EARTH, OUR HOME

EARTHRISE BOOK 15

by

Daniel Arenson

Table of Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

AFTERWORD

NOVELS BY DANIEL ARENSON

KEEP IN TOUCH

Illustration © Tom Edwards - TomEdwardsDesign.com

CHAPTER ONE

Tala was raised in the shadows and the fire.

That was life on Abaddon, the impossible world. That was life on the homeworld of the unwanted. Of the strange.

This planet should not exist. It was too big, the scientists said. Bigger than Jupiter and hotter than the Sahara. It should implode, they said. The entire planet should pucker up like a man's face after biting a lemon. It should consume itself, squeezing and fusing its atoms, and become a star.

But this was the impossible world. This was the place of the giant centipedes and the unknown creatures that crawled in the depths. This was the homeworld of the scum and those they called scummers.

This was Abaddon. And here she grew up. Here she hunted in the shadows and screamed in the fire. Here was home.

She was Tala de la Rosa, daughter of a queen. Of a legend. Of a leader. Of a monster. She was Tala de la Rosa, the impossible girl. The princess destined to inherit this land. She was raised a warrior.

"Faster!" cried Queen Lailani, her mother and merciless mistress. "Run! Faster! Stronger! Go!"

And Tala ran. She ran down the tunnels. She ran through the darkness. Millions of miles of tunnels coiled under the surface of Abaddon, a labyrinth that could swallow nations. Centipedes scuttled all around her. Along the ceiling. Along the walls. Their claws scraped the stone. Sometimes they scraped Tala.

She bled. But she never cried. She was the princess of Abaddon. She was a warrior. She ran among the monsters.

"Faster!" Lailani shouted.

A whip lashed. The sting bit Tala's shoulder. She did not cry out. Crying out would incur more punishment. She gritted her teeth and ran faster, fleeing her mother, fleeing her past, fleeing her memory of Earth.

As she ran in the dark, Tala saw it again.

Blue skies.

Green fields.

The smiles of her friends.

But then her mother cracked the whip. And Tala ran faster, fists clenched.

She was seventeen years old. She had been living in this labyrinth for nine years. The blue sky was long gone, and her friends were now the centipedes, the whip, and the pain.

"Faster!" Lailani shouted. "Will you be this slow when the Earthlings invade? When their marines swarm through these tunnels? Run!" The whip lashed. "Do you think my whip hurts? Wait until you feel their bullets. Faster!"

She ran faster. She ran through the labyrinth. She ran until she collapsed, panting, gasping for every breath.

She looked up. She saw a tunnel wall. Centipedes raced across it, giant centipedes larger than her. But then they faded … became clouds … storm clouds. White clouds. Finally the clouds parted, revealing blue skies, rustling leaves, and birds. Tala saw her friends, and she lay among flowers.

Lailani appeared above.

The visions of Earth vanished.

Her mother checked her stopwatch, then shook her head in disgust. "Pathetic. When I was your age, I could run twice as fast."

Tala rose to her feet. Her fists clenched at her sides. Little fists. Little hands. Trembling.

"You're a starling!" Tala said. "I'm not. I'm human!"

Lailani slapped her. Hard.

Tala reeled. She gasped, touched her cheek in shock.

"Stop making excuses." Lailani's face was hard, her eyes like stones. "When I was your age, I didn't know I was a starling. I hadn't manifested yet. All I had was my weak little human body. But I became strong! And so must you."

Tala stared at her mother, shocked into silence.

Lailani was almost fifty years old. But she looked barely older than Tala. She was still a beautiful, youthful woman. Her skin was light brown and smooth. Not a wrinkle in sight. Her hair was black and silky, falling down to her chin. Not a single silver strand.

Yes, she's a starling, Tala thought. She has alien DNA. She ages slowly. She'll live for centuries. Long after I'm gone.

"I'm sorry," Tala said. "I'm sorry I'm just a human."

Lailani's eyes softened. She held Tala's hand.

"Your father was human," Lailani said. "I'm a starling. We don't yet know if you inherited the starling gene."

"But most starlings manifest by my age," Tala said. "They grow claws, fangs, become stronger, faster, mightier than I can ever be."

"I was eighteen, a year older than you."

"You were on Earth, Mom. Here on Abaddon, we see children manifest earlier. Some as toddlers. But not me." Tala wiped her eyes. "I must be such a fucking disappointment."

"Don't talk like that!" Lailani's eyes flashed.

"What, fucking? You say it all the time."

"Don't say you're a disappointment." Lailani grabbed her daughter by the arms, shook her. "I love you, do you hear? I'm only hard on you because I love you. Because I want you to be strong. Human or not."

Tala bit her lip, hesitated for a moment. Then she took a deep breath and went ahead with it. "Mom, I heard stories. From some of the old-timers who play chess in the mushroom caves. They say that on the starship Ishtar, orbiting high above the sky, there are tests. Little tests the humans built. Scummer detectors, the humans call them. Maybe I can take one of those tests. See if I have starling DNA."

Lailani narrowed her eyes. "Who's been telling you these stories? Lorenzo the barber? You know he loves his wine too much. You shouldn't be hanging out with him."

"Other people too," Tala said. "Can I go to the Ishtar? Can I get tested?"

"Tala!" Lailani brushed back an errant strand of Tala's hair. "Those tests are unreliable. They even said Marco is a starling, and he's as human as it gets. He's one of the humans who bombed us. Who killed our children. You trust a test that said he's one of us?"

"Old Lorenzo said that Marco's test was tampered with," Tala said. "I want to go get tested."

"No." Lailani shook her head. "You don't need any damn human test. I didn't when I was your age. I—"

"Why don't you ever let me leave?" Tala shouted. Yes, she was shouting now, and tears leaped into her eyes. "My friends all get to visit the starship. They watch movies! They play video games! They visit the ship library! They live a real life, not just a life in the tunnels. They live like—"

She caught herself. She closed her mouth, and her cheeks flushed.

"Like what?" Lailani said, her voice slow. Careful. Dangerous.

"Like humans!" Tala blurted out. "Okay? Like humans! Because I think I'm a human. Human like my dad. Like the man you murdered! And you're keeping me here as a slave!"

Tala fell silent, panting, trembling. She had gone too far. She knew it. She flinched, expecting her mother to strike her. Maybe even beat her. But Lailani just stood there. Still. Oddly calm.

Finally Lailani spoke, her voice soft. "Tala, I'm sorry."

Tala glared through her tears. "No you're not."

"I'm sorry I have to raise you here in tunnels. I wanted more for you. I wanted a comfortable life for you. A life I never had as a child. But that life would have made you soft. My hard childhood made me strong. So I had to make your childhood hard. To train you. To strengthen you. For the wars to come."

Tala rubbed her eyes with her fists. "It's been nine years since the humans attacked us. Maybe they're never coming back."

"Nine years for us here on Abaddon," Lailani said. "Just a single year on Earth. Time flows differently there. Here on Abaddon, it's so easy to forget. But I will never forget what the humans did."

Tala remembered that day. She had been only a child. She had cowered in the bomb shelter with Kai, her stepfather. She had heard the booms. The bombs falling. The bombs from Earth. She had run down the tunnels. Like she ran today. She had fled the devastation. But she had left two hundred souls behind, many of them children like her. Her friends.

"The bombs killed them," Tala whispered. "I remember."

"Tala." Lailani stroked her hair. "I realize you spoke in anger. But you must understand something. Yes, my hand killed your father. It reached into his chest and ripped out his heart. But I did not control my hand. The scum emperor controlled me then. I killed the emperor. And I killed his son. And I rose to the throne of Abaddon. The humans call us monsters. But we're not. We're a free people. A nation. We're no longer puppets to the devil."

Tala licked her dry lips. There was some truth to that. The scum emperors no longer controlled the starlings like puppets. But it wasn't that simple. Sometimes, when she was very angry, Lailani grew her claws. Her fury consumed her. Her alien side. Her monstrous side. Her mood swings could be devastating, and Tala had the scars to prove it—some on her body, most on her heart.

Other starlings were the same. The kids at school could become so vicious. They could turn into little predators who bit with sharp fangs. The teachers could be even worse. The starlings were ninety-nine percent human. But every starling was part monster. Just a drop of centipede. But a glass of milk with a drop of poison was still poison. And every starling could explode with tremendous animal rage and destructive fury.

All but me, Tala thought. Because maybe I'm human like my father. And one day they'll rip out my heart.

"Now run!" Lailani shouted, all her softness gone. "Go! Faster!" She cracked her whip. "I'll make a warrior out of you yet."

Tala ran through the darkness, and she thought of Earth.

* * * * *

She ran through the fire.

The sun was like fire on Abaddon. The sand was fire around her feet. The sky blazed with agony. The impossible world. A world of flame.

This was a cruel desert. This desert made the dunes of Arabia seem like verdant fields. The sun bathed her with radiation. The cracked earth burned the soles of her feet and hardened them into something like raw leather. The searing light, that horrible light of Antares, blinded her, blazed into her corneas, seared images on the back of her skull. This sun could make Sol, Earth's sun, seem like a candle by a raging furnace.

In this desert of agony, Tala ran. She leaped over canyons. She climbed mountains. She dived into gorges with only a thin rope to keep her alive.

"Faster!" Lailani cried. "Stronger! Go!"

They trained with blades here in the open sand. Their katanas clanged. The sunlight flashed on the steel. The rings of blade on blade echoed across the landscape. The song of swords traveled across the desert, rippling the sand, singing out to horizons hazy with heat waves and lifeless mountains larger than planets. In these vast deadlands, on these cracked plains as large as a star, the two figures stood. The vastness swallowed them. They were barely larger than ants. Mother and daughter. Queen and princess. Rulers of this land. Their blades danced.

"Good!" Lailani said, sword swinging. "Good. You're attacking fast. But you must learn to defend!"

Lailani leaped off a boulder, somersaulted through the air, and came swooping down, her blade bright.

Tala sidestepped. She raised Tsukuyomi, her katana. With a flash of the blade, she parried Lailani's thrust. Steel rang.

Lailani landed, grinned savagely, and pressed the attack. Tala took a step back. Another step. Her sword kept flashing, checking blow after blow.

Both women wore their spacesuits. The white fabric was skintight, as thin as linen, but forged in laboratories aboard the Ishtar. Every molecule was designed for flexibility and strength, mightier than a knight's plate armor, thinner and lighter than silk. Helmets enclosed their heads, the steelglass visors strong enough to withstand grenades. These blades would not penetrate their armor, would not cut the skin. But the blows still hurt. Every lash of the blade left ugly, long bruises like a whip's welts. Tala's body was already striped. She didn't feel like suffering any more punishment from her mother's ruthless katana.

"Mom!" Tala took another step back. Another. "Slow down!"

Lailani snarled. Behind her visor, her eyes flashed. "Do you think the Earthlings will slow down?"

The blade flew again. Again. Tala desperately parried. She stumbled, nearly fell. Managed to parry again.

"The Earthlings fight with guns!" she cried.

"Then you must be faster than bullets!" Lailani shouted. She leaped into the air, rising higher than a house, then plunged down. Her blade blazed with sunlight, blinding, swooping like a steel falcon.

Tala lifted a rock and hurled it into the light.

The stone slammed into Lailani's visor, knocking her head back.

Tala rolled.

Lailani landed clumsily. Her blade sank into the sand, driving down to the hilt.

Lailani crouched on the sand, her blade trapped. She glanced up at Tala, shock in her eyes.

I'll show her I'm strong.

Tala lifted the stone again. With a howl, she slammed it into Lailani's helmet. Again and again. The helmet did not break. It could withstand bullets. But it was enough to ring Lailani's head like a bell.

The queen of Abaddon roared. An inhuman roar. Fangs sprouted from her mouth. Claws leaped from her fingertips, slicing through her gloves. With a demonic screech, Lailani swung her hand.

The claws shattered Tala's visor as if the steelglass were cheap plastic.

A shard of glass tore into Tala's cheek.

Tala stood there, silent, shocked. She raised her hand to her cheek. Felt the glass there. Embedded into her. Her fingers came back bloody. There was no pain. It was so sharp she felt nothing. There was only shock.

Lailani stared at her, breathing heavily. Tala saw herself reflected in her mother's helmet. Saw the bleeding gash. Just below the eye.

Lailani's fangs and claws retracted. "Let's get you inside, Tala. That'll need stitches."

She lost control, Tala thought, and they walked into the tunnels, leaving a trail of blood. She became a monster again. She can't control it no matter what she claims. She killed my dad. What if she kills me next?

* * * * *

Lailani threaded the needle, then stuck it into Tala's cheek.

"Ow!" Tala flinched. "Shouldn't I see a doctor?"

Lailani snorted, stitching the wound. "Please. I suffered much worse wounds during the war."

"You had medics around," Tala muttered.

"Bullshit. We stitched our own wounds back then. With shoelaces."

Tala raised an eyebrow. Lailani winked, then shoved in another stitch.

"Ah!" Tala shouted.

Lailani gripped her cheeks. "Don't move."

They sat in their home, a cave deep below the surface of Abaddon. But this was no dark, dank cave full of worms. It was palatial. Lailani ruled this land, empress of Abaddon and its colonies among the stars. She commanded the centipedes, those the Earthlings called the scum. She could see through their eyes, hear through their ears, command their forces across the galaxy.

But more importantly, Lailani also ruled the starlings. They were not entirely human. The centipede scientists created them, forging a new species, a generation with the strength of an alien and the individuality of a human. Their population was growing. Babies were being born. Starling refugees were arriving from Earth, flying clunky starships barely more sophisticated than rafts. Nearly forty thousand starlings lived on Abaddon now.

Some still lived on Earth, masquerading as humans. Lailani led them too. She could reach their minds through the hive. They were all one.

All but me, Tala thought. I'm disconnected. I'm not part of the hive mind. I'm the only human girl on the planet.

Her mother claimed Tala could still manifest. But every day, it became harder to believe. Tala saw the others. The children who ran feral through the tunnels, fangs glinting, who hunted the corpulent, naked rodents who lived in the depths, who feasted on their raw flesh. Tala was different. Tala missed Earth. Tala still saw blue skies. Tala was still so alone.

Yes, their chamber was palatial, commensurate with their status. The furniture was gilded. Tapestries hung from the walls. The curtains glinted with thousands of rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. Bowls of fruit and vegetables topped the tables—produce genetically engineered to grow in Abaddon's caves. There was comfort here. Maybe even safety.

But Tala would have given up every gemstone on Abaddon to breathe fresh air again, to see her cousins, to lie under the blue sky.

"Ouch!" She grimaced, shocked back to the present. "You're stabbing me."

Lailani smiled crookedly. "I'm stitching your wound."

"Don't you even have any anesthetic?"

Lailani snorted. "Do you think we used anesthetic in the army?"

"Yes, actually, I do." Tala glowered. "And you had morphine, didn't you?"

"Yes, we had morphine. For when aliens ripped our guts out. Next time you're lying in a puddle of blood, your intestines spilling from your lacerated stomach, I'll give you some morphine. This is just a little stitch."

Tala shuddered. "Thanks for the horrible image. I wasn't planning on sleeping tonight anyway."

"Stop moving! And this will all go more smoothly." She stabbed with the needle again.

"Ow!"

Lailani sighed, dabbed Tala's cheek with a damp cloth. "There. You're done. Stop whining and man up."

"Mom! I'm a four-foot-ten teenage girl. The last thing I want to do is man up! And yes, yes, I know … when you were my age, you were also tiny, but you were strong, and the war was so tough, blah blah blah."

Lailani smiled thinly. "Sure, go ahead. Make fun of an old lady."

"Oh, please. You don't look any older than me."

In fact, the two looked remarkably similar. Maybe not as similar as twins, but they could definitely pass for sisters. Both had the same delicate features, the same almond eyes, maybe a touch of the same sadness. Though Tala thought that her mother's sadness drowned under rage and righteous indignation, while her own sadness was a softer, colder thing, a deep pool inside the caves of her heart, pale silver and haunted with ghosts.

I look like her, Tala thought. But I have my father in me too. I feel it. I know it.

Both women looked Filipino, but neither had a Filipino father. Tala's father was Benny Ray, known as Elvis to his friends on account of his sideburns and swagger. As for Lailani, well …

She has no father, Tala thought, studying her mother. The scum made her in a lab. They took a human egg. Fertilized it. Changed it. But I was made the old-fashioned way. I was not created. I was fucked into this world like a typical human brat. I don't belong here.

"Mom," she said softly, "can I visit the Ishtar? Not for the scummer test. I promise." She heaved a sigh. "I won't take the test. I know you won't want me to, and I accept that. If I'm human, I'm human. If I'm starling, I'm starling. But I still want to visit the starship."

Lailani put her medical tools aside. "Why, Tala? Just to watch some movies or eat decade-old frozen rations?"

Now was the time to ask, Tala knew. Now—while Lailani was feeling guilty. Over cutting Tala's cheek. Maybe a little over everything.

"There's a library on the Ishtar. A huge library! Mostly ebooks but some real books too. My friends visited and told me. I'd like to read new books. I've run out of books down here. I want books about military history. Warfare. Books that can help with my training."

Lailani smiled thinly. "You're a poor liar, do you know that? You just want to go read those cheap thriller novels."

Tala smiled shakily. "Busted."

Yes, she had been lying. But not just about her taste in reading.

My friends visited, she had said.

Tala had no friends. At least none here on Abaddon. The other kids her age had manifested long ago. Like other starlings, they had claws and fangs, rapid healing, incredible strength. Tala would never be half as strong or fast, no matter how much she trained.

The other kids knew that. Oh, how they knew that. How they tormented her. She could never outrun them. Never hold back their pokes, pinches, punches.

But I have friends on Earth, Tala thought.

She remembered them fondly. Terri, wise and beautiful Terri with red hair, with one sad eye. Terri who was as kind and brave as her father, Marco Emery. Roza and Sam, twin hellions, both as blond and wild as their mother, Addy Linden. There was Carl—sensitive, intelligent Carl—the son of Einav Ben-Ari, president of Earth.

Terri had grown up with them. At least for her first eight years. Now nine years had gone by here on Abaddon, and not even one year on Earth. Tala had spent most of her life away. But she never forgot her friends. She still missed them so much.

I'm aging much faster than them, Tala thought. Terri was seventeen years old when I left, and I've already caught up with her. The others must still be so young. Time moves so slowly for them. But they're all still my best friends.

But their parents, once the best of friends, had gone to war. A civil war. A war that ripped their little group apart. For years, they had all been as one family. And now Tala was here, and the other kids her age, the second generation of heroes—they were still on Earth. They were fighting on the other side.

It wasn't fair. Tala missed them so much.

She looked at her mother with puppy-dog eyes. She knew that trick always worked. Her sad gaze, which Tala practiced sometimes in front of the mirror, could melt even Lailani's granite heart.

"Don't look at me like that," Lailani said. "You know your puppy-dog eyes don't work on me."

Tala pouted. "What if I add a pout?" She trailed her finger down her cheek. "What if I add an imaginary tear?"

Lailani burst out laughing. "You idiot. Fine. You're my daughter, after all. More stubborn than smart. Go to the Ishtar. For one day! Be back by supper."

"By midnight."

Lailani shook her fist. "Don't push your luck! Little wiseass."

Tala blew her a kiss. "Eleven p.m. and I'll toss in a hug."

"Deal."

They hugged. Mother and daughter. Forever at odds. Always bickering, fighting, hurting each other. Hurting their bodies. Hurting the deepest, most vulnerable parts of their souls. They could always reach past each other's armor. They knew each other's weaknesses. They could always find those pools of silver sadness in the darkest caverns of their hearts. But right now they hugged. And they loved each other. And they were mother and daughter.

"I love you, Mom," Tala said. "I always did, you know that, right?"

Lailani kissed her forehead. "I've always loved you more than anything. More than the whole wide world."

Tala shook her head. She spoke softly. "Now you're lying, Mom. You always loved the world more than me. First the world was Earth, which you fought for so many years. Then the world was Abaddon, where you lead a nation." She smiled and her tears fell. "I could never compete with the world."

* * * * *

Tala left her family's palatial cave. She walked down the tunnels of New Canaan, the city of starlings.

In many ways, New Canaan was a miracle. Nine years ago, the starlings fled here from a penal colony. They were ragged, skinny survivors, half-mad with hunger and fear. The Earthlings hunted them. The bombs shook the world.

So the starlings went underground, seeking shelter from the cruel sun and burning radiation, from the Earthlings and their terrible starships. They sheltered in caves and caverns and deep, dark chasms where only centipedes dwelled.

And over the past nine years, under the leadership of Queen Lailani, they built a civilization.

As Tala walked down the tunnels, she no longer saw those dark, craggy burrows from her childhood, places she had feared so much, the dungeons of an alien fortress swarming with monsters. New Canaan had changed. Now the walls were paved with smooth stones, hiding the wormy soil. Glass lamps floated above, full of wisps of pale blue light, harvested from bioluminescent algae found in Abaddon's underground oceans. Signs hung on the walls, forged from real silver, directing pedestrians through the maze.

She entered a large cavern, as large as a football stadium. Downtown New Canaan. When she had first moved here, Tala had found just a big empty space. A river had flowed across the barren ground, the water silty and foul. The centipedes had honeycombed the walls with burrows—crude shelters for haunted refugees. A dark place. A hellhole. Tala had wept so many tears upon the rough cave floor.

Now? Now this place was a wonder.

The colony had expanded. Babies were born. Starlings were colonizing other caves. But New Canaan was still the center of the civilization, its grandest city. The crude alcoves along the walls had become posh apartments. Round silver doors gleamed along the walls, each engraved with a unique coat of arms representing the family that lived within. Gardens grew along the cave floor, filling the cavern with oxygen and sweet scents. Light shone from an oculus above, glimmering on bridges, slender towers, and statues.

But Tala barely saw these wonders. Her anger had grown too great. Her bitterness had become overwhelming. When she looked upon this wonder underground, she saw what it lacked. The blue sky. The endless fields. The forests and beaches. Most importantly—her friends.

Some saw a miracle, a nation of refugees who tamed the wilderness of an alien world where the surface burned and monsters roamed the underground. They saw a utopia. A city like Zion on the mountain, a holy city risen from the desert. But Tala saw a cage.

As she walked through the city, she felt them staring. All of them. The thousands of them.

"There she is," somebody whispered.

"The human girl."

"She never manifested."

"Spoiled princess!"

"Filthy human."

Tala ignored it. Lips tight, she kept walking. And they stared. All of them stared. Starlings her age. Older. Younger. There was no pity from any of them.

A rotten peel hit her.

"Human!"

Somebody spat at her feet. "Go back to Earth."

Tala kept walking, head held high. She was the princess of Abaddon. Nobody would dare treat her this way with Queen Lailani nearby. But Tala walked alone now. The queen was back in her chambers. And the people knew that Tala would not tell. She never did.

Often Tala wondered why she never spoke, never asked her mother to bring down her royal wrath upon her tormentors. She had tried to understand herself. Did she merely not want to trouble her mother? No, that wasn't it. Did she fear Lailani would scoff, tell Tala to suffer the abuse, to toughen up? No, that wasn't it either. For all her faults, Lailani loved her daughter. The queen would destroy anyone who hurt her princess.

No, it wasn't fear that kept Tala suffering in silence.

It was shame.

Shame that the people tormented her. Shame that she took the abuse. Shame that she was human. Shame that her people—her own species!—had oppressed the starlings, imprisoned them, butchered them. Shame. Terrible shame.

But on Earth she would feel no shame.

On Earth she could be proud.

She passed through New Canaan with dry eyes, chin held high, even as they taunted and jeered. She would not let them see her tears. Though when finally she stepped into a tunnel, she allowed a single tear to roll down her cheek. And that was enough. Because she was proud of her humanity. She would not let them break her.

But maybe, just maybe … I'm not human. Just maybe I can still become a starling. Today I will find out.

* * * * *

Outside the city, Tala reached a round chamber deep in the mountain, a place of soothing blue shadows and cold air and the smell of oil and metal. On a floor of polished tiles she waited. And she was beautiful.

The Black Rose Viperess. The family starship.

She was a small starship as far as they came. Not much larger than an old semitrailer. Not even large enough to qualify as a proper corvette.

But unlike a semitrailer, the Viperess was an elegant beast. A huntress. She was slender and black, shaped like a dagger. She rested on her exhaust ports, facing upward, a rocket ready to soar.

Tala looked up. The chamber rose above her, a towering shaft of stone. It was like standing at the bottom of a well. High above, she could see the sky. The sun was setting, and the moons of Abaddon were rising, casting silver light into this chamber deep underground.

And up there, in that sky, past the suffocating dusty atmosphere, the starship Ishtar awaited.

The Ishtar was nothing like the Black Rose Viperess. The Ishtar was a starfighter carrier, the largest class of starship people knew how to build. A warship built on Earth, stolen from Earth. A warship so large all of New Canaan could probably squeeze inside her.

A forbidden starship. A starship Tala had never been able to visit. But there was something there she needed. Something that scared her. Something she could not turn away from.

Tala entered the Black Rose Viperess, climbed into the cockpit, and sat in the leather pilot's seat. With the starship propped up on its exhaust ports, she sat with her legs above her. The gravity pinned her to the back of the seat. And Abaddon's gravity was nothing to trifle with. It made Earth's surface seem like a bouncy castle.

Tala had always been small for her age. By now, almost eighteen, she had resigned herself to being small forever. She was also woefully thin; no matter what she did, she could not put on mass. Her mother was the same. And if the stories were true, her father had not exactly been a giant either. Curse her skinny genes! For one as petite as Tala, Abaddon was no place to live. The gravity was too strong, and she could just not adapt to it. This world was too cruel. Life was too harsh.

Toughen up! Be strong! Faster! Fiercer!

Her mother's words echoed in her mind. Tala still felt the sting of the whip. But she didn't want to be strong. She didn't want to be fierce.

She wanted to be herself. And she didn't know who Tala de la Rosa was.

She shoved down the throttle. The Black Rose Viperess rumbled and roared. The engines spewed blue fire, and the ship soared up the hatch.

The walls raced alongside. Within seconds, she was in the air, carving through the dense atmosphere of Abaddon.

The grav dampeners hummed, stopping the enormous g-force from crushing Tala. But the ascent still squeezed her, and she struggled for every breath. She could barely see. Blackness was closing in around her. Through her tunnel vision, she managed to gaze at the rearview monitor.

Abaddon was dropping down beneath her, revealing its blemishes. Craters so large Earth could fit inside. Gorges so deep and long they could hide moons. Mountains that soared impossibly tall, resisting the tug of gravity with the unrelenting force of sheer granite and bubbling magma. From up here, the city of starlings disappeared. The utopia was invisible. She saw only the impossible world. Only the scars.

And then she was free.

The pall of yellow sky pulled back, and there shone the stars.

The gravity eased its terrible tug. And Tala felt light for the first time in years.

The Black Rose Viperess soared into space, and Tala laughed and cried. She had missed this place. She had missed the cosmos. She had missed freedom.

For a moment she was tempted. To steer the Viperess toward Earth. To fly! To escape this place! Escape her mother, escape the starlings, escape the impossible planet.

Yes, many times in her youth, she had been tempted to steal the starship. To run. To find Earth.

Fear kept her here. Earth was five hundred light-years away, and Tala did not know the way. She feared the vast emptiness. The endless darkness. She could try to navigate by sight—you could see Sol from here with the naked eye, a faint dot of light. But that was from here. From a familiar sky. Sol shone in a recognizable constellation. But once she flew out there … oh, out in the cosmos, Sol would be just a single star among the billions of them. Indistinguishable. Especially when flying faster than light, when all the stars stretched out in lines. And Earth, the little planet that orbited Sol, would be invisible.

A competent, experienced navigator like her mother could reach Earth within two weeks. But two weeks in space terrified Tala. Because two weeks in space offered ample opportunities to get lost. Two weeks in space could very easily turn into two months, or two years. Or two billion years, floating as a corpse in the darkness.

No, Tala could not escape this planet. Not make her way to Earth. Not even in a starship like the Viperess. She might as well use a raft.

She was trapped here. There was no cage around her, no chains held her limbs, but she was trapped nonetheless.

Earth was beyond her reach.

But a piece of Earth hovered just above her. Just a few moments away. A floating city. A place she could reach.

The Ishtar.

The flagship of the fleet. There were secrets aboard that ship. There were ghosts and terrible memories. And there was something Tala needed. Something hidden. Something forbidden. A truth she would discover even if it shattered her soul.

The truth about who she was.

* * * * *

The mighty Ishtar was a thousand feet long. She was the largest starship the starlings owned. She orbited Abaddon, defending the planet.

Tala still remembered that day nine years ago. She had been only a little kid, but she remembered the great Battle of Independence. On that legendary day, the starling forces, under the leadership of Queen Lailani, had faced a mighty fleet of Earth. Above the frozen planet New Siberia, they had fought. Starship cannons boomed in space. Below on the snowy surface, human and starling armies met in battle.

By the time the battle ended, Lailani had captured every single Earthling starship. They were hers now. They belonged to all starlings. No more would their nation depend on the fleshy, organic podships of their centipede allies. Now the starlings had a fleet of their own. They owned frigates, corvettes, and the Ishtar, a mighty starfighter carrier.

It was strange. For Tala, this was a distant memory of childhood. Yet for humans on Earth, it happened only a few months ago. For them, the battle was a fresh memory. For her, an echo of myth.

Since that victory, Lailani had not rested on her laurels. She had mined the depths of Abaddon, collecting diamonds and gold. She had forged alliances with alien nations, had purchased more starships from them. Today hundreds of starships defended Abaddon. Podships. Earthling ships. Alien ships of dark iron and crystal. Their hulls were full of warrior centipedes ready to fight any enemy.

We're strong now, Tala thought as she flew among this grand fleet. My mother built this. She built a nation. The starlings are her true children. Me? Am I a starling too? Will she ever love me like she loves her people?

Soon she would know.

She flew the Viperess toward the Ishtar. They saw her coming. The hangar bay opened, and she flew inside.

A soldier greeted her in the hangar. "Your highness!"

Certainly a nicer reception than she got in the tunnels. Tala smiled. She already liked it up here. A lot.

The soldier wore the uniform of the SAF: the Starling Armed Forces. Yes, starling soldiers had their own uniforms now. The starlings themselves didn't have a textile industry yet. But the centipedes revealed themselves to be adept weavers. No cotton grew on Abaddon, and there weren't exactly woolly sheep roaming around the caves, but the centipedes wove organic materials in deep pools, then fished up stringy strands. The fabric was surprisingly airy, similar to linen.

With this fabric, which they called Abaddon cotton, the starlings clothed their soldiers. Their uniforms were black. The only color came from the symbol embroidered on the chest in crimson. Five claw marks. They called it the Starling Claw. Symbol of the starling nation. It represented the five claws that grew on a starling's hand, but also the Five Pillars, their most cherished values. Courage. Honor. Strength. Unity. Freedom.

Tala herself wore clothes woven of Abaddon cotton. A Starling Claw, forged from black iron and embedded with rubies, hung around her neck on a chain.

"Thank you," she said to the guard. "Raise your claws!"

She raised her hand to the sky, fingers curled outward, as if ready to grab an enemy.

"Raise your claws, ma'am!" the guard repeated. These were holy words. The guard returned the gesture, but in his case, actual claws sprouted from his fingertips.

It was the salute of Abaddon. Tala could never do it properly. No matter how hard she tried, no claws grew from her fingers. No sir. No claws for Tala, the human princess. She had grown her fingernails long, but that hardly fooled anyone.

Her mother's voice echoed in her mind.

You're only seventeen. Girls manifest late in our family. Be patient.

But Tala could not be patient. She had to know. Had to know if this was all meaningless. The Starling Claw around her neck. The Starling Salute. Life here on the impossible planet. All her training, all the blood she had shed. Was this all just a joke of the cosmos? All holy symbols that meant nothing to her?

She walked through the starship. A starship? This was a city in the sky. This single starship was almost the size of New Canaan, the miraculous city underground.

Earthlings built this, she thought. We stole it from them, but they know how to build these carriers. And they have more. At least nine more, and many frigates too, and factories to add to their roster. Even with all our starling strength, even with our fabled Five Pillars, how can we ever hope to defeat Earth in war?

She kept exploring the halls of Ishtar. Soldiers moved back and forth. Just a skeleton crew. Normally, it took three thousand people to operate this starship. Only three hundred now served aboard the Ishtar. Three hundred others spread out across the other ships of the fleet. That was all the starlings could spare. A space force of six hundred—and even that was a sizable chunk of their population. The others were busy underground—digging, farming, having babies, building a nation.

That was it. Six hundred. Their army.

True, they had purchased alien starships, along with mercenaries to staff them. Those starships now floated outside the portholes, full of alien warriors, adding to Abaddon's force. They were big, bulky ships, covered in black armor and spikes, real nasty ships that looked like bugs. But when push came to shove, when the Earthling fleet came roaring in with all guns blazing, would mercenaries truly stand their ground?

And true, Abaddon had podships too. One shipyard had been destroyed, but the centipedes had built more, and they were pumping out many of the oozy pods. But would even the centipedes withstand the might of the Human Defense Force? After all, the scum had fought a big war with Earth once before—and lost.

Earth has millions of soldiers, Tala thought. Hundreds of millions. Does my mom really think we can defend Abaddon?

"We?" Tala wondered. Well, she would soon find out.

She kept walking through the starship, passing by bunks, armories, starfighter bays, and engine rooms. She got lost twice. The ship was a labyrinth, as confusing as the tunnels coiling underground. Every once in a while, starling crew members hurried by. When they saw Tala, they paused only briefly to stand at attention, to give the Starling Salute. Then they raced on. Even a dormant carrier, lazily orbiting a planet, took a lot of effort to maintain. The ship was so understaffed it was a miracle she hadn't floated off into space by now—or crashed onto the surface.

They're buried up to their eyeballs in work, Tala thought. Good. They're too busy to babysit me.

Finally she found it. The place she had sought. The medical bay.

She stepped inside, head held high, and marched right up to the doctor.

"I want to be tested," she said. "I want to know if I'm human."

* * * * *

Dr. Joshi was a slender woman with brown skin, blue scrubs, and intelligent eyes that peered through round glasses.

Interesting, Tala thought. Today you could fix most eye problems with ease. Hell, you could even get bionic eyes that were nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. Terri had one of those. Yet Dr. Joshi kept her glasses—obsolete technology. Tala wondered why.

Oh, what did it matter why? Tala had not come here to discuss eyes. She was here to discuss something much more important. Her heritage. Her species. Her goddamn species! And now she was staring at this doctor, trying to decide why in the world anyone would wear glasses in the twenty-second century. And crying. Yes, Tala was crying now. Crying like a baby in front of this doctor who couldn't even fix her own goddamn eyes.

"Here, have some water." Dr. Joshi held out a bottle.

"Geez, water!" Tala managed between sobs. "Who knew that water could solve an existential crisis?"

Joshi smiled thinly. "You'd be surprised how powerful water is. We can't live without it."

"Yes, well, we can't live without iron either, and I don't go around bonking myself on the head with a golf club."

Joshi's smile widened, and now it reached her eyes. "A sense of humor is just as important. So you want to get tested. To see if you're a starling like me. Or a human."

"My father was human," she said. "My mother is, well … you know who she is. She's not just a starling. She's the queen of starlings. You could say there's a bit of pressure on me. Being seventeen. Not yet manifesting. Can you imagine it?" She laughed bitterly. "The princess of starlings—a human. A filthy, wretched human. An enemy."

Joshi stared at her, silent. An eyebrow rose.

Tala's cheeks heated. "I'm sorry. I'm oversharing. I talk too much when I'm scared."

"Tala, does your mother know you're here?" the doctor asked.

"Hell no! I mean, she knows I'm on the Ishtar. But she thinks I came here to visit the library. I told her I wanted to get tested. She just went on and on about how women manifest late in our family, and to give it time, and the tests aren't accurate anyway, and blah blah blah. I think … I think she's just scared of finding out the truth."

"That you're human?" Joshi asked.

She nodded. "Human, freak, disappointment, call it what you will. She's scared. And so am I. But unlike my mom, I want to find out." She gulped. "Suddenly I do need that water."

The doctor handed her the bottle. "There's one thing your mother is wrong about. I know I shouldn't ever say that my queen is wrong. I don't want to get my head chopped off." She winked.

"Oh, you have a sense of humor too, I see," Tala said dryly. "The only head my mom would ever chop off is my own. What is the dreaded Queen Lailani wrong about? Tell me."

"The tests are very accurate. Oh, not the tests from a few years ago. The ones Ben-Ari used on us starlings back on Earth. Those had a five percent error rate. But I've developed new tests here on the Ishtar. They are 99.99 percent accurate."

"So you still get one wrong out of ten thousand."

"As good as it gets," Joshi said.

Tala sat straight in her chair and dried her tears. "Give me the test. I'm ready."

The doctor leaned back in her chair. "Not that simple, I'm afraid. Your mother didn't approve this. And you're underage."

"I'll be eighteen next year."

"Why not come back then?"

"I can't wait that long!" Tala leaped to her feet. "I just can't. You don't know what it's like. To feel so … so confused. So … different. My mom thinks I'm a disappointment. She denies it, but I know she feels that way. The other kids my age have all manifested. They bully me. Hit me. Scratch me. But their words hurt the most. If I knew I'm a starling like them, that sooner or later I'll manifest …"

"And if the test says you're human?" Joshi said softly.

Then I'll run away! Tala wanted to say. Then I'll kill myself! Then I'll join the goddamn fucking Human Defense Force!

She could say none of those things. Not unless she wanted the doctor to toss her out.

"Then at least I'll know," she said instead.

Joshi sighed. "Let me call your mo—"

"No!" Tala said. "You can't. Doctor, please. If I wanted a pregnancy test, would you also insist on calling my mother?"

The doctor bristled. "Of course not."

"And if I wanted an STD test, would you call her then, ask her approval before testing me?"

"Okay, I see where you're going with this." The doctor chewed her lip. "It's a bit more complicated when I'm dealing with the princess of Abaddon. Things are different here. This isn't Earth anymore. We don't have a president; we have a queen."

"A benevolent dictatorship," Tala said. "I get it. If still you're worried about your head getting chopped off, I promise I won't tell my mother. You have my word. Pinky swear."

"Well, who could argue with a pinky swear? Very well then. I'm a doctor. You're my patient. That's all that matters in this room. Come with me. Let's get you tested."

* * * * *

Tala sat on the examination table, legs dangling, waiting.

Ticktock, ticktock.

Why did they make these examination rooms so small? So clinical? Why did they have to be so white, so austere, so full of medical tools and medical drawings and medical smells? Why not toss in a puppy or two? Maybe a basket of kittens? It sure would soothe anxious patients.

Ticktock, ticktock.

Tala glanced at the clock. How long had she been waiting for the doctor to return with her results? Oh, she wasn't counting. But it felt like a while. Fifteen minutes? Twenty? She'd start counting now.

She rubbed the little prick on her arm. The doctor had taken just a single drop of blood. Just one drop! Tala had wanted to shake her. To demand she do more. Poke and prod and examine and question. At least take a whole vial of blood. How could the most important question in Tala's life be contained within a single drop?

Ticktock, ticktock.

Why did doctors always make you sit on a table? Why not a cozy armchair? Maybe one of those Muskoka chairs like they used at cottages. Her friends Terri and the twins had a chair like that. On their Canadian farm. Tala bet they were sitting there right now, roasting marshmallows over the fire, while she sat here on a table. On a piece of paper. Like a chunk of roast beef about to be rolled up with a pickle.

Maybe that'll be the test result, she thought. Well, well, little Tala, we just examined your single drop of blood, and we know your species! You're a pickle!

She snorted. She started laughing. She was laughing and crying at the same time when the door opened, when Dr. Joshi reentered the room. The doctor gave her a perplexed look.

"Am I a pickle?" Tala asked.

Joshi tilted her head.

"I'm sorry." Tala wiped her eyes. "I'm just being silly. In addition to talking too much, I get silly when I'm scared."

The doctor sat on her chair. She showed Tala the results.

Tala stared at the piece of paper, and tears flowed down her cheeks, and she didn't know how to feel. Didn't know what to do. So she just sat there, silent, staring, feeling so empty. Knowing that life would never be the same again.

She was human.

* * * * *

Tala wandered the halls of Ishtar. Hollow. Heartbroken. Human.

She did not know what to do.

As she walked by, the crew stood at attention, gave her the Starling Salute.

"Raise your claws!" they said.

But Tala ignored them. She kept walking. How could she give this salute ever again?

She wandered into the lounge. Once, when this ship had flown for Earth, hundreds of human officers and soldiers must have gathered here. To drink. Socialize. Gaze out at the stars. Today Tala walked here alone.

She padded across the carpet and gazed out a viewport. She beheld Abaddon. Planet of the starlings. The planet she was meant to inherit someday. The impossible planet. The planet that would never be hers. The planet that was slowly crushing her. Killing her. A planet where she no longer belonged. Where she had never belonged.

She refocused her eyes. Now she gazed at her reflection in the steelglass viewport. A fragile girl. A girl with haunted eyes. A human girl.

"What do I do?" she whispered to her reflection.

She wandered the starship like a ghost. It was almost her curfew, but how could she return to her mother? How could she keep going as if nothing had happened? There were only two choices, Tala realized. She could tell her mother—and suffer the unbearable disappointment, the light darkening in Lailani's eyes, all the hope crushed. Oh, Mother would hug her, say it didn't matter, that Tala was still her daughter, that she'd love her forever. But the hope would be gone from her eyes. And the shame would be too great for Tala to bear.

Or she could keep it a secret. She could keep training. Running in the tunnels. Swinging her sword. Suffering bruises and scars and trying to go faster, be stronger, knowing she would never get there. Knowing she was training to inherit a world that would someday banish her. The secret would crush her. It would destroy her soul, her heart, her very bones.

Neither of those were good options.

She could still try to fly to Earth, she supposed. She had the Black Rose Viperess, after all. Well, and if she ever reached Earth, she could also build a giant ladder and climb to the moon. Good luck with both of those!

She needed help.

Words returned to her. Words from long ago. Words from another world. From a home under a blue sky.

She remembered that day so well. It became real all around her. She was eight years old, a skinny little girl, small for her age. A girl with sad eyes. Everyone said she had such sad eyes. A girl who had seen war.

But that particular day long ago, she had been happy. She was visiting her best friends in Canada. Terri was there, the oldest in the group, almost a grown up. Roza and Sam were there too, two rambunctious twins with bright blue eyes and ready smiles. Carl was there, the son of the president, serious and quiet and wise. Tala loved them so much. They played in the garden and fished in the pond, and at night, they made a campfire and roasted hot dogs. Auntie Addy insisted on roasting them on a rake.

The next day it was time to leave. To go home. To part from her friends. Little Tala stood at the edge of the garden, gazing at the forest, and silently shed tears. She did not want to go. She loved the Philippines, yes. It was her homeland, and it was a good home, and she lived in a cozy bamboo hut among palm trees, only a short walk to the beach. But she would miss her friends. And there was always that sadness inside her. The echoes of the war. Those ghosts lived in that bamboo hut too.

Uncle Marco saw her tears. He approached her, sat on a log, patted it. Tala sat beside him, her scrawny knees covered in scabs. He was not her uncle by blood. But he was best friends with her mom, and that made them family.

"You almost married my mom," little Tala had blurted out. "She told me that. You could have been my dad."

She felt so silly. She slapped her hand over her mouth, and her cheeks flushed. She always said such silly things.

But Marco only smiled sadly. "You're right," he said. "And to me, Tala, you're like a daughter."

She leaned against him. "I wish we lived closer. It's hard to go so far away."

"If you ever need anything, Tala, you call me," Marco said. "Okay? You just pick up the phone and call. And I'll give you whatever dad advice I can. And awkward virtual dad hugs too. Whatever happens, I'm here for you."

Tala smiled at the sweet memory. She kept walking through the starship until she found it.

The communications room.

She stepped inside. The room was empty. She imagined that back in the day, when the Ishtar flew under different colors, soldiers guarded this place, and officers manned all the monitors and computer stations. But right now the comms room was empty. With a ship so understaffed, you had to prioritize.

Tala entered the room and closed the door. She turned in a circle, eyes wide, drinking in the array of monitors, buttons, levers, keyboards, pipes, and crystals. The machinery painted her with blue light.

There were no wormhole generators down on Abaddon. The technology was twenty years old by now, common across the Human Commonwealth, but still rare out here. Uncle Noah, the famous professor, had invented these machines. Tala was proud to know the professor. She had always liked the kindly old scientist. The professor's wormholes were too small to fly through, unfortunately. But they were large enough to speak through. They created a huge telephone network across the galaxy.

The starlings had only one wormhole generator—the one aboard the Ishtar. It looked complicated.

But Tala was an educated girl. Maybe even an intelligent girl. She leafed through the manuals. She figured it out.

She opened a wormhole to Earth.

Oh, how she wished this wormhole were larger! Ancient aliens had built huge wormholes, and some still existed in the galaxy, but none nearby. How Tala wished she could open one of those great galactic highways! How she wished she could fly to Earth!

But humans and starlings did not know the secrets of the Ancients. They could not summon enough energy for wormholes that large. They could open small wormholes. Just a tiny pinpoint. A portal smaller than a period at the end of a sentence. Tala was small. But not that small.

She opened the tiny portal. She imagined it as a slender telephone line leading from here to Earth. Like the telephone lines they used in the ancient movies. Of course, the wormhole wasn't an actual tunnel stretching all the way between the stars. It was a tiny funnel here, a tiny funnel there, connected across the distance through physics she did not fully understand.

She didn't need to. So long as it worked.

The wormhole opened. And the phone rang.

Somebody answered.

"Hello?"

A video feed appeared on the screen. And there he was. Right there in the video, just like Tala remembered him from her childhood.

Marco.

For him, not even a year had passed. He was still about forty years old, she supposed. He was graying at the temples, but he still had a full head of hair and no wrinkles. His beard was cropped short. He sat in the garden. That same garden Tala remembered. That place of her most cherished memories. She even saw the fire pit, the place where she and her friends would roast hot dogs and marshmallows and laugh.

And it overwhelmed her. Suddenly it was all too much. Tala started sobbing.

"Lailani?" Marco said. "Oh God, Lailani, I'm so glad you called. Let's talk this over. What's wrong?"

Tala sniffed, smiled, wiped away her tears. "I'm not Lailani. I just look like her."

Marco squinted, scrutinizing her. Then his eyes widened. "Tala. It is you, isn't it?"

She nodded. "Hi, Uncle Marco."

"How long has it been?" he said, wonder in his voice. "You're grown. You're a woman now."

"Nine years for me. One for you. I'm seventeen now. But … I didn't forget. Do you remember the conversation we had?" And her damn tears were flowing again. "When I was eight years old?"

"Of course I remember," he said. "For me, it happened only a few months ago."

"I need you, Uncle Marco," she said, and her voice cracked. "I want to come home. To Earth. I'm human. I'm a human girl, not a starling. And I hate it here, and I miss Earth. Please, Uncle Marco, can you come get me? Can you fly here and pick me up and take me back to Earth?"

"Tala … does your mother know you're calling me?"

She shook her head. "No. She'd kill me if she knew. Marco, she … she's not the woman you remember. Abaddon changed her. She's harder now. Meaner. I'm scared of her."

Marco's face hardened. "Tala, listen to me. I want to help you. But Abaddon and Earth are in a state of cold war right now. And that war threatens to flare white hot. If I'm to come and get you, you need to—"

"So you'll do it?" She gasped.

"Tala, listen to me! Abaddon is defended. We know a little about her defenses. If I fly over, the planet's starships will blow me out of the sky. I need to talk to your mother."

Tala began to pant. "I can steal a starship! I can fly out into space. Beyond the defenses. You can pick me up there. Please, Marco, please."

"Tala." Marco took a deep breath. "I will help you. I promise. But you need to listen. The next thing I'm going to say is very important. I need to know how many starships defend Abaddon. What type of starships. Anything you can tell me."

She hesitated. "Why do you need to know?"

"If I come get you, my starship might be attacked. So I need to know. Anything you can tell me about Abaddon's defenses will help me. So that I can fly over. So that I can come and get you."

Tala bit her lip. "Well, there are the starships Lailani commandeered back in the New Siberia Battle. We teach that battle in our schools. And there are the podships the centipedes build. A lot of them! They have five shipyards now, replacing the one you bombed. And, um, there are also some mercenary starships that my mom hired, big black ones with spikes. But Marco, please, just come. You don't even have to come all the way. Just please come and get me, and—"

The video feed vanished.

The machinery all turned off around her.

The door to the comms room slammed open.

Lailani stood there, her eyes ablaze.

"What have you done?" the queen whispered.

* * * * *

Lailani dragged Tala through the ship.

"What have you done?" she roared.

"Mom! You're hurting me."

Lailani snarled, revealing fangs. She twisted Tala's arm so painfully it almost popped. She kept dragging her down the hallway.

"Is that why you came here to the Ishtar? To call the enemy? To betray our people?"

Tala gasped.

Oh dear God.

"I didn't realize what I was doing." Tears filled her eyes. "Uncle Marco just asked some questions, and— Ow, you're hurting me! Please, Mom. I have to talk to you. Please stop."

But Lailani kept dragging her. Her claws dug into Tala's arm, piercing the skin. She was full starling now. The centipede side has risen, taken over. Centipedes had no compassion. No logic. Pure rage drove them. And now that rage flowed over Lailani. Now she was so dangerous.

"Did you think we wouldn't notice?" Lailani said. "That a wormhole opened above Abaddon? Did you really think you could go behind my back?"

"I wasn't—"

"Silence!" Lailani snapped. "You've said enough!"

A few soldiers walked by, then fled. They knew to flee Lailani's wrath.

This all started when she took the chip out of her head, Tala thought.

She still remembered that day, though it was years ago. Lailani had removed the little piece of hardware in her skull. The microchip that let her control her starling side, to keep the monster at bay. She was not a true starling with it, Lailani had claimed. So she took it out.

And now, whenever her anger flared, the claws came. The fangs came. The punishment came. There was no more little piece of technology separating woman and monster. Now … now there was only the beast.

Finally they reached the Ishtar's brig.

A metal cage.

Lailani opened the barred door and tossed Tala into the cell.

"Mom!" Tala cried, leaping toward the bars.

But Lailani slammed the door shut in her face. A steel bar hit Tala in the nose. Blood spurted. Tala stumbled backward and fell down hard.

Lailani stood outside, staring through the bars. Her face was hard and expressionless, but her eyes were two storms.

"You betrayed our people," she hissed. "You gave information to the humans. You—"

"I am human!" Tala shouted, blood falling down her chin. "I got tested. I'm a human!"

Lailani took a step back. The blood drained from her cheeks. She stood there, speechless.

"Yes, Mom." Tala rose to her feet, wiped the blood off her face. "I took a test. I'm human. Your daughter is one of the enemy!"

Lailani stared at her for a moment. And then her fangs and claws retracted. She opened the brig door and pulled Tala into a hug.

"I'm sorry, Tala. I'm so sorry."

Tala shoved her back. "You're sorry? You're sorry I'm a human?"

"I mean—I thought you'd be disappointed, that—"

"You're disappointed, Mom!" Tala shouted. "You are! Yes, your precious little angel is a human!"

Lailani's hard facade cracked. She wept. "I could love you as a human. But don't become my enemy."

Tala let out a huge sob. "I'm not, Mom. What I told Marco—I did it by mistake. I was scared. I was alone. I didn't know who else to call. I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry."

Lailani looked at her, and she stopped weeping. "I love you, Tala. I will always love you. I forgive you. I love you unconditionally. When my alien side awakens, I'm not myself."

"Yes you are, Mom. Because that's a part of you. A part I'll never have. You're sometimes my mom, the woman who raised me with so much love. And sometimes …" Tala wiped her eyes, only smearing blood on her face. "Sometimes you scare me so much."

"Can I hug you?" Lailani said. "Without suffocating you. Without scaring you. Without asking for forgiveness that I don't deserve. Can I just hug you as a mother?"

Tala nodded. "I love you, Mom."

Lailani pulled her into a tight embrace. "I love you, Nini, my daughter. I love you no matter what. You're human, but so what? Abaddon is still your home. And I'm still your mom. And I still love you more than the universe."

Tala sniffed. "Do I still have to stay in the brig?"

Lailani took a deep breath. "If you were anyone but my daughter, you would spend years in the brig. You're lucky that you only leaked information the enemy already knows. Yes, we know what they know. We have spies on Earth. And they have spies here. Tala, I know this is hard. I know you feel very alone here, now more than ever. But Abaddon is your home. Here. With me." She wiped away a tear. "Don't leave me."

"I won't, Mom," Tala said.

But as they took a shuttle down to Abaddon, Tala wondered if she meant that.

If she would truly stay.

She wondered if, after all, Marco would come get her. And bring her home to Earth.

CHAPTER TWO

Earth's fleet was ready for war.

Einav Ben-Ari? Not so much.

She stood on the bridge of the HDFS Sol Invictus, Earth's flagship. For the first time in years, she wore a military uniform. Navy-blue trousers. A blazer with polished gold buttons. A cap sporting a golden phoenix brooch. A saber hung from her side, a symbol she found glaringly anachronistic yet oddly comforting.

She was still the president of Earth. But she was also an officer deep in her bones. She was a war president. Always had been.

This was one war she didn't want to fight.

She approached the viewport, clasped her hands behind her back, and gazed upon her fleet.

Thousands of starships flew before her. Here was Earth's might.

Countless starfighters zipped back and forth like swarms of piranhas, ready to feed. Corvettes raced among them, larger and deadlier, barracudas itching for a fight. Larger still prowled the destroyers, predatory sharks, armored and mean. Frigates lumbered among the smaller ships, lined with cannons, whales of the cosmic depths, slow but terrible when raised to wrath. Largest of all loomed the carriers. These massive starships were the size of skyscrapers. Six of them flew here, ready to swim to the stars.

This was a fleet that could win galactic wars. That could destroy civilizations. When Ben-Ari had been just a young ensign, fighting her first war, this fleet would have seemed a dream. Back then, Earth had been weak. Beaten back by the aliens. Barely able to muster a fleet at all.

I built this, Ben-Ari thought, looking at the might of humanity. I built this fleet. This empire. I made us strong. We can win this war. But I don't want to fight Lailani. I don't want to fight my best friend.

Yet what choice did she have? The starlings had murdered too many. Millions of humans were dead. Ben-Ari could no longer try to appease the enemy. And yes, Lailani was an enemy now.

And enemies must be destroyed.

Ben-Ari looked beyond the starships. She stared at the Scorpio constellation. At the brightest star on the scorpion's head. Antares. That was where her adversary awaited.

That is where we'll meet, Lailani. I loved you once. A part of me loves you still. But when we meet, I'll have to kill you. And it will break my heart.

Her arm rang.

Ben-Ari raised the prosthetic limb. A light was flashing on the forearm. With a single thought, she took the call.

"Marco!" she said.

A holographic screen emerged from her arm and hovered before her. It showed Marco sitting in his backyard. Ben-Ari knew the place well. She had spent many hours there around the campfire. In the tranquility of Canadian nature, she had often contemplated the fate of the galaxy.

"Einav." His voice was grave. He suddenly looked older than his forty years. "I just had a call from Abaddon."

Ben-Ari hid her shock. Years as a battle officer had taught her to hide her emotions.

"Lailani reached out to you."

"No. It was Tala."

Tala? A girl of eight?

No, wait. That was wrong. Time dilation. On Abaddon nine years had passed. The girl would be seventeen by now.

"Marco, I'm coming to you," Ben-Ari said. "Stay where you are."

She hung up.

She marched through the Sol Invictus, the great flagship of Earth. Unlike the starships outside, the Sol Invictus did not serve the Human Defense Force. She was heavily armed but was not a military vessel. She was the personal ship of the president, the fastest ship in the fleet, her hull white and blue and trimmed with gold. As Ben-Ari walked through the halls, crew members stood at attention and saluted. She made her way to the hangar bay, entered a shuttle, and dived into space.

Earth was lazily spinning below, a full sphere. Most days in space, you only saw Earth as a crescent. Today Ben-Ari saw the entire western hemisphere in startlingly clear detail. Few clouds filled the sky. The continents seemed crisp, pristine. Almost like a toy, like a globe in a child's bedroom. Ben-Ari felt like she could reach out and run her fingers over the mountains and valleys, feel the landforms like ancient cuneiform.

Of course, that was just an illusion. Just a memory of herself as a child, playing with her little globe, a gift from her mother. Raised-relief globes, the kind where landforms stuck up like wrinkles, exaggerating the height of mountains. In reality, from up here, Earth was as smooth as a polished bowling ball. From up here, there was nearly no difference between the tallest mountain and the deepest gorge. The difference between Mount Everest and the Dead Sea shore, the highest and lowest points on land, was not even noticeable. The force of gravity flattened everything to a gleaming smooth surface.

Physics liked certain shapes. Spheres were one of them. But there was one planet that seemed to disobey the laws of physics. That grew too large. Whose mountains soared too tall. That planet was Abaddon. A planet that still haunted Ben-Ari's nightmares. A planet she must invade for the second time. This time with all the devastating force of the empire she had spent twenty years building.

She flew the shuttle herself, piloting it toward Canada. A dozen Silverbirds flew around her. They were the newest generation of starfighters, far more sophisticated—and expensive—than Firebirds or Falcons. The Firebirds were still the workhorse starfighters of the Human Defense Force; the fleet operated thousands of them. The Falcons, smaller and faster, were comparatively rare, numbering only two hundred, built for stealth and extra speed. The Silverbirds would someday supplant both.

Only twelve Silverbirds had been built so far. Even the military didn't get to play with them yet. The twelve Silver Sisters protected the president, and the president alone.

The Silverbirds used an entirely new form of propulsion, utilizing gravitons instead of thrust. Every other starfighter ever built relied on Newton's third law. They blasted material out their backs, shoving them forward. That gave them great speed but poor agility. The Silverbirds, meanwhile, directly controlled gravitons. They manipulated the very particles of gravity to move in every direction, turn at breakneck speed, and start and stop instantly. Their movements were miraculous. They would change spaceflight forever.

The Sol Invictus herself had graviton engines, unlike any other starship her size. She wasn't the largest ship Earth had ever built. Not the strongest. Not the heaviest. But definitely the most sophisticated.

Down on Earth, factories were already building more graviton engines. They would be ready within days. They would arm a new fleet for a new type of war.

I have some new tricks up my sleeve, Lailani. I hope you're ready.

In her shuttle, Ben-Ari dived into the atmosphere.

Within moments, she was flying over Canada. She flew manually. She liked to fly manually. She glided over the Great Lakes, down toward Toronto, and flew over the silvery skyscrapers.

We fought the final battle of the Marauder War here in Toronto, she remembered.

Thirteen years had gone by since that battle. Since then, the city had rebuilt, even thrived. Its towers glittered in the sunlight. Trees lined its streets. Shuttles bustled back and forth between homes and businesses. Toronto was a model twenty-second-century city, home to millions. But to Ben-Ari, the city would always seem sad.

I lost Kemi here.

She slowed down a little, dropping below the speed of sound, and watched the city roll by below. She smiled sadly to remember her friend. Kemi with the mane of black curls. With the intelligent eyes and joyous smile. Kemi who had fought at their side for years. Brave Kemi who had given her life to save the world.

"I miss you so much, my friend," Ben-Ari said. "Your sacrifice built this city. These towers, these trees, these millions of lives—they rose because of you. We will never forget you."

She kept flying over the city. The Silverbirds flew at her side. They were as silent as gliding hawks. They had no exhaust ports. They burned no fuel. There was something graceful yet eerie about how they flew. These new graviton engines seemed almost magical.

After flying over fifty kilometers of big city, Ben-Ari reached the wilderness. She breathed a sigh of relief. Even from up here, she felt a drop in anxiety. Cities stressed her out. The wilderness soothed her soul.

Funny, she thought. I'm the leader of humanity, and I feel trapped among too many humans. Maybe I should have been a hermit.

She saw the farm ahead and zoomed in. Marco and Addy were waiting in the yard.

Ben-Ari's shuttle had no graviton drive. It rumbled down, puttering and blasting smoke, and thumped onto the ground. Meanwhile, the more sophisticated Silverbirds hovered above, protecting the farm.

She opened the hatch and stepped outside.

"Marco," she began, "tell me what happened. We— Ow!"

Suddenly tattooed arms were crushing Ben-Ari in a bear hug. She couldn't even breathe.

"Einav!" Addy squeezed her tighter. "I missed you."

Ben-Ari wriggled and pushed against the taller woman. "Addy!" She gasped hoarsely. "Air!"

"Oh, sorry." Addy released her. "I'm an aggressive hugger."

"I can attest to that," Marco said. "I think she cracked my ribs this morning."

"Quiet, you!" Addy pointed at him. "Don't you badmouth me to the president, or I'll give you a hug so strong you'll end up in a hospital again."

Marco looked at Ben-Ari. "That really happened once. She hugged me into a hospital."

"That wasn't my hug," Addy said. "That's because you fell down the stairs and broke your toe."

"You pushed me down the stairs!" Marco said.

"I hugged you down the stairs. Totally different thing. And I didn't mean to. I just hug aggressively and sometimes knock people down."

"You landed on me!"

Addy smiled and patted his cheek. "Thanks for catching my fall. My hero."

"Enough banter, you two," Ben-Ari said. "We need to talk. Marco, tell me about this call from— Ow!"

More arms wrapped around her, crushing her.

"Auntie Einav! Auntie Einav!"

Roza and Sam leaped onto her and wrestled her to the ground. Ben-Ari sighed and hugged them. That was the cost of having her meeting on the Linden-Emery farm. Sometimes you got knocked onto the dirt.

A few moments later, they all sat in the kitchen. The wooden table was round, scarred, and stained with the bottoms of a thousand cups. It was the kind of table that some people would call ugly, would want to sand and restain and polish, would try to make new again. But the wise knew that the scratched, stained kitchen tables were the best kind. Those were tables where families lived and laughed, and every mar on their surface was another memory. Ben-Ari was honored to sit here. To put her mug of coffee down on the old acacia wood, to add another ring, another memory.

Addy served dinner. "Pigs in a blanket! See? I don't only eat hot dogs."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Addy, those are literally little hot dogs."

"They're pigs! In blankets." Addy crossed her arms. "Shut up or I'll hug you."

As they ate, Marco talked about his call from Tala. Ben-Ari considered.

"We might have an opening here." Ben-Ari tapped her fingertips against the tabletop. "Maybe Tala can help us."

Marco put down his cup of coffee. "You think she can serve as our agent? Provide us with intelligence?"

"No. Not a chance." Ben-Ari shook her head. "Her mother caught her talking to you, remember? Lailani will have Tala on a short leash now. But maybe Tala can help us deescalate the situation. Maybe even broker peace talks." She smiled softly. "She's somebody both sides love."

Addy rose to her feet, her meal forgotten. And when Addy forgot about food, you knew it was serious.

"Peace talks?" Addy said. "Peace talks? Fucking peace talks? Don't we have a giant army in space, ready to fly to Abaddon and nuke it back into the Stone Age? Well, to be fair, Abaddon is already a giant stone. But we can nuke it back into Jurassic Park!"

"You mean the Jurassic era, Addy," Marco said.

"See? Marco wants to bomb them too." Addy nodded. "There's no making peace with Lailani. That skinny little bitch—pardon my language, but it's true—is a maniac. I don't trust her. Not after what she did to Skysphere. Not after …" She gulped. "Not after the kids who died."

Ben-Ari took a deep breath. "We've killed plenty ourselves," she said softly. "Children too. It breaks my heart to say this, but it's true. Our hands are not clean. I don't want any more kids to die. I don't want anyone to die. If there's a chance, through Tala, to negotiate peace, we should take it."

Addy sat down and crossed her arms. "I'll do what you want. You're the boss. But remember, Lailani has been busy for the past year—nine years for her!—building a massive army. If we make peace, she'll spend the next nine years tripling that army. And if we have to fight a war against her then, it might be too late."

"Addy might be right," Marco cautioned. "We don't want to appease an enemy who'll eventually rise up to destroy us. You don't pat a growling tiger, not unless you want to lose your hand. History is full of weak leaders appeasing an enemy, hoping to forge long-lasting peace. Only for that enemy to use the era of peace to build a merciless army that would ravage the world. If we make peace with Lailani, are we just giving her more time to prepare for war?"

"I can't believe this," Addy said. "You're actually agreeing with me, Marco."

"I'm shocked myself," Marco said. "A possible sign of the apocalypse."

"Normally I'd agree too," Ben-Ari said. "Chamberlain tried to appease Hitler, but that only gave Hitler time to build his army. Seventy million people died as a result. President Pirie tried to appease the Martian Liberation Army. He gave them money and weapons to build their own police force. And their ships wiped Geneva off the map. Throughout history, evil has fattened itself on feasts of appeasement. The brave face evil. The weak fear it. Cowards appease it. So the question we must ask ourselves today is this: Is Lailani evil?"

"Yes," Addy said.

"No," Marco said at the same time.

"So much for the apocalypse," Addy muttered, crossing her arms.

"Maybe the answer is both yes and no," Ben-Ari said. "After all, Lailani is two people. Sometimes she's just plain old Lailani, our best friend, the woman we love. But sometimes …"

"Sometimes she becomes Mrs. Hyde," Marco said.

"I was thinking more like She-Hulk," Addy said. "But I see your point. When Lailani is in human form, she's adorable. When she grows those claws, she's the Queen Bitch from Hell."

"We can make peace with the former, not the latter," Marco said.

"We already have peace with the former," said Ben-Ari. "Now we must make peace with the latter. With the monster. If we go to war, thousands will die. Maybe millions. Think of the grieving mothers, widows, orphans. Before we fly to war, we must try to make peace. We owe it to our soldiers. To our civilians. To all mankind. And maybe to all starling-kind too."

"Fine! Fine." Addy waved dismissively. "Have your peace talks. I'll sit here, eating hot dogs, and when it's time to fight, let me know."

"I thought they were pigs in a blanket," Marco said.

A squeal sounded from the doorway. Addy's pet pig chose that very moment to burst into the kitchen. Snout aquiver, the pig snatched a sausage off the table, then ran off.

"Hey!" Addy cried. "Falafel, come back with that! It was one of your brothers!"

Addy chased the pig outside. Marco and Ben-Ari remained in the kitchen. Seconds later, they saw Addy outside the window. She was wrestling Falafel in the mud, trying to pull the sausage from the pig's mouth.

Ben-Ari drew the curtains, leaving only a thin band of light. She looked at Marco. A sheet of sunlight, shining between the curtains, painted half his face gold. The other half remained in mottled shadows. She gazed at him for a moment, at her dear Marco, her best friend. She envied him.

He's a good man, and this is a good home, Ben-Ari thought. My own home is broken.

And again Ben-Ari thought back to that night years ago. Sitting beside Marco in a cockpit. She wore pajamas, was sipping chamomile tea, and she opened up to him. What if, they had wondered. What if … Years had gone by since that day, but still sometimes she wondered. What if …

But no, he belongs to Addy, and I belong to Earth, Ben-Ari thought. Maybe my purpose was never to be happy, never to settle down, never to be a loving wife in a home full of light and laughter, a home with a table covered with scratches and rings. I'm a leader. I'm a captain of this starship we call Earth. I live for nothing else.

But that wasn't true, was it? Her marriage had failed, but she had people she loved. There was Carl, of course. Her beloved son. Her little prince. The light of her life. There were Marco and Addy, her dearest friends.

And there was you, Lailani. You were such a huge part of my life. Maybe I'm not ready to lose that part yet. Even after all the blood we both spilled.

"Einav?" Marco said. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yes. Come with me, Marco. To the Sol Invictus. I have a wormhole generator. We need to call Abaddon."

CHAPTER THREE

Her rage was a storm.

Her rage was an inferno.

Her rage was a supernova that never ended.

Lailani ran across the surface of Abaddon, tossed her head back, and howled at the red moons.

On the impossible planet, on the world of centipedes, she was losing her humanity. Losing herself. There was only the rage.

The rage and the hunger. Yes, there was hunger too. A hunger deep in her belly, devouring her from within, demanding flesh, demanding blood, desperate for vengeance.

She hunted. Upon the cracked plains under the blood-red moons, Lailani hunted her prey.

There were animals that ventured onto the punishing surface of Abaddon. Big beetles the size of cows, covered in thick plates of armor. Lumbering beasts. Powerful beasts. Sandhorns, the starlings called them, for horns thrust from their heads, long and sharp enough to skewer the toughest hunter. But Lailani did not fear them. Without gun nor blade, she raced across the plains on the hunt. There was only the hunger.

There! She saw one ahead. A sandhorn moving across the cracked surface, its many legs undulating like waves. Lailani snarled. She ran faster, leaped off a boulder, and vaulted toward it. Sandhorns had no eyes nor ears. They relied on other senses. They experienced the world through vibrations on the soil, and she was very light. She was a huntress who moved like a butterfly.

She drew closer. By God, this was a big one. The sandhorn would dwarf any elephant on Earth. It could gore even the mighty triceratops. A beetle, yes, just an insect. On Abaddon they grew big.

But I too am of Abaddon, Lailani thought. I am of the hive. I am a centipede queen. And I am hungry!

She leaped off a boulder with a battle cry.

Belatedly, she realized her mistake. The animal was blind and deaf, yes, but her shout was so loud it vibrated the desert sand.

The sandhorn sensed the vibrations.

It heard her.

The beast spun around, rumbling, and aimed its mighty horn toward her.

Lailani was already flying through the air. Right toward that horn. A horn longer than her body, sharper than a rapier.

In midair, Lailani curled her body into a C.

The horn thrust right between the curves of her body—between her breasts and thighs.

She grabbed the horn. Not the sharp tip but the smooth shaft. She swung around it like a gymnast, soared into the air, then swooped down hard and fast.

The sandhorn snorted and raised its horn again.

This time it was too slow. Lailani landed on its armored head, dodging the prodigious horn. The beast shook its head wildly, horn stabbing the air. Lailani clung on.

Normally with a beast this large, Lailani would aim for the eyes. But the gargantuan beetle had no eyes. No chinks in its armor at all. So she would have to remove that armor.

She grabbed one of the armored plates of chitin. It was part of the animal's exoskeleton, protecting its head. Lailani dug her claws into that armored plate and pulled back hard, snarling, growling, putting her whole body into it.

The sandhorn squealed and bucked madly, desperate to shake her off. But she had a grip on it now. She wasn't letting go. It was dead already. It just didn't realize it.

She peeled its exoskeleton open. Like opening a can of sardines. The soft tissue within revealed itself to her, quivering, wet. She prepared to dig her claws in.

That was when the sandhorn made a desperate move.

It flipped onto its back.

Willingly!

Once flipped onto their backs, sandhorns were doomed. They had many legs, but those legs were surprisingly short for such massive bodies. Once on their back, they stayed on their back. Forever. Eventually, scavengers would arrive to rip open the beetles' exposed underbellies, then borrow in and consume the flesh. The dry, empty exoskeletons would remain, ruined fortresses upon the dunes.

This sandhorn, apparently, had already accepted its doom. And it decided to take Lailani along for the ride.

So it flipped onto its back, crushing Lailani beneath its enormous girth.

As the beast lay atop her, Lailani was very aware of its size. Yes, this was definitely an animal bigger than an elephant.

Thankfully, she was wearing her graphene armor.

Okay, so she had some help on her hunt. Yes, she prided herself on hunting with no weapon. But that didn't mean she was suicidal. Her armor was thin, little more than a catsuit, but graphene was stronger than diamonds. This armor protected her from bullets, grenades, and—apparently—giant bugs crushing her.

She grunted under the weight. Her armor held, protecting her body. It was like an exoskeleton of her own. Without it, the weight would flatten her. She would have remained here until both she and the bug's exoskeleton decayed. On Abaddon's dry surface, that could take centuries. And nobody would ever know what had happened to Lailani, Queen of Claws.

Well, she wasn't that ready to die right now, thank you very much. She couldn't shove the sandhorn off. Even as a starling, with her alien strength, she could not lift such a load. But she could dig. So she dug. Deeper and deeper. Her claws cracked rocks and tore through soil and old bones. She toiled for what seemed like ages.

Finally she tunneled her way to freedom. She climbed out of the hole, a few feet away from the supine beast. She coughed and brushed dust off her suit. The sandhorn lay there on its back, miserable. Its many legs were moving above, uselessly scratching the air.

Lailani leaped toward the sky, rising twenty feet or more, and landed on the bug's underbelly. She stared down at its wobbling head.

"We'll call it a draw," she said.

She carved into its body, reached through soft flesh, and ripped out its beating heart.

It was a heart the size of a bean bag, squishy and heavy. It still pulsed in her arms. She took a bite, and the hot blood flowed down her throat. Blue blood. The blood of Abaddon. Blood to feed her endless hunger.

Yes, she had been so hungry. She had been raging. Ever since that day. That secret call to Earth. That betrayal. Since then her fury had not abated. So Lailani came here, and she hunted, and she killed, and still her hunger roared on. She could not be sated.

Who am I? she thought. Am I woman or beast? Human or bug?

Sometimes she no longer knew.

I scarred my daughter's cheek. I almost killed her. I killed thousands of people on Skysphere. I killed children. I don't know who I am. Maybe I don't want to be human. Because a human can be guilty. A human can be a murderer. A bug is just a bug. Mindless. I want to be mindless. I want to be a monster, because monsters feel no guilt.

She returned to the sand. Her arms dripped blue blood. She knelt, lowered her head, and wept.

"How did it come to this?" she whispered. "After all my wars, how did I end up here?"

And suddenly a great sense of missing filled her.

She missed Earth.

She missed her friends.

She missed being just human.

She missed the lie.

And yes, it was a lie. She realized that now. The lie that she had ever been human, could ever be normal. Could ever live among them. Marco should have realized this twenty years ago. Back when she killed Benny. But he had forgiven her. They had all forgiven her.

And I forgave myself, she thought. I forgave myself, and I let myself kill again and again.

She could still see it. The children on the bridge. Her torpedo flying in.

Stop it!

She snarled.

Stop being so weak.

She rose to her feet.

Stop being so pathetic.

She began to run again. To howl. To hunger.

They betrayed you. Marco, Addy, Einav—all of them. You are stronger than them. You are the queen of Abaddon. You are the great huntress.

The sun reached its zenith, blazing white and yellow, searing, punishing. Under its cruel glare, she hunted on. She was still so angry. Still so hungry. And still so scared and alone.

* * * * *

A thundertail roamed in the distance. An actual thundertail!

The massive reptiles were rare. With their gargantuan tails, they could crack the ground, sending their prey tumbling into a gorge. The hungry predators then descended into the pit and feasted on the dead—or sometimes dying—victim.

Well, this one had never faced an enemy like Lailani before. Let it try its tricks! She could leap over any chasm it cracked open. She would grind its fabled tail to dust!

She was racing toward it, hungry for another heart, when her comlink rang.

Dammit.

The sound startled the animal. Despite its size—about the size of a bus—the thundertail was quite skittish. It beat its tail against the ground, cracked open a canyon, and promptly hid underground.

Lailani paused on a hilltop, panting. The sun beat down, bathing her with radiation. Her helmet's visor filtered out most of the radiation, but she still had to squint.

"Speak," she said, taking the call.

"Hey, babe." Kai's voice filled her helmet. "Kill any thundertails today?"

"Almost. You just scared one off." She groaned. "Kai, you're my husband. I love you. But I told you. This is me time. Killing giant insects the size of buildings is how I relax."

It still felt odd calling him husband.

They had married a few years ago now. The ceremony was a private affair. Just them, Tala, and a priest. All of Abaddon would have celebrated. But the couple kept it hushed. Their marriage was sacred to Lailani. Their love was true. They needed nobody else.

For these past few years, they had lived together. A family.

But it still felt so strange. Even now. To have a husband. To no longer be alone. Lailani still looked twenty, but she was in her fifties now, and this was her first marriage.

She adored Kai. She loved him with all her heart. And sometimes … sometimes she had to escape. To come here. To hunt. To be a wild beast, alone and free.

"I know, babe, and I'm sorry to interrupt you," Kai said, his voice filling her helmet. "But this is big news. We just got a call. Through a wormhole. From Earth. It's Ben-Ari."

Lailani froze. A chill flooded her.

It had been years since she had spoken to Ben-Ari. At least in Abaddon time. Time flowed differently here. From Ben-Ari's perspective, it was only last year that Lailani had grabbed her throat—and squeezed.

"I fear no giant bug, no monster, no army," she said. "But I'm afraid of Einav Ben-Ari. She's stronger and smarter than anyone I've ever met."

"Stronger and smarter than you, my deadly wife?" Kai said.

"Yes. She is. Pass her call to my comlink. I'll take it right here."

He patched her through.

Standing in the desert under a punishing star, Lailani spoke to Earth via wormhole. A live call across five hundred light-years. Wasn't technology grand?

"Ahoyhoy. Lailani here, Queen of Scum! How may I direct your call?"

Ben-Ari's voice emerged from the other end. "Hello, Lailani."

The president's voice was soft. Sad. Lailani blinked. No, she refused to cry.

"What do you want, Einav?"

"To talk."

"Yes, I gathered," Lailani said. "That's usually why people call one another on the phone."

"I see you haven't lost your sense of humor," Ben-Ari said.

"Or my ravishing good looks. It's all the baby blood I drink. Keeps me young."

A pause.

Finally Ben-Ari spoke again. "We don't have to do this."

"Banter on the phone? I agree."

"Go to war," Ben-Ari said. "Millions don't have to die. Meet me. Talk to me."

"A peace summit?" Lailani snorted. She walked across the desert, brushed her hands against her pants, and began to climb a boulder the size of a house. "No thanks." She strained, pulling herself up. "After what you did, imprisoning my people in concentration camps, bombing women and children as they cowered in shelters … I think not. I think the time for peace with you has passed. I think it's time for the famous Golden Lioness to finally lose a war."

She found a crevice on the boulder, stuck her fingers in, and climbed higher. Rock climbing was a new hobby. Lailani found that it calmed her down. Almost as much as hunting.

"You cannot win this war," Ben-Ari said. "You know the size of my fleet, of my armies. You still have spies I haven't caught. You know that our forces outnumber yours. Even with all those starships you've been building."

"Don't be so sure you know the full extent of my arsenal." Lailani strained, pulling herself up a particularly rough patch of stone. "I might surprise you."

"We can threaten each other on the phone all day long," Ben-Ari said. "Or we can fight, and many starlings will die, your little kingdom will fall, and you will die. If we fight, Lailani, Earth's forces will overwhelm and destroy you. You know this. But this doesn't need to happen. We can meet. We can talk. If the word peace offends you, call it a truce. A ceasefire. An armistice. Call it what you want. It would save your life."

Lailani snorted, finally pulling herself onto the top of the boulder. "And suddenly you care about my life?"

"I've always cared," Ben-Ari said. "Since you came into my platoon many years ago, a scared little teenage girl, alone and hurt. A vulnerable girl. A girl with so much fire in her eyes, with angry little fists, but with so much sadness. A girl who—"

"Shut up!" Lailani shouted. Suddenly tears were budding in her eyes. "Stop it. Stop condescending. I'm not that girl anymore. I'm not that weak orphan anymore. I don't need anyone to protect me. I'm strong. I'm a queen. A queen of a world. Of a nation. You can't take that away."

"Oh, Lailani … but I can. And I will. If I must, I will. Think about your people. Think how many would die in a war. Don't you owe it to them to make peace? At least to try?"

Lailani stood atop the boulder. She gazed upon her kingdom. The canyons and gorges, the mountains and craters, the holes that led to the labyrinths below. No, she did not want her people to die. She did not want her centipedes to die.

"I will not surrender this land," Lailani said. "I heard your speech to the Earthlings. Calling for my unconditional surrender. That won't happen. If you want to negotiate peace, it will be true peace—not surrender!"

"I have my conditions, and you have yours," said Ben-Ari. "That's why we'll meet to negotiate."

"Very well. Come to Abaddon. Just you and Marco. Nobody else. The two of you. Here. And we'll talk."

"You know I can't do that, Lailani. We must meet in a neutral place. I've chosen several candidates—planets in the middle. I'll have my security guards. You'll have yours. Neutral ground."

"No deal," Lailani said. "Goodbye, Einav."

She hung up.

Lailani sat down, cross-legged, and relaxed.

Stew for a while, Einav.

Fourteen minutes later, her comlink rang again.

This time a new voice spoke.

"Lailani, it's me. It's Marco."

Her damn throat felt tight. Lailani swallowed. "Hi, Marco."

It flashed back at once. The flaming love affair in their youth. Making love to him in an army tent. As the fires of war blazed, accepting his proposal. Loving him. Maybe she loved him still.

"I talked to Einav," Marco said. "I convinced her. She and I will come. Just the two of us. We'll meet you on Abaddon. We trust you. We'll be trusting you with our lives."

"It's a long flight, and time moves slowly on your side of the galaxy," Lailani said. "I suggest you leave now before I change my mind. Au revoir, Marco."

Lailani hung up. This time nobody called her back.

They would be here in a month, more or less. Once they were in warped space, time would move fast. So Lailani must move fast too. She had to double her army by then.

Negotiating peace is like waging war, she thought. The stronger army wins. I will negotiate from a position of strength. Negotiations go remarkably well when you're holding a big club over the other person's head.

She reached a hole in the desert and dived into the tunnels. She raced through the darkness, heading home to her family.

CHAPTER FOUR

The Sol Invictus traveled through interstellar space. She nearly drowned in the darkness.

This is the flagship of Earth, Marco thought. Our proudest, grandest vessel. Yet out here in the vast emptiness? We're not even a grain of sand in the ocean. We're barely even an atom.

It was a two-week flight to Abaddon. Marco felt restless. He roamed the ship, sometimes for hours at a time. He entered the engine room, met the engineers, asked questions about the latest engines. He visited the lounge and had a bit too much to drink with a few junior officers. Often he just roamed the halls, aimless.

Three hundred people served aboard the Sol Invictus, but Marco felt trapped. Alone. Addy and the kids were back on Earth. He missed his family.

Or maybe he just dreaded their destination.

During the flight, he saw surprisingly little of Ben-Ari. Marco had looked forward to spending time with her during the journey to Abaddon. Sure, she visited his farm sometimes back on Earth. But with her busy schedule, those visits were rare. And with Addy and the kids running wild, Marco rarely had time alone with the president. He missed their conversations. About art, literature, history. Marco loved Addy with all his heart, and he would never dream of loving another woman. But he had to admit that Addy was not one of the great conversationalists. Not unless you wanted to discuss hockey, which Marco did not. Whenever he could dive into a deep conversation with Ben-Ari, he savored every moment.

Yet here on the Sol Invictus? She was not Einav, his best friend. She was President Ben-Ari, the leader of humanity, proud and powerful in her business suit and heels. She held her head high. She gave orders. She was on duty.

The president did not mingle among the crew. She took her meals in her cabin. She did not drink in the lounge. Clattering heels and saluting guards announced her arrival on the bridge, where Ben-Ari gave orders in a cold, brisk voice, and Marco saluted her and called her ma'am and Madam President. And then he roamed the halls again, anxious and aimless.

Lailani was two people—a woman he loved and a beast he hated. Ben-Ari was two people too, Marco realized. His best friend—and his president.

On this quest, Lailani was the beast, and Ben-Ari was the president, and Marco was alone.

Maybe I'm two people too, he thought. At home, and in my heart, I'm the bookish author, the son of a librarian, quiet and shy. And at war, I'm the officer, the leader of soldiers, the fighter, the killer. A poet or a soldier. Never both at once. Maybe we're all two people. Maybe inside every mind an angel and demon battle.

On the tenth night of their journey, Marco could not sleep.

Not tonight. This was a solemn night. An anniversary night.

It was October 15, 2165.

Twenty-two years since he was drafted into the army. Since everything changed.

Close to midnight, Marco still didn't feel sleepy. He didn't think he would sleep tonight. Wearing his full Space Territorial Command uniform, complete with the blazer and cap, he walked to the ship's lounge.

The lights were dim. The lounge was empty, unless you counted the robotic bartender. Tall windows dominated one wall, affording views of the galaxy. The lounge was located on the starboard bow. From the bridge, you saw the stars streaking by in a funnel. It felt like racing down a tunnel. But here in the lounge, on the starboard side of the ship, the view was calmer, swirling with languid beauty. Standing here, Marco could see nebulae glowing lavender, red, and gold, stellar nurseries glinting with newborn stars. Distant galaxies swirled. Countless stars spread into the thinnest, most delicate lines like strands of gossamer, their light dancing across the bubble of warped spacetime that engulfed the starship.

Emptiness? Loneliness? No, the universe was full of beauty. It overflowed with grandeur. Maybe Marco wasn't so alone after all. Maybe it was the human mind that felt so alone, confined in its dark little skull. Expand the mind to the universe and loneliness faded. You were one with the majesty of the cosmos.

Ah hell. Nice thought, but he still missed Addy.

He sat at the bar. The robot, a silvery machine shaped like a big coffeepot, glided along rails toward him. Blue eyes glowed in its silver face.

"A drink, sir? Perhaps some refreshments? Our chef-bot is currently recharging, but we do offer an assortment of wrapped sandwiches and fresh fruit."

"A glass of whiskey, please," Marco said, doubting that any fruit on a starship was truly that fresh. "Got any Crown Royal?"

"Certainly, sir."

"Neat," Marco said.

"I agree, sir."

"I mean serve the whiskey neat. No ice. Just whiskey in a glass."

The robot spun toward the bar, saying no more. It unceremoniously dumped some whiskey in a cup, spilling a few drops.

"Now get lost," Marco said. "Leave the bottle."

The robot slid away silently. But Marco could swear he saw the machine roll its blue eyes.

A voice rose behind Marco.

"He's probably planning to poison you next time. You were rude to him."

Marco spun around, drink in hand. Ben-Ari stood there.

Surprisingly, she wasn't wearing her business suit or uniform. She wore a casual dress, red pomegranates embroidered into the white fabric. Her hair, which was almost always in a ponytail, now hung freely. A single white streak flowed through the blond strands like a sun-silvered stream through fields of gold. The little freckles on her nose reminded Marco of stars.

She's so beautiful, Marco thought. She always was and always will be.

"It's just a robot," he said. "Not an artificially intelligent android. I think it'll get over it."

Ben-Ari sat down beside him. "Hey, bartender!" She snapped her fingers.

"Let me guess," Marco said. "Chamomile tea."

"You know me so well. But tonight I need something a little stronger." She turned toward the bartender. "Red wine. Pinot. The best bottle you have. Make sure it's from France."

"Yes, ma'am." The robot poured the drink.

"Well, well, look at Ms. Fancy Pants," Marco said.

Ben-Ari smiled thinly, held up her wine, inhaled. "I'm not wearing any pants."

"Ms. Fancy Dress then."

She winked at him. "It's our anniversary, darling. I deserve a drink."

"You remembered." Marco raised his cup. "Cheers."

"L'chaim!"

Their glasses chinked. They drank.

"Though to be fair, it's October 15," Marco said. "The day I was drafted. The day I met Lailani and the others." He looked at Ben-Ari. "Us dumb recruits only met you, our glorious officer, on our second day in the army."

She glanced at the clock above the bar. "Wait for it … wait for it …" The clock chimed midnight. "There we go. October 16. The day we met."

"That calls for another drink. Cheers!"

They drank again.

"Hard to believe it's been …" Ben-Ari thought for a moment. "Twenty-two years. God, we're getting old."

"I'm getting old," Marco said. "You're two years older than me. You're already ancient." He winked. "Too bad you look twenty years younger than your age."

"Nice save there at the last minute," she said. "I was getting ready to smack you."

He sipped his drink, smiled thinly. "I remember the first time I saw Lailani. She was late. Struggled to find her new platoon. We were all lined up in the courtyard—me, Addy, Elvis, all the rest of them. Sergeant Singh was barking orders. And there came little Lailani, running up to us!"

Ben-Ari laughed. "I wasn't there, but I can already imagine it. She had a shaved head back then, didn't she? I remember that. Just very short stubble."

"I thought she was a boy at first," Marco said. "She stood four-foot-something, with that shaved head, wearing a uniform that was two sizes too big. She looked like a little boy drowning in his dad's uniform, playing at soldier." He smiled wistfully. "I fell in love with her."

"When you thought she was a boy?"

"No. Not then. Not right away. I learned a bit about her. That she was a girl. That she grew up an orphan on the streets of Manila. That she survived a suicide attempt. That she was strong and angry and hurt, but also sweet and kind. I was writing a novel back then. Called Loggerhead."

"I read it," Ben-Ari said. "I read all your novels."

"One day at boot camp, Lailani found a little turtle, and she held it out to me in her palms. Her face was so serious, her eyes so large. 'Loggerhead,' she said, giving me that little turtle. I think it was then. That I knew that it wasn't just a crush. That I was truly in love with her."

Ben-Ari put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for sharing that. I knew you were involved with her. I mean, the entire platoon was talking, and even your officer wasn't deaf. But I didn't know the parts you just told me. It's sweet."

"I'm probably only sharing because I'm a little tipsy," Marco said. He refilled his cup. "Whiskey goes in, secrets come out."

Ben-Ari refilled her wineglass. "Here's to old secrets."

Another chinking of the glasses. Another drink. Another layer peeled off their memories.

For a long time they were silent. Then Ben-Ari took a long, shuddering breath, showing a rare moment of vulnerability.

"Let's make peace, Marco. Let's make peace with her. We used to be a family. Our family tore apart. And we're tearing the galaxy apart with it."

Marco pulled out his wallet. He took a folded piece of paper from inside. He unfolded it to reveal that old photograph. The same one that hung in all their homes. A photograph from twenty-two years ago. Their platoon.

He looked at their faces. Himself—young and bookish. Addy beside him, sticking out her tongue, giving him rabbit ears. Ben-Ari, their fearless leader—even then, so fearless. Elvis, Singh, Caveman, all the rest of them. And there, shortest among them—little Lailani. She was making a silly face, cheeks puffed out, eyes crossed. She lived in so much pain but still found joy and humor in life. Marco remembered the first time they made love. That hot Sunday in the desert, just them in the tent.

He loved Addy, yes. He loved Addy with all his heart, and he always would. Addy was the love of his life, his eternal flame. He would not give her up for any woman in the cosmos. But even now, happily married, when Marco thought back to those days with Lailani, to their brief love affair under the sun, the memories filled him with warmth and softness.

"Yes, she's part monster," he said softly, suddenly back in the lounge, a forty-year-old man. "Yes, she killed innocent people. Maybe even murdered them. But yes, I still love her. And yes, I want to make peace." He raised his glass. "A last drink tonight. For peace."

"For peace. L'shalom." Ben-Ari drank, then smiled and kissed his cheek.

They finally stumbled off to bed.

When they woke the next morning, they saw it in the distance.

Antares. Lailani's star. They were almost there.

* * * * *

They were three light-years from Antares, right on its doorstep, when a thousand scum podships rose to meet them.

The Sol Invictus disengaged her engines. The starship hovered in deep space, facing the alien fleet.

Marco stood on the bridge. He squinted at the viewport. "Those are a new model of scum pods. Not as wobbly."

He tapped a button, and a holographic telescope materialized before him. He zoomed in. Indeed, these podships were not shapeless blobs. They were perfect spheres. They had hard skins. Exoskeletons.

He handed the telescope to Ben-Ari. "Looks like Lailani designed new ships."

The president peered through the telescope. "They look like giant, rolled-up oori kadooris."

Marco looked at her, frowned. "Like what?"

"You know!" She groaned. "I used the Hebrew name by accident. What do you call them in English? The bugs that roll up?"

"Roly-polies. Except these ones could roll through a city like a bowling ball, knocking down buildings."

Their communication officer, an android with silver skin, turned toward them. "The ships are hailing us. All of them."

"Patch one of them through," said Ben-Ari. "At random."

A hologram appeared before them, depicting the alien bridge in glorious 3D. The podship hull was red, organic, lined with pulsing veins. Yellow liquid kept dripping from the ceiling. Three giant centipedes reared ahead, taller than humans, lined with rows of clawed legs. The hologram was perfectly realistic. Where Marco stood, it was still the bridge of the Sol Invictus. But just a meter ahead, it was like somebody had carved off the front of his starship, then grafted on the alien vessel. The only thing missing was the stench.

I really hate these new ultrarealistic holofeeds, he thought.

"Hello!" Ben-Ari said. "This is President Ben-Ari of the Sol Invic—"

The centipedes interrupted her with loud buzzing sounds. They were twitching their antennae, producing the noise. At first it was just a random chirping, but the sound morphed into words. Into a voice.

"I know who you are. Bring your starship no closer."

Marco frowned. "Lailani? Is that you speaking through them?"

"Yes." The centipede antennae turned toward him. "I told you. Just you and Einav. Bring your starship no closer. Take a shuttle from here. Just the two of you. My pets will accompany you."

She hung up.

The hologram vanished.

Marco shuddered. "I hate it when she does that. It's bad enough when she talks through starlings."

Ben-Ari gave him a crooked smile, one eyebrow raised. "Do you at least like my new state-of-the-art, hyper-realistic holoscreen?"

He gave the thumbs-up and smiled. "I hate it!"

"Well, you'll love my shuttle. Just old-fashioned monitors."

"Great. Let's go."

They left the bridge in the capable hands of its crew. Within moments, Marco and Ben-Ari were flying out in a shuttle. They headed into the swarm of podships, as small as a minnow among jellyfish.

CHAPTER FIVE

The podships schooled through space like a swarm of jellyfish in dark waters, flying toward that blazing star in the distance. The spherical vessels reflected the sunlight like a thousand little planets, one half golden, the other black. Their armored hulls were thick chitin, not malleable and translucent like the old podships. But Ben-Ari knew they were full of scum.

Among these organic starships, she and Marco flew. Their shuttle was small. They nearly drowned in the horde. They kept moving through the darkness, heading toward Antares, the heart of the Scorpius constellation. Lailani's star.

"Antares is tens of thousands of times larger than our sun," Marco said. "Amazing. Drop this star in the center of our own solar system, and it would burn every planet to a crisp."

"She's a big one," Ben-Ari agreed.

"But Antares is only about ten times as massive as our sun," Marco said. "You see, she's a red supergiant. While red supergiants are the largest type of star, they are not the most massive nor dense. Now, a proton star, in contrast, might be very small in radius, but—"

"Marco?" Ben-Ari said.

"Yes?"

"This is why Addy hugs you so tight. To shut you up."

He gasped. "I thought you of all people would appreciate a good nerd-out."

Ben-Ari bristled. "Are you calling me a nerd?"

"You do reread Lord of the Rings every year. While listening to Puccini, might I add."

"Fine, I'm the world's biggest nerd," Ben-Ari said. "But right now I'm nervous." She rubbed her temples. "And a bit hung over."

Marco frowned. "You only had two glasses of wine last night."

"I'm a lightweight, what can I say?"

Soon enough Abaddon appeared in the distance, orbiting Antares. Ben-Ari stared at the approaching planet.

Memories of the war flooded her. She had flown here once before. She had been only twenty-one years old, a lieutenant commanding her first platoon. It was here on Abaddon that she had stormed the stronghold of the enemy, leading the way to the scum emperor's lair. Here she had gone down in legend. Here she had seen a million soldiers die. Their ghosts still haunted this place. She felt them. Accusing.

We didn't have to die.

Why did you go home alive while we linger here?

Shame, Einav Ben-Ari. Shame on the living!

It was classic survivor's guilt. Ben-Ari was familiar with it. Hell, by now, she was an expert on survivor's guilt, shell shock, the thousand-yard stare … the whole megillah of tragedy. She knew it all.

Yes, this place was full of ghosts. But not the ghosts of the dead. Her own personal ghosts. The pieces of herself she had left here twenty-two years ago. She left pieces of her soul on every battlefield, parts of her lost forever.

She looked at Marco, who sat beside her in the shuttle. She wanted to see if ghosts danced in his eyes too. His eyes were hard, his mouth set in a thin line. Yes, there were ghosts there too, and not just the old echoes. Newer spirits haunted him, their pain almost too great to bear.

Of course, she thought. He was here since the war. Only last year. He bombed the shipyard. And he killed the civilians. It was an accident. A tragic mistake. But I know it haunts him.

Yes, they were both fighting their way through an army of ghosts here.

They were near Abaddon, only a few moments away, when a black starship rose from the planet. It was not a podship. Nor was it one of Earth's stolen vessels. The rising starship was shaped like a centipede, long and sleek and black, cannons forming its legs. Two red portholes blazed on its prow like eyes.

Rising like an ancient god, the elongated vessel came to face the little Earthling shuttle. The centipede ship reared before them, exposing a symbol painted on her underbelly. Five red claws. Letters appeared beneath the symbol, painted across the hull.

SAS HOMELAND

An audio feed washed over the shuttle, overriding their systems.

A voice emerged from the speakers. Lailani's voice.

"Welcome to Abaddon, world of the starlings. Follow me."

The Homeland turned, began flying down to the surface.

"She can build her own starships," Ben-Ari whispered. "My God."

Marco glanced at her. "You do realize this is crazy, don't you? Flying down there alone? There's a good chance she'll slaughter us both."

"I don't think so, Marco."

"Why not?"

"Addy isn't here." Ben-Ari shrugged. "No sane person wants to deal with Addy on a vendetta." She winked.

"Nice of you to assume Lailani is sane," Marco muttered.

"Oh, I think she is, Marco," the president said softly, watching the Homeland fly toward the planet. "I think she's very sane. That's why she's so dangerous. Let's follow."

She piloted the shuttle, following the Homeland toward the planet.

* * * * *

Once again, I'm at Abaddon, Marco thought.

The cursed planet. A world of nightmares.

All his memories of this place were bad. He didn't think this trip would be any better.

Ben-Ari sat beside him, piloting the shuttle. They blazed into the atmosphere and roared down toward the surface. Canyons carved the land. They said that those gorges were so wide and deep that Earth could fit inside. Marco wondered if that was true or just an urban legend.

I wish you were here, Addy, he thought. He missed her. But she was safer on Earth. And that comforted him.

Lailani's starship, the SAS Homeland, led the way. Shaped like a centipede, the Homeland streamed over the sprawling desert, its hundred claws spread out like teeth along a chainsaw. She was large for an atmospheric ship, but then again, Abaddon had a thick atmosphere, a thousand kilometers deep. Ten times the atmosphere's depth on Earth.

Watching the alien spacecraft ahead, Marco wondered what SAS stood for. Starling Armada Starship? Starling Army Starship? Probably one of those two. As for the ship's name, Homeland, well, that seemed obvious. This desert planet below, unforgiving, awash with radiation—this was the new homeland of the starling nation.

The Homeland approached a cave in a mountainside. The starship pulled its claws inward. Long and slender, the Homeland glided into the cave.

Piloting the shuttle, Ben-Ari followed. She glided into the cave and flew down a tunnel. The walls streamed at her sides, roughly hewed. They flew deeper and deeper. One kilometer. Two. Then three, and they were still flying in the darkness.

"Longer than the goddamn Lincoln tunnel," Marco muttered.

Finally the tunnel opened into an enormous cavern, so large all of Skysphere could have fit inside. The Homeland landed on the cave floor, extending metallic treads like centipede legs. Smaller by far, the shuttle thumped down nearby.

Marco and Ben-Ari stepped out. He wore his military uniform, the insignia of a colonel on the shoulders. She wore her presidential suit, complete with high heels. Her hair was back in its sensible ponytail.

They stood, facing the Homeland, waiting. For a moment, nothing happened. Finally a hatch opened on the centipede-shaped starship.

Marco expected Lailani to emerge. But it was somebody else who came walking down the ramp. She wore graphene armor but no helmet. Her curly red hair cascaded across her shoulders. Her lips curved in a mocking smile, and her blue eyes sparkled.

Marco's eyes widened. "You!" he hissed. "The traitor. Macintosh."

The starling winked. "Good to see ya again, lad." She had a thick Scottish accent. "I'm surprised ya recognized me without me mop." She grinned, revealing fangs.

Marco's rage overflowed. Yes, he remembered her well. She had served aboard the HDFS Ishtar, back when the carrier flew for Earth. The humble janitor who found her courage, who faced the scum in battle.

All an act.

By the time Macintosh revealed herself to be a starling agent, the battle was lost.

"I should shoot you right here," Marco said.

"Big words from a wee fanny." Macintosh caressed his cheek, running her claws along the skin. They made little scraping noises like razor blades. "If ya want to see yer wee ones again, ya won't."

Scum rose from holes in the floor. The giant centipedes scuttled closer, hissing.

"Marco." Ben-Ari placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. We're here to talk." She looked at Macintosh. "Take us to your queen."

"First disarm." Macintosh placed her hands on her hips. "No guns, no blades, no bombs."

Marco grumbled, but Ben-Ari nodded. "Very well."

The two disarmed, placing down an assortment of pistols, knives, and grenades. Macintosh frisked them. Roughly.

"Hey!" Marco bristled as her hands felt around certain sensitive areas. "Hands off the goods."

"Don't get too excited, lad," Macintosh said.

Marco snorted. "You wish."

Finally Macintosh stepped back. She stared at Ben-Ari. "The prosthetic arm. Off with it, lass."

Ben-Ari narrowed her eyes. "You'll ask a disabled woman to give up her prosthetic?"

"Aye, given that prosthetic arms can hide weapons," Macintosh said. "Which yours almost certainly does. Do ya think me a fishwife with a head full of mince and tatties? Off with yer arm! Off with it! Onto the pile. Don't ya worry yer pretty head, lass. Me centipedes will take good care of it."

Ben-Ari pursed her lips. She seemed ready to refuse. But then nodded, detached her prosthetic arm, and placed it among the weapons.

Macintosh was right, of course. The arm contained enough firepower to level an office building.

"Happy?" Ben-Ari said. "Now take us to Lailani."

"All right, ya big fuds." Macintosh spun on her heel. "Try to keep up."

* * * * *

They followed Macintosh down a tunnel. Alien fireflies danced in glass bulbs, lighting their way. Bas-relief murals covered the walls, depicting starships at war. Marco didn't have time to study them carefully. Macintosh was walking fast, and it was indeed a struggle to keep up. But he saw enough.

The murals depicted the battles of the starling nation's history. The great Battle of New Siberia appeared across one wall. Starships clashed near the ceiling, painted silver and gold, while soldiers battled near the floor, painted in reds and blacks. The battle of the shipyard appeared on another wall. Women and children were engraved into the stone, cowering under a rain of fire, dying as martyrs. Finally a grand mural depicted the destruction of Skysphere. Real diamonds were embedded into the stone wall, representing the shards of Skysphere flying across space.

For Marco, all these events had happened within the past year. For the starlings it was a full decade of history. With this artwork, they were weaving the narrative of their nation.

And in that narrative, Einav and I are the villains, Marco thought.

The tunnel opened into a grand cavern. It was the single largest cave Marco had ever seen. An entire town fit inside. Round silver doors covered the cave walls like scales. Some doors opened, and people peered outside. Those were homes, Marco realized. Thousands of homes like honeycombs, lining the cave interior.

The cave's floor was dedicated to agriculture. Fruit trees and vegetable patches grew along a rivulet. Light streamed down from a hole in the ceiling. It was so far up it looked like a sun. Tens of thousands of people lived here. They walked on paths between the gardens. They stood on bridges that stretched back and forth like cobwebs. The starlings.

"Welcome to New Canaan, our bonnie capital city," Macintosh said. "My queen awaits on the other side. Come with me."

Macintosh began walking along a bridge that stretched over the fields. It was a long walk.

Marco glanced at Ben-Ari. "Lailani wants us to see this. She wants us to take the grand tour."

"We'll play along," Ben-Ari said. "I wonder what she's up to."

Within a few steps, they understood.

As Macintosh walked ahead, she raised a bell and clanged it like a town crier.

"Behold!" she cried. She must have been wearing a mic. Her voice boomed from hidden speakers, echoing across the city. "Behold Marco Emery, the butcher of babies! Behold Einav Ben-Ari, the Siberian Slayer!"

People emerged from their homes, leaned over bridges, rose from gardens where they were toiling. They booed. They cursed. A few shook their fists and shouted. Their voices rang out.

"Killers!"

"Murderers!"

A few people began to toss rotten peels.

Marco stopped walking. He turned around. "Enough. I'm done." He looked over his shoulder. "Macintosh, tell your queen that if she wants to talk, she can meet us on Earth. Goodbye."

Ben-Ari nodded. "Goodbye."

Macintosh watched them leave. She tossed her head back and laughed. "Look at them, friends! Look at the brave warriors! Running away from a few angry women and wee children!"

Marco spun back toward her. "We're walking out on bad theater. Good day."

He and Ben-Ari kept walking back toward the hangar. It was clear Lailani wanted to play games. To humiliate them. They refused to play.

They were almost at the hangar when scum emerged. The giant centipedes scuttled onto the bridge, reared, and hissed. Marco and Ben-Ari took a step back. Neither had any weapons. The claws whistled through the air, and the centipedes screeched.

"Oh, I don't think me pets want ye to leave so soon," Macintosh said. "Don't be so scunnered! Won't ye at least join us for tea?" She laughed cruelly.

"Is this how you negotiate?" Ben-Ari demanded, cheeks flush with anger. "Lailani!" she called out. "Enough with your games!"

"Losing control already?" Macintosh said. She tsked her tongue. "Not a good start. Come now. I'll keep me people at bay. I promise. No women or wee children will harm ye with any big scary yelling." She pouted mockingly.

The redheaded starling was still speaking into the microphone. The city heard. The people laughed.

Marco glanced at Ben-Ari. She looked back. He leaned closer to her.

"What do you think?" Marco whispered.

"I don't like this," Ben-Ari whispered back.

"Me neither. We can try to fight our way out. Your call."

She held his hand. "For a chance at peace, I'm ready to continue. Even if Lailani is determined to bruise our pride a little first."

Marco nodded. He was ready too. They kept walking along the bridge.

These negotiations are a war, Marco thought. And we already lost our first battle. Again Lailani is outsmarting us.

CHAPTER SIX

They crossed the city of starlings, this so-called New Canaan, without further incident. Unless you counted all the dirty looks the starlings gave them. Marco and Ben-Ari walked with chins raised, shoulders squared, even as the people whispered, hissed, and booed.

On the far side of the city, they followed Macintosh up a tunnel and into another cave.

A throne room, Ben-Ari realized.

The cave walls were still rough and natural. But an artist had forged coiling, abstract shapes from gold, adorning the walls, floor, and ceiling with intricate scrimshaw. A pillar of stone rose in the center of the cave, a mighty stalagmite several stories high. A stairway coiled around the pillar.

"The queen awaits," Macintosh said. "Climb."

"Hey!" Marco said. "We agreed to fly five hundred light-years, and we agreed to take your walk of shame, but climbing stairs was not part of the deal!"

Ben-Ari stared at him. She tilted her head.

"Sorry," Marco said. "With Addy not here, somebody had to crack a joke."

The president sighed. "We'll climb. You go first, Marco."

They took the spiraling staircase, corkscrewing around the pillar several times before they reached the flat top.

A familiar figure awaited them there. He wore tattered jeans, a chain for a belt, and a sleeveless shirt with a pinup girl on the front. Several rifles and katanas hung across his back, and tattoos covered his wiry arms. Piercings dangled from his ears and left eyebrow.

"Marco, my bro!" Kai stepped forward, smiling.

He held out his fist. Marco dutifully bumped it.

"Kai." He nodded. "How are you?"

"Not too bad, bro. Not too bad." The bounty hunter turned toward Ben-Ari. "Ma'am." He held out his fist for her too.

Ben-Ari ignored it. She stared into Kai's eyes until he backed down.

As far as I'm concerned, you're a traitor, Kai Linden, she thought. You betrayed your people, your planet, and your sister.

But she said none of those things. She was here to make peace, after all.

"Where is she?" Ben-Ari said instead.

Suddenly flames burst from holes in the ground. Jets of fire spurted from above. The firelight revealed a black throne, which had until now hidden in shadows. It was an elongated, curving throne shaped like a rearing centipede. Many armrests thrust from its sides like claws. A throne for a centipede. The throne of Abaddon's ruler.

Today she sat there.

Lailani, Queen of Abaddon.

She wore black armor filigreed with golden motifs. A crown topped her head. At first glance, it looked like a crown of thorns. But the crown was forged from iron, shaped like a centipede curled into a circle, claws thrusting outward. An amulet hung between Lailani's breasts—an iron circle embedded with five claw-shaped gemstones.

The throne was tall. Lailani was always the smallest person in the room. Now she looked down at them from above.

"Hello, Marco. Hello, Einav." She raised a glass, took a sip of wine. "You wanted to talk. I'm listening."

"Nice display of pyrotechnics," Marco said, waving aside the smoke. "I can see you put a lot of effort into impressing us. But your long-ass throne still looks like a cheap playground slide."

"Marco!" Ben-Ari whispered, glaring at him.

"I told you," he whispered back, "Addy isn't here, so I have to—"

"Just let me handle this." Ben-Ari looked up at the throne. "Lailani, come down from there. Stand before us. Eye to eye."

"I think not." Lailani leaned back, picked at her teeth. "I'm rather short, after all. I'm tired of staring at people's belly buttons all day. Now you can feel small for a change."

Ben-Ari took a deep, impatient breath. "Fine. If it makes you feel big and tall, enjoy. I see it's all business, so let's begin. I've come to offer you my terms. Earth's terms. If you accept, we can—"

"Did you see them?" Lailani said.

Ben-Ari pursed her lips. Her fingers twitched, resisting the urge to form fists. "See who?"

"The people in New Canaan. The ones nearest the bridge. They all lost family members in the shipyard attack. They were waiting for you. Did you look them in the eyes as you walked by?"

Marco stepped closer to the throne. His fists did clench. "Einav is innocent of that! And I am too. You used those people as human shields."

"Human shields?" Lailani straightened in her throne. "They were in a bomb shelter!"

"Under a shipyard!" Marco shouted. "A military target! You knew what was above them. You knew where they were hiding. You let them hide under a shipyard, knowing it was an asset we might strike. You killed them, Lailani! Like you killed three thousand people on Skysphere!"

Lailani stared down at him from her throne. "I get it, Marco. You feel guilty about murdering those women and children. So you're trying to pass the buck. It won't work."

"Enough of this!" Ben-Ari said. "There's plenty of blame to go around. We hate each other right now. That's clear. But we loved one another once. Maybe we can never love one another again, maybe it's too late to rebuild our friendship. But we were friends once. We did trust one another once. And that means that we can talk as reasonable people and work things out."

Lailani leaned back on her throne. She stared down at them through slitted eyes. "You should never have trusted me."

"But we did," Ben-Ari said. "We were friends."

A strange smile touched Lailani's lips. Her eyes were half-moons. "Twenty-two years ago, as your Earth years pass by, I was a private in your platoon. We fought in the Scum War. We flew over Corpus, you remember. The azoth mine." Her voice dropped so low they could barely hear. "I sabotaged the ship, and we crashed, and two hundred people died. They died in the crash. They died in the alien-infested mine. They died when I ripped them apart. You should have stopped trusting me then."

"That was the scum emperor," Marco said. "Not you. He controlled you. It wasn't you."

Lailani turned those strange, luminous eyes upon him. Her voice was the faintest echo. "I told myself that for many years. But today I wonder if the monster was not always a part of me. Whether I was not merely a marionette but a demon child. There's a hunger inside me. A fire that burns. These things are in every starling. These things you cannot understand. You trusted me." She shook her head sadly. "You've always been so naive."

"So we can't trust you now?" Ben-Ari said.

Lailani smiled thinly. "Never trust an enemy. True peace is not forged on trust. It's forged on mutual interest. Trust is a foundation that the slightest wind topples. But you can build empires on mutual interest. So make me your offer, Einav Ben-Ari. Let's see if it ticks our mutual boxes."

She's a clever little thing, Ben-Ari thought. She always was. That makes her dangerous. An intelligent enemy, no matter how small, is more dangerous than a big dumb brute.

"Here are my terms," Ben-Ari said. "Abaddon will completely demilitarize. No more podships. No more soldiers. You will return my stolen starships to me. Furthermore, you will pay compensation to the families of the thousands you murdered on Skysphere. A thousand ounces of Abaddon gold per family. You can afford it. Finally, you will get on camera, and you will issue a formal apology to the people of Earth."

Lailani stared down at her from her throne. Then she burst out laughing. "My God, Einav, you do have a pair."

Ben-Ari stepped closer. Her lip peeled back. "Think of the alternative! If you refuse, and it's war, I will destroy you. Abaddon will fall. Everything you built here—these caves, this fledging nation—it will burn! Is that what you want?"

Lailani tossed back her head, laughing harder. "The temerity! I won every battle in the war so far—aside from your cowardly attack on the bomb shelter, which was more massacre than battle. And you still think you can defeat me?"

"Yes," Ben-Ari said. "I can. My armies dwarf yours. Even with all the mercenaries you hired. Even with all the podships you built. Earth is stronger than Abaddon. You know this is true. You can't win."

Lailani's laughter stopped. She stared down from her throne, smiling thinly. "My, my, little Einav. You're making the same mistake all your enemies always made. You're Israeli, aren't you? Your people faced enemies far more powerful—and defeated them. You led soldiers during the Alien Wars. I remember. I was one of them. Earth was weaker, smaller than her enemies—yet she overcame. Now you've become the big, bloated aggressor beating her chest and boasting of her might. You've become Goliath. And I intend to sling a stone between your eyes."

A voice rose from the shadows.

"Mom, stop it! You should take her deal."

A figure emerged from the shadowy background and ran toward the throne.

Marco gasped. "Tala!"

The girl skidded to a halt, panting. There was no mistaking her. At seventeen, Tala was a copy of Lailani. They could be sisters. Hell, they could be twins. The easiest way to tell them apart was the tattoos. Lailani had several, Tala none they could see.

Lailani rose from her throne. "Tala! Go back home."

"I won't." Tala placed her hands on her hips. "Don't you understand, Mom? Einav wants peace. Do what she says! Do you really want war? We can't win a—"

Lailani leaped from her throne, fangs sprouting, and slapped Tala across the cheek. The girl stumbled back, gasping.

"Enough of this!" Marco said. "Lailani, stop it!" He stepped toward Tala. "Don't hurt the girl. Don't you dare hurt her again."

Lailani shrieked. A horrible sound. An ear-shattering sound. Her fangs shone. Her eyes blazed. She was no longer a woman. She had become a demonic creature. A she-devil in hell.

"Step away from her, Marco!" Lailani screeched, and her voice was ten thousand voices woven into one. The voice of the hive. Of the centipedes in the depths. "You cannot have her!"

"Have her?" Marco scoffed. "What are you talking about?"

"You want to steal her!" Lailani cried, pointing at him. The cavern shook. Dust fell from the ceiling. Scum scuttled across the walls and floors, chirping and hissing. "You want to steal my daughter."

"I don't—" he began.

"I heard your conversation." She laughed. "I played it over and over. Tala—begging you to adopt her. To steal her! I won't let you. You can't have my daughter!"

Lailani shoved Marco aside. She grabbed Tala, wrapping her claws around the girl's arms. Tala squirmed, tried to free herself, but could not. The two women were the same size, but Lailani was using her alien fury now. She was so much stronger than any of them. Than all of them combined.

Ben-Ari stepped forward, hand held out before her. Her real hand, open and empty.

I must defuse this situation, she thought. The fate of humanity depends on it.

"Lailani." She spoke gently. "Nobody wants to steal Tala. We're just concerned about her well-being."

The wrong words. Ben-Ari realized that at once. Stupid.

"Her well-being?" Lailani scoffed. "You think I'm a poor mother? You think I can't raise her? I defended her! All my life I fought for her! I protected her from the aliens. From the cyborgs. From the Earthlings when you bombed us. I won't let you take her. No matter who she is, what she is—she's mine."

"I belong to myself," Tala said, struggling to free herself from Lailani's grasp.

Lailani bared her fangs. "So long as you're underage, you belong to me." She snapped her claws, and several scum scuttled forward.

The centipedes bowed before their queen. Their antennae twitched, vibrating the air, forming words. "We await your orders, Queen."

"Take my daughter to her quarters. Keep her inside until I arrive."

The centipedes bowed lower. "Yes, Queen."

Tala tried to run, but the centipedes grabbed her. They wrapped their claws around her arms, began pulling her away.

"Let me go!" Tala cried.

"Lailani, enough of this!" Ben-Ari said. "The girl is your daughter, yes, but she doesn't deserve to be manhandled by scum."

"I'm putting an end to this," Marco said. He stomped toward the centipedes, grabbed one, and tried to pull the alien off Tala.

The alien screeched and shoved Marco aside. At once, several more scum leaped from the shadows, slammed into Marco, and pushed him back. He stumbled, teetered over the edge of the stone tower.

Ben-Ari ran forward, grabbed Marco, and pulled him back from the edge. Somewhere in the distance, Tala was screaming, but they could no longer see her. Her cries echoed in the cavern, then faded.

Marco began shoving the scum, trying to make his way through. The aliens reared before him, claws extended. They pushed him back. Ben-Ari came to stand at Marco's side. She had no weapon, but she raised her fist. Just one fist, given that she had left her prosthetic in the shuttle. They stood together, and once more, they were soldier and officer. Warriors of Earth. Once more they faced the scum.

Lailani growled like a beast. Claws glinting, she stood among the rearing centipedes. The two sides faced each other, ready for battle.

Is this it? Ben-Ari thought. Do I die here on Abaddon? Did I walk into a trap?

Then Kai stepped forward.

"Hold on, hold on!" the bounty hunter said, arms held out to separate the combatants. "Hold your goddamn horses one goddamn moment. You were all doing so well until a minute ago. Calm your tits and stand down! Y'all came here to talk like civilized adults, not rip one another to shreds."

"Y'all?" Marco said. "Hold your horses? Are you a cowboy now?"

"I've always been a space cowboy," Kai said, tipping an imaginary hat. "Now stand down, pilgrim."

More than Kai's urgency, his humor defused the situation. Marco and Ben-Ari lowered their fists. The centipedes dropped to the floor and retreated into the shadows.

Lailani took a deep breath and returned to her throne. But her claws remained drawn. Her fangs shone in the firelight. Her eyes glowed a strange red.

"Let us continue where we stopped," Lailani said. "You gave me your terms. I reject them. Now hear my terms to you, Einav Ben-Ari." Lailani gripped the armrests of her throne. Her claws dug grooves into the iron. "The Earthling empire will disarm completely. The Human Defense Force will be dismantled. The fleet will be stripped of all weapons. And Einav Ben-Ari will stand trial, here on Abaddon, for the murder of our people. Those are my terms!" Her eyes blazed with fire, and her voice—the woven voice of the hive—echoed through the cavern. "Accept them, Einav! Or face me in war. But know this. If you attack this world, Abaddon will be your graveyard."

Marco looked at her, and his shoulders loosened, and his eyes softened. All his rage was gone like summer fires under the rain.

"Lailani, how did this happen?" he said. "How did you become the woman I see before me? I loved you once. You came to me at boot camp, holding a turtle. Loggerhead, you said. A gift you found among the trees. Do you remember?"

She looked down from her throne, silent. Finally she spoke in a hoarse voice, and it was only her voice. The hive was gone. "I remember."

"I miss that girl," Marco said. "I loved that girl. This person I see now? Queen Lailani of Abaddon, commanding the scum, threatening war and annihilation? That's not you. Step off that throne, Lailani. Come to Earth with us. Come home, Lailani. Come back home."

Tears streamed down Lailani's cheeks. She made no move to dry them. She stared at Marco from above, and her upper lip twitched.

"I loved you, Marco. I loved you and Addy and Einav. I loved Earth. I loved it all so much. But Earth was never my home. And you were never my people. This is who I am now. This is who I was meant to be. Call me a monster if you like. I call myself a monster every day. But to my people, I'm a savior. And I'll keep fighting for them."

"So it's war," Ben-Ari said softly. Marco, ever her loyal soldier, stepped up to her side.

Lailani clutched the armrests tighter, leaned forward, and grinned savagely. "It's war!"

CHAPTER SEVEN

The last word echoed in the cavern.

War! War! War!

Everyone stood still, the echo haunting them. Taunting them. Vowing blood and death.

Kai cleared his throat.

"Not yet!" the bounty hunter cried. "If you can't make peace—have a ceasefire!"

Everyone turned toward him.

"What?" Lailani snapped.

"A ceasefire," Kai said. "A year off from war. You can do a year, right? Both of you."

"I won't give Lailani a year to keep building her armies," Ben-Ari said.

"I don't need more time," Lailani said. "I can beat you now. If we're gonna fight, we fight. Let's get this over with."

"Is that what you really want?" Kai said. "For starlings and humans to slaughter each other? Because the two of you can't get along? You're both leaders of nations! Think of your people! Think of their lives! Don't they matter?"

"Of course they matter," Ben-Ari said.

"So take a year off!" Kai said. "A year to cool down. When you were a kid, and you got very upset, your parents sent you to your room, right? And you could come back downstairs once you were calm. Well—maybe we all need to go to our rooms. A year from now, we might feel a lot calmer. Some of the terrible rage may have dropped down to a simmer. Maybe then we can meet and negotiate again. Today we failed. Today our negotiations fell apart. That doesn't mean we must start fighting tomorrow."

Everyone stared at the bounty hunter, silent.

Then Ben-Ari stepped aside. She gestured for Marco. They huddled together.

"What do you think?" Ben-Ari whispered for only Marco's ears.

"A timeout is risky," Marco said. "Lailani has been building up her army. A year gives her time to double, even triple its size."

Ben-Ari glanced at the throne. Lailani sat there, conferring quietly with Kai.

Ben-Ari looked back at Marco. She spoke in a low voice. "A condition should be a freeze on building up our armies. We can both maintain what we have. But arm ourselves no more."

"I'd agree to that," Marco said.

"Likewise." Ben-Ari turned back toward Lailani and spoke louder. "We agree to the ceasefire on one condition. Neither Earth nor Abaddon will grow their armies. That includes starships, ground troops, any sort of weapon. Inspectors from both worlds will hold us to our words."

Lailani conferred a moment longer with Kai, then looked back at Ben-Ari. "I refuse that condition. It favors Earth. You already have a massive military. My army is small."

Good, Ben-Ari thought. Good, now we're finally negotiating.

"Maybe I can give you some leeway." Ben-Ari rolled up her sleeves. "Let's figure out the details."

Lailani looked around her. "Not here. Come over for dinner. And we'll work out the fine print."

* * * * *

They regathered in the dining hall. It was another natural cave, smaller than the throne room. Lines of silver and gold flowed across the walls like rivers.

It's no wonder Lailani has been able to afford all those mercenaries and alien starships, Ben-Ari thought. There's probably enough gold on Abaddon to gild Earth.

Suddenly, though she would never admit it, Ben-Ari doubted her conviction that she could defeat Abaddon in a war. Most of Lailani's ground troops were actually underground troops. Ben-Ari would have to fight them in the tunnels, and this was a labyrinth she was unfamiliar with. That was assuming Earth's forces even got that far. Ben-Ari had boasted of her fleet, but the truth was, many of her starships were old and slow. And Lailani's fleet was nothing to sneeze at.

This ceasefire is a good thing, Ben-Ari thought. Especially if we can keep extending it. I'm not ready to fight her. Maybe I never will be. I would never admit it. But I'm not sure I can win.

They sat at a long table carved from polished stone inlaid with crystals. Candles burned in iron holders, and the plates were made from solid gold. When they were all seated, round doors opened, and centipedes clattered into the room. The aliens carried steaming platters of food.

"Um, is this hygienic?" Marco said, grimacing as the centipedes served the meal.

Lailani lifted her fork and knife. "There are no bugs in the food, Marco, only bugs serving it."

"Ah, good." Marco looked green. "I feel better already."

Despite the gruesome waiting staff, the meal was not bad. The centipedes served fresh apples, mangoes, and grapefruit—grown right here underground from genetically modified seeds. Spiced potatoes steamed on silver platters. Soup was served inside geode bowls. The main course was sizzling steak topped with peppercorns. Ben-Ari had not seen any cows around, but as she ate her steak, she didn't want to contemplate that too deeply.

While they ate, they talked. They bickered. Sometimes they argued. They shot words back and forth.

In short, they negotiated.

"Fine," Ben-Ari said, sitting before her empty plate. She was on her second cup of wine. "You can produce five percent more podships—but no more mercenaries."

Lailani nodded. "And you cancel the production of your graviton ships."

That one hurt. Trillions of dollars had been poured into the graviton drives project. For years, Earth had been developing this technology. Finally twelve graviton ships had been built. Just twelve. And none of them military. The twelve proved a resounding success—a new generation of technology. Earth was finally ready to build hundreds of graviton drives for the army.

"The generals will have my head," Ben-Ari said. "So will our contractor's shareholders. But fine. I agree. I'll mothball the graviton project. Of course, I do expect you to cease production on your line of domestic starfighters. Oh yes, I know all about that. And no, there are no spies in your factories. So don't go chopping off heads. I have other ways of knowing."

Lailani grumbled. "Fine. I'll stop building starfighters. But I don't believe you about the spies."

As the two women talked, Marco served as legal clerk. He kept updating a contract, scribbling, erasing, writing again. Kai, who was on his sixth beer of the night, had gone very quiet. He sat by the fireplace, eyes narrowed to slits, enjoying a well-earned drunken haze.

Tala had not been invited for dinner. She was still grounded to her room.

At one point, Marco mentioned the girl. Asked if he could bring dinner up to her room. Lailani glared at him so balefully that he dropped it.

Hours went by. The contract was almost done. They had added countless clauses so far. Determining how far each fleet could fly from its solar system. How many new recruits they could train to replace retiring forces. How the inspectors would work without compromising each nation's security. How they would adjust the timelines due to time dilation.

Kai was snoring on the floor by now. Even Ben-Ari, who was used to burning the midnight oil through countless crises, was yawning and blinking. The centipedes, who had long ago cleared the dinner table, came in serving breakfast. Ben-Ari ignored the fruit and pastries. She went straight for the piping-hot coffee.

"One more condition before we wrap this up," Lailani said.

Marco, who had overcome his revulsion to centipede waiters, was tucking into some sweet pastries. "Hey, don't wrap this up just as dessert is served!"

"That's a very Addy thing to say," Lailani observed.

"I already explained it to Ben-Ari. I'm filling her role."

"And your belly." Lailani poked him.

"Hands off my rock-hard abs!" Marco waved her hand aside. "And stop laughing."

Their eyes met. Briefly, both of them smiled, perhaps remembering better times. Then Marco looked back at his food. And Lailani leaned back in her chair, her smile fading. The brief moment of friendship was over.

Ben-Ari watched them for a moment, then spoke softly. "I miss those moments. Joking around. Being friends."

Lailani seemed so small in her chair all of a sudden. The alien was gone. Just the woman remained.

"Me too," she said.

A loud snore from Kai broke the spell. Lailani's face hardened.

"Anyway, that last condition," Lailani continued. "During the ceasefire, we won't attack each other. But I say we ban any acts of aggression. No blockades. No espionage. No sabotage. Any hostile action will nullify our contract."

Ben-Ari took a sip of coffee, struggling to stay awake. Suddenly she felt her age. Achingly. She was only in her forties. Quite young for a president. But still, all-nighters were getting harder and harder as the years went by. Lailani, meanwhile, still seemed as fresh as a teenager. Biologically, she hadn't aged since boot camp. She still looked about eighteen or nineteen, and she apparently still had a teenager's stamina.

Maybe I should ask her to infect me with the starling gene, Ben-Ari thought, stifling a yawn. I'd sell my soul to be eighteen again.

"Fine," Ben-Ari said. "Add the clause and we'll sign."

Before I get so sleepy I make a mistake, she added silently.

Marco finished writing up the contract. They all read it. Reread it. And then signed it.

Lailani rose to her feet, stretched, and finally allowed herself to yawn. "Done! See you in a year, bitches. We'll do this again."

"I definitely hope we don't meet again for another year," Ben-Ari said.

They stood for a moment in awkward silence.

"I'll have Macintosh show you to the hangar," Lailani said.

"We know the way," said Ben-Ari.

Lailani nodded. "All right."

Ben-Ari hesitated. She looked into Lailani's eyes. The woman looked back.

And Ben-Ari thought she saw something in those dark eyes. Something soft. Something kind. Something sad and afraid.

She saw her old friend.

You're still in there, Lailani. The woman I love. You're still inside.

She reached out her hand for Lailani to shake.

Lailani stared at the proffered hand. Her eyes dampened. She took a step back, shook her head.

Very well.

Ben-Ari spun around and left the room. Marco hesitated a moment longer, glanced at Lailani, then followed Ben-Ari out the door.

* * * * *

Lailani remained standing in the dining room, alone. Aside from Kai, that was, but he was passed out drunk on the floor.

A tear rolled down Lailani's cheek.

She wanted to run into the hallway. To grab Marco and Ben-Ari. To hug them. To cry. To tell them she had missed them, that she loved them.

She took a step toward the door, hesitated, stepped back.

She could not.

To become their friend again is to betray my people, she thought. And I love my people more than anything. Even more than my friends. Even more than the joy my friends bring me.

Oh, it would be so easy! To hug those old friends. To be with them again. Maybe even move back to Earth. Campfires on Marco's farm. Addy's bad jokes. Their kids all playing together in the yard.

Lailani wanted it. So missed it. She missed it so bad she ached.

But she knew the truth. That things were different now. That they could never go back.

"Because I owe it to the families of the dead," she whispered. "I owe it to myself. My own blood. I owe it to the nation I lead. If I must stand against those I love, I will stand against them. Because they hurt me. They betrayed me. And I finally know who I am. I'm the queen of starlings. And that's all I can be."

She raised her eyes.

She looked at a framed photograph on the dining room wall.

An old photograph. Her and Tala, hugging and laughing in a field of dandelions.

Me, the queen of starlings … with my human daughter.

And Lailani realized that she had lied to herself. Because there was one soul she loved more than the starlings. More than the throne. More than her role in history. It was Tala.

"For you, Tala, I would do anything," Lailani whispered to the photo. "I love you."

She decided to visit her daughter in her room. They too had been fighting a war. They too, perhaps, could negotiate and maybe forge true peace.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Tala paced her bedroom, fists balled at her sides.

"This is absurd," she said. "You can't keep me imprisoned here! I'm your princess."

The two centipedes stood at her door, blocking her way out. Their claws interwove, formed a portcullis. They said nothing, just stood there like rearing cobras, balanced on their tails. Tala tried to push through them. They didn't budge. She might as well try bending prison bars.

With a groan, she turned away. She kept pacing her bedroom. It was a cozy little place. A natural cave too. Most starlings on Abaddon lived in artificial caves. The centipedes had carved them into the walls of New Canaan, the enormous cavern that served as Abaddon's capital city. Every one of those little artificial caves was the same. Thousands of them honeycombed New Canaan's stone walls, forming sensible little apartments. Natural caves, meanwhile, were a luxury. A status symbol. Only the wealthiest, most powerful starlings lived in them.

Well, and one human girl, Tala thought.

Yes, her room was comfortable enough. Glass lanterns glowed on the walls, full of fireflies. Swords hung over a crackling fireplace, including Tsukuyomi, her favorite katana and best friend. Her shelves held books on warfare, martial arts, leadership. The symbol of the starling nation, five red claws, covered the ceiling, made from bloodstones—crystals full of the blood of martyrs.

Not exactly a typical princess's room. There were no plush ponies here. No dolls in frilly dresses. No cupcakes or rainbows or unicorns. Lailani was a war queen, and Tala was a princess of war. Raised on the battlefields. Raised to someday lead her nation in its great strife.

A nation she did not belong to.

A world that was not her home.

A war that was meaningless.

And Tala knew that she had to leave. Not just this world. But her entire destiny. She had to leave her mother.

Today was the day. Marco was flying home to Earth. And Tala intended to be on his starship.

This is my only chance, she thought. I must leave today and find a new life on Earth. If I stay here, I'll wither and die.

She approached the centipede guards again. The pair stood there, claws interlocked, blocking the exit.

Tala faced them, placed her hands on her hips, and raised her chin. She tried to look as big as possible. Which wasn't easy when you stood under five feet tall, weighed under a hundred pounds, and faced two centipedes the size of crocodiles.

"As princess of Abaddon, as your future queen, I command you step aside!"

One of the centipedes twitched its antennae, producing an eerie, vibrating voice. "The queen has commanded us. We must obey the queen! You must remain."

"I will be your queen someday," Tala said.

"Not yet."

Tala took a deep breath. Her shoulders slumped. "Oh fine. I give up."

The centipedes kept standing there. Silent.

Tala shuffled across the floor, shoulders stooped, feigning despair. She approached the fireplace. She stood for a moment, gazing into the fire.

I will be strong. I will be brave. I will remember my training. Faster! Stronger! Go.

She reached for the blades above the fireplace. She grabbed Tsukuyomi, her katana, and Blackshard, her dagger. She spun around, blades flashing, and lunged at the centipedes.

These were warrior scum. Millions of years of desert hunting had honed their instincts. They reacted at once, turning their claws toward Tala.

She had anticipated that. She sidestepped to the left, dodging one row of claws. Then to the right, dodging another set of lashing claws. She thrust Tsukuyomi, the blade flat.

She made it between the claws. She thrust that blade right between two segments in a centipede's body. Just the right two segments. The ones that shielded the heart.

At once, Tala leaped up, soaring toward the cave ceiling.

Sadly, she had to leave Tsukuyomi embedded in the centipede. Pulling it free would only take a split second. She didn't have a split second.

As anticipated, the second centipede was already attacking. Its claws whistled beneath Tala. One of those claws found her hair, slicing off a lock.

She grabbed the lamp that hung from the ceiling. She swung backward.

She still had Blackshard, her dagger. She hurled the blade toward the advancing centipede.

Her aim was off. The dagger hit an armored segment, then clattered to the floor.

But it distracted the creature. Tala swung forward on the lamp and drove her boots into the centipede's head.

The scum crashed backward against the wall.

The centipede she had stabbed was still swaying on its tail, the blade in its body. Tala landed, grabbed the hilt, and pulled Tsukuyomi free. The centipede finally crashed down dead.

But the other centipede, the one she had kicked, was still alive. It pushed itself off the wall and leaped toward her.

Tala knelt, swayed left, right, dodging claws, and thrust.

Her katana drove into the centipede. Right where the neck segment met the head. She snarled, shoving the blade deeper, deeper. Her boots pushed against the ground. She drove the blade down to the hilt, then twisted it.

Something cracked inside the centipede. It was like cracking a lobster.

The centipede crashed down dead, taking the katana with it. Tala placed a boot on its head and tugged the hilt. The blade came free, covered in yellow slime.

Tala took a step back and noticed blood on the floor. Red blood. Human blood. She looked at her arm. A claw had sliced it. She hadn't even noticed during the fight. The cut didn't look life-threatening, and the scum hadn't injected her with its venom. But the wound might need a few stitches. She'd have to deal with that later.

Right now she had to reach Marco's starship. Before he left for Earth. And before Lailani found out!

Tala burst out of her room. Dripping sword in hand, she ran.

* * * * *

Faster.

She raced down the tunnel.

Stronger.

She leaped over centipedes, ran along the wall, kept going.

Win.

She had trained all her life for war. It was just a different war than she had expected. She had trained to win. And she would win her freedom.

Any second now, Tala knew, somebody would find the dead centipedes. Maybe they found them already. Lailani would be alerted. And then all the hosts of Abaddon, all the queen's horses and all the queen's men—they would all be chasing Princess Tala. And it would be over. And nobody would be able to put poor little Tala together again.

Faster.

She ran faster.

Stronger.

She ran without fear.

Win!

It was several kilometers to the hangar. She ran through the labyrinth. She raced through caves. She passed through mushroom gardens, mines whose walls were streaked with gold, and hollow halls of sanctity where silver bells clanged and centipedes bowed to obsidian idols. She ran over deep cisterns where silver water rippled and luminous moss hung like curtains from above. Her feet pattered on slender bridges forged of platinum, and the beating of her heart echoed through caverns with crystal walls, with crystal hearts. They beat with her. Pulse with pulse. Soul of woman. Soul of the world.

She avoided the caves with many people. She did not run through the miraculous city of New Canaan. She did not run through the colonies where underground gardens bloomed and children laughed. She had grown up in these places. Loved these places. Perhaps she would miss these places.

She would never see them again.

And now, as Tala ran through Abaddon, her heart wept for this underground kingdom. For the first time in her life, she realized its beauty. She marveled at its wonders. She beheld the glittering pillars of amethyst and the glowworm webs. She wept to hear the music of water droplets drip drip dripping into hidden pools. There was beauty here. There was music here, a music that reverberated through the caves and streams and pools of gurgling lava.

Now, on the day she was leaving, she fell in love with Abaddon. Perhaps she had to utterly break her heart before it could beat again on Earth.

Goodbye, Abaddon, she thought as she ran. I love you, my impossible world. Goodbye.

Finally she was near the Sapphire Gate. Seven caves led into the Starling Labyrinth, the network of tunnels and caves the starlings called their own. The Labyrinth was only a small fraction of Abaddon's vast, unmapped maze of tunnels. If you unwound all the tunnels in Abaddon, they said, they could reach between Earth and the sun. Millions of caves dotted the planet surface, portals to the underground. But only seven gateways led to the Starling Labyrinth, this subsection where the hybrids lived. Each of the seven was encrusted with gemstones of a different kind.

As she approached, Tala saw the blue glow of sapphires. She slowed her run. She inched forward.

The Sapphire Gate gleamed before her. It was a natural cave opening, leading out to the desert. The starlings had adorned it with thousands of sapphires, forming a glittering archway. Outside Tala could see the night sky. A million stars spread over the dunes. One of those stars was Sol. Earth's star.

She tore her gaze away from the starscape. Crouching in a shadowy tunnel, she peered down at the cave.

A shuttle was parked there. Just a short dash away. A space shuttle! Earth was painted on the white hull. Just gazing at the painted planet brought tears to Tala's eyes. Here was a vessel of Earth. A vessel that could take her home.

Marco and Ben-Ari stood outside the shuttle, talking in low voices. They were several meters away from where Tala hid. She could make out just some of the words.

"I think the negotiations went well," Marco was saying. He tucked a pistol into his belt. "We did good work here."

Ben-Ari reattached her prosthetic to the stump of her arm. She sighed. "It feels good to have this back." She flexed her mechanical fingers. "And I agree. This is promising. A start. We still mistrust each other, but we're talking instead of killing. I'm encouraged."

Before they could see her, Tala sneaked backward in the tunnel. She vanished into the shadows.

What do I do?

She could run forward, beg for a ride. Marco might agree. She thought he would. But what about the president? Growing up, Tala had spent lots of time with the Ben-Ari family. She still missed Carl, the president's son. But while Marco had always seemed like a beloved uncle, Einav Ben-Ari had always seemed more … distant? No, maybe distant was the wrong word. Auntie Einav, as they called her, always had a warm smile, gifts for the children, and a few words of wisdom. Mythical, maybe. Yes, mythical was the word. When you talked to Marco, you sensed that here was a man of his time. Solid. Down-to-earth. But Ben-Ari? She was a historical figure. Not a historical figure from the past, no. She did not yet appear in history books, despite her great deeds in the Alien Wars. But a figure for future history books. A figure weaving history around her.

That scared Tala.

Beloved Auntie Einav, the delicate beauty who drank chamomile tea and played Puccini, was also a ruthless warrior. An iron-willed politician. A figure somewhere between Joan of Arc and Moses. She was the Golden Lioness, the great champion of Earth in a galaxy of terror, the great light of humanity in the cosmic dark. Such a figure would not show mercy to the princess of Abaddon.

She won't let me come, Tala thought. I'll have to sneak into the shuttle.

And she only had a few moments—likely just seconds—before her mother found out.

She attempted to crawl forward, but the cave was too exposed. The light of Abaddon's moons filled it. Tala hurried toward a stalagmite and hid behind it. How the hell could she slip past Marco and Ben-Ari?

A few centipedes came walking by, minding their own business. They were juveniles. Not larvae; they had undergone their metamorphosis, had grown an exoskeleton and claws. But they were still small, not much larger than Tala's arms.

She knelt, grabbed a few of them. The aliens squirmed but she held on tight. She leaned down and began to hiss.

The little centipedes froze. They wheeled their antennae toward her.

Tala hissed again, clacked her teeth, made a low gurgling noise. She talked to them.

She was, as far as she knew, the only person on Abaddon who could speak to centipedes. She had grown up among them. She had listened and learned. Oh, she probably sounded like a blathering idiot to them. Most of their sounds came out clumsy from her human mouth, probably barely intelligible.

But she could manage just enough.

"Climb into their engines!" she said.

The centipedes understood. Leaving her in hiding, they scuttled toward the shuttle.

Tala watched from the shadows. The juvenile centipedes, not much larger than iguanas, scurried from shadow to shadow, racing toward the shuttle. Finally, in the open light, they climbed into the shuttle's exhaust ports.

Marco pointed.

"Goddammit!" His voice echoed through the cavern. "We got some parasites in our ride."

He and Ben-Ari walked toward the exhaust ports.

"They're just juveniles," the president said. "We'll pull them out. You take the left exhaust port, I'll take the right."

"Good thing we're wearing our gloves." Marco grimaced and reached into an exhaust port. "Ow! This little bastard bit me!"

As the pair worked at pulling out the invaders, Tala ran.

She had trained for years in the ways of stealth. She could move silently. Just another shadow among shadows. Within seconds, she had crossed the cavernous hangar and leaped into the shuttle.

I made it! I'm inside the shuttle! Her fingers trembled. I'm heading to Earth!

Marco's voice came from outside. "Well, I think we got 'em all. Little buggers. Now let's get off this planet before anything else sneaks into our shuttle."

Tala froze, for a second sure that Marco had seen her sneak into the shuttle, was mocking her. But no. He just meant the centipedes.

She heard their footsteps coming toward the hatch. Crouching inside the shuttle, Tala glanced around, seeking a place to hide.

It was a small shuttle. And unfortunately, it was well lit. Unforgiving white light bathed the cabin. Tala squinted. One rarely saw this much light in Abaddon's caves and tunnels. And when she climbed onto the planet's surface, she wore helmets with dark visors, filtering out the light. The Ishtar had been bright too. The starlings were beings of shadows, but the Earthlings loved their light. Tala had almost forgotten.

Squinting, she saw a control panel. Two leather chairs. And in the back—a door. A closet?

She pulled open the door. Bingo! A utility closet. There were packaged meals, bottled water, two spacesuits, a medical kit, vacuum-packed pillows, and sundry other supplies. There wasn't much room, but Tala was small. She sneaked into the closet, hid behind the spare spacesuits, and pulled the door shut.

Just then she heard Marco and Ben-Ari's footsteps on the deck. They were inside the shuttle with her.

Tala pressed herself against the wall, making herself as small as possible, praying nobody opened the closet.

Great idea, Tala, hide among the food, she thought. Nobody ever goes looking for food!

But thankfully, the closet door remained closed. She heard leather creak as Marco and Ben-Ari sat at the controls. Then the deck vibrated. The engines were powering up.

And they were off! The thrust shoved Tala backward. The shelves rattled around her.

She wished she had a porthole in here. Then she remembered the minicom in her pocket. It was connected to StarWeb, a network of cameras across Abaddon. She pulled out the small computer, logged on, and scrolled through several screens. The closet rattled so madly that she dropped her computer—twice. Thankfully, the engines were so loud nobody would hear.

Finally she found the right feed. Her minicom showed a view from the Sapphire Gate. There was a camera mounted just outside the gate, pointing at the sky. On her minicom, Tala watched the shuttle soaring. The desert spread below. The stars shone above. On her screen, the shuttle looked like a shooting star in reverse, rising from the world, returning to its home among the heavens.

And then the shuttle vanished off the screen. The rattling stopped. They were in space.

I made it, Tala thought. I escaped Abaddon.

She savored the silence. The darkness. She took a deep, shuddering breath.

The journey was just beginning. This little shuttle could not cross the vast cosmic oceans between stars. They still had to reach the Sol Invictus, the presidential flagship, which waited farther from the planet. And that starship still needed to cross five hundred light-years, passing through the vast, dangerous darkness between the stars, places where alien brigands and predators roamed.

I might have to spend a while in this closet, Tala thought. Good thing there are snacks.

Hope was rising inside her—cautious hope, just a flicker like a spark struggling to become a fire. But it was a light in her darkness, and it soothed her. In great darkness even the faintest light shone like a miracle.

Then—a literal light! Her minicom lit up in her hands!

She looked at the screen. It was still connected to Abaddon, still streaming live video from the Sapphire Gate.

Another shuttle was flying out the Sapphire Gate, its engine blazing, filling the monitor with light.

A shuttle? No—a small starship!

Tala recognized it, and her heart sank. It was the Black Rose Viperess. Her mother's starship.

Lailani was chasing them.

CHAPTER NINE

"She's chasing us." Marco sat in the shuttle cockpit, staring in disbelief at the rearview monitor. "Lailani is chasing us!"

"Maybe you forgot your hat," Ben-Ari said dryly.

"Dammit," Marco said. "I thought this was over and done with. What the hell does she want?"

Lights flashed on the monitor. A hundred or more.

"She's launching podships too," Ben-Ari said. "They're just a few seconds behind her."

"What the hell?" Marco glanced at the controls to his right. "How far are we from the Sol Invictus? Can you see, Einav?"

He was busy holding the yoke, piloting the shuttle. Ben-Ari tapped the monitor, pulling up stats.

"The Sol Invictus is waiting for us," she said. "But she's still a good distance away."

Marco cursed. "Let's see what the hell Lailani wants." He tapped a few buttons, sending out a broadcast. "This is Colonel Marco Emery, calling from Sol Invictus Shuttle 1. Ah, screw formality. Lailani, what the hell are you doing?"

For a moment—silence.

Then Lailani's voice roared through the speakers, filling the shuttle.

"You stole my daughter!"

She hung up.

Marco and Ben-Ari glanced at each other.

"Um, what?" Marco said.

"Let's go faster," Ben-Ari suggested.

"I like that idea." He pushed the throttle down. The shuttle's engines roared, giving them a turbo boost. They streaked forward in the darkness. But Lailani was coming in fast. She was right on their tail.

Marco called her again. "Lailani, this is Marco again. I'm just calling to tell you that you're full of shit. If you can't find Tala, check under her bed. She's not here, over."

This time Lailani responded by firing.

A bolt of plasma roared out from her shuttle.

Marco swerved left. But the plasma wasn't aimed directly at them. The ball of energy rolled overhead, bathing the shuttle with light.

"A warning shot," Marco muttered.

"Lailani de la Rosa!" Ben-Ari said, using the same voice she would use at boot camp when scolding a recruit. "You have fired on a presidential spacecraft! Cease now or you will be in violation of our contract—before the ink is even dry!"

Lailani kept chasing.

Another plasma bolt flew.

Marco tugged the yoke, rising higher. The plasma bolt rolled below like a comet, searing the shuttle's underbelly.

"What the hell?" Marco said. "She really tried to hit us that time! That plasma bolt almost killed us."

Ben-Ari stared at the bolt of energy rolling into the distance like a bowling ball. "Wait. That's not plasma. Look, Marco. It's blue, not red. It's an energy disruptor. She's trying to cripple us, not kill us."

Marco got on the comlink again. "Listen to me, Lailani. We don't have Tala."

The podships were catching up. Soon the spherical, organic vessels flew alongside the Black Rose Viperess. They fired gobs of sticky membranes. Marco soared, dodging them, then veered right, avoiding another glob. It was the same tarry substance that had captured the Ishtar last year.

Finally Lailani spoke again, voice booming through the speakers. A demonic voice. A voice of millions speaking as one. She was in her alien form again.

"You stole her! Liars! I saw the security footage from the Sapphire Gate. Bring back my daughter!"

Marco glanced at Ben-Ari. "What the hell is Lailani talking abou—" Suddenly it dawned on him. He groaned. "Dammit. When the juvenile scum were entering our engines. Tala sneaked aboard!"

"It was a distraction," Ben-Ari said.

The president rose from her seat. She walked across the deck to the back of the shuttle. Marco remained at the controls. He plunged downward, escaping an assault of oily goo. Ben-Ari swayed, nearly fell, kept walking.

She reached the closet and yanked it open.

Marco glanced over his shoulder.

Standing inside the closet, hidden among hanging spacesuits, was Tala. She waved shyly.

* * * * *

Lailani flew.

She hunted.

She raged.

She must kill! Kill the humans! Kill them all!

Kill her daughter? No. No! Tala was still her blood. But the others. Marco! Einav! She must kill. She must feed!

Lailani licked her fangs. She could already taste it. Their hearts. The hot blood pumping into her mouth.

Lailani? Who was Lailani? She was Queen. She was Centipede. She was Hive. She was Abaddon.

Never had she awoken such a beast inside her. Never had she strayed so far from humanity. Humanity? Wretched apes! Naked, posturing monkeys! They were so weak. So soft. Grubs. They were just the grubs of the galaxy. And centipede-kind must feed.

My daughter.

Images flashed before Lailani's eyes.

Tala—a sweet baby, only a day old, swaddled and sleeping contentedly.

Tala—a toddler, taking her first steps, speaking her first words.

Tala—a child, learning to read, to ride a bike, to ask big questions.

Tala—Lailani's only tie to humanity. Her human daughter. Her human love. Lailani could not bear to lose her. Because to lose Tala would be to lose everything. To lose the only shield separating Lailani from the monster.

Without Tala, I'm nothing but a bug. Without Tala, I'm alien. Without Tala, I have no heart, no soul, no love. Without Tala, I'm only the Queen of Claws. I love you, Tala. I love you for who you are. And for who you let me be.

She gripped the yoke of the Black Rose Viperess so tightly that it cracked. She bared her fangs, and her howl tore out from her like a storm of demons.

"Give me back my daughter!"

* * * * *

The transmission rolled across the shuttle. Lailani's voice echoed through the cabin.

"Give me back my daughter!"

Marco looked at Tala, blinked, rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "Tala! What are you doing here?"

The girl raised her chin. Her eyes were damp, but she met his gaze steadily. "I'm running away from home. I hope that you'll help me."

Marco hesitated. Should he help the girl? Should he try to outrun Lailani?

Ben-Ari spoke before he could. "Don't look at Marco for help! I'm the only one who can determine your fate now. We're going to have a good talk about this, young lady. But first I must speak to your mother." She turned toward Marco. "Colonel, get the queen back on the line."

"Yes, ma'am," Marco said.

Ben-Ari waited for the light to turn green. "Lailani, this is Einav. We found Tala in our shuttle. She had stowed herself in the closet. We were unaware until now. Cease your assault! I'll get back to you."

"Bring back my—" Lailani began.

At a glance from the president, Marco hung up.

The line rang again. They didn't answer. Lailani's ships kept chasing them. But at least they had stopped firing. For now.

Marco and Ben-Ari turned to look at Tala.

The girl stared back, silent.

"Well?" Ben-Ari said, placing her hands on her hips. "Do you have anything to say for yourself, girl?"

"Not to you!" Tala said. She turned toward Marco. "Uncle Marco, please. You remember that time we talked on your farm, and you said you'd help me, and—"

"Eyes back on me, young lady!" Ben-Ari snapped. "You caused an intergalactic incident. As president of Earth, I have to fix it. Marco can't help you. Maybe I can't either. I'm giving you thirty seconds to explain yourself—to me!—before I send you back to your mother and try to prevent a war."

The girl looked at Marco pleadingly. To his credit, Marco just crossed his arms and said nothing.

Good, Ben-Ari thought. For a moment, she had worried that Marco would intervene. But he closed ranks with Ben-Ari. Of course he did. He had been her loyal soldier for two decades. If there was anyone she could trust in the galaxy, it was him.

I thought I could trust Lailani too, said a pesky voice in her mind. And Lailani thought she could trust Tala, no doubt. Trust is sacred. There's a reason betrayal stings so much. I've known many pains in my life. Betrayal is the worst pain I've felt.

Tala took a deep breath, then began to gush out words. "I'm human! I took a test and I'm human! Not starling. And my mom wants me to become a starling warrior. All she cares about is the starlings! More than anything, more than me, more than herself. When she learns I'm human, she'll kill me! Okay maybe not literally, but she's violent when she's a monster. Look at the scar on my cheek. Her claw did that. And the other starlings? They'll really kill me! They hate humans down there, and please, please, Ms. Ben-Ari, I can't go back. I miss Earth. I—"

"Your thirty seconds are up," Ben-Ari said.

Tala shut her mouth, shocked at being interrupted while spilling out her little heart.

Marco glanced at Ben-Ari.

Really, Einav? his eyes said. But his mouth remained shut.

Trust me, Marco, she said to him. She said it with her eyes. He understood. They'd known each other for so long they could talk without words. At this point, it was almost like telepathy.

"All right." Ben-Ari looked back at Tala. "You've said your piece. But I have a problem. Your mother and I are trying to prevent a war. You're not helping! Furthermore, you're underage. Legally, child, you belong to your mother."

"I have a right to leave." Tala puffed out her chest. "I'll be eighteen in a few weeks."

"We can't sit around in this shuttle for a few weeks until your birthday," Ben-Ari said. "I'm sorry. Your sob story was very touching, but it failed to convince me. You'll be returning to your mother. In a few weeks, when you're a legal adult, you'll be free to leave. On your own ship, if you can find one." Ben-Ari pointed a finger at the girl. "No more stowing away."

Tala stared back at her, face pale, lip trembling. But she did not break her gaze. To her credit, the girl was brave.

She's so much like Lailani, Ben-Ari thought. Like the teenage Lailani I met so long ago. And it's not just how they look. Tala has the same broken bravery. The kind of courage that grows from pain like mushrooms from fallen trees. That is the strongest kind of courage. Any fool can be brave when the sun is shining. Those who forge their will in cauldrons of pain gain true strength. I never trust a warrior without scars on her armor. And the armor around Tala's heart shows ten thousand scars.

The girl spoke simply, voice soft yet determined. "Ms. Ben-Ari, I won't last a few weeks on Abaddon. I won't even last a few days."

The monitors lit up. The computers beeped in protest.

"Lailani is calling us," Marco said. "On about ten thousand frequencies."

"Is she still firing her guns?" Ben-Ari asked.

"No."

"Then she can wait." Ben-Ari turned back toward Tala. "Elaborate."

Tala kept her chin raised, her shoulders squared. Her voice trembled slightly, but she kept her composure. "You know my mother. You know that she's part centipede. Part monster. You know that when the alien awakes, she's dangerous. She's murderous. Lately it's gotten worse. She spends more and more time in her alien form. She's losing control. Ever since she removed the chip in her brain, she—"

"Wait." Ben-Ari frowned. "Lailani removed the microchip implanted into her skull? The one that let her activate and deactivate her alien side at will?"

"A few years ago," Tala said. "Oh wait. Due to time dilation, that wasn't too long ago for you. Probably why you didn't know. I still remember it. My mom was so proud. She made a big deal about how, at last, she was embracing her starling side. How only now she's a true starling. We had a ceremony, tossing the chip into lava. But since then … she got dangerous. I'm scared to go back."

Ben-Ari felt herself losing a little conviction. She sighed and sat down on a bench by the closet. She patted the seat beside her, and Tala sat down too.

"You know, I ran away when I was your age," Ben-Ari said. "And the year before that. And the year before that too."

Tala's eyes widened. "You? The president? You ran away from home?"

"I wasn't the president then. I was just little Einav, a military brat. My dad was a colonel. That's a senior officer in the army. He kept traveling from military base to military base, dragging me along. It was tolerable at first. But after my mom died, I hated it. I just wanted a home, I guess. And my misguided solution was to run away."

"Where did you go?"

"Not far. Usually just outside whatever base we were stationed at. Once I managed to hitchhike to the nearest city, and I was going to fly out from there. To where? No idea. My father always sent soldiers after me. They always caught me, dragged me home. You know what eventually saved me?"

"What?" Tala asked.

"The military. The very same thing I kept running from. When I was eighteen, I joined Officer Candidate School."

"But—why? If you hated the army so much."

Ben-Ari sighed. "It was expected of me. The Ben-Ari family has a proud military history. One of my ancestors fought the Ottoman Empire during World War I. His son escaped a concentration camp and fought the Nazis in World War II. His son, meanwhile, fought on the battlefields of Israel. My grandfather fought the scum during the Cataclysm, and my dad was a famous colonel during the War of Attrition. Generation after generation of soldiers. Of officers. Of leaders. If your name is Ben-Ari, war is in your blood. So off to Officer Candidate School I went."

Tala frowned. "Not Julius Military Academy? They always talk about that one in the Earthling books I'm not supposed to be reading."

Ben-Ari laughed. "No, not Julius. You have to be rich to go to Julius. Or a genius. I was neither. Still am neither! But even my local OCS was a good school. I spent two years there, and those were probably the best two years of my life. I learned something at officer school. I learned that I never hated the army. I just hated feeling powerless. But becoming an officer, learning to lead, to make decisions, to fight for others—that gave me purpose. That gave me pride. That grounded me."

"I'm grounded too," Tala said. "To my room."

Ben-Ari laughed again, louder this time. "Soon enough, you'll be an adult. And you'll be able to pursue your own path. For me it was the military. For you, it might be something else."

Tala lowered her eyes. "So I guess you're still taking me home, huh?"

Suddenly, sitting at the controls, Marco cleared his throat. "It's too bad you never applied for refugee status, Tala. Rookie move."

Ben-Ari inhaled sharply. "Marco!"

He cleared his throat again, coughed. "Sorry, shutting up now!"

Tala rose to her feet. "That's it! I'm applying for refugee status! I … I am a refugee. Uncle Marco is right! I qualify. I'm running away from one nation. A nation where I fear for my safety. Technically this shuttle is Earth territory, isn't it?"

"Technically," Ben-Ari said with a dry voice. She was going to kill Marco!

"So … technically, it's illegal for you to send me back to Abaddon!" Tala said. "If I claim refugee status. Which I do. Most vehemently." She raised her chin. "I, Tala de la Rosa, am a refugee! And you cannot turn me away."

I swear, Marco, Ben-Ari thought, grinding her teeth.

She had trusted him! Now he was helping Tala! This could lead to war!

The shuttle monitors lit up and beeped.

Lailani was firing again.

The Black Rose Viperess blasted energy disrupters. The scum podships spewed their tar. Marco had to zigzag through space, dodging the assault.

I'll kill him later, Ben-Ari decided.

She sat by the control panel and accepted one of Lailani's calls.

"—her back!" Lailani was screaming. "Give me back my daughter! I will—"

"Lailani," Ben-Ari said. "This is Einav. Your daughter has applied for refugee asylum status. Under the laws of Earth and the Human Commonwealth, I cannot return her to Abaddon." She hung up, turned to Marco. "Give us every last drop of speed you can. We must reach the Sol Invictus—and get the hell out of here!"

CHAPTER TEN

War.

It was war!

Only hours ago, Lailani had signed the contract. Agreed to a cease-fire. Maybe even taken the first step toward a lasting peace.

What a crock of shit!

Already—already, the very same day!—the humans broke the contract. Broke it? They tore it up and pissed on it!

Lailani held the throttle down. The Black Rose Viperess roared forward on the hunt. Her claws tore into the machinery of her starship. She and Viperess were as one. Huntresses of the depths. Hungry for flesh. Thirsty for blood. Desperate for vengeance.

"I will destroy them!" she growled. Her voice was deep. The voice of the hive. "They stole my daughter. I will show them no mercy!"

But first—she needed Tala back.

She needed to protect her daughter. To hug her. Cherish her. Make sure Tala could never be stolen again.

And then—then the humans would pay.

Humans—vile creatures! Treacherous! Murderous!

Her daughter—a human.

Tala—a human girl.

Lailani took a deep breath.

Her claws retracted.

I thought I was human once. She shuddered. I thought I was just a girl. I'm still mostly human. I can still choose to be human. I …

She roared. Her claws sprouted again. She laughed.

No. Humans were weak. She was a new being now. A starling! A queen of starlings!

"You want war?" she said. "Let's rock!"

A small part of her screamed out. A little voice deep inside.

Stop this! Become human again! Silence the beast!

That small part of her gasped, reached out, tried to find the chip in her head. To turn off the monster. But the switch was gone. She was true starling now, a creature of emotion and instinct and pain. And she could not tame the alien.

"Who am I?" she whispered. "Who was I?"

She did not know. But she kept chasing. Because the hunt was all that remained. She was no longer human—if she had ever been human. She was no longer Lailani—that woman drowned in the alien swarm. But she was still a huntress. Still a warrior. Still a queen.

She reloaded her weapons. And she unleashed her fury.

* * * * *

"Can't we go any faster?" Ben-Ari said.

"Sure we can!" Marco said. "Glad you asked. I've been deliberately going slowly."

"All right, enough wisecracks—watch out! Incoming!"

The rearview monitor showed the horror. The Black Rose Viperess was firing a stream of blue bolts. More damn energy disrupters. The crackling balls of blue electricity were not deadly, but they would knock the shuttle crew unconscious. The podships were firing too. Glob after glob of goo flew through space, hurtling toward the shuttle.

Ben-Ari had no doubt. As soon as Lailani has Tala alive, she'll murder me and Marco.

Marco jerked the yoke up, down, dipped, soared, desperate to dodge the assault. Dammit! Ben-Ari wished she had some starfighters with her. Why had she ever agreed to fly here without security?

She peered ahead, squinting, seeking it. The Sol Invictus.

The mothership was still too far to see with the naked eye. The Sol Invictus waited outside Abaddon's territorial space—a sphere spreading millions of kilometers around the planet. Hundreds of podships were probably guarding the presidential starship, preventing it from flying any closer. If Ben-Ari summoned that ship to aid her, and the Sol Invictus entered Abaddon's space, it would be an act of war.

Ah hell. It was already war.

Ben-Ari got on her comlink. "Sol Invictus, come in. This is President Ben-Ari. Lock onto my coordinates and send a wing of Silverbird starfighters."

A crackling voice emerged from the other end. "Madam President, this is Sol Invictus. The podships are blocking our passage, and several starling frigates are moving in, their cannons hot. Should we—"

The call died.

Ben-Ari shook her comlink. Dead. The enemy must be jamming their signals. Would the Invictus send starfighters? Would any help arrive without igniting a massive battle in space?

Dammit! This had been going so well. Now it was all falling apart. Because of Tala.

Ben-Ari could strangle the girl. One damn girl was causing a war! She could throttle Marco too. He had pulled up the refugee law. Goddammit! Yes, legally Marco was right. And he probably thought he was morally right too. But Marco was an idealist. She, Ben-Ari, was a pragmatist. When it came to saving the universe, to hell with what was legal and right—save lives! Above all else, save lives!

But it was too late. The pieces were moving on the board. Like it or not, Ben-Ari was in this battle now. And she would have to play the hand Marco and Tala dealt her.

She would strangle them later. First she would save their lives.

She glanced at the controls again. They were blazing forward at breakneck speed. The shuttle had no azoth crystal in its engine. It could not break the speed of light. It had been built to ferry passengers between the mothership and a planet, not cross vast distances on its own. It would still be a while before they reached the Sol Invictus.

Ben-Ari made a mental note to commission warp-capable shuttles. If she survived this. Which was doubtful.

More podships fired their goo.

Marco dodged several of the blasts. To his credit, he was a damn good pilot. But even he wasn't a miracle worker. A blast of the sticky strands slapped against the shuttle, grabbed it, began pulling it backward. It was like an enormous chameleon tongue, reeling them in.

"Fuck!" Marco said. He shoved the throttle down to the max. A burst of afterburner burned through the strand. The shuttle jolted forward.

More sticky strands kept flying. They reminded Ben-Ari of a childhood toy—a gooey string she would hurl across the room, grabbing coins and dice and other odds and ends. Marco kept flying madly, swirling around these extending tongues. He dodged most of them. But another gluey tentacle caught the shuttle. Once more, a podship was reeling them in.

"Give us more afterburner!" Ben-Ari said.

"I can't. It has to recharge." He shook his head in disgust. "This is how they captured the Ishtar Strike Force."

"What did you do back then?" Ben-Ari said.

"We lost."

The shuttle groaned in protest. Marco was giving the engines everything he could, but the podship's tongue was still reeling them in. They were a fish on the line. Helpless.

"We're not losing today." Ben-Ari pulled on her helmet, snapped the visor shut. "Keep flying. I'm going out there. I'm cutting us free."

* * * * *

She hovered out of the space shuttle. Only a slender harness kept her attached. As she floated outside, a memory of her last space walk slammed into her. Floating outside Skysphere. Seeing Lailani approach in her starship. Seeing the missiles fly. The station burn. The children die.

I was a fool to ever negotiate with her, Ben-Ari thought. I showed her mercy because of our past. I was sentimental. I won't make that mistake again.

She stared into the distance. She could see Lailani following. The Black Rose Viperess led the charge, and the podships flew close behind. A sticky strand ran from one podship to the shuttle. The gelatinous tongue was pulling the shuttle toward the waiting jaws of Lailani's fleet.

Ben-Ari raised her prosthetic arm. She had lost one prosthetic already in this war against Lailani; it had shattered in the assault on Skysphere. She had a newer model installed. This fancy new prosthetic came with quite a few gadgets. Ben-Ari didn't even need to tap any buttons. The arm was connected directly to her nerve endings, and from there to her brain. She could issue commands by thought.

Right now she activated the blowtorch. A hatch on the top of her forearm opened. A small blowtorch emerged, no larger than a pen. It blazed out a furious blade of blue fire.

She sliced through the tentacle grabbing the shuttle. At once, the shuttle jolted forward with shocking speed. Ben-Ari fell off the hull, tumbled through space. The tether tightened, dragging her behind the shuttle like a water skier.

She spun her body around, facing the pursuing ships. She raised her prosthetic hand, switched on her plasma weapon, and unleashed a bolt of searing energy.

The ball of plasma rolled into the distance, moving at breakneck speed, and slammed into a podship. At the speed they were all moving, the plasma slammed into the podship like an asteroid. It punched through the ship's hardened shell and flames burst from within.

Ben-Ari fired again. Again. She took out two more podships.

The other podships fired on her. Scores of them.

"Hold on tight, Einav!" came Marco's voice through her comlink.

He flew up, down, left, right. She jerked around behind him on the harness, still taking potshots at the enemy. More strands of goo flew all around her. They were like eels in the darkness, rising again and again, snapping at her. One strand came closer. Only meters away. She fired a plasma bolt from her palm, knocking it back.

One strand caught her leg.

Ben-Ari screamed.

Another strand wrapped around her prosthetic arm. A third strand grabbed the harness connecting her to the shuttle—and tore it free.

The sticky tentacles began pulling her toward Lailani and her fleet.

"Marco!" she cried.

"I see you! I'm coming!"

He spun around, came flying in. The shuttle had a small machine gun on the prow. Marco opened fire. Bullets whizzed over Ben-Ari's head. She ducked.

"Careful!" she cried.

"Keep down!" he replied.

His bullets severed the tentacles grabbing Ben-Ari.

This little maneuver had brought the two parties close. The Black Rose Viperess was so near Ben-Ari could see Lailani's face behind the windshield. The two women stared at each other.

Then Ben-Ari raised her palm and fired plasma.

The bolt slammed into the Black Rose Viperess's prow. Flames exploded, blinding Lailani. The sleek starship jerked backward and slammed into a podship.

Ben-Ari fired again and again, blasting bolts against the Black Rose Viperess, shoving the ship back into the cluster of pods. Her prosthetic's weapon was not strong enough to pierce the Viperess's shields, but it was denting the prow, scratching up the windshield, maybe even caused an air leak.

I don't want to kill you, Lailani, she thought. But if I must—I will!

With every blast from her palm, the thrust shoved Ben-Ari backward through space. Finally her back slammed into the shuttle. The impact knocked the air out of her. She grunted in pain. Thank God for her armored spacesuit and its shock absorbers. Without the suit, the impact might have shattered her spin.

A plasma blast came flying toward the shuttle.

Lailani was attacking!

Ben-Ari grabbed a strand of goo that trailed from the shuttle. She leaped into space, swinging like Tarzan on a vine. She barely managed to dodge the assault. The plasma bolt slammed into the shuttle, rocking it. Fire leaped from one exhaust port. Dammit!

"We've got one engine down!" Marco cried from inside. His voice filled her helmet.

"I know!" Ben-Ari replied.

The shuttle trailed smoke. Ben-Ari clung to the starboard hull, staring back at the enemy. The shuttle slewed, veering to the side. Marco managed to correct their flight, but they were much slower now.

Lailani fired again. Ben-Ari fired back. Two balls of plasma slammed together in space, blazing out in an explosion.

"We won't take another hit," Marco said.

"I know," Ben-Ari said. "She wants to disable us, then drag us back. Once she has Tala safe and sound—you and I are toast."

"Lailani wouldn't kill us," Marco said. But he sounded unconvinced.

"She killed Benny," Ben-Ari said. "He was one of us. Our Elvis. When she's like this, in her alien rage …"

The assault continued. Ben-Ari remained outside the shuttle, clinging to the hull. She fired plasma from her palm again, blasting off a glob of tar. Her prosthetic arm beeped in protest. It was out of energy.

There was only one thing Ben-Ari could do. She didn't want to do it.

But it might just save their lives.

* * * * *

She crawled back into the shuttle. Marco still sat at the controls, yanking the yoke in every direction, desperate to dodge the blasts that just kept coming. Tala sat beside him, eyes wide with fear.

"Tala!" Ben-Ari barked. "Get into a spacesuit. Now!"

"Wha—?" the girl began.

"Now!" Ben-Ari shouted. "If you want to see Earth—do it!"

Tala gulped. "Yes, Ms. Ben-Ari."

The girl ran toward the closet, grabbed a spacesuit, and pulled it on. She slammed the visor shut. To her credit, the girl moved fast. She could probably suit up faster than half the marines in the HDF.

Ben-Ari grabbed a pistol from the closet. "Tala, follow my lead and play along. I won't harm you. Come with me. We're going for a little space walk."

Both women leaped out the shuttle hatch, fresh harnesses tethering them to the shuttle. They spun around to the stern. One exhaust port was still burning, leaving a trail of smoke through space. The other was glowing pale blue, propelling the shuttle onward at reduced speed. The shuttle kept wanting to slew left, and Marco had to keep compensating.

Ben-Ari pulled Tala onto the roof of the shuttle. They stood there in open space, facing the enemy.

Lailani was now flying right behind them. The Viperess was scratched and charred but still flying fast. Lailani stared from the cockpit. From here, Ben-Ari could not make out the queen's facial expression. But any modern starship had zoom capabilities. Lailani was probably staring Ben-Ari right in the eyes.

Ben-Ari pulled Tala closer, gripping her tightly. Ben-Ari was of average height, but she felt like a giant by the petite girl. She could have rested her chin on Tala's head.

Slowly, as Lailani watched, Ben-Ari placed a gun to Tala's head.

At once, the enemy fire died.

Ben-Ari's arm could interface with her comlink, which was built into her helmet. Just by thinking the commands, Ben-Ari patched her comlink into the shuttle's computer system. From there, with her mind alone, she hailed Lailani.

And Lailani, flying right behind them, took the call.

For a moment both women said nothing. Lailani breathed through the line. Strained breathing. Every breath spoke of terror and rage.

"Lailani, this is Einav. Nobody has to get hurt today. It's up to you. I'm going to ask you now to back up. To return home. And everyone will be—"

"You kidnapped her," Lailani hissed. "You kidnapped my daughter."

"I—" Ben-Ari took a deep breath. "I did not. She sneaked into my shuttle and—"

"Put the gun down, Einav. Put it down! Or I swear, I will skin you alive."

Ben-Ari kept the gun on Tala's head. "No. If you want to shoot, shoot. You'll be killing Tala too."

"Don't think I won't fire!" Lailani screamed. "If I can't have Tala, nobody can!"

"Mom, please, just go home!" Tala said.

"Quiet, girl," Ben-Ari snapped. "Let me handle this. Lailani, I'm warning you for the last time. Go home! Or Tala dies."

She was bluffing, of course. Would Lailani know that?

The queen of Abaddon laughed. "You wouldn't dare."

"And you wouldn't dare shoot us!" Ben-Ari said. "You love your daughter. Despite all your flaws, you love her."

"Yes. I love her." Lailani's voice cracked. "I love her with all my heart. She's my angel. My only reason for being."

Tala wept. "Mom. I love you too."

Lailani kept talking, voice shaking with fury. "I will pursue you, Einav. I will chase you 'round the Devil's Eye black hole, and through the Lost Souls nebula, and into the Shadowrealms below the universe if I must. You lied to me. You betrayed me. You kidnapped my daughter. I will hunt you until you are dead. Even if I must hunt you beyond the end of time."

So much for our peace talks, Ben-Ari thought. For the life of one girl—we ripped our contract to shreds.

And Ben-Ari wondered if in all her career, this was her worst mistake. If in the future, she would mourn saving Tala's life. Sometimes leaders had to sacrifice the few to save the many. She had forgotten that today. Maybe because Marco steered her in that direction, and she was too weak to talk him down. Maybe because she knew Tala, pitied the girl. Maybe because she knew Lailani, and that blinded her, muddled her thinking. This was all too personal. Her judgment was impaired.

For whatever reason, I failed today, Ben-Ari thought. And I don't yet know how this will end. I just hope I don't resent Tala's life. Because of the girl, because of me, the galaxy might burn.

They kept flying like this for a while. Lailani pursued, but her cannons did not fire. Ben-Ari stood atop her shuttle, holding a gun to Tala's head. Nobody blinked. The standoff continued.

Finally they saw Sol Invictus in the distance. The flagship of Earth hovered outside Abaddon's space. A few podships floated on the other side of the invisible border, holding back Earth's flagship.

As they flew closer, Ben-Ari worried. Would the podships prevent them from leaving? Marco navigated between the organic vessels. They floated around the shuttle like fleshy balloons.

Ben-Ari breathed a sigh of relief. They're letting us pass. They know that if they tried to stop us, my starship would blow them away. Maybe scum are more circumspect than I realized.

Ben-Ari kept the gun on Tala's head until they reached the Sol Invictus. Until the hangar opened and the shuttle was inside. Lailani watched—but she did nothing.

She's buying my bluff, Ben-Ari thought.

But then she frowned. Was she bluffing? Had Lailani continued her assault, would Ben-Ari have killed the girl?

No, she decided. Of course not. Maybe I'm not strong enough. Maybe I'm too compassionate. Maybe the merciful make poor leaders in war. We can't make the hard choices. We can't sacrifice the meek to save the strong. When I fought aliens, it was easier. I showed them no mercy because they deserved no mercy. I showed them no humanity because they were not human. But now I face Lailani. Now I face my friend. And now I feel so weak and helpless. Now my strength is only a bluff. And sooner or later Lailani will call it.

She climbed off the shuttle and marched across the Ishtar's hangar bay.

"Bridge!" she barked into her comlink. "Get us out of here—top speed! Now!"

Through a viewport, she saw the podships arranging themselves in battle formation. Would they try to capture the Sol Invictus like they had captured the Ishtar?

Before the enemy could make a move, the flagship's warp engine activated.

The spherical ships smudged, stretched out. The stars streaked like comets. And the Sol Invictus blasted off, traveling faster than light.

They left the enemy behind in the dust. The Sol Invictus was Earth's newest starship. It contained the latest technology, the fastest engines. Lailani would not catch them.

At least not today.

But Lailani was right. She would never stop the hunt. Sooner or later, the Queen of Claws would strike back. And Ben-Ari feared the brutality of her vengeance.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

They have Tala.

Lailani flew, gripping the yoke, terror constricting her heart.

They have my daughter.

She watched the Sol Invictus streak into the distance, moving faster than any Abaddonian ship could fly.

They kidnapped my child.

Lailani had never felt such terror. Not in the slums of Manila, dodging rapists and killers. Not in all her wars against alien armies. Not even when she learned she was a starling. Not even when she unintentionally slaughtered the children in Skysphere. Her life had been one terror after another.

But she had never felt like this.

All she had was her terror. It fueled her. It fueled her ships. She kept flying. Her heart lay shattered in her chest. Her tears dripped down her cheeks. Her belly was full of ice.

They have my daughter.

And then Lailani was fading. Fading away. Fading under the terror. The human part of her mind—the logic, compassion, imagination—it dropped away like a planet beneath a soaring rocket.

The alien awoke. More fully, more beastly than ever before, and somehow more beautiful. The centipede inside her was metamorphosing. Rising as a new creature. Blooming. It had never been so strong.

In the cockpit of the Black Rose Viperess, Lailani screamed.

She tossed back her head and howled in agony.

Something was happening. Changing. Morphing. Not only in her mind but in her body too. Things were moving beneath the skin. Bones were creaking. Sprouting. Skin was stretching.

"No!" she howled.

"Yes," she answered herself. "I awake."

A sharp pain blazed on her left side. Just at the bottom of her rib cage. She screamed. She had never felt such agony.

My kidney, she thought. My kidney is ripping apart! Kidney stones are tearing me open!

Then agony roared on her right side. Same spot. She wept.

It's my appendix. It has to be my appendix. Bursting. I—

She could not think. Only scream. Something was pushing inside her. A baby. A demon baby. Moving, kicking, shoving against her.

Her spacesuit bulged on her left side. Then her right. Something was trying to break out.

With shaking hands, Lailani ripped off her spacesuit, remaining in her underwear.

She saw it then. Saw it happening on her body. The creature inside. She saw the skin bulging.

It grew from her left side. At first it just looked like a boil covered in skin. Then it lengthened into a finger. It grew bigger and bigger, thicker and thicker, a new organ sprouting.

Lailani looked at her right side. It was happening there too. Just below her arm.

The two new organs lengthened, and their tips bulged, forming bulbous balls. And then—from each new organ fingers sprouted! Fists bloomed open like fleshy flowers.

Lailani looked at them. Flexed them.

Two new arms. Two new hands.

The pain ended. She opened and closed her new hands. She raised and lowered the new arms.

She put the Black Rose Viperess on autopilot, left the cockpit, and crossed the hold. She stepped into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.

Most of her was the same. Same black hair. Same dark eyes. Same tattoos. The same battle scars.

But now she had four arms.

"I look like a Hindu goddess," she said. Then she burst out laughing. She laughed and laughed, head tossed back, exposing her fangs.

She remembered only one other case of a starling growing four arms. Corvin, the man Marco had shunned. Perhaps it took the greatest emotions, the most gut-wrenching trauma, for a starling to metamorphose into this life cycle stage.

Corvin had kidnapped Marco's daughter. And now Tala was kidnapped. Both metamorphoses—triggered by the theft of children.

"You saved your daughter, Marco," Lailani whispered. "Now I will save mine. You killed the man who took your child. And I will slaughter anyone who stands between me and Tala." She returned to the cockpit, sat at the controls, and howled at the distance. "I will have my revenge!"

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ben-Ari stood on the bridge of the Sol Invictus, hands clasped behind her back. It took all her effort to hide her emotions. Her rage. But the bridge crew sensed it. They replied to orders with nervous crispness. There were no smiles, no small talk. Tension filled the bridge like fumes.

"Ma'am, we're pulling far ahead of them," said Major Walt, the navigator. "They won't catch us."

Ben-Ari nodded. She turned away from the viewport. She stared at Marco, who stood on the bridge nearby. Tala stood behind him like a girl seeking protection behind her father.

"Security!" Ben-Ari barked. "Accompany our guest to a cabin. Keep her there."

Two guards saluted. "Yes, ma'am."

The burly men approached Tala. One guard held out his hand, gesturing at the door. Tala gulped, looked around nervously.

"Go with them, Tala," Marco said. "You're safe here. I'll visit you soon. We'll talk."

Tala gulped, nodded, and walked off the bridge. The guards flanked her.

After they were gone, Marco turned to look at Ben-Ari. He met her gaze unflinchingly. His face was inscrutable.

"Colonel Emery, join me in my ready room." Her tone made clear it was not a request.

"Yes, ma'am."

They walked into a cabin just off the bridge, and the hatch whispered shut behind them.

The ready room was the president's personal office aboard the Sol Invictus. With Skysphere destroyed, this had become her official work area. Shelves covered the walls, full of books. Actual paper books, a novelty in the twenty-second century. A shadowbox hung on the wall, showcasing ancient medals. She did not display her own medals, though she had many. These were the medals earned by Ben-Ari warriors before her, heroes every one, from space explorers to partisans in the forests of Nazi Europe.

She walked around her desk, sat down. Marco reached for the seat across the desk.

"I didn't invite you to take a seat," Ben-Ari said.

He frowned, stood straighter. He faced her from across the desk.

"Well, if you want to give me a dressing down, Einav, I—"

"Shut up, Marco. For fuck's sake! Shut up for once." Ben-Ari took a deep breath. She had to calm herself. "I was about to return Tala to her mother. The girl would have moped for a few weeks, turned eighteen, then hitchhiked her way to Earth. God knows we did crazier things at her age. But you, Marco." She clenched her fists under the desk. "You told her to claim refugee status. You might have sparked a war."

"With all due respect, I made a suggestion," Marco said. "I didn't bend your arm. You could have refused Tala."

"And broken the law?" Ben-Ari said.

"Did the law not exist before I mentioned it?"

Ben-Ari rose to her feet, fury flowing through her. "Tala didn't know it did! The law only applied once she claimed refugee status—on your instruction!"

"My suggestion," Marco said. "This isn't just some random refugee we're talking about. Come on, Einav! This is Tala! She's friends with our kids! She's practically family."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Ben-Ari said, almost at a shout. She was glad her office had soundproof bulkheads. "Do you think I forgot for a second who Tala is? Do you think I don't love her?"

"I think you have to act like a president."

"And you have to act like a soldier!" she spat back at him. "You wear the uniform. Don't you desecrate it!" She had never yelled at Marco like this. Not in all the twenty-two years they had known each other. "As a soldier, as an officer of the Human Defense Force, you know that sometimes you must sacrifice the few to save the many."

His face hardened. "Then we should have killed Lailani twenty years ago. When we learned what she is. But we didn't! Because we loved her! We believed she could change! Because we're not just a president and an officer. We're humans, dammit. We feel love. Compassion. Pity. And yes, maybe that makes us weak, but if we forget our humanity, how are we different from the starlings?"

Ben-Ari glared at him. "You're right about one thing. We should have killed Lailani twenty years ago."

Marco finally tore his gaze away. He looked at a bulkhead. At a photo that hung there. The same photo he had in his home over the fireplace. The same photo Lailani carried in her wallet—maybe even today. That old photo from twenty-two years ago. The Dragons Platoon. Back when they were all alive. When they were all united.

Marco was there. Ben-Ari was there. Addy, Elvis, all of them. Lailani too.

"I loved her," Marco said softly. "When I was drafted into the army, my world fell apart. I was a kid pulled into a war. I was so afraid. And Lailani was the only good thing in my life. The only light. The only hope. She was love. Love in a war of so much fear and pain. And maybe that love blinded me. Maybe after Corpus, after the horrors in those mines, after what she did there, I should have known who she is. Or what she might become. I should have known the chip in her head was just a Band-Aid, that the monster still lurked within. But I loved her. And I made a mistake. And maybe that's why I said what I said to Tala. She could have been my daughter, Einav. Maybe love blinded me again." He looked back at Ben-Ari. "I'm sorry."

She stood behind her desk for a moment.

She looked at him. And she saw the face of a middle-aged colonel. A man with silver in his hair and beard. With weary, wise eyes. And for a bewildering second, Ben-Ari didn't know who he was. The Marco she knew was completely disassociated from the flesh, blood, skin, and hair—that thing that took the form of a man. It was just a doll. A wax statue. And the Marco she knew was still in the photograph on the wall. Still a boy.

Who are we now? she thought. Who have we become? Why are we tearing apart?

She looked at him again. And she saw the boy. And she saw the man. And she saw one grown into the other. And she saw that both were one. The same soul.

That is something you only learn in your forties, Ben-Ari thought. The body ages but the soul does not. Even the oldest person, frail and white and hunched over, is still young inside. Within old skulls are the minds of curious youths. Their eyes are the same eyes that saw a world of such promise long ago.

And when she looked into Marco's eyes, she saw his soul. He was still her friend.

She walked around her desk and hugged him. He stood stiffly for a moment, then wrapped his arms around her and embraced her.

"Marco, why is this happening?" Ben-Ari whispered. "We were all such good friends. We were a family. Now Lailani is our enemy, and … I don't want to lose you too, Marco. I already lost everyone. Kemi died, and Lailani betrayed me, and my husband moved out, and … Oh, Marco, I'm oversharing. I'm sorry. I just don't know who to trust anymore. Because everyone leaves, and I don't want you to."

"Madam President, so long as we both live, I will be your soldier and your friend. I would fly over the edge of the galaxy for you. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's the only thing I haven't done for you yet. If you'll still have me, Madam President, I will fight for you in this war too."

She kissed his cheek. "I love you, Marco."

He held her close. "I love you, Einav."

She laid her cheek against his shoulder. She stood there, just embracing him, finally feeling safe. Feeling that there was still one person she could trust. He kept his arms wrapped around her, holding her close.

"Marco," she whispered, "if Addy were here, she'd kick my butt right about now."

He looked into her eyes. He brushed back a strand of her hair. "We're friends. Best friends. Addy knows it."

Ben-Ari nodded. "Yes. Of course. I know it too."

And she did. And yet speaking those words filled her with a sense of loss. She did not want to explore why. Not yet. Not here.

Yet again the thought rose unbidden. The same thought that had been haunting her since her husband had walked out.

I should have married you, Marco Emery. I should have snatched you up before the other girls. But I did not. And it's eating me up inside.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

September 2, 2165, dawned warm and beautiful over Toronto, casting golden light on maples and birches and glittering glass towers. It was a city of winter. A city that spent half the year cloaked in ice and snow. It was a city where the cold stretched long, frosted fingers and gripped hard. It was a city where beautiful warm dawns were rare. And so its people savored every one.

The streets of Toronto overflowed that summer day. The people spilled out of their glass towers into parks, cafés, bars. They walked the streets in shorts and summer dresses. They ate ice cream along the boardwalk, rode bikes among the trees, visited libraries and theaters, grilled burgers with friends and families, played ball on the street and lawn darts with Dad.

It was, in other words, a perfect day.

A day that history would remember.

A day that would change everything.

A day, some might say, that was a perfect final day.

It was September 2, 2165. It began as an ordinary day, the dawn warm and beautiful.

* * * * *

Lailani flew in the Black Rose Viperess, but she no longer clutched the yoke in her claws. She sat in the cockpit, but she no longer roared nor bared her fangs. In fact, if anyone were to look at her right then, Lailani would appear as a wax statue or porcelain doll. Expressionless. Eyes wide and staring at nothing.

But on the inside she was roiling.

On the inside of this doll, the fires blazed and the lava swirled in burning fury.

Her four arms rested at her sides. The lower left one twitched. It was still so itchy.

That should be funny. Four arms. One itchy. She should be laughing. She did not laugh. Maybe she would never laugh again. Was it possible to laugh after such pain? Such a transformation?

I am not human. I am not Lailani. Who am I? What am I?

She looked at her reflection in the dark cockpit glass. A doll! Just a doll. A porcelain doll on strings. A doll who would dance for you. Curtsy for you. Do whatever you liked if you pulled her strings right. Just a marionette, thank you very much.

But they had stolen something from her. Open up her little wooden chest, and it was hollow inside. The gem that had shone there had been stolen by mice, sinister mice who roamed in the night and danced strange dances.

No, maybe she would never laugh again. If even that vision of dancing mice did not bring a smile to her face, we're afraid the matter is sealed. The girl is doomed.

Her lip twitched. Just a twitch. Not a smile. Not even a crooked smile. Just a twitch of her marionette parts.

"Lailani, are you there, Lailani?" she said. A mechanical wonder! The doll can speak! "Are you there, Lailani?"

She shook her wooden head. Her neck clacked and clacked with every turn. The little wooden parts were moving inside. Her synthetic hair swished. No longer a porcelain doll but a marionette!

"Nope. Nope! Not here!" Her four arms jerked on the strings. "Not here! Only I am here." Her voice deepened. "Only we are here."

She was the hive. Ah, yes. There they were! The rest of them. The centipedes. The hive mind. She had missed this place.

In here there was no Lailani! There was no doll! In here, she was one of many. In here, she found true free will. There was power in the masses. There was unity in the great writhing horde that swarmed through the tunnels. There was one brain. Not a doll but a puppeteer!

And our puppets are everywhere. We pull the strings. We control the millions of fingers that grow from our many arms. We are the roots spreading through a forest of fungus, sprouting everywhere.

Lailani could feel all those fingertips. She could see through all those eyes. Hear through all those ears. She was in every being in the hive, in the billions of them. She was in every centipede that scurried in the darkness. She was in every starling mother nursing her child, every child suckling at the teat, every man toiling in the mines, every woman making love, every soul on Abaddon and those who remained on Earth. She was in every starling.

Yes … some remained on Earth.

Thousands had never been caught by the Earthlings. Thousands had never been sent to concentration camps. Thousands still lived among the humans, hiding in plain sight. They were gardeners, teachers, mechanics, a few lawyers … but they were all part of the hive. And Lailani—if there was still such a thing—could reach them all.

She had never been this powerful. Not when removing the chip from her skull. Not when ascending to the throne of Abaddon. But now. Now … she was metamorphosed. Taken to the next level of starling being. She had four arms. She was transfigured. She was not just crude claws and hard shells. She was a soul. A being of light.

She saw them all.

She was the great puppeteer.

She was the will. And her will was their command.

And so she chose one. One of her sleeper agents. One of the starlings in hiding. A tall, heavyset man. One she had been monitoring for a while. A military man. An officer. A commander in Earth's fleet.

Ah yes, there he was.

Hello again … I told you that someday I would call. I am here.

He looked at her across the void. And he screamed.

* * * * *

Little Emily ran down the sidewalk, pigtails swaying. It was Monday morning, and the library was about to open! She skipped with excitement. Late Sunday afternoon, she had run out of fresh books. Out of fresh books! With still a few hours of Sunday left? What was a girl to do!

So she reread a few books, a few old favorites, and now the morning was here. She skipped down Yonge Street, heading to Toronto's largest library, her favorite place in the world.

Not far away from little Emily and her library, thousands of music fans were gathering in the famous Lakeside Amphitheater. It was an outdoor venue. They lounged on the grass, ate hot dogs, drank beer, then cheered when their favorite band began to play.

A few blocks away, tens of thousands of hockey fans roared. The blades sliced the ice. Team clashed against team. The puck found the net, and the fans leaped to their feet.

Bill was at the hockey game that day, that September 2, 2165. He took his son to the game. The boy, Billy Junior, or Billy the Kid as they sometimes called him, was only seven years old. It was his first game, and the boy's eyes were wide with wonder. Billy the Elder mussed his son's hair. He knew he would never forget this day. And with its sick sense of humor, the universe made sure he was right.

There were weddings that day in Toronto. There were funerals. There were weary mothers, sweeping floors and washing dishes, returning home exhausted to hug their beloved children. There were friends exploring the city parks like they were great forests. There were animals in the zoo, and pigeons on the streets, and squirrels in the trees, and they were residents of the city too. There were patients dying of cancer in the hospitals. There were babies taking their first breath.

For them all, it was an ordinary day, for some good, for some bad, but never unusual. And they did not yet know that they were—all of them were—going to end up in history.

But most historic days feel ordinary when they begin. Perhaps it is the ordinary days you need to watch out for.

That very ordinary day in 2165, Commander Edward Ellerbee opened his eyes for the first time. He was forty-one years old, and for the first time in his life, he was awake.

He was part of a hive.

He was a puppet on a string.

Yes, she was there inside him. The Queen of Claws. The one they called Queen Lailani. She was in command of Abaddon now, and like rulers before her, she would exert her will upon her minions. She was queen. They were pawns.

She was not afraid to sacrifice them. When the game called for it of course.

Today the enemy had taken her most precious piece. Today the enemy had taken her daughter.

And so Lailani would do whatever she must. Sacrifice as many pawns as the game required. She would strike the enemy's queen and knock her off the board!

Let the pawns fall.

He was the commander of a starship, our dear paunchy Edward Ellerbee. He was young for the job, but he was a loyal soldier, a bit stodgy, and he never questioned orders, never showed any particular flair for independence. The top brass liked that sort of man. When you were a creature of the hierarchy, you became good at climbing the hierarchy, like a spider climbing a web whose intricacies only it knew.

And so at age forty-one, with three little kids and a patient wife waiting down on Earth, our dear old Edward Ellerbee became the commander of the HDFS Invidia. Just in time to prevent a midlife crisis. She was a military ship, the Invidia, but not a combat vessel. She was an ammunition ship.

Many officers dreamed of commanding a warship, and they might have scoffed at commanding a noncombat vessel. But not Ellerbee. He was damn proud of his job. Without him, forget about winning a space battle. When you run out of torpedoes in the heat of battle, who do ya call? When your plasma runs low and the enemy is still hot, who flies to the rescue? When you're just dying to nuke an alien starship and your plutonium's run dry, who will make your day? Well, the ammunition ship, of course! Yes, sir. In the chaos of war, at the most critical of moments, your friendly neighborhood ammunition ship will emerge from the fire like an angel of light, delivering manna from heaven.

Battles take a lot of ammo. Not to worry. Edward Ellerbee and the Invidia have got you covered!

So let the other officers scoff. Ellerbee wasn't prim and proper like them. Maybe wasn't as smart as them. Okay, maybe not as thin either. But he did have one thing going.

He had his queen.

And right now, more than any prim and proper officer, it was pudgy, greasy old Ellerbee whom the queen called upon. It was he who would do her bidding.

It was an honor.

Fly, she told him. Die.

"Fly," he repeated. "Die."

He obeyed.

At first he obeyed. At first.

He flew. He flew his mighty starship toward Earth. He was already nearby. Already orbiting the blue planet. He just had to nudge the prow of the ship, give her a little thrust, and they were off. Look at them go!

Yes, he obeyed at first. He thought he was using his own free will. If such a thing even existed in a starling. Or in a man. He nudged the ship. For his queen, he would move the world.

Then, as if waking from a daze, he noticed it. He finally understood it.

They were flying not just toward Earth. But into Earth. They were going to hit the planet!

That was when Edward Ellerbee, who maybe was even more heroic than he imagined, fought back.

And he fought hard. He wrestled his queen in his mind. He fought her with thoughts, with feelings, with prayers. And he fought with his body. His arms strained to remove themselves from the yoke of his ship. His every muscle strained, desperate to break free.

But she was stronger.

Ultimately, he was the doll, and she was the puppeteer.

And so he flew. He flew his starship. He flew toward Earth. He kept flying even as starfighters rose. As they fired their missiles at him. The Invidia was an armory ship, dammit. She had the thickest shields in the fleet. Let the starfighters fire! They couldn't hurt him. They were mere insects crushed against his windshield.

He had a big beast of a ship, and her belly was full of fire.

They blasted him with missiles. They scarred his prow and hull. They even cracked one of his mighty shields. But he kept flying. He kept plowing through them. He was a charging gnu, horns thrusting every which way, clearing his path through the brush.

And then his prow touched the sky.

The ship ionized the air.

Flames! Flames leaped along the hull! Flames bathed the shields!

Ellerbee stood on the bridge, laughing. Laughing madly. Head tossed back. In the flames and roar of oncoming death, he was transfigured.

He was only the third starling to ever reach such status. An honor. A great final honor. His four arms spread out wide. He laughed as the starship crashed through the blue sky of Earth, tearing through the very ordinary day of September 2, 2165, just over Toronto.

* * * * *

Down in the city, the books trembled across the library table. Little Emily ran toward the window, stared at the sky. She gasped and hid under the table.

At the hockey game, the ice cracked. A siren wailed. A vendor tipped over, spilling hot dogs and popcorn across the aisle. People ran to the exits, trampling one another. Billy held his son close, protecting him from the stampede.

At the outdoor amphitheater, it was hard to hear. The music blared so loudly. But somebody saw it in the sky, pointed. Soon everyone was pointing, looking upward, squinting. What was it?

In a mental asylum, the patients screamed. They tossed themselves against the walls, clawed at their skin, howled of impending doom, because they sensed it. They saw it reflected in the broken prisms of their minds.

In the zoo, the animals wailed. They tried to flee, slamming themselves into the bars, desperate to get out. Gorillas yanking on metal bars. Rhinos plowing into concrete walls. Lions desperate to scale mesh fences. Their free animal brethren, the deer and rabbits and birds and mice—they fled through the city. They sensed it too.

Above them, the sky darkened.

Thunder boomed. It was so loud that windows shattered on the glass towers.

Cars screeched to a halt. Drivers emerged, pointing at the sky, shouting. A few pedestrians were taking videos of the sky.

Smoke and fire unfurled above, covering the city. A great sonic boom rattled the buildings. A bus station shattered into a million shards. And there from above it came. The red clouds swirled, dilated, and it emerged like a mechanical baby from the womb.

The prow of a starship. Descending from the clouds.

It seemed surprisingly slow, almost graceful, though it moved at terrifying speeds. Perhaps in the last seconds of life, time slowed down. They watched that prow dip lower. The millions in the city—they watched the rest of the starship emerge from the inferno.

A few people saw its prow touch the ground.

And then nobody saw much of anything.

* * * * *

A hundred kilometers north of Toronto, a great light blinded the farmers and wildlife.

It rose from the south. Searing white light. As bright as the sun.

They squinted. They shielded their eyes with their palms. They stared south. What the hell was going on? It looked like a star had fallen onto the world.

Mothers stepped onto patios, called their children to come back home. Farmers shut down their water-drones and robo-mules, joined one another, stared, squinted, tried to guess what the light was. A meteor? An accident? A nuclear attack?

It came from the general direction of Toronto, but that city was too far to see from here. There was only that bulb of light.

Five minutes later, which was how long it took sound to travel a hundred kilometers, they heard the explosion.

An enormous boom shattered windows, tore down trees, and terrified the farmers.

The shock wave roared across the forests and farmlands like a tidal wave. It ripped up soil, uprooting maples and birches and turning over boulders. It knocked down cows and horses, shattered silos and barns, broke every window and door. Birds fell from the sky, their hollow bones broken. Dead fish washed onto riverbanks.

Not many people lived up here. Those who did knelt and covered their ears against the deafening sound.

"An asteroid strike!" somebody cried.

"A nuclear bomb!"

"Alien attack!"

More and more explosions shook the air. They went off like fireworks. More and more lights kept flaring in the south. After each light, five minutes later, the booms shook the farmlands and tore down the forests. Only later would they learn what these secondary explosions were.

They were the bombs inside the Invidia. The starship crashing into the city had caused the first, greatest explosion. Indeed, within an instant, it pulverized most of the city and killed millions. But that was not the end. Within that molten, mangled, crashed hull like a blazing scene from hell, a fresh host of demons awoke. For a terrible hour afterward, the bombs inside the Invidia kept going off. One by one. Pop by pop. A fireworks display.

But right now the farmers did not know it. They could only watch the southern horizon burn. Many cowered in basements and bunkers. Some stood on the rooftops, staring south, crying out in dismay. A few dumb kids hooted and hollered with each bomb that went off. Maybe they thought this was just a fireworks display. Maybe they were too dumb to understand that millions were dying. Maybe they were just nihilists or drunk or mean.

But most people hid.

Most people understood.

Addy was among those Ontarian farmers that late summer day, that second of September. She stood outside in the garden, gazing south, watching it unfold.

She knew at once what it was. She was a veteran of the Alien Wars. This was no alien invasion.

Well, not unless you considered Lailani an alien.

Though in a sense … she was.

And this was her work. Addy knew it. This was Lailani's wrath. This was the target she chose.

She came after us, Addy thought. Marco and me. Maybe she meant to kill us and she missed. More likely, she wanted us to live. She wanted us to see. She wanted us to grieve.

And Addy saw. And Addy grieved.

It was only an hour later, once the explosions died down, that she returned into her home.

There was no more power. The radio and TV and holofeed were all dead. They might never get the power back. Everything was gone. Every power plant, every bit of infrastructure, every electrician, every engineer, every construction worker, all of them, all of it—gone. But her minicom still had a battery charge, and she connected it to satellite news.

It was all Earth was talking about. On a thousand stations. In a million forums and chatrooms. Everyone on Earth and her colonies was talking about the destruction of Toronto.

Sitting in her living room, with her kids curled up beside her, Addy saw the satellite images. She watched a replay of the starship plowing into the city center. Of the explosion instantly pulverizing several neighborhoods. Of the skyscrapers shattering and falling like so many icicles. Of the shock wave roaming over the rest of the city like a living beast, spreading, spreading, devouring everything in its path.

She could not see the aftermath. The live satellite feed just showed smoke and dust where Toronto had been. A few hours from now, when the dust finally settled, Addy guessed there would just be a crater. Just a big ol' hole filled with the dust of millions of cremated bodies.

"We don't yet know the full death toll," a news anchor said, his face as severe as his suit. "But Toronto had a population of six million people. Most are presumed dead. Quite possibly all of them."

Addy felt oddly numb.

She had been born and raised in Toronto. It was her home. But she felt empty. A sort of hollow feeling. As if the terror were so great it did not register. As if this had to be a dream.

Grief could be like a shock wave. It took a while to travel. But when it hit you, it knocked you down with terrifying power.

Her family was safe. Her children were here on the farm. Her husband was in space. Addy no longer knew many people in Toronto. A few old friends she had lost touch with. A crazy old aunt she had not talked to in thirty years.

But she had never felt such grief.

When the shock wave hit her, when the full terror sank in, she could only sit still, drowning in mourning.

September 2, 2165. It was Toronto's last day. It was six million people's last day. It was the day Lailani de la Rosa lost her soul.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lailani returned home.

The hunt was over. She had lost her prey. She had lost her soul.

The Black Rose Viperess turned around and landed on Abaddon. Lailani walked silently through the dark tunnels, across the underground city of New Canaan, past mines that glittered with gemstones and cave gardens that bloomed with fruit. She walked through this miracle. She did not see it.

She entered her throne room, a grand cavern whose natural walls ran with rivulets of gold. A stalagmite rose in the center of the cave, and she climbed the spiral path to its top. But she did not see the gold. Did not hear her footsteps on the stairs. She was in the darkness. In the void. In a mind wiped out in the explosion.

For a while, she had been Edward Ellerbee, the stodgy commander of a starship. For a while, she had activated him. A parasite controlling its host. For a while, she had flown a starship headfirst into a world.

Yes, she had done this thing.

She had been in Ellerbee's mind when he died. She had never experienced death before. Her mind was gone yet her body was still here. Her old body. Petite. Fragile. The body of a beautiful girl. A body with four arms. The body of a monster.

Who was she? Man? Woman? Girl? Alien? Queen?

Her throne rose before her, forged of dark iron, shaped like a rearing centipede. Many armrests thrust out from its sides, for once a true centipede had sat here. Her father.

She hoped she made him proud.

She sat on her throne and stared into the darkness. Soon she would need to rise. To issue commands. To prepare the fleet for war.

But right now Lailani just sat. She just stared into the shadows. And she saw the faces of six million souls. And her soul was among the lost.

* * * * *

Marco was still in space when he heard the news.

Being apart from Addy had never been so hard.

Ben-Ari received the news first. It came by mini-wormhole from Earth to her comlink. Marco was there when she got the call. He would never forget the look on her face. How pale she became. How haunted she seemed. She aged a decade in a second.

They were three hundred people aboard the Sol Invictus, Earthlings all, and still a week away from home. Ben-Ari gathered the entire crew in the lounge that day. Solemnly, she delivered the news.

Toronto was gone.

Five of them were from Toronto. Marco. Four other officers. One of them fell to his knees, cried out in agony, demanded to know if his family was dead, were they dead? Oh God, were they dead? They finally had to sedate him. He had begun to tear the ship apart.

Many people wept. Others shouted for vengeance. Ben-Ari tried to call for order. Panic spread through the crew. This was a civilian ship, but most of them were veterans. A few, like Marco, were still active soldiers. They had fought in wars. They had seen death. And this news broke them.

As chaos filled the lounge, Marco just stood silently. Not knowing if his wife and children were alive.

For eighteen hours, he did not know.

For eighteen hours, Marco roamed the ship like a ghost. He could not stay in his cabin. The terror was a demon, and trapped alone in a room, it would rip Marco apart. So he walked the halls. He stared out portholes. He visited the engineering room where engines roared and pistons pumped and crystals shone. He went to the gym and lifted weights and punched punching bags. He thought of Addy and the kids, and tears rolled down his cheeks.

He told himself that the family farm was far enough from Toronto. That the blast hadn't destroyed it. That Addy and the kids were alive.

But he did not know. He was not sure.

Five hours in, he was broken.

He visited the ship's temple. It was nondenominational, containing holy books from all the major faiths. Marco sat at a pew, and tears rolled down his cheeks. He did not know how to pray. He was raised secular, had never had much faith. He did not understand these cryptic, ancient books.

So he simply sat in the pew, tears on his cheeks, and whispered, "Please, whatever god might be up there, let them live. Take me if you must. Don't take Addy and my children."

Only then did Marco notice.

Ben-Ari was in the chapel with him.

Marco's cheeks flushed. Had she heard him? It was embarrassing enough to be caught in a chapel—him, the jaded soldier, the avowed secularist. Being heard begging for mercy, seen weeping—that was worse.

Ah, to hell with shame. Ben-Ari was his best friend. He would not feel embarrassed around her.

He got up. He walked to the front of the chapel. He looked at his president. At his friend.

"May I join you?" he said.

She nodded and patted the seat beside her. He sat down. She was reading a book in Hebrew. The Torah, perhaps. Marco wasn't sure. He couldn't read the letters. But he could see the damp trail a tear had left across her cheek.

"I wish I could read those words," Marco said, glancing over at her book.

"I'll teach you. Pray with me."

She spoke a prayer in Hebrew. Marco could not understand the ancient words, but they seemed wise, holy, and he found comfort in the ritual. Maybe he didn't have much faith in God. But these words were a connection to the past, to something greater, to something profoundly human and hopeful. And that comforted him. He repeated the prayer.

Finally, after eighteen hours of agony, the Sol Invictus received another call from Earth.

Addy was on the line.

"Marco!" she said. "Marco, I tried to call earlier, but the networks are down across Canada. I had to fly the Hot Dog into space, line up for a satellite connection, and— Oh, Marco, I'm fine, and the kids are fine. We're all here."

Terri, Roza, and Sam waved in the grainy video. "Hi, Dad!"

Later on, Marco would wonder how it was possible. To feel such overwhelming joy on a day when millions had died. From the worst grief he had ever felt sprang the greatest joy. His family was alive.

Marco spoke to them. Promised to be home soon. He stayed in control. And when the call ended, he all but collapsed. He cried and laughed. He knew that so many had lost loved ones, but he could not help feeling so much relief.

An hour later, the grief hit him like a tidal wave.

He returned to his cabin, closed the hatch, and sat alone.

Toronto. Gone.

His childhood with his parents, feeling safe and loved. Trips to the zoo and the little plush panda his mother had bought him. The library where he had lived, grown up, discovered his love of literature. Walks with Kemi along Yonge Street, and dinners in their favorite Indian restaurant. Walks with Addy along Lake Ontario, buying hot dogs from the vendors along the boardwalk, watching the ships sail by, and imagining faraway lands.

Toronto.

The place where he had grown up, fallen in love, fought a war, met his wife, returned to after so long away.

His schoolteachers. His long-lost childhood friends. The kindly shopkeeper beside the library who sometimes gave him free chocolate bars. The regulars at his library. The old men who played chess in the library's weedy little backyard.

Six million people. Gone.

Six million people. Victims of Lailani.

Victims of a woman Marco had loved. A woman he had been engaged to. A woman who had become his best friend, then his worst enemy.

She killed them. Oh God, she killed them all.

* * * * *

Late that night—a knock on his cabin door.

Marco opened the door, and he saw Ben-Ari there. Her eyes were red, her face pale. She had been crying.

She didn't need to say anything. Marco knew why she was there. She needed him like he needed her.

"Can't sleep?" he asked her.

The president just stared at him. Silent.

Marco pulled her into his arms. They stood in the doorway, embracing.

"I can't believe she did this," Ben-Ari whispered. "Oh, Marco, I can't believe the city is gone."

He took her inside. They sat on the bed and turned on the holofeed. As the Sol Invictus moved closer to Earth, they got more news broadcasts. They came by wormhole, traveling faster than light. They watched the footage. The munitions starship crashing. The crater where the city had been. Interviews with survivors—those on the edge of the blast a hundred kilometers away.

Finally Marco turned it off. He looked at Ben-Ari.

"Einav." He hesitated. "Should we have killed Lailani a long time ago? Back when we discovered who she was?"

"On hindsight? Of course. But at the time, we made the best decision we could. We gave her another chance. And for twenty years, she was good." She touched his shoulder. "She was good, Marco."

Neither one expected getting any sleep tonight. But their weariness tugged them like gravity, and they lay on the bed. They held hands, needing some touch, some comfort.

"We lost our best friend," Marco whispered. "And that makes my friendship with you, Einav, all the most precious. You're my last living friend. My best friend. Well, you and the hot dog monster, but I married that one."

Ben-Ari gave a soft laugh. She kissed his cheek. "I love you to bits, Marco. Your friendship is the most important thing in my universe."

Finally they slept, still holding hands, even in their dreams comforting each other from the terrors that lurked in every shadow.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

That night Lailani had a dream. No, not a dream. A memory. A memory that came to her at night, disguised as a dream, so real it felt like she was there.

A memory of boot camp. Many years ago.

How old was Lailani now? Due to time dilation and the slow aging of starlings, she wasn't sure. Forty? Fifty? Older? It didn't matter. She still looked like a teenager. And in her dream, she was eighteen again. She was a recruit, her hair shaved down to stubble, her little fists clenched, her little jaw tight, her heart full of so much fear.

She had just fled the slums of Manila. Scrawny. Malnourished. She had barely grown larger than a child.

My father is an American soldier, she had told them, her chin raised high, her slender shoulders squared. Let me join the army like him.

They had not objected. It was war. They needed every soldier they could get. Even a tiny little Filipina, half-starved and ragged, coughed up from the slums. A girl with scars on her wrists.

Suicidal. A basket case. A freak. They called her many names. She didn't care. She had grown up in the slums. She had grown up fighting. What was a war? Nothing. A piece of cake. She was tougher than all those bigger soldiers. All the tall, strong ones like Marco, Addy, Einav, the rest of them. They were twice her size. But she was stronger. She would show the giants.

Marco. That stupid Marco. She goaded him. She pushed him away. She treated him like she treated everyone else. With contempt. Because contempt hid her fear. It was better to be scornful than afraid.

But he did not leave. Everyone else turned away from the angry little soldier. But not him.

She remembered that day. That Sunday on their desert base. Addy and the others had gone to play soccer in the sand, and Lailani had stayed behind in the tent. Marco stayed with her.

She pulled off her uniform that day, remained naked before him. She lay on her cot and invited him to join her. To make love to her. Because she recognized something about him. She saw something she had never seen in another.

True compassion.

They had made love, and afterward, as he held her, her cheeks flushed and she whispered to him, "I ruv you."

"I love you?" he asked.

But Lailani could not say it properly. She was too shy. To say I love you seemed like a step she could never take. Love was something for other people. For tall, beautiful women like Addy or Ben-Ari. Not for little broken Lailani with the scars and shaved head.

I ruv you. That was something silly. Something almost like a joke. Something she could say aloud. And he understood what it meant.

He understood that she loved him. Truly. Fully.

And I still do.

She woke from her dream, tears on her cheeks.

"I still do, Marco," she whispered, hugging her pillow. "I ruv you. Then and forever."

She wiped her eyes. Marco had betrayed her, and her heart betrayed her now. She rose from bed and stared at the mirror.

That girl was gone. That stupid girl. She was a woman now. A woman with long black hair. With four arms. With strength in her heart. A queen. A goddess of war.

And she would lead her people to victory. She didn't need Marco to love her anymore.

He would fear her. They all would. And she would show them no mercy.

* * * * *

Lailani gathered her people in New Canaan.

Thirty-eight thousand starlings congregated in the massive cave. Their entire nation. They stood among the underground gardens. They leaned over the slender bridges that ran between the cave walls and walkways. They peered from what they called their honeycombs—the apartments where they lived, burrowed into the cave walls.

Lailani stood in the center of the city. She stood atop a bridge that spanned the entire cave, wall to wall, the length of two city blocks. A thousand other people stood along the bridge. Thousands more peered from burrows above. This was not her throne room. Here she did not sit on a tower, gazing from on high upon her subjects. Here she stood among her people.

Yes, she was one of them. But she was different too.

They all saw it. They stared, whispered.

Her new arms.

"My people!" Lailani cried. "You look at me. And you see something new. Something strange." She raised her four arms. "I'm different today. I've evolved. I'm transfigured. I've reached the final stage in the life cycle of a starling. I'm closer to the centipedes, our forefathers. I've become divine."

The starlings glanced at one another nervously.

"Will this happen to us?" somebody cried out.

"If you're worthy," Lailani said. "Only one before me has reached this stage. Corvin was his name. Corvin the Father. Corvin the First. He died fighting the humans. He gave his life for us. And I'm honored to be second."

"Lailani the Mother!" somebody called out. "Blessed be Lailani the Mother!"

"Mother, mother!" they cried.

To Lailani this was a far greater honor than queen. Anyone could be a queen. You just had to be born to the right person. But she was the mother of a nation.

"My people! War is upon us. The humans who imprisoned us, who hunted us, now seek our destruction. They stole my daughter. And if they could, they would steal all our children. But we won't let them. We will fight!"

The people looked around nervously.

"How can we fight them?" somebody cried. "They're so many! There are billions of them and only thousands of us."

"Each one of you is worth a thousand humans!" Lailani said. "You can grow claws that can cut through iron. Fangs that can bite through steel. You are stronger than humans. Faster than humans. Today you must all become soldiers! The entire starling nation is an army! We are only thirty-eight thousand people. But thirty-eight thousand soldiers—that is an army! From this day, every one of you is a soldier in the Starling Army. Every woman. Every man. Every child old enough to scratch and bite. This is a nation that's an army. An army that's a nation. And we will triumph!"

Many people cheered. But not all.

Somebody stepped forward. A woman with gray in her hair. "We don't want war or triumph or conquest. We just want to live in peace."

"That's what I want too," Lailani said. "But peace is earned with blood. We will have to shed the blood of our enemies. And we will have to bleed our own blood. The road will be long and hard, but we'll walk it together. And I will walk with you. Starlings—are you with me?"

They roared their approval.

"Raise your claws!" Lailani cried.

Their claws all rose, and they howled. Their fangs shone. They could not resist. The pull of the beast was too strong. The fury was too intoxicating. They were starlings, given to bloodlust and rage and raw emotion. That was their power.

But Lailani knew the truth. She would not admit it to her people. But she knew it. The starlings were strong, yes. But Earth was stronger.

But she still stood a chance. Brute force alone could not win wars. Cleverness and determination won wars, not strength. Throughout history, the clever and the determined beat the strong.

I am a starling, she thought. I have the strength of a centipede but the mind of a woman. With mind and strength combined, I will win this war. Be careful, Einav. I'm coming for you. You took my child. So I'm going to take everything from you.

She turned to her side. Macintosh stood there, a crooked smile on her lips. Her red curls framed her freckled face. The young Scot no longer held a mop. She was no longer masquerading as janitor aboard the Ishtar. Her job as spy was over. She now served as the high commander of Abaddon's forces. Graphene armor hugged her body, and an electric katana hung at her side.

"An inspiring speech, my queen," Macintosh said. Her blue eyes glinted with mischief. "I almost feel sorry for them fekkin' Earthling fuds."

"Ready the fleet, Mac," Lailani said. "Muster the troops. I will command the centipedes in battle. Your host will be the Starling Army. The time is upon us. Prepare for war." She faced the crowd and raised her claws. "War!"

Their cries rose, echoing through the cavern, deafening.

"War! War! War!"

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

On September 3, Earth was a ghost planet.

Only one city had been struck. But around the world, all cities were dead.

After the Alien Wars, Earth had built bunkers. Millions of bunkers. In fact, it was legally required. Every home on Earth must have a bomb shelter. The wealthy built comfortable bunkers under their houses. These were cozy places with pool tables, dart boards, entertainment systems. Aside from the blast doors, you'd think they were rumpus rooms. Most Earthlings lived in apartment blocks; they had large communal bomb shelters under their buildings. They were less luxurious but still comfortable enough. Schools, shopping malls, restaurants—they all had to offer a bomb shelter, or they would be shut down. Even the poorest countries had bomb shelters. These were large pits lined with concrete, often dank and dark, but in case of an alien attack, they would do the trick.

No human without a bomb shelter! Ben-Ari had made that a slogan of her reelection campaign a few years ago. And during her administration, bomb shelter availability grew from seventy-two percent of humanity to ninety-nine percent. Only the homeless, remote tribes, and sailors had no access to bomb shelters today. And she was working on the homeless problem.

Some of the old-timers complained. What kind of world are we living in? they said. A world where—by law no less!—you must have a bomb shelter? Sad!

But to Ben-Ari it had always seemed normal. She was an Israeli girl. Back in Israel, every home always had a bomb shelter. The tradition, quite a necessary one, went back generations before the Alien Wars.

"Maybe Earth needs an Israeli president now," she had once joked to Noah. "If anyone knows how to survive, it's us."

"We also know how to die," he had replied.

The words had haunted her. Today they resurfaced.

Today the cities of the world were ghost towns. Today ninety-nine percent of humanity hid in their bunkers.

September 2 had come and gone, taking Toronto with it. On September 3, nobody knew if another city would be hit. Nobody was taking any chances.

So there were no memorials. No ceremonies. No prayers in places of worship. No marches of solidarity down the streets. The streets were empty. The parks and arenas were bare. The bomb shelters were full of billions.

For a day, we've become a nation like the starlings, Ben-Ari thought. Living underground.

Once more, she spoke to her people.

She spoke from her own bunker. Not from Skysphere as usual; the station's debris was still hurtling through the solar system. Not from Sol Invictus; she didn't want to appear as a queen gazing from on high, Marie Antoinette in the ivory tower. No. She stood in her private bomb shelter. A little concrete room under her house on the hills outside Jerusalem. Her son, Carl, sat at her side.

She spoke of her mourning. She spoke of remembering the fallen. All the clichés. All the words she had come to speak so often during her presidency. Too often. Words of grief and hope and melancholy inspiration. They tasted stale in her mouth.

There were no words that could make this right. There was nothing she could say that would not sound contrite.

"This is not only a time for grief but a time for war," she said. "This is not only a time for memory but a time for strength. Once more, we—who have yearned so much for peace—find ourselves fighting a war that was forced upon us. Once more, we will ask our sons and daughters to show utmost strength, courage, and dedication to victory. We are a war-weary people. We are a peace-loving people. And that is why, war after war, we fight. Because we hate war, and we love the peace that war defends. I cannot promise you easy victory. I can promise you many more days of fire. But I also promise you that the spirit of humanity is the greatest light in the cosmos, and it can banish any darkness."

More clichés. She made them up on the spot. Let the historians analyze her words.

She had a war to win.

* * * * *

Captain Jean-Michel Paradis, proud officer of the Human Defense Force, was known to his comrades as Le Petit Capitaine. The little captain. After all, he stood only four feet tall.

It wasn't easy being that short in the military. At first the army didn't want to let him join.

"Go home!" they had told him. "You're too small."

He had flipped them off. He had actually raised his finger and flipped them off!

They had laughed.

"You got spirit, buddy."

"Let me use that spirit to kill aliens."

So they gave him a uniform and a gun. They trained him. And it was hard. It was hard at boot camp, being smaller than anyone. It was hard to serve in warships when the consoles were higher than he could reach. It was hard to feel the eyes of people staring. Judging.

But he distinguished himself. He was half the size, so he worked twice as hard. Thirteen years ago, he fought in the Marauder War, a humble corporal, just a little guard at a gate at some forgotten fort.

Well, the giant spiders from space attacked that fort. And little Paradis, no larger than a child, stood his ground and fought them off. When they found him hours later, he was buried under the corpse of a giant dead spider. Five more dead marauders lay around him, full of his bullets.

So they gave him a medal, and they sent him to officer school. And once he earned his commission, he chose to become a gunner. He was small. So he vowed that someday he'd fire the greatest cannons in the galaxy.

Well, that dream came true.

Briefly.

For a while, Le Petit Capitaine served aboard the HDFS Ishtar, commander of her massive cannons. For a while, he got to fire cannons large enough to destroy cities. Until Lailani, Queen of Abaddon, took over his ship.

Paradis barely escaped alive.

He limped back to Earth, a defeated soldier, along with a handful of other shamed soldiers. And they stuck him here. In this satellite.

A satellite!

By God. It was insulting. From a starfighter carrier, the greatest starship in the fleet, to a satellite!

His satellite was part of Iron Sphere, a new defensive system around Earth. The president had commissioned it a few years ago, and it was finally complete—at a staggering cost. Ten thousand armed satellites now orbited Earth, providing a sphere of protection. Each satellite came armed with laser cannons, railguns, and torpedoes. There were plans to expand Iron Sphere to thirty thousand satellites someday—if the politicians could find the money.

Earth had suffered several alien invasions. Iron Sphere was meant to repel the next one. In total, the satellites could fire five million missiles at an incoming enemy, along with a barrage of laser beams and billions of bullets.

Yes, it was a formidable system. It was also incredibly boring.

Jean-Michel Paradis commanded just one satellite. Just one. Out of ten thousand.

Commanded? Even that was a stretch. To be honest, he just sat there. For all intents and purposes, he was a guard again.

It was a serious demotion.

"This is such merde," he muttered, sitting there in his satellite. "I'm a decorated officer of the Human Defense Force. I should be out there on a starship, fighting in deep space. Not sitting here."

He sighed and moved a rook on his chessboard. He was playing against himself. At least they could have sent another guard up here. Or a robot. Hell, even a cat would be nice. He was alone. He was bored. The fleet was about to fly to Abaddon and fight a war. It would be glorious. Big guns would be firing. And Paradis would remain here, playing chess with himself.

He told himself that there were many talented officers, that positions on starships were rare and competitive. That he shouldn't take it personally. But he couldn't help but wonder.

Was this because he was a dwarf?

After all, starships had gravity decks. And consoles were high up. In this satellite he was weightless. He could simply float up to the controls. Was this somebody's cruel idea? Stick the little guy where he can reach the buttons?

Paradis told himself he was paranoid. But all his life, he had experienced it. People telling him what couldn't do.

Bastards.

He returned to his chessboard, moved a black piece.

Dammit. He was losing against himself. He knocked the board over with a grunt. The magnetic pieces floated. He swatted them aside.

He was stuck here for an entire seven-day shift. He was going loopy.

Finally—something happened!

A shuttle was flying toward him!

Instinctively, Paradis reached for the cannon controls, ready to slice the shuttle with lasers. Maybe blow it up with a torpedo.

Was this it? War? An invasion? He almost dared to hope.

But his spirits crashed. No. It was just a boring old HDF shuttle. It was flying toward him. Was it his replacement? His shift wasn't meant to end for another day. Had he miscalculated the time?

The shuttle flew closer, then docked outside the satellite. A jet bridge connected the two machines.

The jet bridge was translucent. Paradis could make out a man walking through. Floating would be more accurate, given the weightlessness.

The door opened. A man floated into the satellite. He had brown hair, graying at the temples, and a short beard. On each shoulder he sported three golden stars. A colonel. What the hell was a colonel doing up here in the sticks?

And then Paradis recognized him. It was Marco Emery! The officer he had served with on the Ishtar!

"Sir!" Paradis saluted.

Marco returned the salute. "Hello, Paradis." He looked around. "Nice little place you've got here."

Paradis just stared at him. He wasn't sure what to say. So he simply said, "It's a bit cramped. Even for me."

Marco nodded. "It is. Nice view, but … yes, a bit cramped." He caught a floating rook.

"Sorry about that, sir." Paradis tried to wave the floating chess pieces aside.

"Paradis, would you like to get out of here?" Marco said.

"Oh yes, sir."

"Would you like to serve aboard a starship?"

"Sir, I would love to."

"Then pack your bags. You're coming with me. You served courageously aboard the Ishtar, and I never forgot your courage. You're going to fly on the HDFS Lakshmi now, a mighty warship. You're going to fly with me. We're heading to Abaddon. We're heading to war."

Paradis saluted again. "Sir, thank you."

Marco patted him on the shoulder. "Last time we flew to Abaddon, we got our asses kicked. Let's go win round two."

* * * * *

Ben-Ari decided to fly to war along with her fleet.

Her advisers told her not to. The opposition mocked her. Look at this Golden Lioness! This is what happens when you elect a general. Flying off into deep space on an adventure? At our hour of need? Leaving Earth because she can't get enough of war?

"Once a soldier, always a soldier!" her critics proclaimed with a sneer and a snort.

They meant to mock her. But to Ben-Ari it was a simple truth, one she was proud of. Once a soldier, always a soldier. It was an honor.

She was still Einav Ben-Ari the officer. Now and forever. And when her planet needed her, she would fly out and fight.

Once she had lamented needing to fight a war against a friend. The attack on Toronto resolved that issue. Ben-Ari had no trouble fighting Lailani now. No trouble at all. And if they came face-to-face, she would gladly pull the trigger.

The fleet gathered in Earth's orbit.

The Sol Invictus served as the flagship. She was not the largest ship in the fleet. Not by a long shot. She wasn't even military; as the president's personal starship, the Invictus was civilian. She was also the fastest, deadliest ship in the fleet, incorporating the latest technological advances in propulsion, shielding, and firepower. In peace time, the Sol Invictus transported the president on her business. But in times of war, she became Earth's mightiest warship.

Ben-Ari stood on the bridge, commander-in-chief of Earth's armed forces. She wore a military uniform. True, she was president, and thus a civilian. But she was still an officer in the reserve corps. And that gave her the right—the obligation—to put on the uniform in times of war.

Once a soldier, always a soldier.

The rest of her fleet mustered behind her. Nine starfighter carriers formed the bulk of the fleet. It was Earth's entire roster of carriers. They were called the Blue Sisters. Nine starships, each the size of the Empire State Building.

There had once been ten Blue Sisters, of course. Once the Ishtar had flown among them. The Ten had become the Nine.

With them flew thousands of other starships. Frigates lumbered, as large as starwhales, lined with terrifying cannons the size of oak trees. Destroyers blazed among them, great huntresses of the cosmic depths. Starfighters screamed through the darkness, leaving trails of light. Among these battleships flew hundreds of support vessels. Firefighting tankers, their hulls full of water. Hospital ships. Ammunition ships, much like the one that had destroyed Toronto. Many ships carried marines, tanks, artillery, sappers, all the soldiers and machinery necessary for war. Many freighters carried food; tons and tons of food to fuel the fighting boys and girls of the HDF.

Five million soldiers flew in this fleet. They were a nation in space. They were a nation dedicated to war.

It was the single largest fleet humanity had mustered since the Scum War twenty years ago.

Back then, we attacked Abaddon with our fleet, Ben-Ari thought. Now we must return. Because in that old war, we let one monster live. One girl who served in my platoon. One girl whom I nurtured, whom I trained. One monster I created. This is my doing. And I will finish this war once and for all.

Five million soldiers. It was a number even Ben-Ari could barely comprehend. A number so vast her mind could not grasp it. And it was still fewer than the deaths in Toronto.

The starlings killed eight million of us, she thought. Six in Toronto. Two in the first waves of attack. The time for diplomacy is over. We must destroy them.

She met with Marco and Addy in her ready room aboard the Sol Invictus. The same office where she had scolded Marco only last month.

Both Marco and Addy stood before her in uniform. Pistols hung from their sides. The insignia of colonels shone on their shoulders. Three stars on each shoulder strap.

"You are here to be my advisers," Ben-Ari said. "You are here to deliver my words to the hosts of humanity. In this war, I am goddess, and you are my angels. Today I'm promoting you from colonels to brigadiers. Congratulations."

Marco and Addy saluted. Ben-Ari rose and pinned new insignia to their shoulders. For the first time, they would not wear stars on their shoulder straps. Junior officers wore golden bars. Senior officers sported stars. But brigadiers? They were generals. They were the lords of hosts. And on their shoulders they wore golden phoenixes.

One phoenix on each shoulder, forged of iron and gilded with purest gold. They saluted, eyes damp.

"The phoenix represents a rebirth from the ashes," Ben-Ari said. "The Human Defense Force was forged in the ashes after the scum invasion seventy years ago. We rose again, so we chose the phoenix as our symbol. From the ashes of this new war, once more we will arise. I'm proud to welcome new birds of fire to my fleet. May you bear these phoenixes with honor, pride, and dedication, Brigadiers Linden-Emery."

Addy gave a huge sniff and maintained her salute even as her tears rolled. Marco held his chin high, his lips tight, perhaps struggling not to cry too. Normally, when a colonel became a brigadier, the military held a ceremony. Generals and dignitaries were invited. Food and drinks were served. The president laid out all the honors. But Ben-Ari knew that Marco and Addy wouldn't have wanted that. This mattered more. Just the three of them in this room aboard the flagship. This was the honor they wanted.

"I just wish I didn't have to keep promoting you during wars," she said with a sad smile.

"To be fair, we make pretty horrible peacetime soldiers," Addy said. "We just sit around eating hot dogs until the action starts."

"You eat the hot dogs," Marco said. "It's a miracle if anyone else can grab one."

But nobody laughed. They just stared at one another. Three old friends. Three who had been four. Who had been five and six and many more.

They all turned together. They looked at the photo on the wall. The photo of their platoon twenty-two years ago. The Scum War.

"Just the three of us are left," Addy whispered. "Lailani is going to die in this war. And then it'll really be just us three."

Marco wrapped an arm around her. "There are more. There are Terri, Roza, Sam, Tala, and Carl. We failed to build a good world for our children. We defeated the aliens, so now we fight one another. But our children will succeed where we failed. And they are why we must save the world—over and over and over again. Because the world is like that. The world is always falling apart. It is we who must keep mending it."

* * * * *

It was almost time.

The fleet was almost ready to fly.

Down on Earth, the HDF mustered to defend the home front. Artillery satellites surrounded Earth in tight patrol. Once Ben-Ari blasted off with her fleet, Earth would institute a complete no-fly zone across the solar system. No more trade. No more exploration. No ships coming or leaving. Empty space. Anything that flew would be shot down, no warnings given. On the surface of the planet, the police and army spread out. The civilians remained underground.

They had been mustering for a month now. Even a battle-hardened Earth, a planet that had fought many galactic wars, needed time to scale up such an invasion force. During this month, they stocked ammunition, called in reserved forces, and prepared the thousand ships for war.

And something even more important.

Ben-Ari remembered what happened the last time she sent a fleet into space. She remembered Macintosh, a scummer agent on the Ishtar. She would not let that happen again.

They tested her millions of troops. And retested them. And retested again.

A few tests came back saying SCOLOPENDRA TITANIA HYBRID. Scummers. Starlings. Call them what you will—they were dangerous. By their very nature, they were weapons that Lailani could wield.

Some of these exposed starling agents surrendered without a struggle; they were cuffed and hauled off to jail. A few roared when captured. Some managed to fire their guns. One uncovered starling, a lieutenant aboard a warship, even fired a missile from a starboard cannon, destroying a nearby supply ship, instantly killing seventy-three troops. The lieutenant was gunned down before he could fire a second missile.

And they tested everyone again. Exposing more starlings. Rooting out the enemy's agents one by one.

Ben-Ari could not be sure she had cleaned her fleet of starling agents. Sometimes the tests just got it wrong. To her, this was the most critical step of the entire operation. A single starling agent in a position of power could destroy several starships.

The fleet must be clean. So for a week, they tested everyone again and again and again using various methods.

Finally Ben-Ari was satisfied. They were squeaky clean. Or as clean as they would get. And it was time to fly out.

Of course, many starling agents might still remain on the surface of Earth, and testing billions of civilians was quite different from testing millions of disciplined, cataloged soldiers. She assumed there were still sleeper agents, maybe hundreds, on Earth. And that they would strike.

Everyone remembered the last round of agent attacks. Everyone had lost someone, or knew someone who had lost someone. They all braced for a third attack.

The home front would have to handle that. Ben-Ari knew their job was tougher than hers.

Her war was on Abaddon. Her war had never ended, not since the last time she had flown toward that desert planet.

"I will end it now," she vowed, standing on the bridge of the Sol Invictus.

Marco stood at her right-hand side, Addy to her left.

The last three of the Dragons Platoon, she thought. It's up to us. And millions of brave soldiers.

Ben-Ari gazed out the viewport at space. She could see Antares shining there, five hundred light-years away. The heart of the Scorpius constellation. It was a two-week flight. A fleet this size was impossible to keep hidden. Ben-Ari knew that her enemy would pester her every light-year along the way.

She took a deep breath, then spoke into her comlink, broadcasting her voice to the fleet.

"Fellow soldiers of Earth, this is the president. Today I'm flying with you to war. Today we, humans from many nations, humans of many faiths and philosophies—today we are united. Today we fight as one against the forces of destruction and chaos.

"I know that many of you are still healing from the Cyborg War only a few years ago, a conflict that still haunts us all. I know it's a lot to ask that you pick up your weapons and fight again. But I also know that when I asked you to fight, not one of you hesitated. Not one of you turned away from duty. You are all ready to fight again for Earth, for your families, for civilization itself. And I'm proud of every one of you.

"Today we commence Operation Earthrise. A military operation to storm the strongholds of Abaddon and vanquish that world's murderous queen. I cannot promise that this will be the last war. I cannot promise even that this is the last battle in this war. But I can promise that so long as you fight, I will fight with you. And so long as one human soldier still breathes, still holds a weapon and faces the enemy with pride and strength—there is hope. Remember that as you fight. There is hope for Earth! Together we will overcome. Godspeed, children of Earth."

She ended her speech, then turned toward her navigator.

"Major Walt? Let's fly."

The Sol Invictus, graceful and silvery, stretched into a strand of light and blasted into the distance. Behind her, thousands of starships engaged their azoth engines and streamed forth behind their flagship.

They flew toward the heart of the scorpion. Toward war. Toward one last meeting with an old friend.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Lailani's fleet was smaller. Much smaller. Her infantry, meanwhile, numbered only a few thousand troops. Compared to Earth's armada, her army was miniscule.

Lailani knew this. But then again, she had always been much smaller than her enemies. When you were as small as Lailani de la Rosa, you learned to fight with stealth, trickery, and ruthlessness.

She would need to employ all three qualities in this war.

It was a war she fully intended to win.

Einav is Israeli, she mused with a smirk. The Israelis have often defeated enemies a hundred times their size. It all goes back to their little King David, I suppose. Einav should have learned. Her forces have grown fat and slow and cumbersome. The plucky little officer has become Goliath. And I plan to smite her right between her pretty green eyes.

Lailani grinned and licked her fangs.

All she needed to do was buy a sling.

And so she went shopping.

She flew in the Black Rose Viperess. She flew fast. It would take Earth two of their weeks to get here. Due to time dilation, that gave Lailani a month of deep space flight. She had some time. Enough time, she thought. But she still pushed the pedal to the metal. The merchant she sought lived deep among the stars.

It would be cutting it close.

A swarm of a hundred podships flew with her, dwarfing the little Viperess. They were traveling through no-man's-land. Out of Abaddon's empire. Far from the Human Commonwealth. They traveled into the depths.

Her favorite store was just beyond the cosmic horizon.

It was a three-day flight. It would seem like forever.

Lailani turned toward Kai, who sat beside her. "We'll buy the sling. We'll win this war."

Her husband stared ahead. He said nothing.

"Kai." She put a hand on his knee. "You have to talk to me eventually."

It was her lower right hand. The one that had grown a few days ago. She kept her other three hands on the starship controls.

Kai looked at the hand on his knee. At the claws that sprouted from the fingertips. He looked up at her, and she saw herself reflected in his eyes. A freak. A four-armed deity. A demon with white eyes.

That's who he sees, she realized. Not a woman. Not a wife. He sees a demon.

Kai rose from his seat, left the cockpit, and vanished into the ship's little hold. It was a small ship. There were two bunks that folded down from the bulkheads. A mini-fridge. A washroom. The entire hold was no bigger than a humble hotel room. There weren't many places to hide in there.

If he doesn't start talking soon, it will be an awkward flight, Lailani thought.

Suddenly grief stabbed her, and her eyes dampened. Strange. She had not thought herself still capable of these human emotions. Yet here they were. Maybe grief, yearning, and sadness were universal feelings. Maybe even monsters got sad.

It was bad enough losing Tala. Lailani could not bear to lose her husband too.

Neither Tala nor Kai were dead, but they were beyond her reach, and somehow that was more terrible than if they had died. They were alive but not to her. She was like a ghost, haunting them but unable to reach out, unable to feel or talk. And Lailani realized that true loneliness did not come from being alone. It came from being around people you could not reach. That was why people in big cities were the loneliest of all. Millions of faces surrounded them, all strangers.

Like the millions of strangers I killed, she thought. Like the millions of faces in the city I destroyed.

She had been thinking about it nonstop. Thinking about Toronto's destruction. About killing the man in the hotel room. About killing so many before him. About all her sins, her monstrosity.

And she realized that Toronto was profoundly different.

Many years ago, she had sabotaged the Miyari, causing it to crash on an alien-invested world. Hundreds died. She slaughtered Benny with her own claws. But the scum emperor had controlled her then.

Later, she attacked New Siberia, and she killed many humans there too. But with their blood she had freed her people. She had delivered her nation from captivity.

She had destroyed Skysphere, but she had thought it empty. She had not seen those children on the bridge. Not until it was too late.

She had murdered that man in the hotel room, but that had been an accident. Just an accident. The beast slipping out before she shoved it back in.

But Toronto … Toronto was no noble uprising. No mistake or accident. No marionette dancing on her master's strings.

Toronto was … her.

At least her as she was now. Because she was not the same Lailani. She was not the girl who had fought aliens alongside her friends. Not the girl who had traveled across the desert to deliver a weapon, defeat the cyborgs, and save Earth. Not even the girl who had founded the starling nation and fought for its freedom.

Like Corvin before her, she had been transfigured. She had reached the final stage of the starling life cycle.

We begin as human, she thought. Humans with a dormant strand of DNA. Then we metamorphose. We manifest. We grow claws and fangs, run faster, jump higher, fight with alien ferocity. But that's not our final stage. I've grown the four arms, and I've become one with the hive. Lailani? That name is a memory I cling to. A piece of my old skin still clinging on like a scab. In time, I will shed it too. And I will have no name but Abaddon.

She left the starship on autopilot, and she stepped into the hold.

Kai sat there on a bunk, head lowered. He had removed his weapons, which he so often wore as armor. His assortment of swords and guns were packed away. He was shirtless, revealing his tattoos and scars. He looked smaller without his weapons, and Lailani was surprised to see how skinny he was. She could see his ribs. Had he always been so thin? He seemed to be withering away. Bags hung under his eyes. His goatee, which he had once groomed daily, was growing wild, and stubble covered his cheeks.

Three symbols hung on a chain around his neck. A cross, symbolizing his father's faith. A spoked wheel, symbolizing his mother's philosophy. A Starling Claw made of five rubies in iron, symbolizing his nation.

"Kai." She knelt before him. "I know you're not talking to me. But I'm talking to you. So listen. I'm scared. I'm scared of myself. Of what I did. I'm scared that you're scared of me. I'm scared because I've turned into a monster. I'm scared because I'm losing myself. I can barely remember my name. Kai, but I still remember you. And I don't want to lose you."

Kai finally looked at her. For the first time in days, he spoke. "The day I married you was the best day of my life. To be honest, every day before that pretty much sucked. You know the sob story. How I was born in the slums of Bangkok. How I grew up a thief, a pirate, a criminal on the run. When I met you, I met a kindred spirit. A woman who had grown up like I had grown up. Who had suffered like I had suffered. I married you, and I was happy. Happy? That seems like such a weak word for it. I was truly, utterly joyous. Every moment that I was with you, I was in heaven."

Lailani embraced him with her lower arms. With her upper hands, she caressed his cheeks.

"I want you to still love me, Kai. Even though I'm metamorphosed. You'll join me in this stage too someday. I love you so much."

She kissed him. But his lips were cold.

"What's wrong?" she whispered. "Is it because I have four arms?"

He rose from the bunk, shoving her away. "Dammit, Lailani. I'd love you if you had ten arms or none. You don't get it, do you?"

She straightened. She stared at him. "I'm not a monster. I did what I had to. We're at war."

"That wasn't war!" Kai shouted. "That was genocide! You killed millions of people." Suddenly he was crying. Kai, the tough bounty hunter—crying! "I don't know who you are. You're not Lailani anymore. You're not the woman I married. You've changed, and I don't mean your arms. Something inside you has changed."

She tensed. "I embraced who I truly am. I am a starling. And because of that, my friends betrayed me."

"They didn't betray you, dammit!" Kai shouted. "Don't you understand? You betrayed them! You drove them away! You attacked them again and again and—"

"I defended my people!"

"By slaughtering millions?"

She grabbed his arms. Her claws nearly cut his skin. She shoved him into a chair, stood before him, staring into his eyes.

"Listen to me, Kai. I'm not going to justify what I did. I did something horrible. Something evil. Something that puts me in history alongside Hitler, Stalin, Zhang. I know this. I sacrificed my soul. But they stole my daughter, Kai. They stole my daughter, and they broke something inside me. I'm broken, and I'm cruel, and I'm a murderer. I can't walk back from that path now. But there is something I can still do to make my life worthwhile. I can win this war. I can build a nation. Let me go down as a villain in human history. But in starling history, Kai … I will go down as a conqueror."

"A conqueror?" Kai whispered. "What are you talking about?"

"Are you with me, Kai?" She gripped him more tightly. "If not, leave me. Get into a podship and leave. Go back to Earth and live like a worm under the boots of the humans. You're a starling now. Like it or not, you're a monster too. Choose your loyalties! Be a free monster or a righteous slave."

"Can't I be free and righteous?"

"Maybe someday," Lailani said. "Maybe in some era of peace long after my war has ended. That is the kind of world I want to build. A world where the righteous can be free. A world where there is no need for monsters. But I'm founding a nation. I'm carving out a world for my people. Demons build the worlds where angels tread."

"I don't even know who's talking to me right now," he whispered. "You don't even talk like a human anymore."

"I've never been human." Lailani kissed his lips, stepped back, and pulled off her clothes. She stood naked before him. "This is the body of a demon. I'm flesh and blood and fire. I'm a marionette who tore off her strings. Make love to me, Kai. Make love hard and fast until I cry out. Ride me into hell."

She seduced him. She took away his lingering righteousness. As they made love, she tore off the cross that hung from his neck, and she tossed it aside. She was his only goddess now, and she would lead him along the path of fire. Together they would conquer the universe.

They flew onward through space. They flew to the Dealer. They flew to buy the sling that would strike Goliath down.

* * * * *

Whatever you wanted in the galaxy, the Dealer sold it.

Everyone in the Milky Way underworld knew that. Everyone knew the Dealer.

Decent folk never heard of him. If they had, they believed him a myth. Just a bogeyman. A drawing in a comic book. A story told to scare children away from a life of crime. In the green suburbs of the world, in the ivory towers, in the cruise starships with their flowering gardens and buffets, they never thought about the Dealer. They didn't need him. They had everything that they needed.

But theirs were cushy lives. Safe lives. The criminals knew. The criminals needed different things. Needed him. The sunlit gardens may grow the flowers. But in the dark, damp underworld grow the true plants of plenty.

That was where he grew.

The Dealer.

He lived inside a hollowed-out asteroid, orbiting some forgotten star with two lifeless gas giants. He was the only life in his star system. The only life, in fact, for a hundred light-years around.

Aside from those who came to buy. Aside from those who knew where this dark garden grew.

Lailani knew. She had been there before. She had purchased things for her world. Seeds of crops that could grow in caves. Potions to heal the wounded. Herbs to make the pain go away. Today she hoped to buy again.

Today she needed a weapon. The greatest weapon the galaxy had ever seen.

And so she flew toward Dealer's Rock, that asteroid that tumbled around that forgotten little star. It was a large asteroid. As large as a town. Its sides were uneven, craggy, pockmarked. On the outside, you could call it ugly. Only a single marking identified it—a glittering white crystal embedded into its facade. The size of a football field, the crystal shone like a lighthouse, luring ships in.

Lailani followed the light. This was the place.

She left her podships outside this star system. One did not fly to see the Dealer with an army. It was just her and Kai in their little Black Rose Viperess. They flew at sub-light speed now, gliding through the dark toward the tumbling asteroid.

A few other starships flew here. Strange ships. Alien ships.

There were glassy ships with bulbous bodies and long slender necks, and smoke roiled within their translucent hulls. There were ships shaped like birds, beautiful alien birds who beat their mechanical wings. Some ships looked like insects woven from silver thread and inlaid with jewels. They fluttered back and forth on gossamer wings, elegant and ephemeral. They were all here for the Dealer and his dreams.

One ship was painted with a dizzying array of flowers in every color. Not just the usual colors Lailani was used to seeing, the same old reds and blues and greens. Since her transformation, Lailani had been able to see ultraviolet, infrared, and other colors human eyes could not see. The flowery ship enthralled her with these new, dazzling hues. She wished she could share these colors with Kai, but he would not see them until he grew his two new arms. Only then would he reach the nirvana of starling experience and appreciate the true beauty in the cosmos.

That was what being a starling was all about, after all. Growth. Metamorphosis. Awakening to new colors and modes of being until the final transfiguration.

I've achieved nirvana, Lailani thought. I must guide my people to this stage.

The other starships made way. It was her turn to see him. Her turn to trap a whiff of his madness and imagination.

As she flew toward the asteroid, it slowly turned toward her, revealing itself to be a geode. One half, the one normally facing the star, had been carved open like a coconut. Purple crystals glittered across the interior walls. A shimmering dome protected the asteroid's innards, keeping out the cold emptiness of space. The dome looked like a dewdrop. Like a bubble of soap. Like a visor on a giant helmet of stone.

Inside that floating geode grew a garden. The soil was lush. Purple worms moved through it, burrowing, aerating, fertilizing. Sunlight bathed the garden with glittering photons like raining golden coins.

There in that garden he grew. A plant. A huge plant the size of a cathedral. His roots dug deep, forming labyrinths through the soil, sucking the nutrients. His leaves spread wide, basking in the photon rain. His many buds bloomed. Millions of buds, sticky purple buds covered in snowy fuzz, glittering in the starlight.

Yet he was no mere garden plant. There was intelligence in the Dealer. There was wisdom. There was sight. He had no mouth but he could speak. He had no eyes but he could see. He was consciousness in a bottle. He was light in the void. Whatever you wanted, he could sell. Whatever you envisioned, he would construct. He was the Dealer. He was the granter of wishes and the weaver of dreams.

Kai stared and rubbed his eyes. "It's … a giant marijuana plant."

Lailani rolled her eyes. "Don't insult him. He's an ancient alien intelligence."

"I literally want to smoke him."

"Please wait until after he helps us win this war, okay, Kai?"

They flew the Black Rose Viperess closer to the enormous geode. The transparent shield, which kept the air and water inside, rose before them, shimmering with droplets of condensation, each droplet casting its own little rainbow. The Viperess's prow touched the bubble's surface. The shield did not shatter like glass. It bent like a drop of water under an ant, allowing them to fly inside.

They entered the garden. Once flying inside, Lailani realized how truly enormous this garden was. It was larger than Central Park. From outside, the asteroid had seemed like a small terrarium, not much larger than a fishbowl. In here she found a world.

Every time she came here, it took her breath away.

Mushrooms grew everywhere, tall and slender like trees. Translucent butterflies fluttered between them, as large as albatrosses, and iridescent beetles the size of cars raced across plains of moss. Strange creatures frolicked among vines and peeked from blankets of wildflowers. Fairy circles spread among acorns and pine cones, and sometimes Lailani caught a snippet of laughter. There was no sky. The starlight gleamed through crystals high above. Mottles of light, silver and lavender and burnished gold, cascaded through the leafy canopy.

Lailani parked the Black Rose Viperess on a bed of moss.

She and Kai stepped into the garden. Dragonflies with gemstone wings fluttered away, and flowers rustled, and tinkling laughter sounded among the blossoms. Purple mushrooms coiled everywhere, forming labyrinths, walkways, bridges. Suddenly it seemed to Lailani that this garden was not large at all. No larger than a little terrarium on a child's desk. It was she who was small. She, Lailani, who had become an ant.

I've always been small, but this is ridiculous! she thought.

An asteroid? Nothing but a little rock in space. A geode the size of a man's fist, rolling through the depths. Just a drop of dew with some moss inside.

They walked toward him.

The plant that grew in the center of the garden. A plant? That was an understatement. It was a tree. Even the word tree did it no justice. It was a tower. It was a beanstalk to a land of giants. It was Yggdrasil, the tree that held the cosmos. Its branches coiled outward in a sphere, engulfing all creation. It was a father. It was her father. The father of all things. The father of all gods. Its wisdom, the sound of its creaking bark, the smell of its flowers, the protective reach of its arms; they defined fatherhood for all beings on all worlds.

Lailani stood before the All Father, inhaling the glittering pollen of his buds, and she realized that each bud was a galaxy. When she looked at the flowers, she saw the stars swirling in lazy dances. And she realized that this plant was the cosmos. That his branches were the pathways between galaxies, the trails of light left after any eye could see them.

She knelt before him.

"Dealer," she said, "I must travel from one place to another along the Wormhole Road. But the Ancients left no path. I must travel from world to world. But the Tree of Light does not lead there. Many come to you for magic. Some come for miracles. I come for passage."

The tree stared down. He had no eyes, but she felt his gaze. Yes, the tree was a he, not an it. The cosmic father. His lavender buds shivered as if wind were blowing through the garden. The vibrations of petals and pollen produced an eerie voice. A voice like harp strings echoing in a cave, like fluttering beads of gold.

So you wish to travel the cosmic road … from one petal … to another …

"Yes!" she said. She raised her finger and sketched a map in the air. Wherever her fingertip touched, the pollen lit up, forming a drawing all in gold. "From this world to that."

He spoke again, his voice a thousand quivering harps. "I can grow you a road. Whatever you need, the Dealer can deal. But there is a price to pay."

"Name your price," Lailani said.

"Do you remember what you paid last time you came here?" the Dealer said, buds rustling. "When I dealt you herbs to soothe your nightmares. When I mixed potions to heal the wounded and cure the sick in your underground maze. Do you remember what you paid? Because I do. And I enjoyed it. And I want more."

Yes, Lailani remembered.

Crystals.

Celestium crystals.

They were found on one planet in the galaxy. On Abaddon.

Some crystals, like the diamonds of Earth, could refract light, breaking it into a rainbow. Other crystals, like azoth from a world named Corpus, could refract spacetime, letting starships fly faster than light. And some crystals, like celestium, could refract consciousness. In their crystal innards, the mind broke into many parts, blazed across many paths, gazed into many worlds. Diamonds for light. Azoth for space and time. Celestium for the mind.

It was his food. The Dealer fed on sun and water, but those were only enough for his leaves and roots. For his glimmering purple flowers, he needed the crystal. He needed it ground up, mixed in with his soil. There his roots could suck it up greedily, pass the powder through his xylem pathways, and weave it into his fuzzy little buds. And in there, in those flowering petals … that was where he made magic.

Kai swayed beside Lailani. "I feel funny. I can taste color. I can see sound. Whoa."

"Don't breathe in too much," she advised him.

Kai waved his hands, scattering pollen, and coughed.

For millions of years, the centipedes of Abaddon had fed this alien plant, had pollinated it, gardened it, and cultivated its flowers for their religious ceremonies. It was through the haze of lavender buds that the King of Many Claws had foreseen Lailani's rise. But eras of centipede rule had ended. Lailani was queen of Abaddon. She would tend to this ancient plant, would worship this ancestral god. She would bring it the burnt offerings it desired.

In return, he would deal her a miracle.

"How much celestium will it cost?" she said.

"My weight in celestium," said this towering plant, a plant the size of a redwood.

Lailani frowned. Kai gasped.

"Your weight in celestium?" Lailani cried. "Last time, the cost for healing potions was only one crystal! A stone no larger than my fist. And even for that crystal, my centipedes had to dig deep for many hours."

"Healing comes naturally to me," the planet said. "But to open a new path between worlds? Oh, that is a trick indeed. You see, space and time are more than matter and energy. They are consciousness. That is what azoth crystals cannot interact with. But I can. I will give you a sparkling purple bud. A perfect bud. A bud of refined celestium. With it, you will be able to open wormholes. Pathways to anywhere you desire in the cosmos. I will give you a cosmic bud. But to create such a bud, I must feed deep, for each grain of pollen in such a flower must come from an entire crystal. That is my price. Pay or I will not deal."

Lailani spun around.

"Come on, Kai. We've got work to do. Every centipede and starling on Abaddon is going to dig."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

It was strange, Marco thought. As a presidential starship, the Sol Invictus was luxurious. He was flying to war in splendor. After years in the infantry, carted around in clunky ships of raw metal and rumbling engines, it was definitely an upgrade.

Marco leaned back on the leather couch. "I feel like a famous Roman gladiator, the emperor's favorite, pampered before his fight."

"I could get used to this," Addy said. "This is the nicest place you ever took me. It's like a cruise ship."

"A cruise ship to hell," Marco said.

Ben-Ari had given them the Galactica Suite—one of the best rooms on the ship. This cabin, of course, was not built for soldiers. It was originally intended for dignitaries flying with the president. The Dalai Lama had stayed here once. So had the Queen of England. It was said that the pope was booked for next year—in this very cabin! In normal times, illustrious figures traveled in the Sol Invictus to visit Earth's colonies. Along the way, they lived it up.

Well, these were not normal times. No dignitaries were flying here now. So Ben-Ari had let Marco and Addy spend the two-week journey in the Galactica Suite.

Addy rang a bell. "Jeeves! Oh Jeeves, old man!"

A robot hovered into the room. It was only vaguely humanoid, roughly the size of a fire hydrant. Its streamlined shape and gleaming white facade were all the rage in robotics lately. Earth was moving away from humanoid androids to more elegant, simple designs, relying on classic shapes like spheres and circles. The designers called this movement Postromantic Revival. To Marco, the robot just seemed like a fancy coffeepot.

"Jeeves, darling," Addy said to the machine. "Once more, I find myself quite famished."

Marco groaned. "Addy, first of all, the robot isn't named Jeeves. Second, why are you speaking with a British accent?"

"Away with you, ruffian!" Addy waved him off, then turned back toward the robot. "Jeeves, old chap, be a good man and fetch me another Saucisse de Toulouse."

The robot spoke in a dry voice. "Do you mean another hot dog, madam?"

"Yes." Addy was back to her Canadian accent. "Just without the attitude, please, Jeeves."

The robot bowed. "Right away, madam. Your … third hot dog of the day is coming up."

"I said no attitude!"

The drone hovered off into the kitchen. They could hear him muttering about how he had cooked for the Emperor of Japan and the Crown Princess of Mars, for pity's sake. Microwaving hot dogs? They might as well have him scrape off space barnacles.

"Cranky little bastard," Addy said.

Marco sat on the bed beside her. "I think you're overworking him."

"You're right. From now on, you are my butler." Addy raised a foot. "Go on, rub my feet! Chop-chop!"

"Put that foot away." Marco shoved it aside. "Why is your sole covered in bubble gum?"

"I dunno." Addy shrugged and popped a bubble of gum. "There's gum all over this suite. Somebody was bound to step in it."

"Gee, I wonder how it got there," Marco muttered. "I still have gum stuck in my hair from this morning. Why did you even leave your chewing gum on my pillow?"

"Because I was taking a break from chewing gum until I finished my hot dog," Addy said. "Duh."

"You didn't have to put it on my pillow," Marco snapped.

"You told me to stop putting gum on the floor!"

"Don't put gum anywhere! Throw it into the garbage!"

Addy shook her head and tsked her tongue. "Really, Marco? To waste good gum? When I could be recycling? You disgust me."

The robot hovered back into the room. "Your meal, madam."

He carried a fancy large plate, the kind they served in fine dining restaurants. A hot dog rested in the middle. Perhaps in some attempt to save his dignity, the robot had squirted an abstract pattern of mustard and ketchup across the plate, then added a garnish of parsley.

"Good show, Jeeves! Jolly good show." Addy took the plate. Her British accent was back. "Now off with you, scoundrel, lest my cane finds your backside!"

The robot just had glowing blue dots for eyes, but he managed to roll them. He hovered away, mumbling that he had once served tea to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and if he had to microwave one more hot dog, he would hurl himself out the airlock.

When Addy was finally sated, she wobbled to the couch, flopped down, and slapped her feet onto the coffee table. A very expensive coffee table handmade from Rigelian sandwood. She lifted the holofeed controller, tapped a button, and a holographic screen materialized before her. She began flipping channels.

"Opera, opera, theater, classical music …" She yawned. "What's a girl gotta do around here to get a hockey game?"

Marco pointed. "Wait! Stop on this channel. No, back one. Ah, there." He sighed contentedly and sat down beside her. "Perfect. The Ganymede Orchestra playing Harmonikof's Fugue of the Spheres in D minor."

"Do you want me to punch you, Marco?" She flipped the channel, then leaped off the couch, fist raised in triumph. "Yes! Robot Wrestling!"

"Oh God," Marco said.

But it was too late. Addy was enthralled. As holographic robots battled across the suite, Addy kicked and punched the air, knocking over several items of furniture. Marco had to run after her, catching priceless vases and oil paintings before they hit the floor.

Finally the show was over. They turned off the holofeed.

It was suddenly eerily silent in the suite. For all its luxuries, it felt confining. A gilded cage.

They stood there on the carpet. Still. Silent.

Then they turned toward each other, and Marco saw the quiet desperation in his wife's eyes. He held her hands.

"I love you, Addy."

"I know."

"We're going to be okay."

"I know."

He snorted. "Know-it-all."

She hugged him. "I'm scared. Not only for us. Not only for our soldiers. For what we'll have to do. We'll have to kill her, Marco. We'll have to kill our best friend."

Marco held her close, his hands on the small of her back. "She's no longer our friend. She's no longer our Lailani. I think that our Lailani died a long time ago. She's somebody else now. Something else."

Addy sighed. "It was easier killing monsters from outer space."

"Most wars in history have been like this," Marco said. "Not humans fighting monsters but people fighting people. And starlings are people too. That's what makes this one so hard."

"Hey, Marco, can I ask you something?"

"No."

"Shut up. I'm asking anyway. When this war is over, can we run away? You, me, the kids. Just run away to another world for a while. Be far away from Earth." Her eyes dampened. "Because Earth is a bitch to save over and over again."

"We'll find a nice tropical little island on the other side of the galaxy," Marco said. "Far from monsters and other people and all the problems of the world."

Addy grinned. "And we'll have a robot butler, right? Hey! Maybe we can take Jeeves with us!"

The robot's voice came from the kitchen. "Oh God, please no."

"Have you been eavesdropping?" Addy shook her fist. "I'm going to make you rub my feet later, so get those robot hands ready!"

"I'm definitely going to find an airlock and leap out," the robot said.

"Addy." Marco pulled her face back toward his. "Don't torture the staff."

She kissed him. "You're right. I should only torture you."

"Oh, you do, Addy. You do."

CHAPTER NINETEEN

On Abaddon, they toiled.

Every centipede was called to work.

Lailani did not know how many centipedes lived on Abaddon. The hive spread through the tunnels like maggots in rotten cheese, becoming a single being. She could focus on a few minds at a time, no more. But the population was massive. Definitely in the billions, probably in the trillions.

A network connected them. They were all neurons in a brain. Lailani had once jokingly called it the Scumnet. Now she broadcast her orders through the planet.

The centipedes got to work.

All of them. Every soldier and digger. Every nurse and feeder. Every explorer and hunter and scientist. They all banded together. They were all miners now. They all dug new tunnels. They all mined their vast planet for the precious mineral. For celestium.

They needed a lot.

They needed enough celestium to rip a hole in the universe.

Celestium was hard to find. It did not shine like gold or gemstones. In its crude form, it was gray or brown. But the centipedes did not rely on eyesight. They had no use for bright colors. They were creatures of the underground. Of vibrations.

In the tunnels, they tapped their claws. They lifted hammers and struck boulders and slabs of iron. They opened their mouths and sang.

And the crystals sang back.

The sounds reverberated through the underground. The rocks responded with creaks and grumbles. The soil answered with whispers and hisses. Iron ore clanged and gold and silver chimed.

But celestium? Celestium sang.

Sometimes, from the cacophony of boulders and soil vibrating in the darkness, rose a single note. Like a glass bell giving a single chime. The centipedes then dug. They roared in the depths. They slammed their claws against the walls of their tunnels. And the crystal answered with another chime. Then a peal. They were digging closer. They followed the siren's song until they reached their prize.

The celestium crystals lay there, buried deep, and when they found one, the centipedes lifted it with reverence. They spoke in a language of clicks, hisses, and pheromones, but Tala had learned to understand their speech, and she had taught Lailani a little. In their language, the centipedes called celestium singing stones.

The centipedes carried them to the surface. Piles and piles of them. They rose in hills in the desert. Finally they formed a mountain. The crystals emerged rough from underground like misshapen truffles. But on the surface of the desert, more centipedes toiled. They scraped off stone and soil. They rolled the stones through the sand, polishing them. They tapped with their claws, gentle taps calculated to atomic precision, and cut the crystals into polished shapes that gleamed deep blue.

When you gazed into a celestium stone, you gazed through many modes of being. You saw yourself through many eyes. Lailani saw herself as a child. As an old woman. She saw herself as her mother. She saw herself as Kai saw her, as a wife, a lover. She saw herself as the humans saw her. A monster. A demon. A nightmare. She was many beings at once. She was the heroine of the Alien Wars and the terror of Toronto. That was what celestium did. It opened different eyes. It held up different mirrors.

Every person is many people, Lailani thought. Because to every observer we are somebody else.

When you gazed through celestium, you were finally all those people come together, trapped in a little blue stone.

She didn't like this stone. Bending spacetime was bad enough. To bend consciousness? Lailani tried not to spend too long gazing into these crystals. Seeing herself as a demon was too terrifying. Because the crystal did not lie. That was one side of her.

The other sides were there too. The frightened orphan who grew up in the slums. That orphan was still inside her. The brave soldier. Yes, she was still there too. The woman who loved Marco. Who loved Einav. They were all still a part of her but only to her eyes. Only in the crystal. Maybe not to anyone who still mattered.

They filled their starships with these crystals. The podships bore them like mine carts carrying treasures from the depths. They flew into deep space, hundreds of podships, hauling their treasure. The greatest treasure the galaxy had ever seen.

They flew to buy a miracle.

* * * * *

They were five days from the Dealer when the Earthlings struck.

They called this place the Shadowrealm. This was no-man's-land. The great emptiness between civilizations. Out here, all bets were off.

At any given moment, thousands of alien civilizations battled for supremacy in the Milky Way galaxy. Earth, the starlings, the scum, and all the other aliens they had fought or befriended—they all lived in a forgotten corner of the galaxy. A little sliver of the Orion Arm. Most of the Arm, their galactic neighborhood, was colonized. Most stars with any planets worth a damn belonged to somebody. It was no wonder Earth had fought so many wars. A fledgling empire, taking its first baby steps into the galaxy, was bound to step on some toes.

But some areas, like the Shadowrealm, belonged to nobody. Nobody wanted them. They were vast, empty, boring. There were no mining worlds, no asteroids rich with minerals, no planets worth colonizing. So the great empires left these places alone. It was why the Dealer, they said, made his home here. This was like the bad neighborhood of town that even the cops were scared to enter. This was where the underworld made its home.

Flying here, Lailani was bound to run into trouble.

And here trouble came.

Three Earthling ships. Out here in the Shadowrealm.

Hunters.

"Somebody tipped them off!" Lailani snapped.

She had been careful to cover her tracks. To travel in secret. To scramble her ships' energy signatures. But there were spies everywhere. Ben-Ari's eyes watched from asteroids, from desolate planets, from hidden devices in Lailani's own ships. And now three Earthling frigates roared toward her convoy.

She read the names printed on their hulls. Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia. The three daughters of Zeus, reincarnated as machines of war.

Meanwhile, most of Lailani's fleet was composed of cargo haulers. They were fat, slow blobs, their hulls gravid with crystals. The centipedes had built them for lugging cargo across the galaxy, not for war. Like all centipede ships, the haulers were woven from organic material. Inside their exoskeleton, they were flesh and veins and brain tissue, half machines, half living creatures. And entirely useless in battle.

Thankfully, Lailani had a few warships too. She flew in the Black Rose Viperess, a slender human-built starship. She was small and fast, made for stealth, but decent enough in a fight. The centipedes had contributed a few warships too. On the outside, they looked like the haulers—lumpy, big round things, built from organic materials. But they were smaller and faster than the haulers, and their vents could spew acid. The SAS Shara completed Lailani's fleet. She was one of the Earthling frigates she had commandeered over New Siberia.

It wasn't much. Not enough. Most of her fleet was back at Abaddon, defending her people.

The Viperess's main monitor crackled to life. Macintosh appeared on the screen, her red hair cascading like lava from under her cap. She stood on the bridge of the Shara.

"Are ye seeing this shite?" the young Scottish captain said.

"They're coming in fast!" Lailani said. "Mac, take the Shara and attack their starboard flank! War pods, form a defensive wall!"

"I'll fookin' rip 'em apart!" Macintosh roared, baring her fangs.

The mighty Shara yawed with surprising speed for a vessel her size. Then, with a blaze of afterburner, the frigate charged toward the enemy. Lailani could hear Macintosh through the comlink, howling one word as a battle cry. "Freedom!"

Crazy Scot, Lailani thought.

If you had to face overwhelming force in battle, you brought a Scot with you. That was basic military strategy.

Lailani hesitated for a moment. The Black Rose Viperess was small, but every gun counted. Should she stay and defend the cargo ships full of crystals? Or charge to battle with Macintosh?

Then she decided.

"Freedom!" Lailani howled, shoved down the throttle, and roared to battle.

The Viperess and the Shara charged, all guns blazing. Their plasma bolts exploded against the enemy shields. Earth's frigates rocked in space. But their armor held.

The three enemy frigates turned their port hulls toward the starlings, exposing lines of cannons. Zeus's daughters were pissed off tonight. The mighty guns of Earth fired.

The Shara soared, dodging the assault. Meanwhile, the Viperess dived under the incoming missiles. Of course, there was no up or down in space. But right now all five starships were flying with their underbellies facing the same side, offering a frame of reference.

The HDFS Thalia turned toward Lailani and fired torpedoes. Lailani plunged down in the Viperess. The torpedoes blazed overhead, missing her. But the missiles were smart, installed with basic artificial intelligence. They were essentially kamikaze robots. They swerved in space like hungry eels on the hunt, charging back toward Lailani.

Lailani hit a button on her controls. A hatch on her stern opened, releasing a cloud of chaff. A confetti of aluminum strips flew through space. Chaff was cheap and effective. It confused the heat-seeking torpedoes like a cloud of silt blinding barracudas. Several torpedoes hit the chunks of aluminum and exploded.

But two torpedoes emerged from the cloud of chaff unscathed. They kept chasing Lailani. Sensors shone on their warheads like wrathful red eyes.

Lailani growled, gave off a burst of afterburner, and charged toward the Thalia, the warship that had fired the torpedoes. The frigate's cannons wheeled toward her, ready for another assault. The torpedoes kept chasing from behind.

In her little starship, Lailani was trapped between two deaths. Torpedoes behind. The Thalia and her mighty cannons ahead.

I'm going to die, she thought.

She didn't care.

She kept flying, firing her guns. Her plasma streaked toward the Thalia.

Her bolts impacted with the looming frigate. Most of Lailani's plasma just hit the Thalia's armored hull, scarring the metal but doing no damage. But one plasma bolt found a cannon. The plasma roared over the bore, melting it, destroying the enormous gun just as it was about to fire. An explosion rocked the Thalia—perhaps a torpedo detonating inside the launch bay. Flames spread across the Thalia's port hull, consuming more guns.

Lailani whooped. But she had little time to congratulate herself. The torpedoes were still chasing her, getting closer. And the Thalia was still in the fight, even with her port cannons down. Thalia's machine-gun turrets wheeled toward the Black Rose Viperess and let loose.

Lailani cursed. Torpedoes behind, bullets ahead. Great.

She kept charging.

She swerved left, right, dodging the lines of bullets, then dived toward the Thalia with a howl.

"Lailani, you crazy bitch!" Macintosh's voice came from the comlink.

Lailani ignored the Scot. She flew closer to the Thalia, swooping from above like a sparrow attacking an eagle. The torpedoes chased.

The Black Rose Viperess skimmed the top of the enemy frigate. Lailani flew so close that the Viperess's underbelly snapped one of Thalia's antennae.

The torpedoes kept pursuing her.

Lailani yanked the yoke. She rolled over the edge of the Thalia, dipping along the frigate's starboard bow.

The torpedoes, hot in pursuit, were just slightly less agile.

Both missiles slammed into the Thalia.

Massive explosions blinded Lailani. She laughed and kept flying. When she checked her rearview monitor, she saw it.

She had diverted the enemy's torpedoes into their very own ship.

Fire blazed from holes in the Thalia's hull. The frigate slewed. It was out of the fight. Lailani allowed herself a deep breath of relief. One enemy ship was down. But the battle was still on.

* * * * *

Macintosh laughed through the comlink. "Ya crazy bitch, ya did it! You destroyed that frigate!"

Piloting the Viperess, Lailani searched the battlefield for her friend. Then she saw it. The Shara, with Macintosh at the helm, was lodged between two enemy frigates.

Macintosh was firing both her port and starboard broadsides, pounding the enemy. But she was taking heavy hits. Already several decks of the Shara were breached and burning.

"Don't get yourself killed, Mac," Lailani said.

"I would gladly die for freedom!" the Scot cried. "The Earthlings can take our lives, but they can never take our—"

"Shut up and stay alive," Lailani snapped. "I order you to stay alive. I'm coming to help. Hang tight, you lunatic."

Leaving the burning Thalia behind, Lailani charged toward the two warships surrounding Macintosh. They were the Aglaia and Euphrosyne, and both were pounding the poor Shara with barrage after barrage. Mac's shields would rupture any second now.

The Viperess was woefully small by these angry whales. But her small size let Lailani dodge the incoming plasma bolts. She weaved between the balls of fire, racing toward the Aglaia's stern. She was like a quick little fox racing between two lumbering rhinos.

The Aglaia was busy battling Macintosh. That let Lailani get in close. The starboard cannons kept pounding poor Mac. Only the stern guns swiveled toward Lailani.

She dodged the incoming fire as best she could. But a few rounds slammed into her side, denting the shields. Alarms blared across the Viperess. The hull cracked, and air began to flee. Lailani pulled down her visor, turned on the oxygen flow, and kept charging, all guns blazing.

She raced toward the Aglaia's exhaust ports and unleashed a hailstorm of photon bolts.

It was the frigate's Achilles heel. Lailani's photon bolts rolled down the exhaust ports like bowling balls.

Explosions rocked the Aglaia. Fire leaped from the stern. Lailani soared higher, dodging the inferno. The frigate was still in one piece, but she was crippled.

Lailani allowed herself a small smile. Another enemy ship down.

* * * * *

"War pods!" Lailani cried. "Get over here! We need help!"

She had flown here with two types of scum podships. The cargo pods carried the crystals. The war pods protected the cargo pods.

At Lailani's command, the war pods charged into battle.

A long time ago, when visiting Marco's old house in Greece, Lailani had found a dry sea urchin on the beach. She had marveled at how beautiful the round, hard shell was, as intricate as a jewelry box. She still had it lying around somewhere back in her old house, she thought. The armored podships reminded her of that urchin—but enormously larger. Vents opened on their tops, spewing acid at the enemy.

Now the tide turned.

Macintosh was able to raise the Shara, no longer forked between her enemies. The Scot swiveled her mighty frigate, pointing her starboard cannons at the enemy, and let loose. A full broadside pounded the two Earthling vessels, crushing their shields, destroying their cannons, and finally breaching their hulls.

Lailani breathed a sigh of relief.

We're going to win this, she thought. We—

That's when she saw the streaks of light flare overhead.

Torpedoes.

Dammit! The Thalia, the frigate she had crippled early on, was still firing!

But not at her. Those missiles blazed above the battle—heading toward the cargo pods.

And those pods were now undefended.

Lailani could only watch as a torpedo hit one cargo pod. Its hard shell shattered. Crystals spilled into space. Millions of celestium crystals, glittering, flying everywhere.

Lailani howled in rage.

Her crystals! She needed those to pay the Dealer!

In a rage, she charged toward the Thalia. The damn frigate was back in action!

Lailani carried a single nuclear weapon aboard the Black Rose Viperess. Only one would fit. Roaring, she unleashed it.

The nuke blazed toward the Thalia.

The enemy ship tried to shoot it down. She fired an interceptor missile. But Lailani already anticipated that. She soared, then rained down bullets, destroying the plucky interceptor.

Modern frigates had tough shields. Sometimes tough enough to withstand even nukes. But the Thalia was already damaged. Her shields were hanging on by a thread. Lailani anticipated a big boom.

A second later, the nuke hit.

Lailani swooped away from the frigate.

Light washed over the Viperess.

Debris flew everywhere, pattering her shields and knocking her into a tailspin. A mangled deck plate, torn free from the Thalia, slammed into the Viperess's canopy. The steelglass shattered into a million shards.

Lailani screamed. Her ship was already depressurized, and she was already breathing oxygen from a tank. But more debris kept coming. A chunk of bulkhead clipped her wing, and she swirled madly.

Among all the debris, she noticed, tumbled glittering crystals. Her treasure.

Finally Lailani managed to steady her ship, to raise the prow. She stared upward. The Thalia was gone. The nuke had shattered the frigate like a porcelain mug.

Aglaia and Euphrosyne still flew, two mighty enemy ships. But Macintosh and the war pods were pounding them. The Aglaia was breached first. The scum acid melted her hull. That let Macintosh fire a nuke right inside. That did the trick.

Poor Euphrosyne attempted to flee. Lailani led the charge. They chased down the last frigate and tore her apart like piranhas devouring a cow.

The battle was over.

We won, Lailani thought, slumping in her seat.

* * * * *

"Damage report, Mac."

Macintosh appeared in hologram, reporting from the Shara. Ash covered her freckled face and red curls. She stood on the bridge of her ship. Control panels sparked around her. Scattered fires burned. But the Scot was smiling.

"Macintosh reporting," she said. "Those fookin' Earthling bawbags tore through me middle deck. Ripped an entire chunk off. Beasties! I'm looking at twenty dead crewmen, at least. Brave souls. They died for freedom." She gave the Starling Salute. "Raise your claws!"

Lailani returned the salute, her own claws raised.

Several war pods were lost. Their crew of centipedes had burned up. But the main damage came to the cargo pods.

Two had ruptured, spilling their precious cargo across space. Some of those crystals were flying at hypersonic speeds into the distance.

Lailani reached out her mind to the hive. The centipede survivors bowed before her inside their ships.

Begin to weave nets, she said. Then fly out and catch those crystals.

The centipedes got to work. Each podship came with stores of oozing carbon, which the centipedes could weave into new shapes. Normally they used the goo to patch up damage to their hulls. Now they began stretching out sticky silk strands, forming giant nets, then chasing the crystals. They looked like deranged butterfly hunters.

Lailani sat in the damaged Viperess, fuming. This little Earthling stunt had cost her hours. And time was short.

She needed to reach the Dealer. She needed to buy that weapon. Before Earth's main fleet could reach her world!

* * * * *

Hours?

As it turned out, it cost them days.

Most of the crystals were never found. Lailani had to call Abaddon, get the miners digging, then wait here until more cargo haulers arrived. With every hour she waited the danger grew.

By now, Ben-Ari must have heard of her defeat in the Shadowrealm. She was probably sending more ships over.

Not to mention the massive armada flying toward Abaddon. Lailani's sensors had detected it. So had a dozen nearby alien civilizations.

Earth was flying an enormous fleet toward Abaddon. Too big to cloak. Too powerful to resist.

They would reach Abaddon within days.

Come on, come on! Lailani thought.

She stood on the bridge of the Shara. This would be her home until the Viperess was repaired. The Shara was large, comfortable, a state-of-the-art frigate, but she missed her dear little corvette. The poor Viperess had taken a pounding, losing her canopy, a wing, and chunk of hull. The slender ship now rested in the Shara's cargo bay, undergoing repairs.

Finally, three days after the battle, two new cargo haulers arrived from Abaddon, carrying a new shipment of crystals.

"The planet is sucked dry, mistress," the centipedes told her. "There are no more crystals to be found in the deepest caverns."

"These will be enough," Lailani thought. "But we must hurry—before Earth hits us again."

They raced onward in the darkness.

Finally they were back at the asteroid. And Lailani stood before the Dealer again. The enormous plant towered above her, his fuzzy buds rustling. Lavender powder fluttered through the air. Lailani blinked, feeling lightheaded.

"I've come with payment!" she announced. "Boys, bring the loot."

Centipedes walked through the garden, carrying sacks. They spilled the contents at the Dealer's stalk. Celestium crystals. Piles of them. Hills of them. They spilled across the garden, forming shimmering dunes.

The Dealer gasped, his blooms sucking up the air. His roots coiled, rose from underground, and clutched the crystals greedily. The woody limbs tightened, crushing the stones to powder, then pulled them underground. The massive plant shivered with delight. His blooms vibrated the air, producing his voice.

"Sweet powder … sweet life! Sweet stones to see through higher realms. Succulent sweets for my roots, for my stem, for my special blooms."

As he devoured the crystals, the Dealer grew larger. His stem creaked and widened and curled upward. Branches lengthened and coiled, sprouting new leaves. His buds blossomed, purple and fuzzy and sticky. The alien plant grew larger than ever before, filling the asteroid. His branches and leaves brushed against the craggy stone walls and ceiling. New roots spread out, racing beneath Lailani's feet. She stumbled and nearly fell.

"All right, big boy, make good with the dope," Lailani said.

The plant rustled and creaked. His branches twisted and turned, and the entire plant bent toward Lailani. The central stalk dipped. On the top, shining like a Christmas star, grew a beautiful bud. It was the size of a pumpkin, shimmering with blue, green, and white. It looked like a nebula. Lailani stared, intoxicated, drowning in the swirling, glowing colors.

"Here it is," the Dealer said. "The finest bloom I ever grew. The Cosmic Bloom. It will open your mind. It will allow you to travel from star to star. Take this bloom. Sprinkle a little of its dust in every starship of your fleet. The minds of the captains will expand. And you will fly!"

She flew back toward Abaddon, the Cosmic Bloom in her starship, protected in a tube of glass. She did not use it for the journey home. She would not waste a single mote of pollen. Soon enough, the Cosmic Bloom would do its work. And David's sling would hurl its stone.

CHAPTER TWENTY

After two weeks in space, the great armada of Earth reached Antares, the enemy star.

With a great rumble and blinding flashes of light, they emerged from warped spacetime, reappearing in reality. Thousands of warships—corvettes, frigates, mighty carriers. Swarms of starfighters. A force to end civilizations, to conquer worlds. The greatest armada since the Scum War.

Ben-Ari stood on the prow of the Sol Invictus, leading the charge.

"Onward to victory!" she cried.

The ships charged, guns priming, soldiers raring for war … and flew into empty space.

The enemy star system was empty.

Ben-Ari frowned. What the hell?

Normally, thousands of podships flew here, protecting their star system. But today Ben-Ari just saw empty space. Abaddon hovered in the distance, a tan sphere, about the size of a marble from out here.

They were close. Right on Abaddon's doorstep. And nobody was stopping them.

"Ha!" Addy barked a laugh. "They can't even defend themselves. They ran and hid. Pathetic."

Marco, who stood on the bridge too, stared ahead somberly. "This isn't right. I smell a trap."

Ben-Ari tended to agree with Marco. "Let's proceed cautiously."

She got on her comlink, contacted the captains of her fleet, and sent out orders. The fleet slowed their charge, then changed from assault formation to defensive formation. Big ships moved to the center, medium ships surrounded them, and the corvettes and starfighters orbited the warships, forming a sphere of protection. Instead of leading the charge, Sol Invictus now flew in the center of the fleet, a star in the center of a system. In case of enemy assault, this formation protected the most valuable assets, while allowing for quick defensive maneuvers from the starfighters.

They flew onward, passing by a lifeless gas giant, an asteroid, and a cloud of glowing dust. No enemy yet. Not a single podship. It was as if they had flown back in time billions of years, arriving here before the scum had evolved.

"Come on, where are you creepy crawlers?" Addy muttered. "This place should be swarming with bugs like Marco's underwear drawer."

"That's only because you hide cookies there," Marco said.

"Marco," Ben-Ari said. "I want you in a mini-corvette. Take a wing of Firebirds too. Fly ahead to Abaddon and report."

He saluted. "Yes, ma'am."

Addy leaned toward the president. "Einav, send me too."

"No." Ben-Ari shook her head. "It's dangerous. I won't mince words. If it's a trap, I won't leave your kids orphans."

"Right." Addy nodded. "We'll just sacrifice Marco. Makes sense to me."

"Hey, what are you two whispering about?" Marco said.

"Nothing, nothing." Addy kissed him. "Go out and be safe. By the way, remind me where you keep your life insurance policy?"

Marco sighed. "It's in the basement, the white cabinet, bottom left drawer."

Addy tilted her head. "The what? We have a cabinet?"

"You know, the one beside the bookshelf."

She frowned. "Still got nothing."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Where you keep the chocolate bars."

"Ah!" Her face brightened. "Gotcha."

"Don't get too excited. My insurance policy will barely cover the cost of ant removal. And besides, I fully intend to survive today."

* * * * *

Marco flew in the Silver Hornet. The same ship he had flown a few months ago, dropping bombs on Abaddon's shipyard. The vessel was small, not much larger than a starfighter, and had two seats.

At Marco's side flew his old friend: Captain Jean-Michel Paradis, Le Petit Capitaine himself.

Behind them flew twenty-four Firebird-class starfighters. Two full squadrons. The Firebirds were the workhorses of the fleet. They were getting a little old; Earth had been building Firebirds for decades. During the past year or two, fancy new graviton fighters had begun to replace them, boasting the latest and greatest technology. A few of these technological wonders, called the Silverbirds, docked in the Sol Invictus's hangars. They could maneuver with agility that seemed almost magical. Firebirds were downright clumsy in comparison. But if you asked Marco, when push came to shove, he would want no other starfighter at his back. The Firebirds weren't just some fancy new gadget. They won wars. With two Firebird squadrons behind him, Marco felt safe.

Of course, the fact that they flew through empty space, not a single podship in sight, helped his sense of security.

"Do you think the enemy just abandoned the system, sir?" Paradis asked.

"I doubt it," Marco said. "Lailani never backs away from a fight. She's up to something."

"So the enemy is hiding." Paradis tensed. "We're flying into an ambush."

"We might be," Marco confessed. "But at least we can spring the trap instead of the fleet."

The little captain winced. "So we're canaries in the coal mine. Fantastic. But for the president, I would fly into hell itself."

"I've done just that for her," Marco said. "Several times. She asks a lot of a soldier, our beloved president. And I'm proud to serve her."

"I never imagined I'd fly with heroes," Paradis said. "But I got to fly with the Golden Lioness. And now I fly with the famous Marco Emery, hero of the Alien Wars. It would be an honor to die at your side. But I hope … I hope we live." The captain grinned. "I have a girl waiting in Marseille."

Abaddon grew larger ahead, dominating their field of vision. The podships that normally flew here were gone. Marco led the way, piloting the Silver Hornet. They roared into orbit, circling the desert world. The starfighters flew behind them in tight defensive formations.

Nothing.

No enemies.

Marco picked up his comlink and called the mothership.

A small hologram of Ben-Ari appeared on the dashboard. "This is Ben-Ari, speaking from the Sol Invictus. Report, Brigadier Emery."

"Ma'am, we're in orbit around Abaddon, and it's strange," Marco said. "No podships at all. I can't even see any movement on the surface. It's like the scum and scummers just upped and left."

"Or they're hiding underground," Ben-Ari said. "Can you send a probe into a cave and—"

"Sir!" Paradis called out. "The volcano!"

The captain pointed. Marco saw it.

A massive volcano was erupting on the surface. If the sensor readings were correct, that volcano made Everest look like a speed bump. A geyser of lava roared upward, breached the atmosphere, and erupted into space. The inferno blazed toward Marco and his ships.

Marco managed to swerve around the scorching fountain. But one of the Firebirds was not so lucky. The lava washed over the starfighter, melting the hull. The pilot ejected, only for the lava to burn him in open space.

"Fly up ten thousand klicks!" Marco ordered.

The ships all rose into higher orbit—out of volcano range, Marco hoped.

He reported the loss of the Firebird to the president.

"You think the volcano was intentional?" Ben-Ari asked.

"Very possible," Marco said. "Back in the Scum War, the centipedes used their volcanoes as weapons. Wait. Right now I can see another volcano venting in the distance. And a third. We're out of range, and the volcanoes are still spewing. We might have just been unlucky."

"The enemy must be hiding underground," Ben-Ari said.

"Want me to land and peek into the tunnels?" Marco said.

"No." Ben-Ari's hologram shook her head, ponytail flicking. "Lailani might be trying to draw us underground. So she could trap us in the tunnels. She might even detonate explosives and bury us. Nobody is going down there until we're sure. Send the probes."

The president was being circumspect. Good. In their past tussles with Lailani, they had fought too brashly. Like they used to fight the scum. All brute force. But Lailani was ten times smarter than the scum.

If we learned anything so far, it's that we cannot underestimate Lailani de la Rosa, Marco thought. Not her resourcefulness. Nor her cruelty.

"Yes, ma'am," Marco said. "I'll position ourselves over the starlings' last known cave system, then send down the probes. We'll see what's down there."

Of course, the tunnels of Abaddon ran for millions of kilometers. Their surface area was greater than Earth's. To truly explore the underground, they'd need thousands of soldiers and years of work.

But the probes would give them some basic intel while keeping the troops safe. At least as safe as possible in this godforsaken star system.

Marco flew the Silver Hornet toward Abaddon's southern hemisphere, then orbited the scarred surface. It was still hard to believe how damn big this planet was. Some of the sandstorms on the surface were larger than Earth. So were some of the craters. Physicists on Earth claimed that any day now, Abaddon would implode, collapsing under its own weight like a beached whale. Well, they had been saying that for years. And this behemoth planet persisted.

Finally they reached the spot. Marco didn't even need his computer's navigational system. He recognized the pattern of craters, mountains, and gorges. It still haunted his nightmares.

"This is the place," Marco said. "Right below the surface hides the Starling Labyrinth, the network of tunnels and caves where Lailani and her people make their home."

Captain Jean-Michel Paradis gazed through the viewport down at the planet. He stroked his chin. "You know, we could get the job done quickly. Drop a few drill bombs. Bunker busters, you know. Dig holes down to their burrows. Then we just drop a few nukes in and be done with. It would do the job nicely."

"That would be the easy way," Marco agreed. "Since you have security clearance, I can tell you we debated this very tactic in our meetings with the president."

Paradis sighed. "And you decided to do things the hard way, I assume?"

"Yes. Because the hard way is also the humane way. What separates us from Lailani—and this is what I told the president—is that we don't massacre civilians. The starlings are a nation. And we will not commit genocide."

Paradis raised an eyebrow. "Even after Toronto? They butchered six million of us back there. Wasn't that genocide?"

"Lailani did that, not all starlings. We can't erase a nation because of their leader's sin." Marco sighed. "To be honest, Jean-Michel, it's a tough question. My wife doesn't feel much pity for the starlings. She was calling to nuke the bastards. The president was tempted too, but she ultimately agreed with me. We have overwhelming military force. We can afford to be surgical. Sometimes in war, that is the luxury of the strong. Our mission is to win the war while minimizing civilian casualties. We need to find Lailani. To kill her and her troops. Nobody else."

Paradis was silent for a moment, lost in thought. "I think I agree. But I'm not sure."

"There's enough blood on my hands," Marco said. "I already slaughtered two hundred civilians under the shipyard. I will never forgive myself. And that was a mistake. To intentionally slaughter a nation? No, I won't do it. And nor would you, my brother." He looked at Paradis. "You don't want the blood of a nation on your hands. This war will end someday. And we'll still have to live with ourselves."

Paradis nodded. "I understand. Okay. We'll do this the hard way. The humane way. That's what makes us human, after all."

Marco tapped the controls. The Silver Hornet thrummed as the lower hatch opened. No nukes for them. Instead, probes spilled out and dived toward the surface of Abaddon.

* * * * *

Marco controlled the probes from a dashboard aboard the Silver Hornet. He sent down nine of them. Each of the nine boasted a variety of sensors. Nine holo-screens hovered before Marco in the cockpit, showing video feeds and stats from the drones.

The probes were new technology, just released this year. They were called SNAKES, a backronym for Stealth Navigation and Knowledge Espionage Systems. Indeed, they looked like mechanical snakes. At a glance, they could pass for your common garter snake, the kind you might come across in your garden. But the SNAKES came with sophisticated artificial intelligence, and they were damn good at sneaking into tight spots. Perfect little spies.

Marco watched them descend into the atmosphere of Abaddon. Unlike real snakes that would probably flail this way and that, the SNAKES fell in straight lines, aiming their sensors downward. The nine video feeds floated around Marco, each the size of a playing card, streaming from one SNAKE. The videos showed swirls of sandy clouds and the craggy surface below. Each holographic screen also reported the weather condition, atmospheric pressure, the magnetic field, and a variety of other stats.

Being artificially intelligent, the SNAKES talked on their way down. Their voices emerged from speakers in the Silver Hornet's cockpit, and closed captions appeared on each SNAKE's holographic monitor.

"Woo, look, Mom, no hands!" one SNAKE said.

"Hey, did anyone remember to pack the parachutes?" said another.

"Anyone for a game of I, Spy while we fall?" said a third.

Captain Paradis frowned at the screens. "A programmer's sense of humor?"

"Maybe," Marco said. "Or maybe the SNAKES developed their own sense of humor. I almost feel bad that we're sending them on a suicide mission."

One of the screens turned an angry red hue. "Hey, we can still hear you!"

"Suicide mission?" another SNAKE said. "Mommy, help!"

"Oh, quit your whining," said a SNAKE. "Focus on the mission and stop freaking out the meat sacks."

Marco leaned toward Paradis and whispered, "We're the meat sacks."

"I gathered," the captain whispered back.

Suddenly a volcano below belched up lava.

"Scatter, scatter!" a SNAKE cried out.

The nine holographic screens flashed with red warnings.

"Mommy!" cried a SNAKE.

"Lava!" cried another. "La—"

The spray washed over the unfortunate robot. Its video feed turned red, then vanished.

The remaining eight snakes kept falling toward the surface, crying out in dismay.

"We shall avenge you, brother!"

"Or sister, since we don't have genders," said a SNAKE.

"Continue the mission, fellow serpents. Do not lose heart!"

"We don't have hearts."

"Just keep going! For our fallen brother!"

"Or sister."

Talkative bunch, Marco thought.

The eight surviving SNAKES neared the surface of Abaddon. The mechanical serpents puffed out little parachutes and glided onto the sand.

"Woo-hoo, we made it!" said one SNAKE.

"Touchdown!"

"Ow, ow, the sand is hot!"

"Boy, boys!" Marco said. "Focus on the mission. Find the cave entrance and crawl in."

"Or girls," said one SNAKE.

"You'll all be scrap metal if you don't move it," Marco said.

The SNAKES tossed their heads as if flouncing invisible hair. But they obeyed. They slithered across the sand. The monitors in the Silver Hornet showed Marco what the SNAKES were seeing. Sand, rocks, and distant mountains.

"Lots of tracks in the sand," Captain Paradis said. "Look at that. Hey, SNAKE unit T5! Turn to the right. That's it, good boy."

"Or girl," the SNAKE said.

The SNAKE turned, showing a view of a sandy plain. Marco and Paradis saw it. Prints in the sand. Some were centipede prints. Others were human prints. No, not human—starling prints!

"Lots of our buddies were walking through the sand, all right," Marco said. "Well spotted, Paradis."

A SNAKE cleared its throat—or at least made a similar noise. "I believe you meant to compliment me, not the little meat sack? My eyes are the ones that observed the tracks."

"I'll give you a pat on the head when you get back," Marco said. "Now get into the cave, girl."

"Or boy."

The snakes crawled into a nearby cave. They branched out, each snake slithering down another tunnel. Darkness engulfed the robots. The monitors switched to night vision. Marco watched all eight feeds. All eight were the same. Empty tunnels. Prints on the ground. No scum, no starlings.

"The whole damn maze is abandoned," Paradis said.

"Keep going, boys and girls," Marco said to the SNAKES. "Let's take a look at New Canaan."

Finally one of the SNAKES—Unit T6—reached the underground city. The robot swept his or her camera from side to side.

Marco beheld the wondrous city of starlings. A massive cavern, larger than a soccer stadium, its walls honeycombed with apartments. Gardens grew across the cave floor, and sunlight beamed down from a hole high above. New Canaan, capital of the starling nation.

The cave was empty.

"Thirty thousand people should live here," Marco muttered. "Where—?"

"Sir!" Paradis said. "Look at Unit T7's camera!"

Marco looked at another screen.

"SNAKE T7, halt!" he said.

The robot froze in a tunnel.

"Turn ten degrees to the right, T7," Marco said.

"You didn't say the magic word," the SNAKE replied.

"Now! Or I'll detonate you from orbit," Marco said.

With a harrumph, the SNAKE turned toward the tunnel wall. And Marco saw it. A lumpy, sticky substance glued to the rock. Cables stuck out from it.

"That's an erythritol tetranitrate explosive," Paradis whispered, going very pale. "Trust me, I'm a gunner. I know my explosives. This can bring down the whole tunnel."

SNAKE T7 whimpered. "I gotta get out of here!"

The SNAKE began to flee in panic, whimpering, when a massive explosion roared through the speakers. Marco and Paradis glimpsed rocks falling before the video feed cut out.

All the surviving SNAKES began talking at once.

"What happened to T7?"

"He blew up!"

"Or she."

"Oh God, there are explosives here too."

"Fall back, SNAKES, fall back!"

"Keep going! The mission demands it!"

"The bombs are everywhere!"

"Run away, run away!"

"We can't run, we slither!"

"Slither away, friends! Slither for all you've got!"

The SNAKES were panicking. And Marco saw it in all their feeds. Explosives.

"Lailani wired up the whole damn underground," Marco whispered.

The SNAKES all began to flee. But one tripped over a wire. An explosion rocked the labyrinth, and another screen went dark. Then boulders were tumbling in every screen. More bombs exploded. When Marco looked down from space, he could see it with the naked eye—the ground shaking, dust flying.

Finally only one screen remained. The one from New Canaan. The SNAKE there was the only one still alive.

Marco watched silently as New Canaan's walls cracked, as boulders fell from above, and then the bombs went off there too, and the last screen went dark.

"We were meant to be in there." Paradis gulped. "You, me, our entire army."

"Thank God for the SNAKES. We will never forget those brave little souls."

The comlink buzzed. Ben-Ari appeared in a hologram atop the dashboard.

"Any update?" she asked.

"We just sprang a trap," Marco said.

He described the ordeal to Ben-Ari. The president listened carefully.

"So the question remains," she finally said. "Where is the enemy?"

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The Cosmic Bloom opened their minds.

Aboard the Black Rose Viperess. Aboard the Ishtar and her frigates. Aboard every starfighter, every podship. In every cockpit and on every bridge, they breathed in its pollen.

Across the entire Abaddonian fleet, the Cosmic Bloom let them see.

Space and time unfurled before them. Colors streamed and swirled.

Lailani had divided the Cosmic Bloom into a thousand little florets, each no larger than an almond. She gave them to her navigators. She let them travel the hidden road between the stars.

A great path of light opened before the fleet. A wormhole. But not a wormhole like those roads the Ancients had built. This was not a path through spacetime. Not a bending of physics. It was the altering of the mind. With heightened consciousness, they could leap between worlds.

They traveled the blossoming road. They glided over a rainbow and flew through purple rain.

Aboard the ships, the navigators gazed with wide eyes, unblinking. A few laughed. Others shed tears at the beauty. They had never tasted the Cosmic Bloom before. But they knew what to do. A deep instinct kindled within them, as compelling as a bird's desire to migrate south. They flew through the colors. They followed the fractals of the mind.

The rest of the crew did not see. The colors did not appear to them. The cosmos did not sing in their ears. To them, the flight seemed ordinary. And the navigators pitied them. Those poor souls who had not tasted the Bloom! Their world was so small. A world of only three dimensions and so few hues. They did not experience the cosmos. Not with all the new senses the Bloom granted those who navigated its star maps.

Light shone ahead.

A portal beckoned.

They passed through a misty, swirling nebula of consciousness, and they reemerged into reality.

Within seven hours, they traveled five hundred light-years.

Seven hours of dreams and joy.

And they were home.

Their trip ended.

They were at Earth.

* * * * *

Most wormholes, the kind the Ancients had built, could not operate near a planet. They sucked up massive amounts of energy, enough to punch a hole through spacetime. Placed near a planet, they'd cause devastating tides, shatter mountains, and crack tectonic plates. Knowing this, the Ancients had built wormholes on the edges of star systems, far from habitable worlds. To reach the Wormhole Road, you needed starships that could travel from planet to heliosphere.

But the Blossom Road had no such restrictions.

And on one cold night in 2165, the sky of Earth opened.

A mere hundred kilometers above the surface, the very edge of space, the portal appeared.

A hundred kilometers was a lot if you were just walking to pick up milk. But in space, it was nothing. A starship could travel a thousand times that distance within a heartbeat. A hundred kilometers above the surface? That was below every satellite, every Earth Patrol starship, every space station. The portal skimmed the blue sky.

When the Black Rose Viperess emerged from the portal, she dived into the blue.

Earth never saw her coming.

She plunged through the atmosphere, a slender starship like a swooping falcon, all guns firing.

Then, from behind her, they came.

Abaddon's armada.

The starfighters screamed out first. Two hundred starfighters, roaring for vengeance. They had once served the Earthlings, but Lailani had captured them along with the Ishtar, their mothership. Now starlings flew them, unleashing an inferno of bombs onto the green hills and gray cities below.

Podships followed. Thousands of podships, their hulls craggy and irregular, coated with lumpy chitin. Inside each one flew ten thousand centipedes bundled into a writhing mass, waiting to unfurl and unleash destruction.

Then came her Earth-built warships. Destroyers. Corvettes. And finally, with a thunder that shattered windows for a thousand kilometers around, emerged the mighty Ishtar herself. A starship the size of the Empire State Building.

They emerged from twenty portals around the planet. The skies opened and unleashed hell.

No place was safe. No land would be spared.

The armada roared in the blue sky.

The battle for Earth began.

* * * * *

Twenty thousand kilometers above, defensive satellites scrambled and spun in disarray. The system was called Iron Sphere. Thousands of satellites constantly orbited Earth exactly twenty thousand kilometers up, encircling not only the planet but most of her orbiting starships and space stations.

Ben-Ari had built Iron Sphere during her presidency. At great cost, financial and political. The system was designed to defend Earth from alien invaders. Any alien fleet, whether arriving by wormhole or warp drive, would have to emerge far from Earth's gravitational pull. That was simple physics. That meant any enemy starship would emerge outside the satellite defense system. When that happened, Iron Sphere's thousands of satellites were designed to swivel toward the invaders, aim their cannons, and unleash a hell of plasma, missiles, and searing laser rays.

If they'd had Iron Sphere last century, the first scum invasion would have failed on day one. Billions would have been saved.

Beneath Iron Sphere flew thousands of starships. Many were military ships, the golden phoenix rampant and proud on their hulls. Others were Earth Patrol ships, tasked with guarding their homeworld. Many were police ships, trawling the heavens for smugglers, drug dealers, and troublemakers. Together, this joint fleet, military and paramilitary, protected Earth. Should Iron Sphere fail, they formed the second line of defense.

Abaddon's armada had emerged under them all. Under every satellite and starship. Like an army of gophers tunneling under a wall.

Because they weren't using wormholes. Weren't using warp drives. Earth's gravity didn't matter. Physics didn't matter.

They were using the Cosmic Bloom. They were manipulating the mind.

Thank you, Dealer, Lailani thought.

Her fleet flew in the blue sky. For a brief moment, they were free to do as they liked.

Soon enough, Earth would realize what happened. Lailani had only a few seconds before Earth fought back. She knew this. She had planned for this.

A few seconds for the Iron Sphere satellites to spin toward Earth, to lock onto targets. A few seconds for Earth's starships to turn around, to unleash torpedoes and starfighters. A few seconds for the ground defense systems to begin launching missiles. A few seconds for fighter jets on the surface to scramble into the air.

A few seconds was not a lot of time.

It would have to be enough.

A few seconds would have to win this war.

Lailani had trained for this. Drilled her pilots for this. She had run simulation over simulation. Now it was time.

She began the countdown.

"Ten."

Her starfighters dropped their nuclear weapons. Not on cities. Lailani was not interested in killing civilians tonight. She dropped them on power stations. On the twenty largest power plants on Earth.

"Nine."

Her podships spilled pools of acid onto twenty communication hubs, containing the servers that powered Earth's internet, radio, cable, and quantum networks.

"Eight."

Her destroyers unleashed massive erythritol tetranitrate bombs—bombs large enough to destroy cities. They fell on twenty air force bases, wiping out thousands of fighter jets that were just about to take off. A handful of jets might have gotten off the ground. The explosions pulled them back down.

"Seven."

Down on the surface, her sleeper agents awoke. They activated the viruses they had planted. Computers across military bases went berserk, then shut down. Navigation satellites went dark. Communication lines snapped. A few starling agents did the work manually, cutting cables, hammering servers, or simply pulling plugs from walls.

"Six."

Across Earth, ten thousand hidden starlings, never caught by the Earthlings, went to war. On a military base, a corporal opened fire with a machine gun, mowing down his platoon. In a police station, a cop hurled grenades. At an antiaircraft battery, a major ignited the armory, blowing up a thousand rockets at once. A mushroom cloud rose, consuming the entire military base where the battery had stood. Across the world, her people attacked, hitting the Earthling police and army and national guard, dealing ten thousand little blows.

"Five."

Five seconds into the assault, the podships cracked open.

Lailani had brought five thousand podships with her. They hatched above five thousand targets—military bases, cities, power plants, spaceports. From each podship spilled a ball of centipedes, ten thousand woven together like tumbleweed. These writhing balls broke apart in the air, and the centipedes shrieked for war. The aliens rained onto Earth, ready to slay anyone in their path.

"Four."

The mighty Ishtar rose higher, escaping the devastating gravity and atmosphere of Earth. The carrier bombarded the enemy starships above her. She caught them off guard. Earth's ships were still slowly yawing. The Ishtar's torpedoes slammed into their underbellies, ripping them open.

"Three."

Lailani's destroyers and frigates joined the fight, bombarding Earth's fleet.

"Two."

The Ishtar unleashed a swarm of Firebirds. The starfighters blazed forth, firing missiles, taking down space stations and satellites.

"One," Lailani said.

Her frigates released a thousand nuclear weapons.

Each one detonated a hundred kilometers above the surface. Just on the edge of sky.

Every spot on Earth lit up with blinding white light.

Shock waves slammed into the planet. Searing radiation bathed every corner of Earth.

The explosions were too high up to kill people. Lailani was not interested in slaying billions and turning Earth into a radioactive wasteland.

She was interested in crippling Earth.

A thousand nuclear weapons released a terrifying amount of energy, enough to fry every piece of electronics on the planet, from toaster ovens to missile defense systems.

Her own starfighters had prepared. At the right moment, they activated their EMP shields. But Earth was not prepared. Across Earth, whatever power remained died. Cars veered off roads. Planes fell from the sky. Robots and androids dropped down dead. Factories ground to a halt. Every computer, phone, any machine with digital parts—they died.

With a thousand flashes of blinding light, Earth was knocked back to the steam era.

Ten seconds. Ten plagues. It was the fastest, most devastating assault in Earth's history. Maybe in the galaxy's history.

This was not over. The war for Earth would still rage for days, Lailani knew. Maybe for years.

But in the first ten seconds, she had guaranteed her victory.

For the next few seconds, nothing happened. Lailani glided over India in the Black Rose Viperess, receiving reports from her captains. They spoke to her through the hive. Telepathically. She saw what they saw.

Devastation.

Earth brought to its knees.

"Oh, Einav." Lailani shook her head sadly. "You took the bulk of Earth's force to Abaddon. A thousand warships. Millions of troops. You left Earth ripe for the plucking. Can you really blame a girl for reaching out to pluck?" She laughed. "So take Abaddon, Einav. Take that world of caves and sand. I will have Earth!"

Then the brief moment of respite ended, and Earth mounted its counterattack.

Even now, even after ten devastating plagues, even with the bulk of its army gone … Earth was swinging back. And swinging hard. After all, this was the planet that had survived the Alien Wars. Earth would not go down without a fight.

Earth's starfighters screamed down from space. A few surviving airfields raised fighter jets. Countless military bases fired artillery into the sky.

Lailani had hit them hard. She had knocked the Earthlings to their knees, yes. But she had not knocked them out. They were still raring for a fight.

Very well. She had thousands of starships and podships. She had millions of centipedes on the surface. She had thirty thousand bloodthirsty, vicious starlings, each one worth a hundred Earthling soldiers.

The opening ceremony was over. Let the games begin!

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

While the Abaddonian armada was pounding Earth, the bulk of Earth's military was five hundred light-years away. The massive Earthling fleet, with its carriers and warships and millions of marines, was orbiting Abaddon. An abandoned planet.

The news had just arrived. A cargo company, stationed on Earth's moon, had called via wormhole.

"It's Earth!" came the voice from the moon. "Oh God, the whole planet. The whole planet is under attack! We can't reach them. We see the fires. Oh God. Come back. Come back fast. I—" The caller gasped. "They're here! Oh God, they're at the moon too! The scummers are coming in, help, he—"

Then the call had died.

Like Earth, the moon went dark.

Ben-Ari and her fleet remained here at Abaddon. Light-centuries away.

Marco stood on the bridge of the Sol Invictus. He wore a brigadier's uniform. He served in a massive military. And he had never felt more helpless.

Earth—under attack. Earth—down on its knees.

Himself—too far to help.

"Even flying at top speed, we're two weeks from home," he said grimly.

The bridge crew stood at their control panels, pale, shaken. They had all heard the call from the moon. They all turned toward their president, who stood at the front of the bridge.

Marco had never seen Ben-Ari look so furious.

She did not shout. Did not shake her fists. Did not rant and rail. She just stood very quietly, very still, staring out into space. Her face was granite, as pitiless as the void of space. Her eyes were black holes, but deep inside them burned supernovae of fury.

Marco approached her, almost hesitant. He felt like he was approaching an unstoppable, unquenchable force that would burn him.

She spun toward him. He took a step back, shocked at what he saw. At the raging inferno in her eyes. At the terror that lurked behind the rage, a dark cold ocean beyond the surging tidal wave.

"We will fly back to Earth at once," Ben-Ari said. "For two weeks, the home front will fight courageously. In two weeks, we'll liberate our planet."

"Wait," Marco said.

Her eyes flashed. For a second Ben-Ari looked almost demonic.

She's about to snap, Marco thought. At this time, I must be her anchor. Her voice of reason.

"Einav," he said softly. "In two weeks it might be too late. If Lailani can take over Iron Sphere by then …"

Ben-Ari's eye twitched. "Then it will be too late. She who controls Iron Sphere controls Earth. Even our fleet can't blast its way past that defense system." Her voice rose, strained, close to shouting. "How the hell did she get past Iron Sphere?"

Across the bridge, officers glanced around. Nervous. Not just about Earth but about their president. Even Addy was quiet, her face pale, perhaps as afraid of the president's wrath as of Lailani.

Marco had never seen Ben-Ari like this.

"We can figure this out, Einav," he said. "We can find out what she did. And then we'll know how to fight her. Look. Even if—"

"There's no time!" Ben-Ari said.

"Just listen. Please, Einav. A minute. Just listen." She nodded, and Marco continued. "Somehow Lailani hopped her fleet from here to Earth. She didn't travel by warp drive. Our deep sensors would detect the bend in spacetime. And she left recently. There are fresh energy residues in orbit, corresponding to her starship's engines. There are fresh centipede tracks on the surface of Abaddon, leading into podships. The sandstorms blow the tracks away every night. Lailani and her troops were here on Abaddon this morning. Somehow she traveled from here to Earth within a single day. Maybe, judging by how fresh the tracks look, within a single hour."

"Impossible!" Ben-Ari said. "Even with the fastest warp drives, even with the greatest engines known to humans or scum, it's a two-week flight. She couldn't have flown to Earth in one day."

"The evidence cannot be denied," Marco said. "Lailani, her starships, her troops—they were on Abaddon this morning."

"How could this be?" Ben-Ari frowned, tapped her chin, and widened her eyes. "There's gotta be a wormhole here. A secret wormhole! One that's not on the maps. If we can find that wormhole—we can reach Earth instantly. We can defeat Lailani before she entrenches herself."

Marco nodded. "Exactly. Lailani will need time to dig down. Taking over Iron Sphere is a big job. Lailani is probably counting on us flying over with our warp drives. She thinks she has two weeks until we arrive. But if we can find that secret wormhole, if we can hop to Earth like she did—we'll knock her down on her ass."

* * * * *

The search for the wormhole began.

They didn't have much time.

"Come on, you wormy bastard," Ben-Ari whispered, staring out the Sol Invictus viewport. "Where are you?"

Antares star system, where Abaddon was located, was gargantuan. Much larger than the solar system back home. There was a lot of vast emptiness to search. And for all they knew, Lailani's wormhole wasn't even in this system. Perhaps she had flown a light-year or two away and hopped from there. That possibility enormously expanded the area to search.

Antares was a binary star system. Ben-Ari now flew the Sol Invictus toward the smaller star, which was called Scorpii B. It shone in the distance, and several lifeless planets orbited it. Could the energy from this second star be masking Lailani's wormhole?

Meanwhile, the rest of her fleet was combing the system. The fleet had splintered into a hundred units, a handful of starships in each. Every unit was exploring another area in the system. Even so, all working together, they barely covered one percent of the area to search.

It could take days. Maybe months. Maybe years.

Dammit! Ben-Ari needed that wormhole now.

"How could there be a wormhole not on the maps?" she muttered. "The Tree of Light is an ancient network. A million years old. The map of its wormholes dates back hundreds of thousands of years. Could there have been a missing station all this time?"

Marco stood beside her on the bridge. He faced a holographic screen, scanning lines of data pouring in from the sensors. They were trying to find anomalies in the tug of spacetime. A bending of light, a nudge of unexplained gravity on a nearby object, an unexpected magnetic field—any of those could point to a wormhole. So far—nothing.

Marco turned toward Ben-Ari. His face was haggard. Bags hung under his eyes. Neither of them was sleeping much lately. They had both stayed up late last night, long after Addy and everyone else had fallen asleep. They had pored over the data, drinking coffee while music played across the bridge. At first she had played Puccini, but when Marco started to drift off, they switched to some classic hard rock, which woke them up more than the coffee.

A few times last night became awkward. Ben-Ari flushed at the memory.

That time when their fingers touched over a console.

That time when Ben-Ari began to nod off, and Marco gave her a playful shove.

That time she looked up from a monitor, caught Marco staring at her. How he had looked away hurriedly.

That time he looked so tired that she began to rub his shoulders, then quickly pulled her hands away, feeling that she had crossed some boundary, had gone too far.

And … there was that older memory. The one from a few weeks ago.

Ben-Ari's cheeks burned hotter to remember that night.

It happened on their earlier trip to Abaddon. Not with a battle fleet like now. But just the two of them in one starship. No army. No Addy. Just them. That disastrous journey to negotiate with Lailani. The trip that ended with Tala stowing away on their shuttle.

Oh, that trip had certainly been awkward.

Ben-Ari remembered that one night. Falling asleep with Marco on the same bed.

They had fallen asleep holding hands. They had woken up embraced.

Yes, her cheeks were definitely blushing now. She could feel the heat.

They had not done anything that night, of course. Nothing inappropriate. They were best friends! That was all. They had been afraid and alone in space. The nights had seemed so long and lonely. Noah had just left her. And Addy, at the time, had been back on Earth, tending to the kids, hundreds of light-years away.

And besides—nothing happened! Just a hug, really.

Why did she still feel guilty about that night? They had done nothing wrong. No sex. No kisses. No romance. No stroking of the hair or caresses of the body. Just two scared friends. Terrified in the dark. Holding each other for comfort. Falling asleep side by side. Keeping each other warm all night.

Platonic. And yet … guilt filled Ben-Ari.

Whenever she was alone with Marco, she remembered that night. She thought he did too. Sometimes, when he glanced at her, Ben-Ari knew that he was remembering it too.

That night would never repeat itself, Ben-Ari vowed. First of all, Addy was now with them. Asleep in her cabin, yes, but still on the same starship. And besides, even if Addy were in another galaxy, Ben-Ari would not betray her friend. Ever.

She pulled herself back to the present moment, to the bridge of the Sol Invictus. She looked at Marco. At his weary but kind face. His wise eyes. He was poring over the data from the Antares system, desperate to find the wormhole, but still exuded calm strength.

I can't deny my feelings any longer, she thought. Yes, I have some feelings for you, Marco. And they've been growing since Noah and I split up. But Addy is my best friend. And I can't hurt her. That night between us must never happen again.

"Anything yet?" she asked him.

Marco shook his head. "Nothing. But we've only begun the search."

Ben-Ari pursed her lips. "What if … what if there isn't another wormhole in this system? What if Lailani somehow learned to build her own wormhole?"

Marco considered for a moment. "Unlikely."

"We can build wormholes," Ben-Ari said. "That's how we talk to Earth. Sure, our wormholes don't last a million years like the ancient ones. But a wormhole would only need to last a few hours for Lailani's fleet to fly through."

"The wormholes we create—the ones your husband invented—are only a few atoms wide," Marco reminded her. "To create a wormhole large enough for a starship to fly through? There isn't enough energy in the galaxy. God knows how the Ancients figured it out."

My husband.

Yes, technically Noah Isaac—the inventor of the famous Isaac Wormholes—was her husband. The divorce was not yet finalized. But they lived apart. Estranged. Lovers who had become enemies.

"I mean …," Marco began, realizing what he had said.

"So there's got to be an ancient wormhole here," Ben-Ari said, steering the conversation back to topic. "Let's keep searching. But not for long. If we can't find this wormhole by noon, we're flying to Earth with warp drive."

Marco winced. "A two-week flight? God knows what mischief Lailani would cause in two weeks. She might take control of Iron Sphere by then. How would we liberate Earth then?"

"We have no choice," Ben-Ari said. "If we must fly the long way, we better start sooner rather than later. But we have until noon. Let's keep going. Send out another probe."

The Invictus launched yet another probe. They were running low. The round robot flew into the distance, scanning all in its path. It would eventually enter orbit around Scorpii B and keep streaming data.

Ben-Ari knew she could not wait for all the data to come in. It better pick up something fast.

"Launch another probe," she said. "The other direction."

Across the binary system, her ships were searching, her probes were probing. Ben-Ari tapped her comlink, demanded updates. Nothing. Nobody had found anything.

I shouldn't be here, Ben-Ari thought. I should be flying back to Earth.

She checked her clock. Eleven in the morning.

One more hour, and I fly.

* * * * *

An hour went by.

They gathered in Ben-Ari's situation room aboard the Sol Invictus.

Eight starfighter carriers flew in the fleet. Their commanders all attended the meeting aboard the Sol Invictus. Their science officers came with them, along with dozens of astrophysicists from the smaller ships.

General Horatio Hill was here too, the Human Defense Force's chief of staff. The most senior officer in the army, he answered directly to the president. Einav Ben-Ari was unique among presidents, never hiring a secretary of defense. She took the job on herself, working directly with the military.

She had appointed Hill three years ago. He had fought in all Earth's wars over the past forty years. Originally a starfighter pilot, he had risen to admiral, the high commander of the fleet, and finally to command the entire HDF. He was a gruff man, his face like a craggy cliff. Three phoenixes shone on each of his shoulders; he was the only officer in the Human Defense Force who could wear this insignia.

"Time is up," Ben-Ari told the crowd. "What have we found?"

The scientists spoke. They found a few anomalies here and there. A burst or gamma radiation coming from outside the system. A tug of gravity on Scorpii B, though that could possibly be a hidden planet. Gravitational waves that seemed to be coming from many light-years away, though they were worth investigating more. A strange pattern to a nearby asteroid belt, possibly the result of a heavy object flying by, tugging the asteroids with its gravity. Probably just a large asteroid or dwarf planet, but it didn't hurt to take a look.

Finally Ben-Ari cut them off. "So we haven't found a wormhole."

The scientists glanced at one another. Finally they were all forced to agree. "No."

One scientist peeped up. "But we have leads!"

"Leads," Ben-Ari said dryly. "Earth is under siege. And you bring me leads. That's simply not good enough. I need that wormhole—now!"

They all stared at her silently.

She looked at Marco across the crowd. He looked back. His presence calmed her.

Be cool, Einav, she told herself. This isn't you. You're not hysterical. You will remain in control. You will not panic.

She thought of her son on Earth. She needed to save him.

Lailani blames me for taking Tala away. She'll try to hurt Carl.

She took a deep breath.

Stay calm. Stay in control.

Ben-Ari spoke again. "Here's the plan. The fleet will split in two. Six of our carriers, along with their accompanying strike force warships, will begin the flight to Earth. We'll fly the old way. Warp engines. In two weeks, we'll arrive at Earth and rejoin the fight. Meanwhile, two carrier strike forces will remain here at Abaddon, where they will continue the search for the wormhole."

"So it's a race to Earth," Marco said. "Whoever gets there first joins the battle."

Ben-Ari nodded. "Yes. My hope is that the two remaining carriers find the wormhole. Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe even in a week. When you find it—you jump to Earth! You fight! Brigadier Emery, you'll remain here and oversee the search."

Marco saluted. "Yes, Madam President."

Addy stood up and saluted. "I'll stay too, Madam President, if that's all right."

Ben-Ari looked at her friend. At the tall, blond Canadian who had fought at her side for so many years. And she felt that guilt again.

Ben-Ari vowed to herself: I will never think of Marco inappropriately again. I will never betray Addy. Ever.

"Yes," Ben-Ari said, smiling softly. "Yes, Addy. Stay with him."

Addy nodded. "I'll take good care of him, Madam President."

"Meanwhile, I'll lead six carriers into warped space," Ben-Ari said. "At least we can get a head start. Brigadier Emery, I want you to search for three days. Three days only. If you find no wormhole by then, you begin to fly to Earth the old-fashioned way. In that case, you'll get there three days after me, and you'll join the fight then." Her voice softened. "But I pray you find that wormhole. That you can jump to Earth and beat me there. Earth needs help as soon as possible."

"Understood, Madam President," Marco said. "If the wormhole is here, we'll find it. If not—well, hold on for three days without us. And we'll be there with all guns blazing."

Ben-Ari looked across the meeting room. "This is not an easy situation. Earth is under attack. Earth is fallen. We are the bulk of the Human Defense Force, and we can't help. Do not forget your duty. Do not lose your courage. We're late to the war. We were drawn into the mud and left stranded. But once we arrive at the battlefield, the tide will turn. Earth will be free again. We will initiate the fleet split now. Godspeed, officers of Earth."

Moments later, the Sol Invictus was racing at warp speed. The stars spread in lines around her. Hundreds of other warships—six entire strike forces—flew behind. Ben-Ari stood on the bridge, staring ahead at that distant star. At Sol. So far, yet so clear and bright she imagined she could reach out and pluck it.

Only a century ago, traveling five light-centuries in a fortnight seemed like science fiction. Hell, a century or two before that, you couldn't cross the Atlantic in two weeks. Today it seemed agonizingly slow. Every moment that she tarried, people were dying. Lailani was digging down. And Carl was in danger.

"I'm coming, Earth," Ben-Ari whispered to the distant sun. "I'm coming, Carl. I'll be home soon."

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Lailani raised her claws into the air.

"Centipedes!" she howled.

Behind her, they reared. A million centipedes, shrieking, claws rising. They spread across the frozen plains of Russia.

Lailani stood on a hilltop, gazing upon them. A grin spread across her face. The snowy wind billowed her hair, and ice frosted her armor. She drew four swords, one in each hand, and an obsidian crown gleamed on her head.

"Queen, queen, queen!" the centipedes cried in their language of grunts and clicks.

Russian fighter jets roared above. Bombs fell. Centipedes tore apart. Chunks of exoskeletons, claws, and antennae flew through the air.

Instants later, Abaddon returned fire. Podships rolled across the sky, showering the Russian fighter jets with acid. Planes melted. They crashed into lines of centipedes, all molten metal fused with the flesh of dead pilots. They burned on the battlefield.

The Russians kept fighting. Their planes were down. But they were not giving up.

From the distance, the Russian artillery boomed. Tank divisions rolled across the tundra, waving the Russian flag. Their speakers blasted war songs, and their cannons fired. Shells slammed into Abaddon's army. Centipedes flew into the air, torn apart, and their segments pattered down onto the living.

Thousands of scum were dying. Every moment—thousands more perished under the artillery inferno.

So what?

Lailani had millions of them. They were devouring the world.

"Centipedes—charge!" she roared and sliced the air with her four swords.

They charged.

Lailani pulled on her helmet, spun toward the city, and charged with them. She bounded at their lead, rising ten feet high with every leap.

The city sprawled before them. Moscow. One of the largest cities in the world. Home to over twenty million people.

Napoleon had tried to conquer this city. He had found it abandoned and burning. The Russians had evacuated Moscow and set it ablaze, a death trap to Napoleon's troops. The Man-Eater from Corsica, as the press called the little conqueror, had marched across the vast Russian plains with a massive army, only to find desolation and despair. Lailani had learned from him. She had done the same thing on Abaddon, turning the tunnels into a death trap. She had caught Ben-Ari in the same snare.

Hitler had tried to conquer Moscow too. He too had failed. He had crashed against great walls of resistance at Leningrad and Stalingrad. Millions of German troops perished in the Soviet winter. Tens of millions of Russians gave their lives to stop the Nazi tide. At the time, the war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union became the bloodiest conflict in human history.

The gruesome record remained until 2093. The Cataclysm. The first great scum invasion of Earth. Lailani had not yet been born. That was seventy-two years ago. But she knew the history.

Back in the Cataclysm, the centipedes had tried to conquer Moscow too. During the first Scum War, they gave it a try. In that initial assault of 2093, the scum had conquered nearly every city on Earth. But not Moscow. Moscow stood. Moscow raised the flag of rebellion against the invaders.

In 2150, the marauders attacked Moscow too. The giant spiders thought they could accomplish what the centipedes could not. But the Russians drove out the marauders too—with artillery, with tanks, with guns, with their own blood.

The grays, the cyborgs—they also tried. None could keep this city.

Throughout history, enemies tried to capture this prize. Men and aliens alike. They all failed.

Lailani vowed to succeed.

She would do the impossible. She would conquer an unconquerable city. If Moscow fell—all of Earth would follow.

"To victory!" she cried. "For Abaddon! Abaddon!"

* * * * *

They swarmed. Lailani and millions of centipedes. Scum, the humans called them. To her they were friends. Soldiers. Warriors of Abaddon.

The enemy's cannons boomed. Thousands of shells arched across the sky, then swooped from the snowy clouds like birds of prey. They slammed into the army. Explosions rocked the Russian plains. Centipede segments flew every which way. Fires blazed. Smoke filled the air. Craters tore through the frozen soil.

Lailani kept running, howling.

"Onward, warriors! For Abaddon!"

She leaped from side to side, zigzagging between the falling shells. Explosions bloomed around her like fiery poppies in the snow. A few were so close the shock wave knocked her down, but Lailani rose every time and kept running. Shrapnel pounded her, sparking against her graphene armor. That armor was perhaps as thin as cotton, but it was stronger than diamonds. She kept charging.

Above them, the air forces battled. The Russian jets and scum podships clashed. Acid spurted. Missiles flew. Every moment another vessel exploded above, raining metal and blood. Below, the ground troops kept swarming toward the city. They ran through artillery fire. Through the shells of tanks and the rattling of machine guns. Nothing would stop them.

A cry rose from the right flank.

"For freedom!"

Lailani turned her head. She saw Macintosh running down an eastern hill, leading her own centipede division. The Scot rode a robotic horse, her red hair streaming in the snowy wind. Myriads of centipedes flowed downhill behind her like oozing lava.

Another cry sounded from the west.

"For starlings!"

Lailani turned her head, and her heart swelled. Kai was charging there. Her beloved Kai. He was riding a motorcycle, holding high the banner of Abaddon. The flag unfurled, displaying five red claws on a black field. Behind him scuttled thousands of centipedes. They raced through the inferno of raining death.

Lailani had never loved her husband more. Lately, things had been difficult between them. Kai had been withdrawn. Pensive. Sometimes she thought he had fallen out of love. But now he roared for starling freedom. There was the man she married!

Soon we'll be a family again, Lailani thought. We'll find Tala in the ruins of this planet. And we'll be together. A real family.

Then she reached Moscow, and war roared over her.

* * * * *

Tanks surrounded Moscow. Thousands of tanks. Their cannons all boomed.

One warhead came flying directly at Lailani. As she ran, she knelt and slid forward on her knees through the snow. The shell streaked overhead and exploded behind her. She leaped high, rising over several other shells, then swooped toward the line of tanks.

She landed on one tank, ripped the hatch off like a Band-Aid, and reached inside.

Soldiers screamed. They fired pistols. Lailani's armor absorbed the assault. She gripped one soldier by the head, pulled him from the tank, and tore him apart. As the soldier collapsed, she grabbed a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin, and dropped it into the tank.

She leaped.

She was soaring as the tank exploded.

She vaulted over barbed wire and sandbags and into the city.

She landed among hundreds of Russian troops. She stood before them, arms covered in blood, and gave them a crooked smile.

"Hello, boys."

They fired their assault rifles. But Lailani leaped from soldier to soldier. From wall to wall. She rebounded off statues, balconies, bridges. She kept soaring and swooping. With four hands, she wielded four katanas. She sliced into soldiers. She decapitated, deformed. They kept firing, but with Lailani bouncing around, they fired on one another. Bodies piled up. Lailani laughed as she killed. She gave herself to her centipede rage. If there was any human left in her, that human faded to a deep wet pulse behind her heart.

Armored troop carriers came rumbling down the street. A hundred or more, each larger than a tank. Machine guns roared. Lailani stared for a moment, gasping. Even her armor would not withstand the assault of a hundred roaring machine guns.

And then the centipedes swarmed into the city.

Countless centipedes flowed forth, rustling over the soldiers, the ruins, then climbing the armored carriers like ants over beetles.

The machine guns roared. They pounded the centipedes. They killed many. But millions more came pouring into the city.

Lailani ran toward a cathedral, and she climbed. She clambered over gargoyles and buttresses, making her way to the teardrop dome on the top. She finally rose to the crest of the church steeple. From here, she gazed upon Moscow.

The centipedes surrounded the cathedral, an ocean around an island. More kept swarming into the city. Over bridges. Along highways. They tore down the barricades. They raced down the streets. They were everywhere. And the Russian army kept falling back. Kept dying. Above in the sky, the air forces boomed and thunder shook the city.

Several podships made it past the Russian jets. They floated over the city like bloated jellyfish. Vents bloomed on their organic bodies, spilling acid. Rivers of acid. Acid that flowed over infantry battalions, that melted towers and statues and tanks. Fire spread. Rooftops blazed. Snow turned to water, then steam, as Moscow burned.

But the Russians were tough. Lailani, who had followed Ben-Ari to battle many times, had thought the Israelis the toughest warriors in the world, but the Russians were giving them a run for their money.

Even as their city burned, as so many died, the Russian troops did not flee. They charged into the lines of centipedes, guns booming. Lailani had ordered her centipedes not to harm the civilians. But many civilians emerged to fight too. Whenever a soldier fell, a civilian lifted his gun and fought. Widows fired the guns of their fallen husbands. Children fired the guns of their fallen mothers. And the centipedes kept swarming. Kept killing. The bodies piled up. The Russian spirit never broke.

Podships descended from above, floated over the city streets, and cracked open. Thousands of centipedes spilled onto streets, squares, towers, cathedrals. Thousands of them died. The artillery tore them apart, but more kept coming. With sheer numbers and overwhelming power, they devoured the city.

The aliens scurried into the subway system, an ancient labyrinth as grand as a palace. Frescoes covered the walls, archways loomed, columns lined the tunnels, and chandeliers glowed. Battalions of city defenders stood among this splendor, raising their guns as the aliens swarmed.

Claws clattering, the centipedes raced from tunnel to tunnel, consuming all in their path. The Moscow underground was fabled, but the centipedes were creatures of the underground. This was their natural habitat. The enemy fell before them, and bodies covered the tracks.

Lailani saw it all. She controlled the centipedes in the tunnels. The scum on the streets. The podships above. The army had become a single lifeform. A blob. One organism. She wrapped around the city with her tendrils and crushed it.

Napoleon and Hitler had spent months trying to conquer this place. Lailani captured Moscow in twenty-one hours.

By dawn, it was over.

Across Earth, the war still raged. They were fighting in every city on every continent. The war would likely rage for many more days. But this day, this dawn, Lailani celebrated a great victory.

She marched down Tverskaya Street, Moscow's main boulevard, a small smile on her face. She wore her skintight graphene armor and heavy boots, but she removed her helmet, allowing her hair to stream in the wind. In three hands she held blades. In the fourth she raised the flag of Abaddon.

Corpses lined the roadsides. Mountains of bodies—the city's defenders, burned and lacerated. A few children peeked from behind the piles of bodies, then fled. Elders peered from windows, then hid behind the curtains. Lailani marched on, her smile growing. Blood flowed down the street, speckled with snow.

Two starlings walked behind her. Macintosh and Kai. They carried flags too. The banners billowed in the wind, revealing the Starling Claws.

Behind the three starlings came the centipedes. Millions of them. Their claws pattered in perfect unison. They marched like ants in orderly lines. The podships hovered above, bloated and obese, ready to fire on any survivor who dared attack Lailani's victory march.

Nobody dared. The city was beaten. And they knew it.

And Einav Ben-Ari, along with her mighty army, was still hundreds of light-years away.

By the time you get here, dear Einav, this planet will be mine. And so will you!

By noon, Lailani reached the Kremlin. It was a fortress within the city. Ancient stone walls surrounded it. A few Russian troops stood on the walls, still determined to fight. Their gunfire rattled. A bullet slammed into Lailani's chest, but the armor protected her.

She thrust out her four arms, and four lines of centipedes raced over the walls. The defenders fell, their last gunshots echoing in the cold morning. Their corpses thumped onto the snow, and steam rose from their wounds like souls rising to heaven.

Lailani led the march into the Kremlin. Saint Basil's Cathedral rose from mist, its teardrop roofs frosted with snow. A lone wounded soldier lay in the Red Square, clutching his wounded stomach. A few unhurt soldiers tossed down their guns and raised their hands. Lailani let them live. She was not a murderer, after all.

An enormous cannon caught her eye. This was no modern gun. It was an antique, a beautiful work of art, its bore engraved with meticulous designs. The cannon was the size of a house, large enough for a modern starship.

A plaque identified it as the Tsar Cannon, cast in bronze in 1586. According to the plaque, it was the largest cannon in the world until the twenty-first century and the age of space warfare. Well, no king ruled forever. The cannon's time had come and gone. Same as this city.

Lailani climbed onto the Tsar Cannon and stood on its bore. From up here, she addressed her army. The centipedes and starling soldiers filled the Red Square.

"Today we took Moscow!" Lailani cried. "Tomorrow—the world!"

Her army roared for victory. Across the world, the blood was still spilling. Lailani saw it through the hive. She tasted it. She grinned and licked her lips.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The kids were hunkered down in the cabin when the sky blazed white and the world ended.

Five of them were here, hiding in the northern forest. They all knew the enemy was after them. So here they hid, deep in the wilderness. They would hide until their parents came home from war.

Terri Emery was the oldest. At eighteen, she was practically an adult. She didn't look much like Marco, her father. Marco had brown eyes and hair. But Terri had red hair like her mother, and her eyes were blue—both the real eye and the bionic one. A scar rifted her freckled face, the gift of a boy's knife long ago. It did not mar her beauty. Terri had grown into a striking young woman, tall and somber. It was that solemnity, that dignity, that reminded people of Marco.

Tala de la Rosa was only a few weeks younger. She was a petite girl, her skin olive-toned, her eyes dark and full of secrets. They all knew who her mother was. Lailani, Queen of Abaddon. They all knew Lailani's monsters were after them. The centipedes were hunting them across the galaxy. If the aliens found this cabin, they would drag Tala back to captivity. They would kill the others.

The two girls had not seen each other in a long time. Time had passed especially slowly for Tala, who had spent so long on Abaddon. For Tala, due to time dilation, it had been years. But the pair had quickly rebuilt their friendship. Tala and Terri had always been good friends. The years had not changed that. Time dilation had shrunk the age difference between them, bringing them even closer together. They now sat by the cabin window, peering outside into the forest, always on guard.

Meanwhile, Roza and Sam sat by the fireplace. The twins were playing chess. Every day, they looked more like Addy, their mother. The firelight painted their blond hair a strawberry color. Sam was chewing his lip and studying the board. Finally he made a move, bringing his rook forward. Roza, who was fiery like her mother, roared and overturned the board. Sam shouted in dismay, Roza cried that he was cheating, and they came close to blows.

Carl Ben-Ari stepped forward to separate them. The president's son was nine, same age as the twins, but shorter. He looked a lot like his father, the celebrated professor Noah Isaac. He had the same dark hair, reflective eyes, and quiet wisdom. But his strength and courage—those all belonged to Einav Ben-Ari, his famous mother. He calmed down the twins, and soon order was restored. Carl often acted as peacemaker, accepting his role in the group with quiet dignity.

There was only one adult in the cabin. Noah was here, watching them. The professor was used to the warm climate of Jerusalem, where he taught at the Hebrew University. Here in northern Canada, he wore several layers of clothes and kept close to the fireplace. He was busy writing in his journal, occasionally looking up at the kids. He watched as Carl restored calm, ready to leap in if necessary, preferring to let his son do the work. Finally Noah nodded in satisfaction and returned to his journal.

They were all hiding here for the same reason.

They all knew the terrible truth.

Lailani was hunting them.

She wants me back, Tala thought. She wants to drag me kicking and screaming to Abaddon. And she will kill my friends. My mom thinks that Uncle Marco and Auntie Einav kidnapped me. To get back at them—she will kill their kids. My best friends. Tala tightened her lips and clenched her fists. I won't let her!

Tala still had Tsukuyomi, her beloved katana. She had grown up with this sword. Had trained for years with this sword. It hung across her back, its blade forged from folded steel, its hilt carved from a sandbeast horn, smoothed down and wrapped in blue silk. The weapon's familiar weight comforted her.

Terri, meanwhile, had a hunting rifle slung across her back. Tala gazed at the weapon. Just a hunting rifle, meant for deer, not aliens. Would it be enough? Would any of their weapons help against scum?

Terri noticed her staring at the rifle. She patted the wooden stock and smiled sadly. "I never actually went hunting. I'm vegetarian. But Addy insisted I learn how to shoot. When I was a kid, we spent hours together out in the field. Addy would line up cans on a fence, and I'd shoot them. I'm a good shot." She winked. "Having a bionic eye helps."

"My mom taught me blades," Tala said. "She always said that a great warrior must learn to kill up close before she learns to kill from a distance." She patted the pistol that hung from her hip. "I carry a gun too. Just in case. I've seen Indiana Jones too many times. But when I can, I use my sword."

"If I wielded a sword in battle, I'd probably end up decapitating myself," Terri said.

"It's actually damn hard to decapitate a person," Tala said. "It's not as easy as in the movies."

"Oh, I'd manage chopping my own head off," Terri said. "I'm talented that way."

Tala laughed. "You're just being humble. You survived the goddamn Cyborg War and that psychopath Corvin. You are one badass bitch, Terri Emery."

"Takes one to know one."

Tala smiled. Though they were in hiding, though the galaxy was burning, this felt good. Tala had not been so happy in years. She had run away from her mother, and a part of her still missed Lailani. But this was a good place. This was a family. In this cabin, with her friends, Tala was happier than she had ever been. Maybe it was her first time being happy period.

"I spent much of my childhood fleeing the cyborgs through the wilderness," Tala said softly. "I spent my youth on an alien planet, raised to fight Earth. I hope that when this is all over, we can just be normal people. No guns, no swords. Just friends."

"Hey, I want a sword!" Roza said, racing up toward them.

"You're too young," Tala said. "You're only nine."

Roza snorted. "I'm already almost your height, and I'm tough and strong." She made a fist. "I'm a warrior like my mom."

"And like Dad," Sam said, joining them.

"Dad doesn't even like being a soldier," Roza countered. "He just likes writing books all day. But Addy Mom is a natural-born badass! And I am too."

"Where'd you learn to talk like that?" Tala asked.

"My mom," Roza said. "She curses a lot."

Terri stood up. "All right, kids, it's nine o'clock. Time for bed."

The twins groaned.

"We're not tired," Roza said.

"Yeah, Addy Mom lets us stay up till midnight," Sam said.

Terri placed her hands on her hips. "Addy Mom does not let you stay up that late. Go on, go on, brush your teeth, into pajamas, time for bed."

Roza raised her chin defiantly. "What about Carl? He's little too."

"Yeah!" Sam said. "He's only nine like us."

"Carl isn't my responsibility," Terri replied. "You two are."

The three of them shared a father. But not a mother. Terri's own mother was dead. Around home, for a while, they would say things like "our mom" or "your mom" or "my step-mother" which got awkward. Now they all just called Addy their "Addy Mom." It worked for all three kids. Marco, meanwhile, was just "Dad."

Carl looked up from the book he was reading. The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. "I'll go to bed after one more chapter."

"So we'll go to bed after one more wrestling match!" Roza cried and leaped onto her twin brother. Sam growled and began wrestling her across the floor.

Tala watched them from her seat by the window. And she envied them. They had a family. A loving family. Not a family without complications or drama or a painful history, no. But a loving family nonetheless.

Which is more than I have, Tala thought. I never knew my father. And my mother became a monster. Maybe someday this can be my family too. Maybe one of the adults will adopt me. I would be so honored to be a Linden-Emery. Or a Ben-Ari like Carl. Anything but who I am.

It was then that Tala heard the pattering outside the cabin.

* * * * *

Pat. Pat. Pat.

A rustle.

A hiss.

They were faint sounds. And the twins were still wrestling—loudly. But Tala had trained for years to detect the faintest hint of threat.

She heard the rustling. The pattering. A presence outside the cabin.

Her instincts, honed in the desert, screamed out. This is a threat!

Tala rose to her feet, graceful like a desert crane. She drew her katana—the blade was as silent as silk—and stared out the window.

The others noticed. Terri froze and reached for her rifle. The twins, for all their bravado, took a step back, joining Carl by the fireplace. Noah put down his journal and rose from his chair. The kindly scientist wore a pistol on his hip. He reached for the weapon but did draw it.

"What is it, Tala?" Noah said. For hours, the professor had been lost in his journal, only mumbling to himself. Now he was alert like a soldier.

They were all silent for a moment, listening. Tala heard the sounds of the forest. Creaking branches. Rustling leaves. The distant howl of a wolf. It was too dark to see much. A lamp hung on the fence a few yards away, shining like a single beacon in a black sea. The light was only bright enough to illuminate a few nearby birches.

"I heard something," Tala whispered.

"Just the creaking branches," Terri whispered back, but she was pale.

Tala shook her head. "Not branches. It was a familiar sound. Claws."

They all tensed. Noah drew his gun. Terri, one step ahead, pulled back her rifle's cocking handle. The click was surprisingly loud in the cabin. So loud that Tala winced, and the twins glanced at each other. For a moment nobody dared breathe.

And then it came.

It leaped from the dark forest toward the window. A centipede. A massive centipede the size of a crocodile, claws flaring, jaws open wide in a roar.

Terri screamed and opened fire.

Her bullet shattered the window. Glass shards exploded outward. And then the centipede was scurrying into the house, shrieking, claws slashing the air.

The younger children screamed and fell back. Even Noah stumbled, and his back hit the wall. The professor managed to fire his pistol, but the bullets didn't faze the beast. They just bounced off its exoskeleton and slammed into the cabin walls.

The scum advanced toward the professor, perhaps thinking him the biggest threat. The alien's claws tore through the fur rug. Noah emptied his magazine for all the good it did. The bullets just ricocheted. The scum kept advancing.

Noah stood with his back to the wall, trapped. He tossed his journals at the alien, aiming at the eyes, perhaps trying to blind it. The creature made a clacking sound that sounded almost like laughter.

Terri managed to steady herself, to fire her rifle again. Her gun was more powerful than the professor's little pistol. Her bullet dented the alien's exoskeleton, drawing an enraged roar.

"Hey, scum, over here!" Terri shouted.

The centipede turned away from the professor, bellowing with rage.

When the beast leaped toward her, Terri opened fire on automatic.

Her bullets ricocheted off the centipede and pounded the log walls. Bullets perforated the wall just above Carl's head. The boy gasped and ducked.

"Hold your fire, you'll kill someone!" Tala shouted.

The centipede spun toward Tala instead, hissing. Its antennae twitched, producing a voice. "Ah, there you are … Tala … the one I seek …"

Tala leaped toward the alien. She raised her katana overhead, and the blade gleamed in the firelight. Then she swooped, bringing the blade down hard and fast.

The centipede reared, mandibles open wide, prepared to bite.

It never got the chance.

Tala slammed her katana into the open jaws like an axe into a log.

She cracked the alien's head open. The jaws, the entire head—they split in half like a ripe coconut.

Tala kept driving her blade deeper, cutting from head down to thorax, halving the creature. She unzipped the damn thing open. Its gooey innards spilled across the floor.

For a second, they all looked at one another. The younger kids hid behind Noah. Terri stood panting, her rifle in hand.

Tala tilted her head, perking up an ear.

She heard them. Claws. Many claws.

"There are more in the forest," she said. "Run!"

* * * * *

They ran through the forest, and the centipedes scurried in pursuit.

The aliens were everywhere. They raced across the ground. They hissed from the trees. They rose from the mud and streams with shrieks. They filled every shadow.

The humans ran through the forest. They had a truck outside the cabin. The scum had slashed the tires, ripped out the engine, and crawled into the cabin. So much for the truck.

So Tala and the others raced among the trees, seeking safety in the dark woods. They had flashlights, and their beams whooshed left and right, illuminating trees, boulders, and everywhere—claws and mandibles.

Tala led the way. The beasts came at her. She slashed her katana, driving them back. She hurled stones, snapping their antennae. But they were too many. The creatures filled the forest.

Noah ran behind her, firing his gun. He had loaded a fresh magazine, but soon that ran out too. Terri brought up the rear, blasting her rifle at the pursuing aliens. Soon she was down to her last magazine. And then she too was out of ammo.

It was all down to Tala's katana now. But even her blade, the legendary Tsukuyomi, would not hold an edge forever. Not with all the alien slashing she was doing.

"We can try to make it down to Highway 305," Noah said, panting as he ran. "A car might pull over, carry us to safety." He coughed, shoved his way through branches. "The maximum recorded velocity of a Scolopendra titania on Earth gravity is 120 kilometers per hour. With a fast car, we can—"

"We'll never make it!" Tala said. "The highway is still several kilometers away. Even if we get there, the scum will mob us before a car pulls over."

How Tala wished Marco, Addy, and Ben-Ari were here! Those three would not run from a fight. They could probably defeat an army of scum with nothing but sticks and stones. But those heroes were gone now, all the way at Abaddon, hundreds of light-years away. Tala was the only fighter in the group now. She would have to lead the others to safety.

"Out here in the forest we're dead!" Terri cried from the back of the group.

The younger children heard and wailed. Carl fell, banged his knee, but pushed himself up and kept running bravely, even as blood dripped down his shin.

"We have to find a place to hide," Tala said. "A cave or—"

A centipede dropped from the trees onto her.

The creature wrapped its claws around Tala. It was like one of those purple hairpins Roza sometimes used, with rows of plastic claws that gripped her hair. Now very real, very sharp claws coiled around Tala. The centipede's tail clung to a branch above. The alien began reeling her up.

Tala screamed, writhing in its grip. She could not lash her katana. Her arms were pinned to her sides.

The others shouted and began hurling rocks at the centipede. But it kept pulling Tala up into the canopy.

"Release me!" Tala demanded. "I am Tala de la Rosa, daughter of Lailani, Princess of Abaddon. I order you to release me!"

The centipede kept pulling her up into the tree canopy. "We have orders from our queen," it hissed, antennae twitching. "You must return for punishment. The others must die …"

Suddenly—a scream from the tree!

Roza and Sam came leaping from a branch!

Somehow the twins had managed to climb the trunk, race along a branch, and jump into action. Both held pocketknives. They landed on the centipede's head, clung on, and severed its antennae.

The beast roared and released Tala. She tumbled down to the forest floor. At once, she leaped up, thrust her katana upward, and impaled the beast. She drove her blade all the way down to the hilt, then pulled it back with a shower of blood.

The alien's body thumped onto the forest floor. The twins leaped down, bloody knives in their little hands.

"Keep running!" Tala said.

She could already hear more centipedes racing among the trees.

They ran on.

* * * * *

Centipedes had poor eyesight, no better than a snail's. They could see smudges, shadows, and blobs of light, not much else. After all, who needed good eyesight when you spent most of your time underground?

But they made up for that with other senses. They could detect the faintest vibrations with their antennae and claws. Whenever they tapped their claws against the ground, the vibrations painted a picture of their surroundings. They could sense their prey, the landscape, even individual leaves on trees. All from vibrations of sound, similar to sonar, but felt through their extremities rather than heard with the ears. The sense was so powerful they could even detect a prey's beating heart.

Tala had to find a place where they were blind.

"The river," she said. "Come with me."

She recognized this area. She had studied the forest before settling down in the cabin. Her mother had taught her well. Tala always scouted her surroundings for escape routes, natural defenses, and blind spots. So Tala knew that there was a river nearby. Not much more than a stream. But it might be enough.

She led the group there, carving her way forward. Another centipede raced from the shadows. She cut it down.

"There's more following!" Terri cried from the back of the line. "And I'm out of bullets."

"We're almost there!"

Finally Tala saw it in the night. A stream undulated between the trees. The Amazon River it wasn't. Centipedes weren't great swimmers, but they could probably handle this much water. The water looked barely knee-deep.

"Will we escape downriver?" Noah said.

"No. I'm looking for something." Tala swept her flashlight from side to side, ran along the bank, then nodded. "Here, hurry!"

She found it. She remembered seeing it during her scouting trips. A concrete culvert. People had constructed it many years ago, judging by the condition of the concrete. But the big pipe still served its purpose, redirecting the stream away from the cabins along the hillside and into a valley.

Tala beckoned urgently. "Get into the culvert!"

"What's a culvert?" the twins asked, speaking in unison.

"The concrete pipe full of water," Tala said. "Come on!"

"We'll be trapped," Noah warned.

"The scum won't see us in there. Hurry before they catch up."

They all squeezed into the concrete tunnel. It was so narrow they barely fit. The water flowed around them, and mud covered the bottom of the culvert. They lay on their backs, only their faces emerging from the water and mud, and turned off their flashlights.

They all fell silent.

Their hearts beat underwater. Tala was worried the sound would alert the centipedes. But the water kept flowing, gurgling, echoing in the tunnel—hopefully loud enough to mask the sounds of their hearts and breath.

For a moment nothing happened.

Then they heard sniffing outside. Scratching. Claws sloshed through mud, and then claws were pattering on top of the culvert. A screech sounded directly above, deafening. Inside the flooded culvert, the humans winced. The twins screwed their eyes shut with fear. A distant shriek answered. Then another cry sounded even farther out.

With a snort, the centipede above the culvert leaped off. The companions heard the alien racing into the distance, snorting and hissing. More alien cries joined it. Screeches filled the forest, but the sounds were growing fainter. The pack was moving farther away, hunting the humans downstream, leaving the culvert.

Tala dared sigh in relief.

They were safe—for now.

But she knew that Lailani would never stop the search. The centipedes would comb this planet until they found Tala.

"What do we do now?" Sam whispered, huddled in the mud, hugging his knees.

"We get more guns and go kill the scum!" Roza said. "Like Addy Mom would do."

"No," Tala said. "Not yet. Not you. You're too young, both of you. I can fight. But right now my duty is to keep you safe."

"Is there any safety left in the world?" Terri said softly.

"Not right now," Tala said. "But there will be. Marco, Addy, and Einav are coming home. The three great heroes of the Alien Wars." Suddenly her eyes were damp, and it wasn't the rushing river. "They were four once. Until my mom turned against them. But the three heroes who remain are coming home. They'll return to Earth with an army. And we'll be safe."

Roza wriggled closer. "Will … will my parents kill your mom?"

"I don't know," Tala said. And suddenly it was too much. And she began to cry. She had fought the scum with her katana all night, but now she trembled and wept.

Roza hugged her. Terri and the others joined the embrace. They all huddled in the dark tunnel, waiting for dawn.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

As Ben-Ari raced with her fleet toward Earth, and as the Earthlings fought the starling invasion, Marco was stuck in his starship at Abaddon, searching for a goddamn wormhole.

He wasn't making much progress.

Goddammit.

Two days had passed since the fleet had split in two. Ben-Ari had taken most of the starships with her. A full eighty percent of their force. She was now racing through the darkness at warp speed, flying to Earth.

Marco and Addy had remained here at Abaddon. They commanded twenty percent of the fleet. Even twenty percent was still a massive force. They had warships, infantry battalions, starfighters, tanks. With this force, they could change the tide of the war. They could deal Lailani a serious blow. Maybe even defeat her.

But only if they found that damn wormhole!

"Come on, come on, where are you?" Marco muttered, pouring over the data.

"Come on, you fucker," Addy mumbled. She was reviewing her own massive stream of data. "Where are you, Wormy?"

They were both desperate. To find that wormhole. To return to Earth. To join the fight.

And to protect their children.

Terri was watching the twins, who were half her age. She was an excellent babysitter. But that was before Lailani had attacked Earth. Now scum and scummers were streaming across the planet.

Lailani thinks I kidnapped her daughter, Marco thought. She'll try to hurt my kids. We have to get back. We have to find that wormhole.

Every line of data he scanned felt like another cut to his soul.

Still—nothing.

Not a sign of a wormhole. Not a clue.

How the hell did Lailani hop from here to Earth so quickly?

The HDF sensors were all over this star system. Hundreds of them, scanning every inch of the night sky. Marco had even sent sensors out to neighboring systems a few light-years away. The computers were busy scanning the data. But Marco and Addy couldn't help poring over the logs manually, hoping to find something. Some clue.

It reminded Marco of analyzing Corvin's videos, seeking clues to Terri's whereabouts. Back then, he had found a lot. Today—nothing. Back then, after all, he had only a single planet to search. Not an entire chunk of the galaxy.

"How did you do it, Lailani?" Marco muttered. "Somehow you hopped from Abaddon to Earth within an hour. And you took a fleet with you. You had a wormhole. You must have! A wormhole that's not on the maps. Where are you hiding it, Lailani?"

Could it be a new kind of wormhole? One that could be created, then collapsed? Marco had asked the physicists in the crew. They all agreed it was theoretically possible. But no such wormhole had ever been observed. Could Lailani have figured out how to build one? Did the starling scientists have secrets Earth did not? How would the starlings generate the massive energy required, and how would they hide the energy residue?

The clock was ticking.

Marco's deadline was almost up.

He had agreed to search for three days. And then, if he found nothing, to fly home the long way. In a few hours, he would have to call off the search, regroup the fleet, and fly home at warp speed.

He just hoped he wasn't too late. That by the time he returned to Earth, he didn't find a radioactive wasteland. And that his kids were still alive.

* * * * *

Faster.

She had to fly faster.

Ben-Ari stood on the bridge of the Sol Invictus, leaning forward as if her body's weight could lend the starship more speed.

Come on, faster!

Her fleet charged through the darkness. The Sol Invictus led the pack. Six starfighter carriers stormed behind her, massive starships, their decks over a thousand feet long. Frigates and destroyers surrounded them, smaller but deadly enough to devastate cities. It was a mighty fleet. A force that could win this war.

And they were so far from Earth.

They were stuck out here.

"Can you divert more power to the engines?" Ben-Ari asked her science officer.

The android shook her head. "Not without shutting down life support to the entire lower deck."

"So we'll get the marines up here," Ben-Ari said. "We'll have them sleep in the hallways. Will that let us fly faster?"

The android ran some calculations. Lines of code ran across her bionic eyeballs. "If we shut down life support to the lower deck, we can increase engine capacity by 3.7 percent. We'll reach Earth a day early."

Ben-Ari nodded. "We'll do it. I'll send out the order to other starships too. How many can increase their speed this way?"

The android ran more calculations. "Madam President, the frigate-class and carrier-class starships can divert considerable power from life support by shutting down their lower decks. But the smaller ships will gain only trivial amounts of speed. They're simply too small to get much power from life-support systems."

"All right then," Ben-Ari said. "We'll split up again. Faster ships in front. Slower ships in reserve. We fast flyers will reach Earth a day early and join the fight. The others will join us later. There will still be scum to fight."

She had already split her fleet once, giving twenty percent to Marco and Addy. Now she split again, this time in half.

The faster ships flew onward. The slower ships lingered.

They were still ten days from Earth. And every day gnawed on her.

During the days, Ben-Ari was worried about Earth. About the fate of humanity. About winning this war. But at night, in her cabin, when the lights were dim and the ship was quiet … she worried about Carl.

She lay in her bunk, the terror like claws inside her. Gripping. Tightening around her chest. The thoughts, which she could suppress during the day, rose to haunt her.

Lailani thinks I kidnapped Tala. She'll try to hurt Carl.

Noah was watching their son. But Noah was a kindly professor in his sixties. He was not a warrior.

I need to be there. I need to protect you, Carl. I need to hold you in my arms. Hang tight. I'll be there soon.

It was pointless. She could not sleep. Finally Ben-Ari rose from bed, walked toward the porthole, and watched the stars stream by, a million silver lines. She wished they flew by faster.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

On the third day since invading Earth, Lailani's forces rolled across the plains of China, heading toward the great ancient cities in the east.

Her plan was total shock and awe. A blitzkrieg to stun Earth and capture the planet within a week. Then she would have an entire second week to dig down, prepare her defenses, and await the arrival of Ben-Ari's fleet.

So far so good.

Oh, there were still some pockets of surprisingly tough resistance. The Americans were putting up a hell of a fight. For a rich, even spoiled people, they were tough as nails. Every one of those bastards seemed to own an armory of guns, and they were fighting back hard against her troops. But Lailani had captured Canada and Mexico and was squeezing the Americans in a vise. The Middle Easterners made the Americans seem like pacifists; everyone there was armed to the teeth and gleefully firing away at the invaders.

But Lailani would get to them. Mighty Russia had fallen, aside from the hinterlands where rebels still resisted. Europe was hers. Yes, mighty Europe, the great power for two thousand years, had fallen in two days. Now, as her generals led the battles in America and the Middle East, Lailani was carving her way to the Far East.

China would be her next prize. China, the great superpower. The mighty empire that had dominated Earth throughout the twenty-first century, that still wielded immense power. If she slew the Chinese dragon—it was over. Earth would be hers. All those pockets of resistance would fall into her claws like ripe fruit.

"Charge!" she cried. "For glory!"

Her tanks rolled forth. Thousands of tanks, purchased from alien merchants. Abaddon was rich with gold, platinum, diamonds, and oil. With her planet's wealth, Lailani had bought entire armored divisions. The tanks were enormous, each the size of an Earthling house. They made the Chinese tanks look like toys.

Centipedes made poor tank operators. Lailani had tried to train them—and failed. So she had purchased mercenaries to drive her tanks. The aliens looked a little like tanks themselves—bulky things covered in natural plates of armor. They reminded her of triceratops, except these creatures were bipedal and carnivorous. They had already eaten several centipedes, but that was okay. Lailani had millions to spare.

"To victory!" she cried. She stood in the open hatch of a tank, holding the banner of Abaddon. Her tanks rumbled across the plains of China, heading toward the enemy army.

The Chinese Division of the Human Defense Force still maintained a lot of autonomy, even several decades after the unification of Earth under a single presidency. The Chinese forces waved the banners of the HDF—a golden phoenix on a white field—but also its own banners, displaying coiling dragons. A thousand of their tanks rolled forth. Their armored troop carriers raced behind. Clouds of dust rose behind their hosts.

On the Tibetan Plateau, the two armies crashed together.

The cannons roared. The alien tanks rolled over their Chinese adversaries. The humans fought back hard. Their tanks were faster, their spirit stronger. They were fighting for their homeland, while the alien mercenaries fought for money. With their smaller tanks the Chinese spread mayhem.

But Lailani had always known she could not win a ground war on Earth. Even with millions of centipedes, with thousands of tanks, her ground forces paled in comparison to Earth's terrestrial might.

She had planned for that.

That was why, during the first ten seconds of the invasion, she had wiped out Earth's airfields. When popping out of the wormhole, she had paid special attention to China. Within seconds, in her stunning surprise invasion, she had destroyed thousands of Chinese fighter jets on the ground.

Now, as the ground forces clashed, Lailani had complete aerial superiority.

Her podships floated overhead to join the battle.

They were like twisted dirigibles made from flesh. They hovered over the western hills, flew over ancient temples, and thrust out fleshy vents. Their acid and flames rained in a monsoon of death, bathing the human army.

Once the podships arrived, the enemy had no chance. The alien warships lumbered above unopposed, devastating the Chinese hosts. Tanks burned. Troops screamed as they died. Some Earthlings leaped from their burning vehicles and tried to flee on foot. But podships flew from the east, dropping thousands of centipedes. The Chinese soldiers found themselves trapped—alien tanks on one side, alien centipedes on the other, a rain of fire from above.

They fought bravely, Lailani gave them that. There was a reason the Chinese had built an empire. They had the spirits of dragons. But when more scum emerged from underground, pulling humans into tunnels, it was all over.

* * * * *

That night, Lailani and her soldiers celebrated another victory. They camped on the blood-soaked plains, lit campfires, and cooked a feast. The centipedes and horned mercenaries feasted on human meat. Lailani herself only ate a battle ration, but she washed it down with good, cold beer.

"Tomorrow, Kai, we take Beijing." She raised her beer in salute. "By tomorrow night, this planet will be ours."

Kai just stared at her. He was not eating. He held a beer, but he did not drink. The campfire painted him red.

"Kai?" she said. "Come on, cheer up, man. We're kicking ass, and you're walking around like it's a funeral."

He stared at her. "No." He shook his head slowly. "Not a funeral. There are no funerals for the slain. For the millions we've killed. The scum are devouring their corpses."

"And if we buried them, the worms would eat them," Lailani countered. "Does it make a difference to the dead? Centipedes or worms?"

"They didn't have to die!" Kai said.

Lailani gripped his arm, pulled him toward her, and glared. "They attacked us, Kai. They declared war on us. I won't feel guilty about winning a war they began."

Kai took a deep breath. "Lailani, can we step into your tent?"

"No. If you have something to say, say it here under the stars. Say it before our army. There are no secrets in the hive."

His face hardened. "Very well. I think that this has gone too far. It went too far with Toronto. And it's been going too far since then. We wanted freedom for Abaddon. We won that freedom! Why are we here on Earth?"

"To secure our freedom," Lailani said. "It's us or them. So long as Earth is free, Earth is dangerous. You saw what they did to us, Kai. How they imprisoned us in concentration camps. How they slaughtered our children in the bunkers. How they stole my daughter." Her voice cracked. "I will find Tala, I swear it. And I will make sure Earth can never harm us again. The humans kicked us out of Earth. So Earth will be our home. And the humans will be those who must flee into space."

"Billions of humans—flee into space?" Kai said. "There aren't enough starships in the galaxy to transport that many people! So what, we'll just kill them all?"

"I would kill every last human to save a single starling!" Lailani cried. "We were weak. We were downtrodden. We were oppressed and butchered. So we must be strong! We must strike at our enemies without mercy!"

Kai took a step back. He shook his head in wonder. "Listen to yourself, Lailani. Listen to how you're talking. This isn't you. This isn't the Lailani I know."

"You knew the old Lailani." She gave him a hard stare. "The Lailani with two arms. The Lailani who was ninety-nine percent human. I've changed. I've grown. I've metamorphosed. Your old Lailani is gone. But I'm stronger now. And soon, Kai …" She stepped closer to him, held him again. "Soon you will metamorphose too. Soon you will be like me."

He wrenched himself free. "Never! I might be a starling too now. But I'm still a man! I'm still an Earthling! What happens tomorrow? You conquer China, then move on the rest of Asia? You conquer the Philippines, where you grew up? You conquer Thailand, where I'm from? You destroy our nations?"

"Our nation is Abaddon!"

"Our nation is Earth!" Kai shouted. "And I won't help you destroy it. Not anymore."

Lailani snarled and slashed her claws across his cheek.

His blood sprayed.

Kai stumbled back, holding his gashed cheek. Blood trickled between his fingers.

He stared at her in shock, then turned and ran into the shadows.

"Run away, coward!" Lailani shouted after him. "Run and hide! That's all you know how to do. Fuck you, Kai Linden! Fuck you, you traitor! I don't need you. I don't need anyone! You were always weak! You were always pathetic!"

The alien troops were all looking at her. Lailani howled at them, fangs bared, and they looked away.

She chugged her beer, entered her tent, and fell to her knees. In the shadows, she wept.

* * * * *

Kai prowled the night. The alien fury filled him. He tossed back his head and howled at the moon. He ran across blood-soaked soil. He caught a fleeing animal, and his claws ripped it apart. He did not know what animal it was. He was beyond reason. Beyond understanding. It was fur and flesh and bones, and that was enough. He fed.

He was a monster.

He lay on the ground among the remains of his prey, and he wept.

"You did this to me," he whispered, and the wound on his cheek blazed with agony. "You, Lailani. The woman I love. The woman I married. You made me a beast."

And it was not just the alien inside him. Not just the claws that slashed and the fangs that bit. He could live with being a starling. He had lived with it for a long time.

But he had done more than kill animals.

I killed men. Women. Children. I devastated a planet.

Kai was no stranger to violence. He had grown up in gangs. On the rough streets of Bangkok, he had done terrible things. He had robbed tourists. He had assassinated rival gangsters. He had become a pirate, traveled space, killed and stole and burned. He had never been a good man. But at least he had been a man.

Now he was a demon.

As he lay among the bones and fur, his anger flowed away, sinking into the soil like the blood. His claws and fangs retracted. He rose, a semblance of a man. A ghost of who he had been.

I haven't yet reached the final stage, he thought. I haven't grown four arms. I'm still Kai Linden. I'm still a man. And I'm free.

In the night, he walked through the devastation. The husks of burnt tanks. The mutilated corpses. The scavenging centipedes. All this evil they had done. That he had done. Dead soldiers all around him, their only sin defending their country. Countless dead across the Earth, their only sin being human.

"We were the oppressed, and we became the monsters," Kai whispered to the ashy wind. "I'm done."

He returned to his tent and stepped inside.

It was a lavish tent, its walls embroidered like fine rugs. Golden chalices and giltwood furniture filled it, and antique katanas topped jeweled tables.

Lailani was there, asleep on a pile of fur blankets.

Kai walked toward her, looked down at her. At his wife.

She was beautiful. Even now, he thought her so beautiful. Asleep, she no longer looked like a monster. She looked like the woman he had married. A fragile porcelain doll. How could somebody so dainty, so precious, have done such evil?

"I love you, Lailani," he whispered. "I love you so much. But I can't walk this path with you."

She stirred in her sleep, mumbled something, but did not wake.

Kai looked at his katana, which lay on a golden table. Katanas were Japanese blades, but Kai had named the sword Thorani after a Thai goddess, honoring his heritage. This was an ancient blade. Warriors before Kai had wielded it in many wars. This war shamed the antique blade.

His hand strayed toward the hilt. He could grab the sword. Draw the blade. Drive it into Lailani. He could end this war.

His hand closed around the hilt, feeling the smooth silk.

Do it. Kill her. End this.

No. He could not. Because despite it all, he loved her. And he hated himself for it. He slung Thorani across his back, never drawing the blade.

Suddenly he wanted to lie down beside Lailani. To hold her slender body and stroke her gentle curves. To caress her black hair like silk. To kiss her soft skin and trace the lines of her tattoos with his lips. To make love to her. Like they used to. To be like they had been. With Lailani, he had felt the greatest joy in his life, and even asleep, she still allured him, called to him. Join me, join me … sleep by my side … be mine. Be joyous again.

He looked away. The desire was too strong. Another second, and he would succumb.

He stepped toward the back of the tent, and he saw it there.

It glowed purple, trapped inside a glass bulb. The Cosmic Bloom.

Not much remained. When they had purchased the Cosmic Bloom from the Dealer, it had been the size of a pumpkin, a swirling galaxy of colors and light and secrets. But they had carved it up, given pieces of the bud to the navigators of a thousand starships. Now the Cosmic Bloom was the size of a peanut. It was all that remained.

They had kept the tiny blossom, protecting it behind glass. It was enough for one trip across the galaxy, maybe two. Just enough that, if the war went sour, Lailani and Kai could escape.

And right now Kai had to escape.

He had to escape alone.

He lifted the glass bulb and took what remained of the bloom. Lailani stirred in her sleep. One of her four arms twitched. Kai froze.

Would she wake? Would he have to draw his sword, to cut her down?

If she woke up, she would move fast. She would kill him where he stood. He could not defeat her in battle. Nobody could.

Do it. Draw the blade. Kill her in her sleep. Quick, before she wakes.

But he could not. He just stood there, silent, until she settled back into deep slumber.

I love you, Lailani, he thought. I love you so much. Even now. Goodbye.

Kai left the tent and stood on the battlefield, gazing across the hosts of centipedes and starlings and alien mercenaries, and beyond them the hills of the dead. He walked across the scorched Earth and entered the Black Rose Viperess.

Sitting in the cockpit, Kai took the bud from his pocket, carefully divided it in two, and chewed one half. His cheek still hurt, but it was healing fast. Starling healed so quickly. He placed the second half, no larger than a pea, in his pocket.

Consciousness expanded like fractals. He could see so many places. Be so many beings. He was himself, and his father, and his unborn children. He was everywhere and nowhere. He turned on the engines, and the Black Rose Viperess roared into the sky.

The sound probably woke up Lailani. But it was too late to stop him. The portal opened above, a ring of luminous blooms, and Kai blazed into the distance and crossed five hundred light-years in a second that lasted an eternity.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Time was up.

The three days were over.

They had not found the wormhole.

"Addy," Marco said, "we have to go. We have to begin the flight to Earth."

"We can find it!" she insisted. "Marco, we're almost there."

"We've gone over the data again and again, and—"

"Listen to me!" Addy grabbed his arms, squeezed, and stared into his eyes. "If we fly home the old-fashioned way, using azoth warp drives, it'll be two weeks before we get home. Two weeks! Who knows what Lailani would do by then? She might find our kids, and … and …" She sniffed and lowered her head.

They stood on the bridge of the HDFS Lakshmi, a military frigate. The starship was named after a Hindu goddess with four arms. Marco couldn't help but notice the irony. Lailani too had four arms now. They were flying one goddess, seeking a way to defeat another.

For three days now, the scientists of the fleet had been trying, combing the Antares system and its neighboring stars. But Lailani's wormhole was never found. From here aboard the Lakshmi, Marco had been overseeing the search.

He had failed. He had to admit that.

Marco brushed back a loose strand of Addy's golden hair. "We might never find anything here. We could stay for days, weeks, months, and still find nothing. We have to cut our losses and fly home." He forced a smile he hoped was comforting. "Our kids are strong and tough, and Noah is watching them. Tala is defending them, and that girl is deadlier than most marines. They'll survive this. They're fighters, all of them."

Addy had tears in her eyes, but she returned his smile. "They are tough little bastards, aren't they? They got it from me."

Marco bristled. "Hey, what am I, chopped liver?"

Addy nodded. "Yes. Because you're delicious."

"Ow, ow, stop biting me!" Marco shoved her back. "For Chrissake. Now is not the time."

"You're right." Addy nodded. "I'll bite you later. Right now we have to fly home." She sighed and wiped her eyes. "I wish we could stay longer. I wish we could have—"

"Sir!"

The call came from the back of the bridge. Captain Jean-Michel Paradis looked up from his workstation. He was a gunner by trade, but with no enemies in the system, everyone was busy monitoring the ship's sensors.

"What is it, Captain?" Marco said.

"Something on the sensor!"

Marco inhaled sharply. "A wormhole?"

"I think so, sir!" said Paradis. "It looked like … Yes, a tear in spacetime! A portal!"

"We found it!" Addy cried.

"Get it on-screen," Marco said.

Paradis nodded, tapped a few buttons, and a holographic screen materialized on the bridge. It showed a scene from space—right nearby.

Everyone on the bridge stared, eyes wide. A portal was blooming open.

"We scanned this area again and again," Marco said. "Nothing was there. Until now."

"It's like flowers," Addy whispered. "Flowers of light. It's beautiful."

The portal grew and grew. Indeed, it looked like a garland of luminous flowers, blooming and coiling.

The portal revealed another area of space. Different constellations. And there, just beyond the portal—Earth! They could see it there—the blue planet, shining on the other side!

"Quick, we have to fly through!" Marco said. "Before the portal closes. Paradis, chart a course to—"

"Something's flying through!" Addy said.

A starship roared out the portal, charging toward them.

The Black Rose Viperess.

Lailani's ship.

"Shields up!" Marco barked. "Full defensive position! Paradis, get back to the gunnery station."

"Yes, sir!" said Le Petit Capitaine, racing toward his station. A gleam filled his eyes. For long days, he had served as an impromptu data analyzer. Finally the little Frenchman would get back to his true passion: firing enormous cannons. As he resumed his station at the gun triggers, a smile tugged at his lips.

"Hold your fire for now and wait for my orders," Marco said. "Euclidea, divert more power to our shields for now."

Euclidea was the ship's android—one from the newer line of sleek, modern androids. She was humanoid, but thankfully without synthetic skin or hair. Her plasti-steel skin was pearly white, accented with ultramarine lines. Her shape was female, even including the curve of breasts. Marco had always found that amusing. Even when the android designers abandoned realism, they couldn't help give their machines a woman's curves. Cheeky bastards.

Euclidea nodded. "Yes, sir! Diverting power to shields."

"Sorry, Paradis, but we'll give your cannons full power when we can," Marco said, noticing the little gunner's look of disappointment.

Everyone stared at the incoming ship. The Black Rose Viperess was moving right at them. The other starships of the fleet—destroyers, corvettes, and starfighters—formed defensive lines in space, protecting the larger Lakshmi.

Marco relayed his orders to them too. Shields up. Hold your fire. See what happens.

What the hell is Lailani doing here? Marco thought, watching the Viperess fly closer. Does she just want to talk?

"Marco, the portal is closing!" Addy said, pointing at the screen.

Marco inhaled sharply. "Quick, send a few Firebirds thr—"

He bit down on his words. It was too late. The portal blinked out of existence.

"We missed our chance!" Addy cried in dismay.

"The portal would have crushed anyone flying through," Marco said. "Hold on, Addy. The Viperess is still flying toward us, and she's not attacking. Maybe we can learn how to reopen this portal."

Addy growled and clenched her fists. "If that skinny bitch Lailani is on that ship, I'll kick her scrawny ass halfway across the galaxy, then snap her skinny little chicken neck!" She glanced at Marco. "Yes, I'm a bit jealous that she's thinner than me. Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking it. Shut up!"

Euclidea spun toward Marco. The android's eyes glowed. "Sir, the Black Rose Viperess is hailing us."

"On-screen," Marco said.

A holographic feed appeared from the cockpit of the Black Rose Viperess. The pilot sported piercings, tattoos, and a mohawk. He looked through the hologram at Marco and Addy.

"Can I board?" he said. He sounded weary. Devastated.

"Kai!" Addy cried out.

He gave her a weak smile. "Hey, big sis."

"Kai, why are you here?" Marco said. "Is Lailani with you?"

"No. I'm defecting. Trying to, at least. Can I board your ship?"

"Hold on, Kai." Marco cut the holofeed, then looked at Addy. "It could be a trap. Lailani might be hiding on the Viperess, ready to infiltrate our ship and destroy it from within."

Addy placed her hands on her hips. "Or maybe my brother realized that Lailani is a psycho skinny bitch, which I'm not bitter about at all, and he decided to abandon her skinny little ass?"

"Maybe," Marco said. "I trust Kai. I love the guy. But we must be careful." He turned toward his security guard—a tall, striking woman with a white streak through her dark hair. "Captain Martinez, assemble a platoon of marines, and lead them to Hangar Bay 4. I'll join you."

Addy nodded. "I'm going too."

Marco hailed the Viperess again, faced the holoscreen. "Kai? Fly to Hangar Bay 4 on our starboard bow. You'll see the markings on the hull. You can tether your autonav system to our docking bay. I'll meet you there in five minutes."

Kai sighed in relief. Bags hung under his eyes. It seemed like he hadn't slept in days. "Thank you, brother. See you soon."

* * * * *

Standing on the Lakshmi's bridge, Marco watched the corvette fly closer. The Viperess was larger than a starfighter or shuttle, but not much larger. With some careful maneuvering, she could fit into the Lakshmi, which was a full-sized frigate.

Marco marched down the Lakshmi's corridors. Within three minutes, he was in the hangar bay. He stood near the airlock, waiting, hands clasped behind his back. He wore the service uniform of a brigadier—pressed trousers, a blazer with golden buttons, and a cap with a phoenix pin. He drew no weapon. He didn't have to. Behind him spread a full platoon of marines in battle fatigues, aiming loaded assault rifles at the airlock.

Addy too wore battle fatigues. Though she was a brigadier like Marco, she preferred to dress like the grunts.

"This is definitely not because the battle pants are baggier," she had once told Marco. "By the way, please ignore the torn dress pants in the closet. The dog ripped those."

But unlike her troops, Addy had aimed no weapon. Her own rifle hung across her back.

"We can trust him," Addy said. "You know I'm suspicious by nature, Poet. All people who grew up like me, fighting to survive on the streets, have trust issues. But there's one person I trust fully and completely. Kai Linden, by baby brother."

Marco frowned. "You don't trust me?"

"Hell no! You grew up pampered. Totally untrustworthy."

Marco sighed. "Yes, I know the story. You grew up rough. And Kai grew up on the streets of Bangkok, stealing to survive. I get it. There's honor among thieves."

"Hey!" Addy bristled. "I'm not a thief."

"You are literally reaching into my pocket right now to snatch my wallet."

Addy pouted. "But I'm hungry and want to use the vending machine!"

"Use your own money."

"But I left it in my other pants!"

"Let me guess," Marco said. "The same pants the dog—which we don't own—ate."

Just then the airlock opened, interrupting them. The marines all tightened their grips on their rifles. The Black Rose Viperess, long and sleek and dark, slid into the hangar. Its treads extended, and it landed on the deck with barely a sound. Indeed, the Viperess reminded Marco of a serpent, graceful and deadly.

The hatch opened. The marines stared through their scopes, ready to fire.

Kai emerged from the ship, shoulders stooped. But when he saw the marines with their guns, he stiffened. He raised his hands.

"Whoa, whoa, hold your horses!" he said. "I'm here as a friend."

Addy made to run toward him, to hug him, but Marco reached out. He caught his wife, pulled her back.

"Let go of me!" Addy said.

"Wait," Marco said. He looked at his brother-in-law. "Kai, put down your weapons. Your guns. Your sword. Put them on the deck."

Addy wrenched herself free, but she no longer ran toward her brother. She stood by Marco, fuming.

Slowly, with fifty rifles pointing at him, Kai put his weapons down. Several pistols, three rifles, a katana.

"Just treat Thorani nicely," he said. "That's my katana. She's centuries old and sensitive."

Marco narrowed his eyes, shoulders squared. "Kai, with me. To my ready room. Addy, join us."

"Oh, thank you so much, mighty brigadier, for inviting me along," Addy muttered as they walked down the hall.

* * * * *

They marched down the corridor, several marines walking with them, their rifles never leaving Kai. Finally they reached Marco's ready room—his private office aboard the Lakshmi.

"Wait outside," Marco told the guards.

"Sir, are you sure?" asked one of the soldiers. He glanced at Kai, back at Marco.

Marco nodded. "Yes, Sergeant. I'll call you if I need you."

"Yes, sir."

In the room, it was just the three of them. Marco, Addy, Kai. The two brigadiers stared at the defector, silent for a moment.

Then Addy ran toward her brother and embraced him. "Kai. Are you all right?" Suddenly she was shaking him violently. "How could you betray us? How could you do it, you son of a bitch?" She slapped him. "I fucking hate you, you treacherous piece of …" Tears fell. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Why?"

"Because I loved her," Kai said. "Maybe I still do. And I was blind. Blind to who she became. She's no longer my Lailani, the woman I married. She's … alien. And you have to stop her."

"Me?" Addy said. "You're her husband! Couldn't you slit her throat in her sleep?"

"I wanted to," Kai said, and his voice cracked. "Oh God, I wanted to. I almost did. But I couldn't. I just couldn't. She's a monster. But so am I."

Kai raised his hands. Claws sprouted from his fingertips.

Marco and Addy gasped.

"You're a starling!" Addy said, eyes so wide they almost popped out.

Marco drew and aimed his pistol. "Step away from him, Addy."

She looked ready to argue, but then Addy stepped away from her brother and joined Marco. They both faced Kai.

He stared back, and when he spoke, he revealed his fangs. "Yes. I'm a starling. But I wasn't always. Apparently, it's infectious."

"Infectious?" Marco said. "My God."

Addy inhaled sharply. "Can we catch it?"

"No, no." Kai shook his head. "It's not airborne. It's sexually transmitted. I, well … I slept with Lailani. Obviously. Her being my wife. And I caught it from her. But for a starling, I can control it remarkably well. Look." He retracted his claws and fangs. "All gone. Life on the streets taught me to understand my anger, to control it. Not every starling can. Lailani can't."

Addy hesitated, then embraced him. "I forgive you, Kai. I love you. Welcome home."

"Kai," Marco said. "We must get to Earth and join the fight. How did you open that wormhole?"

Kai pulled a plastic baggie from his pocket. He showed them a tiny bud.

Marco sniffed, frowned. "Cannabis?"

Addy licked her lips. "Yum."

"Calm down, you potheads," Kai said. "It's not cannabis. But it is a drug."

Kai spoke for a moment about the Dealer, how his buds can expand consciousness, allowing a navigator to fly through portals.

"Perfect!" Addy said. "So we can fly the warships back and pound Lailani's skinny ass into the ground."

"Unfortunately, not that easy," Kai said. "I have only enough Cosmic Bloom for one starship. And it must be a small ship too. No larger than the Black Rose Viperess."

"Then we go to the Dealer," Addy said. "We buy more. Enough for our warships."

"We can't spend that time," Marco said. "We'd have to dig for more celestium to pay the Dealer. And we don't have miners here; we'd have to train soldiers to become miners, which takes time too. And then fly for a week to his asteroid. No. We can't wait that long." He took a deep breath. "I'll take the Black Rose Viperess. I'll go alone. And I will kill Lailani."

"I'll go with you," Addy said. "I'll tear her apart! I'll rip off her head! I'll pull out her guts! That'll teach her to be so skinny! I mean—so evil!"

"You won't be able to kill her," Kai said. "Scum constantly surround her. And even if you got past the scum—good luck! Lailani wears highly advanced graphene armor. I've seen grenades explode against it, and she just brushed off the shrapnel like it was feathers. Addy, you can't kill Lailani. Nobody can. But Marco, I'm hoping you can talk to her. She … she still loves you. As her husband, it hurts me to say it. But it's true, Marco. You two were engaged long ago. And I don't think Lailani ever stopped loving you."

Addy's mouth fell open. "What the fuck, Kai? Your plan is send my husband to … what exactly?" She placed her hands on her hips. "Talk to his ex-girlfriend who still loves him? And who is skinnier than me? Which, by the way, I'm totally not obsessing over."

"She won't listen to me," Kai said. "But maybe she'll listen to Marco." He turned toward Marco again. "If you just talk to her, bro, maybe—"

Kai gasped, unable to complete his sentence.

His eyes bulged.

His face turned red.

"Kai!" Addy cried.

He stared at her, eyes wide with terror.

* * * * *

Lailani stood in her lavish tent, her eyes glowing white like two stars, staring five hundred light-years away. From the Chinese battlefield on Earth, she gazed to Abaddon, and she saw the traitors.

She couldn't see her husband. But she could see through his eyes. Hear through his ears. She could feel the beating of his heart like a frightened bird, the rattle of his breath, the fear that creaked across his spine.

Kai was a starling, and so he was part of the hive. And so he was hers.

You cannot escape me, Lailani spoke into his mind. I am your mistress.

"Let me go!" he howled.

Gazing through his eyes, she saw Marco and Addy recoil.

Rage blazed through Lailani. All consuming. Burning her. Her claws dug into her palms, drawing blood.

Addy—the woman she had once called her friend.

Marco—the man she had loved.

Kai was with them.

"You betrayed me," Lailani said. "All of you betrayed me!"

Kai repeated her words, voice hoarse and torn. She was speaking through his mouth. She was on Earth. She stood in a tent among embroidered rugs, giltwood furniture, and chalices full of jewels. But she was also inside him, a parasite in a host, standing in a starship orbiting Abaddon, her lost home.

"Kai!" Addy cried, shaking him. "Kai, fight her! Resist her!"

Kai screamed.

* * * * *

Standing on the deck of the Lakshmi, Kai tossed back his head and roared.

"Get out of my head!" he howled.

Kai tugged his hair as if he could rip Lailani out. But she took control of his arms. She pulled them down to his sides. He tried to run—as if he could flee her anywhere aboard this ship, anywhere in the universe. His legs resisted him. Invisible claws were holding him in place.

"She … she has control!" Kai said. "I … I can't resist. Run. Run from me!"

Kai roared like a beast, fangs bared. His claws burst from his fingertips.

Marco raised his gun but hesitated, did not fire. Addy reached toward Kai, then pulled her hand back from his slashing claws.

"Get out of him, Lailani!" Addy cried. "Get the hell out of my brother!"

"Fight her, Kai!" Marco said. "Fi—"

* * * * *

"—ght her!"

Lailani laughed, standing in her tent on Earth.

You cannot fight me, Kai, she spoke into his mind. You are mine. You cannot run.

He trembled. Lailani, why? I love you. Don't. Let me go!

Liar! She snarled. You betrayed me. You went right to my enemies. You traitor!

Across the void of space, Kai stared into her soul. You betrayed yourself, Lailani. You betrayed the woman you were. I kept control of my humanity. You lost yours.

Lailani froze. Tears flowed from her eyes. She nearly lost control of Kai. For a moment, she stood silently, tears flowing.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," she whispered. "I love you."

He spoke softly. She could hear him across the light-years. "I love you too, Lailani."

Lailani let out a sob. "I'm sorry, Kai. I'm sorry it came to this. I love you so much. But you must die."

* * * * *

"Kai?" Addy whispered. "Kai. Why aren't you talking? Why aren't moving? Kai!"

Kai just stood there in the ready room. Silent. Still. Barely breathing.

Suddenly he blinked, looked up into Addy's eyes. His face was ashen.

"I'm sorry, sister," he whispered.

He raised his hand to his neck.

"Kai?" Addy said. "What—?"

Claws burst out from his fingers, driving into his throat.

Addy screamed.

* * * * *

Back in her tent, Lailani fell to her knees.

Her connection with Kai was gone. His claws had severed it.

"I killed him," Lailani whispered. "Oh God. I killed him."

Tears flowed down her cheeks. Her own claws retracted into her fingers.

"What have I done?"

She looked around the tent, and she saw him everywhere. His weapons. His clothes. She smelled his scent. Her husband. Her beloved husband.

Oh God.

Sharp pain stabbed her sides. She screamed in agony. She looked at her sides, saw the skin stretch.

"Not again!" she screamed. "Oh God, not again!"

But it happened. They grew. Two more arms. They sprouted just above her hips, giving her a full set of six arms.

She looked at herself in her tall mirror, and she no longer saw a woman at all. She saw a spider. A spider queen. The same face, the face Kai used to compare to a doll. The same hair. The same legs. The same breasts. The same skin and tattoos. But six arms. Ordinary human arms, growing from her sides.

She had not known it was possible to reach this stage. Again she had been transfigured to a higher form. But as Lailani gazed at her reflection, she no longer saw an ascension, no longer felt the bliss of nirvana.

She saw a monster. And she felt disgust.

She doubled over and vomited.

* * * * *

"Kai!" Addy cried. "Kai, Kai! Talk to me, brother. You're okay. You're fine. You'll be all right."

She knelt on the deck, cradling him in her arms. Kai was still alive, but barely. His neck wound was deep. She tried to staunch the blood. Marco ran off to fetch a medic, but Addy stayed here.

"I'm right here with you," she whispered. "I'm not going anywhere."

Kai looked into her eyes. He tried to speak.

"A-Addy…"

"I'm here, Kai." Her tears splashed him. "Your big sister is here."

"Thank you," he whispered hoarsely. "I … I was alone for … for so long. You …. you showed me what family is. I love …"

He exhaled slowly. One last long breath. Letting go. He went limp in her arms.

When Marco returned with the medic, they found Addy sitting in the corner, holding her brother's lifeless body.

She stared up at Marco. He froze, took a step back, perhaps alarmed by something he saw in her eyes.

"Marco?" Addy said.

He knelt beside her. He found no words to speak.

"Marco," she repeated, "we have the last Cosmic Bloom. It's time to return to Earth. It's time to win this war."

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

In an hour, Marco would be flying to Earth. Flying to save the world. Flying on what was probably a suicide mission.

But right now he visited the chemist.

The Human Defense Force relied on cutting-edge science to win wars. It employed many brilliant scientists, luring them away from civilian life with hefty salaries and state-of-the-art labs. Aboard the HDFS Lakshmi served astrophysicists, exobiologists, mathematicians, string theorists, quantum physicists, and of course—the chemist.

Unlike the other scientists, the chemist was not human. He was a Menorian. Same species of Aurora, one of Marco's old friends.

Like Aurora, the chemist looked a lot like an octopus. But he was small for his kind, his body not much larger than a pumpkin. That boneless body was wrinkled, almost shriveled up. Some said the chemist was over ten thousand years old, and he looked it. But his eyes were still bright behind his round spectacles, and his purple tentacles moved with alacrity.

He was busy working on multiple projects at once. His tentacles moved left and right, up and down, grabbing vials and test tubes, mixing chemicals, stirring, cooling, heating. Glass bulbs surrounded him. Liquids bubbled inside, and aromatic smoke in many colors filled the lab. Purple smoke. Green smoke. Blue smoke sparkling with silver stars. Inside one bulb, a demonic creature seemed to be unfurling from a gooey stew of chemicals. In another bulb, a glowing little figure, female and slender and winged, was pounding on the glass, desperate to escape. More glass bulbs hung from the ceiling like lamps, some full of crystals, others of molten metal, and some full of swirling galaxies in tiny universes.

"Welcome, friend!" the mollusk said to Marco.

He didn't actually speak. His wrinkled body changed color from purple to deep blue, and silver spots appeared across him. The Menorians spoke with colors and shapes. Thankfully, the animal had a translating device. A little camera, mounted on the mollusk's head, picked up his colors and patterns. A voice then emerged from a speaker strapped to one tentacle. His voice was warm, avuncular. The voice of some beloved, plump uncle with a bushy mustache, rosy cheeks, and lots of gifts for Christmas.

"Can you make me two chemicals?" Marco said. "I need two. I need them to be perfect. Just the way I describe."

A tentacle beckoned, curling inward, inviting Marco closer.

"Come, come," said the chemist. "Whisper in my ear what you need. I am the weaver of little universes. I am the maker of things. I take the blocks of creation, and I assemble. I do not invent. I do not create. I build. I am the engineer of the cosmos in a jar. Come, come, Marco. Whisper your secret designs. The chemist will listen. And the chemist will build."

Marco looked around, for a moment ashamed. Of himself. Of what he desired. Then he leaned toward the alien mollusk, and he found a hole in the wrinkly hide. An ear. A portal to the mind of the maker. And Marco whispered his wish.

"Ah … interesting," said the chemist. He steepled his tentacles. "How very fascinating."

"It needs to be pure," Marco said. "It needs to be perfect."

"It will be, my friend. Oh, it will be. I am the chemist. And I pride myself on perfection. It will be beautiful."

Marco waited in the lab, watching the chemist work. His tentacles moved from vial to vial. They opened drawers. They poured liquids, measured smoke, crushed crystals and mixed them with steam. The chemist heated some chemicals to a roiling bubble. Others he froze to hardened cubes, which he crushed with diamond hammers. He stirred white smoke into swirling spirals and sprinkled these little galaxies with gemstones. He lifted squirming creatures from aquariums and crushed them in his tentacles and squeezed them into his brews.

Finally it was ready.

Two little vials. One red, one blue. Both perfect.

"Here you go, my friend," said the chemist. "Your dreams and your nightmares—in two bottles. Goodness in one, evil in the other. Healing and hurt. Angel and demon. Now you just need to decide—which are you?"

"Both," Marco said.

He left the lab. The Menorians were strange creatures.

* * * * *

Marco suited up for war.

He did not put on some fancy brigadier's uniform. He wore no bulky mech suit, no graphene armor. He took no rifle, no gun, no grenades. Not even a knife.

He pulled on old training fatigues. Olive drab. The kind he used to wear at boot camp.

He cut his hair down to a buzz cut. He shaved his beard for the first time in years. This was a cleansing. A return to the past. Slowly he was carving off parts of himself. The dazzling insignia, the weight of adulthood, the pain he had put on like a thousand garments over the years. He shed them. As if he could return to that boy he had been twenty-odd years ago. A teenage recruit, joining the war for the first time.

Finally he was done. He stood in his cabin aboard the Lakshmi, and he stared at himself in a mirror.

I failed, was his first thought. I can't reverse the years.

That boy he had been was gone. Even stripped of his officer's accoutrements, he was different. He could not hide the white that streaked his hair, buzzed short as it was, and dyeing it felt vain. He could do nothing about the wrinkles that tugged at the corners of his eyes and lined his forehead. And, he noticed with some embarrassment, he was somewhat heavier than he'd been at eighteen. Especially around the middle.

That scrawny boy was dead.

But then Marco looked closer. And he saw him. He saw the young librarian. The aspiring author. The scared boy. The boy who fell in love with a tattooed girl with scarred wrists and sad eyes.

Yes, there he was. He was still there, gazing from those eyes. Marco just hoped Lailani saw him too.

I'm not a starling like you, Lailani, he thought. You're ageless. I'm older. But I'm still here.

Addy entered the room. "Wow, blast from the past. You look like a private again."

Marco smiled thinly. "I wish. How come I aged over the past twenty-two years, but you didn't?"

She snorted. "Please. I wish I were still eighteen. My ass is twice the size now, and I caught a white hair this morning. A white hair! I plucked it out right away, of course. At this rate, I'll be bald by next year."

Marco kissed her. "You're as beautiful as ever and always will be. Well, maybe not if you're bald."

She shoved him. "You shallow bitch. You better still love me when I'm bald."

He hugged her. "I love you, Addy, now and forever."

She hugged him back. "I know. I'm so wonderful it's impossible not to love me." She caressed his cheek. "It's so smooth without the beard. I'm going to have to kiss you even more than usual." She squared her shoulders. "But there's time for that later. Right now we must go kill Lailani."

"Addy, about that …" Marco held her hands and stared steadily into her eyes. "I'm going alone."

"What?" She shoved him again, harder this time. "Fuck off. I'm going with you."

"Addy—"

"There is no way, mister, that I'm letting you fly to Earth—a planet under alien occupation—without me. You'd die without me. You need me to protect you."

Marco cleared his throat. "I think I can handle myself in a fight."

"Bullshit. Without me there to save your ass, you'd have died two hundred times during our wars. I cannot believe you want to leave me here."

"Addy. Please." He held her hand again, stroked her hair. "Earth is dangerous. Lailani and her troops are everywhere. If the mission fails … we can't leave our children as orphans. They need at least one parent. They need you."

Tears filled Addy's eyes. She pulled him into a crushing embrace. "I'm scared. Don't go. Send somebody else. An officer. A soldier. A spy. Not you."

He held her close. "It needs to be me. I'm the only one Lailani will listen to. Maybe I'm the only one she still trusts. No, not trusts. She doesn't trust me. But maybe … maybe some part of her still loves me."

A frown crossed Addy's face. A bit of jealousy. But then her expression softened. She squeezed him tight. "Be careful, Poet. Come back to me. Promise you'll come back."

"I can't promise that. But I promise that I'll try my damn hardest to come back alive."

"You better!" Addy grabbed his collar and twisted. "Or I'll kill you."

They walked together to the hangar bay. The officers and soldiers of the fleet stood at attention. Many had come to the hangar to see Marco off. The chief of the bay, an NCO with a bristly red mustache, saluted. Marco returned the salute.

The Black Rose Viperess was here, waiting. Marco could have chosen from a hundred shuttles or starfighters across the fleet. Most likely, Lailani's forces would shoot any of those on sight. Maybe, in the Viperess, Marco could survive his arrival on Earth. Maybe he could even make it to Lailani herself.

Well, maybe.

Odds are, this is a suicide mission, Marco thought. But Earth needs me. My kids need me. They need me now.

He opened the hatch on the Viperess, then paused and turned back to Addy.

She stood there, looking at him. Her eyes were damp, and her hair hung in a loose braid across one shoulder. She was so beautiful. She was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was the love of his life.

Marco took a step toward her, pulled her into a last embrace, and kissed her hard on the lips.

She did not want to let him go. She held on. Finally Addy took a step back, eyes full of tears, and gave him a sad smile and salute. Marco returned the salute, his own eyes dampening, then turned away. And turning away from her was the hardest thing he had ever done.

He stepped into the Black Rose Viperess and closed the hatch.

As soon as that hatch closed, something happened. His eyes dried, and a strange peace fell upon him. The calmness of professionalism. The knowledge that he had a job to do—and he would do it. He might die trying, yes. But he would not panic. He would not cry. He would go to Earth and do his job.

Saving the planet has been my job for twenty-two years, he thought. I'm a damn pro.

He sat in the cockpit, fired up the engine, and taxied the Viperess toward the airlock. The chief of the bay opened the airlock doors, and out Marco flew. He piloted the little corvette between the larger starships of his fleet. Frigates and destroyers hovered around him, lined with cannons, torpedo bays, and rail guns. Marco would use none of those weapons. Fortunes had been spent to build this machinery of war. And in this war, they would not matter.

It was down to him. One man.

Once he was a safe distance from the fleet, he took the Cosmic Bloom from his pocket. Only the smallest piece remained, the size of a bean. He ate it, and his mind expanded.

Marco was no stranger to drugs. After the Scum War, struggling with shell shock and depression, he had found comfort in drugs. Even these days, he sometimes smoked a joint on the back porch, watching the sunset, calming himself before the long night. But this was different. This was far more potent. He lost himself. Marco fell into a black hole, and the universe unfurled before him. He could see everywhere. And he could fly anywhere.

He just had to wish it. The portal opened before him, a ring of light, circling round and round, and in the light he saw the figures of dancing fairies. Hundreds of frolicking little girls with wings of woven luminousness.

He flew through the portal and he arrived at Earth.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Lailani stood in the Forbidden City. Before her, across the ancient city square, spread her people.

Thousands of starlings. Millions of centipedes.

The banners of Abaddon rose tall, flying in the wind.

Lailani stood on a stage below a golden pagoda, facing a cobbled square. She raised her six hands to the air. Her claws gleamed. She cried out, and her voice rang across the Forbidden City. Across China. Across the world.

"Earth is ours!"

The crowd cheered, starlings and scum alike. Drones hovered above, filming the Forbidden City, streaming the celebration to every corner on Earth.

Let them see, Lailani thought, a thin smile on her face. Let them fear their new goddess. Let them see the queen of Earth.

The Forbidden City was an ancient complex in the heart of Beijing. This was once the seat of China's great emperors. Stone walls surrounded the palace grounds, enclosing nearly two hundred acres. Moats offered further defenses. A thousand buildings rose inside, their roofs topped with gold and crimson pagodas. The Imperial Palace loomed above them all, venerable and commanding, exerting its power over the empire. Once this had been the Chinese empire, but today Lailani was empress of a planet. And by extension, all the Human Commonwealth, from Mars to Alpha Centauri.

She had invaded Earth six days ago. Today, on the seventh day, she rested.

The Forbidden City will be my seat of power for now, she thought. But not forever. In time, I will build a larger palace. I will build it over the home of Einav Ben-Ari outside the walls of Jerusalem. But for now, this little place should do nicely.

"My people!" she cried, claws held high. "We are victorious!"

The roars of triumph shook the city. The centipedes reared and slammed down on the ground, again and again, shaking the courtyard. The starlings stood on the pagodas, cheering, waving the flags of Abaddon. Thousands of podships hovered above like fleshy hot-air balloons, hiding the sun.

This was not some organized, clinical army. This was a horde. These were barbarians. They were like the Golden Horde of old, but they had succeeded where the khans had failed. They had conquered the world.

Their enemies lay dead upon the plains. Millions of enemies, piling up, rotting away. The jackals and vultures fed. Even here, in the Forbidden City, the dead gave their testament of war. Lailani had brought the leaders of Earth here. Kings. Queens. Generals. Presidents and prime ministers. They hung from ropes from the pagodas of the Forbidden City. These wretched rulers had tried to butcher the starlings. So Lailani had hung them for the joy of the crows.

Across Earth, sporadic battles still raged. But Earth's main armies had been broken. Their starships burned upon fields, under oceans, and in the depths of space. The resistance still nipped at Lailani's heels, but she would stomp them out.

"A week from now, Einav Ben-Ari will arrive at Earth with her fleet—and try to crush us!" Lailani shouted.

The crowd booed. Some spat, cursed, shouting what they would do to their enemies. To Einav in particular.

"The so-called Golden Lioness flew to Abaddon to destroy our home—so we took her home!" Lailani cried. The boos became cheers again. "We will defend this planet, our new home. Now Ben-Ari is flying back here for a fight. I say we give her one!"

The crowd roared their approval. The centipedes banged their claws on the cobblestones. The starlings bellowed, fangs bared.

Just this morning, Lailani's warriors had seized control of Iron Sphere. The great network of satellites was orbiting Earth. Thousands of satellites faced space, all armed to the teeth. There was still some code to crack, some Earthlings to kill. But very soon now, probably by tonight, Iron Sphere would serve the starlings. Lailani had sneaked right under this defensive sphere thanks to the Cosmic Bloom. But Einav had no blooms. Iron Sphere was designed to repel massive alien invasions. It should handle Ben-Ari's fleet quite nicely.

And if Ben-Ari did manage to land some forces on the ground? They would be weakened, shocked, so many of their comrades slain by the Sphere. Lailani's forces would meet them on the field and mop them up.

It would not be an easy war. And Lailani knew Ben-Ari. She had seen what had happened to those who underestimated the Golden Lioness.

So Lailani would prepare. She still had a week before the fleet arrived. By then, her defenses would be a true terror.

I will be unstoppable.

A small part of Lailani, deep inside, cried out in fear. It wanted her to flee. To stop this madness. But that was the old Lailani. The weak, scared girl who had slit her wrists in the slums of Manila. That was a pathetic wretch. A human girl. Lailani had six arms now. She was a spider goddess. She was strong. She was a conqueror.

But your daughter! cried a voice deep inside. You came here for your daughter. Where is Tala? You haven't found her. You haven't looked for her!

She silenced that voice too. Tala had betrayed her. They had all betrayed her. Einav, Marco, Addy—her best friends. Kai—her own husband. Tala—her own flesh and blood. They had all turned against her. But that was okay. Because now an army worshipped her. And so would this planet.

She looked upon her army, which covered the Forbidden City. And she looked beyond them. She gazed through the eyes of ten billion centipedes across Earth. She saw them swarming over the last bastions of resistance in New York and the wilderness of Texas. She tasted the blood as they devoured their enemies on the African plains and deserts of Arabia. She heard the cries of terror as soldiers died. As centipedes fed.

She saw the world. The pyramids that rose from the desert. The temple of Taj Mahal and the mysteries of the Vatican. She saw ancient cities and modern metropolises, opera houses and basketball courts, affluent suburbs and villages just barely clinging to hope. She saw skyscrapers and shantytowns, babies being born, several every second, and old people dying to make room. She saw colonies on the moon, Mars, and Ganymede, humanity reaching out to the stars. She saw the bones of ancient people who left their fertile valleys, who walked through the mud, and who sailed to far lands, who launched a species.

She saw all this. And it was hers.

Maybe she had to lose her humanity to finally see humanity at its fullest. To rise above what she controlled.

"My people!" she said. Her voice boomed from thrumming speakers. "You have followed me through fire and rain. Through storm and space. Through despair and darkness. When I came to you, you were languishing in New Siberia, imprisoned in a concentration camp. Merely because of your blood. Of your race. I had the honor, the privilege, of leading you to freedom. The road was long and hard, and we shed much blood. But every battle—you fought bravely! Every darkness we faced—you cast it back with light! Our road has led us here to Earth, our ancestral homeland. No longer will we cower in caves on faraway worlds. We honor the centipedes, for they are our fathers, and they fought with us bravely. But we, my people, we are not centipedes. We are starlings. We were born of the wombs of women. And Earth is our mother. Today I give you—Earth!"

They all chanted. "Earth! Earth! Earth!"

But soon the chant changed. One voice at first. Then a hundred. Then thousands.

"Lailani! Lailani! Lailani!"

"The battles ahead will be long and hard," she said. "But we will face them with courage! My friends—raise your claws and howl!"

A sea of claws rose from the Forbidden City courtyard. The starlings tossed back their heads and howled. The howl of a lost people. The howl of a new species rising from the mud. The howl of people broken, trod upon, beaten down. The howl of a nation forged in fire. It was not the cry of Abaddon, though Abaddon was their fatherland. It was the cry of Earth reborn.

"Now, my people!" Lailani cried. "You have earned a little celebration. Tonight we will feast and drink. But first we will enjoy some entertainment. Centipedes! Bring them forth!"

The crowd below split like the Red Sea. Centipedes walked across the square. The symbols of Abaddon were painted on their exoskeletons, and they wore horned helmets. These were Lailani's elite guardians, the fiercest of her warriors, as large as sharks. The mighty arthropods tugged on chains, pulling prisoners along the courtyard.

"Behold our prisoners of war!" Lailani cried. "The humans who resisted us. Who killed our brothers and sisters. They tried to be heroes. Now they will die like cowards. Bring them to me."

The centipedes kept pulling the prisoners across the square, moving toward the Imperial Palace. The drones kept filming, broadcasting the parade across the world. Only days ago, these prisoners had been cocksure soldiers of the Human Defense Force, fighting Lailani. Now they were wretched, stripped naked, bruised, peering around with fearful eyes. They had been stupid to surrender. They should have fought to the death.

As the prisoners shuffled across the courtyard, the starlings booed. Jeered. Spat. A few lifted stones and hurled them onto the chained prisoners. Others grabbed sticks and rods and began to beat them.

Lailani controlled the centipedes with her mind. It was she dragging these prisoners. And she did not drag them in a straight line. Her centipedes pulled the captives in a labyrinthine route, allowing every starling in the crowd to see the prisoners up close. To spit at them. To beat them. To break them.

Like they broke us, Lailani thought. They beat us starlings to the ground. Now they will feel the same pain.

A voice deep inside cried out, Stop this! What are you doing? Stop this madness!

That was the girl inside. The old her. The Lailani with only two arms. The weak, meek, pathetic girl. If Lailani could, she would rip that wretch out of her. Same as she had ripped the chip from her brain, letting the centipedes in. Becoming queen. Fulfilling her destiny.

And my destiny is to reign.

Finally, after an hour, Lailani tired of leading the prisoners around in circles. It was time to feed her pets.

"Now, my people!" she said. "What should I grant these prisoners? Freedom?" Boos rose from the crowd. "Or death?"

"Death!" they roared. "Death! Death! Death!"

Lailani laughed. "Very well! Bring the prisoners here so everyone can see. Good, good! Now, my centipedes, it's time to—"

A sonic boom shook the sky.

The Forbidden City trembled. Tiles fell from the pagodas. Starlings stumbled back, pointing at the sky.

Lailani looked up.

A portal bloomed above the Forbidden City. A ring of light. A pathway of the Cosmic Bloom.

And through the portal it flew. A slender black starship. The Black Rose Viperess.

Lailani gasped.

"Kai?" she whispered.

No. It couldn't be! He was dead! She killed him herself!

The podships, hovering over the Forbidden City, made to blast the Viperess apart, but Lailani stopped them with a thought. She had to see. To understand.

She stood her ground beneath the Imperial Palace, staring up at the small black starship. The Viperess might blast her, she knew. Her graphene armor, which covered her entire body, could stop bullets, even grenades. But she didn't think it could withstand a starship's cannon.

But she thought she understood.

She knew who was there. She could feel it. Feel him.

The starship descended toward the courtyard. Her people scattered, and the Viperess thumped onto the cobblestones just ahead of Lailani.

The hatch opened, and out he came. It was him. Like she thought.

It was Marco.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Marco stepped onto the stage.

To his left side soared the Imperial Palace, among the grandest palaces in the world, its crimson and gold pagodas scratching the sky. To his right side spread the crowd—a horde of starlings and centipedes, ravenous and wild.

And before him she stood.

The woman he had fallen in love with long ago. The woman who had been his friend through two decades of war and struggle and triumphs.

Lailani.

But no. Maybe not. When he looked at her now, Marco no longer saw his old friend. He saw a strange, deformed creature. A spiderlike thing. A wicked succubus with six arms and a doll's face. With soulless eyes.

No. It was not Lailani. Just a thing that masqueraded as her. Some trickster demon that had stolen her face.

"Marco," she whispered, her delicate mouth full of slender fangs like the bones of fish.

He stepped closer to her. And it struck him again how small she truly was. It was easy to forget. With her courage, fierceness, the grandeur of her victories, sometimes even he, who knew her well, imagined Lailani as a giant, a towering legend. And sometimes, like now when he approached her, he found himself shocked at her humble size. Marco was not a tall man, but Lailani didn't even reach his shoulders.

She's like a child goddess, he thought. Like a girl buried in a well, left to die, and reborn as a haunting spirit.

She reminded him of the Yurei, the ghostly beings he had met in his travels. But Lailani was no ghost. She was sharp claws that gleamed in the sunlight, soft skin and hair he remembered stroking, curious lips that parted, silent, as if not sure which question to ask.

"Yes, it's me," he said. "Lailani, I came to—"

"Frisk him!" Lailani barked. "Guards!"

Two centipedes approached. Oddly, the aliens wore helmets with horns, and symbols were painted on their exoskeletons. Some kind of elite guardians, Marco surmised. Sharp, slender whiskers extended from them like rapiers, poking, rustling through his clothes. The centipedes finally stepped back.

A centipede twitched his antennae, vibrating the air to produce an eerie voice. "He… is … unarmed."

Marco didn't think he'd ever get used to scum talking. Lailani had trained the beasts well.

"Besides, you're wearing graphene armor," Marco said. "That stuff can withstand a grenade's blast. I have no weapons. Even if I did, I couldn't hurt you."

"So why are you here?" Lailani said.

The crowd was watching them curiously, scum and starlings alike. Only the prisoners of war did not watch. They were too wounded, and they knelt with a clatter of chains. Marco would help them. But not yet. Right now he had to end this war.

"I came to talk to you," Marco said. "Because I know you're still in there. The woman I love."

Lailani—or at least the creature she had become—snarled. "That woman died. There is no more woman. There is a goddess!"

"Oh, there is a goddess," Marco said. "I see her. She has six arms like the ancient Hindu goddesses. She is Kali reborn, beautiful and wrathful and stricken with madness. Or maybe she is Arachne, a spider goddess, the weaver of webs and the devourer of lost children. Or maybe she is a new goddess, and new lore will be told of her terror and glory. But there is still someone mortal inside that goddess. A trapped girl. I see her behind your dark eyes like a ghost in the windows of a haunted temple. She is Lailani de la Rosa. She is my friend."

She growled. She grabbed his collar. Twisted it. Like Addy had done earlier that day, but Lailani's grip was fiercer. She was so strong. She pulled him down to eye level, snarled in his face, fangs gleaming. Gray veins rose across her cheeks.

"The girl you knew died on Abaddon. When you bombed my planet, you killed her."

That doll-like face twisted with fury. With insanity. She became a demonic doll, possessed. Marco stared at her, refusing to look away.

"You're still in there," Marco said. "I see the goddess, the queen, the tyrant. And I see Lailani inside. I see the girl I met at Fort Djemila. The girl with the shaved head and angry little fists. The girl I learned is kind and loving." A lump filled his throat. "A girl I fell in love with. A girl I know is still alive. A girl who still recognizes me."

She blinked at him. And the madness left her eyes. Her face softened. Her fangs became smaller, barely more than canines, and she looked at him with fear. No, it was not fear. It was desperation. It was a girl trapped. Reaching out. It was Lailani.

"Marco?" she whispered.

But the instant passed. Again madness twisted her features, and the doll became a possessed doll once more, and she grabbed him with her middle hands. The claws ripped his uniform. Cut his skin. He did not recoil or fight back.

"You've come to trick me!" she said. "To assassinate me!"

"I came to see if you can be saved."

"Marco. Oh, Marco." She raised one of her upper hands, and she caressed his cheek. "Are you truly so innocent? Yes. Yes, you are. That's why I fell in love with you. Yes, I remember. I was a girl then. The girl you remember. I was just Lailani de la Rosa from the slums of Manila. The daughter of a whore. An urchin of the streets. The girl you felt was so brave, so beautiful. I remember her. And I remember you. The boy that girl fell in love with. Are you still there, Marco? Or is the young poet lost?"

Marco did not know the answer to that. He had put on a costume today. The old olive drab of a private. He had shaved his beard, cut his hair, as if he could somehow return to being that eighteen-year-old boy. That naive boy who had gone off to war, who had fallen in love. Perhaps that had been just a fling. Just a war affair. Just a summer of love among fire and death. But to him, it had meant the world.

"The young poet is not lost," he finally said. "I don't think he ever went away. My body has aged, but I'm still the same inside. And I still love Lailani. Not this goddess before me. But Lailani. I miss my friend."

"You can be with her again!" Lailani said. "Because yes, maybe she is a part of me. If only my past. And the past is a part of who a person is. Even if a person has changed, they evolved from their past self. The past is always a part of us, and I'll always be that girl you loved. Marco—let's stop this war. This stupid war between us. Forget about Einav and her commands! Forgot about Addy too. I'm the girl you fell in love with all those years ago. I can still be yours. You asked me to marry you once. It's not too late. I say yes!"

"But … what about Kai?" Marco said. "Your husband. He just died today."

You killed him, he thought. Murdered him with your mind control.

"Kai." She nodded, and a tear streamed down her cheek. "I loved him, yes. And he betrayed me. Like so many others. Einav hates me now. Addy has hated me since she learned I'm a starling. Even my own daughter betrayed me. But Marco, you came back to me. You're the only one." Another tear rolled down her cheek. "And I need you. I need my poet."

"Lailani, can I hold your hand?"

"Of course! Which one?" She winked.

Marco couldn't help it. He laughed. And Lailani laughed too, and her eyes sparkled.

"I'll choose this one." Marco held one of her hands. "I remember this one. I remember the scars on the wrist, how you'd hide them. I remember the dragon tattoo on the arm. I remember this little hand forming the angry little fist. And I remember how this hand held out a little turtle you found, offering it to me. Do you remember that turtle?"

"Loggerhead," she said softly.

"Lailani, stop all this," Marco said, voice soft. "Lay down your arms. End this war. Give Earth back to Einav."

She inhaled sharply. "No! Marco, you don't understand. We can't surrender to her. She'd put my people back in concentration camps. And I'll be sent to the firing squad. Marco, I know you love me. I hear it in your voice. I see it in your eyes. I love you too. I know I broke off our engagement, and I know I broke your heart, and I'm sorry. If you'll have me … be mine again. You don't have to die in this war, Marco. Marry me and be my king. And we'll rule Earth together."

"Lailani, listen to yourself," Marco said. "Look around you. All these dead bodies. The scum across our planet. This isn't you. You're not this person. You helped me fight the scum! You fought the marauders, the grays, the cyborgs. You fought to save Earth. Not for this."

"I told you I'm not that girl anymore." She stroked his hair, and her eyes were sad. "I've grown. So you have to ask yourself, Marco. Can you grow up too? Can you leave behind the innocence of the boy and become the king?" She gripped him with all six hands, looked up into his eyes. "Be my husband, my lover, my king. Together, we'll strike down our enemies. They will fear us. They will bow before us. And we will remake the world in our image. A world just for you and me, Marco. A world where we can have all that we desire. And all those who oppose us will die!"

Marco looked into her dark eyes, and the girl was gone. Lailani faded away. Perhaps he had not seen her there at all. Perhaps that was just an echo, the afterimage of a lost soul that had blazed so bright.

He caressed her cheek. "I love you, Lailani," he whispered, and he was speaking to a lost girl. To a ghost.

He leaned down toward her. She raised her lips to his. Standing in the heart of the Forbidden City, they kissed.

Her lips were soft. And he remembered kissing them so long ago, a kiss in a desert under the stars. He remembered wanting her to be his forever. And in a way, maybe she was.

He pulled back from her, and he looked at her with pity.

"I'm sorry, Lailani," he whispered. "I'm sorry that we couldn't save you. I'm sorry that we let the enemy take over you. You slipped away from us, and we should have held on tighter. I'm sorry."

She frowned, tilted her head. "Mar—"

She coughed. She gasped. She coughed again, her brow furrowed, and she placed a hand on her throat.

"Wh—" she began. She could say no more.

She couldn't even cough. She couldn't breathe.

The poison was on Marco's lips. It had coated his lips all this time. The chemist had made him the chemicals. A poison that was invisible, odorless, tasteless. A poison he had passed to her.

The chemist had made him two potions. One to kill, one to heal. Poison and antidote. Marco had swallowed the antidote before stepping out of his starship.

He had none left for Lailani.

"Marco …," Lailani whispered, voice raspy. She was turning blue.

Centipedes rushed forth. But they hesitated. They spun toward Marco, then back toward their queen, and clacked their mandibles in concern. They did nothing more. They were, after all, mindless without her. Just puppets. And their puppeteer was dying.

Marco caught Lailani as she fell. He knelt and held her in his arms. She looked up at him, her body limp. A body so small and frail. And she seemed to him less a spider now and again his little doll.

"I … I understand," she whispered. "What you did. I'm … dying, aren't I? I … I forgive you. Please hold me. Until the end."

A tear flowed from Marco's eye, and it splashed Lailani on the chin.

"I'm here, Lailani. I'm with you." His voice cracked. "Until the end."

She smiled softly. With a shaky hand, she caressed his cheek. She swallowed weakly, coughed, and found a wisp of voice. "Marco, I remember it so clearly now. That Sunday in Fort Djemila. Do you remember?"

He nodded, eyes damp. "I remember."

"The others all went out to play soccer." Lailani's eyes seemed to be gazing back, and her smile widened, a wistful smile. "We remained in the tent. You and me. I undressed and I think I shocked you a bit. But then we made love. It was my first time."

"That was a good day," Marco whispered, his throat feeling too tight, so tight he wondered if the poison was affecting him too. But it was just the emotion, the sweet poison of those memories.

"Do you remember what I said to you then?" she whispered.

He nodded. "I never forgot."

She stroked his hair, smiling up at him. "I ruv you."

Her hand fell. She stopped breathing with a smile on her face.

Marco lowered his head, tears falling.

"I love you too," he whispered, holding her delicate body. And he knew that the scum would swarm, and that he would die with Lailani in his arms.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Tala ran.

Around her, Beijing stormed with chaos. The scum raced everywhere, their claws tearing up the roads, ripping down buildings. Civilians raced down the streets. A few soldiers were still fighting, and gunfire rattled across the city. Armed militias patrolled the ruins, masks hiding their faces, shouting at civilians to stand back. Tala watched a scum leap onto a few armed guards. Bullets would not stop the alien. It ripped the humans apart.

Tala kept running.

Right now she had to reach the Forbidden City.

It was hard to believe, but a few hours ago, Tala had been hiding in the forests of Canada. Now she was here, running through Chinese devastation, desperate to reach her mother.

The past few hours flashed before her eyes. Picking up Lailani's speech on the radio. Listening in horror as Lailani spoke of world domination. Knowing that only she, Tala, could stop her.

So Tala had run. She had run through the forest, racing along old hiking trails Uncle Marco used to take her on. Finally reaching his farm, finding it overrun with centipedes. Terri had helped. They had fired their guns, blasted the centipedes away, and then Tala had grabbed Addy's little old orbital ship.

Yes, the one shaped like a hot dog.

Tala and her companions fought for that hot dog. They fought hard, killing a dozen scum.

And then Tala had soared into orbit, and from space, she had seen the devastation across Earth. The smoldering cities. The killing fields. The fires.

Half an hour later, she was plunging back into the atmosphere, heading down to Beijing. She had wanted to land directly in the Forbidden City, but podships floated above that ancient palace, shooting down anything that flew too close. A flying hot dog would, no doubt, attract some attention.

And so Tala had landed outside the city walls. And now she ran down the ancient streets. She swerved around a few last pockets of resistance—alleyways, courtyards, and ancient temples where centipedes and soldiers still fought. Tala ran on by.

Finally, so exhausted she nearly collapsed, Tala reached the Forbidden City. The center of Lailani's new empire.

And she found it in chaos.

A horde of scum and starlings covered a massive city square. Pagodas with gold and crimson roofs stood all around. A palace rose ahead across the crowd, dominating the scene. The scum were rearing and roaring, claws raised to the sky. Thousands of starlings stood among them, shouting, pointing, close to panic.

"She's dead!" somebody cried.

"He killed her!"

"Queen Lailani is dead!"

Tala froze.

My mother? Dead?

"She's dead! She's dead!" a starling shouted.

"Our goddess has left us!"

"Lailani is dead!"

The starlings in the crowd howled in grief. With their claws, they tore out their hair, ripped their clothes, slashed their skin. They tossed their heads back and roared. They had become wild beasts, things like werewolves, untethered to man.

"Oh God," Tala whispered. "Mom? Mom, are you …?"

She began to run again.

"The queen is dead! The queen is dead!" chanted the crowd.

"Out of my way!" Tala cried, elbowing her way through.

Oh God. Oh Mom.

Grief seized Tala with cold hands, wringing tears from her eyes. She hated Lailani! Lailani was a monster! But Tala remembered a different mother. A kind mother who embraced, who soothed. A human mother with two warm, comforting arms. Perhaps that woman had died years ago.

Finally Tala reached the Imperial Palace. A stage rose before the pagoda. Tala ran up the stairs, across the stone tiles, and there she saw her.

Her mother.

Lailani lay on the stone tiles, eyes closed, her six arms spread out around her.

"Mom," Tala whispered, suddenly feeling like a child again. She ran and knelt by her mother.

Lailani seemed peaceful in death. There was no blood on her body. No sign of injury at all. Her expression was serene. In life, Lailani's skin had been olive-toned, but in death she seemed so pale. She had the face of a porcelain doll.

And suddenly Tala could almost forgive all those years of fear. Of watching her mother descend into madness. And she felt that she gazed at the lifeless corpse of the old Lailani. Of the kind, loving woman. The comforting mother. Yes, maybe that mother had died long ago, back when Lailani removed the chip from her skull, surrendering to the beast. But finally Tala could see a body. Could find some closure.

Who did this? How had Lailani died? Tala did not know. Right now it didn't matter. A sense of finality, almost soothing, flowed across Tala, mingling with her grief. She pulled her mother into her arms.

Creaks rose from the body. Louder. The sound of bones cracking. Of skin ripping.

Tala leaned back and gasped. Lailani's lower arms were detaching!

As Tala held the body, one arm fell onto the floor. It had become a dry, brittle thing, the skin like paper wrapped around a bundle of twigs. Then another and another arm fell, until only Lailani's two original arms remained. In death, she was human again. She was a woman. A mother. A heroine of Earth.

I hope that when they write books about her, when they sing songs about Lailani, that they remember the good she did in this world, Tala thought. I hope they remember the Lailani who fought in the great Scum War and the uprising against the marauders. The Lailani who courageously faced the grays in battle, and who charged into the cyborg lines. They will remember what she became. They will all remember the monster. But I hope that they remember the woman too.

A gasp sounded from the back of the stage. Centipedes hissed and grunted.

"Tala, get out of here!" rose a cry. "I'll hold them back!"

Tala turned her head. Her eyes widened. Marco! Marco was here on the stage! She hadn't even noticed him until now. Her grief had consumed her, but now she became aware of the danger. The centipedes surrounded Marco, drawing closer, claws raised to strike. Countless more scum covered the Forbidden City, hissing.

There are billions of scum on Earth with no master, Tala realized. What will they do?

One scum leaped at Marco. He jumped back, and the centipede crashed into a pillar, shook himself, and rose again with fury. More aliens closed in on Marco. Their mandibles opened wide. They were ready to feast.

"Stop!" Tala shouted.

The centipedes froze. Their lumpy heads turned toward her. Their antennae twitched, speaking with buzzing voices.

"He … killed … the queen!"

Tala gasped. What? Marco killed my mom?

She looked at him, shock in her eyes. He stared back. He said nothing.

It was true. She saw it in his eyes.

Thoughts and terrors raced through Tala's mind like swarming insects. She shoved them aside for now. This was a complex tragedy. She would likely spend years thinking about it, going through the phases of grief and anger and maybe, someday, acceptance. But for now, she was not ready to let Marco die.

My mother died long ago, Tala thought. If Marco killed anyone today, it was just the creature my mother had become.

"Let him live," she said.

The centipedes hissed at her. Their mandibles clacked menacingly.

"You are not a queen."

"You do not command us."

"We will devour him."

"And then we will devour the world!"

"Queen Lailani gave us Earth."

"Earth is ours!"

"You're wrong!" Tala shouted. "Everything you hissed at me is wrong. I am your queen now. Abaddon is a monarchy, and I now rule. You are mine to command. And I order you to bow before me."

They sneered. They scuttled closer, claws scratching the ancient palace tiles. Tala stood her ground. She stared back, chin raised, shoulders squared. She already looked exactly like Lailani, and now she assumed the queen's attitude.

"Bow," she said, "down."

The scums' antennae twitched. They released pheromones. Tala had grown up among these beasts. She understood their language of scents.

Is it true?

Is she queen?

Is she daughter?

Yes, she is daughter.

She is not of Abaddon! She is of Earth.

She is queen's daughter!

She is queen.

Bow. Bow.

They fell silent. They turned toward her. And they bowed.

Not just the centipedes here on the stage, those around Marco and Tala. But the million centipedes across the Forbidden City too. And beyond them—the billions of centipedes across the world. The news traveled fast through the hive. Tala—a human—was queen of Abaddon. They accepted her.

She was not a starling, and she could not connect directly to the hive, to that great network Lailani had jokingly called the Scumnet. Tala could not see through their vestigial little eyes, nor hear through their ears. But she could relay her commands to the scum here on the stage, those high-ranking warriors with the horned helmets. They would pass on the news.

"These are my orders," she said. "You are to leave this planet. All of you. Every last centipede. You are to fly to Abaddon. And you are never to leave that planet again. Not to Earth. Not to any other world. From henceforth you are restricted to one world alone. Abaddon!"

The helmeted guards passed on the orders. They were not pleased with the commands. They hissed and rustled across the square. But they obeyed.

Their podships descended. The centipedes walked in, line by line, like ants entering their hives. And then the bulbous ships rose, blasted through the sky, and were gone. It was happening all over the world.

The war was over. Humanity had won. But to Tala this felt like such a loss. She looked again at her dead mother, and her tears fell.

"I love her," Tala whispered. "Is that strange, Uncle Marco? That after everything she did, I love her?"

Marco wrapped an arm around her. "I don't know, Tala. This is all strange and confusing and scary. But … I love her too. I hate what she became. But I love who she was. And maybe it's as simple as that. I don't think we can ever stop loving someone. Even if they do terrible things. We love who we love." He mussed her hair. "Let's get out of here, kiddo. Let's go home."

"Home, Uncle Marco?" Tala said. "I don't have a home anymore."

"Of course you do. You always did. With us. On the farm."

She hugged him. "Thank you."

They entered the Black Rose Viperess. They took Lailani's body; it was so light when they lifted it. They rose from the city and flew back home.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

They did not give Lailani a military funeral.

They did not bury her on Earth. They did not give her a tombstone or a twenty-one-gun salute. They did not invite the many people she had touched in her life, not even the children whose schools she had built.

They didn't even tell anyone about the funeral.

As far as Earth knew, her body vanished in the war. Burned away in the bombings. It was better that way. To most Earthlings, Lailani was a monster. She had slaughtered so many people. If they gave her a state funeral, any public funeral at all, the people would riot. And they would be right to.

But to her loved ones, Lailani's death was not a victory. Not something to celebrate. It was a tragedy. And they mourned her loss.

They flew her up in the Black Rose Viperess. Only four people came.

Marco. Addy. Ben-Ari. And Tala.

"We were the closest people to her," Marco said. "And we will send her off."

They flew into deep space, passing the heliosphere, and floated on the shores of the interstellar ocean. They entered the airlock, where Lailani lay on a litter. She seemed peaceful. Briefly, they had debated whether to dress her in a military uniform. They decided against it. She had dishonored that uniform, but her life was not worthless. She had saved the world many times before destroying it. They would not forget the good even as they did not forgive the bad.

Instead, they had dressed her body in a baro't saya, a traditional dress of the Philippines, the fabric woven from pineapple leaves. They placed a jasmine in her hair. Her favorite flower.

They stood around her in the airlock, looking down at her little body. Out of all of them, oddly, Addy began to cry first.

"I'm sorry, Lailani," Addy whispered. "If I was a bully, if I … if I made you feel betrayed, or alone, I'm sorry."

Marco put an arm around his wife, comforting her. She sniffed and wiped her eyes.

Ben-Ari gazed down at Lailani, smiled sadly, and it seemed that there was some secret in her eyes, a secret only she and Lailani had shared. Then Ben-Ari stepped back, her sad smile like a memory.

Marco wondered if he should say something. Deliver some grand speech about what Lailani meant to them. To him. He was a writer, his profession was words, but now they jammed in his throat.

"Napoleon," he finally said.

Addy frowned at him. "What?"

"Napoleon," Marco repeated. "They called him the Man-Eater from Corsica. He was a monster to Europe. He conquered. He killed. He was consumed with rage and madness, a desperation to rule the world. But in lands he conquered, he spread the ideals of enlightenment. He brought laws and liberal values. He abolished the class system. He emancipated the imprisoned Jews from the ghettos of Europe. He liberated the peasants from their masters. He was a monster to the nobles, but to the downtrodden he was an angel. Lailani spent her life helping the downtrodden. The orphan children in the Philippines, for whom she built schools. The people of Earth, for whom she fought in the Alien Wars. And finally for the starlings. At the end, she was misguided. She was consumed by a creature inside her. She was driven mad. But even to the very end, even as a being more alien than human, she still fought for the downtrodden. And she died fighting for them. Today historians remember two views of Napoleon. The Man-Eater of Corsica and the liberator of the enslaved. Maybe in the future, history will remember both Lailanis. The demon but also the angel. I'll remember both."

After all, he had found some words to say.

The others nodded. Tala was crying softly.

They said goodbye to her, and they stepped outside the airlock. They watched through the glass pane as Lailani glided into space.

They all moved into the hold, where they stood by the portholes, gazing out into space. They watched as Lailani floated away, almost peaceful. Her hair, her dress—they did not billow in the vacuum. Yet she seemed fluid. Graceful. She glided into the distance like a dancer. She would dance forever among the stars. They stayed and watched until she faded in the distance.

Marco cleared his throat. "Well, who's up for a BBQ on the farm? I feel like grilling some steaks."

The others all turned toward him. Ben-Ari frowned. Tala tilted her head.

"Poet, now is not the time!" Addy whispered, her eyes shooting daggers.

"Why not?" Marco shrugged. "Lailani enjoyed a good steak. I say we fly back home, fire up the grill, and slap some T-bones on it. We'll crack open some beers too. Tala can have some juice."

"Hey, I'm eighteen already!" Tala said. "I'm an adult. You were eighteen when you invaded Abaddon in the first Scum War."

"I was nineteen, and I didn't drink any beer while I was invading," Marco said. "Juice for you."

"I'll have some tea," said Ben-Ari. "Chamomile, if you've got it."

"I want hot dogs!" Addy said.

"Well, there's a shocker." Marco headed into the cockpit. "I'm flying. This baby is a fast starship. We'll be home soon."

* * * * *

It was a warm night on Earth. The stars shone bright, and satellites and starships zipped back and forth above, little specks of white light. Down on the surface, a campfire crackled. Potatoes wrapped in tinfoil nestled among the embers, slowly baking. Nearby, steaks sizzled on the grill, and a cooler kept bottles of beer ice cold.

The world smoldered. The world grieved. But for one night, here on the Linden-Emery farm, they captured a little bit of joy.

Sam and Roza were running around like maniacs, playing tag, practicing their somersaults, and chasing frogs. Carl Ben-Ari, who was normally quieter than the twins, joined the fun. He was a little shorter, a little slower, but the twins adored him, welcoming him as a true brother.

Terri and Tala were older, and they shared a special bond. The two teenagers sat by the fire, roasting marshmallows and whispering to each other. The girls would be joining the army next month, like all Earthlings their age. They were nervous but they had each other, and they had the adults to guide them.

The adults kept busy. Addy brought out her ceremonial rake, slung a hot dog onto each prong, and roasted them over the campfire. Marco manned the grill, flipping the steaks. Ben-Ari chopped up a salad and admonished the children when they played too rough.

They even invited Noah. The famous professor felt a bit awkward at first, perhaps. He had not seen Einav since their separation. But he had watched the little ones during the war, had kept them alive. They wanted him here. His girlfriend, the young and bubbly Meital, had stayed home in Jerusalem. Perhaps she still felt shy around Ben-Ari.

Finally the food was ready. Everyone gathered on the deck to eat. They cut into their steaks. The adults cracked open beers. Terri, the only vegetarian in the group, put a serious dent into the salad.

"You put flowers in your salad, Auntie Einav?" Terri asked, eyes wide. "I've never seen anything like this."

Ben-Ari smiled. "I'm a Mediterranean girl. Flowers in salad is a tradition. These are nasturtium flowers. They're edible. Try one."

The girl nibbled on a flower, her eyes widened in delight, and she began devouring the colorful petals.

"The yard needs weeding, Terri, if you're interested in grazing," Addy said.

Marco gave his wife a little shove. "Be nice, Addy."

"I am nice! I'm offering her food."

"Addy!"

Terri looked up from her salad, several petals hanging from her mouth. "Be careful, Addy, or I'll eat your prized petunias."

Addy shrugged. "Go ahead. Marco planted those."

Everyone turned to stare at Marco.

"You planted petunias?" Tala asked, then she began to giggle.

Marco squared his shoulders. "I'll have you know there's no shame in a man planting flowers. My petunias are the pride of the province."

He delivered those words with such conviction that everyone laughed.

They let the kids stay up past their bedtime. Soon they were yawning. Marco and Addy invited everyone to spend the night, which they gratefully accepted. The professor, himself yawning, carried Carl into the farmhouse. The twins followed, groggy, and shuffled like zombies toward their beds. Terri and Tala were older, and they managed to stay up till midnight, but then they crashed too.

That left the three old friends around the campfire. Marco, Addy, and Ben-Ari.

For a moment they all gazed at the embers. Then Marco added another log to the fire. He thought they might stay out here for a while.

Addy reached into the cooler and handed out beers. She raised her bottle. "To friends."

Marco and Ben-Ari chinked their bottles against hers. "To friends!"

They drank, for a moment silent.

Marco noticed that Addy had taken out a fourth bottle of beer. Now she carried it to the log where Lailani used to sit. Solemnly, Addy poured it out. Marco and Ben-Ari watched silently.

"Hey," Marco said after long moments of silence. "Do you remember that time in boot camp, how we simulated a scum attack? We all had to play wounded civilians. The sergeant brought over a box full of civilian clothes, and we all grabbed something to wear. Lailani was so pissed off she had to wear an actual dress."

Addy laughed. "I remember that. Back then, Lailani was all about being a tomboy. Shaved head and everything. When she put on the dress's matching hat, you couldn't even see her shaved head."

"Elvis fell madly in love with her then," Marco said, laughing harder. "Which only pissed off Lailani some more."

Addy shoved him. "Hey, you were making googly eyes at her too. What was it you said? That she looked like Audrey Hepburn?"

Marco grinned. "That made her even angrier."

Addy raised her finger, eye brightening. "Hey! You guys! Do you remember that time we were all flying on the Terra, and Lailani got drunk one night, and locked herself in the pantry overnight?"

Marco laughed. "Yes! I remember. She thought it was her bunk. She never showed up for morning roll call. We finally found her curled up in the pantry, hungover, a bunch of empty potato chip bags and candy wrappers around her."

Ben-Ari, who was listening quietly with a sad smile, spoke next. "Do you remember how she used to adopt stray cats and dogs she found on that military base?"

Marco nodded. "Yes. She did that at multiple bases. She'd collect the poor animals, feed them, look after them until it was time to leave to another base."

"I saw her do that when she'd visit our Greek home," Addy said. "Remember how many strays were in Greece? I'd get annoyed at them. But Lailani would pity them and feed them."

"I visited the schools she built in the Philippines," Ben-Ari said. "I saw her compassion. I saw how much she loved those kids."

For a moment they were all silent, gazing into the campfire.

"Do you remember how I got my chewing gum in her hair once?" Addy said. "She didn't even mind when I started chewing her hair. She just sat there, letting me chew."

"You're crazy, Addy," Marco said. "Oh, I got one. Do you remember when …?"

They sat there for hours, swapping tales about Lailani, about the old days, the better days. Finally the campfire died down to embers, and the three of them huddled together on a log, wrapped in a big blanket, watching the sunrise.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

For a long while now, something had been on Marco's mind.

He had kept it tucked away, a gnawing concern in the shadowy corners of his brain. Throughout the battles, the final confrontation with Lailani, the funeral, and their convalescence, it had kept gnawing.

It was time to open that shadowy closet, pull out the tenacious little critter, and examine it in the light.

That morning, after a sleepless night, Marco asked the professor to join him for coffee on the back porch. They sat there, sipping the hot brew, listening to the birds sing. For a moment they just made small talk. About the kids. About what's for lunch. About how Marco's petunias were blooming nicely.

Finally Noah said, "But you didn't just want to talk about petunias, did you, Marco?"

Marco sipped his coffee. "Quite astute, professor. As usual."

The professor pulled a joint from his pocket, lit it, took a puff. Then he handed it over to Marco, eyebrow raised. Marco glanced around to make sure the kids weren't watching. Then he gratefully accepted the joint and took a puff himself.

"What's on your mind?" Noah said. His voice was comforting, his eyes kind.

"It's something Kai said before he died. When we saw him again, he was a starling. He had claws, fangs. He told me that he caught it from Lailani. That it's sexually transmitted. And … well, it's been a long time. I was only eighteen. But …"

The professor nodded. "Ah. You and Lailani."

"Yes."

"Well, it's been over twenty years," Noah said. "Have you noticed any symptoms?"

Marco shook his head. "No. None. But according to what we know, starlings can carry the disease—if disease is the right word—for years without symptoms. Then suddenly they manifest. I haven't manifested. But aboard the Ishtar, I was subjected to a test. The test came out positive. It identified me as a starling. I was sure the test was fake. That a saboteur tampered with it. Now I'm not so sure."

Noah took another puff on his joint, passed it to Marco. "We have better tests now. I've been developing them myself. We'll get you tested. But Marco, have you told Addy?"

A voice came from behind them. "Oh, Addy knows."

They turned to see Addy step onto the deck. She wore jean shorts and a hockey jersey, and her hair hung in a loose braid. She held a massive mug of steaming coffee full of cream and sugar—her cure for hangovers. She was beautiful in the morning light, and Marco felt such guilt. Had he infected her?

"I can put two and two together." Addy sat down beside them. "I know all about Marco and Lailani, and I heard Kai, and, well … sign me up for one of those tests. Hey, I almost hope it's positive! Starlings age slowly, right? Maybe I'll become twenty again and can drink beer all night without feeling like shit the next morning."

The back door opened again. Now Ben-Ari stepped outside. She wore a white summer dress embroidered with red pomegranates, and she held a mug of chamomile tea. Her ponytail was perfect, her blue eyes bright, her smile warm. Clearly, she was not hungover.

"I think we should get tested too, Noah," Ben-Ari said. "Both of us. I … well …" She blushed.

Marco frowned. "You what?"

Ben-Ari bit her lip. She lowered her eyes, and her blush deepened. "Well, I … It's sexually transmitted, and …"

Addy gasped. "You didn't!"

"It was a long time ago." Ben-Ari stared at her toes. "Do you remember when we flew on the Saint Brendan to the planet of the Yurei? The rest of you went on a quest, and I stayed behind on the ship with Lailani. Well … it was then. Just one time."

Marco blinked. "Wow. You and Lailani. I had no idea."

"Damn, Einav, you're a pimp!" Addy said. She grabbed Marco and held him tight. "Just don't steal my husband."

Noah cleared his throat, interrupting the awkward moment. "Let's all fly to my lab in Jerusalem. I'll run some tests."

Addy pointed at the sky, chin held high. "To the Flying Hot Dog!"

"Can we please not fly in the hot dog?" Marco said.

But Addy was already racing to her sausage-shaped starship. With a sigh, Marco followed. They all squeezed in and flew.

* * * * *

They landed just outside the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Students emerged from their classrooms to point at the giant hot dog, which stood smoking and rattling on the lawn. When the hatch opened, and their very own Professor Noah Isaac stepped out from the ridiculous flying contraption, a few students cheered.

Addy stepped out behind the professor. Strutted out would be more accurate, perhaps. She had her thumbs hooked in her belt, her chin raised high.

"Yeah, that's right, Addy Fucking Linden is here! Heroine of the war. Cheer for me, my fans!"

The students stared at one another. A few muttered, "Who?" Thankfully, Addy was too busy strutting to notice.

Marco and Ben-Ari stepped out next, the kids in tow. Several security shuttles landed, and agents in suits and sunglasses accompanied them. After all, Einav Ben-Ari was the president. She went nowhere without security. Their little trip here also involved a complete no-fly zone, closures of the nearby highways, and snipers on the university rooftops.

They walked through the campus. Thousands of students watched curiously. A few began to protest the president, waving impromptu signs. This too was normal. Wherever the president went, that meant security, protests, and mostly a lot of attention.

Finally they reached Noah's lab.

His girlfriend Meital was there, a pretty graduate student with bright blue eyes and long brown hair. She also showed a lot of cleavage. So much that Marco could feel Addy glowering at him, ready to destroy the room if his eyes strayed.

"Noah!" The girl leaped onto the professor and hugged him.

"Meital!" The professor hugged her back. He was much older, but the two seemed truly in love.

From all the tales Ben-Ari had told, Marco had imagined a femme fatale that could put Jessica Rabbit to shame. But Meital seemed pleasant enough, intelligent and bubbly, and she hugged everyone in turn. Ben-Ari didn't hug her back, just gave her a little frosty smile. At least she didn't wring her neck. That was something, Marco supposed.

With Meital watching the kids, the adults got to work.

"I've been researching the starling gene," Noah said. "Actually, it's a collection of over two hundred genes, expertly woven into human DNA. Our research here at the Hebrew University has cracked the starling genome. We've mapped every one of the alien genes and think we understand its purpose. We also have newer, more accurate tests. Instead of a 95 percent accuracy, like the old tests, the new ones are virtually foolproof. So—sleeves up, everyone! I'll need to draw some blood."

"Do we get ice cream afterward?" Marco quipped.

"How about hot dogs?" said Addy.

"You're literally eating a hot dog right now," Marco said. "Where did you even get that?"

"From my purse," Addy said. "Want one?" She opened her purse, revealing several hot dogs wrapped in saran wrap.

"No!" Marco said. "God, Addy. Your blood type is going to come back 'pork.'"

"I'll have you know these are beef hot dogs," Addy said. "I think. Maybe it's pork. Or chicken. The package doesn't specify. Probably a good thing."

They all let Noah prick them for blood. They waited as the professor analyzed the samples. Addy kept cracking dumb jokes. Ben-Ari stood very still. Marco tried to resist the urge to tap his foot.

After about an hour, Noah had the results.

* * * * *

"You might want to sit down," the professor told them.

They all sat down. From the room nearby, they heard Meital playing with the kids, but in here it was just them.

"Okay." Noah nodded and smoothed his lab coat. "Now, this test analyzes your DNA by passing a nanobot over the helix, traversing allele by allele to—"

"Enough nerd stuff!" Addy said. "Come on, man, just tell us. Are we freaks?"

Noah cleared his throat. "Well, I wouldn't put it that way. But all four of us have starling DNA."

For a moment they sat in stunned silence.

"But—" Addy blinked. "But—I thought starlings don't age! Look at Marco!"

"Hey." Marco bristled. "Why are you singling me out?"

Addy raised her chin. "Because I still look twenty-five." She growled and made a fist. "Or are you denying it?"

"Addy does look young for her age," Marco confessed. "So does Einav. But Addy raises a good point. We're all in our forties now. And at least I look it."

"And I'm in my sixties," Noah said. "And I certainly look it."

"So what gives?" Addy said. "Thanks to time dilation, Lailani was about fifty when she died, and she didn't look older than twenty. We all said that's because she's a starling. That starlings age slowly, can live for centuries. So why are we aging? Especially you boys."

"Oh, I'm aging too," Ben-Ari said with a sigh. "I've got a white streak through my hair and crow's feet, and I feel every one of my forty-three years. That's young for a president, I know. But I'm certainly not ageless like Lailani."

They all looked at the professor.

"You see, none of us have ever manifested," Noah said. "Our starling genes are dormant. We've been living as humans. Aging as humans. Lailani manifested at age eighteen, and her aging slowed to a crawl. It takes an incident of great emotion to activate the starling genes. Trauma, excitement, fear, sex—those have been known to trigger manifestation in some patients, but not in others. To be honest, we don't quite understand why some starlings manifest when they do. Someday maybe we will."

For a moment they all sat in silence.

Marco shuddered. A trickle of sweat ran down his back. His fingers tingled.

"We're starlings," he said. "Oh God. We've been infected."

He looked at Addy and Ben-Ari. They stared back, eyes wide with fear. Only now was it sinking in.

They were part alien.

They had caught the disease.

* * * * *

"Hang on one damn second!" Addy said. "This is impossible. If we're starlings, how come Lailani could never control us? Huh? Remember last year? Lailani commanded all the starlings on Earth! She forced them to attack. To kill. She could never control us! I say these tests are bullshit. We can't possibly be starlings."

Everyone turned to look at Noah.

"I considered that myself," the professor said. "I don't quite understand how Lailani controlled the hive, but I have three working hypotheses. First, it's possible that Lailani could only control starlings who had already manifested. We haven't manifested yet. We've never grown the claws and so never connected to the hive. We've simply been offline. Another hypothesis is that Lailani could only control what I call first generation starlings—hybrids created in scum laboratories. But we were born humans, not in a lab, and only mutated late in life. Maybe that gives us immunity to being puppeteered. A third hypothesis is that Lailani could control us all along—but she chose not to. Maybe our friendship still mattered to her."

They all considered that for a moment.

"I hope it's the second hypothesis," Marco said. "The immunity. I sure hope we're not part of that hive."

"I feel sick," Addy said. "Oh God. Professor, what's going to happen? Are we going to become monsters? To kill people?"

Ben-Ari stood up, walked toward her ex-husband, gripped his shoulder. "Tell me you developed a cure, Noah. Tell me you can cure this."

Marco felt the blood drain from his cheeks. "I need some water. I feel dizzy."

Noah stood up. "Now, now, hold on everybody! There's no need to panic. You've been carrying these genes around for years. If you haven't manifested in all that time, another few minutes won't make a difference. Deep breaths, everyone. You're going to be perfectly fine."

They sat back down. They took deep breaths.

"But you can cure it, right?" Marco said.

"Well, cure is an interesting word," Noah said. "That implies it's a disease. But this isn't a virus. It isn't a bacterial infection. But okay, we can use the word cure if that's more intuitive. No, I can't cure you."

"Oh shit, we're going to become demons," Addy said. "Oh God, we're going—"

"Addy, Addy!" Noah said. "Please. Let me finish. No, I can't cure you. But I can still help. You see, I developed a method to manipulate the starling genes. Do you remember how, during the Cyborg War, I developed nanobots to combat the cyborgs?"

They all nodded.

"We remember," Marco said.

"I can repurpose those nanobots to travel through your bodies, cell by cell. They can access the two hundred starling genes. They can activate some of those genes. For example, the genes responsible for slow aging. And they can make sure other genes—like those that cause fangs to grow—remain dormant. In fact, you can probably live with those nanobots inside you forever. They'll just keep controlling the genes indefinitely, keeping some off, turning some on if you'd like them. A much better solution, I think, than the chip Lailani carried in her head. That was a revolutionary solution at the time, but today we have better technology."

Addy blinked at the professor. "Are you telling me … you can stop us from becoming monsters? And make us young again?"

The professor nodded. "Addy, that's exactly what I'm saying. There are, of course, certain ethical implications to consider. Should we truly alter our own genes artificially? Are we humans wise enough to play God? And there are certain societal issues to consider too. There are only about forty thousand starlings in the world and billions of regular humans. Would it be fair for us, a small minority, to enjoy such enhancements in our DNA? To become a race of supermen, stronger, faster, living longer, while the rest of humanity—"

"Listen, nerd!" Addy gripped the professor by the collar. "You make me twenty years younger and maybe I won't punch you."

"Addy. Addy!" Marco cried. It took both him and Ben-Ari to pull her off the poor professor.

Noah smoothed his lab coat and cleared his throat. "The ethical questions are valid. That said, I do recommend nanotherapy for everyone with the starling genes. Certainly to those who manifest. The therapy can shut down the genes responsible for aggression. For some patients, this is particularly important." He gave Addy a pointed look. "And also the gene that allows a host to control them from afar. With our nanotherapy, the starlings will be able to live out the rest of their lives as regular people, reintegrated in human society. Starlings and humans will no longer be enemies."

"So that's how the war ends," Ben-Ari said softly. "With extinguishing a new race of humanity. I find it oddly sad. I fought them hard. I fought to destroy them. But now, when I think of nanobots moving through their bodies, shutting off what makes them unique, I can't help but feel a sense of loss."

Noah put an arm around her. She did not resist.

"We humans have been modifying our own genes for millions of years," Noah said. "We just call it selective breeding, and we do it gradually, generation by generation, by choosing mates with qualities we admire. After all, isn't that why we chose each other, Einav? How we made Carl?"

Ben-Ari laughed weakly. "I guess."

"We won't be extinguishing a new race," Noah said. "We'll be welcoming the starlings into humanity. Well, I should say: humanity will be welcoming us. Our gene pools will blend over time. We don't yet know if the starling genes can be passed on. For example, Tala did not inherit them. But maybe some babies will. Maybe in a few thousand years, everyone will have a little bit of starling inside them."

Marco, Ben-Ari, and Addy glanced at one another, then back at the professor.

"Sooner or later," Marco said, "we will manifest. Is that true?"

"I don't know," the professor said. "We haven't yet. We might tomorrow. It's like hitting puberty or going into labor. It can come early, it can come late. But yes, I believe that sooner or later, our starling genes will awake. Probably quite suddenly. Maybe due to some big flood of emotions."

"So we should get the nanotherapy," Marco said. "Can we get it already? We can have those nanobots inside us, patrolling, waiting for us to manifest. Once the starling genes wake up, we're ready." He nodded. "Like a vaccine."

"Yes, I suppose," the professor said. "But the therapy can do more than act like a vaccine. It can wake up certain desirable genes. I think Addy knows what I'm talking about."

"The fountain of youth," Addy whispered, eyes alight.

* * * * *

They were silent for long moments, contemplating. Marco understood. This was a historic moment. Not just for them. But for all humanity. This was an evolutionary moment.

Marco finally spoke. "I would like to hear what Einav thinks. I think she should decide."

They all turned toward their friend.

"Me?" Ben-Ari said.

Marco looked into her eyes. "Yes. This question affects humanity. And you're the leader of humanity. You're also our leader. You've been our leader since we all met at boot camp many years ago. You're also very wise. And we all respect you. We've followed you so far. We've followed you to alien worlds and battlefields. Now, if you choose, we'll follow you into the unknown. Into the future of human evolution."

Ben-Ari looked at Marco, then at Addy. "Then follow me once more. Follow me into the future."

They both saluted her. Ben-Ari returned the salute, then pulled them into a hug.

"Sorry, we hug a lot," Addy said to the professor. "We're big huggers. Want to join us?"

He laughed. "I'm going to start getting the nanobots ready. We'll begin our therapy today. We'll all be the first test subjects. If it works, we can roll it out to the world."

"Cool!" Addy said. "I always wanted to be a piggy bank."

"She means guinea pig," Marco explained.

"No, I mean piggy bank." Addy reached into her bra and pulled out some coins. "I came up with the idea a while ago. Now I always have money for snacks! Is there a vending machine around here?"

"I have a better idea," Ben-Ari said. "Let's go to my house for lunch."

"Hot dogs!" Addy said.

Terri burst into the room. The girl must have been eavesdropping. "Can I have salad with flowers?"

"I'll get working on the nanos and meet you for dinner," Noah said. "If that's … all right, Einav?"

She looked at him, stern at first. Then her eyes softened. "Yes." She nodded. "Come over for dinner. Bring Meital. She's part of the family."

* * * * *

They all gathered at Ben-Ari's house on the hill outside the city walls. The whole clan was there. In these times of loss, after so many deaths and so much war, they cherished one another's company. They were the survivors. They were the future. They were a family.

They sat around the table, eating, drinking, laughing. Ben-Ari made her famous flower salad, while Noah and Marco worked the kitchen, preparing salmon, wild rice, and of course hot dogs for Addy. The kids laughed and played. The adults opened several bottles of wine, red and white. They even let Terri and Tala drink a cup each. The twins and Carl ran around, banging wooden swords. They filled the house with laughter.

But Marco was quiet most of the day. Sometimes he went outside to the garden, and he just stood and stared at the desert. The golden dunes rolled into the east.

You were part of our family, Lailani, he thought. I miss you. I miss you and Kemi and Benny and all the others who left us too soon.

And suddenly the pain seemed too great to bear. The grief was so powerful Marco did not know if he could ever feel true joy again.

Then he heard footfalls behind him. Addy walked toward him, stood at his right-hand side, and held his hand. Ben-Ari walked through the garden and held his left hand. The three stood together, watching the desert.

"We're still here," Ben-Ari said. "The last three. The survivors of the Dragons Platoon. The others all fell, but we're still here. And we'll be here for a very long time."

Lunch flowed into dinner. Ben-Ari was serving honey cake, which she baked herself, when Noah arrived from the lab. He brought with him four vials.

"The nanobots," he said. "They're ready. Custom made for our DNA."

"Sit down and eat first," Ben-Ari said. "You and Meital. Eat, eat! Nobody comes as a guest to my home and goes unfed."

Marco smiled inwardly. Ben-Ari was being the gracious host but still slinging a few barbs. My home. Not our home.

Noah ignored the little sling. He ate his dinner dutifully, and then handed out their vaccinations.

"Each one of these bottles contains thousands of nanobots," Noah said. "Inside you, they'll multiply, spread from cell to cell, and adjust your DNA. All the trillions of cells in your body. It's a monumental number, but they're up to the task. The nanobots will deactivate the dangerous starling genes—the ones that cause rage, claws, fangs, blind obedience to a leader. It will, meanwhile, activate the beneficial genes, the ones that give starlings good health, fast healing, and long life. You won't feel a thing. I don't think so at least. It hasn't been tested on humans before. I'll go first."

"No way!" Addy said. "I'm the piggy bank here." She uncorked a vial and prepared to swallow it.

Marco stopped her. "Addy, that bottle is mine. It has my name on it."

She pouted. "But yours looks better. It's purple. Mine is boring blue."

"They're custom made for our DNA, remember?" Marco said. "Just … give me …" He tried to wrestle his bottle from her grip. "Addy, let go!"

"Fine, fine." She gave him the purple vial. "I hope you choke on it."

Addy grabbed the blue vial and drank.

Everyone watched her.

Addy blinked, looked around. "It's good." She snatched the purple vial from Marco. "I want more!"

"Addy!" they all cried. It took several of them to free Marco's bottle before Addy could drink it.

Finally everyone had their medicine. They looked at one another.

"Marco," Addy whispered. "You still have white hairs."

They were silent for a moment, waiting.

"I don't feel anything," Marco said. He looked at the others. "Any of you?"

"I feel the same as always," Ben-Ari said.

"Me too," said Noah.

"I feel … weird." Addy grimaced. "It's … my stomach. Ow!"

"Addy! Addy, are you all right?" Marco rushed toward her.

Addy moaned. "My stomach is so empty it hurts. Must … eat … food."

Marco handed her the leftover honey cake. "Here." He pulled his hands back before she could bite off his fingers.

They waited a while longer. They felt fine. They all sat in the garden, chatted, had some tea, and watched the stars come out. It could take hours, Noah explained. The nanos needed time to multiply and spread. But once they got going, they really got going. The process was exponential.

"I suggest we all get some sleep," Noah said. "We'll give the little guys time to work. In the morning, we'll see how we feel."

Addy yawned and stretched. "I never need encouragement to sleep." She grabbed Marco. "Come on, Poet, you're cuddling me."

Her yawns were infectious. So they all hit the sack. Marco and Addy took the guest room, while Noah drove back to his apartment. The kids all camped out in the living room in sleeping bags.

When they woke up next morning, Marco had the shock of his life.

* * * * *

After Marco crawled out of bed, he shuffled into the bathroom, yawning and stretching. He had slept deeply. Normally, he struggled to sleep in a strange bed, even after years of war, sleeping in battlefields and starship bunks. Yet in Ben-Ari's guest room, he had slept deep and long. He turned the tap, splashed water onto his face, and stared into the mirror.

He frowned.

"What the hell?"

He blinked, rubbed his eyes, stared again at his reflection.

Who the hell was staring back at him?

It wasn't him. Couldn't be him!

On the surface, he looked the same. White hairs still streaked his temples and beard. But there were changes. The wrinkles were decidedly smaller. So were the bags under his eyes. His skin was smoother, softer.

Younger.

He no longer saw a man in his forties. The reflection staring back was thirty at most. If you ignored the white hairs, he could probably pass for a man in his late twenties.

He splashed more water on his face. It had to be a dream. Surely the nanobots couldn't work this fast! He pinched himself. He was awake.

He was young.

He stumbled back into the bedroom. Addy was still asleep, covered in blankets and pillows, snoring softly. Her golden hair lay in tangles, hiding her face. He was about to wake her up, to see how she looked, when he heard soft singing from outside.

The song was in Hebrew, beautiful yet sad, joyous yet melancholy. Marco could not understand the words, but the song drew him.

Leaving Addy to sleep, Marco tiptoed through the living room, where the kids were still slumbering in sleeping bags. He stepped into the garden.

Ben-Ari knelt there, her back to him, tending to her flowers. She was singing softly, and the breeze ruffled her summer dress and blond hair. She must have heard him approach, because she rose and turned toward him.

"Good morning, Marco." She smiled.

For a moment Marco could only stare. He saw again the ensign he had met in boot camp. The young woman who had become his leader, his lodestar, his best friend. She looked just like she had that day twenty-three years ago, her eyes blue and bright and full of wisdom.

He embraced her. They stood among the flowers, holding each other.

"It works fast," Marco said. "How do you feel?"

"Joyous." She smiled at him, a bright smile that lit up her whole face. "I feel joyous."

A huge whoop sounded behind them.

Wearing her pajamas, her hair in disarray, Addy crashed through the door into the garden.

"I'm young!" she cried. "I can do cartwheels again!"

She attempted a cartwheel and landed on her face.

"Addy, you could never do cartwheels," Marco said.

She rose, grinning, mud on her face. Even through the mud, Marco could see the changes. Addy too appeared twenty years younger. She hopped for joy.

"I can do somersaults again!" she cried.

She attempted a somersault and ended up crashing into a flowerbed.

"My lilies!" Ben-Ari cried.

Addy rose, spitting out flower petals. "Who cares about flowers? I'm young! I'm beautiful! I'm fast and strong and skinny!" She looked over her shoulder at her backside, then sighed. "And … my ass is still huge. Dammit. I thought these nanobots reversed aging."

"Your butt was always that size," Marco observed.

"Shut up!" She grabbed his collar and twisted. "It's clear that I just need to drink more nanobots."

"Laying off the hot dogs might help too," Marco said.

She shoved him. He fell into the garden.

"My jasmines!" Ben-Ari cried.

Marco rose to his feet. Addy glowered at him, hands on her hips. Then her eyes softened, and she laughed.

"Look at you, Poet. Look at us." Addy twirled around, arms spread out. "We're immortal!"

"No, not immortal," said Ben-Ari. "But long lived. Biologically, we're probably in our twenties again. But we have the wisdom and experience of the middle-aged. And we still have a long life ahead of us. We don't know for sure how long starlings can live. There's never been an old starling. The starling genes only came into being a few decades ago. But the professor ran some projections. He thinks that starlings can live for two hundred, even three hundred years."

For a moment everyone was silent.

"Three hundred years," Marco whispered in awe. "That would be like … like being born during Queen Victoria's reign, and still being alive today in 2165, the era of space travel. Can you imagine the things we'll see?"

Addy held his hand. "I can't wait to spend the next three hundred years with you, Poet. And with you, Einav." She gasped. "I might even live long enough to see the Maple Leafs finally win the Stanley Cup."

The president was somber. She looked at them, and a shiver ran down Marco's spine. Addy noticed it too. She took a step back.

On the outside, Ben-Ari looked like that young ensign again, not much older than twenty. But her eyes were older. She had no wrinkles around those eyes. It was something else. A coldness. A hard determination. A wisdom only earned through decades of struggle. She was an old soul staring from a young face, and there was something uncanny, chilling about it.

"This gives us time to prepare," Ben-Ari said gravely.

Marco understood. His voice was barely a whisper. "The Hydrians."

Addy shuddered. "The ones from the prophecy."

"Yes," Ben-Ari said. "The Dreamer foresaw them. He showed me a vision. Aliens from another galaxy. Aliens far worse than anything we've ever faced. All the monsters we fought—they were local predators, creatures from nearby stars, just the thugs of the Orion Arm of our humble little Milky Way galaxy. But the Hydrians … they are a terror from beyond the galaxy. Creatures that sweep from one galaxy to another, consuming all in their path. According to the Dreamer, they will destroy Earth. We must stop them!"

They all glanced at one another. The day suddenly seemed cold.

"Einav," Marco finally said. "Prophecies and dreams might not be entirely reliable."

"They might not be," she agreed. "But this is one I believe. The Dreamer had strange powers. I believe that this terror is coming. In my visions, I sensed that the Hydrians would not invade for another century. I thought to leave a powerful Earth, the center of a mighty empire, for my heirs to defend. But now, with our long lives … we might live to see this terror."

Marco and Addy shuddered.

"Well!" Addy said. "You certainly are a downer, Einav."

That cut the tension. Marco exhaled shakily. "Okay. We'll prepare. But we have a long time. A hundred years, you say? I think we can take one day off. Don't we deserve that after saving the world so many times?"

Ben-Ari relaxed. She even smiled. That beautiful smile Marco remembered first seeing so long ago. "Yes. I think we deserve a day off."

They stood together in the garden, gazing downhill toward the desert.

They were three who had been four. They were the heroes of Earth. They were a new step in human evolution. They were friends. Marco Emery. Addy Linden. Einav Ben-Ari. Their names were written across the stars and kept sacred in the hearts of millions.

It will be a long life, Marco thought. I might live to see my children, and their children, grow old and die while I linger on. I might live to see times of war and destruction, an era when Earth itself falls. I'm scared. But what comforts me is living this life and facing this darkness with the people I love.

Marco reached out and held their hands. Addy with his right hand, Ben-Ari with his left. Two women he loved. Two soldiers he trusted with his life. In the unbearable darkness of existence, their love was like the morning light, warm and soothing and casting back the terrors. They stood together on the hilltop, ready to face the day.

A new Earthrise story begins with...

THE EARTHLING

AFTERWORD

Thank you for reading Earth, Our Home, the fifteenth Earthrise novel.

Want to read more? Soldiers of Earthrise, a spinoff series, continues to explore the universe of Earthrise. The first book is The Earthling.

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Thank you again, dear reader, and I hope we meet again between the pages of another book.

Daniel

NOVELS BY DANIEL ARENSON

EARTHRISE

Earth Alone

Earth Lost

Earth Rising

Earth Fire

Earth Shadows

Earth Valor

Earth Reborn

Earth Honor

Earth Eternal

Earth Machines

Earth Aflame

Earth Unleashed

Earth Remembers

Earth in Darkness

Earth, Our Home

SOLDIERS OF EARTHRISE

The Earthling

Earthlings

Earthling's War

I, Earthling

The Earthling's Daughter

We Are Earthlings

CHILDREN OF EARTHRISE

The Heirs of Earth

A Memory of Earth

An Echo of Earth

The War for Earth

The Song of Earth

The Legacy of Earth

KINGDOMS OF SAND

Kings of Ruin

Crowns of Rust

Thrones of Ash

Temples of Dust

Halls of Shadows

Echoes of Light

THE MOTH SAGA

Moth

Empires of Moth

Secrets of Moth

Daughter of Moth

Shadows of Moth

Legacy of Moth

REQUIEM

Dawn of Dragons

Requiem's Song

Requiem's Hope

Requiem's Prayer

The Complete Trilogy

Song of Dragons

Blood of Requiem

Tears of Requiem

Light of Requiem

The Complete Trilogy

Dragonlore

A Dawn of Dragonfire

A Day of Dragon Blood

A Night of Dragon Wings

The Complete Trilogy

The Dragon War

A Legacy of Light

A Birthright of Blood

A Memory of Fire

The Complete Trilogy

Requiem for Dragons

Dragons Lost

Dragons Reborn

Dragons Rising

The Complete Trilogy

Flame of Requiem

Forged in Dragonfire

Crown of Dragonfire

Pillars of Dragonfire

The Complete Trilogy

ALIEN HUNTERS

Alien Hunters

Alien Sky

Alien Shadows

OTHER WORLDS

Eye of the Wizard

Wand of the Witch

Firefly Island

The Gods of Dream

Flaming Dove

KEEP IN TOUCH

www.DanielArenson.com

Daniel@DanielArenson.com

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