“Got you.” Mason killed the link. He ran a hand along the lines of his jacket, sighing. “Sadie?”

  “You’ve got to go.” The hurt was back in her eyes.

  “I don’t want to.”

  “It’s not about what you want.” Eloi’s chin jutted, stubborn.

  “Shut it, kid.” Mason ran a hand through still-damp hair. “I feel like I keep running out on you, Sadie.”

  “We’ll pick this up later.” She crossed her arms.

  “Right. There’s one tiny detail. A small wrinkle.”

  When he told her, she laughed. Then she got angry. After that, she raged. Mason waited it out, then told her why. A collection of thoughts and ideas Lace’s guesswork dredged up on the mixture of Carter’s last, great works. The data packet told him a lot. It showed him Delilah’s gut, and Harry’s drive.

  Sadie listened, waiting him out. “And what do you think?”

  Mason frowned. “It’s not about me.”

  “I know. It’s about me. Mason, I trust you. I trust you with my heart.” Sadie rubbed an angry hand under her eye, smudging a tear. “This company bullshit is too much. It’s been so hard. A long three months. I’ve tried to keep the faith, but … I’ve lost my way. Everything’s difficult. So, you tell me. Is this the right thing?”

  Mason thought about that. About her, and what was inside her, all the beautiful things that made music. Those things might be lost if he got this wrong. Mason looked at Laia, then the oracles. “No. But this is the thing that keeps us alive.”

  She gave a tight nod. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Reviewing months of overlay data was a bullshit job for bullshit people, but Harry was fresh out of assholes to delegate to. He and Lace sifted through hours of Mason’s recordings, all the experiences from Abinal saved in his link.

  The easy stuff came first. Apsel’s mothballed facility, a reactor humming at its heart, even after all this time. Lace said I wonder if that’s why their star grew cold. Harry didn’t know. A problem for another time. From the exec one-pager he’d reviewed on Apsel’s tech, the ‘reactors’ sipped the smallest bit of star power through an aperture too tiny to contemplate.

  Too tiny until something went wrong, like what wiped out Amsterdam.

  Harry thought her idea through, and an uncomfortable one chased it. He made the mistake of voicing it aloud. What if there’s another gate vampiring Abinal’s star? Also like it was the kind of random thought any fool could have. Lace got a distant look in her eye like he was a genius, but she didn’t want to admit it because she was the ideas half of their relationship.

  That was six hours ago, and while she worked on gate tech theory, he reviewed link data. Mason kept himself busy. Walked the land, all of that. Harry spent time reviewing combat footage with Masters, skipping over moments alone with Laia. There are some things that shouldn’t be on a record anywhere.

  Harry felt about ready for a stretch, if there was enough left inside his chassis to ease. If they scraped together all the meat there might be enough left for a pot roast. “So, all the people Mason saved.”

  “Hmm?”

  “Where’d they go?” Harry found records of hundreds of Masters put to blade or fist, many like Zach and Laia left running free. Walking into the distance, sun at their back, chains in the dust at their feet. “There’s people on Abinal with superpowers.”

  “Hmm.” Her face was buried in her console. The bar grew dark and gloomy around them. Mike was still out back, getting his ass and brain wired right. Delilah was doing ninja recon things. Sadie was at Metatech, no doubt tearing Mason a new asshole for leaving her with the messy, painful job of wrangling syndicates.

  There’s nobody better suited. God help us all if she chairs a company someday.

  “We could really use people with superpowers.” Harry sighed, the PA batting the sound around the empty bar. He nudged his power coupling with a big metal toe. Being in the chassis was might incarnate, right up to the point where some asshole mind-controlled you. It hadn’t been fun when Olivia Simons jacked his link and shut him down. Harry could only imagine what it might be like for people under the thrall of a Master.

  Harry let his optics scan the room again, freezing as they found the oracles. The weird kids came back with the Metatech team. Remotes were still on Abinal, hammering Masters into the dirt like there was a bonus for every ten. Could well be. Harry hadn’t kept pace with the company memos on the mission.

  These two, Eloi and Nura, wormed their way into their lives just like Laia and Zach. Wide eyes. Lots of wondering stares at the magnificence of Heaven. It wasn’t natural. Harry rose a half meter, chassis whining. “Yo. Help you?”

  Nura shook her head. “We’re here to help you.”

  That made Lace turn around. She did a double-take. “I thought you two were at the Metatech med facility.”

  “We weren’t needed there anymore.” Eloi shrugged, like telling people obvious things was his whole purpose in life.

  Harry peered at them with optics on zoom. “How’d you get here?”

  “We walked,” they said in unison.

  “Nobody walks.” Lace glanced at her chair. “It’s dangerous.”

  “Only if you don’t know where the danger is.” Eloi walked to Lace, looking over her shoulder at the screen. “You’re looking in the wrong place.”

  She glanced at the screen. “I’m trying to find another gate on Abinal.”

  Nura walked to Harry, peering up at him. Harry stared at her in turn, chassis leaning forward like a curious cat. She reached a finger to touch the metal nose of the chassis. “You have the right idea. You fitted your own collars, but don’t have the keys.”

  “Sounds like bullshit,” remarked Lace.

  “You need a bright light to call them back.” Eloi shoved hands in pockets, a natural at it. “All the lost of Abinal will come if you call.”

  “The Masters,” said Lace.

  Eloi drew a hand from a pocket, reaching out to Lace. She leaned back, like his arm was a cobra, hungry to taste her, but her chair didn’t let her flex. Eloi touched the back of her neck, the boy leaning close. “Here.”

  “The link?” Lace’s eyes were wide, but she didn’t move.

  Eloi nodded. “You need to unlock the collar with the keys of your enemy.”

  Lace snorted. “What kind of bullshit … wait.” Her eyes widened further before she glanced at Harry. “Keys of your enemy. Why didn’t I think of that?”

  “Think of what?” Harry looked between the three.

  “HumanE leave fingerprints everywhere.” Lace rolled back from Eloi, but not in avoidance. She just had something to do. “Their tech jacks links. If I can reverse engineer that, I can maybe build a shield. Some protection is better than none. Now, where is it…” She wheeled across Afterlife toward a box of cables by the stage. Lace bent over, rummaging.

  “Sounds good as a straw man. Can we return to the point about calling ‘em back.” Harry looked to Nura. “All the people Mason saved. That’s who you’re talking about, right?”

  “Yes.” Nura nodded. “It’s what he does.”

  “I know, kid. I didn’t for the longest time, but I get it now. We made it harder for him, not easier. Always the percentages.” Harry held his hand out flat, unsure why, but Nura clambered on, giving the motion purpose. He lifted her up to his eye height. “Where did they go?”

  “They’re not far. They wait for your signal. You just need a bright light.”

  Harry thought about the fusion cannon in his arm, linked to the heart of a star. “I think I can manage that. But I ain’t going to a devil planet without protection against mind controlling assholes.”

  Nura wriggled around on Harry’s big metal hand, pointing to Lace. Lace didn’t notice, head down in her work. “Her.”

  “This something about how she holds the keys to my heart? Corny line, kid.”

  Nura smiled, glancing to Harry’s optics over her shoulder. “She has the keys to your soul. You just have to believe.”

  What the hell does that mean? Harry thought about pretending he understood, then thought fuckit. “I don’t get you at all.”

  “Have you ever wanted to walk again?” Nura sighed, looking at Eloi. “To feel the sun?”

  “Sure. I know you’re only a kid, but that’s kind of a horrible thing to say.”

  Eloi drifted over. He clambered up Harry’s knee, joining Nura on his hand. It wasn’t a roomy hand, but they were comfortable together, and also half-starved. “If you shine a bright light, we can make you walk again.”

  “Someone’s told you about incentives.” Harry swiveled his optics to Lace. Good thing she wasn’t hearing this. She’d rage and throw the kids out.

  “It’s what you need.” Eloi scrambled down, making for the door. “Remember. It needs to be a really bright light.”

  Nura nodded, slipping free. She made her way to the back room.

  Harry watched them go. “Lace.”

  “Hmm?” Lace looked up, holding a tiny sliver of metal, tinged red-brown. It was the link Zach brought back a couple days ago.

  “How come those kids were speaking English?”

  “Hmm.” Lace ignored him, turning the link tech over in her hands. Such a small set of electronics, but capable of so much. She wheeled to her desk, slotting the link into the console.

  Harry watched Lace work. He could do bright lights and harsh noises. It’s why they made him, after all.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Austin glared at the collection of junk the techs assured him was a gate. Reed put this sucker together in record time, which meant they’d skipped the chromed rims and paint job. Wires hung like vines between spars. A console glowered right back at Austin, daring him to do something stupid. He’d checked the logs, found someone else had tried opening a gate into outer space, and figured the console was right to dare.

  He looked to the ceiling. “Goliath?”

  “I’m here.” The machine’s voice sounded smooth and rich, like real gravy.

  “You sure you’ve got the coordinates at the right location?” Austin fingered his sidearm. It was natural to be anxious about going to another world.

  “I’ve extracted them from Carter, yes. Her sat imagery was very thorough. We can avoid the pyramidal structure swarmed by Metatech ants, heading straight to the major city twenty klicks southeast.”

  Ruby snorted. “Define major city.”

  “It’s a collection of shitty houses,” offered Goliath. “The atmosphere is tinged with smoke. The primitives use wood fires.” The machine sighed. “Wrap up warm. The atmosphere is also a few C colder than Seattle.”

  “How is Carter?” Austin walked around the gate device. It was a marvel. Something this rough could open a portal to another world. Send matter and energy between two places faster than light. He’d need to get a patent on it.

  “Under my control.” Goliath hummed, enjoying himself. “She’s a tiny insect.”

  “Okay. Let’s put the brakes on non-HumanE coercion, shall we?” Austin was betting large his Complier would protect him from the Masters, but that’s why he had staff. A few sacrificial lambs to test the tech.

  Goliath suggested the idea, which irked Austin. The machine was too smug for his liking but was also too useful to scrap. The theory Goliath put forward was to use Complier tech but under control of the host. A feedback loop, re-enforcing each mental command from the link user. Outside influence would be rejected as silt in the code, overpowering whatever high sorcery telepathy these freaks used.

  It was an important first step in Austin’s next recruitment drive.

  Goliath tapped Austin’s link, updating the code. Austin didn’t feel any different. Goliath spoke to him directly over the link. “Remember, this means a self-Complied user can’t be Complied by us.” He tagged Ruby, who stood with hands on hips, glaring at the gate. “If you have doubts…”

  Austin sighed. “If there’s anyone I have zero doubts about, it’s Ruby Page. I know you’re trying to climb over the bodies of the damned to be my right-hand machine, but this isn’t the way. Be better. And do her.” Austin closed the link.

  Ruby gave a little jerk as Goliath updated her link code, then relaxed. She turned to Austin, raising an eyebrow. “That’s it?”

  “That’s it.” Austin rubbed his hands together. “Let’s get us a six-pack of sociopaths to do our bidding, shall we?”

  The team going through the gate was small, but perfectly formed. Twenty top-shelf enforcers, all Complied, stock options ensuring they were ready to do what Austin wanted. Ruby Page oversaw the enforcer team. Six techs, each with a companion automated loader following them, the machines standing at a meter and a half tall. Each loader supported what looked like a coffin.

  Austin debated long and hard about going on this mission. So many cock-ups, and so little time. He needed this one to be done right, and sometimes that needed a little more micromanagement than he was comfortable with.

  The gate flickered, a hum growing in pitch until it went past Austin’s hearing range. A pinprick of blue-white light floated in the middle of the gate array, then snapped wide with a crack, becoming a ball of luminous electricity. The techs assured him the electricity was harmless, but looking at it made his balls shrivel a little. He wasn’t afraid to admit it.

  Beyond the gate, a wide plain. The gate centered on a roadway made of mud bricks. Austin walked around the sphere, his viewpoint changing until he saw the city they were after. A collection of hicks goggled at the sphere from the other side, their smudged, dirty faces full of awe.

  I’ll give you awe. Austin linked to the team. “Let’s do this.”

  Ruby gave a short nod, directing the enforcers through the gate. They entered in single file, fanning out as they reached the other side. Ruby was hot on their heels, Austin right behind her. Passing through the gate felt like nothing. A breath of warm air on his face, then he was on the shit-stained road on a world where they still used livestock for transportation.

  The smell was a special kind of awful, heady animal scent, manure, and unwashed bodies. The hicks watching did as he expected: a lot of screaming and running away, mixed with indecision and milling around. Ruby headed toward the city at a run, her bionics making it look easy. Ten enforcers broke off to join her, another ten surrounding the gate. It wouldn’t do to have their escape route cut off.

  Behind Austin, the techs came through, looking around like kids at Apple-Disneyland. The loaders followed them. Austin set off after Ruby at a brisk pace. He didn’t run for two reasons. First, never hurry. It showed you were too eager, and Austin needed to be in a prime negotiating position. Second, he didn’t have Ruby’s bionics or her fitness, which meant he’d sweat through his suit, despite the chill.

  Optics zooming ahead, he saw Ruby’s team reach the gates of the city. Big and tall, ten meters high easy, and it didn’t even slow them down. Rockets spat at the tall wood, blowing it to matchsticks. Fires bloomed, smoke eager to gallop to the sky. The hard chatter of automatic weapons fire silenced the few foolish guards who thought they might wave sticks at gods, and then it was done.

  Austin made the gate twenty seconds later, stepping over charred wood and still-burning bodies. It smelled like a Texas barbecue. The techs followed, cautious now. Ruby’s team were top-rate. They’d leave nothing behind to cause alarm, but you really could never be too careful.

  Case in point was the young kid trying for an angle on them. Austin drew his sidearm, a targeting frame dropping over the kid on his overlay. He fired once, hitting the kid center forehead. Austin went to check the body. Dirty homespun clothes, more a sack than anything. A rolling pin, as if a weapon like that would do much at all. He holstered his weapon, setting off in the direction of screaming.

  They reached the center hall without further incident. It was a big building, unmistakable because it was made of stone, big pillars holding up a heavy-ass roof. Everything around it was mud or wood, but someone dropped serious cash to ensure this building said we’re in charge. Austin would correct that view, but it was nice these people thought in the right way.

  The door to the building was wood banded with metal. Ruby’s team hadn’t burnt them down because they needed the doors for later. The entrance yawned wide, sunlight laying a mat under Austin’s feet. He strode inside, taking in the wide-eyed stares of a hundred people.

  They had something in common. Despite the varying ages and genders, skin colors, and ridiculous haircuts, they were all clean. Well-fed, some even tending toward fat. Which made sense; no clinics on this world. Austin smiled. “How’s everyone doing?”

  “They don’t speak English.” Ruby nudged a body with her boot. It was a woman, mid-thirties, arm ending in a bloody stump, bullet holes riddling her torso. Austin looked around for the remains of the arm but didn’t see it. One of Ruby’s hands was smeared red, glistening in the sunlight. “This one started some shit she couldn’t finish.”

  “Ah.” The techs entered behind him, loaders whining up the steps and inside. Austin strode forward, arms wide. “Welcome to Human Energetics.”

  At his words, the ten enforcers spread out. Two closed the doors, preventing escape. The rest made their presence known, butts of rifles hitting faces and the odd gut-punch. Once the general panic and disorder settled, a man with a nose like an axe blade stepped forward. He spoke in a language Austin never heard before. Austin’s overlay said NO LINGUISTIC MATCH.

  He sighed. “I guess you’re first, then.”

  Two enforcers grabbed the man by his arms, hauling him toward the techs. A coffin on a loader opened, revealing a metal slab and five rings of metal. The enforcers fed the axe-nosed man into the machine, the rings closing on his arms, legs, and head. He struggled the entire time, but wasn’t a match against bionics.

  Held still, the man still spouted gibberish, but his tone was frantic. Austin tapped the side of his head. “You’re trying to get in here, aren’t you? It’s what I’d do too. Don’t worry, this will all make sense soon.” He nodded to the tech, who went to work on the panel on the loader’s side.