“I used a lot of energy on Merton too,” I said. “I thought there might be more of a deterioration because of that.”

  “I don’t have that final number yet. Oh, wait. The autodoc just finished processing it. Hold on.”

  This was the part that made me nervous. We had both theorized and accepted that the catalyst would kill me over time despite the presence of restore, gradually weakening me in the process. Justus had used past numbers to build a baseline, but this was the first meaningful measurement he had taken. I had used the construct so often during Kill Spree, it was bound to have moved the needle. How much would help determine not only how cautious I needed to be to continue use of sigiltech from here on out, but also how long I might live with its help.

  “Keep in mind, this is my first pass at this,” Justus said. “It’s an educated guess, and honestly my math could be completely wrong.”

  I struggled to breathe past the lump in my throat. “Is it that bad?”

  “Honestly, it’s better than I hoped. I started your baseline at one hundred percent. As of now, your score is at ninety-nine point eight-seven.”

  I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “That is pretty good, I think.”

  “It’s better than you think. I don’t know exactly what your usage was like between the last measurement and this one, and right now we have no way to measure it, but you told me it was a lot. And as it stands right now, my algorithm suggests your lifespan will be over three hundred years.”

  I felt my jaw drop open. “Did you just say three hundred?”

  “Yeah. But just remember it's taking the average of measurements to output the estimate. Once you have more measurements it’ll become more accurate. The margin of error is plus or minus a hundred years.”

  “That would still get me to at least two hundred.”

  “If my math is right.”

  “If I get seventy I’ll be ecstatic. With untreatable cancer, I thought I would be dead at twenty-one.”

  “Well, I’m glad that didn’t happen. I’ll keep everything open on the terminal so you can look at it later. I’m on my way down.”

  “Copy that.” I tapped the comm badge to disconnect.

  “Well, it’s not a thousand but believe me, kid, it’s better that way,” Keep said, having listened in on the conversation.

  “I’m definitely not complaining,” I replied.

  It took Justus less than a minute to reach the hangar. He jogged down the steps, meeting us in the center of the space as Ki emerged from the gunship.

  “Everything’s packed and ready, Captain,” she said.

  “Thank you, Ki,” I replied, glancing at the others. “Time to go.”

  We boarded the gunship. I slipped into the pilot seat while Keep and Justus found seats in the back with the Litter. I started the reactor, overhearing Justus as the vessel hummed to life.

  ‘I just saw on the hypernet that there’s a new Galaxy Man movie going into production next month, due out next year.”

  “Oh?” Keep said, feigning interest. “That should be something else. What’s the plot?”

  “You know how those things are. They don’t like to let anything slip early. But I’ve seen rumors online that they’re going to introduce Universe Woman as a villain.”

  “This isn’t another one of those movies where the two superheroes start with some contrived reason to fight one another and then team up against a greater threat, is it?” Keep asked.

  “I don’t know. It might be. But it’ll still be fun either way.”

  Keep paused. “Justus, now that we’re friends, I have a confession to make.”

  I stopped listening there, though I couldn’t help overhearing Justus’ surprised denial and disbelief after Keep told him he actually didn’t like Galaxy Man and had only talked to him about it because it helped them build rapport. I was too busy using my phone to seal Head Case’s airlock before closing up and detaching the gunship, firing vectoring thrusters to push us away from the ship. I hated to leave again so soon, but I didn’t plan to be gone long.

  Sending a little juice to the mains, I guided the gunship toward Radiance, which had closed the original gap between us considerably. On the grid, I could see the Sanguine yacht still flying in large, looping ellipses. Only the pattern had also gained some depth as Coil blindly stabbed at the controls, becoming more like a circular thrill ride of crests and falls in three dimensions.

  Idiot.

  The crossing only took a handful of minutes. The gunship’s smaller size allowed me to set her down in Radiance’s hangar. An entourage led by Dryka greeted us by the time we popped the hatch and the Litter had grabbed their gear. Dryka hugged each of her rebels as they emerged from the ship, saving the largest embrace for Justus and adding a kiss on his cheek, which seemed to take him by surprise.

  “Well?” I asked Keep as he lingered just inside the door of the gunship, out of her sight. “What are you waiting for?”

  He glanced at me. “To be honest, I don’t want to look weak in front of the others.”

  “Emotions are a strength, not a weakness. You’ve waited a long time for this.”

  He nodded, breathed in deeply, and moved to the hatch. The moment his eyes met Dryka’s, they both teared up. Being a softie, my eyes welled a little too at the sight. Hesitation gone, they walked toward one another, not stopping until she had jumped into his embrace. I used that opportunity to walk up behind them.

  “I've missed you, Avi,” Dryka said. “More than I even thought I did.”

  “I've missed you too, kiddo,” Keep replied.

  They held one another for nearly half a minute before Dryka pulled away. “You look like you haven’t aged a day.”

  “Bennie tells me you know why that is,” Keep said. “He tells me you know a lot more than that.”

  “About sigiltech, yes.” She held up her hand, a catalyst ring on her finger. “Enough that when I spotted this in a flea market on Lorien, I knew what it was and how to use it.”

  “And you’ve got the right genetics,” Keep said. “Incredible.”

  Dryka finally looked at me. “Ben. It’s good to see you too.” She put her arms out, and I gave her a warm hug.

  “You aren’t still mad at me, are you?” I asked.

  “We’ll see how things go from here,” she replied. “Are you willing to acquiesce to my desire to head for Bracken?”

  “No. I still think that’s the wrong move. What if Dominator is there? You won’t stand a chance.”

  “Neither will you,” she said. “That’s the point. Like it or not, you’re more valuable than I am in this fight. And I think we both agree that Bracken is more likely a trap.”

  “A trap I might be able to overcome,” I countered. “I’ve done it before.”

  “But what if you can’t this time?” she pressed.

  “Did Justus tell you that I had an encounter with Succaath on Merton?” I asked.

  “No,” she answered, surprised by the admission. “I only saw part of the stream before entering hyperspace.”

  “You saw the demons, though? The dark creatures that attacked the players?”

  “I did.”

  “I had to fight my way through them to reach Succaath’s ship and rescue Matt, even though Succaath could have stopped them from attacking me at any time. He said it was because he wanted to see if I could fight my way through them. If I couldn't, he figured I'd have no shot at beating Sedaya. It was a test of my strength and fortitude. It’s the same thing here. If I can’t overcome whatever might be waiting at that factory, I’m not strong enough to do what needs to be done.”

  “I think your logic is flawed,” Dryka said. “On Merton your options and choices were limited. If you wanted to rescue your friend, you had to fight. But defeating Sedaya won’t be so straightforward. Strategy matters as much as brute strength, if not more.”

  “That sounds like an argument in my favor. I’m no strategist.”

  “Emerald is,” Keep said. “She knows an awful lot about war, politics, and technology. Quasar can help you there too.”

  I stared at him in shock. “Whose side are you on? You seem a bit eager to send your ward to her death.”

  “One, the only side I’m on is the side that plans to win. If that means sacrifice, it’s one I think Jackie will make to save the Spiral and especially her people. Two, I’ve decided she’s right about who should go where. And three, if I’m sending her to die, then I’m sending me to die too. I’m going with her.”

  “What?” Dryka and I both said.

  “I need you,” I added.

  He laughed. “You won Kill Spree, kid. And you’re ten times the archon I am. You definitely don’t need me. And I think Jackie would benefit from some archon training. Just like you did. “

  I glared at him. “I feel like you set me up.”

  “Nope. It’s not like that. But we do need to split up, and if Dominator is waiting at Bracken, I’m betting Radiance can get the hell out of there faster than Head Case. She’s a good ship, but you know all of the components are old and outdated. That could be a liability here.”

  “Radiance has an upgraded nav processor,” Dryka agreed.

  “Lyle won’t give you even a second to jump,” I said.

  “I can hold her off for a few seconds,” Keep said.

  “I can hold her off longer than you,” I replied. “You can stay here if you want, but I still believe I should go.”

  “We agreed to a competition over it,” Dryka said. “Do you still want to decide that way? Since you refuse to be reasonable.”

  “I don’t think I’m being unreasonable. I’m trying to protect you.”

  “I don’t need your protection, Ben. I’ve scratched and clawed my way through the Spiral for a long time. I can handle myself.”

  “Don’t take it personally, kiddo,” Keep said. “Bennie wants to protect everyone. That’s what makes him strong.” He turned to me, clasping my upper arms and looking me directly in the eyes. “Let it go. Take the gunship back to Head Case and set a course for Mushari. Okey dokey?”

  I gritted my teeth, ready to keep arguing. But what was the point? Maybe he was right. Maybe I was being stubborn. We had to go to both places either way.

  “On one condition,” I said.

  “Sure, kid. Shoot.”

  CHAPTER 8

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, kid,” Keep said after I told him what I wanted in exchange for dropping the Bracken argument.

  “Why not?” I replied. “You were fine with it when I was on Merton. You pushed it multiple times, as I recall.”

  “Yeah, but that was different.”

  “How?”

  “For one, you were planetside, so the collateral damage risk was minimized. For another…” He trailed off, trying to come up with a second reason.

  “My thoughts exactly,” I said. “And you were so confident in me then. But now that I’m at full strength you’re more worried about my ability to pull it off? Either you believe in me or you don’t, Keep. Make up your mind.”

  We locked eyes for a few tense seconds before he broke the standoff by glancing over at Dryka. By her expression, I knew she really had no idea what the ramifications were of what I had requested.

  “I have no idea what you two are talking about,” she said, looking back and forth between them.

  When Keep looked back at me, his jaw had set. “Bennie, you’re putting me on the spot here.”

  “You just put me on the spot by siding with Jacinda,” I replied. “Answer the question.”

  “You didn’t ask a question.”

  “Don’t play dumb. Do you believe in my ability to execute a transit or not?”

  “Why are you even asking for that as a condition?”

  “Because you want us to split up again so you can train her, but you haven’t finished training me. I have the sigils to transit. It’s one of the most valuable tools on the belt, so to speak. If you teach me how to do it, I’ll be able to come to you if you need me.”

  “You can’t transit something as big as Head Case without the sigibellum and without having the sigils etched into the ship itself. You have neither.”

  “What about Starbright?”

  He wrinkled his face. “You could probably do it.”

  “There you go. Besides, you think I can survive a vacuum like you did, at least for some measure of time. And there are other benefits to being able to transit. For example, I’d be able to go home to visit Mom and my sister whenever I want. Need more? I can leave the gunship with Radiance. If you’re going to Bracken, you might need it.”

  “I don’t know, kid,” Keep replied. He turned to Dryka again. “He wants me to teach him to use four of the sigils in his construct to open a tear in spacetime. He’d be able to use it to transit from one point in the universe to another practically instantly.”

  Her eyebrows went high. “That’s something you can do?”

  “We’ve done it before,” I said. “We had a catalyst with the sigils, but I lost it on Merton.”

  “That’s unbelievable.” Her brows crinkled inward. “Why wouldn’t you want to teach him that? It seems pretty useful to me.”

  “It is useful. But it’s also risky. He’s never done such a complex action before. If it goes wrong, he could open the tear through the ship’s hull and vent all the atmosphere. Or he could come out in the wrong place on the other side of the rift. Or he could get stuck in the void in between.”

  “As long as I can get back through I’d wind up back here, wouldn’t I?” I asked.

  “Yeah, so long as you can hold the tear open long enough.”

  “So the risk to Radiance is relatively minor. I’d have to really mess it up to put the tear in the wrong place, wouldn’t I?”

  “You let me talk you out of it on Head Case. Why are you willing to go through with it here?”

  “I just told you. Besides, if nothing else, Merton gave me a lot more confidence in my ability to command sigiltech. I believe I can do it.”

  “Kid—” Keep started.

  “I believe he can do it, too,” Dryka said. “I agree that you should teach him.”

  “It’s dangerous, Jackie.”

  “Everything we’re going to do from this moment forward is dangerous,” she countered. “In my opinion, the risk is worth the reward. And this is my ship to do with as I will.”

  “Your Grace,” Justus said, minding his own business until now. “I don’t think—”

  “This is my ship,” she repeated, glaring at him.

  “Yes, Your Grace,” he replied, bowing his head in submission.

  “Avi, teach him,” Dryka said to Keep. “You won’t regret it.”

  He exhaled sharply and nodded. “Okey dokey. But this is on your heads, not mine. I’m not the one who’ll perish if the ship loses atmosphere. I can fling myself back to Head Case. Badabing badaboom.”

  “I can do this,” I said, smiling at Dryka. “Thank you for your vote of confidence.”

  “I believe in you, Ben,” she replied.

  “You want to do it right here, or is there somewhere a little more open we can run through it?” Keep asked.

  “This is the most open space on the ship,” Dryka replied.

  “Fine. Can you provide me with Head Case’s current star coordinates?”

  “Justus?” Dryka said.

  “On it, Your Grace,” he replied, returning to the gunship to gather the information. We waited a minute while he accessed the nav systems and memorized the sequence, returning and spitting it back at us.

  “You got that, Bennie?” Keep asked. “Because forgetting a number or getting one wrong would be really bad for you.”

  “Can you repeat it?” I asked Justus.

  He did. I said it back three times to make sure I had it right. Assuming Justus had memorized it correctly from the nav.

  “Good,” Keep said. “That’s the easy part. Now, visualize somewhere on Head Case where you want to open the tear. Since you know the ship so well, the risk that you’ll misplace the far side is minimized.”

  I closed my eyes, picturing the hangar. I could see it clearly in my mind’s eye. The bulbs hanging from the rafters, the steps leading up to the elevator. I could even smell the burned metal scent that always lingered. “Got it.”

  “Good. Hold it. Give me the coordinates again without losing the image. And no bullshit about getting it right the first time. It takes practice.”

  I repeated the coordinates, but the hangar faded from my thoughts. “Shit. I lost it.”

  “Again.”

  I lost it the second time, the third, and so on until I had repeated the process nearly fifty times. By then, I was almost nauseous from the burned metal smell and sick of reciting the coordinates.

  “Harder than you thought, eh kid?” Keep said.

  “I don’t know how you thought I could do this from Merton.” I shook my head. “I don’t know how I got to Merton on the first try.”

  “The etched catalyst helps a lot. There’s more margin for error. Heat of the moment helps too. Makes it harder to overthink it and lets instinct take over. But practice makes perfect, so do it again.”

  I nailed it on the sixty-first try. Again on the sixty-third, and managed to hold it until I reached seventy-five repetitions. At that point, Keep was finally satisfied.

  “Once more, but when you’ve got the coordinates and the location, activate your construct. Remember, expand to open spacetime, shift to adjust your phase so you can see and enter the void, transfer to create a pathway through it, and of course push or pull to do the actual crossing. Capiche?”

  “Yeah. I remember. Here goes.”

  “Wait,” Keep said before I could start.

  “What?”

  He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me. “In case it works. Or doesn’t. I might not see you again. It’s been a blast, kid.”

  I hugged him back. “You’re a better friend and surrogate father than I ever thought you’d be. Thank you, Keep.”

  “Father?” he said, pulling away. “I don’t know, Bennie. I always thought of myself more like your uncle.”