“Mom?” David said weakly, a heartbroken expression on his face.

  “I’m sorry, David. This is too important to let you screw it up.” One of her goons stepped through the shattered pane of the sliding door, rifle turning toward Druck. “Oh, now you show up,” she growled. I held my smile as she backed past the reinforcement, dragging a reluctant David with her.

  The reinforcement moved, turning toward David's mother and pistol-whipped her from behind. As she crumpled to the floor, the goon removed his helmet to reveal Alter's grinning guise. I had a feeling the helmet was the only part of the uniform that wasn’t actually her.

  “Oh shit,” David said, turning and looking at his unconscious mom before throwing a hard look at Alter. “Did you really have to do that?” She shrugged, and he dismissed her, going down on one knee beside his unconscious mother. “Mom?” He shook her shoulder, getting no response.

  “It’s time to go,” Matt said, offering me a hand. I took it and let him pull me to my feet. My entire body hurt, but it wasn’t so bad I couldn’t walk. He put his arm around me to support me anyway. “We don’t get a minute of peace, do we?”

  “You had half an hour,” I replied. “David, are you coming?”

  He looked up at me. “What about her?”

  “She’s down for the count,” Druck replied.

  “She’ll wake up soon enough,” I added. “But we’ll be long gone by then. I’m sure the cops will have some questions for her though.”

  “We can’t leave her here.”

  “We’re not bringing her along,” Matt countered. “We don’t have room in the car, and she’s dangerous.”

  That reminded me. I knelt painfully beside David and pulled at her uniform, trying to lift up her shirt.

  “What the hell are you doing?” David snapped, trying to grab my hand.

  I blocked his hand. “She used sigils against us.” I pulled her uniform shirt up far enough to check her skin. She wasn’t Gilded. “I need to find them.”

  He eyed me for a moment before I pulled back both her shirt sleeves to find a sleeve like Keep’s wrapped around her left wrist. “Son of a bitch,” David said. “Damn it, Mom. You should have just told me.”

  I pulled the sleeve off, wincing as I straightened.

  “We’re getting quite a collection of that crap, aren’t we?” Druck said. He laughed. “And Keep thought it was all destroyed.”

  “Let’s just go before the police get here. David? You coming?”

  “Yeah, I’m with you,” he replied, fresh tears in his eyes as he looked down at his mother. “At least you gave me a choice.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Keep was waiting for us on the front porch of the farmhouse when we pulled up to it and stopped, likely drawn out by the rumble of the Mustang's engine. His face was set in stern lines.

  “Uh-oh,” Matt said, glancing at me. “You’re in trouble.”

  “Me? Do you see a giant robot head anywhere? You're in charge on terra firma.”

  Matt shook his head, and we shared a laugh before climbing out of the car. Keep was already on his way down to meet us. Mom appeared at the front door as he reached the ground. Bill and Marie weren’t far behind.

  Keep’s eyes landed on the front of the car, no doubt noticing the bullet holes before they shifted to me, his upset shifting to concern. “You okay, kid?” he asked.

  “I’m a little sore,” I replied, still feeling the effects of being smashed into the hotel desk. “But I’ll live.”

  “Ben!” Mom said, rushing to me when she noticed the damage to the car. She pushed past Keep and wrapped her arms around me.

  I winced in response to her hug. “Not too hard, Mom. My ribs hurt, and I tweaked my back.” Her grip loosened instantly and she backed up a step.

  “Do you need some ice?”

  “No, thank you.”

  “I saw a report on the news about some kind of gang violence in Stanford last night. Right near the school. They said six gang members were killed.”

  I raised an eyebrow at that. “Is that what they’re calling them? Gang members?”

  “It was Sucaath, wasn’t it?” Keep asked.

  Gia, Quasar and Shaq made it to the door. Shaq leaped from Quasar’s shoulder, spreading his limbs and drifting down the porch steps to me. He landed on my chest and crawled up to his perch, nestling his head in my neck, obviously concerned.

  “I’m okay, bud,” I replied, scratching behind his ears. “Yeah, it was Sucaath. He isn’t done here like we thought. Keep, I want you to meet David Morgan.”

  David got out of the car, a bewildered look on his face, his eyes on Shaq. “That…that’s not from Earth, is it?”

  “Nope,” Keep replied. He put out his hand. “David, nice to meet you. I’m Keep. Avelus Keep.”

  David tentatively took him up on the handshake. “Pleased to meet you, sir.” His eyes shifted to the rest of our group, pausing on Gia. I thought his mouth would drop to the floor and his eyes might explode from his head like in those old cartoons. He didn’t say anything to her, he just stared.

  “Why am I not surprised?” Druck asked, noticing David's look. “Hey G, he’s got you on his underwear.”

  “What?” Gia replied, confused.

  “Druck, cut it out,” I said. “David, this is my mother, Carol. My friends Bill and Marie, Shaq…" He patted the Jagger's back. "...and this is Quasar, and Gia.” David raised his left hand in a limp wave. The others offered their own greetings on top of one another. “Sucaath’s minions jumped us after I talked to David about his father.” I looked at Mom. “You were right. More right than you know.” I shifted my attention to Keep. “I know you’re annoyed I didn’t listen to you, but I think once you hear everything you’ll be glad I didn’t.”

  “Kid, I’m just glad you and the car made it back in one piece,” he replied.

  “Which one are you more grateful to see?” Matt asked.

  “Smart ass,” Keep replied. “Nothing against you, Bennie. But we’re stranded here without the car.”

  “I agree,” I answered, glaring at Matt. Sometimes he took his little rivalry with Keep too far. “How are you feeling?” I asked Keep.

  “Me? I’m good to go. I took care of the Star last night. The locals are probably wondering where the random lightning came from in the middle of a drought.”

  “You didn’t start any fires, did you?”

  “Nope. It went in reverse, remember, from the ground to the sky. But you can’t really tell that from a distance.”

  “It was pretty amazing,” Bill said. “And the kids loved it.”

  “Kids?” I asked.

  “Kyrie had a sleepover with Sally last night. They’re both conked out right now after staying up to the wee hours.”

  “Why don’t y’all come inside?” Marie suggested. “Carol and I are making eggs. We’ll crack a few more.”

  “We need to get going,” Keep said. “Especially if you had a run-in with the police.”

  “I think we have time for breakfast,” I replied. “We need to talk, anyway.”

  “I’m glad you’re back safe, Ben,” Mom said, giving me a second, much gentler hug. “I’ll see you inside.”

  She and Marie went back up the steps, Marie pausing on the porch. “Bill, we could use a little more help.” He responded with his signature laugh and followed them into the house. The rest of us gathered around the Mustang for an impromptu debriefing.

  “So Sucaath isn’t defunct here like we thought,” Keep said. “That’s bad news.”

  “It may not be as bad as you think,” I replied. “David has control over what he was after.”

  “Which is?”

  “He wrote a software program to model sigiltech,” I answered, pausing dramatically. “And it works.”

  Keep’s face contorted into a position I’d never seen before. A mixture of excitement and fear. “Can you elaborate?”

  “I can show you,” David said.

  “We don’t have time for that right now,” I replied. “He showed me. Alonzo and his people were working on reconstructing the science of sigiltech. Reverse-engineering sigils they knew so they could use the equations to create new ones. They made a little progress, but David supercharged it.”

  “And you can create new sigils?” Keep asked.

  David shrugged. “I’m not sure. What I made is a proof of concept. I didn’t even think it was accurate, but Ben told me it was.”

  “He reconstructed calm,” I explained. “Perfectly. And I assume he can rebuild others. I think the more sigils we can give him, the more he can create.”

  “I see,” Keep said, losing some of his initial excitement as he turned his stern look on David. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? How dangerous that makes you?”

  David flinched, apparently uncomfortable with the statement, and the idea. “I’m nowhere near that point. I made one sigil. I have so many incomplete equations. And my focus has been on the interaction of sigils on a biological basis. Effects on the body. I always thought my father was trying to cure disease.”

  “Like cancer?” Keep asked.

  “Any disease, but yeah. Cancer.”

  Keep glanced at me. “I assume that’s why you brought him back with you, instead of killing him.”

  “What?” I said as David’s face paled. “Why would I kill him? He didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Maybe you kill innocent people, Keep,” Matt added. “We don’t play that game, and you know it.”

  “It’s nothing personal, Davie,” Keep said. “Being able to create new sigils would put us back to where we were a thousand years ago. The sigiltech war nearly destroyed the Hegemony. What we’re trying to do is stop exactly what his brain can start.”

  “Or, maybe sigiltech isn’t bad in the right hands,” I replied. “In the hands of someone who wants to help people, not gain power over them.”

  “It always starts out that way, kid. The best intentions. Let me create technology to heal. It never takes long before it’s weaponized.”

  “I’m not making any weapons,” David said. “I don’t even want to continue with this stuff if it’s as dangerous as you say. Really, I got into it so I could stick it to my old man and ruin his company. Then I just enjoyed the challenge. But first my mother is ready to abduct me by force to hold onto this tech, and now you’re talking about killing me to keep it secret. I just want to watch anime, play video games, and not be bored with everyday shit.”

  “We need him,” I said.

  “You need him,” Keep countered. “Are you willing to put yourself ahead of the entire universe?”

  “Forget about me,” I snapped. “You don’t get to decide who lives and dies because of this. Maybe that was your mission a thousand years ago, but that’s bullshit. Who made you the judge, jury, and executioner? He has every right to live, every right to pursue this. Because other people have become power-hungry doesn’t mean he will.”

  “Thank you, Ben,” David said.

  “You’re welcome,” I replied.

  “Then tell me you won’t use his sigil if he creates one that can save your life,” Keep said. “If it’s not about you.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Did you have a stroke or something while you were sleeping?”

  “Save your life?” David repeated. “What does that mean?”

  “It means he’s dying,” Keep answered. “Bennie’s got cancer in his brain and lungs.”

  David’s face fell. “Oh, shit. That sucks.” He paused. “I can probably figure it out. I just need some time.”

  “Yeah, I mean, we could save Ben’s life,” Matt said. “But somehow that’s a bad thing, right Keep? You asshole.”

  Keep’s jaw clenched, visibly torn between the promises he had made and the fact that he probably didn’t really want me to die. “I never said saving Bennie is a bad thing. But putting him over the potential to make things so much worse may be.”

  “We’re not killing him,” Matt added. “Not today. Not ever.” He looked at David. “Don’t worry. You’re safe with me.”

  “And me,” Alter said.

  “I guess me too,” Druck chimed in.

  “And me,” I added, glaring at Keep. “You did it your way, and look where it’s gotten you. I know it’s not easy for you to accept, but maybe we should try my way for a change.”

  He stared back at me for a long, tense moment. Then his face softened and he nodded. “Okay, kid. You’re right. Truth is, I don’t want to have to do this forever. I’m tired. We’ll do it your way.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “Let’s have some breakfast and then go save the galaxy.”

  CHAPTER 14

  We ate quickly, with the idea that the police might show up at the farm at any moment in the back of my mind. I did my best not to be angry with Keep for even suggesting we should murder David, trying to see things through his perspective. I couldn’t imagine being a thousand years old. I couldn’t envision participating in a war, losing my wife, or spending centuries trying to secretly keep peace in a galaxy. At least he had been open to our insistence that David be safe with us. As the only one capable of bringing us back to the Spiral, he could have put up a much bigger fight, asked for concessions, or even used his sleeve to kill David and forced us to go along with it if we wanted to see Head Case again.

  He would never look his age, but watching him as we prepared to leave, it seemed to me he had gained twenty years in the span of an hour. The fight against Sedaya and Sucaath appeared to weigh on him more than I’d realized. Which led me to another conclusion. He needed me more than I’d thought. Despite the sigil that kept him alive and his body relatively young, he was still wearing down mentally. How much fight did he have left?

  There were fewer tears when I said goodbye to Mom and Sheri this time. Even though I was returning to the Spiral in greater danger than ever, oddly enough none of us felt like we wouldn’t see one another again. And if we didn’t, Mom already knew I was at peace with the decisions I had made. That I was living the life I wanted to live for as long as it lasted. That while I wouldn’t categorize myself as happy—who could be completely happy when the entire universe was under threat?—I was challenged, motivated, focused, and fulfilled. Which, when it came down to it, was more rewarding than outright, open joy.

  David wasn’t a small guy, and adding his extra mass put a strain on our ability to fit everyone into the Mustang. To maximize space, Matt reluctantly gave up the wheel of the car to join Alter in the trunk. While she couldn’t change her overall mass, by reverting to her raw, alien form she was able to increase her density and decrease her size, as well as shape herself to the interior. Since half of the crew still hadn’t seen her natural form and she didn’t really want them to, it limited the options of who could go back there with her. I originally volunteered, but Keep wanted me available just in case he needed an extra boost on the transit.

  So it was that we left the Ackermann farm a second time almost identically to how we had left it the first time. Me behind the wheel, Keep to my right. Only this time David rode shotgun, watching intently as Keep prepared to stab himself with the catalyst and whisper the focus words that would open the rift between Earth and Atlas, thousands of light years away. We’d only been gone from the Spiral for eighteen hours. Less than a full day, though I knew Keep had rushed us back sooner than he originally planned. In part because of what had happened in Palo Alto. But I also had a sense he had decided on a greater urgency before that, even if I didn’t know why.

  “This isn’t going to be exactly like last time, kid,” he said as I put the car in drive and hit the gas. “Take it slow going through the void.”

  “Are we going to fall off a cliff or something?” I asked, easing off on the accelerator. It probably looked funny to Mom and the others, watching us drift down the driveway at five miles per hour.

  “No cliff. Just a wall. Here we go.” He opened the cap on the transmission shifter and sunk his hand over the needle. Whispering his focus words, the rift into the void formed ahead of us.

  “Oh, wow,” David said at the sight of it. “This is nuts. Cool, but nuts.”

  I guided the car into the darkness, handling the weight of the transit much better on my fourth try. I was too determined now to not succumb to the momentary heaviness, too eager to return to the Spiral and continue forging ahead.

  We punched through the other side, the wall closer than I expected. I slammed my foot down on the brakes, throwing everyone forward as we slid to a stop.

  “You understated how close the wall would be,” I complained as the car settled back on its suspension.

  “You handled it beautifully,” Keep replied.

  “I feel sick,” David said, pushing open his door and practically falling out. He took a few steps before vomiting.

  “Not everyone handles it well.”

  I opened my door and climbed out, pulling the seat forward to let Quasar exit. Keep did the same after getting out on the passenger side.

  “Where are we?” Gia asked. The room wasn’t large, and at first I thought we were in a garage somewhere. Except there didn’t appear to be an exit anywhere, for the car or us. It was as if we had transited into a sealed metal box.

  “Welcome to Atlas,” Keep said as I circled to the trunk to let Matt and Alter out.

  They were pressed together as a result of the hard stop, though she had regained her Enigma persona. Their current position was a little compromising, and they rolled apart, faces red to be caught in the accidental embrace.

  “Sorry about the hard stop,” I said, putting out my hand. Alter took it and I helped her out of the trunk.

  “At least we survived it,” Matt replied as I helped him out too.

  “David, are you okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he replied, still bent over at the waist, his eggs on the floor at his feet. “I get car sick sometimes in general. That was something else. Cool and completely terrifying at the same time.”