “Come on.”

  CHAPTER 5

  The guards regrouped at the elevator, at least two dozen taking positions at the intersection ahead of the lift facing us, with more further back. Keep and I stopped when we reached the corner of our passageway, still unseen but definitely expected.

  “Same play?” I asked, turning to look at him for the first time since he had used the sleeve to create the transparent barrier. He had broken into a flop sweat, his skin as pale as a white onion, his hands shaking. “Keep?”

  “This ain’t easy, Bennie,” he replied softly, leaning against the bulkhead. “I’m not as fresh as I used to be, and spending a week in Sedaya’s dungeon didn’t help. Bastard didn’t give me anything to eat.”

  “We’ll make that up to him later,” I said. “We’re almost to the elevator. Do you have enough in the tank to get us through?”

  “And then what? We still need to make it to the hangar. And then to Flippy. I didn’t expect this to be easy, but damn.”

  “Are you giving up already?” I asked.

  He laughed softly. “Don’t try to use my tactics against me. It won’t work.”

  “So you are giving up,” I pressed. “After that bullshit speech you gave me about doing my best and having strength and moxy? Come on, Keep, get with it."

  He sighed and hung his head. "I don't know if I can, Bennie."

  "Hell, I'll carry you if I have to. Come on." Ben bent over, bracing his hands just above his knees. "Get on."

  “What?” Keep hissed, startled by the demand. He frowned up at Ben. "Are you serious?"

  “I don’t want to go back to that cell and wait to be tortured until I die before my time. If we aren’t going to escape, put me out of my misery right here and now.”

  It felt strange to say the words. I heard them spill out of my mouth sent a chill through my body, and I started shaking in anxious anticipation. I wasn’t afraid to die. Given a choice, and a chance, the alternative right now was so much worse.

  Keep shook his head. “Damn it. I'm not letting you carry me.” He pulled himself off the bulkhead and huffed as he straightened. “Okay, Bennie. I feel a second wind coming on.” He moved sluggishly to the corner of the bulkhead and looked down the passageway at the gathered guards. “They don’t really know how to defend against an archon. That might be the only thing that saves our bacon.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Stay behind the bulkhead,” Keep said.

  “Wait. If you have some nuclear option up your sleeve, why didn’t you use it before?”

  “They were too spread out before. Stay here.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I need to get closer.”

  “I’ll cover you.”

  “No need. Watch and learn, Bennie.”

  Before I could say anything else, he raised his arms over his head, moved out into the open and whistled. Two dozen rifles fixated on him, but since he hadn’t attacked, they didn’t immediately start shooting.

  “I surrender,” he said, starting toward them.

  “Wait right there,” one of the guards snapped. “Don’t move.”

  “Okay, okay,” Keep replied, pausing his advance.

  “Where’s the other one?”

  “The kid? He asked me to shoot him in the head. So I did. Don’t look so shocked. He was going to die anyway. I just put him out of his misery a little early because I knew it would upset your boss.” He stepped forward again.

  “I said don’t move,” the lead guard growled again.

  “There are twenty of you and one of me, and I have my hands over my head,” Keep said. “What are you afraid of?”

  Peeking around the corner, I saw the lead guard look back at the others. Keep had a point. He was hardly a threat to them. At least as far as they knew.

  “Come forward slowly,” the guard said, trying to save face in front of his subordinates. “Any sudden moves, I'll blast you.”

  “Yes, sir,” Keep said. “You want to bring me back to the hoosegow, that’s fine by me.” He kept moving forward, one slow step at a time, closing the distance without using the sleeve.

  The guards kept their rifles trained on him. When he was within ten feet, the leader motioned for three of his guards to grab him.

  That was Keep's signal to strike.

  He lowered his hand. All he had to do was whisper the focus word and activate the sleeve. It happened so fast, the guards didn’t have a chance to react. They didn’t even know he was doing anything before the effect of the weapon hit them.

  Energy lanced from his hand like lightning, splitting into hundreds of smaller spikes that crashed into the ceiling, the bulkheads, the deck, and the guards. It sliced into their armor, stabbing them with heat and electricity, and dropping most of them before they could even scream. A few managed cries of surprise before the lightning hit them, but they too succumbed to the unexpected assault.

  It was over in only moments. Keep fell to his knees, leaving a mass of dead guards in front of him.

  I broke cover, running to him, feeling a little sick at the sight of the carnage. I laid my hand on his shoulder. “Keep. Are you okay?”

  He glanced up at me and nodded. “Second wind,” he said softly. “Help me up.”

  I put my hand under his arm and lifted him back to his feet. “That was unreal.”

  “And painful,” he added. I looked at his hand, expecting a charred mess. The fingertips looked burned, but he was otherwise intact.

  “You held up pretty well, all things considered.”

  I let him lean on me as we made our way past the dead guards to the elevator. He tapped on the controls and the doors slid open.

  “No security lock?” I asked.

  “No one trapped down here is supposed to make it this far,” he replied, breaking away from my support to step inside. He directed the cab to Deck Twenty-one.

  “How do you know which deck the hangar’s on?”

  “I’ve been on this ship before. When Ninaya came aboard to deliver the news to Sedaya that the Empress had personally rejected his marriage proposal.” Keep chuckled weakly. “You should have seen the look on his powder blue face.”

  I smiled at the thought. “What is it with his skin, anyway? I thought Sedaya was human?”

  “He is. But he doesn’t want to be. At least not physically. He’s gone through dozens of surgeries to look like them.”

  “Why?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe he just likes to stand out in a crowd of nobles. Get ready.”

  I lifted my rifle back into firing position. Keep closed his eyes, swallowed hard, steeled himself for the next round and put up his hand, prepared to use the sleeve again. The elevator reached Twenty-one. He muttered as the doors slid open.

  We were both surprised to find the corridor clear, though the echoing footsteps further down the passageways suggested it wouldn’t stay that way for long. My best guess was that Keep’s Palpatine maneuver had caught the defenses so off-balance they weren’t ready for us to punch up to the next level.

  “This way,” he said, breaking to the left. A third wind caught his sails, and he nearly made it to a full-on run as he limped down the corridor. I ranged ahead of him, rifle ready, pausing at the next intersection before he arrived to check our flanks.

  “Clear,” I announced, allowing him to pass through without breaking stride. I caught sight of a shadow at the far end of the passageway just before moving on, shifting my attention forward and backward to cover both directions while we advanced.

  “Here,” Keep said, pausing at a doorway. He used the sleeve to force it open and we both ducked into a random storage compartment—filled with a bunch of unmarked boxes—just ahead of the guards spotting us.

  Keep was barely hanging on. Breathing heavily and leaning against the bulkhead, he slid down to sit on the deck. .

  “Tell me this ship isn’t lined with security cameras,” I whispered.“No cameras,” he replied. “I don’t know that Sedaya’s ever had prisoners loose on his ship before.”

  I slumped to the deck next to him, resting my legs. “He has to know we’re going for the ship.”

  “He might not. Like you said, it only seats one.”

  “A different ship, then. It’s the only way off the island.”

  “Eviscerator has four hangars on board. He’ll still have to split his forces.”

  “His ship is named Eviscerator?” I laughed.

  “That’s funny?”

  “A little over the top, don’t you think?”

  “Now that you mention it,” he agreed, laughing.

  “Talk about a guy who’s trying too hard,” I continued. “Since he’s such an asshole, why doesn’t the Empress strip him of his title and planets?”

  “It doesn’t work like that. All of the nobles in the Spiral are descended from the crew of the original Earth colony ship. They’re from bloodlines…” He drew in a deep breath. "..thousands of years old. You can’t just sever them from the power their forebears achieved.”

  “You sound like you’re in favor of that approach.”

  “It is what it is, Bennie. That’s all. Sedaya won’t lose his position. He can’t. Not until he’s dead.”

  “Who would be next in line? Does he have kids?”

  “Not officially. Next in line to his Duchy would be his sister, Lenore. She’d be a positive step up from him.”

  We both quieted down when the deck vibrated softly, the guards racing past the door.

  “Where does the Sashkur tech come in?” I asked.

  “Sashkur Advanced Science and Technology Incorporated,” Keep said. “They were founded in the Sparse Quadrant two thousand years ago. Doctor Raymond Sashkur, tenth generation descendant of the colony ship’s lead scientist. He was one of the first groups to leave the inner Spiral, ostensibly so he could lead higher level experiments without putting the greater human population at risk. Even the Emperor expected big things from Sashkur Tech. They never expected a war.”