“The bio-drones herded us into the cafeteria, the only space big enough to hold the entire staff. We waited for a long time, with the drones endlessly moving, scuttling all over the floors, the walls, the ceilings – it was all very disturbing. Finally, a Liar arrived, and though back then I found it hard to tell individuals of the species apart, he was bright red, and I thought – was he the same one I saw collecting samples in the gorge all those months ago?

  “‘You’ve done impressive work here,’ he began, and we started to relax. ‘Some of you, at any rate. Others, less so. And some of you are perfectly competent, but have areas of research that don’t mesh well with our own interests.’

  “‘What interests are those?’ our director shouted. His name was Javier, and he was one of those tyrannical sorts, ruthless and brilliant and organized, but rather uncompromising. Do things his way, and you were fine, but suggest that another path might be better, and oh, he would explode!

  “‘Various,’ the Liar said simply. ‘Some of you will be invited to join us in our work.’

  “‘What about the rest of us?’ That was Margaret. I think she knew her area of expertise was not one that interested our new employers very much.

  “‘Oh, don’t worry. You’ll do your part too.’ He began to call out names, only a dozen or so, but one of them was mine. Those of us chosen shuffled off to one side, as ordered, and then the bio-drones herded the rest of the staff down a corridor, including Javier and Margaret. I never saw either of them again. Well, that’s not quite true – I saw Javier once, but he was rather different then, and he didn’t answer to his old name anymore.

  “‘You may call me the Shaper of Destiny, or just Shaper,’ the Liar said. ‘I am the head of surgery, one of the three senior officials in charge of this system.’

  “‘We thought this system was uninhabited,’ one of my colleagues said. ‘We never would have set up a colony here if we’d known it was your home.’

  “Shaper chuckled at that. ‘It is not our home any more than you live in a petri dish. This planet – what you call Vanaheim – is one of our labs. We set up many biological experiments here and left them to run their course for a few centuries. Imagine our surprise when we returned and found our samples contaminated by humans! We’d never even heard of your species, though we’ve done our research since then and filled ourselves in, and learned your languages, and so on. It was rather thoughtless of our cousins to show you people how to open the bridge to this system without checking to make sure no one was using it first. Just because we hadn’t been here in a few hundred years didn’t mean we were done with the place. We’ve taken steps to limit the contagion, however. You may have noticed we sealed the system.’

  “‘A ship came in just yesterday,’ I said.

  “‘Oh, yes. We’ve decided to turn this problem into an opportunity. Humans offer a wealth of new areas of study. We won’t turn away perfectly good research materials.’

  “Those of us selected to join the team were taken to a ship and transported to a space station beyond the orbit of Niflheim, and given simple tasks at first, the sort of thing lab assistants normally do. But mostly we were interrogated about human biological sciences, immunology, parasitology, gene therapy, and the like. We were hopelessly primitive compared to the Exalted in most ways, but there were some areas where we’d made discoveries unknown to them. I worked quite closely with Shaper in that first year, and gradually he came to consider me, if not a friend, then at least a colleague worthy of respect. I was soon assigned to patient relations, acting as a liaison to talk to the human experimental subjects. They did so much better when they had a familiar face to explain things to them–”

  Callie spat on the lab floor. “Collaborator.”

  Metcalf blinked at her. “Well, yes, of course. I was a collaborator, a very trusted collaborator. I worked with Shaper on some of his most innovative experiments! I didn’t just do human relations. I assisted with some of the surgeries, and I was one of the first recipients of their life-extension therapies, which is why I still look as young as I do now. Once we perfected the grafting techniques that allowed us to combine Exalted physiology with human biology, I was happy to trade away my human legs for these pseudopods, which are so much more flexible and useful. I can perform surgery so much better now, and lab work, really all sorts of work, is much easier with more limbs at my disposal. I play a mean game of table tennis, too, ha ha.”

  “What sort of experiments?” Elena said.

  “Well, the grafting, of course. Perfecting that took a long time. Lots of issues with rejection. We perfected organ transplants from humans to humans, except in rare cases where people had compromised immune systems, but combining alien biologies, now that was a challenge. We’re still improving the process, of course, but the addition of limbs is trivial now, and–”

  “I saw some of your handiwork on a scourge-ship.” Callie clenched her fists.

  Metcalf nodded vaguely. “Ah, that’s right. The pilots are remarkable. They’re bio-drones, really, in a way. Their higher functions aren’t entirely gone, but they’re, hmm, let’s say adapted, limited, or – ha ha – shaped? The neuroscience involved is outside my area, but I gather it has to do with stimulating certain portions of the brain related to bonding and empathy. The result is a human-Exalted chimera who feels an almost familial connection to their ship, and to the extended family of the fleet. Our next step is to try to integrate such chimeras into the ships directly, to hook their consciousness into the sensors, so that operating a weapons system is no more difficult than reaching out your hand, or tentacle, to open a door. Studying the integration of your systems, Ashok, could help us quite a bit with our researches–”

  “What’s the point of all this?” Elena burst out.

  CHAPTER 15

  Metcalf cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

  “What’s the purpose of all this research?” Elena demanded. “Why would you do these things?”

  “That’s classified,” Metcalf said.

  “Slice off a tentacle or two, Ashok,” Callie said.

  “Wait!” Metcalf cried. “When I say it’s classified… I mean even I don’t know. The Shaper always says they’re interested in knowledge for its own sake, but we know there are things the Exalted don’t tell their human collaborators, sealed files, secret labs – there’s at least one major facility I’ve heard mentioned now and then, a long distance outside the system, where some secret project is happening.”

  Callie wondered if it was one of the facilities marked on Lantern’s map.

  Metcalf went on. “One of my colleagues inquired about the nature of that facility too enthusiastically thirty years ago, and the next time I saw him he’d been repurposed and given janitorial duties, his higher functions entirely gone. I learned to keep my mouth shut and do as I was told. Whatever the Exalted are working toward, it’s been their goal for a long time – the addition of humans to their pool of research materials is just an extension of the work they were already doing with the life they seeded on Vanaheim.”

  “Whatever it is, it must have something to do with the Axiom,” Callie said.

  “Who?” Metcalf said.

  “The secret masters?” Callie said. “The bosses of your bosses? The ancient aliens who enslaved the Exalted, as you call them, millennia ago? The ones who made all those ugly spiky ships out there you’ve been supplying with brainwashed pilots?”

  “The Exalted don’t have bosses. They are bosses. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I’m picking up on that.” Callie beckoned Elena and Ashok to join her, and walked outside his earshot, assuming he hadn’t gotten upgrades to his ears, too. “Do you think all that’s true? This whole system got turned into some kind of experimental medical facility, and the humans who didn’t become suckass traitors to their species like Metcalf did are just… genetic material?”

  “It fits the available facts,” Elena said. “If he was going to lie, wouldn’t he have made himself sound a little better?”

  “He does seem comfortable with being a piece of shit,” Callie said. “If there are humans imprisoned in this system, we need to save them. We need to destroy the Exalted. If there’s Axiom shit behind this, and I bet there is, we need to comprehensively ruin that, too.”

  “Hurray, a goal,” Ashok said. “How should we start?”

  “We need to get out of here. I’d hoped to use Metcalf as a bargaining chip to secure our release, but I’ve got my doubts about how effective that will be, now that I know he’s more of a pet than a power.”

  “I’m very valuable!” Metcalf shouted. “I’m indispensable! I am of the third rank!”

  The ceiling above them creaked. Callie backed away, gesturing for the others to come with her. “Fuck. Are they trying to break in?”

  “There are maintenance tunnels up there, so they could be,” Ashok said.

  “See, Metcalf?” Callie said. “I doubt the Exalted value the life of any particular human all that much. They know if they come in here you’ll die.”

  Metcalf whimpered.

  A voice from the ceiling said, “Callie? Are you down there? Shall says he heard you.”

  “Lantern?” Callie said, raising her voice.

  “Look out below,” Lantern said. The ceiling tiles began to rain down, and after a moment Lantern dropped into the room, wearing an environment suit. “I’ve come to rescue you, but it looks like you have things under control.” She looked curiously at Metcalf, who gaped at her.

  “Exalted one? Why are you in league with these humans?”

  “I’m not especially exalted,” Lantern said. “Those limbs really don’t suit you, you know. You look very unbalanced.”

  “Are Shall and Kaustikos with you?” Callie said.

  “Shall is. Kaustikos is providing a distraction. Would you like to leave?”

  “I could be persuaded,” Callie said.

  “Do we take Metcalf?” Ashok said.

  “Hmm. Why not? He could be useful, if only as an inhuman shield.”

  Metcalf wriggled in his restraints. “I really don’t know what you people plan to do. You can’t fight the Exalted. They conquered our entire system, effortlessly. Warships come through the gate from time to time, and they deal with those, too.”

  “By sending human collaborators on board with some cover story about a gate malfunction and having them attack the crew by surprise, I’m guessing?” Callie said. “Maybe even suicide bombing the ships before taking a few surviving crew members prisoner?”

  “Well… yes, as I understand it.”

  “That’s not going to work on me,” Callie said. “I’m less trusting than the average soldier.”

  “Still, the five of you can’t possibly hope to prevail against the Exalted!”

  “What if we join up with the rebels?” Lantern said.

  “There are rebels?” Callie said. “You left out that part, Doctor Octopode.”

  Metcalf groaned. “In the initial transfer of power, some people… slipped away. They style themselves as rebels, and stage raids occasionally on holding facilities to increase their numbers, and to supply themselves, and of course they perform acts of sabotage.”

  “Guess your Exalted aren’t so all-powerful after all, if there’s a resistance,” Callie said. Now she could definitely imagine a use for Metcalf.

  “The Opener of the Way, our head of research, proposed letting the rebels remain free because they are breeding in the tunnels of Niflheim, providing fresh genetic material that can be harvested at a later date. That’s the only reason they haven’t been eradicated.”

  “Sounds like propaganda to me, You’re coming with us, Squidly. Behave, or Ashok will zap you again, harder, and we’ll tie your unconscious bulk to our war drone.”

  “I–”

  “No more talking, either, until further notice. You’re so noisy.”

  Metcalf bowed his head and looked docile enough. He still expected someone to burst in and rescue him, probably.

  “Now what?” Elena said.

  “Now we get out of here.” She looked up at the ceiling, thinking of the maintenance ducts… but Drake and Janice weren’t going to be crawling around through any air vents, and dragging Metcalf along would be hard too. “I think we have to brute force our way out of here. Shall, come on down.”

  The ceiling shuddered, and Shall’s war drone dropped with surprising lightness onto its many legs. “What kind of distraction did you all arrange?”

  “We blew up nine scourge-ships and sent Kaustikos to go cackle wildly and wave his arms around. Metaphorically. The – Exalted, is it? – launched a bunch of ships after him, and he was going to lead them away and then go stealth and meet up with us later.”

  Callie grinned. “Nice. And the station thinks it was an attack by these rebels?”

  “Based on the communications chatter I’ve intercepted, that’s their working theory.”

  “Then I doubt they’re paying much attention to us,” Callie said. “They probably have guards on the door, but otherwise…”

  “I can shoot my way through guards,” Shall said. “That’s kind of my whole thing.”

  “Always an option, but there may be a better one. Did you break into the station’s systems?”

  “Oh, yes, I found a terminal. I could control this station like a finger puppet. They aren’t even remotely prepared to deal with AI intrusions. The only reason I haven’t locked everyone out of their systems is because I thought you might want to keep my abilities a surprise.”

  “For the moment, just pull up a station map. I want the closest hangar with a ship we can use to reach the White Raven.”

  “Out the door, turn left, up a level, turn right, straight ahead.”

  There were sure to be guards right outside the lab doors, and even with Shall’s superior firepower that would be a dangerous trip, especially with a prisoner in tow slowing them down. If they took a more unexpected route, though… “Why let ourselves be constrained by a little thing like architecture? Let’s head for the hangar as the crow flies. Or, rather, as the war drone cuts.” She pointed to the left side of the lab. “Let’s just go straight through the walls.”

  The war drone extended manipulator arms tipped with torches and blades. “Oh. This will be fun.”

  Shall gently tweaked the station’s security system to seal off access to the rooms they cut their way through, making the locked doors look like mechanical malfunctions. The areas they passed through were mainly labs, full of old-fashioned computers and vats of yeasty-smelling goo and operating theaters and cylinders of fluid where fragments of once-living things bobbed. Shall led the way, followed by Ashok, then Lantern, then Elena, then Drake and Janice gliding along in their chair, followed by Doctor Metcalf, who kept up a good pace with Callie glaring at him from her position at the back.

  They didn’t encounter any personnel until they breached the corridor leading to the hangar they wanted, where two of the black-bodied hunter-drones rushed toward them. Shall had override control of their exoskeletons, though, and he made them run away in the opposite direction while their fleshy limbs flailed in protest.

  They made their way into the hangar, where they found a transport ship much like the one that had brought them here from the White Raven. “Let’s seal all the other doors, okay, Shall? I don’t want anyone following us. Actually, why don’t you just turn out the lights when we leave? Can we do that? Leave life support, because there might be prisoners on this station, but kill everything else?”

  “I can shut down their systems and set loose some worms to prevent them from restarting, at least for a good long time,” Shall said.

  “Unleash the worms,” Callie said. “Can we do any more damage on our way out?”

  “Well… how would you like to get rid of their whole fleet?”

  “How do you propose to do that?”

  “I can activate the bridge generators on all those scourge-ships,” Shall said. “There are emergency protocols, to be used in the event that the shipyard is under attack and can’t be defended, to get the uncrewed ships to safety.”

  “Ohhhhh,” Callie said. “And there’s only one pilot out patrolling the fence line. Even if they wanted to bring the ships back, they’d have to do it one at a time…”

  “I can do better than that,” Shall said. “The bridge generators are heavily locked-down. They can only travel from here to a few fixed points, all of them in that same stretch of nothing where we ended up, out by the fence. I can choose which of those few coordinates they use as their destinations, though. I wonder what happens when you send a thousand ships into a single point in space that’s only big enough to hold one of them?”

  “A pretty nasty pile-up,” Callie said.

  “I knew I could do better than decimation,” Shall said. “This is more like total-imation. There are more scourge-ships in the system, guarding various installations, but this is the bulk of the fleet, and we can wipe them out.”

  Metcalf gaped at them, eyes wide, but didn’t speak so Callie didn’t have an excuse to zap him. She did smile at him when she said, “Do it, Shall.”

  They boarded the ship, with Ashok and Callie securing Metcalf to a seat with as many straps as they could fit around him. Shall clung to the ship’s back, then opened the hangar door. From up here, Shall could see the twisted bits of wrecked scourge-ships from their earlier sabotage, and small vessels like theirs drifting around to no apparent purpose. People did like to go look at traffic accidents, didn’t they?

  He activated the emergency protocols and space filled with spreading tendrils of darkness, reaching out to embrace the scourge-ships and pull them far away into the greatest spaceship wreck the galaxy had probably ever seen. The little ships began zipping around even more frantically, with no guidance from the silent, inert space station. They probably thought they were under attack. At least no one would notice their ship following its own erratic course. The Weaver of Worlds is going to get demoted, Shall thought. He’s going to have to settle for weaving small islands or something instead.