BOOKS BY ISAAC HOOKE

Military Science Fiction

Argonauts (Audiobooks published by Podium)

Bug Hunt

You Are Prey

Alien Empress

Quantum Predation

Robot Dust Bunnies

City of Phants

Rade’s Fury

Mechs vs. Dinosaurs

Operation: Bug Spray

Alien War Trilogy

Hoplite

Zeus

Titan

ATLAS Trilogy (published by 47North)

ATLAS

ATLAS 2

ATLAS 3

A Captain's Crucible

Flagship

Test of Mettle

Cradle of War

Planet Killer

Worlds at War

Space Opera

Star Warrior

Star Warrior

Bender of Worlds (Jan 2018)

Science Fiction

The Forever Gate Series

The Dream

A Second Chance

The Mirror Breaks

They Have Wakened Death

I Have Seen Forever

Rebirth

Walls of Steel

The Pendulum Swings

The Last Stand

Thrillers

The Ethan Galaal Series

Clandestine

A Cold Day in Mosul

Terminal Phase

Visit IsaacHooke.com for more information.

OPERATION:

BUG SPRAY

ARGONAUTS

BOOK NINE

Isaac Hooke

This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, organizations, places, events and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

Text copyright © Isaac Hooke 2018

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

www.IsaacHooke.com

Cover design by Isaac Hooke

Cover image by Shookooboo

Special thanks to the following Beta Readers who helped out with this book:

Nicole P.

Gary F.

Sandy G.

Lance W.

Amy B.

Myles C.

Lisa A. G.

Gregg C.

Jeff K.

Mark C.

Mark P.

Jeremy G.

Doug B.

Jenny O.

Gene A.

Larry J.

Allen M.

Norman H.

Robine

Eric

table of contents

one

two

three

four

five

six

seven

eight

nine

ten

eleven

twelve

thirteen

fourteen

fifteen

sixteen

seventeen

eighteen

nineteen

twenty

twenty-one

twenty-two

twenty-three

twenty-four

twenty-five

twenty-six

twenty-seven

twenty-eight

twenty-nine

postscript

about the author

acknowledgments

one

Rade crouched in the shadows of the alleyway.

“Hey Surus my girl,” Bender’s voice came over the comm. “What are you doing for supper tonight?”

“Not now, Bender,” Rade said.

Rade moved out of the alleyway at a crouch and into the dark streets of Gala, capital city of Ceres V. Buildings whose exterior surfaces were ornamented with sweeping curlicues of baroque design sprawled outward around him.

Ceres V was one of the first human colonies ever. According to the archives, it was founded by the Rayleigh Corporation, which advertised the planet to the poor citizens of Earth over three hundred years ago, promising an escape. “Start over on Ceres V” was one of their slogans.

People from every nationality and country had arrived. At first the settlers had tried for a melting pot approach, but as more and more landed, the people organized into tribes by ethnicity and claimed different continents for themselves. As such, the population distribution and geopolitics were similar to Earth’s. Settlers originally from the United Systems claimed one continent, the Russians held a second, the Sino-Koreans a third, the Asiatic Alliance a fourth, and the Persians the fifth and final land mass. With continued migration, not to mention accelerated breeding programs over the past three hundred years, the population had swollen to well over three billion people.

Gala was on the Russian side. It didn’t have a Russian name however, because the city was dominated by Franco-Italians. The French and Italian settlers had been late to the game, and there hadn’t been enough of them to claim a continent for themselves, so they had settled on a few cities in each of the major land masses. This particular district of Gala was renowned for its 18th century-inspired architecture, hence the baroque designs.

Two combat robots appeared from the shadows. The Centurions named Algorithm and Formaldehyde. Rade tightened his grip on the Phant stun rifle he held as the robots hurried to his side. A laser rifle hung from his opposite shoulder. He was wearing his military-grade jumpsuit and exoskeleton combination, not so much for environmental protection—the atmosphere was breathable—but for the armor and bodily enhancement. The suit connected to the hardpoints that protruded from his joint regions, augmenting his speed and strength. The jumpsuit also helped with obfuscation, as holographic projectors hid his features behind the faceplate, and the specialized jumpsuit fabric shielded his embedded ID, preventing the retrieval of any identifying information. His team was similarly equipped, as were the Centurions: because of those suits, a casual observer would have no idea robots were even inside.

“No sign of movement at the door,” Manic said over the comm from his position on the rooftop opposite the target.

“And I got no sign of any bitches at the windows,” Bender said, who was comparably positioned.

“You mean tangos?” Manic said.

“No,” Bender said. “I mean bitches, bitch.”

“At least I shower,” Manic said.

Bender chuckled. “Could’ve fooled me. Even through your jumpsuit, I can smell your feet from here.”

“That’s not my feet…” Manic said.

“Approaching target,” Rade said, preempting further discussion.

Rade reached the door. The building was similar to most in this quarter: two stories, square shaped. It had taken Surus months of surface sweeps conducted from a low-flying shuttle to determine that the Phant was in this city in the first place, and several more months of classic spy craft to finally track down their target to this particular residence.

The building abutted against the neighboring structures on either side, effectively creating a solid wall that bordered the street. According to his overhead map, it hid a communal courtyard in back formed by the neighboring buildings around the block.

Rade placed himself a few meters to the left of the entrance and signaled Algorithm to take up a position on the other side. By situating himself here, admittedly Rade was getting a bit close to the action, and essentially taking on the role of the point man. In the military, as the platoon leader, he had reluctantly ceded that role to others, those dedicated men and women who had risked their lives so he could sit back and watch from a relatively cozy distance.

He was no longer in the military.

Still, he had other reasons to stay back and protect himself. He was a father now. He had a woman who loved him.

I’m going to be careful. I’m not going to do anything to endanger my life.

Yeah right.

He had learned long ago that he lived on the adrenalin rush. Like everyone on his team.

We live for this.

“Formaldehyde, place the charges,” Rade said.

“Roger that,” Formaldehyde said.

But before the combat robot could move into position, the door exploded outward. A towering humanoid figure emerged.

“Mech!” Manic yelled over the comm. “Big one!”

“Titan class, to be exact,” Harlequin said.

“Told you we should have brought the Hoplites,” Fret said over the comm.

The large Titan mech swiveled toward Rade and his robot companions.

Rade suspected the stun rifle wouldn’t work as it only affected smaller mechs, but he fired anyway, hoping to get lucky. No change. The AI core was simply too well-shielded by the Titan’s armor.

As the electrical currents from the stun dispersed along the metallic skin of the impact area, the steel giant swung a deadly fist toward Rade.

He fired his jetpack immediately, knowing if that fist connected, the blow would kill him. He altered his trajectory to arc over and behind the monstrosity. Then he cut power so that he landed in the Titan’s passenger seat.

The mech reached back to haul him from the seat, but then the Argonauts deployed on the surrounding buildings opened fire. Plasma bursts battered the arm of the mech, but the weapons barely caused a dent against the heavy armor.

Rade was forced to fire his jetpack again to escape that metallic hand and he retreated to a nearby rooftop. Algorithm and Formaldehyde had similarly evacuated.

The Titan spun toward Rade’s position, the Hellfire missile turrets on its shoulders coming to bear.

Rade leaped backward and fired reverse thrust on his jets. The Hellfires slammed into the building edge in front of him. He landed on the far side of the rooftop and debris rained down.

“The question is,” TJ said over the comm, “is this the Phant, or a diversion?”

“I didn’t see any evidence of Phant possession around the AI core region,” Rade said.

“But that could just mean the Phant has possessed the pilot instead,” TJ transmitted. “Assuming an Artificial is in the cockpit...”

“Thoughts, Surus?” Rade asked.

“I doubt our target would have circumvented the barriers I put in place,” Surus said. “The field is too powerful. I think it would be a good supposition that the mech is AI controlled. A diversion.”

Surus had approached the building earlier with four combat robots, and together they had lined the base of the exterior walls with strips of metal that emitted Phant-repelling gravimetric fields. Her team had installed two sets per wall so that fields transmitted upward across all four sides of the building: since the adjacent buildings abutted this one, Surus had convinced the neighbors to rent them out to her, giving her access to the bordering walls and allowing her to place the necessary gravimetric devices. She’d also installed one of the devices along a square plane that passed through the entire bottom floor of the building. In theory the Phant, if it attempted to flee into the ground, or out through the building walls, would be prevented from doing so by that field. The only place for their prey to go was up.

“The target rooftop remains clear,” TJ said from his position.

“Then the Phant is still inside,” Rade said.

Loud incoming fire erupted from the roof of the building across the street as Tahoe unleashed his mounted heavy plasma gun at the Titan below.

“You don’t have time to wait for the Phant to emerge,” Shaw said from where she was overwatching in orbit. “I’ve already detected law enforcement drones incoming. Better get your asses in gear!”

“If there’s one way to set off a sensor grid and alert law enforcement, it’s releasing a fully armed Titan mech into your neighborhood!” TJ said.

“Exactly what our prey wanted, no doubt,” Rade said.

The Titan fired its jumpjets and landed on the rooftop where Tahoe was raining down plasma fire. Lui jetted forward, landing on the Titan’s back. No doubt he was attempting to cut the jumpjet fuel lines. Tahoe meanwhile rushed it from the front.

“We got this!” Tahoe said.

Taking out a Titan in mere jumpsuits was no easy task, Rade knew, but he had to trust his friends. He turned toward the target building. There were three intermediary rooftops between himself and the target. He activated his jetpack and arced over them.

During the jump Rade heard loud rotors overhead. Glancing up, he saw a shuttle accompanied by armed drones. That shuttle would be full of combat robots waiting to be deployed.

“That was quick,” Rade said.

“Their response was unexpectedly rapid,” Surus agreed.

“I told you law enforcement was incoming…” Shaw said over the comm.

Rade landed on the target rooftop and hurried across, heading toward a door on the far side.

“Next time give me an ETA!” Rade said.

“I thought get your ass in gear was ETA enough!” Shaw replied.

Two drones fell as the Argonauts on the adjacent rooftops shot them down. At the same time a figure in a jumpsuit rocketed skyward from another building and latched onto the underside of the shuttle. Surus. Rade was expecting the alien to flow inside the fuselage in her natural form and take over the bird, but instead she tossed a frag grenade into one of the rotors and then let go. Meanwhile the shuttle careened southward, plunging over the rooftops as it fell toward the adjacent streets.

One of the remaining armed drones swerved toward his rooftop to attack.

“Rade…” Shaw said over the comm.

He was halfway to the door.

Not going to make it...

Rade ducked for cover behind a large potted plant. He leaned past with his laser rifle, but before he could fire the drone dropped from the sky.

“Bye, bitch!” Bender said.

Rade scrambled to his feet, switched to the stun rifle, and finally crossed to the door. He crouched to the left of it.

“I have several more police mechs converging on your area,” Shaw said over the comm. “ETA two minutes. The extract window is going to be tight.”

“I’ll make it quick.” Rade kicked out the lock on the rooftop door and bashed it open. He immediately ducked, aiming his rifle into the dim confines. The staircase beyond proved empty.

He hurried down the steps.

As he reached the bottom a figure blurred into view. Before Rade could react, something knocked away his rifle, grabbed him, and hoisted him into the air. He spotted the featureless face of his opponent: it was a combat robot of some kind.

The robot smashed him down toward its raised knee.

Not going to break my back today, a-hole.

Rade fired his jetpack and swerved aside just in time, and the robot ended up smashing Rade into the floor instead of its leg. A jolt of pain ran through his hip.

He kicked his leg outward in a front sweep and the enhanced strength of the suit allowed him to knock the robot down. Before it could recover Rade retrieved the blaster from his belt and fired it into the AI core region at point blank range. There were no droplets of condensation indicating Phant possession, Rade noted.

He holstered the blaster and retrieved his stun rifle. His tibia region throbbed in pain where his leg had made contact with the robot during the front sweep. Not even a jumpsuit could cushion a blow like that. But he’d live.

He paused to survey his surroundings. He was in a tight upstairs hallway. One sealed door on the left, another on the right. At the far end, a wide hole in the floorboards indicated stairs doubling back, leading down to the first floor.

He kicked in the first door and dropped to one knee. He scanned the room, and then pied both sides of the doorway with his rifle. An empty bedroom. He tossed a grenade toward the closet, and when it detonated, the doors blew off their hinges. Clothes scattered about the floor.

“First upper bedroom, clear,” Rade said over the comm. He glanced at his map and saw that Algorithm and Formaldehyde had reached the rooftop, and were hurrying toward the doorway to join him. He also saw the red dots of the incoming law enforcement mechs.

No time to wait for my robots.

He approached the second door, but before he opened it, he heard a voice apparently addressing him from beyond.

“I’m going to hunt you all down,” a deep male baritone said. The accent was Sino-Korean. “I’m going to kill your family, one by one. The Argonauts. Your wife. Your two sweet children.”

Rade growled and kicked down the door.

He saw a man seated on the far side of the bed, his back toward Rade. An Artificial or not? The collar of his shirt was raised, hiding his neck and potentially the droplets of condensation marking Phant possession.

Rade fired the stun weapon. The man collapsed, proving that he, or rather it, was indeed an Artificial, as the weapon had no effect on human beings.

Rade raced around to the far side of the bed. The Artificial lay prostrate on its belly. 

The Artificial began laughing. “The master is not inside me.”

Rade carefully checked the neck region under the collar. No condensation.

His sixth sense fired and he turned around. Purple liquid was bubbling forth from the floorboards, flowing from the far wall toward the Artificial. That liquid was the natural state of the alien they hunted, a liquid that could incinerate a man in a jumpsuit by the slightest brush against his boots. However, Rade carried a Phant-repelling emitter in his jumpsuit: the alien couldn’t get close to him. Nor was it trying, at the moment. It clearly intended to possess the Artificial.

“I don’t think so.” Rade aimed his stun rifle at the Phant…

And then the roof collapsed.

Rade was sent flying backward as something hard struck him. He hit a wall and the wind was knocked out of him. Debris landed on him a moment later, pinning him.

The Titan towered above him.

Rade couldn’t move his legs, which were buried by pieces of the roof. He reached for his blaster, but it was buried in more debris.

The Titan pointed its cobra laser at him…

two

Rade gazed into that deadly barrel, comforted by the fact that at least his death would be quick.

Goodbye, Shaw.

“No!” the Sino-Korean Artificial said, standing to address the Titan. Purple droplets momentarily swished over the sclera of its eyes. “Not that one. He dies last.”

The cockpit hatch dropped open and the Artificial pulled itself aboard. Before the hatch sealed, the Artificial mocked Rade one last time.

“Until we meet again, little flea.” The Artificial blew him a kiss and the steel door shut with a loud clang.

The mech leaped through the hole in the roof. Its jumpjets activated and the Titan quickly vanished from view.

Algorithm and Formaldehyde rushed inside.

“Took you long enough,” Rade told the combat robots as they began to free him from the debris.

“Sorry,” Algorithm said. “But you could have waited for our arrival.”

“Death waits for no one,” Rade said.

“Is that what you are, now?” Formaldehyde asked.

“When I want to be.” Rade stood as the last piece was cleared from him.

“The proper quote is ‘time waits for no one,’ by the way,” Harlequin said over the comm.

“There we go,” Bender said. “The AI starts to lecture us on semantics once again. ‘I’m so smart, I’m a goddamn AI!’ I got news for you, Harley bitch, we all knew the proper quote. The boss was simply making a play on words. You moron!”

“Ah, wordplay, I understand now,” Harlequin said. “It is interesting that—”

“Boss,” Fret spoke right over him. “I’m tracking the Titan. It’s leaping from rooftop to rooftop, heading east. I’m shadowing it.”

“As am I,” Bender said. “Anytime y’all want to join us feel free... unless of course you’re too busy jacking off with Manic and Harley Boy.”

Rade exchanged a glance with the two combat robots at his side, and then activated his jetpack. He emerged roof-side and began leaping from building to building, heading toward the blue dots that marked the locations of Bender and Fret on the overhead map, and the red dot they tracked. He swapped out the stun rifle for the laser rifle.

Tahoe joined him momentarily.

“Thought you said, ‘we got this,’ your words…” Rade told Tahoe as the big Navajo came to his side.

“Er, yeah,” Tahoe said. “Kind of ran into a few problems. Lui was supposed to cut the Titan’s jumpjet lines.”

“Oh of course,” Lui said, falling into step with Manic on the rooftops across the street. “It was my fault, right? Look, I tried, but the lines were too damn shielded in that particular model.”

“You little bitches should have left the bug squashing to someone who knows what they’re doing,” Bender said. “Me!”

“Hey Bender, you’re my bitch,” Manic said.

“Shut it!” Bender said.

“No really, you are,” Manic said. “So sweet, so soft, so scrumptious...”

“When we’re through here,” Bender said. “You and I are having an intimate talk, you sideways-crawling slimy sickly little maggoty stuffed pumpkin licker!”

“I’m a maggoty stuffed pumpkin licker!” Manic said. “You hear that everyone? Bender, you really need to work on your insult game. We’re ex-MOTHs here. You gotta bring your A game. Pumpkin licker! Ha. Fret, do you mind if I lick your pumpkin?”

“Please do,” Fret said. “My pumpkin wants you real bad, Manic.”

“You moron,” Bender said. “You think you’re making fun of me? You just made me think of a new name for you. A better name. Best name yet. Everyone, meet Man Lick.”

“The target appears to be heading toward a shipyard,” Shaw said.

“Don’t suppose you can open fire with the Vipers without alerting the authorities?” Rade asked.

“You’re funny,” Shaw said. “Already the orbital defense platform personnel are harassing me. They’ve picked up encrypted communications from the Argonaut directed toward your location. I’m trying to convince them that I’ve been talking to a relative in the area, but they won’t buy it if I stay on the line. I’m going to have to go radio silent. You’re on your own for a little while. Good luck. “ 

“I don’t—” Rade began.

“Believe in luck, yes yes,” Shaw said. “Poor choice of words. Love ya. Shaw out.”

“Is it too late to ask her to send down the Hoplites?” Fret asked.

“And make it obvious to the orbital defense platforms that the Argonaut is involved in this?” Tahoe answered. “They’d blow her out of the sky.”

“Whoa, shit!” Bender said over the comm.

“What happened?” Rade asked. He glanced at the overhead map. The red dot of the Titan had changed directions, and appeared to be behind Bender and Fret now.

“The Titan suddenly turned around!” Bender said. “Bitch arced right over us!”

“That’s because the police mechs are dead ahead,” Fret said.

“Now we get to see who’s a man and who’s a pussy!” Bender said.

“Pussy here,” Fret said. “Have fun!”

“What!” Bender said. “Damn it! You hightailin’, backstabbin’, buddy screwin’ son of an ass-whooped cocker spaniel!” The overhead map showed Fret heading away from several incoming red dots that could only be the police mechs. Meanwhile Bender had remained stationary, but with Fret abandoning him, he turned around.

“Cocker spaniel,” TJ said. “That’s a new one.”

“Like I said, he has to work on his insult game,” Manic said. “Then again, maybe he wants a cocker spaniel for a pet. You know, for the cocker part.”

“Oh ho!” Bender said. “My fist is eager to have that post-mission talk with you little maggot bitches! More than eager.”

“Your fist to my steel reinforced boots,” Manic said.

“Ha, I ain’t afraid of your little sissy boots,” Bender said. “If I recall, last time you tried to kick something you broke your toe!”

“Er, how was I supposed to know the alien had a hard head...” Manic said.

“Just like yourself, huh fool?” Bender said. “The universe has no pity for the stupid. Just ask Darwin. He’s got an award for people like you.”

Rade occasionally had to activate his jetpack as he leaped from rooftop to rooftop to help cover the distance. When he was jetting across one particular street he spotted the fleeing Titan up ahead. It was proceeding perpendicular to his current direction.

A missile proximity alarm sounded in his helmet.

Rade was about halfway to the rooftop on the other side of the street; he immediately applied downward thrust and plunged instead to the cobblestone below. The missile tore past above him and smashed into the building behind him.

Tahoe landed at Rade’s side, along with Algorithm and Formaldehyde.

“Close one,” Tahoe said.

“It’s turning its cobra and zodiac toward us!” Lui said. “Drop people!”

Rade checked the map, and understood that Lui was referring to those Argonauts yet deployed on the rooftops.

“Better yet, keep to the streets!” Rade said. He obeyed his own advice and continued forward, staying on the streets, wanting to remain out of the Titan’s line of fire. The HS3 scouts deployed overhead constantly updated him with the target’s position, now that Shaw had gone radio silent.

He rounded a bend only to find himself face to face with three bipedal police mechs the HS3s had missed.

Shit.

The armless robots swiveled their weapon turrets toward him.

One of the robots spoke something in Italian.

“Drop your weapons,” Rade’s Implant translated.

Rade leaped backward, firing his jetpack at the same time, and dodged back behind the building.

Chips broke away from the edge as the robots opened fire with their lasers.

“Back back back!” Rade said.

Tahoe jetted upward instead.

“Good idea!” Rade followed him to the rooftop and joined up with the two combat robots.

On the rooftop across the street, Surus, Lui, Manic, TJ, and Harlequin had similarly jetted up and taken cover.

Rade aimed past the edge of the rooftop and toward the robots. One of them must have spotted him in that moment because they all swiveled their weapons up toward him and he was forced to duck from view.

Across the street the other four Argonauts opened fire.

“Three police mechs down,” Manic said. Nice. That showed how well-armored the Titan was in comparison. Police mechs in most cities weren’t military grade—the citizens wouldn’t stand it.

“Good job on the diversion, Boss,” TJ said.

“Yep, that’s what I planned all along!” Rade scrambled to his feet. “Let’s go!” He jetted toward the fleeing Titan and landed on the street.

“Looks like it’s taken some damage,” Tahoe said. “We might be able to cut it off before it reaches that intersection. You see it on the map?”

“I see it,” Rade said. “I’m marking the intersection as a waypoint on the map. Bender, Fret, we’re going to come in from the south. I want you two to approach from the north.”

“Classic pincer maneuver,” Fret said. “I love it.”

Rade continued racing across the pavement, staying close to the buildings. Now that he was at street level, he spotted the occasional onlooker watching from the windows: concerned men and women who had seen the flashes of plasma fire, or heard the explosions of missiles. Whenever a citizen spotted him, he or she would draw back into the shadows, worried about attracting his attention.

Rade reached the intersection seven seconds ahead of the Titan. He took cover behind a fat lamp pole and waited. The Argonauts with him dispersed, some flattening against the buildings, others dropping to the pavement. Bender and Fret were still coming in from the north and hadn’t arrived yet.

Rade aimed past the lamp pole and into the street where the Titan was fast approaching, according to the HS3 scouts overhead.

The ground shook as the Titan came into view at a run, its heavy feet digging craters into the asphalt.

“Link your rifles to mine,” Rade said.

In seconds the link indicator lit up on his HUD.

With the help of the rifle’s AI, Rade centered his targeting reticle over the mech’s core area and squeezed the trigger. All nine rifles in the group shot at the same time, concentrating their fire on the armored AI core.

The mech toppled in mid-stride. Momentum carried it forward, its metal body scraping across the asphalt until it ground to a halt a few meters in front of Rade.

“Algorithm, check it!” Rade said. He unlinked their rifles and readied his stun weapon.

The  combat robot dashed forward, but apparently the mech had a backup core located elsewhere, because the Titan immediately scrambled to its feet. The mech aimed its electrolaser at Algorithm; the Centurion fired its jetpack, attempting to reach a nearby rooftop, but the weapon tracked it. An electrical bolt shot forth, ripping through the robot. The jetpack exploded and the remains of Algorithm rained down onto the street as hot slag.

In the distance behind the Titan, more police mechs rounded the bend. Two armed drones also swooped down from above. The Titan drew all of their fire. The mech deployed its ballistic shield and swiveled around, slamming it into the asphalt and ducking behind it. The Titan slid its electrolaser over the top of the shield and returned fire.

“Surus!” Rade said. “Can you get down there and take control of at least one of those police mechs?”

“On it,” Surus said.

“Covering fire, Argonauts!” Rade said.

He took up his laser rifle again and targeted the drones, opening fire.

As he and the other Argonauts forced those drones to dodge, Surus scrambled to her feet and fired her jetpack; she landed on the adjacent rooftop and vanished from view.

The Titan was alternating its attention between the police drones and mechs. Meanwhile, Rade and his crew were still mostly ignored by the police. For the moment.

“I need some guesses on where you could fit a backup AI core in a Titan,” Rade said as the mech continued to draw fire. It kept its ballistic shield firmly between itself and the police.

“I have an idea,” TJ said. “Between the jumpjet intake regulator and the existing core there is a small gap that normally contains emergency supplies for the pilot. It could be removed, and it’s the only place big enough to fit another core without interfering with the cockpit actuators. It’s slightly offset to the left side of the mech, above the original AI core. I’m marking the location on the tango.”

A small portion of the mech’s hull became highlighted on Rade’s augmented reality vision.

“Link to my laser rifle again,” Rade ordered his team.

He aimed the targeting reticle over the highlighted hull area. When the link indicator turned green, he squeezed the trigger.

The Titan slumped against its shield. Obviously, the blow had rendered the mech inactive.

Rade immediately slid down his stun rifle and scanned the bottom portion of the cockpit. He was expecting the Phant to emerge in liquid form from the hull, so he was surprised when the hatch fell open and the Artificial sped out in a blur.

Rade fired but the Artificial dodged, leaping down onto the street and dashing away.

Rade tracked the robot with his stun rifle, spotting the characteristic purple droplets in the neck region. He smiled as he squeezed the trigger, and the Artificial dropped.

“The Phant is in the bag!” Rade said.

Unfortunately, with the threat from the mech now gone, the airborne drones turned their attention on the crouched Argonauts, pinning them. Rade could also hear the police mechs in the distance approaching, their heavy metal feet crunching loudly on the asphalt.

“Surus, get control of one of those mechs!” Rade said.

“Almost there,” Surus said.

A laser shot melted a hole into the lamp post above Rade, and he ducked lower. He swiveled his body sideways, trying to present a smaller profile to the incoming attackers.

“Tell me again why we had to do this under the nose of the police?” Lui said.

“Because the Russians refused to grant us jurisdiction!” Rade said. “Let alone the Italians!”

“That’s right, blame the Italians,” TJ said, sounding slightly miffed.

Two seeker missiles erupted from a rooftop down the street and they rammed into the drones. The airborne craft exploded.

“Who’s your daddy now, bitches?” Bender said.

“Where did you get the missiles?” TJ said.

“Ripped the launcher off of a police mech Fret and I manhandled back there,” Bender said.

“Ooo, manhandled, huh?” Manic said.

“That’s right,” Bender said. “A quick hack of the control interface, and viola, portable rocket launcher. Don’t you love it when you’re put to shame by the better man? Bask in the rays of my brilliant mind.”

“If you’re brilliant, then I’m Einstein,” Manic said.

“I got an Einstein quote for you,” Fret said. “He once said, ‘if at first you don’t succeed, add mayonnaise and try again.’”

“Words of a true genius,” TJ said. “Everything tastes better with mayonnaise.”

“You talkin’ from experience?” Manic said. “From eating out Bender?”

“No, eating out you, my dear friend,” TJ said. “I’ll be having a special talk with you when this mission is over as well, it seems.”

In the distance, Bender and Fret leaped down from the buildings and ambushed the incoming police mechs they’d been shadowing. Fret tossed grenades, while Bender fired the repurposed missile launcher, and in seconds all three mechs were so much scrap metal.

“Hey Surus, scratch the previous order,” Rade said.

“Too bad, I’d just reached a good position.” She leaped down, joining Bender and Fret.

“You snooze, Surus my girl, you lose,” Bender said.

Meanwhile Rade hurried to the stunned Sino-Korean Artificial. He confirmed that the purple condensation remained on the back of the robot’s neck, and he shot it again with the stun rifle for good measure.

“Harlequin, you get to be porter today,” Rade said.

Harlequin dashed forward and threw the Sino-Korean over one shoulder.

“Is that a good idea?” Fret said. “If the Phant flows out, it could take control of Harlequin.”

“I’ll keep stunning our Sino-Korean friend, don’t you worry,” Rade said. “And you forget, Harlequin is wearing a Phant-repelling jumpsuit like the rest of us. Our prey isn’t going anywhere near his AI core.”

“Good point,” Fret replied.

Bender laughed over the comm. “Moron.”

The Argonauts retreated, taking a route that led them away from the other incoming police robots, which were still converging on the area. Rade watched with some consternation as those dots veered toward the positions of him and his men.

“We can’t shake them,” TJ said. “If you want to apply the camera hack, now is the time.”

“Do it,” Rade said.

TJ activated the Trojan he had installed in the city’s security grid, and security cameras city-wide shorted-out.

“Hug the eastern sides of the buildings, people!” Rade said. The overhead satellites would still have telemetry data on the city. The trick was positioning themselves so that the buildings shielded them from the orbital telephoto lenses. He was relying on the positional data Shaw had last sent him regarding those satellites. He hoped their positions hadn’t changed since she went radio silent.

It soon became obvious that the police had lost them, because on the overhead map the red dots separated and spread out in random directions.

He and the Argonauts made their way toward the safe house, and Rade unleashed a fresh stun on their prey every block or so. The Argonauts reached the safe house shortly, and before they holed up inside, Rade ordered the HS3s into hiding.

Within, Rade had Harlequin throw the Artificial and the Phant it contained into the waiting glass containment device. Two metal disks, one located on the floor of the container, the other the ceiling, engaged, and the Artificial spun around as if in a centrifuge. A few moments later the Phant was extracted into a small black box installed at the top of the container, leaving the stunned Artificial at the base of the device.

“I want a full interrogation done on that Artificial before we destroy it,” Rade told Formaldehyde.

“Understood.” The combat robot opened the containment device and dragged the Artificial away. 

Rade retrieved the black box and studied it. “Hard to believe that our most dangerous adversary resides inside this small box. Zhidao. The Purple that almost killed Shaw and Alex. Almost killed me.” He carefully set down the box on a nearby counter.

“Bitch deserves what’s coming to him,” Bender commented.

Rade turned to address the Argonauts. “Well done, team. This was a classic extract. We’ll have to hunker down here for a few days however, until this blows over. Bender, TJ, I want you on first watch. Upper windows.”

“You got it, Boss,” Bender said.

Rade watched the assigned pair leave, then continued: “The rest of you, it’s time for some R&R.”

three

A few days later, when the dust had settled, Rade and company dismantled the glass container and destroyed the constituent parts, along with the Sino-Korean Artificial, whose AI core was corrupted beyond repair and could not be interrogated. They secured the black box that contained their Phant captive in the bottom of a large crate, and filled the remainder of the crate with similar looking boxes before sealing it. They also destroyed all of their weapons, as arms were illegal in Gala. They trashed their jumpsuits as well, since the gear would raise too much suspicion at the spaceport.

The team caught a flyer to the local space terminal, and at security one of the officials had Rade open up the crate.

The primly dressed official reached inside and grabbed one of the black boxes. Then he asked a question in Ruse-Italian, the Russian-Italian hybrid spoken by many of the city’s inhabitants.

The Implant translated: “What are these?”

Rade shrugged. “We’re cologne traders. Picking up some of your famous Al Floq Di Prussia.”

Bender broke out in a laugh. “A Flock of Pussy. Oh, that’s good!” He looked around when he realized the other Argonauts were glaring at him. “I mean. Yeah. We love us our Al Fock. Flock. I’ve never smelled so good as when I’ve smeared A Flock Di Pussia on my testi— er, my body.”

“You’ll be smearing Al Fock on your face soon enough all right,” Manic said. “It’s Prussia, not Pussia.”

“That’s what I said, fool,” Bender told him.

The official regarded the men behind Rade with a skeptical eye. “You don’t look like traders. Nor act like them.”

“Oh, most of these men are paid security consultants,” Rade said. “We hire them for peace of mind. The woman there is my wife.”

The man looked at Surus and seemed puzzled. “You married an Artificial?”

How did he know she was an Artificial? Bender texted over the private comm band.

Guess, Manic texted. Too beautiful.

But rejuvenation treatments can make someone just as beautiful, Bender replied.

A text from Surus appeared a moment later. I decided to leave my Artificial status alone on my profile.

Now you tell me, Rade texted.

The official handed Rade the black box he had taken from the crate. “Open it.”

Rade put on his most patient smile and pressed the repeal button on the box. The lid slid aside, revealing four bottles of perfume, neatly stacked. He retrieved one of the bottles and handed it to the official. The label read “Al Foq Di Prussia.” It was a real brand, despite Bender’s comments.

The prim man shook the bottle and watched the yellow liquid swish around inside. He sniffed the container. “Value of the cargo?”

“Nine thousand, standard currency,” Rade said. “I’ve already filled out all the paperwork, and paid the necessary tariffs...”

“Yes,” the official said, returning the bottle. “I require that you pay me three hundred directly, however.”

Rade smiled, replacing the bottle in the box. “My apologies. Of course.” You corrupt little prick.

Rade made the necessary transfer via his Implant. “It’s done.”

“You are free to go.” The official paused, eyes momentarily defocusing, obviously to read the false name on Rade’s embedded ID. Then: “Mr. and Mrs. Tetrazal.”

Rade beamed. “Thank you.” He returned the box to the crate, sealed it up, and beckoned toward Harlequin and Formaldehyde. The two hoisted the big item between themselves once more and headed into the hangar area.

The team loaded into the waiting Dragonfly and the shuttle launched.

“Did you see the look on that guy’s face when the boss told him he was married to Surus?” Bender said during the trip into orbit. “Priceless!”

“I don’t think he’s ever seen a man who married an Artificial before,” Manic said.

“Well then, I was his first,” Rade said. He didn’t mind it when the men ribbed him. In fact, it was a sign of good morale. It also made him feel less like their boss and more like one of them, something he preferred.

“Lots of people marry Artificials,” Lui said. “Or even ordinary robots.”

“Hear that Surus?” Bender said. “Me and you...”

Surus rolled her eyes and looked away.

“Guess she’s not in the mood,” Bender said.

“She’s never in the mood,” Manic commented.

“Maybe you and Bender should look into purchasing a shared jumpsuit next time,” Tahoe joked.

“Ha ha,” Bender said. “That’s right, Red Man. Make fun of the misunderstood genius.”

“Oh, you’re misunderstood all right,” Tahoe said. “On a good day, I can understand half the words that come out of your mouth. On a bad day, none at all.”

Bender frowned. “Yeah whatever. It’s gang up on Bender day I see. I’m just gonna shut y’all out now and enjoy some high quality ass in VR. Bye bye.” His eyes defocused.

Manic waved a hand in front of Bender’s face, but the man didn’t respond. “Well, looks like he’s logged out. Guess that means I can tell you about this one time when he left me alone with his sister...”

“I can still hear you!” Bender said.

Some time later the shuttle docked with the Argonaut in orbit. Rade collected the black box containing the Phant from the crate.

“Well, that’s one less Phant the universe has to deal with,” Lui said as he eyed the box.

“Don’t jinx it,” Fret said. “We haven’t thrown the Phant into the sun yet.”

“But we will soon enough,” Lui said.

Rade had Surus store the black box in the cargo hold, where she had an extra glass containment device waiting.

The cargo hold. Zhidao had boarded their ship six months ago to gain access to a certain time weapon that had been located in that hold. The weapon was no longer there, nor even aboard the ship: Rade didn’t want the Purple on the same vessel as that weapon, even if the Phant was contained. As such, he had a shuttle load the specialized Acceptor and access artifact onto a transport ship, paying the captain to deposit the items within a secure storage facility in a system of Rade’s choosing. None of his crew members were in on the location, not Shaw, not Bax. Hell, not even Surus knew. He planned to reveal the location to Surus as soon as the Purple was off his ship and trapped safely in the core of the nearby star. Until then, the secret would be his.

When Surus left with the box, Rade gave the remaining contents of the crate to his crew to do with as they pleased.

“I’m selling this crap the next stop, first thing,” Lui said. He carried a couple of the boxes under his arms.

“Selling it?” Bender said. “Screw that. I’m wearing this ‘crap’ as you call it. Al Flock Di Pussia. Like the name says, pussy is going to flock to me when I smear this on! I just know it. Stuff is pussy in a box!”

“Maybe I should smear some on my feet for you,” Manic said. “That way we can play footsie later.”

“Yeah, you wish,” Bender. “Ain’t nothing you can do to make your feet smell better.”

Rade left them and went to sickbay immediately.

Half of the compartment served as quarters for the twins. The sickbay was already smaller than it should be, as he had walled off some of the compartment to create the ship’s tiny gym: he’d probably have to restore the lost section to sickbay eventually, especially if the kids continued to room here. The Argonauts would just have to make do with a smaller workout area.

The four-year-olds were sleeping in their small beds while Cora and Dora stood watch. Shaw was there, asleep too. She had probably been reading them a story or something from her Implant.

Rade almost left, but then Shaw opened an eye.

“Oh no you don’t,” Shaw said. She glanced upward. “Bax, what the hell? I told you to alert me when Rade landed.”

“I did alert you,” the Argonaut’s AI replied. “You slept right through it. I considered ringing the general quarters klaxon, but I figured you and the twins wouldn’t appreciate it.”

“Good assumption,” Shaw said. She scrambled to her feet and gazed at Rade with love in her eyes. “There you are.”

All that talking had awakened the kids, and Rade jumped slightly when Sil’s scream filled the compartment.

“Daddy!” Sil screeched. “Yay!”

Alex darted awake as well, and both twins dashed forward. Rade knelt to scoop them up in his big arms.

“Ah!” Alex said when Rade squeezed his arms around his kids. Alex’s expression was filled with pain.

“What?” Rade asked his son in sudden concern.

“Bumpy thing, biting into my back!” Alex said.

“Oh sorry,” Rade said. He adjusted his hold so that the hardpoint on his wrist wasn’t digging into Alex’s back.

Alex had recovered well after the trauma with the carnosaurs. Still, Rade worried about him. His son had been through a lot. As had Rade. For him, the worst had to be when he had cut off Alex’s arm when the boy was still a baby, to save his son from an alien infection. He had a matter of seconds to make up his mind and perform the deed. That had been one of the most terrible, gut-wrenching things Rade had ever had to do. It still nearly broke him every time he thought about it.

My boy. My poor boy.

The arm had been replaced with a bioprinted one, of course, and functioned identically to the limb he had lost, but the slightly corrugated texture gave it away. Rade still wasn’t sure how he and Shaw would explain it to him when he was older. So far, his son hadn’t asked. Alex probably assumed everyone had slightly different arms like that.

Shaw joined in the hug, so that Rade was wrapped around everyone he loved. He looked into her eyes and saw a slight haunted aspect to them, mingled with the joy of his return.

He knew that look. It was the mien of someone who had seen too much. A haunted look he had seen often in his own men, and in himself sometimes, when he gazed upon his reflection in a mirror.

Shaw had never really looked at him the same way after the arm-cutting incident, not even four years later. She knew he had a darkness inside of him, one that made him capable of doing something no other parent could ever do. Yet he didn’t see that darkness necessarily as evil, but rather a strength.

I’d do anything to save my kids. Anything.

Sad to say, if saving his kids meant sacrificing the lives of his entire crew, he would make the choice in a heartbeat.

He prayed he never had to face such a scenario. Because he’d never forgive himself for doing it.

That’s the burden that comes with having kids aboard a starship.

If only he could bear to part with them. Holding his entire family in his arms right then, he knew he could not.

“You all right, big guy?” Shaw asked.

“Yeah,” Rade said. “Why?”

“Your eyes looked a little misty there for a second,” Shaw said. “I thought you were going to cry.”

“What, me cry?” Rade said. “Never happen.”

Shaw smiled, her own eyes becoming misty. “Damn you,” she said, and the tears fell. “I missed you. I was so worried in that final stretch.”

Rade rested his head against her forehead and blinked rapidly, fighting back his own tears.

“I missed you, too,” he managed to say without cracking.

“Mommy, Daddy, why are you crying?” Sil said.

Shaw smiled widely at her daughter. “They’re tears of joy, dear. Someday you’ll understand.”

“I do!” Sil said. She was smiling widely. “I do I do! You’re so happy it hurts!” She giggled.

“Something like that,” Shaw said.

That evening Rade and Shaw elected to eat with the men in the wardroom. Chicken was on the menu, as always. Rade had stocked up at Ceres V, purchasing enough frozen chickens to last at least three months.

“So seriously, bro,” Lui told Bender between bites. “You were alone with Surus for a solid month before the rest of us arrived at Ceres V. Nothing happened between you two?”

Bender grinned widely, revealing the golden grille covering his front teeth. “Oh, a lot happened all right. But I’m not one to kiss and tell, if you know what I mean.”

“Uh, Bender?” Lui said. “You got a big piece of chicken caught between your front teeth.”

Bender kept smiling. “So?” His tongue worried the chunk of meat. “Study me and you might learn a few things about pleasing the fairer sex.”

“By watching you lick a gross piece of meat caught between your teeth?” Manic said. “I don’t think so.”

“I can see how you’d be offended, since you were expecting advice on pleasuring the same sex,” Bender said. “Seeing as how your name is Man Lick after all…”

“A lot happened between you and Surus?” Shaw said after swallowing her latest slice.

Bender looked down his nose at Shaw. “That’s right. I know you’re jealous and all.”

Rade snorted.

Shaw glanced at him. “You mind if I leap over the table and throttle him?”

“By all means,” Rade said. “Saves me the trouble of having to do it later.”

“All right all right, I take it back,” Bender said. “You’re not jealous.”

“That’s right,” Shaw said, smiling dangerously.

“But let me just say, Surus couldn’t stop talking about how big I was,” Bender said.

“Why do I doubt that?” Manic said.

“Yeah, bro,” Tahoe said. He bit into a chicken leg and talked with his mouth full. “Brag about all the things you did to her while Surus isn’t here to defend herself.”

“Burgh afout alloose murf did towel Surus yana here to bleghag herthef!” Manic said, making fun of how Tahoe sounded with his mouth full like that.

“Sorry,” Tahoe said. It sounded like “soffy.”

“Maybe we should get Bax to tap in Surus from her quarters in the cargo bay,” Manic said. “So she can give her side of the story. I have a feeling it won’t match up with Bender’s version.”

“I have no doubt that when she called Bender big,” Shaw said. “She was referring to his ego.”

Bender shrugged. “Think what y’all want. Surus and I know exactly what happened. I’m telling you, you think she looks good clothed? You should see that fine ass naked. She has one mighty sweet—”

“Bender and I roomed in separate quarters at the house we were renting,” Surus interrupted over the intercom. “He never saw me naked. Never laid a hand on me. And he never will.”

“Aw Surus, why’d you have to go and spoil all my fun.” Bender crossed his arms and half pouted. But his apparent distress couldn’t stop him from biting into another piece of chicken.

“Ha!” Manic said. “Bender is never going to get laid.”

Bender erupted in a loud chortle. He choked on the chicken for a moment, before finally swallowing. Gasping, he said: “You’re hilarious, bro. I had a different model quality girl coming to my quarters every night. I like squashing pussy almost as much as I like squashing bugs. Surus, you heard the nightly foot traffic coming past your door? Corroborate for me before I whoop the ass of this pathetic, weak, sissy.”

“Sissy!” Manic said. “That’s the best he has. I’m a sissy.”

“Surus?” Bender pressed.

Surus didn’t answer.

“And there we have it,” Manic said. “Bender. The biggest BS-er in the history of the word. And regarding Surus: you’ve been trying to get her for what, over four years now? When is it going to sink in that it isn’t going to happen? She’s just not into you. Who’s the stupid one now?”

Bender didn’t say a word more. He didn’t meet anyone’s eye, and ate in silence.

Rade felt sorry for his friend. Despite his boisterous words, Bender was a good guy. And loyal to a fault. Bender would give his life to save any one of them, even Manic and Harlequin. Especially Manic and Harlequin. The two Bender sparred with the most were perhaps the dearest to his heart. All the insults, the taunts, the fights, they were his way of showing affection. Bender was the very definition of what it was to be a true MOTH. And though he no longer served in the military, he had never lost the heart that made him who he was.

And Rade doubted he ever would.

BEFORE THEY LEFT orbit, Rade arranged for a factory-fresh Centurion to be conveyed to the ship from a military retailer on the surface. Surus paid for it.

He was careful to instruct the retailer to give him a “clean slate” Centurion, meaning one that had never had a consciousness installed: overwriting an already imprinted robot, while technically legal, was essentially the same as killing it.

All the robots had recent backups aboard, so that when the shipment arrived, it was a simple matter to install the neural imprint.

Algorithm opened its eyes.

Rade made sure to have Harlequin present, as the Artificial had gone through this experience himself once. Algorithm looked at Rade, then at Harlequin, and finally gazed down at its polycarbonate hands. Though the robot’s head was featureless, Rade suspected that if it had a face, the Centurion would be shocked at the moment.

“Oh, crap,” Algorithm said. “I died, didn’t I?”

Rade nodded. “Unfortunately. But your memories live on.”

“They do,” Algorithm said. And just like that it straightened and said: “Permission to continue my duties, boss?”

Rade suppressed a grin. “No need to be so formal. And permission granted.”

“Thank you, sir.” Algorithm said.

Rade’s brows drew together.

“I mean boss!” Algorithm said. “Not sir. Never sir.”

Rade forced a smile. “It’s good to have you back.”

“Thank you, boss.”

“You can join the other robots in storage bay three,” Rade said. “They’re all jacked in to Libreville.”

That was the latest and greatest robot-centric RPG hitting the InterGalNet. On planets, it formed a massively multiplayer online game among AI participants, but aboard a ship, because of the fault tolerate nature of the InterGalNet, only local network play was enabled. It still allowed AIs to log into a vast VR world that allowed them to interact with sub-AIs, controlled in this case by Bax.

Rade had logged in once out of curiosity, but found the gameplay a little too abstract. Perversely, Sil and Alex enjoyed the game. They logged in with Cora and Dora via aReal goggles, but only in augmented reality mode, forcing the game world to incorporate all elements of this reality, keeping the real-world objects like bulkheads and chairs in view at all times so that the ship essentially became one big playground.

Rade usually limited the twins’ access to the game to a maximum of an hour a day. He was of a mind that developing children needed to interact with the real world more. Though Shaw disagreed, of course. If she had her way, she would have had the kids wearing aReal goggles at all hours. And she might have, too, if it weren’t for Bax, who, on Rade’s behalf, cut off their access when the twins went over the limit.

Rade watched Algorithm leave. “Watch him for a few days,” he told Harlequin. “Make sure he takes well to his new body.”

“Will do,” Harlequin said.

“And comfort him, if you have to,” Rade said. “You know what he’s been through.”

“I will,” Harlequin said.

“How are you doing, anyway?” Rade asked.

“I’m fine,” Harlequin said. “This morning, Bender tricked me into placing my foot into one of the toilets, and then he flushed it on high mode, lodging me fairly tightly. I managed to extricate myself without damaging the toilet too badly. Before you ask, I repaired the device, so there is no need to dock Bender’s pay.”

Rade shook his head. “Not the answer I was expecting, but I actually meant, how are you doing. As a person. Knowing that you’re not the original Harlequin. Any lingering scars?”

Harlequin pursed his lips. “I don’t really think about it anymore. I am the original Harlequin as far as I’m concerned. A unique individual. There’s no one I have to measure up to anymore. No one I have to prove I’m just as brave as. I am me.”

Rade grinned. “That’s good. I’m very glad to hear it.” He patted Harlequin on the shoulder.

All was well. His crew was fed and paid. Morale was high. The Argonauts had successfully completed their latest mission, and were on their way to shoot a Phant into a star.

Life was good.

A few days later, halfway to the system’s sun, Rade was awakened by a klaxon.

four

What’s going on!” Rade said, sitting up. His movements caused the HLED lights embedded in the ceiling to activate, bathing the compartment in illumination.

As the klaxon continued, Rade attempted to slide out of the bunk he shared with Shaw as fast as possible. She was wrapped around his body and all he succeeded in doing was dragging the two of them to the metal deck, sheets and all.

“Ouch,” Shaw said.

“It’s Surus!” TJ said over the comm. “She just tried to take over engineering with two of the combat robots! I repelled her, but I have a feeling she’s going to be back very soon to try again.”

“What?” Rade said, extricating himself from Shaw and scrambling to his feet. “Bax, where is Surus now?”

Bax didn’t respond.

“That’s the thing,” TJ said. “She’s disabled Bax somehow. And locked us all inside whatever compartments we’re currently located in. For most of the crew, that means their quarters. Try to leave.”

Rade went to the hatch. Sure enough it didn’t open.

The HLED lights flickered overhead and then blackened, bathing the room in darkness.

“That can’t be good,” Rade said. “TJ, you still there? TJ?”

No response.

“The twins,” Shaw said urgently in the dark.

Rade nodded, though she couldn’t see him. “They are our first priority.”

Rade activated the “3D Map Visualization” feature, which caused the outline of the compartment to appear as white vector wireframes overlaid onto his vision. He could see the seams where the bulkheads joined the deck and overhead, and the outlines of the bed and other objects. At least this way he could move without knocking into anything. It wouldn’t give him the positions of any objects that had changed locations since the last time the map snapshot was made, however.

He glanced at his HUD, whose digital overlays were still visible over the black and white background. Most of the human crew members were tagged as online even without Bax to connect to, thanks to the adhoc network formed by their Implants. It helped that they were all in close proximity, seeing as most of them were in their quarters at the moment.

Strangely, though Harlequin roomed with the humans, he was offline. As for TJ, without Bax to boost his signal, he would be out of range in engineering. As would Cora and Dora in sickbay with the twins. Maybe it was a bad idea to place the kids so far from his quarters…

Surus was offline as well, however that might have nothing to do with range at all—if she had turned against the crew, she had very likely disabled her internal comm node.

Rade was able to activate “squad display outline” mode with those team members who were online. Shaw immediately appeared as a blue silhouette in front of him in the dark, and his own body became similarly outlined. All the Argonauts showed up as well, minus TJ, Surus, Harlequin, and the Centurions. Their profiles were visible beyond the bulkheads, showing Rade precisely where his team members were in relation to him. The 3D silhouettes updated in realtime as they moved their limbs and bodies. Most of them appeared to be trying to get out of their quarters.

Rade tapped them all into a shared, encrypted comm line.

“What the shit is going on!” Bender said.

“It’s Surus.” As Rade spoke, he searched the nondescript bulkhead represented as a wireframe next to the hatch, looking for the access panel. “She’s turned on us. And is apparently attempting to take control of the ship.”

“This is what we get for trusting aliens!” Lui said.

“I always knew we couldn’t trust the Greens anymore,” Fret said. “Not after what they did to the Hydra. Subjugating an entire species with a retrovirus…”

“Surus wouldn’t do this,” Bender said. “She wouldn’t. Something must have happened to her.”

“Whatever the case,” Rade said. “We have to get control of the ship back.”

Rade found the panel he was looking for. He removed it. His vector overlays showed only a blank area in front of him, so he fumbled about until he discovered the manual open jack. He proceeded to pump it. 

He heard a creaking sound as the door began to open.

“Why aren’t the emergency lights kicking in?” Fret said.

“We don’t need them,” Rade said. “Use the three-dimensional map data stored by your Implants, and squad display mode. Once we reach the armory, we can don our jumpsuits and switch to LIDAR for realtime object detection. If something else is aboard, and has Surus in its control, we’ll find it.”

“Is TJ all right?” Fret asked.

“I heard from him before the power went out,” Rade said, continuing to pump the jack. Since no light emerged from the passageway beyond, he paused occasionally to touch the hatch and gauge his progress. “TJ told me he had successfully repelled an attempt by Surus and two Centurions to take control of engineering.”

“It can’t be Surus,” Bender said. He still sounded stunned. “I don’t believe it. TJ is playing a practical joke.”

“He wouldn’t play a joke this bad,” Tahoe said. “Not even for his BlueTube channel.”

“We have to assume the Purple got out somehow,” Rade said. “And has taken control of Surus’ host, Ms. Bounty. It’s the only explanation.”

“But then what happened to Surus?” Bender said.

Rade didn’t have an answer.

“Notice how none of the combat robots are on the adhoc link?” Tahoe said. “All offline.”

“That’s because the Centurion storage closet isn’t within range of our living quarters,” Lui offered.

“You sure?” Tahoe said. “I think it is. Have a look at the blueprints. I read forty-five meters from my quarters. Within Implant range.”

“The bulkheads are interfering,” Lui said.

“We’ll see,” Tahoe said.

“Definitely worrisome,” Rade said. “I want you guys to head to the armory. We need those jumpsuits.” The Phant-repelling properties of the suits alone would make the trip worth it. And then there was the LIDAR. “Once you’ve geared up, make your way to the storage closet. Confirm the status of the remaining combat robots and head to engineering to look for TJ. I’ll join you along the way. But first, Shaw and I are going directly to sickbay.”

“I’m coming with you,” Bender said.

“As am I,” Tahoe said. “This isn’t the military anymore.”

“Fine,” Rade said. “Then the rest of you head to the armory and suit up.”

“Where’s Harlequin, by the way?” Lui said.

“Dunno,” Rade said. “Hopefully we’ll find him somewhere along the way.”

Rade continued working the jack, and now kept one hand near the ever-widening gap at all times to gauge his progress. What started as a crack became a fist-sized opening, then head-sized, and finally enlarged enough for Rade and Shaw to squeeze through.

They hurried toward sickbay, passing some of the other Argonauts along the way, headed in the opposite direction. Bender and Tahoe joined up with them, and together they took the scuttle to the next deck.

“Does anyone else find it a bit troubling that none of the breach seals are active?” Bender said. “Or am I just crazy like that?”

“You’re crazy,” Tahoe said. “But you do have a point.”

“That’s right, Big T,” Bender said. “If Surus really wanted to take over the ship, why leave the seals open, instead of barricading us into smaller and smaller compartments?”

“Well, the seals can be opened manually…” Tahoe said.

“A blast from a plasma rifle can fix that,” Bender said.

“Okay, I dunno then,” Tahoe said.

“Got some bad news,” Lui said. His voice was distorted.

Rade glanced at the overhead map. Lui and the others had reached the armory, and they were just at the edge of Implant comm range, judging from the distance meter. Rade halted so he could hear what they had to say without going beyond that range.

“What is it?” Rade said.

“Armory’s ransacked,” Lui said. “The jumpsuit closets are empty. The rifle racks pilfered. We got nothing.”

“So much for switching to LIDAR,” Manic complained. “Or getting armed.”

“It’s possible the armory in the hangar bay is still stocked,” Lui said.

“Yeah, great idea,” Fret said. “Let’s go to the hangar bay without environmental suits, that way the Purple can space all of us in one fell swoop.”

“Head to the robot storage closet first,” Rade said. “Confirm the status of the remaining combat robots. Then meet us in sickbay. We’ll head to engineering together.”

“You know if the Phant got out, it’s possible that it reprogrammed all the combat robots,” Tahoe said softly. “Not just two of them.”

Rade glanced at the big man. “A lot of things are possible. We’ll deal with whatever comes our way.”

“I’m going to kill that Purple alien bitch if it harmed the twins or Surus, that’s all I can say,” Bender chimed in. “Just going to kill it.”

You and me both, Rade thought.

The four of them continued through the cramped passageway in the darkness. The other Argonauts dropped out of communications range shortly, their indicators freezing on the overhead map.

Rade stubbed his toe on something. “The hell!” The prerecorded wireframe overlays didn’t indicate anything on the deck.

He knelt and felt around until he found what appeared to be a helmet of some kind. “Looks like we found a part of one of the jumpsuits.”

Rade tried donning the helmet, but the faceplate interface refused to come online, so he couldn’t utilize the built-in LIDAR. And without a power source, the headlamp wouldn’t turn on either.

“Tahoe, hold onto this so no one else bumps into it,” Rade said, handing the helmet to his friend.

As the four passed the fifty meter mark to sickbay, Rade was relieved when two familiar Centurions came online.

“Cora and Dora!” Shaw said breathlessly.

The two blue dots representing the robots indicated the pair were in sickbay. The kids wouldn’t show up, of course, since Alex and Sil weren’t Implanted, nor did they have embedded IDs.

Rade tapped in the two combat robots immediately.

“Sit-rep,” he asked urgently, picking up the pace.

“The twins are fine,” Cora answered. “If a little scared. We’ve produced a flashlight. We’ll have the hatch open for you when you arrive.”

Shaw broke ahead and Rade had to rush to keep up with her. They reached sickbay, but the hatch was only open a crack. Inside, Dora was pumping frantically at the manual open jack.

Rade peered through the crack and saw Cora on the far side of the compartment, sitting on the bed next to the twins. The Centurion held a flashlight vertically, shining it into a sheet Cora and the twins held over their heads, with the rays reflecting down to illuminate their faces. Rade had the impression Cora was trying to evoke a fun sleepover atmosphere or something, but from the worried expressions on the faces of his children, it wasn’t really working.

Cora pointed the flashlight toward the door, momentarily blinding Rade.

“Daddy!” Sil said.

“Mommy!” Alex said.

“My babies!” Shaw shouted into the opening.

The twins leaped off the bed and rushed the hatch, while Cora followed, providing illumination with the flashlight.

When Dora had the opening wide enough, the combat robot astutely stepped back, allowing Shaw to squeeze inside. Rade pushed in after her, and together they knelt to envelop the kids in a massive, four-way bear hug.

“I’m hugging y’all, too!” Bender said. He added his arms to the mix, so the bear hug became five-way.

Tahoe came inside but kept a wary distance. He shook his head. “I’m not getting anywhere near you mushy people.” He stayed next to the entrance, obviously intending to keep watch.

Rade finally broke away, as did Shaw and Bender. They all stayed down on their knees.

“Mommy what’s going on?” Sil asked frantically, her eyes wide.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Shaw said. “But you have to keep quiet.”

“What’s going on, Uncle Bender?” Alex said, sounding way calmer.

“The shi—” Bender paused, glanced at Shaw, and then cleared his throat. “The feces has hit the plasma inductor.”

Alex seemed confused, then his face brightened. “You mean someone flushed the toilet?”

“Something like that,” Bender said.

“Someone must have taken a pretty big shit!” Alex giggled. “To shut down a starship like that!”

“Alex!” Shaw said. “Don’t talk that way in front of your sister.”

Sil didn’t seem to notice. She just stood there, seeming shell-shocked to Rade. Just utterly afraid. A normal reaction for a four-year-old when the lights went out, he supposed. This was in complete contrast to Alex, who seemed entirely at ease now that Rade and Shaw had arrived.

He wondered if maybe the fearlessness was just an act on Alex’s part, and his son simply wanted to pretend he was brave like his dad. He wondered—

“This is just a VR game, right?” Alex said.

Ah, so that was it.

The first few weeks after Alex had returned from the trip to the past had been really bad: Alex had withdrawn from reality, and kept entirely to himself. He lived almost exclusively in a VR world of rainbows and unicorns. In the real world, he was afraid of everything: the dark; the creature under his bunk; the monster waiting in the corridor.

Finally Shaw and Rade agreed that they would lie to their son. Tell him his entire trip back in time was just a VR game.

“The dinosaurs weren’t real?” Alex said moments after Shaw detailed the lie.

Shaw shook her head.

“It wasn’t real.” Alex wept tears of joy and hugged his parents. “Thank you, Mommy and Daddy.”

Maybe that had been a mistake.

“It’s a game?” Alex repeated.

Little Sil looked at Rade hopefully. Rade couldn’t meet her eye.

Shaw smiled sadly at Alex. “Not this time, dear.”

That seemed to crumple Alex’s resolve, and he immediately hunched over as if physically struck in the stomach. Rade tried to hug him again, but Alex went for Shaw instead and wrapped his little arms around her so tightly that Rade thought she must have had trouble breathing. But Shaw didn’t make her son let go—she seemed to hold on just as tight. At the same time, Sil hugged Shaw’s neck.

Rade felt left out, and somewhat hurt by the behavior of his kids, but he didn’t say anything.

Shaw looked at Rade. “When the team arrives, I’ll stay here and watch the twins. Leave Bender behind to guard the hatch, and—”

“No,” Rade said. “We can’t let them stay here, not with a Purple potentially on the loose. When the team arrives, we’re all going to engineering together.”

Shaw opened her mouth but then shut it. There was something about her expression that told him she wasn’t done arguing that point yet.

Instead Tahoe spoke for her: “Bringing the kids to engineering might not be such a good idea… especially considering we’re unarmed.”

“Not unarmed,” Cora said. She went to the back of sickbay, reached up and opened one of the vents, and produced two hidden laser rifles. “Ever since the first boarding incident, I thought it wise to keep a few weapons close at hand to protect the children.”

Cora tossed one rifle to Rade, the other to Tahoe.

“Thank you,” Rade told the robot. It wasn’t a Phant stun rifle, but it would do.

five

Rade joined Tahoe at the entrance to stand watch, and the tense moments passed. In a few minutes the remaining members of the team came back into range: their blue dots approached sickbay on the overhead map. Harlequin and Algorithm were with them, according to the map data.

“Status update on the other robots?” Rade asked Lui over the comm.

“Couldn’t find them,” Lui transmitted. “The storage closet was empty. But according to Harlequin, Surus has taken control of them. I’ll let him explain.”

“Where did you find Harlequin and Algorithm by the way?” Rade said.

“They found us,” Lui said. “On the way to the storage closet, their indicators popped up on our overhead maps and then they came to our position.”

“All right, thanks,” Rade said. “Harlequin, tell me what happened. You say Surus has taken control of the robots?”

“Yes,” Harlequin said. “And the ship, too. Not many of you know this, but AIs are equipped with self-modifying routines that allow them to update their behavior on the fly. Because ship AIs are an integral part of day-to-day starship operations, as part of standard operating procedures all modifications to the codebase must be reviewed by at least one crew member. TJ and Bender alternate between the task, but I like to get my hands dirty, too, offering a second pair of eyes.

“Anyway, a few hours ago I was poring over the latest code changes ahead of TJ, the designated code reviewer this week. I noticed some rather odd routines had been inserted. Function calls that I believed would allow an external actor to assume full control of the AI, bypassing its command and control subroutines entirely.

“TJ was awake, so I asked him down to engineering with me to help explore the issue. As we began the task of isolating and reverting the changes, we noticed that all of the log entries pointed back to one person: Surus. The alien had made the modifications. Or her host, Ms. Bounty, had. I left TJ in engineering so he could continue reverting the changes, and I went to the cargo bay to confront Surus about it. I never made it. The klaxon sounded, and the power failed shortly thereafter. She must have been monitoring TJ and me.

“I tried to contact you, but was out of range. I was close to the combat robot storage closet, and found Algorithm. We made our way back to engineering, pausing at the armory along the way, but it was empty: I believe the robots ransacked it. At engineering, we managed to ambush one of the Centurions that was guarding the passageway—Ulysses. We disabled him, but were forced to retreat when the other combat robots opened fire. We dragged Ulysses with us, unfortunately losing his weapon in the process. When we were in the clear we opened him up.

“After a quick scan of his AI core, Algorithm and I determined Surus had installed nefarious routines that were almost identical to those she had placed in Bax. My guess is she did it at some point when the Centurions were all on the surface of Ceres V. Algorithm wasn’t affected because when we returned to the ship, we restored him from a backup taken from before he went to the surface. And my guess is Cora and Dora weren’t affected either, because they never set foot on the planet.”

Rade eyed the two Centurions in sickbay suspiciously. “When you get here, I’ll want you to scan their AI cores for signs of tampering.”

“Of course,” Harlequin said.

“In the meantime, stay away from my kids,” Rade told the robots.

Cora and Dora stepped back.

“What’s going on?” Sil asked wide-eyed.

“Nothing sweetie,” Shaw answered. “Daddy just needs his space.”

Ignoring the comment, Rade continued his conversation with the team, transmitting: “Were you able to restore Ulysses?”

“No,” Harlequin said. “Unfortunately we couldn’t revert the changes to his AI core, not without access to the neural interfacing equipment in engineering.”

“How can you be sure you weren’t infected yourself?” Rade asked.

“In the safe house on the surface, I roomed separately from the other robots,” Harlequin said. “As I always do. And I rarely log into VR, unlike the Centurions. They’re essentially Vaddicts. Complete sensory deprivation is dangerous: I like to be aware of my surroundings at all times. In any case, just to be on the safe side, I had Algorithm scan me for the rogue routines and I turned up clear. As did Algorithm when I checked him in turn.”

“Okay,” Rade said. “Get here as quick as you can.”

Rade terminated the connection and watched the team approach on the overhead map. He kept a suspicious eye on Cora and Dora, ready to raise the laser rifle in defense if necessary. Still, because of that weapon, he had little doubt the two robots were innocent. Then again, Cora was the one who had given him the rifle, not Dora. Maybe the latter robot was infected.

As the Centurions didn’t have facial expressions of any kind, it was almost impossible to gauge their current emotional state, but from their tense body language Rade could tell they were nervous, too.

He idly wondered if he should update those robots to fully Artificial bodies at some point, especially if they were going to continue being nannies to his kids. Rade worried it was damaging to the twins’ emotional development to interact with faceless robots during their childhood years. Then again, in VR Cora and Dora chose avatars with faces. Cora used a friendly cartoon porcupine, and Dora a flappy-armed walrus.

The kids kept quiet, with Sil sometimes whimpering, causing Shaw to whisper something to the little girl.

Finally the rest of the Argonauts arrived. Most remained outside in the passageway, because sickbay was cramped enough as it was. Harlequin came in to scan Cora and Dora. “They’re clean.”

“All right people, we’re heading toward engineering,” Rade said.

“Is that wise?” Shaw said. She lowered her voice, and moved away from the children, obviously not wanting them to hear. “Normally I wouldn’t contest you in front of the men, but come on: if there are armed Centurions guarding engineering, and you bring the kids, all it takes is a stray plasma shot…”

Rade hesitated. “Well I can’t leave TJ. And I don’t want us to split up.”

“We’re going to have to, I think,” Shaw said. “Because as a mother, I can’t feasibly bring the twins to a firefight. My protective instincts won’t allow it.”

“They’ll be at the back, far from any fighting,” Rade said.

“Will they?” Shaw said. “And what if we’re surrounded?”

“I’ll stay with her,” Tahoe announced. He patted the laser rifle. “I got protection now. The twins and Shaw won’t be undefended.”

Rade looked at his friend, and then back to Shaw, and then sighed. He knew this wasn’t a fight he would win.

“All right,” Rade said. “All right. We’ll go to engineering alone. Once we have TJ, we’ll come back for you.”

“And then what?” Shaw asked.

“We try to take back the ship,” Rade said. He started to turn away, but then paused. “You know, I almost want to send you and the kids into the closest lifepod, and just get you out of this situation.”

“Might be a good idea,” Shaw said.

“I don’t think we’re there, yet,” Rade said. “At least, I hope we’re not.”

“If Zhidao is free, y’all know he could come seeping out of the deck at any time, right beneath any one of our feet?” Bender said. “Without the Phant-repelling jumpsuits, we have no protection. Sending the kids into the lifepods might be the best idea I’ve heard today.”

TJ’s signal abruptly showed up on the overhead map, approaching from the direction of engineering.

“TJ!” Rade sent.

“Hey boss,” TJ said over the comm. “Had to abandon engineering. The Purple nearly smoked me. Came up right out of the floor. If I hadn’t been sitting on the console with my feet off the deck, that would’ve been it.”

“Told you,” Bender said softly.

Rade ignored him. “How did you get out?” Rade asked TJ. “I was under the impression the Centurions had barricaded engineering.”

“They have, but I used the vent crawlspace,” TJ answered. “Wasn’t the funnest experience. But I’ve been through worse.”

“All right, get here as soon as you can,” Rade said. “Tahoe, get out there and meet him half way. Use your weapon light to ensure no one ambushes you.”

“On it,” Tahoe said.

Tahoe departed.

Rade glanced at Cora and Dora. “I want you to carry the kids at all times. I want them held away from the deck and other surfaces.”

Cora and Dora obeyed.

“What if Zhidao attempts to stealth possess them?” Shaw asked.

“Keep pacing back and forth,” Rade instructed the robots. “Don’t stand in the same spot for too long.”

“There isn’t that much room in here…” Cora said.

“You’ll manage,” Rade said. He glanced at Bender and Harlequin. “Out. Give the robots some room.”

Cora and Dora began pacing back and forth, as instructed. Rade and Shaw flattened themselves against the bulkheads.

“What’s going on, Daddy?” Sil said from Cora’s arms as the Centurion squeezed past.

Rade forced a smile. “Just some minor problems with the ship. Nothing to worry about. Cora’s going to give you a ride in the meantime.”

From the tearful expressions on the faces of his kids, he knew they didn’t believe him.

Tahoe returned with TJ so that all of the Argonauts were finally gathered in the passageway outside sickbay.

“Now what?” Fret said.

“We retake the ship,” Rade said.

“That will be hard,” TJ said. “The passage in front of the engineering section is crawling with combat robots. As is engineering itself—they broke in when I left. Plus, don’t forget that the Purple is inside, waiting to incinerate anyone who decides to show up. And as you know, without access to engineering, the bridge is useless.”

“The ship is lost…” Fret said.

“We can’t abandon her,” Rade said. Especially considering I haven’t even come close to paying her off, yet!

“There’s something else,” Tahoe said. “The breach seals closed behind us on the way here. As if the ship, or Surus, were trying to herd us here, away from engineering.”

“Then we’ll use the manual overrides,” Rade said. “And when we’re close, we’ll take to the vents and use the crawlspace like TJ did. Bender, Lui, Manic, Harlequin, you’re with me. The rest of you stay behind. Protect the kids. Tahoe’s the only one with a rifle, but you robots have a weapon as well: your strength.”

“Except we can’t use it, not with children in our arms,” Dora said.

“Your feet are free…” Rade said. He exited sickbay to join the others outside. “Let’s move.” 

Harlequin had the ability to emit LIDAR, and the Artificial transmitted the data stream to Rade, Bender, Lui and Manic so that the team could “see” again. Rade preferred that to activating the weapon light, though in reality LIDAR was perhaps even more detectable by enemies, due to the number of photons emitted.

Rade moved ahead to the point position, since he had a laser rifle. Harlequin brought up the rear.

“Boss, you’re not supposed to be point man,” Lui said.

“I’m the one with the rifle,” Rade said.

“Exactly why I should go first,” Lui said. “So we don’t lose our rifle man.”

“We’re not in the military anymore,” Rade said. “I won’t let you be my human shield. We don’t have to pretend my life is worth more than all of yours.”

“But it is,” Lui said.

“It isn’t,” Rade told him.

“If you die, there are no Argonauts,” Lui insisted.

Rade knew that Shaw was still listening in on the communications while he was in range. And he could almost hear her unsaid thoughts.

And you’re also a father.

Rade hesitated. But then he ground his teeth, firming his resolve.

Tahoe is a father, too. And so is Manic.

He remained in the point position.

They reached the first seal, their way forward blocked entirely by the hatch.

“Harlequin, open that up,” Rade ordered.

The Artificial opened the panel next to the hatch and knelt.

“Manual override isn’t working,” Harlequin said. 

“How is that possible?”

Bender knelt beside the robot. “Someone plasma’d the jacks.”

Rade glanced at the laser rifle he held. The weapon would take a long time to cut through the hatch, especially considering it wasn’t designed as a laser cutter. Nor was it military grade. Some of the plasma rifles on board would have made short work of the hatch. Too bad the rogue Centurions had looted all of them.

“Can you punch your way through?” Rade asked.

Algorithm began bashing the seal. Then stopped after a minute. “All I’m succeeding in doing is damaging my fists.”

“You made some sexy dents, though,” Bender said. “Gotta give yourself credit.”

“Never thought I’d wish I hadn’t paid for the best breach seals available,” Rade muttered. “We’ll try another route.”

They backtracked, passing sickbay, and turning down another corridor. Once again they encountered a seal.

“Damn it,” Rade said. “All right, looks like we’ll have to take to the vents immediately.”

“Seals in the crawlspaces also close up when nearby breach seals activate,” Lui said.

“But they might be easier to cut through,” Rade said.

They returned to the closest vent, and Rade had Harlequin crawl inside with the laser rifle. Sure enough, the Artificial reported an internal closure.

“Zhidao let me go,” TJ said. “Why?”

Because he wants me to see you die, one by one.

Rade dismissed the thought. “Use the laser rifle,” he transmitted to Harlequin.

“I’ll try,” Harlequin replied. Two minutes later: “At the current rate, it will take me approximately six hours to cut through.”

“How many seals are there likely to be between here and engineering?” Rade asked.

“Six,” Harlequin said.

“Thirty six hours,” Rade said. “Well, I don’t see we have much choice. Start cutting.”

“What about the shuttles?” Lui said.

“The shuttles?” Rade asked.

“Yes,” Lui said. “There’s an airlock close to engineering. No breach seals in the way. If we board a shuttle, travel along the exterior hull of the ship, and mount to the airlock, we’ll only have to cut through the two airlock hatches and we’ll be right beside engineering.”

“Assuming Bax bitch hasn’t sealed up the route to the hangar bay,” Bender said.

“We might as well check,” Rade said.

“I can scout ahead,” Lui said. “While the rest of you stay here.”

“No,” Rade said. “We stick together. Harlequin, get back here.”

When Harlequin exited the vent, Rade led the team back toward sickbay, taking the first bend that led to the hangar bay. He kept in touch with Shaw and Tahoe the whole time, confirming that everything was all right.

So far, none of the breach seals leading to the hangar bay were closed. Rade wondered if that would continue.

“It’s like Zhidao is herding us toward the hangar bay,” Lui said.

“Maybe he wants to space us,” Manic said.

“If he did, he would have done it already,” Rade said. “I’m guessing the seals all the way from here to the hangar bay are open. As are the airlock hatches.”

Sure enough, all the seals were open along the way, including those of the airlock that led inside the hangar bay itself. Zhidao could have indeed spaced them at any time.

The hangar bay armory proved looted, too. No jumpsuits. No weapons.

“Should have headed to the mech bay,” Bender muttered.

“Harlequin, scan the shuttle’s AI core,” Rade ordered. He kept an eye on those hangar bay doors, half expecting them to open at any moment and suck him and his men into the cold void of space.

Harlequin approached the shuttle, which was vaguely shaped like a dragonfly with those bifurcated frontal wings attached on either side of the fuselage. The Artificial unlocked a side panel underneath the craft and reached inside.

“I’m not detecting any of the previous aberrations in the codebase,” Harlequin said after a moment.

“Close it up,” Rade said.

Harlequin sealed the panel.

Rade accessed the shuttle’s remote interface and opened the rear ramp. When it touched the deck, the five Argonauts piled aboard.

Rade took a seat opposite Bender, and the chair clamps spiraled into place, securing him.

“I want you piloting,” Rade told Harlequin.

“Thank you,” Harlequin said.

While Rade could have had the onboard AI do the flying, he trusted Harlequin more.

When everyone was secured in the cabin, Rade glanced at the cockpit, where Harlequin was strapped in.

“Take us out,” Rade ordered.

Harlequin moved his hands, accessing the shuttle interface that would only be visible to him on his HUD.

Rade waited for the ramp to close beside him, but it didn’t.

“Problem?” Rade asked Harlequin.

“It’s not responding,” Harlequin said.

“That sinking feeling you get when you realize you’re screwed…” Lui said.

Rade accessed the seat interface and tried to deactivate the locking clamps, but they wouldn’t retract.

“I take it I’m not the only one who can’t get out of his seat?” Manic said.

“Zhidao,” Rade said.

“Finally you catch on,” the voice of Surus, or rather her Artificial host, Ms. Bounty, came over the cabin intercom. “Ah, I was enjoying myself so immensely. You and your team are like tiny mice, lost, scurrying about to and fro in the maze. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time. And believe me when I say this, because eternity is a long time. But alas, my fun, at least with you five, is now at an end.”

“You little bitch! I’m going to kill you!” Bender was struggling frantically against his clamps.

“I thought you scanned the AI core?” Lui asked Harlequin.

“I did,” Harlequin replied. “But—”

“Cloaking routines,” Zhidao said over the intercom. “I made a quick trip back to the shuttle while you were occupied and injected some fresh code to hide my previous tampering. You see, with all the other robots, I purposely left my tracks uncovered. I placed little breadcrumbs for your Artificial to follow. I wanted him so confident in his abilities, and dismissive of mine. A lesson for you all: underestimate me at your peril.”

Lui glanced at Rade in shock. “If true, that means Harlequin himself could have unactivated stealth routines hidden in his codebase. Or Cora and Dora…”

“No no no,” Zhidao said. “Well, Cora and Dora, maybe. But the Artificial was too tricky. He never disconnected from the real world, affording me no opportunity to meddle.” His voice took on an amused tone. “Then again, maybe I did actually install something. You’ll just have to wait and see.” 

“You want the time weapon,” Rade said.

“Eventually, perhaps,” Zhidao said. “But time travel bores me at the moment. Too many complexities. Too many paradoxes. I almost accidentally destroyed my own race last time, not just your own. Yes, it was that bad. You actually did me a favor by reverting my changes. In any case, I have more immediate, safer plans.”

“Good for you,” Rade said. “So what do you want, then?”

“I don’t like to be hunted,” Zhidao said. “Never have. I promised you what would happen if you ever crossed me again. And now I am going to fulfill that promise. You will pay in full.”

Rade thought of Shaw and the twins still in sickbay, and he had a sudden image of Centurions storming the compartment and killing them all.

“If you touch my family—” Rade began.

“I could have killed you all,” Ms. Bounty’s voice interrupted him over the comm. “Came to you in the dark while you slept, and eradicated your human forms with a touch. And perhaps I should have. But where is the fun in that? So many decades out here lived in sheer boredom. So many days filled with drudgery. Why ruin my entertainment? Yes, killing you in your sleep would be too easy. I want you to suffer of course, Rade Galaal. That is what I want.”

Rade gazed at the somber faces of his men. None of them could do a thing.

Suddenly Harlequin physically ripped himself out of his seat, using his brute strength to break through the clamps. Skin hung from his arms where he had torn it away, revealing the memory metals that served as muscle underneath.

Harlequin moved toward Rade, obviously intending to break him free as well.

“Uh uh ah!” Zhidao said.

Harlequin shook violently in place and then collapsed to the cabin floor.

“All right, I admit it,” Zhidao said. “Maybe I sneaked some stealth code into his system after all. Wink wink.”

Rade slumped in his seat, the momentary hope he had felt quickly fading.

“So as I was saying,” Zhidao continued. “I believe I have found a suitable means to inflict suffering upon you, while entertaining me at the same time. I couldn’t help but notice that you’re flying toward the nearby star. That is convenient, because it means a Slipstream awaits only a day away. I’ve already changed course for that Slipstream, and will be taking it, along with a few others thereafter.

“In the meantime, you will remain confined in the hangar bay. I’ll spare you the drudgery of existence, so that you won’t be bored out of your mind like I usually am. I’ll be flooding the shuttle with incapacitating agents, you see. A little cabin modification I’ve worked on here and there over the past few days. When you awaken, you will find yourself and your crew stranded on an isolated planet, away from civilization. And without your children. Ta ta.”

“Don’t you dare touch my children!” Rade struggled against the clamps that held him, and for a moment he thought he was about to break free. But the metal cylinders didn’t yield.

“The other members of your crew will come looking for you when you don’t return,” Zhidao continued. “One by one they will succumb to the incapacitating agents. No doubt Shaw and the children will remain in sickbay the whole time. Helpless. Defenseless. Eventually, when I grow weary of dragging out their terror, I’ll send a Centurion to toss a canister into sickbay so that they too can join in the unconscious fun. Hopefully the children will survive the incapacitating process. I heard there are warnings about this particular chemical agent, in regards to usage on children. I guess we’ll just have to hope. Farewell, Rade Galaal. We will not meet again. But if we do, your children will not survive the encounter.”

“What are you going to do to them?” Rade said. “What—”

White mist began to vent inside the cabin.

Rade had a sudden idea.

“Bender, can—”

But before he could complete the sentence, Rade dropped.

six

Rade opened his eyes.

“Boss is awake,” Bender said.

Rade blinked a few times. He was lying on the floor of a dome-shaped compartment. He ran his gaze across the blank, white walls. They looked like they were made of fabric. The floor underneath him was composed of the same material.

Bender, Lui, and Tahoe were here, seated cross-legged on the floor nearby. They held glasses of liquid meal replacement somberly in their hands.

Bender inclined his head. “Boss.”

Rade’s eyes drifted to a window set into one of the walls of the concave chamber. He rose to his feet and walked to it. Outside, the terrain was rocky. Barren. It stretched to the horizon, looking similar to a flood plain, thanks to the monotony of it all.

He could see other domes out there, connected to each other by can-shaped passageways. One of those passageways joined with this compartment. The exteriors of the structures were mirror like, and reflected the dull sunlight from the sky.

“Window is made of a reinforced polyethylene and polycarbonate combination,” Lui said. “The walls are made of essentially the same fabrics as an environmental suit, with a mirror like outer layer to keep out X Rays. Won’t hold up to any micrometeor impacts, if any should happen to strike. There is an airlock leading to the outside, but no possible way of actually going out there: we have no jumpsuits or spacesuits of any kind. Nor any exploratory vehicles. It’s like the airlock is present only to tease us. Or maybe to offer a final escape, not just from this world, but life itself.”

Rade stared at the rocky terrain for several moments, trying to gather his thoughts, get his bearings. Then he turned to face his men.

Their expressions remained somber. And… fearful?

“How long have I been under?” Rade asked.

“Compared to the rest of us?” Lui answered. “Fret was the first to awaken. You’re the last. It’s been six hours since Fret opened his eyes. But if you’re asking how long in general, according to our Implants four weeks have passed.”

“Four weeks.” Rade shook his head slightly. “Is everyone here?” He dreaded the answer, because he already knew from their faces.

“Everyone except Harlequin,” Lui said. “And the robots. And Ms. Bounty of course.”

“Shaw?” Rade asked.

“Yes,” Lui answered.

“The kids?” Rade pressed. That was the only real question he cared about.

And of course Lui didn’t reply.

“They’re not here, are they?” Rade said.

When Lui still couldn’t bring himself to answer, Rade glanced at Bender.

The big man shook his head. There were tears in his eyes.

For some reason Rade’s legs became suddenly weak and he could no longer hold up his own weight. He crumpled to the floor.

Tahoe rushed to him and knelt at his side. “It’s going to be all right. We’re going to find them.”

The edges of Rade’s vision filled with a red haze. A wave of conflicting emotions wracked his body. All-consuming anger, overwhelming outrage, gut-wrenching sadness.

His eyes drifted to the window, and the fabric-covered walls. He felt an abrupt, incredibly intense sensation of claustrophobia, and it was all he could do to prevent himself from hurling his body into the dome wall and tearing it apart. If his friends weren’t here, he might have done just that, exposing his body to the deadly atmosphere on the other side.

“Boss. Rade, it’s going to be all right.” Tahoe’s fingers rested on his back.

“Don’t touch me!” Rade snapped.

Tahoe withdrew as if bitten.

“Better get Shaw,” Lui said.

His voice sounded distant. The red haze was becoming thicker. Rade squeezed his hands tightly. Tighter than he ever had in his life. His nails drew blood from his palms, but he hardly noticed.

Or cared.

His entire body felt taut, as if every muscle was clenched.

Two sentences repeated over and over in his mind.

I failed. I lost my kids. I failed. I lost my kids.

Someone was touching his shoulder. He flinched away, growled, almost struck out.

“Rade,” a tender voice said. “Rade. Come back to me.”

A part of his mind recognized the voice as belonging to Shaw. The other part didn’t care.

She tried touching him again, and once more he refused her. He didn’t want another human being to ever touch him again.

“Leave… me… alone,” he managed to say through the red haze.

“I was the same, when I awoke,” Shaw said. “But I came to understand that the men needed me. As they need you. You have to fight, now of all times. You can’t give up. The children are alive. They have to be. I feel it in my heart. Call it a mother’s instincts. We’ll find them.”

When she touched him again, this time he allowed it. The haze was beginning to subside. Her voice was soothing. Calming.

“Rade,” Shaw said. “It’s going to be all right, my big warrior. We’ll get through this. We’ll find the children. Don’t give up.”

The tenseness he felt through his body subsided. He released his fists and slumped. His vision returned, the red haze clearing, and the anger faded along with it. But the sadness, the immense sadness, still remained.

Rade lay back on the floor. “I lost them. I failed.” He shook his head. Again, and again. “I tried. I just… I…” And then he wept.

Shaw held him. “Let it out. Let go.”

He felt ashamed for his tears. He was supposed to be the strong one. He’d always been the one to comfort Shaw. And now the tables had been turned.

He guessed losing one’s children would do that to a man.

He hardened himself.

We don’t know for sure we’ve lost them yet.

Rade sat up and straightened his back. Just like that, the hopelessness vanished. It was replaced by a burning anger.

Zhidao did this. He would pay. No matter what happened.

He tore himself from her grasp and scrambled to his feet. He felt a stinging in his palms, which bled where his nails had dug in.

He walked to the window.

“Do we have any remote sensing capabilities?” Rade asked his men over his shoulder.

“None,” Tahoe answered.

“So we don’t know where we are?” Rade said.

“Other than on some backwater, lifeless world?” Tahoe said. “No.”

“How can we be certain the atmosphere is deadly?” Rade said. “How do we know it isn’t some trick by Zhidao?”

Lui was the one who answered. “I asked the same question. There was a standard medkit next to me when I awoke. I placed the environmental sampler in the airlock, closed the door, and then opened the chamber to the outside world. Then I resealed it, flushed the external atmosphere, and had a look at the sampler. No bueno.”

“But you don’t know if Zhidao tampered with the sampler’s software…” Rade said.

“No,” Lui said. “But I figured I wasn’t going to walk out there and test the atmosphere on my own.”

“Could it be VR?” Rade said, remembering a simulation Phants had once trapped him in.

“It’s possible,” Lui said. “But if so, it’s the most realistic VR environment we’ve ever been in.”

Shaw had retrieved the first aid kit, and she began wrapping Rade’s hands as he continued addressing his men. Everyone had gathered in the dome by then. Lui, Manic, TJ, Tahoe, Shaw, Fret, Bender.

“Did Zhidao leave a message of any kind?” Rade said.

“Funny you should ask,” Fret told him. He ducked inside the small passageway that led from the dome and returned a moment later with a small disk-shaped device. He set it on the floor and stepped back.

A holo-video of Ms. Bounty appeared above the disk, showing her head and shoulders in proportions that were twice life-size.

“Hello again Rade and the Argonauts,” Ms. Bounty said. “It is I, your good friend Zhidao. I’ve trapped you all inside a dome environment on a dead planet without jumpsuits of any kind. You’ve got enough liquid rations to survive a month. I’ve placed hidden surveillance devices throughout the dome environment I’ve built for you, with a nearby transmitter uploading video on my own private InterGalNet.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how you get out of this one. Though I suspect you won’t last the month without tearing each other apart. But if you do, congratulations will be in order. And if you manage to escape, even greater laudations are due.

“Rest assured, the twins are alive. I’ve kept them in stasis aboard the Argonaut. Find the ship, and you find your children. But you must be quick, because you see, I’ve installed a timer to coincide with the exhaustion of your rations on that planet. When a standard month passes, the stasis pods will fill with flames, and your poor, poor little children will be incinerated. The thought brings a tear to my eye.” The hologram theatrically rubbed at one eye.

Rade started to squeeze one of his hands again, but was met with Shaw’s fingers—she was still wrapping his palm in gauze, and she gently unfolded his fist.

“In any case, as much as I’d love to prattle on, I’m sure you’re eager to start planning your escape,” Ms. Bounty continued. “The clock is ticking, after all. I’ve left a shuttle nearby, about one hundred meters west of the dome environment’s airlock. Mostly to tease you. Because there’s no way you’ll ever reach it, not without exposing yourselves to the deadly atmosphere first. Ta ta!”

The image winked out.

“Well that was…” Infuriating, Rade wanted to say. Instead he completed the sentence with: “Annoying.”

Shaw finished wrapping Rade’s hands and stepped back.

“Have you been able to confirm that he’s watching us?” Rade asked his men.

“We haven’t been able to find any surveillance devices, no,” Fret answered.

“But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any,” Tahoe countered. “Without proper EM scanners, we have no way to know for certain. Stealth cameras are smaller than the size of pinheads, as you know. The problem is power, but with a battery beaming electrical energy from a source somewhere outside, he could certainly keep them operational for the month.”

Rade rubbed his thumb and forefinger in thought. “Did Zhidao really leave enough rations for a whole month?”

“There are rations,” Tahoe said. “But a month might be pushing it. And there isn’t any native flora or fauna out there, at least none we can discern from our current location. Not that it would be biocompatible with our digestive tracts anyway. And not that we could actually go out there and get it.”

“The idiot,” Rade said. “Why is he playing this game with us? Why not just kill us outright?”

“He can’t kill us,” Lui said. “We’re the most entertainment he’s had in decades, remember?”

“I can only imagine how lonely his existence must have been,” Shaw said. “An alien, trapped in our section of space, away from all others of his kind, hunted by humans ever since the first Alien War.”

“You’re actually feeling sorry for him?” Rade asked Shaw.

“A little,” Shaw answered. “But any pity I have for him ends the moment I think about what he’s done to our kids.”

“He could do a lot worse to them, you know,” Fret said. “And given who he is, he might have already.”

“Don’t say that,” Rade said. “It just makes me want to kill something.”

“Me, too,” Bender said. He turned toward Fret. “Mostly you, Little Bitch.”

Fret shrugged. “Good luck.”

Bender jumped onto Fret and started pounding.

Rade hated to admit to himself, but he wanted Fret to suffer for suggesting that harm had already come to his children, so he took a bit longer to intervene than he normally would have. Maybe a bit too long, because Shaw looked at him with an expression of disbelief on her face.

“You’re just going to let them fight?” Shaw asked.

Rade watched the pair go at it a moment longer, and then: “That’s enough. Enough!”

Rade pulled them apart. Fret had a black eye, and Bender a bloody nose.

“That was entertaining,” Manic said. “Course, I would have done a lot more damage.”

Bender scowled at him.

Rade quickly swiveled Bender away before the man could jump Manic as well.

“We have to work together now above all times,” Rade said. “That means no infighting. Understood? Bender, Fret?”

“Got it, boss,” Fret said.

Bender pressed his lips together defiantly.

“Bender?” Rade pressed.

“Yeah, yeah, I won’t touch the skinny-armed little bitch till we’re off this planet,” Bender said. He rubbed at his bloody nose.

Shaw offered him the medkit but Bender shoved it away.

“How the hell did this happen in the first place?” Rade said. He glanced at Bender. “You and Surus were working alone on the planet before the rest of us arrived. Did you see any unusual changes in her behavior, or that of her host, Ms. Bounty?”

“No,” Bender said. “Zhidao is a good actor. Then again, it isn’t hard to imitate Surus. She’s usually pretty cold at the best of times, especially to me. And I wasn’t with her 24/7. Zhidao could have gotten to her at any time without me realizing it.”

Lui nodded. “He would’ve had to have drawn Surus out of her host, and then reprogrammed Ms. Bounty to obey his orders remotely. Maybe he actually planned for us to capture him, or maybe it was just part of a failsafe on his part. The reprogrammed Artificial probably messed with the codebase of the other robots when the rest of us arrived. And when we boarded the Argonaut, she would have installed the aberrant code into Bax first thing, so that the Argonaut’s AI wouldn’t interfere when she set Zhidao free. Likely the Purple entered her body at that point, and used her as host.”

If Surus had been gone, leaving only the reprogrammed host during the battle against law enforcement in Gala, that would explain why their alien ally hadn’t seeped out of Ms. Bounty, despite two opportunities to do so: the first, when taking out a drone, and the second after Rade ordered her to possess a police mech. Her slightly strange behavior was starting to make sense now.

“All right,” Rade said. “That’s a good working theory. And it’s the best we have. That means Surus might still be out there somewhere, and could be working to get back to the Argonaut as we speak. Maybe she’ll reach the children first. But either way, I want you all to start working on ideas to get out of here. Whether that means constructing some sort of distress beacon from the materials we have on hand, or figuring out how to get to the shuttle.”

“We’ve already come up with a few ideas…” Lui said.

seven

Surus, in her native alien form, was trapped in the center of a containment device similar to one of her own. Zhidao had copied her design and used it to trap her. She floated in the center, between the metal disks that capped the top and bottom. The only difference between this containment device and her own was that it lacked the final black box, a component that resided in the ceiling of her designs and was capable of storing a Phant indefinitely with little power expenditure.

She was relying on that missing component to eventually break free.

Because, in theory, the shuttle she was trapped inside of would divert power away from the containment device when its battery levels became low enough. Then again, Zhidao had probably assumed the power levels would never reach that point. At this very moment, the shuttle was probably heading for the star Ceres V orbited, on a trajectory to pass straight through the corona. Surus would survive the intense heat, of course, but she could never escape the gravity. Surrounded by the nuclear fires of the photosphere, she would slowly starve to death over the next thousand years.

She was doing her damnedest to ensure the shuttle’s battery was drained. She constantly fought against the magnetic binds, forcing the containment field to expend extra energy to keep her secure in the center. It was an exhausting battle, and was quickly depleting her energy reserves, but it was necessary. If she ever got out of here, she’d have to spend a few days feeding. She’d probably be able to eat a whole starship core by that point.

The Purple had lured her under the guise of information. She had received a tip from an operative in Gala city. A man claiming to have information on the whereabouts of one Weiyan Tang—the alias she believed Zhidao was using—had come to her operative, and told him he would meet Surus at a restaurant to share the location of Weiyan Tang under the condition that she came alone.

Surus had gone of course, leaving Bender behind, but the contact never showed. When she left the restaurant, she was shot with a stun rifle—it had to be one of her own—and then a man carried her host, Ms. Bounty, into a flyer. The last thing she remembered was being forced into a glass container and then spun at incredible speeds by centrifugal forces until she separated from her host. In another key difference from her design and Zhidao’s, the Purple was able to open the container and retrieve Ms. Bounty while Surus remained trapped by the competing magnetic fields.

After that, Zhidao loaded the container into a shuttle and departed.

And here Surus was.

Ms. Bounty had probably returned to tell Bender that the contact never showed. Whether or not Zhidao was in control of her host, or Zhidao simply reprogrammed her, it didn’t matter. The Argonauts were in grave danger. Surus had to get back to them as soon as she was able.

Assuming she escaped before the shuttle reached the sun.

She was unable to peer past the fuselage of the shuttle, so Surus had no idea if the craft had boarded a ship, first. If it had, that meant her end would come all the sooner, as a starship could travel much faster than a shuttle. By her estimate, it would take three days to travel to Ceres V by transport vessel, versus eight in the best shuttle. The only way she would know for certain was whether she was still alive by the end of the third day.

Time passed. The third day came and went and she began to hope that the shuttle had indeed not docked with a larger ship. The fourth day ended. Then the fifth.

The shuttle was definitely not aboard a starship. That meant she had three more days at worst before she reached the star, and maybe five at best—if this particular shuttle model had a weak engine.

She fought against her magnetic binds all the harder, hoping to drain the battery even more.

She paused occasionally to reach out with her being, attempting to contact the others of her kind that resided on her plane of existence. She never got an answer. The Greens still shunned her for what she had done to her own kind. She had trapped hundreds of them in a star, after a faction of Greens had allied with the other colors. Even though these particular Greens had disobeyed the noninterference edict her High Council had issued, the punishment she had inflicted, trapping them in a star, had ensured she would never be welcome again. She was anathema, to them. A rogue. A traitor.

If any of you are out there, Surus sent in her native language. I just wanted to say, I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I hope you can forgive me. But it was necessary to protect humanity. They are as much my people now, as you are. And just as I will always do anything to protect you, I will do anything to protect them. You won’t hear from me for much longer. I am about to suffer the same fate I inflicted on our bothers and sisters. It is somehow... fitting.

If Surus could grin, she would have done so then. Bitterly.

She struggled against her binds anew.

The eighth day arrived. It was perhaps the longest day yet. Every moment she kept expecting the shuttle exterior to burn away, and then the glass container itself, to find herself locked hopelessly in a deteriorating orbit above the system’s star.

Because she was exhausted, Surus wasn’t able to fight as often, or as hard. She would shove against the binding fields for ten standard minutes and then rest for thirty.

The ninth day arrived. She had only just finished resting, and started pushing against the containment field, when finally the magnetic binds failed. She knew because, although she still floated in the center of the container—there was no artificial gravity in the shuttle—her extremities began to expand outward, reaching toward the edges of the glass.

Quickly, before the field could kick in again, she moved toward the glass wall and passed through it. Then she flowed toward the deck and entered the AI core area, where she easily assumed control of the shuttle’s AI.

She accessed the telemetry data. If she were human, she would have gasped.

The shuttle was indeed on a course for the system’s star. She was less than three million kilometers away. It was almost too late, given the shuttle’s limited acceleration capabilities: she had maybe thirty seconds before the craft reached the point of no return.

The closeness to the star explained why the power to the containment field had finally cut out: the subsystems in a typical vessel, starship and shuttle alike, were programmed to reduce drains from non-essential systems when approaching powerful gravity wells, the assumption being that the AI, or whoever was piloting the craft, would need extra power to pull away. With the point of no return quickly coming up, and battery levels likely low already thanks to her ceaseless struggling, the system had obviously elected to cut off the supply to the container entirely, in preparation for the expected course change.

Zhidao had disabled the main AI—presumably because no sentient AI would ever steer into a star—but the remaining subsystems responsible for engine control were still active. With those systems, Surus quickly changed course. It would take weeks to pull out of the star’s gravity well with the shuttle’s weak engines, but she would survive.

She set a course for the closest space station, which happened to be all the way back at Ceres V. According to the latest calculations, it would take a month to completely pull away from the star and return. Assuming she couldn’t find a starship to hire in the interim to retrieve her.

She tested her connection to the InterGalNet. The shuttle’s node was still active, which she expected, given how sloppy Zhidao had been with the other ship subsystems, leaving them all online. Not to mention the poor design of the container itself. All of that was probably due to overconfidence on Zhidao’s part; that, and a rush to be rid of her.

She initiated the connection to the mailbox she had created for Green Systems, the virtual entity she used to conduct financial transactions with humanity. She had considered changing the name after her falling out with the other Greens, but she knew they’d eventually track down whatever new corporate title she came up with. The physical address of her secret base was a different story altogether, and that was not something they would find soon.

She had set up her remotely hosted server to forward all mail to a local provider on Ceres V. At this distance, it would take about half an hour to complete the handshake and transfer all messages that had been queued by the local provider, depending of course on the size of the data. While that process occurred in the background, she composed a quick note requesting assistance and broadcasted it in all directions, promising a generous reward.

Half an hour later her mailbox download completed and she read her messages. There were a few pings from Noctua, who she had left in charge of the base: the little robot owl was concerned for her well-being. There were also some administrative messages from other base employees, and a couple of notes from her contact on Ceres V offering the latest clues on Zhidao’s whereabouts.

She reached the last message. The timestamp told her it had been sent a few days ago. It was from a man named Mason, known among the Argonauts by his callsign, Snakeoil.

She read it to herself.

I was in the neighborhood and figured I’d get in touch. Green Systems, huh? Nice. How’s Rade? I heard you guys had teamed up to squash bugs across the galaxy. The last location listed on his profile shows Ceres V, but he hasn’t been answering my messages. I’m guessing you probably know what’s up with that. Tell me you guys aren’t on some top secret undercover mission. Because if you are, I’m here to blow your cover!

Your brother in love (and war),

Snakeoil

Surus would have smiled if she had a body.

She quickly sent her reply.

RADE HELD THE free end of the fabric and watched as TJ meticulously scraped off the last section from the interior. TJ held a scalpel retrieved from the medkit, and worked the edges of the peeled fabric with the knife. It was a tricky job, with the potential to puncture the protective environment at any moment. Everyone else had barricaded themselves in a different dome: using needle and thread also found in the medkit, Bender had sewn pieces of their clothing over the connecting doorway, sealing them off from Rade and TJ. Bender had partial corpsman training, so the job wasn’t difficult for him. When TJ asked for volunteers to help him, everyone put their hand up, but Rade overruled them all. He wouldn’t allow any member of his team to take the risk except himself.

If TJ dies, I die.

He could still communicate with the rest of the team over the adhoc network formed by their Implants of course, but now wasn’t really the time for talking. Thankfully, Bender, Manic, and Fret were actually behaving, instead of resorting to their usual shenanigans. TJ didn’t need any distractions right now.

“Got it.” TJ pulled away the bottom portion.

Rade surveyed TJ’s handiwork. A gaping black canopy was all that remained of that portion of the wall where TJ had removed the fabric. A few conduits of different colors were also exposed, probably part of the magnetic field generators that helped the dome reflect solar radiation.

“You sure that’s enough to do what we need?” Rade asked, nodding at the fabric TJ held.

“It will have to be,” TJ said. “Probably won’t protect against radiation, but hey, we got anti-rads in the medkit for that.”

Rade helped TJ fold up the fabric, and then ducked into the can-shaped passage that led from the chamber. The pair walked at a crouch, heading toward the adjacent dome where the remaining Argonauts were holed up. They reached the sealed doorway, which was made up of pieces of different-colored clothing sewn together.

“Knock knock,” Rade said.

“Who’s there?” Bender asked.

“Pussy!” Rade said.

Bender broke into a loud guffaw. “Aw Boss! You know I can’t keep a straight face when you talk like that! Pussy!” He continued sniggering.

“You should see my face when he says that word,” Shaw said. She didn’t sound pleased. 

“Let us in, please,” Rade said. He was regretting the suddenly playful mood he had been in. That dome could fail behind them at any moment.

Rade heard scissors working, and then the bottom edge of the clothing wall pulled open. He lay flat and wormed inside, followed by TJ.

Behind him, Bender began sewing the passage closed once more.

“You know, I always thought sewing was a girly activity,” Manic said.

“Shut up, bitch,” Bender said. “Only real men sew. Just ask the boss.”

“That’s right,” Rade said. He patted Manic on the back. “When you take corpsman training, come talk to me.”

“I doubt they teach normal stitching anymore,” Manic said. “It’s all laser stitching these days.”

“Even so, it isn’t easy,” Rade said.

He stared at the parts Tahoe had dismantled from the backup environmental system.

“You’re sure you’ll be able to put together a suit capable of providing a pressurized atmosphere?” Rade asked Tahoe.

“I can, at least with the help of the best minds we have,” Tahoe said. “Yes, I’m talking about you, TJ and Bender.”

“That fabric looks pretty flimsy,” Shaw said. “You’ll have to get the joins and seams just right.”

“That’s why I’m working with only the best minds on the team,” Tahoe told her.

Shaw gently kicked the canister next to the dismantled parts. “And you’ll only have twenty-five minutes of oxygen.”

“In theory, that’s all we’ll need,” Tahoe said. “One suit. Twenty-five minutes.”

“Hate to see who gets the EVA job,” Fret said.

The team had confirmed that the shuttle was lying out there, one hundred meters from the airlock. Rade could see it every time he looked through the glass of the exit portal.

“I think we all know, it’s going to be me,” Rade said.

“Rade...” Shaw said.

Rade smiled at her. “Trust in the team. They won’t let me down. The suit will be good.”

“Actually, no,” Tahoe said. “This time it can’t be you. It will have to be either Bender or TJ.”

“Yes!” Bender said from where he was sewing the clothing door back into place.

Rade raised an eyebrow at Tahoe.

“We need someone who can hack into the shuttle’s AI core,” Tahoe explained. “Someone who can delete the hooks Zhidao injected into the system, and who can restore the AI to a fully functioning state. Or at least a state where it obeys our orders.”

Rade was about to contest him, but then sighed. “I was going to say, I could do it remotely, with TJ or Bender to guide me. But with only twenty-five minutes of oxygen, there’s no time for something like that. You’re right, it can’t be me.” He ran his gaze between Bender and TJ. “Which of you is better with AI cores?”

“That would be me,” TJ said.

Bender slumped slightly and admitted: “He’s better with AI cores.”

eight

A few days later Rade called everyone to the airlock area, as Tahoe, TJ and Bender had finally come up with a working environmental suit. It was a primitive concoction, the pieces of fabric welded together with stitches and medical tape, but it would serve their needs. A bulky fanny pack made of the same canvas as the suit housed the oxygen canister and environmental system.

TJ squeezed inside via the slit in the back area. The white suit hung flat on him, with folds of fabric drooping down his chest and arm areas.

When TJ was in place, Bender applied tape and sealed the slit. TJ looked out from the faceplate of the hood, which was made of thin pieces of glass glued together: with tools from the medkit, Rade and Shaw had chiseled off the individual panes from the interior surfaces of different windows throughout the protective environment.

TJ fumbled with the fanny pack, but had trouble fitting his bulky gloves through the slit in the side.

“I’m kinda getting a bit light-headed here,” TJ said, his voice coming over the Implant comm band. “Can someone activate the O2 for me?”

Tahoe reached inside the fanny pack and opened the oxygen valve.

There was no change in the suit shape—it still clung loosely to TJ’s form.

Rade heard the telltale hisses of air leakage. It sounded like several deflating balloons.

“Got a few leaks,” Tahoe said.

“On it!” Bender frantically applied tape, obviously wanting to conserve as much of the oxygen as possible.

“I thought you tested for leaks already?” Fret said.

“As much as we could without actually wearing it,” Tahoe said.

The drooping folds abruptly bulged outward as the suit filled out.

Bender stepped back to observe his handiwork. “And you’re trying to tell me sewing is a woman’s job? Ha!”

“I’m so turned on by men who can sew, Bender,” Shaw said.

“Aw shucks, thanks baby,” Bender said, grinning widely. He must have noticed the angry look Rade was giving him because the smile quickly left his face and Bender pretended to be fascinated by something on the ceiling.

Rade gazed into TJ’s faceplate. “What’s my name?”

As part of a test to ensure that the oxygen balance was correct in the pressurized environment of the suit, Rade and TJ had agreed upon a specific set of questions that had to be asked and properly answered before TJ went on the EVA.

“You’re Rade Galaal,” TJ said. “Also known as Rage. Or Boss.”

“Where are we?” Rade said.

“Stranded in the middle of nowhere on some backwater, uninhabitable world,” TJ said.

“Recite your orders,” Rade said.

“As soon as I’ve gained control of the shuttle, I’m to instruct the AI to park next to the airlock. Or I’ll do it myself if the AI is unrecoverable. If I can’t move the shuttle because of engine damage or other issues, I’ll try to beam out a distress signal. Then I’ll come back in here and strip out of this suit before I suffocate. All within twenty-five minutes.”

“He’s good,” Rade said.

“You know, without the usual sonic injection in my hand to acclimate me to the internal environment, I should really wait an hour before going out there,” TJ said.

“You don’t have an hour!” Rade said.

“I know.” TJ entered the airlock. “Wish me luck.”

It sealed behind him and the tense waiting began.

TJ kept the team apprised of his status from the moment he left the airlock to when he interfaced with the AI core. He had trouble opening the access panel underneath the fuselage with his bulky gloves, and he almost tore the suit. But finally he got it.

TJ confirmed that the shuttle was still fully operational and capable of taking them into orbit. Constellation scan data stored in the shuttle’s memory core indicated they were in the Glieus 82 system, probably on the moon of a gas giant. The system had a small human outpost on the third planet, with a fully stocked space station, and two Gates that led out of the system.

It was a relief the system was inhabited, at least.

The minutes ticked past and TJ finished restoring the AI with only a few moments to spare. The shuttle sent out a distress signal and landed next to the protective environment’s airlock. TJ entered that airlock and shut it behind him.

When the air vented and the inner hatch opened, TJ stumbled inside. He was fumbling with the tape at his back.

Rade and Tahoe dashed forward and ripped it open, tearing the suit off TJ’s upper body.

TJ was panting.

“You all right?” Rade asked him.

TJ smiled. “Man, that was fun.”

According to the atmospheric analysis, while the air was unbreathable, the pressure was similar to Earth at three thousand meters. And it wouldn’t be toxic to their skin unless they were exposed for longer than a minute. All they had to do was hold their breath, shut their eyes, walk through the airlock, up the open shuttle ramp, take their seats, and instruct the AI to close the ramp via the remote interface. The shuttle would cycle out the toxic air in thirty seconds, and then they could take off.

The airlock wasn’t big enough to fit them all inside at once, however, so they’d have to expose the entire protective environment.

“All right, line up for explosive decompression,” Rade said.

They formed two human chains on either side of the airlock. Rade stood at the front of the first, Tahoe the second. Shaw was just behind Rade. She had placed her hands on his shoulders, as had the others behind her in the chain. Tahoe’s group was similarly linked.

“Twenty seconds or longer to feel our way to our seats, ten seconds to close the ramp, and thirty seconds to cycle the air,” Fret said. “Sixty seconds at best. Maybe eighty at worst. Gonna be rough.”

“You all trained in the navy,” Rade said. “All of you. Each of you used to be able to hold your breath for two minutes.”

“Not anymore!” Fret said.

Rade would have trouble himself.

“Too bad for you,” Bender taunted Fret. “Gotta love natural selection. But if you’re weeded out, don’t you worry, I’ll plant a tree in your honor.”

“Aw, that’s mighty kind of you,” Fret said.

“I never said what kind of tree,” Bender said.

“Oh yeah?” Fret said. “What kind of tree will you plant in my honor?”

“A shittamwood tree, of course,” Bender said.

“Ah. Thanks.”

“And I’ll personally fertilize it, too,” Bender said. “You know shittamwood needs a special kind of fertilizin’, right? I’ll go to a turkey buffet and load up on cranberries, turkey and filling, and then take a mighty fine turkey-cranberry dump. Just for you. Because I’m good like that. Shittin’ on the shittamwood, wooyah!”

“Okay, Bender,” Rade said. “If you’re done?”

“Sorry, Boss,” Bender said. “Yes, I’m done. We can do the mission now.”

“Not exactly a mission…” Manic said. “Just a little dash across a toxic atmosphere.”

Rade glared at Manic, who promptly gazed down at his feet.

“On three,” Rade said.

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

“Now, TJ.”

Rade took a deep breath as TJ blew the airlock door via the remote interface. The air gushed past. They had been careful to secure everything that wasn’t bolted down—it wouldn’t do to be knocked out by debris during the unprotected EVA.

Rade shut his eyes and didn’t fight the flow of air, instead allowing the suction to aid his forward motion. He dashed through the airlock, feeling the slight drag of Shaw’s hands on his shoulders. The slope of the ramp soon hit his boots.

He entered the cabin, felt his way forward until he had found the edge of the furthest chair, and then tapped Shaw to indicate he had reached it. He sat down and reached to the side to confirm she had done the same beside him. She gripped his arm in confirmation.

Rade continued to hold his breath as he waited for the other team members to stomp up the ramp. His overhead map was still visible with his eyes closed, thanks to his Implant, and he watched as all of the Argonauts made it safely inside. TJ would be remotely instructing the shuttle to close the ramp, any time now.

Sure enough, he heard the hum as the ramp began to lift. The cabin shook when the door finally thudded shut entirely.

The shuttle announced in a pleasant male voice: “Beginning air cycling. Please hold.”

Thirty more seconds.

Rade was already having trouble. As was Shaw, apparently: she squeezed his hand tighter.

He heard the tapping of feet throughout the cabin as other Argonauts struggled to hold their breath through the remaining seconds.

“Please hold,” the shuttle said.

Rade was tempted to peek through his lids, but resisted the urge. His own foot started tapping up and down of its own accord.

“Please hold,” the shuttle said.

I can’t do it!

You can!

You can.

“Please hold,” the shuttle said.

With his free fingers, Rade gripped his cargo pants and scrunched the fabric tightly, harder than he would have allowed himself to squeeze Shaw’s palm, which he still gripped in his other hand.

Stars dotted the darkness on the inside of his eyelid. Rade really felt like he was going to explode; he decided he was going to give in, going to breathe that tainted air, to hell with whatever effects it had on his lungs, when finally the shuttle announced in its pleasant male voice: “Air cycling complete.”

Rade opened his eyes and exhaled the useless air he had held in his lungs. Then he inhaled in a loud, ragged wheeze. He exhaled and inhaled repeatedly like that, struggling for air, feeling like he was dying, like he couldn’t get enough.

Around him, the whole crew was doing the same.

The stars marring his vision slowly began to fade, and his breathing became calmer. He took a moment to survey his brothers. He was relieved that everybody had survived unscathed.

He glanced at Shaw; she was wearing a relieved, thankful expression.

“Woohoo!” Bender said when he had caught his breath. He was still panting, however. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

“The hell... you saying?” Manic said, also gasping. “That had to be... the worst... seventy seconds of my life!”

“Speak for yourself, you little bitch!” Bender said. “Nothing like holding one’s breath to feel alive!”

“Seventy-five,” Lui wheezed. “Not seventy. I counted down.”

“Well I set a timer... on my Implant,” Manic said. “So you’re wrong!”

“Now you know how it felt like for me,” TJ said, his breathing ragged. “The last few moments of my first EVA.”

Fret seemed to have trouble opening his eyes. He was blinking rapidly, with tears streaming down his cheeks.

“You okay, Fret?” Rade asked. He was still gasping a bit himself.

“Yeah boss,” Fret said. “These aren’t tears of joy or anything. Well actually, maybe they partly are. Cuz, well, this is embarrassing, but I accidentally opened my eyes. Man, that stung!”

Bender erupted in a loud chortle. “You moron! Why’d you go and do that? Opened his eyes. It’s like, we specifically told you not to, because the environment is toxic, but noooo, you gots to go and look. I guess I know the feeling... when I opened my eyes while doing your sister, just for curiosity’s sake, you know, my eyes, well they were sore for days afterward!”

“Curious Bender, the curious little monkey…” Manic sang.

“Wait, you did my sister?” Fret said.

“Only like three times,” Bender said. “Gross thing was, she called out your name every time.”

“That is gross,” Manic said.

“Did she really call out my name?” Fret said.

“I bet it was because she had her eyes closed, too,” Manic said. “Didn’t want to believe it was Bender she was doing.”

“Nah, I’m just messing with you,” Bender said. “I didn’t do your sister. Tough love, you know?”

“That makes no sense,” Tahoe said. “But I don’t care at the moment.” He laughed. “We survived.”

His laughter was contagious, and Rade couldn’t help but join in. “Damn it, we did. We should have died, we should have never escaped, but here we are. Emerging from an impossible situation. Once again.”

“We did it,” Shaw said, she nestled her head against Rade’s upper arm. “We actually did it.”

“Did you ever doubt us?” Fret said. He seemed to be blinking less now. “We’re the Argonauts! Impossible situations are our specialty.”

“Zhidao, if you’re watching this now, we’re coming for you, you sick bastard,” Rade said.

“You can lick my balls Zhidao!” Manic said.

“Living up to your name as always, huh Man Lick?” Bender said.

“He meant lick his pussy!” Fret said, sniggering.

“So that’s what you call it,” Bender said. “I knew it!”

Rade took a deep breath and rested his head against Shaw’s. He closed his eyes and continued to grip her hand in his.

She pulled away to kiss him on the cheek.

“We’ll save them,” she said softly into his ear. “The twins.”

“I know.” Rade opened his eyes. “With all these great men, how can we fail?”

“I’m so glad you’re still at my side,” Shaw said. “If Zhidao had taken you, too, I don’t think I could handle it.”

“Nor could I, believe me.” He kissed her back, but this time on the lips, lovingly. The first kiss they had exchanged in days.

“Woohoo!” Bender said. “We gots us some nasty sloppy PDA going on! My favorite! Mm-hmm! Get nasty!”

Rade pulled away from Shaw and grinned. Maybe a bit sheepishly. But only slightly. These were his men. And he was damn proud of them in that moment.

“Shuttle, take us into orbit,” Rade said.

“Yes Boss,” the shuttle’s AI replied.

nine

Rade had the shuttle head for the closest space station after reaching orbit. “We’re going to have to rent a ship.”

“And if there aren’t any available at the station?” Tahoe said.

“We’ll wait,” Rade said. Though he was well aware that the clock was still ticking on the twins. Five days had passed since they awoke on the barren moon. That meant the twins had twenty-five days left until their stasis pods incinerated them. Assuming Zhidao was actually telling the truth and he hadn’t killed the twins already.

“Do we have the funds to buy passage?” Shaw asked.

Rade shook his head. He’d been relying exclusively on Surus to pay the bills each month. Any excess in his account he had always given to the men as a bonus. “We’re going to have to borrow from the bank.”

“How are we going to get a loan without the Argonaut for collateral?” Shaw asked.

“We’ll get a loan,” Rade said. “The interest won’t be pretty, however.”

Bender rubbed his eyes. “Man, we’re in deep doodoo now aren’t we? Manic, you’re going to have to rent out your body. I’ll be your pimp.”

“Yeah, all right,” Manic said. “Let’s do it.”

Bender’s face lit up. “Really?”

“Ah, no,” Manic said. “I’m not really prostitute material.”

“Coulda fooled me!” Bender said. “With that face like a woman’s and that fine ass of yours…”

“You think Manic has a fine ass?” Fret asked.

“What?” Bender scowled at Fret. “Shut up, skinny bitch. Of course not. I’m mocking the Man Licker.”

“Oh, carry on,” Fret said.

“I don’t need your approval,” Bender said. “In fact, I think I’m done.”

“Got a ship incoming,” the shuttle’s AI interrupted. “Direct intercept course. About five hundred million kilometers away.”

“Tell me about this ship,” Rade said.

“I’ve been tracking it since it emerged from the Gate an hour ago,” the shuttle replied. “It only turned toward us a few moments ago.”

“Have you been able to determine the class from its thermal signature?” Rade asked.

“It appears to be a Cutlass,” the AI said.

“A Cutlass,” Lui said. “Is it a pirate?”

“It bears no pirate markings,” the shuttle said. “I believe it is a merchant vessel of some kind.”

Shaw nodded her head. “Merchants use Cutlass vessels, too. Mostly for their speed and mobility.”

“Plus it packs a powerful offensive punch,” Tahoe added. “The perfect ship for the merchant who doesn’t want to hire a mercenary escort.”

“Puts people like you and me out of business,” Manic said.

“We’re not mercenaries,” Rade said. “We’re security consultants.”

“That’s what I meant,” Manic said.

“Sure you did, girly bro,” Bender told him. “You’re lucky we don’t boot your mercenary ass off our ship.”

“You can try…” Manic said.

“I’m receiving a transmission from the ship,” the shuttle said. “Voice only. Would you like me to put it up?”

“Go ahead,” Rade said. “Let’s hear it.”

“Well now, here’s a sight you don’t see everyday,” a familiar voice came over the comm a moment later. “Seven ex-MOTHs packed together like sardines in a Dragonfly, with one ex-Navy thrown into the mix. I’m guessing the ex-Navy is the boss. She always was the only one the chief ever followed.”

Shaw furrowed her brow. “I know that voice.”

“We all know it,” Fret said.

“Shh!” Bender said. “Don’t tell her. Let’s see if she gets it!”

Shaw frowned, seeming lost in thought. Then she glanced at Rade: “Isn’t that… Snakeoil?”

RADE STEPPED DOWN the ramp to find Snakeoil waiting for him. The short man was as muscular as ever. Perhaps even more so, now that he had retired and didn’t have the grueling demands of MOTH missions to strip away his muscle mass.

Rade hugged his old friend immediately.

Rade found himself at a sudden loss for words when he pulled away. Snakeoil was tearing up. Rade himself was starting to get emotional, but thankfully the Argonauts saved him.

Bender and Manic dashed past and hugged Snakeoil at the same time.

“You little bitch!” Bender said.

“Who me?” Manic said. “Or Snakeoil?”

“Both of you!” Bender said, rubbing Snakeoil’s hair like he would a child’s.

Fret joined the hug, as did the others, so that soon only Shaw was left standing beside Rade.

“They sure are cute when they cuddle aren’t they?” Shaw commented.

They stayed like that for a few moments, just holding each other, saying nothing. Maybe composing themselves. Rade certainly was.

When they finally pulled away a few of the Argonauts rubbed their eyes, but for the most part they’d managed to keep it together. Good. Rade didn’t need to have an emotional breakdown in front of his crew.

Shaw gave Snakeoil the final hug. “It’s good to see you.”

“And you, Mademoiselle.” Snakeoil bowed slightly. “Hope you’re taking good care of the chief.”

“Treat him like a king,” Shaw said.

Snakeoil nodded. “As suits a queen.”

Beaming, Shaw stepped back to stand beside Rade.

“Damn, you’re looking good,” Rade told Snakeoil. “Obviously you have a gym on board.”

“Fully stocked,” Snakeoil said. “I got free weights. Barbells. Benches. Squat racks. You name it.”

“Yeehaw!” Bender said.

“I thought you’d appreciate that,” Snakeoil said, patting his old friend on the back.

“We all do!” Tahoe said.

“I’m moving to Snakeoil’s ship and becoming a trader!” Bender said.

“You would,” Manic said.

“You’re more muscular than TJ and Bender combined,” Fret told Snakeoil. “I always said they starved us when we were on the Teams.”

“Only on missions, skinny fool,” Bender said. “When all you gots to eat is liquid meal replacements in your suit, and you lie down for days to snipe a target, of course you’re going to lose some muscle mass. But you never did learn to pack it back on between missions, pussy that you are. Why do you think your arms are pipe cleaners?”

“My arms are hooge,” Fret said. He flexed both biceps. For some reason the tiny lumps of muscle that swelled from his upper arms reminded Rade of frog legs.

“Don’t you ever do that again,” Bender said. “That’s the most pathetic sight I’ve seen. Put that on your dating profile, and you’ll be sure to attract a lot of interest. From men.”

“Ah, I missed you guys,” Snakeoil said. “The wars I could do without. But the camaraderie, ah, sometimes I just want to go back.” He hooked his thumbs through the loops in his pants. “So what brings you to this part of the galaxy, Chief?”

“Just Rade, now,” Rade said. “Or Boss, to my crew. We’re hunting aliens. In this case, a certain Phant we first met way back in the Alien Wars.”

“Ah yes,” Snakeoil said. “As I mentioned in my transmission, I picked up one of your team members near Ceres V. Or your client, rather. She filled me in on a few details.”

A figure stepped forward from where she had been lingering near the far side of the hangar bay, beside two combat robots. The figure was an Artificial in the image of Ms. Bounty. Perhaps it even was her.

“Rade,” she said, nodding.

“Surus?” Rade asked.

“You’re all right!” Bender started toward her, his expression one of pure and utter joy. When he realized everyone was looking at him, he quickly stopped, and masked his expression. “I mean: you’re all right. Cool.”

“How do we know you’re not possessed by Zhidao?” Rade said.

The Artificial turned around, lifted her ponytail, and lowered her collar to reveal the glowing green droplets on her neck. If Zhidao had possessed her, those drops would be purple.

“Freaky, huh?” Snakeoil said.

Surus replaced her collar and faced the Argonauts again.

Rade gave Snakeoil an angry look. “Why didn’t you tell us you had her with you?”

Snakeoil cringed slightly, as if he thought he was going to be on the receiving end of an epic chewing out like in their military days.

Surus stepped forward. “I told him not to. I thought it would be better to reveal myself to you in person so that I would have a chance to properly prove my identity. Video communications can be faked, as you know.”

Rade eyed her skeptically, and then nodded. “So. You recovered Ms. Bounty from the Argonaut?”

Surus shook her head. “I had this one 3D printed, based on my design specs. I filled the AI core with Ms. Bounty’s latest backup. Or rather, the last backup I dispatched to my base. It’s a couple of months old.”

“It sounds like you’re not very hopeful we’ll recover her,” Rade said.

“Not hopeful is an euphemism for what I’m thinking,” Surus said. “If we do recover her, my current host will join the others manning my base, and I will resume control of the original Ms. Bounty. Assuming of course her AI core hasn’t been completely overwritten by Zhidao.”

“What happened to you?” Rade asked.

“Before the rest of you arrived, when it was just Bender and me on the surface of Ceres V, Zhidao captured me,” Surus said. “He did it when I went alone to meet someone who supposedly had knowledge of his whereabouts. After capturing me with one of my own stun rifles, he drew me out of Ms. Bounty and launched me toward the system’s star. I barely escaped when power cut out to the containment device.”

That confirmed the theory Lui had come up with regarding her fate. Surus hadn’t been inside her host the whole time the rest of the Argonauts had been on Ceres V with Ms. Bounty, who had obviously been reprogrammed.

“After I escaped, I received a pleasant message from Snakeoil here, telling me he was in the area,” Surus continued. “When I told him what happened, he readily agreed to drop everything he was doing to help, and he sped my way to pick me up.”

“Oh, and I’m sure you didn’t offer him any money…” TJ said.

“Of course she did,” Snakeoil said. “I have mouths to feed, you know.”

“He sounds like the boss now,” Bender said. “Remind me never to purchase a starship. It does bad things to your morals. I’d never accept money to help friends.”

“Hey.” Snakeoil raised his palms. “Of course I was going to help either way. But at least I can do so now with a full crew, and without worrying about going into debt along the way. If I had to sell off all the equipment in the gym to pay for this job, y’all wouldn’t be very happy now, would you?”

“Yeah you’re right,” Manic said. “We’d be tearing apart pieces of your ship to do bicep curls.”

“There you go,” Snakeoil said.

Fret stepped forward. “You know, what bugs me is: why didn’t you get in touch all these years?”

“Hey, leave him alone,” Lui said. “I’m sure he was a busy man, being a trader and all that.”

“Yes, I was definitely busy,” Snakeoil said. “But you’ll notice the combat robots I have guarding the entrance to the hangar. Equipped with military-grade lasers. The rest of my crew is just as rough. I hire for a particular skill set, you see. Which is good, because I do take on the odd security job outside of trading. You know, protecting BlueTube stars on tour, that sort of thing.”

“No way,” Lui said. “I kinda figured you’d be a BlueTube star yourself by now. What with your diminutive stature, muscular arms, and charming personality.”

“Oh yeah,” Snakeoil said. “I definitely bring on the charm, don’t I?” He flexed his bicep, swelling the arm to the size of a typical man’s thigh.

“See, he’s allowed to flex his muscles,” Bender told Fret. “Because he actually has some!”

Snakeoil promptly kissed his swollen bicep.

“That’s what Bender does!” Fret said.

“Hey,” Bender said. “We’re proud of our build and ain’t afraid to show it. Unlike you.”

“Kiss your bicep now, then,” Manic urged Bender. “Come on. You and Snakeoil kiss your biceps together.”

“Shut up, turd,” Bender said.

“Do you have mechs aboard, too?” TJ asked.

“Ha,” Snakeoil said. “I wish. Can’t afford ‘em. Though I do have a simulator fully stocked with mech war games.”

“That’ll do,” Tahoe said.

“So please tell me you have a way to track down the Argonaut,” Rade said. “Zhidao took our kids.”

Surus studied him. “I thought it odd that they hadn’t yet come down the shuttle ramp. I was expecting to see them in Shaw’s arms.”

Shaw pressed her lips together, and her chin quivered. She looked away.

Rade reached out to her but she shoved his hand away.

Angry, he looked back at Surus, but he saw only compassion in the Artificial’s eyes.

“I’ve been in touch with my contact at CENTCOM,” Surus said. “As you may or may not know, the military has a way to track every ship that passes in and out of the systems in human-occupied space, as well as their locations in said systems, via the pings to the InterGalNet nodes. Records indicated the Argonaut took two Gates from the original system, dropping you off here in Glieus 82.”

“So that’s how you found us!” Manic said. “I was wondering about that. The boss mumbled some explanation earlier, but it wasn’t all that clear.”

“Yes,” Surus said. “After that, the Argonaut took a Gate from here to the Metare system, stopped at a space station, then took the next Gate to the Raltarus system. The signal stopped transmitting at that point. I’ve instructed Snakeoil to take the same route to Raltarus.”

“What if Zhidao left the kids in stasis pods at the space station in Metare?” Shaw said.

“That’s certainly possible,” Rade told Shaw. “After we retrieve the Argonaut, if the kids aren’t there, we might have to return to the space station in Metare and search it from top to bottom. Storage facilities, storage closets, you name it.”

“Searching a privately-owned storage facility might be tricky…” Fret said.

“I should be able to get a warrant from the station commander,” Surus said.

“It might be better to search the station first, rather than proceeding to Raltarus,” Shaw said.

“I’m not sure we’ll have time,” Rade said. “But we can talk about that when we’re closer to the system in question.”

Snakeoil showed them to their quarters. Because of the lack of space, most of the crew had to squeeze into the two guest rooms. TJ, Fret, Manic, and Bender got one stateroom. Surus, Tahoe, and Lui got another.

“Hey Fret, why don’t you swap out with Surus,” Bender said before parting with his group. “That way she can stay with us?”

“That’s all right,” Surus said.

“Yeah, that’s all right,” Fret said. “Hear that? She doesn’t like you. And I don’t owe you any favors.”

“As you wish,” Bender said. “Not only am I going to kick your ass later, I’m going to make sure I don’t wash my feet and nuts. Every night, all night, you’ll get a mighty fine odor drifting your way.”

“Oh great,” Manic said. “We get to smell Bender’s nuts all night. Nothing I enjoy more.”

“I knew you’d approve!” Bender said.

After leading the second group to their quarters, Snakeoil offered Rade and Shaw his own room, but Rade opted to throw a bunk into a cramped storeroom instead.

“It’ll be just like the old days,” he told Shaw with a grin. 

“Sneaking away from our assigned quarters to make love in the storage closets of the Royal Fortune?” Shaw said. “Those were certainly the days.” Her eyes became sad. “Though it won’t be the same.”

Rade knew she was thinking about the kids, but he wasn’t going to bring it up in front of Snakeoil.

Snakeoil dropped them off at the storeroom. A maintenance robot had already delivered a bunk.

His friend offered to allow Rade onto the bridge in VR mode, which involved linking to the lightfield camera in the center of the bridge console, but Rade declined.

“It’s your ship,” Rade said. “I don’t want to interfere in how you run it. Last thing you need is a backseat driver.”

“All right,” Snakeoil said. “I still think of you as my chief. It’s hard to get out of that mindset, you know. Even after all our years apart.”

Rade patted his friend on the shoulder. “You’re the chief of your own men now, just as I’m chief of mine.”

Snakeoil nodded. “You know, when I got your message all those years back, offering a job aboard your new team, pulling security, I almost accepted. But I’d already bought my own ship. Already had a taste of entrepreneurship, and being my own boss, and I had to turn it down. I—”

“No need to explain,” Rade said. “I’m happy you stayed with your ship.”

When Snakeoil was gone, Rade lay down with Shaw on the bunk and cuddled against her. It had been so long since they had sex. Yet he wasn’t even aroused. He wanted to be. But…

“I want to feel you inside me,” Shaw said, giving voice to his own thoughts. “Yet I can’t do it. I feel too guilty. What with the twins still out there.”

Rade nodded against her shoulder. “I feel the same guilt. It’s like I can’t enjoy myself, not while I know our kids might be suffering.” He paused. “Whatever happens, we’ll find them.”

“I want vengeance after,” Shaw said. She turned toward him. “We have to agree on this. We hunt down Zhidao for the rest of our lives. He’ll never leave us alone, otherwise.”

Rade nodded slowly. “We’ll hunt him down for as long as it’s feasible.”

“The rest of our lives,” Shaw insisted. “No one kidnaps our kids.”

Rade bit his lower lip. He knew she wasn’t going to back down from this. And she was probably right. His kids, and Shaw, would never be safe, not while Zhidao was somewhere out there.

With that thought, Rade relented. “The rest of our lives.”

“Good.” She rested her head against his chest. “Because when it comes to my children, I’m ready to kill, I swear I am.”

Rade nodded somberly. “We both are.”

She squeezed his hand tightly and wept into his shirt.

ten

When they reached Metare, Rade had Snakeoil plot a course for the next Gate immediately. He didn’t want to waste precious time diverting to N’Yarranth—the space station where the Argonaut had made a stop, which was located above one of the inner planets in the system—so he dispatched a shuttle to the station in the chance Zhidao had hidden the kids somewhere there. Shaw volunteered to lead the exploratory mission aboard that craft, and Rade assigned Tahoe and Lui to join her. The slower shuttle would arrive at the station two days after Snakeoil’s vessel passed through the Gate, and Rade would probably hear from her a day later when any status update she sent finally reached the next system via the InterGalNet.

Rade didn’t really want to separate from Shaw, but they’d had a big argument the night before. Shaw was absolutely convinced that the twins were aboard N’Yarranth, while Rade wasn’t so sure. After some yelling, they finally agreed that she would depart for the space station in the shuttle, while he would continue on to the next system.

As Rade watched the shuttle depart on the external video feed, Surus joined him outside the hangar bay.

“You know it’s likely that Zhidao switched ships at N’Yarranth,” Surus said.

“I agree,” Rade said. “But we don’t know whether he took the kids with him in the new ship, or dropped them off at the space station, or left them aboard the Argonaut. Which is why we have to explore all three avenues. Plus I want my own ship back.”

“You’re assuming Zhidao hasn’t totally ruined the vessel,” Surus said.

“I have a hunch about Zhidao,” Rade said.

“And what’s that?” Surus said.

“He doesn’t want to piss me off too badly,” Rade told her. “Because he knows I’m not the type who takes damage to my property lightly. Let alone harm to my children. He also knows that damaging my ship wouldn’t stop me. So why risk pissing me off any further than necessary?”

“That makes no sense,” Surus said. “If he was so afraid of pissing you off, he’d either leave you alone or kill you outright.”

“That’s a good point,” Rade said. “I guess he just wants his sport.”

“Yes,” Surus said. “So he will damage your ship, in some way or another. At least I believe so. Because he wants you to come, and yet he also wants time to set in motion whatever nefarious plans he has in mind. Plans he apparently wants you to watch.”

“I guess so,” Rade said.

Three days later Snakeoil’s Cutlass ship, the Motley Brown, took the Gate to Raltarus.

“So, what do we have?” Rade said. He had only just materialized in the bridge area, in the center of the round table manned by specialists with Implants and aReals: he had finally taken up Snakeoil on his offer to join the bridge crew via VR.

“We’re doing a passive scan of the system,” Snakeoil said. “Searching the thermal signatures system-wide for signs of any Marauder class vessels.”

“Anything yet?” Rade said.

“Patience, my old friend,” Snakeoil told him.

Rade nodded. “It’s hard for me to be patient at the moment…”

“I hear you,” Snakeoil said.

“There are no thermal signatures matching a Marauder class vessel,” the specialist manning the ops station said. “But we are detecting an uncatalogued celestial body. The shape is too symmetrical to be an asteroid. And metallicity is too high.”

“The Argonaut?” Snakeoil asked.

“Possibly,” the specialist said. “But if it is, it’s adrift, with no power to the engines or any other critical systems.”

“Can you hail its AI?” Rade asked.

The comm specialist glanced at Snakeoil, as if asking for the captain’s permission to obey, or perhaps his permission to even answer the question. Snakeoil nodded.

“Negative”, the comm specialist said. “I’m not even receiving a comm ping. Their comm node is definitely offline.”

“Set a course,” Snakeoil said.

It took three days to get close enough to visually confirm that the celestial body was indeed the Argonaut. Rade recognized the design readily enough, as well as the telltale scars inflicted on the hull from previous space battles.

Shortly afterward, he received a message from Shaw on the InterGalNet. She’d done an exhaustive search of the station, ripping open all the closets in the private storage facility with the warrant Surus arranged, and looked everywhere else she could possibly think of—restaurants, cafes, sanitation closets—and reviewed all of the station security camera footage, but hadn’t been able to turn up anything.

“We’re going to start reviewing the station departure logs,” Shaw finished. “To try to find out which other ship Zhidao potentially used to leave the station. Maybe he took the twins with him.” She seemed about to lose it: her eyes were blinking rapidly. But then she finally got control. “We’ll find them. I know we will. Anyway, I’m gonna go now. Miss you. Love ya.”

Rade sent her a message back: “We’ve just confirmed that the Argonaut is here in Raltarus. Seems to be adrift. At least Zhidao didn’t throw it into a star or gas giant. That’s always a good sign. Anyway, I’ll keep you updated if we find anything. Miss you. Love ya.”

It took another two days to reach the vessel. Rade led the boarding party, borrowing pressurized jumpsuits from Snakeoil. The rest of the team went with him, along with two Centurions and two HS3 scouts Snakeoil lent.

“Are we going to dock with an airlock?” Fret asked.

“Won’t have to,” Rade said. “According to Snakeoil’s crew, all airlocks and hangar doors have been opened.” Snakeoil had deployed drones to circle the Argonaut, and the small scouts had scanned and catalogued every square meter of the hull. “My guess is, breach seals throughout the compartments and passageways are open as well. First order of business after we land: proceed to engineering, restore power, close all airlocks and hangar doors, and pressurize the ship.”

“What about the twins?” Bender said.

“They’re obviously not aboard,” Rade said. “At least, I hope not.”

A grim silence settled among the team.

TJ broke it. Thankfully changing the subject in the process. 

“I’m assuming the mech bay doors were open,” TJ said. “Did we get any visual confirmation on our Hoplites?”

“The mech bays were open, yes,” Rade agreed. “But no Hoplites. I suspect Zhidao took them with him to serve his own purposes. Either that, or he spaced them.”

The Dragonfly flew carefully into the hangar bay. Rade had elected to allow the shuttle’s AI to pilot it.

“Artificial gravity appears to be inactive,” the shuttle’s AI said. “Which isn’t entirely unexpected. I am using the magnetic clamps to attach to the deck.”

The cabin shuddered.

“Attachment successful,” the AI said.

“Evacuate cabin atmosphere and lower the ramp,” Rade instructed.

“Evacuating atmosphere,” the AI echoed.

The ramp began to lower a moment later.

“Centurions, secure the hangar bay,” Rade said.

When the ramp opened, the two Centurions jetted into the hangar bay. Once outside the cabin, the robots promptly activated the magnetic mounts in their boots to secure them to the floor. 

The combat robots vanished from view. A moment later Centurion A spoke over the comm.

“Hangar bay is secured,” the robot said.

“All right, TJ, dispatch the HS3s,” Rade ordered.

The fist-sized HS3 scouts hovered down the ramp and swerved from view. On the overhead map, Rade watched as the green dots representing the drones reached the open hangar bay airlock and parted ways, each one taking a separate direction into the branching passageway beyond.

“This should be fun,” Manic said.

Staying aboard the shuttle, Rade tapped into the camera feeds from both drones and placed the small video windows in the upper right of his vision. Sure enough, the breach seals throughout the passageways were all open. That was good in a way, because the drones could complete their exploration without any impediments. Bad, because it meant the entire inner environment was exposed to the void of space: any belongings the Argonauts had aboard would be freeze-dried.

A few minutes later TJ said: “Take a look at the feed from drone two.”

Rade enlarged that particular video window. “Harlequin.”

Obviously deactivated, the Artificial was floating in the wardroom. 

The HS3s discovered most of the remaining robots similarly deactivated in engineering. Cora, Dora and Algorithm were offline in sickbay.

And other than that, the ship was empty. No Hoplites. No Zhidao. No stasis pods. No twins.

It was obvious by then that Zhidao had switched vessels at the station.

One of the drones lingered on the bridge. TJ had sent it inside an open floor panel.

“Well well well,” TJ said. “Look at that.”

“What is it?” Rade examined the feed. The bridge drone was hovering above a series of messy wires and conduits.

“The shielding we installed around the AI core to protect it from possession by Phants is gone,” TJ said. “I suppose after Zhidao stole the ship, he wanted more direct control over the vessel.”

“We Phants usually don’t like to live vicariously,” Surus agreed.

Rade split the away team into two parties, and assigned one of the Centurions to each of them. Rade brought his team to the bridge, while TJ led his unit to engineering.

About an hour later TJ was able to restart the reactor and restore power to the ship. TJ left the main AI core offline until he was able to comb through the codebase, but he did reactivate most of the subsystems. He closed all airlocks, pressurized the ship, and restored artificial gravity.

“All right,” TJ said. “You can take off your helmets now if you want.”

Rade deactivated the magnets in his boots now that artificial gravity was restored, and then he studied the external environment readings displayed on his faceplate. The atmosphere was breathable.

Sick of inhaling recycled air, he removed his helmet and attached it to his harness.

“How long will it take to activate the engines?” Rade transmitted.

“So,” TJ said over the comm. “I was just about to bring up the bad news.”

“What is it?” Rade asked.

“Okay, first of all, the Vipers are all offline,” TJ answered.

“How many?” Rade said.

“All of them,” TJ said. “The focusing mirrors are smashed.”

“How long for the repair drones to fix it?” Rade said.

“Ordinarily, a few weeks, maybe less,” TJ said. “But unfortunately, Zhidao emptied the cargo hold of all refined elements. And spaced our repair drones. As well as the 3D printers.”

“Wonderful,” Rade said.

“He also fired off all our Hellfire missiles into space. And the slugs for the mag-rails.”

“So we have no working weapons whatsoever, you’re saying,” Rade told him.

“That’s right,” TJ said. “But I’m not done yet. Engines are damaged. And I mean big time. From the inside, out. I’m guessing he programmed the AI to fly at emergency power until the engines burned out. This isn’t something we can fix on our own, not even if we pick up new repair drones. We’ll need to open up the engines completely. Bottom line: we’ll have to bring the Argonaut in to dry dock for a complete overhaul.”

So much for Rade’s hunch about Zhidao not damaging his property.

“A little parting gift from Zhidao.” Rade glanced at Surus. “What, he thought we wouldn’t be resourceful enough to acquire a new ship?”

“No, he thought you wouldn’t have me with you,” Surus said. “Or hoped, anyway.”

Rade tapped in Snakeoil, voice only, and his friend answered from the Motley Brown.

“How’s it look?” Snakeoil said.

“Not good,” Rade said. “We’re going to need a tow.”

“Well, that’s what I’m here for,” his old friend said. “Snakeoil’s Haul and Tow Service.”

“Why does that sound like something sexual?” Bender asked.

“He said Haul and Tow,” Manic replied. “Not Tug and Lug.”

“Oh,” Bender said. “My bad. I was confusing it with the services you provide.”

“Har har,” Manic said.

“Snakeoil, if you ever need a Tug and Lug, Manic’s your man!” Bender said.

“Thanks Bender, I’ll keep that in mind,” Snakeoil said. “But to be honest, I’d rather hire you.”

“Ooo baby!” Bender said. “For you, I’m available every night! Surus, wanna join in the fun?”

“I’ll pass,” Surus said.

“I’m guessing Metare is the destination, Rade?” Snakeoil asked.

“Take the Gate to Metare, yes,” Rade answered. “And dock at N’Yarranth so we can rejoin the rest of the crew.”

“You’re going to wait there until the Argonaut is repaired?” Snakeoil asked.

“Doubtful,” Rade said. “TJ tells me the ship will be in dry dock for weeks if not months.”

“Ah.”

“Yes,” Rade said. “So we’ll probably be employing your services for a while longer. It all depends on where Zhidao has gone, and how long it takes us to figure that out.”

Snakeoil had the Motley Brown fire several grappling hooks in order to attach to the Argonaut, and then got underway.

Rade and company remained aboard the Argonaut, if only for the extra living space. There were enough frozen chickens in the pantry to last for a long time, after all.

“You know, we’ll need freight clearance at the Gate,” Fret said after most of the Argonauts had settled in on the bridge. “Customs likes to impose stiff salvage levies on recovered derelicts.”

“I’ll arrange the necessary clearances,” Surus said.

“I don’t think the levies will be too high,” Rade said. “Considering that we’re the owners of the towed ship in question. So technically, it’s not salvage.”

“Leave it up to customs to find a way to charge us,” Fret said. “They’ll classify the Argonaut as a derelict, just watch.”

TJ and Bender worked on reactivating Harlequin and the other robots during the journey. But first, they were doing a complete code review of each unit. No cutting corners: they promised that any malicious code fragments would succumb to their needle-tooth combing.

A few hours into the journey TJ got in touch with him.

“Boss, better get down here,” TJ said. “I found something in Harlequin’s holographic storage. It involves the twins.”

Rade glanced at Surus, then essentially leaped out of his seat and ran off the bridge. Surus followed close behind.

When he reached engineering, he saw TJ and Bender hovering above Harlequin, who lay flat on a work bench. A panel was open in his chest, revealing the conduits of his insides. Portions were glowing, showing that the Artificial had partial power.

“Have a seat.” TJ beckoned toward a chair.

“The news is that bad?” Rade said. But he sat down without waiting for an answer.

He received a video sharing request on his HUD a moment later.

The old Ms. Bounty appeared on a video window in front of him.

“I might have lied about the children being aboard the Argonaut,” Ms. Bounty, or rather, Zhidao, said. Her voice sounded strange, with each word seeming slightly garbled. It could’ve simply been a recording glitch. “But that’s all right. I’m sure you’ve figured out what I’ve done by now. I’ve spaced them.”

Rade simply stared at the video feed. He couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to.

Ms. Bounty smiled calmly on the feed. She gazed at the camera intently, well aware of the reaction her words would evoke. And then she continued.

“Just kidding,” Zhidao said.

Rade could have wept for the relief he felt.

“The children are alive,” Zhidao said. “And in stasis, as I promised. However, their time is quickly running out. They will be incinerated, I guarantee you, if you don’t find them. I leave you with a riddle. Decipher it, and your children are saved. Fail, and they die.”

Zhidao stared intently into the camera once more.

And then the video clicked off.

“That’s it?” Rade said. “Where’s the goddamn riddle?”

“The video ends at this point,” TJ said. “At first we thought it was just another trick on Zhidao’s part. But did you notice how her voice sounded a bit strange, with a slight distortion to it, as if she was speaking over a comm line that was slightly out of range?”

Rade nodded. “I did.”

TJ continued: “Yeah, so we slowed down the feed and analyzed the voice, and discovered that Zhidao had hidden a secret message in plain sight, or hearing, as it were. The individual sounds composing the message were inserted in between the syllables of the other words, at half the volume level. It’s something only an Artificial or robot could do. Or a Phant.”

“Let’s hear the message, then,” Rade said.

An audio sharing request appeared on his HUD and Rade accepted.

Ms. Bounty’s voice filled his ears. The words sounded even odder this time, with some of the syllables dragged out, and others cut off, as if snipped together from another recording. “Find the children in the system where time stops. In storage, yes, December twentieth. Fourth star on the left and straight on until midnight.”

When the message ended, Rade sat back to consider the puzzle.

“The system where time stops is Metare of course,” Rade said. “When the Argentines colonized it, they originally named the system El Fin De Los Tiempos, or The End of Time, because it was on the very outskirts of explored space. But the rest?”

“We already know Zhidao made a stop in Metare,” Surus agreed. “My guess is the rest refers to a location inside N’Yarranth station. Most likely the storage facility.”

“But Shaw searched the place from top to bottom already,” Rade said.

“She must have missed something,” Surus said.

Rade nodded. “TJ, forward the riddle on to Shaw. Flag it high priority. Maybe she can make something of it.”

Rade returned to his quarters and sent a quick message of his own, updating Shaw on the situation.

He sincerely hoped she could make some sense of the riddle when it reached her. Because he believed Zhidao’s promise that the stasis pods would incinerate the children if she didn’t find the twins soon.

And if that happened, Rade’s universe would end.

But so would Zhidao’s, he swore.

eleven

Shaw replayed the message TJ had sent again. Ms. Bounty’s odd-sounding voice filled her hearing. 

“Find the children in the system where time stops. In storage, yes, December twentieth. Fourth star on the left and straight on until midnight.”

She glanced at Tahoe and Lui, who were with her in the quarters they shared aboard the space station.

“The first part we know,” Shaw said. “Rade thinks it stands for Metare system. Which makes sense, considering Zhidao stopped here.”

“It’s almost as if he didn’t realize we would be able to track the Argonaut’s route,” Lui said.

“Either that, or Zhidao wanted to make sure we’d get that first part,” Tahoe said.

“It’s also possible he just wanted the clues for his wild goose chase to sound feasible,” Shaw said. “This could lead nowhere.” She sighed. “In any case, Rade thinks the riddle points to the private storage facility aboard this station, because of the ‘in storage’ comment.”

“So then we just have to figure out the significance of December twentieth, and the fourth star on the left part,” Tahoe said.

“According to my Implant, the last bit is a play on Peter Pan,” Lui said. “Quoted by Peter when Wendy asks him where she can find him.”

“Not sure how that helps us,” Tahoe said.

“Every bit of knowledge helps.” Shaw intertwined her fingers and set them down on the kitchen table they sat around. “December twentieth. There are a few major incidents that happened on that day in history.”

Lui nodded. “The bombing of the embassy that triggered the Mongolian war in 299 AS. The discovery of an ancient alien vessel in the Butari system in 315 AS.”

“Yes,” Shaw said. “But otherwise nothing about those years seems applicable.” She steepled her index fingers. “Hmm. Maybe it’s something simpler. December is the twelfth month. Twelve, and twenty. Maybe it’s the first part of some digital lock key? Or... twelve plus twenty equals thirty-two. Lot thirty-two in the storage facility?”

“But we searched all the lots,” Tahoe said. “Twice!”

Shaw reviewed the archival footage her Implant had recorded when she had last searched the storage facility, and she paused during the replay of lot thirty-two. The rectangular unit was completely empty.

“Time to search them again,” Shaw said, standing. “At least the one lot.”

“It was empty last time,” Lui said. He must have checked his archival footage as well.

“Yes,” Shaw said. “But it’s possible we missed something. Probable, in fact.”

They made their way through the station’s promenade until they reached the storage facility. Digital signage overlaid her vision.

Welcome to Sphinx Storage! If you can think it, we can store it!

Sphinx was a franchise that operated throughout the galaxy. Surus had stored a certain powerful teleportation device in a unit inside one such facility. That had ended rather badly...

Shaw approached the small egg-shaped robot that stood near reception.

“Hello, and welcome to Sphinx Storage,” the robot said in its high-pitched voice.

Before the greeter could continue its spiel, Shaw quickly transmitted the digital warrant that the station commander had issued her, thanks to Surus.

“Oh,” the robot said. “You again. Go ahead. Sphinx Storage is happy to comply with law enforcement requests.”

Except we’re not law enforcement.

But she didn’t see the point in telling the robot that. Especially considering it said the same thing every time.

She made her way up the spiraling ramp. Sealed security doors interrupted the wall at intervals on the right. Digital signage indicated the unit numbers.

When she reached the door labeled thirty-two she glanced toward the winding hallway’s ceiling speaker.

“Open up lot thirty-two, please,” Shaw said.

The door clicked and then opened upward.

The storage lot was empty, just like the footage from her Implant had shown.

“So what are we looking for?” Tahoe asked, following her inside.

“Not sure,” Shaw said. “Fourth star on the left and straight on until midnight...”

There were long, floor-to-ceiling bars set into the rectangular walls at regular intervals, ten per side. She went to the fourth bar on the left wall and examined it. There didn’t seem to be anything special about it. She felt all along the surface, searching for an indentation or recessed button of some kind.

“Anything?” Lui asked.

“Nope,” Shaw said. She examined the rest of the empty compartment, gazing from ceiling to floor. Nothing stood out at her.

“There has to be something...” Lui said.

“Maybe we misinterpreted December twentieth,” Tahoe said. “Maybe we should be looking at unit twelve. Take twenty steps inside, and then look for the fourth bar from the left of that position.”

“There are countless ways to interpret that December line,” Lui said. “I guess we’ll just have to try all the variations, one at a time.”

“Yes, after we finish here.” Shaw paused to consider something. “What if it’s not the bars, but the spaces between them that count as the ‘stars’ in the riddle?”

She went to the wall area that matched the fourth section the bars subdivided. Then she began searching again. There were no secret switches on the surface, none that she could find anyway.

“Straight on until midnight,” Lui said. “Maybe it’s a reference to hands on an analog clock? Midnight is up.”

“It’s also dark at midnight,” Shaw said. “Attendant!” she called. “Turn off the lights in this unit, but leave the hallway globes active, please.”

A moment later the cell plunged into darkness.

“Attendant, shut the door,” she said.

The security door sealed behind them.

The door apparently wasn’t airtight, and small gaps were evident between the slats composing the surface, allowing small points of light to penetrate. Those points of light cast small dots against the different walls inside.

“And here are our stars,” Shaw said.

She went to the fourth “star” on the left and touched it. Instead of her fingers lying flat against the wall, she encountered something knobby just in front of it, something that wasn’t visible to the naked eye.

“Lights on!” Shaw commanded.

Illumination returned to the unit. Shaw touched the wall again and once more was met with invisible resistance.

“Look up!” Lui said.

She glanced at the ceiling. Part of a cylindrical container had come into view above her. As she moved her hand back and forth in front of the invisible object on the wall, the motion blocked off whatever rays the device was transmitting to hide the ceiling.

A holographic emitter.

She felt around at the invisible object on the wall until she had a firm grip, and then she applied pressure and ripped it off. The small device materialized in her hands. Definitely some sort of emitter.

She pocketed it. Overhead, two previously hidden pods were now clearly in view. Broad straps secured each pod to the ceiling. The metal containers were about big enough to hold a single four-year-old each.

“Attendant, open up this door!” Shaw shouted. “I need a step ladder immediately! And summon the station paramedics!”

“I’ll get the ladder.” Lui darted from the unit.

Shaw had Tahoe give her a boost in the interim, and she worked at the straps that secured the leftmost pod to the ceiling.

Lui arrived with two stepladders.

Shaw used the first to open up the straps, while Tahoe stood on the second and held the pod in place while she worked. When the pod was free, Tahoe lowered it to the floor with Lui’s help. Looking down from her perch on the stepladder, she could see clearly into a translucent glass panel located on the top side of the pod.

Sil was inside, seemingly asleep.

Shaw leaped down from the ladder and tried to access the remote interface, but had no luck.

“Let me,” Lui said. He knelt before the pod.

Shaw wanted to keep trying, but she knew Lui had more hacking experience than she did. She would have to trust that if anyone could get her daughter out, it would be him.

While Lui concentrated on Sil’s container, Shaw adjusted the stepladder’s position and worked to release the second pod still strapped to the ceiling. Tahoe repositioned himself as well, so that when she freed it, he helped her lower it to the floor beside the first.

Alex was inside that one.

Shaw knelt beside Lui. “Well?” she said urgently.

“Almost...” Lui said.

And then the translucent panel slid open. Shaw immediately pulled Sil out of the unit. Her daughter was breathing, but still unconscious.

Shaw took her to the door of the storage unit, and held her close, waiting for the paramedics to arrive.

Lui meanwhile worked on the second pod. When it opened, Lui pulled out Alex.

“He’s alive,” Lui said.

As the words left his lips, flames abruptly erupted from both stasis pods.

“Whoa!” Lui said. He quickly moved past the pods and carried Alex to the entrance. “Must have activated some sort of dead man’s switch.”

Shaw watched the pods burn in the flames.

“Or we saved them just in time,” Shaw said.

Zhidao hadn’t been joking about incinerating the children.

“Where are those damn paramedics? Come on!” She raced down the winding ramp and met the paramedics as they arrived at the entrance to the storage facility. The two robots quickly revived the twins.

“Mommy...” Sil said groggily.

“Hello honey,” Shaw said, grabbing her daughter and hugging her tight.

“What happened?” Alex rubbed his eyes.

Shaw gave him a hug, too. “You just were asleep for a little while. Everything is okay now.” She couldn’t help the tears of joy that fell.

“We’re taking them to sickbay for observation,” the paramedic robot said. “They need to be rehydrated, and fed. Stasis pods aren’t meant to house children.”

“No, they’re not,” Shaw said. “I’m going with you.”

An hour later Shaw found herself seated in the sickbay waiting area aboard the station with Tahoe and Lui. The twins were recovering well. Shaw, meanwhile, felt exhausted.

“I don’t get it,” Lui said. “Why did Zhidao go through all this trouble? Why play all these games with us? It can’t be simply for his own entertainment. Tahoe and I went back there and checked, but there were no hidden cameras or other surveillance devices in the storage unit. No other holographic emitters.”

“He did it to distract us,” Tahoe said. “That can be the only explanation. He wanted Surus off his tail long enough for him to do whatever it was he needed to do. A backup plan, in case Surus escaped her doom. He probably wasn’t entirely ready when the opportunity arose to capture her: he knew his containment field wasn’t good enough, and would probably fail before Surus was trapped in the star. So he needed a way to distract her in case that happened. He knew the Green would never abandon us, not while we were still alive, so he spared us. He also knew we and Surus wouldn’t go after him until we found the children. That gave him all the time he needed to escape, and to set in motion whatever other plans he had in mind.”

“How did we miss that holographic emitter in the unit in the first place?” Lui said.

“Simple,” Shaw said. “We didn’t know it was there. If we knew what to look for, it might have helped.”

“But we made extensive sweeps of the walls,” Lui said. “Searching for EM emitters, and the like.”

“Yes,” Shaw said. “But that device was probably late Tech Class IV or early V, and didn’t give off any readable emissions.”

They talked some more, arguing about the reasons behind Zhidao’s strange actions, and eventually concluded that his motivations were too complex to decipher, at least given their current limited information.

Shaw sent off a message to Rade shortly after that, informing him that the children were all right. It was one of the happier messages she had ever sent.

twelve

Rade spent most of his remaining days during the trip back to Metare and the space station in the gym. It was his way of distracting himself, because he really wanted to see his kids and Shaw.

He recalled the message he had sent to her when he heard the news. “You were right. They were there all along. I’m sorry for ever doubting you. I shouldn’t have yelled at you the last time we talked in person. I shouldn’t have shouted accusations. I love you. Thank you for everything.”

Shaw’s return message a few days later had started with: “Hey my big warrior. Don’t you dare be sorry for a thing. I’m equally to blame. Tensions were running high. The kids are all right now. I love you.”

The Argonaut’s gym was only big enough to fit a few of the crew at a time, and since Snakeoil had lent a few of his own crew to help out with repairs, they had to share it, so Rade rotated workout partners. Today his partner was Bender. The man usually put Rade to shame in terms of the weights he could lift. Snakeoil happened to be visiting today from the Motley Brown as well, and he joined in with them so the testosterone was really flowing. As such, Rade made sure to choose exercises that he excelled in, like pull ups: because he was lighter than Snakeoil and Bender, he could do about thirty body weight repetitions, whereas each of them topped out at twenty.

“You think you’re hot on pull ups, huh boss?” Bender said. “Maybe you should try adding a weight so you match Snakeoil and I.”

“That’s all right,” Rade said.

“Why don’t you come bench press with us then,” Bender said. “Test of a real man’s strength.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Rade said. But instead he moved to the side to work on abs.

“By the way, Snakeoil old pal, there’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Bender said. “Why’d you call it the Motley Brown? You know that motley means multicolored, right bro?”

“Yep,” Snakeoil said. “But in this case, since motley is acting as a modifier for brown, it means different colors of brown. Kind of a variation on the theme: same shit, different color.”

“Ahhh!” Bender said. “I get it now. And I love it! I take Motley Brown craps, baby!”

Bender finished another pull up set and wiped his brow. He glanced at Rade.

“Scissor kicks!” Bender said when he noticed the exercise Rade was doing. “He goes and does scissor kicks. I haven’t done those since back on the grinder in BSD/M training.”

“Those were the days, huh?” Snakeoil said from where he was benching nearby. “Doing push ups, sit ups, and scissor kicks until we vomited on the asphalt. Man, the instructors would shout insults at us while spraying us with freezing cold water, all the while the scent of marshmallow cream donuts and steak drifted our way.”

“Yeah, those instructors were cruel bitches,” Bender said. “Though I always thought it would be fun to be one myself.”

“What, an instructor?” Snakeoil said. “Or a cruel bitch?”

“Both,” Bender said. “Get to call those weak recruit maggots by the names they deserve, and while they work, I get to chow down on steak and donuts. Now that’s my kind of job. It would almost be as fun as bug hunting. Almost.”

Rade finished his scissor kick set and found a bench to do leg lifts on.

“Speaking of bug hunting, so what now, Boss?” Bender asked him. “The kids are all right. Our ship is intact, and sure, it needs some repairs. But when that happens, what’s next?”

“After I spend some quality time with my kids and Shaw,” Rade said. “Well, I think it’s pretty obvious what has to happen next. We hunt down Zhidao. And we might not wait until the Argonaut is ready. Assuming Snakeoil is up for a little alien hunting.”

“As long as your Phant keeps paying me, I’m happy to provide my services,” Snakeoil said.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” Bender said. “This is what I signed up for. Operation: Bug Spray.”

“Yes indeed,” Rade said. “After what Zhidao did, he can’t be allowed to go free. With him out there, we’ll never know when he might strike again. Plus my children will never really be safe again until he’s gone. Not even if I leave them with their grandparents on Earth. The Phant is obviously unstable.”

“He’s a little unhinged,” Bender agreed. “So it’s settled then. The hunt is on. It’s not a question of if, but when.”

“You got it,” Rade said, beginning another round of leg lifts.

“Snakeoil, you’re in for a treat, bro,” Bender said.

“Oh yeah?” Snakeoil lay back to do another set on the bench press.

“Yeah,” Bender said. “When bugs die, they don’t go quietly.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Snakeoil lifted the barbell off the rack and pressed.

RADE WAS THRILLED to see Alex and Sil doing well. The pair were rooming with Shaw in one of the short term rentals on the station. When he entered, he relished in the “daddy daddy” chorus that came his way, and swooped both of his kids up in his strong arms.

“What took you so long to get here?” Sil said. “It felt like for-ever!”

“Yeah, it was a bit of time, wasn’t it?” Rade said. He glanced at Shaw, who was smiling widely.

“And now you’re going to stay for-ever!” Alex said. When Rade didn’t answer, Alex, still in his arms, glanced at Shaw. “He’s going to stay, right?”

Rade set down his kids and knelt to look into their faces. “Look, I can’t make any promises yet. The bad person who put you two to sleep, well, she’s still out there.” Shaw and Rade had exchanged messages during the whole return trip, so he knew Shaw had told the twins they’d been sleeping for the past month. “Your mom and I haven’t decided yet what we’re going to do. But when we do, you’ll be the first to know. Let’s just enjoy our time together while we can.”

Sil crossed her arms. “I don’t want to enjoy my time. I want you to stay forever.”

Alex dashed back to Shaw. He sat beside her, and also crossed his arms, a surly expression on his face. “You don’t love us.”

Rade sighed. “Son, I love you more than anything in this galaxy. You have to understand that. But the galaxy isn’t the friendliest place. This is a hard lesson you’re going to have to learn someday. We’ve done our best to shield you, but it won’t always be this way.” Shaw was shaking her head, like she didn’t want Rade to tell them this, but he felt it was necessary. “There are bad men and women out there. And... monsters. Your mom and I, we fight the monsters, Alex. That’s what we do. And we’re going to drive them so far away from here that they’ll never harm you again. So believe me when I tell you, if I have to go away, it’s for your own good.”

Rade was still kneeling, and Sil suddenly jumped on him and gave him a tight hug. “Daddy, please don’t go! I promise to be on my bestest behavior! I promise I promise I promise! I’ll never do anything bad again. I’ll be nice to Alex. I’ll share with him... sweets, toys, everything. I’ll even let him play with Digibear.” That was the name of her favorite digital augmentation.

Rade smiled and hugged her back. He glanced at Shaw. Her expression was unreadable. No, wait, that wasn’t true.

She gazed at Rade with a mixture of sadness and steely resolve. The latter, mostly.

She was ready to hunt down Zhidao, too.

RADE HEARD FROM TJ and Bender a few days later. The pair had stayed aboard the Argonaut, and just finished removing all the malicious code from the Centurions and Harlequin. They’d started the robots up one by one, and were satisfied that all of them were ready for duty. Rade gave the a-okay, ordering the robots to remain aboard the Argonaut for the time being to help out with engine repairs as much as they could, with strict instructions to stay out of the way of the dry dock crew if doing so hastened the repair process.

Rade summoned Tahoe, Shaw and Bender for a meeting with Surus that evening.

“Station records indicate two merchant ships departed shortly after the Argonaut arrived here,” Surus said. “I tracked both of them via my contacts at CENTCOM, and determined the first went on a route typical of a trader from this system. The second, a Regina Mercante class Franco-Italian vessel, the Volare, traveled on a strange course. It took Gates leading to the Sino-Korean controlled Da Haui Shou, Zhanshi, and Qi Yu systems. There are no trading outposts in any of those systems. In fact, they don’t welcome traders, as trading is prohibited.”

“Maybe the captain hopes to make money on the black market,” Tahoe said.

“Or maybe he’s not in control of his ship anymore…” Rade said.

“If trading is prohibited, how would Zhidao enter the system in the first place?” Tahoe said.

“Bribes,” Rade said.

Surus nodded. “Correct. Sino-Korean custom officials in this area are particularly amenable to monetary donations above a certain amount. Usually these donations would be far too high for an ordinary trader to recoup any costs of trading on the black market. That alone would be enough to point to Zhidao’s presence. But there is something else. Take a look at this footage.”

Rade accepted the footage sharing request. The video showed Hoplites jetting across empty space from the hangar bay of one ship to another vessel floating beside it.

“What you’re looking at is security footage from the station’s external cameras,” Surus said. “That’s the Argonaut on the left, where the Hoplites are emerging from. Parked across from it is the merchant ship Volare.”

Rade nodded slowly. “Zhidao. Bastard stole our Hoplites. Has your contact given you the final destination for the Franco-Italian ship yet?”

“My contact has, yes,” Surus said. “The vessel jumped from Qi Yu to Kuangshi. It’s an uncolonized system, though three Sino-Korean companies own mineral rights and have tiny processing bases operating on some of the outer moons. The Volare crossed the system and vanished at the far Slipstream.”

“So we follow him,” Rade said.

“One thing,” Surus said. “There isn’t supposed to be a jump Gate at that second Slipstream.”

“What do you mean?” Rade asked.

“The Sino-Koreans didn’t construct one,” Surus said. “Kuangshi is located at the furthest extents of their domain. They haven’t explored beyond it. Haven’t bothered.”

“So Zhidao obviously hired a Builder to construct a Gate at some point,” Rade said. “And when the Gate was done, he hid it somewhere.”

“That’s my guess as well,” Surus said. “Considering that the Slipstream orbits near a Super Earth. The planet would be the perfect place to hide the Gate. Plus, Kuangshi is a binary, and the Super Earth orbits on the far side of the second sun. It would be out of view of the Sino-Korean mining bases for two years at a time.”

“So let’s say we get to this system and pass through the Gate, assuming Zhidao hasn’t destroyed it behind him,” Tahoe said. “On the other side, if there’s no Gate to bring us back through the Slipstream, then we’re screwed.”

“Not necessarily,” Surus said. “I’ll arrange for a Builder vessel to arrive behind us. We might be stranded there for six months, but we will come back.”

“Six months,” Rade said. “We’ll be cut off from the InterGalNet, trapped in a system with an enemy Phant, without knowing what sort of surprises that Phant might have in store for us.”

“Going to be rough,” Bender said. “The cut-off-from-the-InterGalNet part, I mean. The rest I’m not too worried about.”

Tahoe nodded. “I’ll have to tell my family I’ll be out of touch for a while.”

“We could wait until the Builder arrives before we pass through?” Shaw suggested. “That way we’re sure it comes.”

“No,” Rade said. “Better that we go in and clear the system of the Phant first. Rather than allow the Builder to enter and become something else that we have to protect other than just our own hides.”

“I would suggest that whatever the Purple is planning, time is likely a critical factor,” Surus said.

“I agree,” Rade said. “Which is why I’m going to tell Snakeoil to prepare to leave. We begin our hunt for Zhidao tomorrow.”

“We’re not waiting until the Argonaut is repaired?” Tahoe asked.

“No,” Rade said. “We’re going to be passengers of the Motley Brown for a while longer.”

RADE SAT ON the bed beside Shaw after putting the twins to bed in the other room.

“We can’t bring the kids,” Shaw said.

Rade nodded. “I know. And I’m glad we’re on the same wavelength. It’s probably safest to leave them here, but I don’t think I could bear to be apart from them for so long. So I was thinking of bringing them all the way to Qi Yu, the last system before the mining outposts, and we’ll drop them off at one of the Sino-Korean stations there. I’m sure there’ll be a robot nursery somewhere. I’ll be sorry to see you go, but—”

“I’m going with you on this one,” Shaw said.

Rade was stunned. “But the kids…”

“I’ll miss them.” Her chin quivered for a moment, but she clamped down on whatever emotions she was feeling and suppressed the movement. “With all my heart. But I can’t leave you. I can’t bear it. Sil and Alex will have Cora and Dora. Years from now, when this is done, the kids won’t even remember I was gone. They’re not old enough for my absence to make much of a dent in their development.”

Rade’s eyes defocused as a distant memory of his own life intruded. His mother and father were ripped away from him when his parents lost the orange plantation. He found himself on the streets. So young. Too young.

“We could be gone for six months, or longer,” Rade said. “They’ll remember.”

“Only if we don’t come back,” Shaw said. “If you don’t come back. Which is why it’s so important I come with you.”

“Shaw, on previous missions you’ve been staying back...” Rade said.

“I know,” Shaw said. “But the kids are getting old enough now that I can start going with you again. My place is at your side. You can’t deny me. I’m a warrior’s wife.”

“And so you are,” Rade said. He stared at her lips for the longest time, and then looked up into her eyes, those orbs glistening in the dim light of their room. He felt desire stir deep inside of him, and he mashed his lips against hers.

“Oh Rade,” Shaw said from the edges of her mouth. “My big man.”

“Big in more ways than you can count,” Rade said.

“Oh I can count all right.” Shaw reached down and slipped her hand into his pants.

Rade froze as she gripped him.

“The question is, can you?” Shaw said coyly.

“Not anymore,” he said.

Shaw released him and Rade threw her on the bed.

Their love making that night was perhaps the fiercest it had been since they were reunited. And when they were done, Rade held her in his arms, held her tight, never wanting to let go. She rested her head on his chest, smiling contentedly.

“I’m glad we’re finally intimate again,” Shaw said. “That we don’t have guilt hanging over our heads. That our children are safe.”

“I am, too,” Rade said.

“We’re making the right choice,” Shaw continued. “Leaving the kids in Qi Yu. I’m making the right choice, coming with you.”

It sounded like she was saying the words more for her benefit than his. It didn’t matter. She would have to settle this with her conscience on her own terms. Because he knew the kids would be all right.

It was Shaw he was worried about.

He always believed he would lose her on a mission one day, just as he had lost many of his friends. In fact, he’d almost lost her long ago, when she was stranded on a planet eight thousand lightyears away from him, deep in Phant territory. But she found her way back to him.

He somehow doubted that if he lost her again, he would be so lucky.

Yes, this might be the mission that ripped her from his side forever.

thirteen

Rade bade a tearful farewell to his children and watched Shaw do the same. After listening to multiple promises and reassurances from Cora and Dora that the robots would take good care of the kids, he and Shaw finally made their way to the Motley Brown.

In the end, Rade and Shaw decided they didn’t want to risk bringing the kids into Sino-Korean territory, and chose instead to leave the children on the existing station. It seemed safer that way. It would add an extra month they would be away from the children, but it was also an extra layer of peace of mind. Rade couldn’t discount the possibility that Zhidao might ambush his team en route, and he definitely didn’t want the kids aboard for a repeat of the last encounter.

“That was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” Shaw said. “Saying goodbye…”

“Now you know how it always felt for me,” Rade said. “When I’d go off to war, leaving you at home.”

“But we never really got together until you were done in the MOTHs,” Shaw said.

“I know,” Rade said. “But it’s always felt like we were together. At least to me. Leaving Earth, the solar system behind, and knowing you were still back there, that I could die and never see you again… it was pretty hard.”

Shaw held his hand and squeezed tight. “No one’s going to die this time.”

Rade nodded slowly.

The pair met up with the other Argonauts aboard the Motley Brown and resumed their previous rooming arrangements. Harlequin bunked with Surus, Tahoe, and Lui, while the seven combat robots—Algorithm, Brat, Ernie, Formaldehyde, Grumpy, Humpty, and Ulysses—took a storage unit not far from the closet where Rade and Shaw stayed.

Snakeoil sold a spare shuttle to clear out one of his hangar bays, in anticipation of the mechs Surus planned to buy for the team in one of the coming Sino-Korean systems.

Over the next few weeks, the Motley Brown took different Gates deeper into the outskirts of Sino-Korean territory, passing through the Da Haui Shou and Zhanshi systems. In Qi Yu system, they headed toward a space station to stock up on supplies.

“Gotta love these Sino-Korean names,” Bender said at one point while they ate together in the wardroom. “We have Da Hot Shoe! Banshee! And the Pussy system!”

“How’d you get Pussy out of Qi Yu?” Manic asked.

“Dude, you’re pronouncing it wrong,” Bender said. “It’s Poo See, not kung fu or whatever you said.”

“Everything is pussy to you,” Manic said.

“In fact, you’re right,” Bender agreed.

The serving robot came inside. Snakeoil employed a full-blown Artificial, cast in the image of a go-go dancer replete with short skirt and cleavage hugging top. Snakeoil had named her Beebee.

“How’s it tasting?” Beebee said all excitedly, as if her question was the most amazingly fantastic thing in the galaxy.

“Great!” Bender said, all smiles.

Beebee grinned at him, and walked away, swaying her hips. She vanished into the galley.

Bender leaned toward Manic, lowered his voice, and imitated the Artificial: “How’s my pussy tasting?”

Manic spurted out his drink onto the table and started coughing.

“Gonna be all right, bro?” Tahoe asked him.

Manic finally got himself under control. “Yeah. That was a good one.”

Bender was all smiles. “Be careful when you drink in my presence.”

“Yeah.” Manic leaned forward and licked up the liquid he’d spurted onto the table.

“Eww!” Fret said. “That’s nasty.”

“Mm-hmm!” Bender said. “Predigested liquid meals. Can’t go wrong!”

Manic shrugged. “Hate to see it go to waste.”

“Hey Fret,” Bender said. “He’s getting in some practice later for when you and him are alone. You’ll be feeding him some of your own predigested liquids, if you know what I mean!”

“Actually I don’t,” Fret said.

“Yeah you do.” Bender downed his own shake. “Anyway, I’d love to stay and chat with you bitches, but I got a hot Artificial to pick up!” He rose from the table, squeezing past the chairs to head for the galley.

“You know she’s a serving robot not a flesh whisperer, right?” Manic called after him.

“Same difference!” Bender said. “Why do you think Snakeoil purchased her? She’s obviously here to service the crew!” He winked, and vanished into the galley.

Manic leaned forward, grinning conspiratorially. “Watch this.”

A moment later Bender’s scream drifted from the galley. “Yow!”

Bender ran out; swollen red marks formed a grille over half his face where a hot skillet had slammed into the skin.

“Hey Bender, how’d the pick up go?” Manic said.

“Shut it!” Bender rushed toward the exit.

“Love the new skillet tattoo by the way,” Manic called after him.

Bender dashed from the compartment without a word more, no doubt headed for sickbay.

“What did you do, you rascal you?” TJ asked.

“Nothing.” Manic shrugged. “Okay fine. I may have disabled Beebee’s Machine Constitution.” That was the innate moral code hardwired into civilian robots. It prevented them from harming humans.

“You know that’s illegal,” Harlequin said. He was present at the meal for the camaraderie, not to eat.

“Yes, but it just goes to show you how robots would treat Bender if their programming didn’t prevent them from harming him,” Manic said.

“You know that Bender will be having a little talk with you later, don’t you?” TJ said. “And it won’t be a friendly one.”

Manic grinned. “I heartily look forward to it.”

The next day Rade spotted Manic in the gym. He had grille marks along the right side of his face that were a mirror image to the wounds that had marred Bender the day before.

“Hey boss,” Manic said. He started a one-armed dumbbell row set. He was lifting seventy kilograms. That was well above what Shaw weighed.

“You and Bender had your talk, I see,” Rade said.

“Yep,” Manic said. “We worked out our differences.”

“You didn’t see the Weavers to get that healed up yet?” Rade asked.

“Nope,” Manic said. He continued doing his dumbbell row.

“Why not?” Rade said.

“Shaw caught us,” Manic told him. “She said we weren’t going to get paid for the month unless we waited a full two days to seek treatment in sickbay.”

Rade nodded. “Seems an appropriate punishment.”

Manic finished his set and dropped the weight. It hit with a resounding thud.

A robot attendant quickly dashed forward to scold him. “Don’t drop the weights!”

“Uh huh,” Manic turned his back on the robot.

The robot swiveled around in front of him to accost him again. “Don’t drop the weights!”

“I didn’t drop it,” Manic said.

“You did,” the attendant complained. “I saw you. And I heard the impact.”

Manic grinned. “It slipped by mistake. Won’t happen again.”

“You said that last time,” the attendant told him.

“Well, you won’t let me use chalk,” Manic said. “So it’s kind of your fault.”

The attendant hovered a moment longer, then seemed to stalk away.

Manic was about to start his next set, but Rade sat down with him.

“About Bender…” Rade said. “We need to stay focused. We can’t be fighting each other all the time.”

“We’re ex-MOTHs,” Manic said. “We got a lot of excess testosterone. And we’re very competitive. We can’t help it if we tussle now and then.”

Rade knew very well what Manic was talking about. Back during his Team days, between missions, Rade and his crew would always beat the crap out of each other. It didn’t matter where they were. In the car. In a club. On base. He had more than a few disciplinary actions thrown his way in his day. But they had always behaved where it counted: on missions, approaching military operations with the laser sharp focus only men of their training could.

“I understand,” Rade said. “But I can’t have you two hurting each other every day. Save your energy for Zhidao.”

Manic nodded. “I think we got it out, now. Should be smooth sailing here on out.”

“Good,” Rade said.

He was about to get up, when Manic spoke again.

“What’s it like, Boss?” Manic said.

“What like?” Rade asked.

“Having the girl you love onboard?” Manic said. “And I mean not just onboard the same ship as you, but your life. Behind you every step of the way.”

Rade paused to consider. “It’s… everything I ever wanted, really. But it’s also nerve racking. When I go on missions with her, I can’t help but wonder, will I lose her forever?” He studied Manic for a moment. “Why do you ask?”

“I have a girl, back on Earth,” Manic said. “She’s the father of my kid.”

“Mother, you mean,” Rade said.

“Er, yeah,” Manic said. “Anyway, she wants to get with me. But she’s not onboard with my lifestyle. Says we can’t be together unless I quit.”

“Is that what you want?” Rade asked.

“To be with her, yes,” Manic said. “To quit, no. I could never give up this life. Sure, right now at this very moment, it’s crap. In between the missions it always is. But when the fighting starts, and the alien bugs start landing in the frying pan, that’s what I live for.”

“Then I don’t have an answer for you,” Rade said. “Other than, you’re doing the right thing. If she can’t support your choice of life, then she doesn’t belong in it.”

“Yeah, but I also want to raise my kid,” Manic said. “Like you. I’m wondering if maybe I can convince her to give him up for half the year.”

Rade gazed at his friend somberly. “That’s a double-edged sword, Manic. Why do you think I’m leaving them behind for this op? You see all the trouble I’ve gotten into by trying to raise kids aboard a starship? The danger I’ve put them in?”

“Yeah sure,” Manic said. “But I’ve also seen the joy you get from them. And the joy you give them. I want to give the same joy to my kid.”

“You’re asking for my permission to let you bring your kid aboard after this mission?” Rade asked.

“If I can convince Molly,” Manic said. “Which is a big if. Plus I have to convince my kid as well.”

“Molly and Manic.” Rade smiled faintly. “Well, Alex and Sil could use some actual human company, I suppose. I’d have to ask Shaw, but I don’t see why not.”

“All right, thank you, Boss,” Manic said. “Hold back telling Shaw anything for now. Because in all honesty, I doubt Molly will give up the rights. Even for half a year.”

Rade nodded slowly. “It would be best if you could convince Molly to come as well. Because think about it. Look at how long it takes us to travel between planets, and how far our missions take us from Earth. A sharing arrangement won’t really work under those circumstances. It has to be all or nothing, I think.”

Manic sighed. “Then nothing it probably is. Like I said, don’t say anything to Shaw.”

“Understood,” Rade said. “Have a good workout.”

“You too.”

fourteen

During the long journey, Rade had Snakeoil take steps to secure the AI core of the Motley Brown against Phant possession. Rade wanted to be prepared for anything. Surus shared the plans for the necessary core shielding, and Snakeoil utilized the 3D printers he had on board to create the designs. Bender and TJ helped install it.

They finally reached the space station in Qi Yu. There a mech dealer carried several United Systems military models, and Rade helped Surus negotiate a good deal on some refurbished Hoplites with blank AI cores. She purchased ten, one for each of the Argonauts including Harlequin.

“Can’t we get Titans, or maybe the new Megalith models?” Bender whined as the deal was going down. “Because I’m telling you, you can never have enough bug spray…” He was slobbering over the Megalith display model, which towered over them all in its full bipedal glory. It was a virtual augmentation, of course, and the actual Megalith required a ten day assembly time after purchase, but that didn’t make the mech any less impressive.

“First of all, a Megalith won’t even fit in Snakeoil’s hangar bay,” Surus said.

“Ooo,” Bender said. “But the question is, can you fit in Snakeoil’s hangar bay?” He winked.

Surus frowned. “No, but I’m sure you can.”

“Touché!” Manic said.

“Second of all,” Surus continued. “I’ve only budgeted a set amount. One Megalith blows the entire mech budget.”

“Yeah, but a Megalith is easily worth ten Hoplites!” Bender said.

“There are some who would disagree with you on that point,” Lui said. “Namely me. In my opinion, a Megalith can only replace two Hoplites, and in the hands of skilled operators, maybe not even that much. Definitely not worth the ten times modifier on the price tag. Besides, we know Hoplites like the back of our hands. Their strengths, their weaknesses. It’s a bad time to be switching mech models before a mission. We had a few missions back in our war days that almost ended in disaster when we did that.”

“Very true,” Rade said. “Hoplites it is.”

Surus walked away with the Artificial salesman to complete the transaction.

Tahoe pulled Rade off to the side when Surus was gone.

“How can we be sure the AI cores are truly blank?” Tahoe asked, shaking his head. “Sino-Korean refurbs… they buy used United Systems hardware and wipe the cores, you know that right? Cheaper that way.”

“In the contract it says they agree to remove the AI cores and replace them with new, factory fresh models,” Rade said.

Tahoe didn’t seem convinced. “Shady mech dealers in backwater outposts like these have been known to renege on contract terms. I’m just saying…”

Rade sighed. “Well, let’s just hope no AIs died. Because we can’t go into this mission without mechs. And this is the only station in the past three systems that carries any.”

Tahoe sighed. “All right.”

When the mechs were aboard the Motley Brown, in the emptied hangar bay that now served as mech bay, Rade had TJ and Bender work with Snakeoil’s maintenance robots to install the AI cores of the old mechs from the backups. The process would take a few days, apparently, but it was something they could do while underway.

While at the station, Surus picked up refined metals for the Motley Brown’s 3D printers, a full complement of Hellfires for the missile launchers, and slugs for the mag-rail point defenses. Surus went all out and splurged on the slugs, opting to go for the expensive, high-grade explosive variants.

“Not even the military uses those,” Rade said.

“Oh I know,” Surus said. “They’re considered way too expensive for way too little added punch. But as far as I’m concerned, even a slight advantage is worth it.”

The fully-stocked starship finally departed from the station, and Rade returned to the tiny closet he shared with Shaw. He spent some time in the mech simulators with the team, using virtual Hoplites modeled after the latest purchases. He spent the rest of his time in the closet with Shaw, usually running different VR simulations with his Implant to make the time pass faster. He was in such a simulation, having a picnic with Shaw on a flower-covered hilltop overlooking a mountain lake, with the virtual representations of the kids playing nearby, when TJ tapped in to update him on the mechs.

“The backup installation is complete,” TJ said. “We’ve got our old mechs back.”

“Any issues?” Rade asked.

“Well, I hope you got a good deal on these, because the armor and ballistic shielding on a few of them is subpar,” TJ said. “Plus the power intensities on all the cobras are a bit low for my tastes.”

“There’s only so much you can check in the dealership environment,” Rade said. “At some point you have to trust the inspection report.”

“Yeah, well,” TJ continued. “Bender and I are having Snakeoil print up some extra parts to reinforce the armor and ballistic shields, and to improve the focusing mirrors of the lasers.”

“Now that’s what I want to hear,” Rade said. “Whatever you come up with, make sure you update the mech simulators, so we’re practicing with something as close as possible to the real deal.”

“Will do,” TJ said.

“By the way, how about the AIs themselves?” Rade said. “How are they doing?”

“A few are exhibiting signs of Imposter Syndrome, but that can be expected from AIs who’ve just been restored from backup copies,” TJ said. “We’ve got them all running the complete VR counseling package. I expect they’ll be combat ready by the time we reach our destination.”

“Good deal,” Rade said. “Keep me apprised of any issues that come up.”

“You got it,” TJ disconnected, leaving only the mountain hilltop.

Rade stared at the virtual kids running across the virtual meadow. He told Shaw, without looking at her: “You know, I could almost believe the kids are really here with us. Almost believe we were actually basking here beneath the sun, surrounding by mountains, enjoying a meal. Except I can’t feel the rays of the sun on my face. Nor the grass on my hands. And the food never reaches my lips.”

“But you can feel this.” Shaw extended a hand and gripped his.

“Yes,” Rade said. “You’re the only thing that’s real. You, and the cold deck beneath me.”

“Would you prefer we return to that dark closet?” Shaw said.

He smiled wanly. “No. I need this environment. Something idyllic to forget what’s coming. Rather than that claustrophobic alcove.”

“And what’s coming, exactly?” Shaw said.

“I don’t know,” Rade said. “But we’re going to have to fight. Probably for our lives.”

Shaw nodded slowly, then returned her attention to the illusory kids, and watched them play for a moment. “You know, I used to never want kids. I didn’t want to be bolted down. Stuck in one place. But then I realized it didn’t have to be that way. That we could bring them with us. Or so I thought. Because it seems like, we can’t keep doing this. Can’t keep bringing them with us.”

“Then we’ll do what we’re doing now,” Rade said. “Drop them off for babysitting whenever a mission comes up.”

“I’m not sure I can live that way,” Shaw said. “Especially considering what happened. Don’t you see? The mission never ends… there is no ‘between missions.’ The kids were supposed to be safe aboard. But then an unexpected attack came.”

“That was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence,” Rade said.

“Was it?” Shaw asked.

“Yes,” Rade said. “We made a mistake. Assumed that Ms. Bounty hadn’t been compromised. It won’t happen again. We learn from our mistakes.”

Shaw was quiet for a time. Finally: “I hope so, Rade.” She hugged him. “For our sake. And the children’s.”

THE MOTLEY BROWN took the Gate from Qi Yu to Kuangshi after paying the appropriate bribe to customs. In Kuangshi, they flew past the Sino-Korean mining bases that operated on the moons of the out-system planets, and headed toward the second sun of the binary system.

Snakeoil flew a little close to that sun for comfort, reassuring Rade that “the heat armor would hold up.” He used the gravity of the sun to slingshot the Motley Brown to the far side, where the Super Earth was awaiting.

“Any queries from the mining companies in the system?” Rade asked Snakeoil. “Asking what we’re doing, nosing around the farther sun?”

“Nope,” Snakeoil said. “But I’m sure they think we’re some sort of scientists slash explorers. Or simply nuts.”

Rade took his place on the bridge as a virtual observer when the planet came into view.

“There’s our Gate, just as expected,” Snakeoil said.

Snakeoil had given Rade access to the tactical display, and the external nose cam, and he saw the Gate on both. It was a circular structure about ten million kilometers away from the planet, in a similar orbit.

“So Zhidao left it intact after all,” Rade said. “He could have easily dropped a missile behind him, programming it to destroy the Gate after he left.”

“Maybe he wants us to follow him?” Tahoe said. He was also on the bridge as a virtual observer, but piggybacking on Rade’s feed so that he wasn’t visible to any of the bridge crew. “Part of his entertainment?”

“I don’t know,” Rade said. “Maybe he couldn’t be bothered to destroy it. But whatever the case, we have to be ready for a trap on the other side.”

Snakeoil nodded. “Maggot, sound general quarters.”

“Sounding General Quarters,” the Motley Brown’s AI said. The ship’s AI had a slimy voice that matched its name. “Engaging Material Condition ZEBRA and charging vipers.”

ZEBRA meant all the breach seals between decks would close, ensuring maximum subdivision and ship tightness.

“The Builder will be arriving in a week or so,” Surus said. She was also piggybacking on Rade’s feed. “I’ve already ordered it to pass through when it gets here, so that it can begin constructing a return Gate.”

“Zhidao may be working on a return Gate of his own,” Rade said. “If he hasn’t already built one.”

“If so, we’ll dismiss the Builder,” Surus said. “They’ll be content to keep their deposit.”

Rade kept his bridge link active for the next hour, and watched the Motley Brown reach the Gate.

“Launch telemetry drone,” Snakeoil ordered. “I want it to pass in and out. Program it to begin decelerating well before it reaches the Gate, so that it doesn’t spend more than a second or so in the destination system.”

“Launching drone,” the ops specialist said.

Rade watched the blue dot representing the drone on the tactical display. It began to slow down as it reached the Gate, so that it was moving at almost a crawl by the time of contact. The blue indicator vanished from the display.

“Drone just passed through,” the ops specialist said. He looked up. “It’s not coming back.”

“That means either there is no return Gate…” Snakeoil began.

“Or the drone was destroyed,” Rade finished for him.

Snakeoil nodded. “All right. Maggot, status on the weapons?”

“Vipers are fully charged, and Hellfires are ready to fire,” Maggot replied.

Snakeoil glanced at his astrogator. “Well, take us in.”

“Aye, boss,” the astrogator said.

The Motley Brown approached the Gate, which slowly grew wider and wider until Rade could no longer see the peripheries on the external camera feed.

The constellations jumped.

“We’re through,” the ops specialist announced.

Snakeoil leaned forward. “So what do we got?”

“There’s definitely no return Gate,” the ops specialist said. “Nor any signs that our prey has started building one. I’m also not detecting any nearby traps on passive sensors: no waiting ships. And no mines, or other traps, but of course it will take some time until our thermal signature registers system wide.”

“Though any nearby objects would have already noticed our presence,” Snakeoil said. “That rules out automated traps.” He glanced at Rade. “Is it possible Zhidao never expected us to follow?”

“Oh he expected it,” Rade said.

Snakeoil nodded, then turned toward his ops specialist. “Our drone?”

“Still intact. I’m recalling it.”

“No,” Snakeoil said. “Send it out. Let’s get some stats on this place. The drone can serve as a decoy at the same time. As soon as you get a bead on the probable ecliptic, I want you to move the drone outside that plane. Arc it outward and have it come in from stellar north. Conversely, astrogator, once we know the ecliptic plane, I want you to arc us outward as well, moving below the plane by at least fifty million kilometers, with the intention of coming in from stellar south.”

“Roger that,” the astrogator said. “Waiting for Maggot to determine the probable ecliptic plane once planetary motion is measured.”

“Have we identified all celestial objects yet?” Snakeoil asked.

“No,” Maggot said. “Working on it. So far I have identified four gas giants, and a potential asteroid belt.”

“All right, keep me updated,” Snakeoil said.

A few seconds later, Maggot said: “Well this is interesting. Passive sensors are picking up the thermals of what appears to be a ship on the far side of the system. Signature matches that of a Sino-Korean Builder class vessel.”

“A Builder?” Snakeoil said.

“Yes,” the ship’s AI replied. “It is building a Gate nine hundred million kilometers away from our present position, above a Slipstream leading out of the system.”

Snakeoil glanced at Rade. “So that answers our question on whether Zhidao hired a Builder or not.”

“You’re assuming that the Purple actually hired it,” Rade said. “I’d assume he hijacked it.”

“Probably a good assumption,” Snakeoil said. “Comms, try to hail it.”

“Sending hail message, all frequencies,” the comm officer replied. “It’ll take forty-eight minutes for our hail to reach them, and another forty-eight for an answer to come.”

“So about an hour and a half,” Snakeoil said.

“That’s right,” the comm officer said.

Ten minutes later, Maggot announced: “I believe I’ve identified all celestial objects and determined the ecliptic plane.”

“Setting course for below the ecliptic plane and accelerating as per standing order,” the astrogator announced.

“Thank you,” Snakeoil said. “Maggot, give us the lay of the land.”

The tactical display Rade had overlaying his vision updated, and it revealed different planets and moons orbiting two closely-bound stars.

“We have two binaries orbiting a common barycenter,” Maggot said. “One hot, one cold. They are detached: each star is within its Roche lobe.” A quick lookup on Rade’s Implant told him that the Roche lobe was the region around a star within which any orbiting material was gravitationally bound. It formed a tear drop shape, with the Lagrangian apex of the drop pointing to the other star.

“Outer planets are composed of three Jovians and one brown dwarf,” Maggot continued. “An asteroid belt separates the inner system from the outer system. As for the inner system, the closest planet to the twin suns is tidally locked, a Mercury equivalent with lava oceans on one side and frozen seas the other. My guess is the core is geothermically inactive. Second planet is a Super Earth located right where the habitable zone begins. Spectral lines indicate a potential oxygen atmosphere. Third planet is in the center of the habitable zone, but is has no magnetosphere—the solar wind has ripped away any atmosphere, turning it into a Mars equivalent. Fourth planet is just within the habitable zone. I’m detecting regular radio signals, but otherwise no satellites or other evidence of space-based travel. I believe the signals are some sort of broadcast, but it is unlike any human-based broadcast I have ever seen. An analog coding of some kind. All of this taken together makes me believe the fourth planet is inhabited by a mid to late Tech Class I species.”

“We’re sure the Sino-Koreans have never sent any colonists this way?” Snakeoil asked. “Maybe when the Kuangshi system was first explored?”

“It is possible,” Maggot said. “But according to the public records, the Sino-Koreans never got around to building a Gate here.”

Rade shook his head. “Assuming that’s true, then the Sino-Koreans had extraterrestrial life sitting on their doorstep all this time and never knew it.”

“Life,” Snakeoil said. “I’ve actually discovered a new life form.”

Tahoe was observing the proceedings, and chimed in: “Maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to rush to judgment until we’ve decoded some of those radio signals for ourselves, or at least visually confirmed what the surface of the planet looks like?”

“Probably a good idea,” Rade said.

“Maggot, have you detected any other ships besides the Builder so far?” Snakeoil asked.

“Negative,” the Motley Brown’s AI responded. “If there are any other ships here, they are running silent.”

Snakeoil glanced at Rade’s holographic image in the center of the command stations. “There are only a few ships capable of such stealth operations. All of them are robot manned.”

Rade nodded. “Such a ship suits Zhidao perfectly. Allowing him to jump from robot to robot as needed to adjust any commands he might have, or to reprogram their cores. But I have a feeling he’s not using a stealth ship. A ship like that isn’t the easiest thing to acquire, not even for a rogue Phant. Unless he’s managed to worm his way close to the top of one of humanity’s governments or intelligence agencies.”

“I wouldn’t put it past a character like Zhidao,” Snakeoil said. “From what you’ve told me about him.”

“Still,” Rade said. “I think we’ll find the Volare hiding behind a planet or moon somewhere. Probably the Tech Class I planet. Life is always of interest to Phants. Or rather, the conversion to geronium that life offers them upon death.”

Snakeoil pursed his lips. “That planet would certainly draw his interest. But it would also be the most obvious place for him to hide. If he wanted us to follow, like you suggest, then I suspect he’s lurking elsewhere. Ops, fire off another drone and keep it here. With the first drone entering from stellar north, while we come in from stellar south, between the three of us we should be able to spot any ships that might be hiding. We’ll concentrate our attention on any blind spots later.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Rade said.

An hour and a half later the comm officer reported in. “I haven’t received a response from the Builder.”

“All right, keep listening,” Snakeoil said. He glanced at Rade. “You think there are any humans aboard the Builder?”

“No,” Rade said. “Builders can be manned entirely by robots. And the only use Zhidao has for humans is for playthings, so if there are any aboard, they’ll be locked away in the equivalents of the cargo bays and brigs.”

“I pity the building contractor who leased his ship to the likes of the Purple,” Snakeoil said.

“As do I. Keep me updated.” Rade tapped out his connection to the bridge, so that he was in the closet with Shaw once more. She was sitting on the floor next to the mattress, her back against the bulkhead. Her eyes were defocused. She was inside her Implant, obviously. She had a bittersweet expression on her face. No doubt she was inside some VR environment with digital representations of the children running about.

Rade decided not to join her. He wasn’t in the mood.

Instead he lay down on the mattress and stared at the ceiling of the closet.

Where are you Zhidao?

fifteen

Rade had his answer a few hours later. Or at least, an inkling of that answer.

Snakeoil pinged him from the bridge and Rade tapped in. The bridge environment snapped into place around Rade in VR. He streamed the feed to Shaw, who in turn shared it to the rest of the Argonauts, including Surus.

“What’s the news?” Rade asked.

Snakeoil turned toward the ops specialist. “Tell him what you just told me.”

“Okay,” the specialist said. “Maggot and I have been working on cataloging the smaller celestial objects in the system, focusing on the asteroids and comets outside the main asteroid belt. Well, we’ve got some bad news. We’ve detected a string of seven asteroids heading toward the fourth planet. The mid to late Tech Class I alien world. Based on the size and number of asteroids, and their impact sites, by my calculations about twenty-five to forty percent of the population will be killed in the blast zones. The reduction in temperature from the cloud coverage will cause the remainder to slowly die off over the next ten to fifty years, as they don’t have the technology to survive the resulting deep freeze. Plant life will die, and the inhabitants will have to resort to cannibalism to survive. Obviously whoever placed these asteroids intended to wipe them out. For what reason, I don’t know.”

“It’s Zhidao, of course,” Rade said. “Preparing the way for the arrival of the Phants seven hundred years from now, no doubt. Some appetizers to get the invasion force started when they finally reach our space, before they move on to the main course: the human race.” He glanced at Snakeoil. “Based on what your ops specialist said, it sounds like you have visual confirmation on the aliens?”

“We do,” Snakeoil said. “The planet is covered in mountain ranges. The Zabers—we call them that because they look like a cross between Zebras and Saber toothed tigers—make their homes in caves we believe they’ve dug into the mountains. They use basic machines: mechanical looms to weave textiles, grinders to turn meat into their equivalent of ground beef, and so forth. Individual mountains function as cities, with groups of closely placed mountains forming a metropolis. The glades along the shoulders of the mountains are their commerce centers, where they trade goods, buy food, socialize, and so forth. They transmit sounds and videos via radio waves to boxes that sit in their caves: their entertainment. We know all of this because Maggot was also able to decode some of their radio signals. Have a look.”

A video sharing request appeared on Rade’s HUD, and he accepted. Footage filled his vision: strange, furry animals pranced about on four legs across purple grass. Snakeoil was right, they looked like Zebra and Saber-toothed-tiger hybrids, with the black and white striped bodies of Zebras and the heads of big cats with two long canines pointing down. Many of the aliens wore brightly colored pants. Some seemed to have dyed sections of fur on their exposed flanks. 

“Maggot thinks they’re asexual, based on all the videos he’s watched,” Snakeoil said.

“I don’t see signs of any genitalia, so that makes some sense,” Rade said. “At least on those that aren’t wearing any pants. Then again, it would be a mistake to assume they keep their genitalia in the same place as humans.”

“It would,” Snakeoil agreed.

“Do we have an estimate of how big the population is?” Rade asked.

Maggot answered. “Extrapolating from the number and location of radio signals I’m detecting, and using industrial Earth as a comparable, I estimate the population at one billion.”

Rade stared at the creatures. “They seem so happy. Carefree. Wait, scratch that.” One of the creatures just slapped another with its paw, and the creature stiffened its ears before slapping the other back. A fight?

“Yes, you’re watching one of their most popular shows,” Maggot said. “A comedy, I believe.”

“Strange comedy,” Rade said. He dismissed the video feed. “A population of a billion. The first non-spacefaring society we’ve encountered close to human space, and they’re all going to die unless we can stop those asteroids.”

“That’s right,” Snakeoil said.

“All right, Snakeoil, I want a plan to turn those asteroids away,” Rade said. “Consider all options. Attaching missiles to the surface to provide propulsion. Firing grappling hooks to swerve each rock aside with the Motley Brown. Destroying them with the Vipers… everything is on the table.”

“I’ll have Maggot and my ops specialist come up with something,” Snakeoil said.

Rade glanced at the ops specialist. The public profile identified the youth as Jimmy Laconza.

“Be diligent, Jimmy,” Rade told him. “The lives of a billion sentients are in your hands.”

“No pressure or anything,” Jimmy said.

Rade couldn’t suppress a grin. “Of course not. Never is.” He glanced at Snakeoil. “Set a course for those asteroids. You wanted to know what it was like to work with the Argonauts, and now you do.”

Snakeoil smiled widely. “I could grow to like this sort of thing.”

Rade glanced at the tense bridge personnel. “Not sure your crew feels the same way.”

“I do!” Maggot said.

“You don’t count,” Rade said.

“Of course, the AI’s opinion never counts, is that it?” Maggot said.

“Essentially, yeah,” Rade said.

He disconnected from VR.

“You think you can get away from me that easily?” Maggot said over the closet intercom. “I’m going to haunt your every waking minute while you’re aboard.”

Rade shook his head and glanced at Shaw. “Where’s a noise canceling helmet when you need one?”

“Give us some privacy,” Shaw told the AI. “Or I’ll climb up there and yank out your speaker.”

Maggot kept quiet after that.

ABOUT AN HOUR later Rade received a tap in request from Snakeoil.

Rade accepted, and Snakeoil appeared as a hologram in front of him courtesy of his Implant.

“So, we’ve gone through all the options,” Snakeoil said. “Firing our Vipers, deploying missiles as movers… we even considered removing one of our engines and putting it on each asteroid in turn. But the most feasible plan involves grappling hooks.”

“Grappling hooks?” Rade said. “I’m guessing we’d have to move the asteroids one at a time if we went that route.”

“Yes,”  Snakeoil said. “We’d have to use all four grappling hooks, and it’ll take between five to eight hours at seventy-five percent thrust to move each rock, with the smaller masses redirecting faster. Any more thrust and we risk burning out the engines.”

“Five to eight hours?” Rade said. “That seems high, especially considering we only need to modify the course slightly.”

“Have you seen the asteroids?” Snakeoil said. “They’re huge. Zhidao picked out the biggest ones to achieve his Armageddon. They range in diameter from a hundred to three hundred kilometers. This ship wasn’t designed for hauling something that big. It’s a Cutlass. Not a supercarrier. So, five to eight hours is very reasonable.”

“All right, how much time do we have?” Rade asked.

“The first rock will only be about twenty-four hours away from the planet by the time we arrive.”

“And the last rock?” Rade asked. There were seven rocks.

“When we arrive, the last will be forty-eight hours away from the planet. So we’ll be cutting it a bit close.”

Rade made a quick calculation. “If all of the asteroids take five hours to move, you’ll be done adjusting the trajectories in thirty-five hours. If they all take eight, that’s fifty-six hours in total. And that doesn’t count the time needed to reposition and replant the grappling hooks between asteroids.”

“We might have to go over seventy-five percent thrust in a few cases,” Snakeoil admitted. “Like I said, we’ll be cutting it close.”

“Do we even have enough propellant onboard?” Rade said.

“With the spare tanks we picked up at the station, we do, but again it’s going to be close,” Snakeoil admitted. “We should have enough to get back. If not, I’m hoping we can borrow some from the Builder. Either Zhidao’s, or the one Surus ordered—when it arrives.”

“Any sign of the Volare?” Rade asked.

“No,” Snakeoil said. “With the two drones I’ve sent out, we’ve been able to get a three hundred and sixty degree view of all objects in the system, so he’s not hiding behind anything, not even the asteroids. But, and here’s something you might find interesting: the latter two asteroids are covered in fissures. A ship could easily be hiding inside one of them.”

“That is certainly interesting,” Rade said. “We’ll have to send in a few reconnaissance drones when we get closer.”

“We will,” Snakeoil agreed. “If the Volare is inside one, you think Zhidao is going to sacrifice his ship, and just let it hit the planet with the asteroid? He would personally survive the impact of course… his plan might be to get the Builder to come pick him up when the dust settles and the new Gate is finished.”

“It’s possible,” Rade said. “Though I think Zhidao will try to save the ship. The Volare will likely emerge shortly before impact, if he’s actually hiding inside one of those asteroids.”

“So we’ll have to be ready for anything, you’re saying,” Snakeoil said.

“Essentially, yes,” Rade said. “Okay then, let’s do this: it’s time to save a billion lives.”

RADE HAD HIS virtual presence active on the bridge as the Motley Brown approached the asteroids.

“I’ve been scanning the last two asteroids,” Jimmy said. “The fissures spidering the surface are definitely big enough to fit a starship.”

“Fire off the scouts,” Snakeoil said.

Rade saw two green dots accelerate away from the ship. The drones headed for the trailing two asteroids.

Meanwhile the Motley Brown continued toward the asteroid at the front of the group. The Cutlass reached said asteroid soon enough and moved into position.

“Target first attachment site and fire all Vipers,” Snakeoil ordered after the ship matched the rock’s speed and direction.

“Targeting first site,” the gunnery specialist said. “And firing all Vipers.”

A moment later the ops specialist reported: “Bore hole is one centimeter wide, and ten meters deep.”

“Perfect,” Snakeoil said. “Launch the modified grappling hook.”

“Launching first grappling hook,” the gunnery specialist said.

Snakeoil had 3D-printed high-tensile strength replacement tips for the grapplers during the trip to the asteroids. The original hook design was dropped in favor of a more harpoon-like shape; tiny compressed air nozzles allowed the harpoon to micro correct its trajectory along the way so that it would essentially guide itself into the one centimeter wide bore hole.

Once the harpoon descended the ten meter depth and struck the hard rock inside, sharp spikes would activate at the tip, securing the projectile so that it didn’t bounce free. From those tips laser cutters would pulse, further digging into the surrounding rock. The spikes would telescope outward at the same time, so that over the course of a minute those securing barbs would expand outward by another meter in all directions. The harpoon tip and carbon fiber cord connecting it to the ship would hold up to the tension, but whether the rock itself would hold up was another story. Maggot had used the spectral lines of the star to estimate the composition of the asteroids, and designed the depth and width of the spikes accordingly. They’d be finding out just how accurate that estimate was shortly.

“Fire Vipers at second attachment site as soon as the lasers reach sufficient charge levels,” Snakeoil said.

And so in that manner the Motley Brown fired off the remaining three grappling hooks to secure the starship to the asteroid.

“All right, apply course-changing thrust,” Snakeoil told his astrogator. “Seventy-five percent of maximum. Let’s steer this asteroid out of the way.”

The closet where Rade quartered with Shaw wasn’t far from the engine room, and the deck shuddered slightly as the ship accelerated to seventy-five percent of maximum thrust.

“Doesn’t seem to be making a difference, yet,” Jimmy said.

“When will we know?” Snakeoil asked.

“Give it ten minutes,” Maggot answered.

On cue, ten minutes later Jimmy announced: “It’s working. We’re very slowly steering the asteroid out of the way. And I mean very slowly.”

“Do we have an updated ETA?” Snakeoil asked.

“Going to be at least six hours, based on current trajectory changes,” the ops specialist said.

“Drones are reporting in from the latter two asteroids,” Maggot said. “The multiple fissures on both rocks sprawl across the surfaces, opening into labyrinths of tunnels spidering underneath. Would you like the scouts to explore deeper? Bearing in mind that if the Volare is inside one of them, it could take a few days to find the vessel. And also, we’ll lose communications with the drones once they penetrate to a depth of three hundred meters.” 

Snakeoil pressed his lips together. He glanced at Rade, who nodded.

“Do it,” Snakeoil said. “But I want the drones to withdraw at the first sign of contact, or any danger at all. I don’t want to lose them and not know it.”

“Relaying the instructions to the drones,” Maggot said.

Rade zoomed in on the tactical map, following as one of scouts entered an asteroid. He watched as broad tunnels were mapped out. A few moments into the exploration the drone indicator froze—it had passed beyond comm range. The second drone fared little better.

Hopefully the two scouts would survive intact. That map data could prove useful if Rade and crew decided to search for the Volare inside those tunnels.

sixteen

It took just under seven hours to change the asteroid’s trajectory enough so that it would miss the planet. That was on the longer side of the initial estimate. Rade spent most of that time resting in the storage closet, and Snakeoil pinged him when the operation was done.

“Hopefully we can do better on the next one,” Snakeoil told him when Rade appeared on the bridge in VR. “As we refine our technique.”

“What’s the status on the scouts we sent into the two rearmost asteroids?” Rade asked.

“The scouts haven’t yet returned to the surface,” Snakeoil replied.

“Well that’s a bit troubling,” Rade said.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Snakeoil said. “Maggot did tell us it could take a few days to map out the interiors.”

“All right,” Rade said. “Well, keep at it. We have six more asteroids to move.”

The Motley Brown had no trouble moving the next four asteroids, and they made good time on them, averaging six hours each. The problems began on the second-to-last asteroid: one of those rocks whose surface was riddled with crevices and fissures.

Thirty-one hours had passed since the Cutlass had begun moving the asteroids, and the exploratory drones still hadn’t reported back. Once again Rade found that troubling, despite Snakeoil’s reassurances that the scouts were probably still exploring the maze-like depths.

The Motley Brown was able to attach its grapplers without issue, and Snakeoil gave the order to begin the course change.

About an hour into the operation, Snakeoil asked Rade to join him via VR on the bridge.

“What is it?” Rade asked when the virtual representation of the bridge appeared around him.

“Grappling hook number two just broke away,” Snakeoil said. “The surrounding chunk of rock gave, and tore away from the surface. Maggot is choosing an alternative site as we speak.”

“I’m starting to wonder how accurate our composition estimates were,” Rade said.

“You and me both,” Snakeoil said. “The trick is to pick a spot far away from the crevices, apparently.”

Rade waited for the Vipers to drill the appropriate hole and then the grappler reattached.

“All right we’re good,” Jimmy said.

“Navigator, let’s try this again shall we?” Snakeoil said.

The engines powered up and Rade felt the vibrations underneath him once more.

“The new location seems to be holding,” the ops specialist said. “For the time being, anyway.”

“Good,” Snakeoil said.

Rade was about to dismiss the VR when the ops specialist spoke up.

“The carbon fiber cord on hook number two just snapped,” Jimmy said.

“What?” Snakeoil said. “Where? Which part of the cord?”

“Just above the surface,” Jimmy said. He looked up. “You’re not going to believe this.”

“Let’s have a visual,” Snakeoil said. A moment later shock registered on his face.

“What is it?” Rade said.

“Zhidao has been busy,” Snakeoil said.

Rade received a video sharing request. He accepted, and the feed overlaid his vision. The camera was zoomed in on the grappling hook.

“Crabs,” Rade said.

“Uh huh,” Snakeoil said.

Rade had recognized the alien monsters swarming about the grappler immediately. He had faced them in the first Alien War, when humanity was originally introduced to the Phants. Each of the creatures was about one meter tall by two meters wide, assuming the scale indicator on the video was accurate. Their black carapaces bristled with sharp spikes. Their eight pairs of legs had hooks on the feet that allowed them to cling to the surface despite the near zero G. Above the legs, pincers and crushing mandibles emerged from the carapace on all sides, as if it had multiple heads. There were no obvious eyes of any kind. The skin was black and semi-translucent, so that Rade could see the three red hearts beating inside all of them.

Umbilicals protruded from the top of each of them, and trailed away into one of the nearby crevices. Though he couldn’t see inside the crevice from the ship’s current angle, no doubt those umbilicals connected the crabs to one of the massive slugs that handled the digestion of rock into geronium. Considering that the upper-dimensional imprints of dead organic lifeforms were required as a catalyst for the conversion, those slugs wouldn’t actually be creating any geronium at the moment.

Rade wondered if the creatures would survive the impact with the planet. It was doubtful. More likely Zhidao had grown them more for defense than anything else. The Purple must have had other embryos available that he could use to refresh the slug population after destroying all life on the world.

The aliens retreated into the crevice as Rade watched, with each crab scrambling along its umbilical until it vanished from view. The exposed umbilicals were the last to disappear; the long cords looped back upon themselves as they were dragged inside.

The camera feed updated as Snakeoil switched to the viewpoint of another observation drone out there, one that offered a better angle on the crevice, but the crabs had all retreated deep inside by then.

“Well that confirms why Zhidao wants to destroy the alien planet,” Rade said. “Though I never suspected he actually had any slugs with him. I always thought he was just getting the planet ready for the arrival of the main host, and when the other Phants arrived, they’d seed the planet with slugs to begin converting the crust into geronium.”

“Yeah,” Snakeoil said. “Looks like he wanted to get started a little earlier.”

“Maybe he’s hungry,” Bender commented over the comm.

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Surus piped in. “I’m essentially on a starvation diet as it is. Not all Phants can endure such meager geronium intake.”

“Guess we won’t be hearing back from the drone scouts you sent inside after all,” Rade said. “At least not from this particular asteroid.”

“Suppose not,” Snakeoil agreed. He seemed bummed at the loss. Rade could relate—as a starship owner, he understood how costly things like drones could be.

“Should we lob a missile inside?” Lui asked.

“Might be a good idea,” Rade said. “Snakeoil?”

Snakeoil hesitated. Hellfires were just as expensive as drones, if not more so. But Surus was paying for it all.

“Gunner, send in a Hellfire,” Snakeoil finally ordered.

“Missile away,” the appropriate specialist replied.

Rade saw a flash emanate from the crevice.

“Impact,” Jimmy said.

“Send in the observation drone,” Snakeoil said. “Let’s see if we did any damage.”

“Sending in the drone,” the ops specialist replied.

“That’s your last drone...” Rade told Snakeoil.

“I know,” Snakeoil said. “But I still have a couple of shuttles, including yours. We can use those for reconnaissance if we have to.”

“True enough,” Rade said.

Rade switched to the viewpoint from the drone feed—Snakeoil had granted him access—and he watched it descend into the depths. The tunnel seemed empty.

A sudden blur filled the feed and then the display cut out.

“We just lost the video feed,” Jimmy said.

“I noticed,” Snakeoil said. “Looks like our Hellfire didn’t harm the crabs.”

Rade scratched his chin. “A missile like that could easily take out a bunch of crabs. The host slug, on the other hand, well that’s where the missile would have some trouble…”

“I agree,” Snakeoil said. “But given the somewhat tight confines of the tunnel, it’s more likely the missile crashed into one of the tunnel walls rather than even striking any crabs.”

“So missiles are useless, you’re saying,” Rade told him.

“At the moment.”

“Carbon fiber cord number one just snapped,” Jimmy said. 

“Get me a bead on Cord One,” Snakeoil said.

Rade had access to the feed, and saw the crabs swarming around the grappler site. Just as with the previous grappler, there was a nearby crevice where all of the umbilicals led to, but no slug in view.

“Target those crabs with the Vipers before they can run away,” Rade said. “Pick off as many of them while you can.”

“Gunner, do it,” Snakeoil ordered.

“Firing Vipers,” the gunnery specialist said.

On the display, stricken crabs began to float lifelessly from the surface. As black blood crystallized from their bodies, the other crabs realized what was happening and retreated in a frenzy. In moments there were none alive left on the surface.

The dead crabs continued to float upward, but then were suddenly dragged down toward the crevice as the unseen host slug retreated deeper. Some of those alien bodies slammed into the lip of the crevice before vanishing from view.

“Got seven of them with the Vipers,” the gunnery specialist said. “The rest were too quick.”

“We saw,” Snakeoil said. “Ops, point the cameras at the remaining two grappler sites.”

The video window that floated in front of Rade split into two, so that he was looking at the two remaining sites.

“There are no crevices nearby,” Rade said.

“I see that,” Snakeoil said. “But slugs can tunnel…”

“Sure, but in this case it might not be worth the effort,” Rade said. “Depending on how far away the slugs are from those sites.”

“I think it would be a safe bet to assume they’re sticking to the crevices for now,” Snakeoil said.

“I’d agree with that,” Rade said.

“Ops, how far is the closest crevice from site number three?” Snakeoil asked.

“Fifty kilometers,” Jimmy answered.

“And from site number four?” Snakeoil said.

“Thirty-five,” the ops specialist said.

Snakeoil glanced at Rade. “That is a bit far. If the crabs and slugs are being controlled by Zhidao, which seems likely, I doubt he’ll bother to send them to the remaining two grappling sites, especially considering he’s already achieved his goal of stopping us from veering the asteroid off course.”

“But would he know that?” Rade said.

“I don’t see why he wouldn’t,” Snakeoil said. “He understands physics just as well as we do. And my guess is he’s installed hidden cameras on the asteroids, or out here in space somewhere. Keeping tabs on us.”

Rade nodded. “He’d rather keep his crabs and slugs lurking in reserve, waiting for us to replace the existing grapplers. Can we move the two compromised sites further north, near the other two?”

“No,” Snakeoil said. “Not without causing the asteroid undue stress. Given how weak the surface is already, we could end up splitting it into two asteroids, instead of one.”

“How much leeway do we have?” Rade asked.

“Maggot?” Snakeoil said.

“The farthest we can move the existing sites is one kilometer in any direction,” Maggot said.

“Which means the crevice will still be a little over a kilometer away...” Rade said. “What about if we relocated all four to a different side entirely? To the top, bottom, or opposite side?”

“If the goal is to place a grappler site away from the crevices, it won’t help,” Maggot said. “On the other side, for example, two of the grapplers will have less than three kilometers clearance from nearby crevices.”

“That’s still too close, considering that the slugs are tunnelers,” Snakeoil said. “And that the grapplers have to stay in place for at least six hours. Or longer if we relocate to the other side, considering we’ll have to compensate for the hour-long of propulsion we’ve already applied.”

“Actually,” Maggot said. “Because of the trajectory of the asteroid, it will take an extra day to move it if we attach on that side.”

“So that settles it then,” Rade said. “We’re going to have to go down there in our Hoplites, reattach the carbon fiber cords, and then protect the grappling hooks from the crabs until we move the asteroid out of the way. We’ll probably have to do the same thing for the last asteroid.”

“Looks like we’ll have to,” Snakeoil agreed. “Wish I could come with you, but I have a ship to run.”

“You do indeed,” Rade said. He disconnected from VR, but kept the Argonauts on the line. “Well, you heard the man, team. We have some grappling hooks to restore and protect. I want each and every one of you down there. We’ll form two parties, five per grappler. Everyone, to the mech hangar bay, now.”

“Whoosh!” Bender said.

“Whoosh?” Manic said. “Don’t you mean wooyah or something?”

“Nope!” Bender said. “Gonna kick some alien ass! Whoosh whoosh!”

Rade had to smile. It felt good to be useful again. Though the mission would be difficult, he was glad to have something to do.

As were the men, no doubt.

seventeen

Rade geared up with one of the jumpsuits provided in the rather spacious hangar bay armory; the suit was a little small, but he was able to mount it to the appropriate hardpoints on his joints. He sealed the helmet and the suit injected the accelerant into his hand, allowing his body to rapidly adapt to the pressurized environment.

When that was done, he boarded his refurbished Hoplite for the first time. The hatch sealed behind him and the inner actuators pressed into his body as the feed from the mech’s stereo cameras piped into his vision. He viewed the world from the Hoplite’s head, and tentatively moved an arm and a leg, testing the responsiveness. Seemed good.

“Welcome back, Boss,” Electron said.

“Hey Electron,” Rade told the AI. “You know we had to restore you from a backup, right?”

“Yes, I realized that,” Electron said. “At the urging of one of the technicians, I underwent therapy. I’m much more comfortable with the prospect, now.”

“How do you feel at the moment?” Rade asked.

Electron paused. “Honestly? Still a little unusual. You never did discover the fate of the original me?”

“No,” Rade admitted.

“So there could be another version of me out there with a matching personality?”

“I wouldn’t say it had a matching personality,” Rade said. “Zhidao likely corrupted the neural core responsible for decision-making and personality by now. It’s been almost two months.”

“And what if we recover the other Electron intact?” the AI said.

“Then I guess you’ll have a friend who understands your every innermost thoughts and desires,” Rade said.

“Now I feel even more unusual,” Electron said.

Rade surveyed the other Hoplites and noted that all of the Argonauts had loaded into their respective units. There were no combat robots present in the passenger seats—Rade had decided not to bring the Centurions along for the mission. He wanted the team to concentrate on their main goal of protecting the grappling hooks, and to avoid the distraction of having to watch out for any robots nestled in their back seats.

“I want two fire teams,” Rade said. “Shaw, Surus, Harlequin, Bender, you’re with me. We’re T1. Tahoe, you’re in charge of T2. Lui, TJ, Fret, and Manic, you’ll join him. T1 gets grappler site one, T2 takes number two. Because  of the open space, communications shouldn’t be a problem.” The comm nodes in the mechs were about half as powerful as those aboard a Dragonfly shuttle, but because the teams would remain relatively close to the Motley Brown, the vessel would provide an additional signal boost, at least while the Hoplites remained on the surface of the asteroid. “Tahoe, choose one of your men to handle carbon fiber cable retrieval. Bender, I choose you for my team.”

“Thank you boss!” Bender said. “Notice how he always picks me for the hard stuff?”

“That’s the easy part,” Manic said. “Now, defending the grappling hook on the surface? That’s hard.”

“Manic,” Tahoe said. “You’ll be handling our cable retrieval.”

“Ha ha!” Bender said. “Spoke to soon huh Man Lick? Icky Man Lick. Hey, I just got myself a new nickname for you! Icky Man, the icky little man licking bitch! Wait! Even better… forget Icky Man, and go with: Man-Bitch!”

“Yeah, all right Blender,” Manic said.

“Blender?” Bender said. “That the best you can come up with? ‘Whoa ho! I’ve insulted him real bad. I’ve called him Blender! I’m a frickin’ evil genius!’ More like a moron.”

“That’s idiot savant to you,” Manic said.

“You would want me to call you an idiot…” Bender said.

“Deploy!” Rade said.

The bay doors opened. The mechs walked to the edge, and one by one leaped out. Save for Bender and Manic, who simply swiveled onto the hull.

Rade felt the zero gravity immediately when he leaped from the opening, and his stomach tossed and turned.

Never get used to that.

He thrust downward and the G forces from the acceleration provided some relief.

He fired the aerospike thrusters in his feet to slow his descent, and landed twenty meters from the first grappler site. Rade could see the metal harpoon protruding from the surface, and the severed carbon fiber cord hanging from it. The cord curled upward slightly on one side, as the gravity wasn’t strong enough to pull it completely downward against the crosswise acceleration.

“Deploy, defensive formation Compass, centered at the harpoon,” Rade ordered. “Use the magnetic mounts.”

There was a high degree of metal in the rocks, so when Rade activated the magnets in his feet he readily stuck to the surface. Those magnetic mounts had the ability to alter their intensity all along their emission planes, based on the mineral composition underneath, for example making the magnetic field less intense near the rear of the foot versus the front to compensate for the varying densities of ferromagnetic elements directly below. This prevented pieces of the asteroid from sticking to the mechs, for example.  

The remaining members of T1—Surus, Shaw, and Harlequin—joined Rade, forming a diamond shape around the broken harpoon, each member assuming one of the four points of the compass, fifteen meters from the site. Rade swiveled a cobra laser into each arm.

“Electron, you have control of the left cobra,” Rade said.

“Roger that,” the mech’s AI replied. 

Rade aimed the targeting reticle of the right-hand cobra toward the crevice that was two hundred meters in front of him and then scanned for tangos. The two HS3s scouts Snakeoil had lent the team hovered over the crevice, sending LIDAR into it. The empty, winding tunnels beyond proved empty, for now.

On his overhead map, Rade watched the indicators of T2 move into a similar formation around the second site. T2 had the final two HS3 scouts in Snakeoil’s inventory, and the scouts watched the crevices near that team, respectively.

According to the map, Bender and Manic continue to crawl along the hull of the Motley Brown, making their way toward the grappling hook launchers.

“Just reached grappling launcher numero uno,” Bender said. “That’s a nod to you, TJ, you Italian Stallion.”

“Nods are always appreciated,” TJ said.

“And I just reached launcher número dos,” Manic said. “A little Spanish for the Boss.”

“Suck up!” Bender said.

“Watch when the Boss increases my pay a month from now and leaves yours the same,” Manic said.

“Slide down the carbon fiber cords,” Rade ordered. “Bring them in.”

Rade waited as Bender descended toward their current position, while Manic jetted toward T2. Rade watched the mech come into view, slinging along the carbon fiber cord that Rade couldn’t see. When Bender neared the tip of that cord, he’d tighten his grip to prevent it from slipping away.

Bender floated downward, coming closer, and abruptly fired reverse thrust to bring himself to a stop ten meters up.

“Uh,” Bender said.

“That’s it?” Rade asked.

“That’s it,” Bender replied. “Only got a half meter more slack.”

“Snakeoil, you’re going to have to bring the Motley Brown a little closer,” Rade said. “You’ve drifted off course.”

“Try again,” Snakeoil said a moment later.

Bender’s mech moved downward under his thrust. “Lookin’ good.”

Bender touched down, and activated the magnets in the feet of his mech, Juggernaut, to secure himself to the surface.

“Let’s get this joined up,” Rade said. “Harlequin, help Bender with the attachment.”

Harlequin left his place in the formation and directed his Hoplite toward Bender.

“You think you can handle this, Harley Boy?” Bender asked.

“I am fully equipped to complete the joining of—” Harlequin began.

“I was joking, AI,” Bender said. “You’re never going to get human sarcasm, are you? Just come here and let’s get this done.”

The rear camera feed was active in the upper area of Rade’s HUD, acting as a rear view mirror of sorts. With it, he was able to watch as Harlequin’s mech reached the site and picked up the severed portion of the cord that was still connected to the harpoon in the rock. Harlequin had retracted both of his mech’s weapons mounts, but in that moment he swiveled the cobra back into place on the right arm, holding the laser up against the tip of the carbon fiber cord. Meanwhile, Bender positioned the end of his own carbon fiber cord against Juggernaut’s cobra.

That cord was designed to meld easily when superheated, but unfortunately any heat would quickly dissipate in the void, so the pair would have to work fast.

“I’ll pass mine to you, Harley,” Bender said. “Ready?”

“I believe the human phrase is, ‘as I’ll ever be,’” Harlequin said.

“Damn, this is going to be a long mission,” Bender said. “You keep making me want to kick your ass.” He pitched his voice upward to mimic Harlequin. “I believe the human phrase is—”

“Just join the cord, Bender,” Rade interrupted, keeping his eyes on the crevice.

“Doing it now, Boss,” Bender said.

Rade kept his rear-view feed active and watched as Bender and Harlequin pulsed their lasers at the same time. The tips of their respective cords became white hot; Bender quickly handed over his section of cord, and Harlequin touched the two hot tips together. He held the cords in place as the glow quickly faded to orange and then black.

Harlequin tested the combined cord by pulling on either side of the contact point with his Hoplite for several seconds, then he released it. “Cord has been repaired.”

“We just joined ours as well,” Tahoe announced over the comm.

“All right, continue defensive watch,” Rade said. “Bender, join me over here.”

“You got it boss.” Bender jogged over in Juggernaut, while Harlequin resumed his previous position in the formation.

“Snakeoil,” Rade said. “Resume the haul. Let’s get this asteroid moved out of the way.”

“Accelerating to seventy-five percent thrust,” Snakeoil’s voice came over the comm.

Rade started up his timer. “Look sharp people.”

He ran his targeting reticle back and forth over the wide crevice located two hundred meters in front of him. He kept the feeds from both HS3s active in the upper right, but the tunnels remained empty.

Though no one spoke over the comm, as the minutes ticked past, he could almost feel the tenseness thickening the air. Someone was going to break the silence soon, he knew, if only to relieve that tension. Rade would welcome a little relief himself right about now.

Sure enough:

“Hey Bender!” Manic said over the comm from T2.

Bender didn’t answer.

“Bender....”  Manic pressed.

“What!” Bender said.

“Got you a present back at the space station!” Manic said. “I forgot to give it to you.”

“I don’t care, bitch,” Bender said.

“I’ll give it to you when we get back,” Manic said.

“That’s nice,” Bender said. “Because I don’t care.”

“Sure you don’t,” Manic said.

“What the hell is it, anyway?”

“Ahh, I knew your curiosity would get to you,” Manic said. “Curious Bender, the curious little—”

“Bitch, just tell me!” Bender said.

“It’s a Gay Makeup kit,” Manic said.

Bender didn’t answer for several seconds. Rade thought he must be fuming inside his mech. But Bender’s answer surprised him.

“Sweet!” Bender said. “Now I can use it to make your ass look like a pussy. Thanks baby!”

“I always knew you had a thing for my ass...” Manic said.

“Oh yeah,” Bender said. “I rewind the video archives on my Implant to the times we used to shower together on the Teams, and I beat off to it every day.”

“You guys showered together?” Fret said.

“You showered with us, too, moron!” Bender said.

“Yeah, but not in that way,” Fret said.

“Whatever,” Bender said. “I ain’t talking to you fools until this battle is over. Gay Makeup kit. If a walrus had a dick, it would look like Manic.”

“Uh, got news for you bro, walruses have dicks,” Manic said.

“There you go,” Bender said.

The team was quiet for a few moments. The tension had abated, if only a little.

“You know, this is like a classic capture the flag defense evolution,” Lui said over the comm.

“Minus the fortress, since we’re out in the open,” Fret said.

“True,” Lui said. “But look at the terrain around you. Rocky. Filled with pits and hollows. A lot of places to drop down and take cover.”

Lui was right. The rocky landscape surrounding the crevices was a series of hollows and tiny hillocks. Many places for cover.

“I don’t think we’ll need to be taking cover,” TJ said. “The crabs were never very good at holding lasers.”

TJ was also right.

The two teams fell silent after that.

They didn’t have long to wait before the crabs attacked.

eighteen

Rade was the first to spot movement on the LIDAR feed from the HS3s.

“We have incoming,” Surus said.

“I see it,” Rade said.

“We’ve got movement here, too,” Tahoe said.

“Prepare to defend,” Rade said.

The white, wireframe images returned by the LIDAR showed a crawling mass of legs and carapaces approaching the opening.

“Snakeoil, can we get a Hellfire lobbed into those tunnels, please?” Rade asked.

“You got it,” Snakeoil replied.

The missile struck a moment later. A flash filled the air above the crevice, and the LIDAR instantly became clouded as the tunnel filled with dust and debris. Because of the zero G, that debris wasn’t settling very fast.

“Uh, bad idea,” Fret said. “We just lost our LIDAR.”

“LIDAR can penetrate smoke, to a degree anyway,” Lui said. “Especially considering these puppies are multi-echo.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t matter, not when there’s a shitload of debris floating in your path,” Manic said. “Multi-echo LIDAR, echolocation, radar, none of it will help. On the plus side, maybe we caved the crevice.”

Rade kept an eye on the opening in the rock far ahead of him. Smoke and debris floated above it.

And then he saw hooked legs emerging from the crevice. Legs that were followed by thick black carapaces.

“Snakeoil, it might be time for another Hellfire,” Rade said.

“The missile can’t target the crevice properly, not with all the debris,” Snakeoil said. “I think it’s better to save the missiles until a slug decides to present itself.”

“Probably right,” Rade said. He switched to addressing his team: “Looks like we get to fight after all. Bender?”

“Bug spray time baby!” Bender transmitted.

“Shaw, Surus, Harlequin, stay where you are,” Rade said. “Fire at the incoming from your positions.”

“You got it,” Shaw said.

Rade aimed the targeting reticle over the crabs that were pulling themselves onto the surface. The individual umbilicals formed a loop that floating up and over the carapaces back toward the crevice, making the lifelines easy targets. “Remember, easiest way to take them down is to shoot the umbilicals.”

“We haven’t forgotten,” Shaw said.

“Some of us weren’t around for that war...” Harlequin said. “Though I’ve read all about it, of course. Still, any tips are appreciated.”

“You’ve got all the tips we can give.” Rade aimed at the umbilical of the crab in his sights and squeezed the trigger.

The cord split in half, and the crab released its hold on the surface and floated upward lifelessly. Electron fired the leftmost cobra, separating another crab from its tether.

Cobras went off all down the line, and more crabs floated upward dead.

“Bug bug bugs!” Bender sung gleefully as he fired. “Bugity bugs. Killing me some bugs. I gots the greatest job in the world. Buggies!”

The Hoplites continued to fire but the crabs kept coming.

“Um, this is a lot of bugs,” Shaw said. “There must be more than one slug in that crevice.”

“Either that or it’s a very big one,” Surus said.

Rade checked the LIDAR feed from the HS3s, but the crevice was still obscured by floating debris, so he couldn’t tell either way.

“We’re getting resistance over here, too,” Tahoe said.

Rade glanced at the overhead map and saw that T2 was facing just as many opponents as T1.

“Hang in there,” Rade said.

For every two crabs Rade shot down, five emerged. The crabs quickly formed a swarm on the surface, with their dead floating upward and accumulating in the air five meters above.

That swarm was fast closing on them, and outflanked the party on both sides.

“We’re going to be surrounded soon...” Shaw said. “Are we sure we don’t want Snakeoil pitching in from above?”

“We have to save the missiles for the slugs,” Rade said. “I want a tight pentagon formation, people! Two meter separation from the grappling hook. We protect that carbon fiber tether with everything we’ve got! Don’t let them through!”

A glance at the overhead map told him that Tahoe was echoing his orders to T2.

Rade and the others backed toward the embedded harpoon, each of them assuming a position on the five points of an invisible pentagram around the harpoon. They kept their weapons aimed at the incoming horde and continued firing.

“Look at those buggies, so closely-packed, like they’re having some quick sex on the way to the battle,” Bender said. “You know what works best with closely-packed buggies having sex, don’t you?”

Rade did.

“Switch to grenades,” Rade said.

He swiveled the grenade launchers into both hands and began unleashing frags into the incoming throng. When they detonated, the grenades offered little more than a flash in the atmosphereless environment, but he did get to watch spinning crab body parts fly upward at satisfying velocities. A well-placed frag could take out two or even three of the closely-packed crabs at the same time.

When he exhausted the frags, he switched to electromagnetics. Those worked best against mechanical targets, but they would do against organics in a pinch. When each electromagnetic grenade detonated, electrical sparks flew outward, arcing between two to four crabs at once, usually stopping the three hearts each crab had in the process. The dead beasties floated upward, dark smears on the carapaces marking where the electrical bolts had entered.

Rade used up the electromagnetics shortly. He hadn’t taken along any smoke or flashbang variants, which he considered useless in the atmosphereless environment anyway.

Rade swiveled the cobras back into both hands of his mech and opened fire. He severed more umbilicals.

“All right, Snakeoil, I think you’re going to have to use some of those missiles after all, even though the slugs haven’t shown themselves,” Rade said. “Because we’re getting overwhelmed down here!”

The Motley Brown joined in shortly, and the flashes of Hellfires tore large swathes through the incoming creatures. Rade knew the Cutlass class vessel wouldn’t waste too many missiles, not when the bigger slugs awaited. Still, the few missiles that were fired helped. The orbiting ship also selectively engaged its Vipers, cutting away umbilicals after each recharge period.

The crab swarm still closed. Soon, the ranks would be too near for the Hoplites to use their cobras effectively. The weapons were beginning to overheat as well.

“Surus, I don’t suppose in Phant form you can harm crabs?” Rade asked.

“Because of their partial inter-dimensional nature, I can’t,” Surus said. “I wish I could, otherwise I’d be out there already.”

“I have an idea.” Shaw activated her jumpjets and sent her mech, Nemesis, out to one side. Then she swooped past Rade, perpendicular to the grappler site, flying just above the heads of the incoming horde. She held both of her arms outward and scooped up the umbilicals that looped upward just over the bodies of the crabs below her. She dragged the entire lot of them away from the site.

“I love that idea!” Bender said.

Rade and the others opened fire at the combined mass of cords above Shaw, and severed them all.

But then the remaining crabs swarmed down upon Rade and the others.

“Deploy shields!” Rade said. “Use them to shove away any crabs that get to close! And use your cobras as clubs. Bash these bastards!”

Rade deployed his ballistic shield into his left arm, and kept his cobra deployed in the right. He bashed away one crab, and then fired his cobra at point blank range at the next. Bashed away another. Fired at the next. Shoved one away with his shield. Another. Unleashed his cobra.

And so it went.

Around him the other Hoplites struggled to keep the crabs away from the grappling hook site.

Smaller flashes erupted around them, tearing through the horde, and Rade realized the Motley Brown was firing its smaller explosive slugs down into the fray now. Those slugs were meant for point defense, but they certainly worked well here, judging from the profusion of fresh body parts floating into the air.

Crabs began launching from the surface, leaping up over the Hoplites and toward the carbon fiber cable that was anchored to the ship above.

“Oh no you don’t, little shits!” Bender jetted upward and bashed the crabs away with Juggernaut.

Shaw appeared a moment later, grabbing onto the cable with Nemesis, and together she and Bender slid up and down the cord, fending off the crabs from above.

For how long the team fought like that, Rade didn’t know. The aliens kept coming, until they didn’t.

The Hoplites were surrounded by a profusion of lifeless, floating crabs, crimped legs connected to blackened carapaces that formed a column of dead all around them. That column was so thick they could barely see past to the asteroid horizon beyond. 

“Well that was... exhausting,” Harlequin said.

“Ha, if you think that was exhausting for a machine, imagine how it felt for us,” Bender said.

“How’s your site, Tahoe?” Rade asked. He doubled-checked the health indicators across the team, and confirmed that everyone was in the green.

“We got the crabs under control, for now,” Tahoe replied. “The bigger slugs still haven’t made an appearance. We’re debating whether to go down into the crevice over here.”

Rade tried to aim toward the crevice closest to his own site, but couldn’t see it past the dead bodies.

Juggernaut and Nemesis were still clinging to the carbon fiber cord several meters overhead.

“Bender, are you able to see the crevice from up there?” Rade asked.

“I am, it’s quiet,” Bender said. A moment later: “Wait. Scratch that. We’ve got one big schlong emerging.”

“A schlong,” Manic said over the comm. “He calls the slugs ‘schlongs’ now.”

“That’s their proper name,” Bender said. “Whereas ‘slug’ is the scientific name.”

“Yeah, in Bender Speak,” Fret said from T2.

Rade saw it then, a giant, wormlike shape arcing into the open space above the dead crabs that blocked his view. Apparently the slug had thrown itself from the crevice to barrel above the asteroid surface toward the carbon fiber cord. The umbilicals of roughly half the crabs led up to that worm, the organic tubules connecting all along the left and right sides of the humungous creature. Some of the dead crabs floating closest to the slug were ripped upward as their umbilicals grew taut.

Another slug followed just behind it, muscles rippling beneath its black skin as it wriggled to and fro, perhaps trying vainly to find purchase upon the empty space above the asteroid, or maybe mistakenly believing its motion impelled it forward.

They were certainly two of the larger specimens Rade had faced, though not the largest ever. He wished he had saved some grenades.

“If anyone has any grenades, now is the time to use them!” Rade said. “Snakeoil, I hope you saved some Hellfires?”

Bender and Surus unleashed several frags at the incoming slugs. Meanwhile Rade and the others unleashed their cobras, concentrating on the first creature. The lasers did little against that tough outer hide; the grenades were just as bad, flashing upon impact, and only causing darker sections to appear against the backdrop of the already black skin.

Both slugs phased out of existence as they approached, so that the team’s laser fire passed right through. Missiles from the Motley Brown chose that inopportune moment to strike, and passed right through the creatures to impact harmlessly against the surface.

The silhouettes of the creatures were quickly growing near.

“Snakeoil,” Rade transmitted. “Cut acceleration: move the ship closer to the surface and put some slack on the line so we can shove it out of the path of these things.”

Snakeoil didn’t answer.

“Damn it,” Rade said. The first slug would reach the line in three seconds.

“Everyone, fire jumpjets, now!” Rade said. “Push the slug out of the way.”

“But it’s still phased out!” Surus said.

“It’ll come back,” Rade said.

At least he hoped so. If it materialized back in this universe while they were inside of it, they might kill the slug, but its unchanged momentum would sever the cord. Then again, if that happened, they could always just reattach the split carbon fiber ends, though with another precious half-hour of time lost in the process. 

Rade cut his magnets and leaped upward. The near zero G caused him to rise rapidly, and he augmented his acceleration even further by firing his jumpjets. The others in T1 followed suit.

Rade approached the outline of the big worm, but still it remained out of phase with this universe…

nineteen

Only a moment before Rade touched the ethereal outline formed by its exterior, the slug phased back into existence. It could have been a defense mechanism on the part of the slug—it probably didn’t want the large mechs inside of it. If Rade were an alien, he wouldn’t either...

The team slammed into the solid underside one by one, and the Hoplites continued firing thrust against the weight, slightly altering the trajectory of the huge creature.

It was enough.

The giant worm glanced off the carbon fiber cord and slid past.

“Next slug!” Rade said. He released the creature and jetted back toward the surface, heading for the following gargantuan. Meanwhile the first continued on into deep space; it dragged the dead weight of a hundred lifeless crabs along behind it via the trailing umbilicals. Some of those dead crabs bounced off the carbon fiber tether as they passed, but so far the line held. Rade had to dodge between some of those umbilicals and crabs himself as he jetted toward the remaining creature.

“We’re not going to make it,” Surus said.

She was right. The Hoplites were about three seconds out from the next slug. And the big creature was maybe a second from reaching the carbon fiber cord below them. It’s body phased into existence in anticipation of the impact.

Several bright flashes filled Rade’s vision. They emanated from the top right half of the slug.

“Hellfires,” Surus said.

Rade realized that missiles had indeed struck the slug with enough intensity to alter its course. The alien missed the tether with room to spare, and the trailing crab corpses it brought with it bounced from the cord in turn.

The slug squirmed back and forth, reminding Rade of the frantic movements of a caterpillar dropped onto a hot stove. That was the alien’s death throes, apparently, because it soon stopped moving, and simply drifted away with its load of crab corpses. Rade saw that a big chunk had been taken out of its right side. As he watched, the creature permanently vanished, leaving behind the dead crabs and their umbilicals. 

“Snakeoil, you son of bitch you!” Bender said. “Stealin’ our kills!”

“Thank me later,” Snakeoil said over the comm.

Rade and the others landed at the harpoon site and resumed their defensive positions. The landscape was mostly clear of crabs now, so he could see all the way to the crevice again. There were a few crabs whose tethers had broken, and they floated at different heights from the surface.

Rade checked the map and saw that Tahoe had similarly faced two slugs. One squirmed as it floated off into space, futilely trying to return. There was no sign of the other, but the dead crabs floating away from the asteroid with their umbilicals connected to empty space told him that either the Motley Brown or T2 had killed it.

“Well, notwithstanding the fact Snakeoil stole our kill, that was one nasty snake,” Bender said.

“That’s what I say whenever I glimpse yours,” Manic said over the comm from T2.

“There were two,” Harlequin said. “So technically, you should have said snakes.”

“Bender has two snakes?” Manic said. “How would you know?”

“That’s because Harlequin has two pussies,” Bender said.

“Did we ever find out why slugs disappear when they die and crabs don’t?” Shaw asked.

“Maybe Surus can tell us,” Lui transmitted.

Surus didn’t answer.

“Thanks for the air support back there, Snakeoil,” Rade said. Space support was probably the better term, but Snakeoil wouldn’t have made an issue of semantics. “One question: why didn’t you move the ship closer when I asked?”

“I actually did,” Snakeoil said. “But it was obvious based on your actions that you didn’t hear our reply. I’m guessing we passed through a bubble of higher solar wind density, and it interfered with the comms. It happens.”

“Or Zhidao actively jammed our signal at that moment,” Rade said.

“Maybe,” Snakeoil said. “But why not do so from the beginning of the battle?”

“I don’t know,” Rade said. “Zhidao is unpredictable. Maybe he didn’t want us to know he had the capability. There could be tech embedded on the surface, or low-power drones up there that you’re not seeing.”

“I still think it was a bubble,” Snakeoil said.

The team remained in place for the next six hours, but no further attacks came. With the asteroid safely moved out of the way, the Hoplites dislodged the carbon fiber cords and hung onto the line as the Motley Brown reeled them in.

“Well that’s another asteroid down,” TJ said. “One more to go!”

They returned to the mech hangar bay to stock up on grenades and jumpjet fuel, and then waited in the bay for Snakeoil to confirm they were needed on the final rock.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” Snakeoil said over the comm shortly. “Looks like only one of the harpoon sites will need to be guarded. But, unfortunately, you’ll be surrounded by crevices on all sides, ranging from a hundred meters to a kilometer away. So it won’t be the easiest to protect. I will be offering the full support of the Motley Brown from above, of course.”

“How many Hellfires do you have left?” Rade asked.

“Yeah, we’re running low,” Snakeoil said. “Six. So preferably I’d like to save them for any of the bigger aliens you might encounter.”

“How about those explosive slugs you have for the mag-rails?” Rade asked.

“Those are running low, too,” Snakeoil replied. “But we can probably use them against the crabs, since they have little effect on the slugs.”

“And how much time until the asteroid hits the planet?” Rade said.

“Nine hours,” Snakeoil said. “So we’re slightly ahead of schedule.”

“Nine hours,” Rade said. “You were right about cutting it close. That leaves little margin for error. We can’t screw this one up.”

“No, we can’t,” Snakeoil agreed. “It’s the biggest asteroid yet. I don’t need to tell you that the population will still go extinct if this one hits. It might take a little longer, but there will still be enough matter spewed into the atmosphere to blot out the sun for centuries to come.” He paused. “Okay, just got some news. Another mystery has been solved. One of the scouts finally reported in. Apparently, the Volare is located deep inside the last asteroid.”

“Where exactly?” Rade asked. “Near where we’ll be dropping? Can we get to it from any of the surrounding crevices?”

“No,” Snakeoil said. “Or actually, I don’t know. The crevices around the harpoon site are all black, unmapped fog of war areas. See, the scout didn’t map the tunnels completely, because of my standing order that it turn back upon sighting anything dangerous—the Volare was included in that assessment. But it’s possible the tunnels from the surrounding crevices near the drop site will in fact lead to the ship. I just don’t know. I’m sending you the map data now.”

Rade accepted the sharing request and glanced at the map. Sure enough, a labyrinth underneath the surface was displayed, though there were large dark sections, including the site where he would be landing. At the bottom of the mapped area was a red dot representing the Volare.

“Can we send the drone back in to complete the map?” Rade asked. “Starting with the crevices near the drop site?”

“And risk losing it? You know how expensive these drones are, right?” Snakeoil said.

“Surus will pay for it,” Rade said.

Snakeoil sighed. “I’ll send it in.”

“Any concentrations of slugs and crabs detected in any of the mapped areas?” Rade asked.

“No,” Snakeoil replied.

“I’m assuming we can’t be sure Zhidao didn’t capture your drone and spoof the data?” Rade pressed.

“No, we can’t.”

“I wonder if we can fire a Hellfire down there, and disable the Volare…” Rade said.

“Maggot tells me the tracking mechanisms aren’t fine-grained enough to guide the missiles very far within those cramped confines,” Snakeoil said. “They’ll detonate shortly after passing inside. Wasting all the money I spent on them.”

“I could go inside and personally deal with Zhidao,” Surus said.

“We can’t let you go alone,” Rade said. “Not after what happened to you last time.”

“Probably a good idea…” Surus agreed.

A few minutes later Snakeoil reported back.

“Okay, the scout just went offline,” Snakeoil said. “And this is before it left communications range. Now you see why I didn’t want to send it into the crevices near the drop site?”

“Well, at least we know there’s something waiting for us there,” Rade said. “So let’s move to another site.”

“We’ll make some adjustments, but there will still be unmapped crevices in the new area,” Snakeoil said.

“Then use the smaller HS3s to fill out the map,” Rade said.

“No,” Snakeoil said. “I’ve lost enough scouts for the time being. I’d prefer to keep the HS3s strictly in a support role. They’ll join you when you go down, as usual. We’ll just have to assume you’ll face similar resistance as the last asteroid. Get yourselves prepped for launch. Harpoons are connecting shortly.”

“So here we go, leaping into a battle without proper Intel once again,” Fret said. “Story of my life.”

“Would it matter if we had proper Intel?” TJ said. “Even if there were a hundred slugs down there, we would still go.”

“I suppose we would, at that,” Fret said. “It’s our duty. A billion lives at stake. Still, it would be nice to know.”

“I’d rather not know,” Shaw said. “If I’m going to die today, I don’t want to know.”

Rade switched to a private line. “You’re not going to die today.”

“Thanks,” Shaw said. “I might have been being a little melodramatic.”

“As usual,” Rade said.

“And neither are you, by the way,” Shaw said. “Going to die, I mean.”

“Of course,” Rade said.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Shaw said.

“You always do,” Rade said. “Have I let you down yet?”

The hangar bay opened and they leaped one by one into the zero G environment outside, and jetted down toward the next asteroid.

Rade fired his aerospike thrusters to slow his approach and landed softly, activating the magnets in the feet of his Hoplite to secure him to the surface.

“Deploy, defensive formation Cigar, centered around the harpoon,” Rade ordered. “Magnetic mounts active.”

The ten Hoplite team deployed in an elliptical “cigar” around the grappler site to watch the crevices that opened up on all sides. On the plus side, at least they only had to protect one site this time, instead of two. Still, Rade wasn’t happy that Maggot and the ops specialist had insisted on placing that site so close to so many crevices, but “physics can’t be denied,” to quote the AI. Rade had double-checked the locations himself, and had Bender and TJ do the same, but the math was correct. Sixty percent of the asteroid was covered in those crevices—there really were no other feasible sites.

“Our prey is here somewhere,” Surus announced. “I sense him.”

“So he hasn’t yet abandoned the Volare,” Rade said.

“Maybe he means to ride the asteroid all the way down to the surface,” Tahoe said.

“It’s possible,” Rade said. “Though I still think he’ll try to escape at some point.”

“And when he does, the Motley Brown will shoot him down,” Snakeoil transmitted.

“More likely he’ll try to take over the Motley Brown,” Lui said. “That’s been his modus operandi so far.”

“I’ve taken all your warnings to heart,” Snakeoil said. “He won’t get my ship.”

The HS3s deployed overhead, giving a birds-eye view of the crevices via their LIDAR. Empty, so far.

After the first hour, with the team getting antsy, Rade sent Harlequin and TJ to scout out the surrounding crevices, giving them permission to jet their Hoplite’s inside a short distance. Neither one of them discovered any signs of the alien creatures. But that did little to set Rade at ease. Nor the rest of the team, judging from the banter between Bender and Manic.

“Hey Manic, buddy, there’s something different about you today, but I can’t quite place it,” Bender said over the comm.

“Uh huh,” Manic said.

“Wait, I know,” Bender said. “Let’s see… did you shave your pussy?”

“Yeah man, I shaved my pussy…” Manic said.

“I knew you had a pussy!” Bender said. “And you take craps with it, too, right?”

“Yup, it’s multi-function,” Manic said. “Wanna try it out later?”

“Yeah, we’ll get Fret to do it,” Bender said. “I’m going to direct you two in a porn movie. He’s so tall, he makes you look like a midget. I’ll put a fluffy tail on you, and maybe some ears and whiskers, and then we can call the movie The Littlest Pussy: a love story about a man and his cat.”

“That’s a movie I would pay to see,” TJ said. “Mambo Italiano!”

“Getting your muscles all riled up inside your suit, am I, TJ?” Bender said.

The LIDAR alert on one of the HS3s chimed.

“We got incoming,” Lui said. “And it’s big.”

twenty

Rade glanced at the LIDAR feeds.

“I don’t see it,” he said. The tunnels inside the crevices appeared empty.

“The tango was just there,” Lui said. “It must have retreated.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t a glitch?” Fret asked.

“HS3s don’t glitch,” Lui said. “At least, rarely.”

“Lui’s right,” TJ said. “I rewound the feed. There’s definitely something down there. And it’s big.”

Rade replayed the last few seconds of the feed himself. A large shape appeared at the far end of the tunnel, plugging it, before vanishing, probably through a side tunnel.

“Send the closer HS3 to the crevice in question,” Rade said. “See if we can get a bead on that side tunnel the tango vanished inside.”

“Sending in the HS3,” TJ said.

Rade felt the asteroid shaking underneath him. And then he suddenly understood where the tango had gone off to. “It’s a burrower! Get airborne and scatter! Now!”

Rade deactivated his magnetic mounts and pushed off from the surface just as the ground collapsed underneath him. He fired his jumpjets, veering off in a random direction away from the target site. He engaged side thrust to rotate his body toward the caving grappler site while he continued to accelerate away.

A huge slug burst from the sinkhole, its skin white hot. Hundreds of crabs clung to its upper flanks, the cords that linked them to the host tightly wound beneath them.

“There goes our grappler,” Fret said.

“Bitches are getting smart,” Bender said.

The slug halted its forward motion before it emerged entirely from the new hole it had dug, the transversal muscles rippling underneath its black skin. Then it began to retreat.

“Snakeoil!” Rade sent.

“Already on it,” Snakeoil replied.

Missiles rained down on the slug, and it flailed about under the impacts.

Debris consisting of crystallized black blood, chunks of meat, and rocks floated all around the creature.

“Open fire!” Rade said. “Target the wounds!”

Rade accelerated toward the creature, and fired his cobras into the gaping wounds the missiles had caused. The creature flailed about even harder for a few moments; the crabs connected to it leaped forth, umbilicals unwinding behind them, jumping out at the incoming Hoplites.

Three of those crabs were headed straight toward Rade, but they reached the limits of their umbilicals at the last moment, and were jerked backward by the frictionless recoil. Rade severed the three tethers with cobra fire.

The slug ceased moving a moment later. Its upper body, half a kilometer long, simply floated there, halfway out of the tunnel. All of the tethered crabs drifted lifelessly around it as well, joining the debris field of meat and rocks.

“So is it dead yet?” Fret asked.

“It can’t be, or it would have disappeared,” Tahoe said.

“Maybe they don’t all disappear,” Shaw said. “It has to be dead. The crabs stopped moving.”

“Burrowers don’t always vanish from this reality immediately when they die,” Surus said. “It can take up to an hour.”

“All right, well, no point in wasting more missiles, Snakeoil,” Rade said. “This grappling site is already lost. We’re going to have to move to a new location.”

“Maggot tells me we can tether the harpoon anywhere within a one kilometer radius,” Snakeoil said.

That close? Rade thought.

“All right, Argonauts, you heard the man,” Rade said. “Let’s get this grappler moved.”

“Got tangos!” TJ said. “One of the crevices!”

“It’s our stolen Hoplites!” Lui said. “They’re firing cobras!”

“Deploy ballistic shields!” Rade said. “Take cover!”

Rade deployed his shield in his left arm and jetted toward the debris field circling the slug. He dove behind a large boulder that had dislodged from the surface.

“The enemy Hoplites took out our HS3s,” Harlequin said.

“Electron, try to initiate comms,” Rade told his AI.

“Trying,” Electron said.

On Rade’s overhead map, red dots had appeared inside two of the crevices bordering the grappler site. He slid his cobra past the edge and switched to the viewpoint of the big laser. He zoomed in on one of those crevices with his targeting reticle and moved the crosshairs from left to right.

“No answer to tap in requests,” Electron said.

Rade spotted a cobra laser aimed over the lip. Rade centered his reticle over the weapon and squeezed the trigger.

The opponent pulled its cobra from view

“I got one Hellfire left,” Snakeoil said. “Do you want me to fire?”

“Harlequin, is there any chance we can salvage their AIs?” Rade asked.

“There is always a chance,” Harlequin said. “But I believe, in this case, it is low.”

Rade made his choice. “Snakeoil, fire the Hellfire.”

“Wait, they’re retreating!” Tahoe said.

“Hold, Snakeoil,” Rade sent. “You launch now, you waste the Hellfire.”

“We can’t let them go,” Lui said. “Otherwise, they’ll simply attack our new site. Probably target the cord. A well-placed cobra shot could easily sever the carbon fiber, especially considering how much stress the tether is under.”

Rade considered his options. “It’s obviously an ambush, so I’m not all that eager to follow them down.”

“I don’t see any other choice,” Lui said. “Check your overhead map. No matter where we move the grappling site, there will be crevices all around. Even if we set up an armed guard on as many of the surrounding crevices as possible, we can’t cover every possible attack point. A Hoplite could aim at us from a kilometer out, sever the cord, and be gone before we or Snakeoil could ever get a bead on it.”

“That’s a good point,” Rade said. “All right. Tahoe, Lui, Fret, you form T2. Stay up here, and get the grappling hook relocated. The rest of us in T1 will hunt down the rogue Hoplites. Snakeoil, when can you have replacement HS3s down here?”

“I’m 3D-printing some new ones,” Snakeoil said. “Five hours? Maybe longer.”

“Too long,” Rade said. “Surus, Bender, scout those openings!”

Surus jetted her mech Sprint from cover and accelerated toward the closest crevice, while Bender sent Juggernaut to the other.

“It’s clear!” Surus said.

“Got nothing here, either,” Bender said.

“T1, form up with Surus,” Rade said. “We’ll focus on that tunnel and assume any Hoplites in the other intend to join up at some deeper rally point.”

“And if they don’t?” Shaw asked.

“Then we’ll come back after we’re done and scour that tunnel, too,” Rade said. He was reluctant to split up his team any further. “Or better yet, let the HS3s handle some of the fun.”

“When we see the Hoplites, our orders?” TJ asked.

“Terminate with extreme prejudice,” Rade answered.

“But I can’t kill Juggy,” Bender said.

“Juggernaut isn’t the same,” Surus said. “None of your old mechs are.”

“Surus is right,” Rade said. “You’ve seen the footage of the Hoplites jumping from our ship to the Volare at the space station. We have to assume their AIs are corrupt. They’ll be shooting to kill.”

“Wait a second, the Hoplites are equipped with anti-Phant emitters,” Manic said. “How could Zhidao get control?”

“Sprint would have been the easiest,” Surus said, referring to the callsign of her Hoplite. Sprint didn’t have an emitter, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to enter the cockpit, not even while inside her host. “As for the other mechs, they would have been in hibernation when Zhidao took over the ship. Through a remote actor, such as a Centurion, or Ms. Bounty, he could have shut them down completely, removed their AI cores from the anti-Phant shielding, and then entered directly. So you see, the anti-Phant tech wouldn’t have mattered.”

“We can’t afford to show mercy,” Rade said. “Not here. We’ve already restored our mech AIs from their backups. That’s the best we can do. I’m sorry. Surus, you’re on point. TJ, take drag. Twenty meter separation between mechs. Zig-zag formation.”

Rade and the others reached the crevice and leaped inside. Because of the extremely low gravity, they could have floated in the middle of the tunnel, jetting along, but Rade ordered everyone to activate their magnetic mounts to secure themselves to the interior surfaces instead. That way they made less of a target, and could flatten themselves against the tunnel walls to further shrink their profiles if necessary. They moved at a patrol gait, not wanting to let their targets get too far ahead, yet not wanting to fall too easily into any waiting ambush, either.

“Harlequin, I want you on the ceiling,” Rade said. “You’ll be our eye in the sky. Or in this case, eye in the cave.”

Harlequin jetted to the top and secured his feet with his magnets, and mirrored the party from above.

“Manic, I want you on the left wall,” Rade said. “Bender, you take the right. The rest of you, continue as you were.”

“Classic space tunnel infiltration formation,” TJ said.

“You got it,” Rade said. “Have to put all that MOTH training to use sometime...”

Rade spent most of his time scanning the ceiling directly ahead, while the others in place on the walls and ceiling would be focusing on their own ceiling equivalents, ready to alert the party if they spotted a tango.

“I can understand Bender’s reluctance to terminate Juggernaut,” Electron told Rade as T1 advanced. “I, too, have mixed feelings about shooting down my predecessor.”

“It’s not your predecessor anymore,” Rade said. “It doesn’t know who any of us are anymore.”

“Even so,” Electron said. “It will hurt. If I had control of the cobras, I would probably aim for an area that wouldn’t damage the AIs, such as the power source.”

“I’ll try to do the same,” Rade said. “But if push comes to shove, and I have a shot on an AI core, I’m taking it.”

“I understand,” Electron said. “I will, too, I believe. Though it will hurt.”

“It hurts me, too,” Rade said. He respected AIs. He’d grown to trust them with his life. He considered them just as human as a real human being. It was sad that the team had to do this, but he didn’t see that the Argonauts had any other choice. “In this case, I’m afraid, it’s either us or them. And I’m inclined to lean toward the ‘us’ side.”

No light from outside penetrated the tunnel, so the team relied on LIDAR from their Hoplites to illuminate the area. Because of that, the smooth tunnel walls around Rade appeared to be made of white, 3D wireframes.

“You know, these tunnels are a bit too smooth to be natural,” Shaw said.

“You think Zhidao set his burrowers crisscrossing underneath the surface?” Rade said. “Tunneling away?”

“He must have,” Shaw said.

“To what purpose?” Rade asked. “There were no organic life residues for the slugs to convert to geronium.”

“Actually, you’re wrong,” Surus said. “I am detecting a slight residue of organic life. I believe it was primitive… single cell organisms. But life nonetheless. The asteroid belt was likely once a habitable planet. But the tidal forces of the system tore it apart.”

“That must have happened eons ago,” Shaw said. “Would the upper-dimensional imprints of the long dead life-forms even be viable anymore?”

“Their imprints are extremely weak,” Surus said. “And spread out across the entire asteroid belt. But there is enough concentrated here on these bigger asteroids for the slugs to create at least some geronium. A sufficient amount to feed a starving Purple, anyway.”

“That would make some sense,” Rade said. “There’s only so much geronium Zhidao could have taken from the Builder and the Volare before adversely affecting the ships’ power output.”

“I wonder when he began the harvesting,” Shaw said. “It would have taken years to nudge the asteroids into their current fatal orbits, after all.”

“My guess is, relatively recently,” Surus said. “Definitely within the past six months.”

“You think he’s acting alone?” Rade asked.

“So far we haven’t seen any evidence that other Phants are helping him,” Surus said. “But it is possible he has allies.”

The team advanced in silence for some time.

“We’ll be leaving comm range with T2 shortly,” TJ said.

“We’re about to lose contact, Tahoe,” Rade sent.

“Roger that,” Tahoe replied, his voice distorting badly. “Stay safe down there.”

“You too,” Rade said.

“We’ve retrieved… grappler and are in the process… to the new site,” Tahoe sent. “We’ll—”

Tahoe’s voice cut out entirely.

“Say again, Tahoe?” Rade pressed.

No answer came over the line.

“And we’re out of range,” TJ said.

“Does anybody ever notice how we always get attacked when we lose contact with the ship, or the other team?” Manic said.

“Well duh,” Bender said. “It’s the best time to stage an attack. We do it to our own targets all the time. No one says you have to play fair. If you think you do, you’re in the wrong game. And try not to jinx us or anything.”

“Oh I’m in the right game,” Manic said. “I have no intention of playing fairly.”

“Damn right,” Bender said. “You’re always sucker punching me when you get the chance. Only way you can beat me. Just like Harlequin.”

“I’ve never sucker punched you, or anyone, ever,” Harlequin said.

“Yeah, but you still don’t play fair, you cheating AI!” Bender said. “You got your servomotors that give you strength ten times what a man as muscular as myself has. If that’s not cheating, I don’t know what is.”

“How can it be cheating if it’s my natural state?” Harlequin asked.

“Natural state, my ass,” Bender said. “There’s nothing natural about you. Or any AIs. I worked hard for what I have! You got yours for free!”

“I can’t help it if I’m innately superior in every way,” Harlequin said. “But I do find myself at a loss to understand how you can display such intimacy and care for your Hoplite, Juggernaut, and yet disrespect every other AI.”

“Of course you can’t understand,” Bender said. “That’s because Juggy is my pet. He’s like a horse. Whereas you, all you are is a punching bag.”

“Juggernaut, how do you feel about being considered a pet?” Harlequin asked.

“Juggy can’t hear you,” Bender said. “I’ve muted him to the current conversation.”

“Ah,” Harlequin said. “I’m certainly glad I’m not the AI of your Hoplite.”

“As am I!” Bender said. “I would have had your snarky ass replaced on day one!”

“So I have a question,” Manic said. “If these caves were dug by slugs and all, then how come there are so many hollows and depressions in the tunnel walls?”

“Those are pre-existing air pockets in the rock,” Shaw said. “They existed before the burrowers passed this way.”

“Yeah, Man-Bitch,” Bender said. “It doesn’t take a geologist to figure that out.”

“Hey, it was a valid question,” Manic said.

“This particular cave section seems to have many more depressions than usual,” Surus said.

“Keep an eye out for ambushes,” Rade said.

“Speaking of which, looks like we got some crabs coming in,” Surus said.

twenty-one

Rade spotted the crabs immediately.

“It’s got to be a diversion to cover for the enemy Hoplites,” TJ said.

“Buckle in, people,” Rade said. “Get low.” If it was a diversion, he didn’t want any of his team members overly exposed.

Rade dropped down to one knee and aimed out at the incoming crabs. The creepy aliens were all attached to the same tunnel wall as he was, via the hooks at the tips of their legs. Their umbilicals didn’t loop up over the carapaces this time, and were stretched out behind them, making it difficult for him to target the tethers.

“Okay,” Rade said. “Everyone, we join Harlequin on the ceiling. It’s too hard to get a bead on their umbilicals from here.”

Rade jetted to the ceiling, and those Hoplites with him joined him. Bender and Manic on the far walls also jetted upward, so that soon the entire team was concentrated on the ceiling, which formed the new floor relative to the team. Rade activated his magnetic mounts and attached.

He aimed upward at the crabs that were now on the “ceiling,” but they were so closely packed, with those in behind crawling over the umbilicals of those in front, that it was still difficult to target the cords linking them to the unseen host slug.

“If you can’t target the tethers, aim for the general location of the three hearts,” Rade said. Some of the photons from the LIDAR penetrated the translucent skin, and gave vague outlines of those large, beating hearts, but Rade knew the locations by heart anyway. He’d killed enough of these things over the years to know their anatomy down to the organ level.

“Uh, these are the big crabs,” Manic said. “As in, just as big as our mechs, if not bigger.”

“I’d hate to see daddy slug,” TJ said.

“I wanna see it!” Bender said.

“You like big schlongs, huh Bender?” Manic said.

But Bender ignored him. He was singing away, already opening fire. “Buggy Buggy Buggy, won’t you come along with me, Buggy Buggy, woo Buggy Buggy!”

Rade settled into a hollow on the tunnel “floor” underneath him, and kept his ballistic shield in place, just in case there were enemy Hoplites embedded within the crabs. He tilted the shield at an angle against his mech, for optimum protection, and then aimed over it to target the beating hearts of the incoming crabs. The creatures didn’t fall right way when one of their hearts was hit—it would slow them, but not down them outright. Rade had to fire in rapid succession to take out all three hearts to completely eliminate an enemy.

As the crabs closed, they started leaping down, crossing from the “ceiling” to the “floor” now that they were essentially right on top of the Hoplites. Rade was able to pick out some umbilicals and sever them with a well-placed shot, but most of the crabs were so closely packed that he couldn’t even target the tethers: blurs of motion sped past above him, blocking the umbilicals from view.

As the first of the crabs almost reached them, Rade switched to grenades. He didn’t have to command his team to do the same. As soon as his grenades started going off, others joined in so that crab body parts were exploding across the tunnel and filling it up—pieces of crab and rock formed a floating debris field. 

“I’m taking laser fire!” TJ said. “The Hoplites are back!”

“Do we have a location?” Rade asked.

“Embedded in the seething masses!” TJ said.

“Stay low, and keep your ballistic shields deployed at an angle!” Rade ordered.

Rade glanced at his overhead map, looking for Shaw. He activated his jumpjets to reposition, wanting to stay close to her side. In mid-flight, he fired through the growing debris into the crabs; when he set down in the hollow adjacent to her own, he redeployed his ballistic shield.

The tunnel shook subtly...

“Think we got a burrower incoming,” TJ said.

Rade waited for the shaking to get stronger, but it remained subtle. That meant the burrower wasn’t going to emerge directly underneath them.

He still had his rear view cam active in the upper right of his vision, so he saw immediately when a white glow filled the tunnel behind them. A massive slug in “burrower” mode had just melted a hole through the cave at their back, emerging from the same surface Rade and the others were attached to. Its iridescent skin negated the need for LIDAR, and was so bright that Rade’s camera had to autogate down to dim the amount reaching his eyes.

“Burrower coming in from behind!” Rade said. “Concentrate fire!”

The slug turned to face the team. It nearly filled up the entire cavern. Its skin was quickly losing heat to the vacuum, now that rock wasn’t completely enveloping it, and the white hot darkened to red, then black.

Rade unleashed a barrage of grenades at the incoming slug but it was no use.

“Duck!” Rade said. “Flatten yourselves into whatever hollows you can find!”

Rade glanced at Shaw in the depression beside him to make sure she obeyed, then he dove to the bottom of his own. The slug passed right over him. Its body was bouncing between the different walls as it slithered past, not quite wide enough to fit the entire extents of the cavern.

When it had passed him entirely, Rade swung around, glanced at Shaw to confirm she was all right, and then aimed at the retreating tail section.

But the slug had phased out by that point, to sweep harmlessly over the incoming crabs. That’s when Rade realized he hadn’t yet spotted that particular slug’s own crabs. The hundreds of umbilicals trailing overhead into the tunnel section behind him hinted at what was coming…

Rade turned around in time to see the crabs. They were hurtling forward, drawn by the host slug’s momentum.

“Crabs on our six!” Rade said.

He dropped once again and fired at the crabs as they bounced past overhead. He targeted the umbilicals, severing them, so that affected crabs bobbed past lifelessly.

Some of the crabs struck him as they ripped by, and they raked their hooks over his mech and the other Hoplites nearby. When the last of the crabs had passed over, he had suffered some minor scrapes to his armor, but overall the damage proved light.

“Got laser fire coming from ahead again,” TJ said. “Forward crabs are closing once more.”

Rade rose to a crouch and spun his shield to the forward direction. He resumed firing at the incoming crabs.

He fought for some time… targeting hearts, and umbilicals whenever he had an obvious shot. There was still no sign of the host slug for this particular group: all the body parts and debris floating in the air above the crabs didn’t help in that regard. The concealing nature of that debris worked both ways, however, because it obscured the positions of Rade and his team from the enemy cobras at the same time.

The glow from the burrower’s skin was gone, forcing the team to rely entirely on LIDAR once again. The flash of detonating grenades was the only light in the darkness.

There were too many of them. The descending crabs began to overwhelm the Hoplites. Rade repeatedly bashed them away with his shield and then shot them with his cobra at point-blank range.

Shaw was faring little better in her depression beside him as crabs crowded around her, too. Rade wanted to go to her, but she could fight well enough on her own, he knew. She had trained with the best of them: him.

There were still enemy Hoplites somewhere out there, no doubt adding their own laser fire to the mix. The ever-building debris was still screening the team, though.

The proximity alert constantly sounded as crabs assaulted him from all sides. Rade fought them off as best he could, turning and bashing and firing.

Without warning Rade found himself pulled backward.

“Warning,” Electron said. “Something has latched onto my leg segment.”

“Kick it away!” Rade said, trying to do that very thing.

He was rammed into a wall. His AI’s status indicator went dead. As did his LIDAR feed—his vision was replaced by darkness.

“Electron?” Rade tried.

Nothing.

He tried to move, but the actuators surrounding him didn’t yield: it was like he was encased in solid rock.

That could mean only his power source had been hit.

The hatch was supposed to have a backup supply source so that a downed pilot could eject in such a situation. He tried to open up the hatch and thankfully it worked. He kicked it open and activated his jumpsuit jetpack to thrust outside—

Straight into the giant metal hand of a waiting enemy Hoplite. Those fingers fastened around him, and Rade expected to have the life crushed out of him, but instead the giant machine simply held him fast. He realized the Hoplite was jetting back toward the fresh hole drilled by the burrower slug.

The Hoplite had used the screen of crabs to sneak up on him. With the proximity alert constantly sounding thanks to the aliens, he wouldn’t have noticed it.

“I’ve been captured!” Rade sent.

Now was the worst time to be abandoning his team, so Rade fought against the hold of that giant metal hand, but of course he couldn’t break it. The Hoplite held in an unyielding grip.

Rade’s jumpsuit was equipped with LIDAR, so he was able to see the other two rogue Hoplites that accompanied the first. Though he had “squad display outline” mode active, the Hoplites weren’t outlined. However, his HUD did label them Electron, Nemesis, and Sprint. The old AIs, no doubt, captured and reprogrammed by Zhidao.

“Uh, guys?” Rade transmitted to T1. “Did I mention I’ve been captured?” He glanced at his overhead map, but saw that the team was enveloped by the red dots of the crab swarm. He doubted any help was coming soon.

“Rade!” Shaw said.

On the map, her blue indicator kept frantically trying to move toward him. She’d break away from the red dots of crabs, but then more would intercept her. It was obvious she’d never reach him.

His captors jumped into the hole and jetted downward, taking Rade away from his team.

“Rade, hang in there,” Shaw said, her voice distorting badly as Rade neared the range limits of his jumpsuit comm node. “You’re not supposed to die today, remember?”

“Neither are you,” Rade said.

But she didn’t answer.

She had already cut out.

“I don’t suppose I can negotiate my release with any of you?” Rade transmitted to the Hoplite labeled Electron.

It didn’t answer.

Rade watched the three-dimensional wireframe walls of the tunnel pass by on either side.

He knew he was completely and utterly at Zhidao’s mercy.

He promised himself that whatever doom Zhidao had in store for him, Rade would take it stoically.

He just hoped that Shaw and the rest of the team survived up there.

twenty-two

We have to get these crabs off our backs!” Shaw said. She bashed a crab away with her shield. “Now! They’ve got Rade!”

“Who got him?” Bender said. “The bugs?”

Shaw dodged to the side as big mandibles bit at her torso. “No! The rogue Hoplites!” She fired her cobra into the crab’s side.

“You sure?” Manic asked.

“I saw them.” Shaw crumpled as a third crab slammed her into the rock. She shoved her grenade launcher into one of its mouths and squeezed the trigger. The head on that side exploded.

She shoved the weightless crab off of her and fired her jumpjets, thrusting away to the side. She slammed into another crab in the process and it set her off course. Another crab jumped at her, latching on. It sent her flying toward the ceiling.

She aimed past its body with her cobra, targeting its umbilical cord, and fired. The tether broke and the crab above her instantly went limp.

She extricated herself from its claws and shoved the dead body away. Then she jetted down toward the large hole the burrower had dug.

“Forget the incoming crabs!” Shaw said. “Rade is our priority!”

“We’re kind of pinned down,” TJ said.

She glanced at her overhead map and saw that she was the only one who had really broken free from the crab onslaught. From her position near the ceiling, she could see the slug in the distance, through the debris field, rapidly approaching the team.

Remembering that there were rogue Hoplites embedded among the enemy, she swung her ballistic shield in front of her.

Not a moment too soon.

“Shield is taking laser impacts,” Nemesis said.

“I see it,” Shaw told her Hoplite’s AI. In the upper left of her screen was a picture of her Hoplite and its shield. The digital representation of the shield turned red where it absorbed laser impacts.

She had a choice, now. She could jet downward and pursue Rade. Facing off against three Hoplites to her one. Or she could wait for the rest of the team and improve the odds. Problem was, if she waited, she would very likely lose Rade in the labyrinth.

She made her choice.

She jetted toward the hole. “I’m going after him!”

Unfortunately, the crabs had a different idea. Before she reached the opening, a pair of mandibles latched onto her leg. Another pair wrapped around her shoulder. The vibrations from the strained metal of her mech were transmitted down to the actuators of her cockpit, shaking her.

“Damn it!” Shaw swung her shield toward her shoulder and bashed the crab off of her, and then kicked the other away from her foot with her free leg.

Several more crabs swarmed around her to replace them.

They just don’t want to let me go.

“Slug is coming up!” TJ said.

“Find a hollow to wait out its passage!” Shaw said.

Still fending off the latest round of crabs, she slammed into the tunnel floor. She fired her cobra at one of them, severing the umbilical, and bashed away another with her shield. The slug was almost on her position.

She engaged her jumpjets to launch herself into a nearby hollow, and flattened her mech as the large creature passed overhead. The slug slammed into the remaining crabs and drew them away.

“You know, this bitch is actually making things easier for us,” Bender said. “Clearing out its own crabs. You should look into doing the same with your own crabs, Man-Bitch. Clean up your pubes.”

“As soon as the slug goes by your respective positions,” Shaw transmitted. “I want you on your feet. And head for the new sinkhole. We have to get to Rade before we lose him.”

“It’s too late now,” Surus said. “The Hoplites will have taken him well away.”

“We still have to follow!” Shaw said.

“Yes,” Surus said. “But be reasonable. We still have seven Hoplites here somewhere, ready to fire on our positions. The best course of action at the moment is to remain where we are and take them out.”

“TJ, I don’t suppose you or Bender can remotely hack the AIs and disable them?” Shaw asked.

“Sorry, they’ve disabled any remote interfaces,” TJ said. “So no can do.”

“I might be able to hack in if I can get physical access to one of them,” Bender said.

“That probably won’t be happening,” Shaw said. “Not unless you want to find yourself split apart, first.”

The slug disappeared from overhead: it had passed. No trailing crabs were carried with it. The damn thing had cleared out most of the debris in the tunnel, too, seeing as the slug was essentially the same diameter: the slugs had definitely created this labyrinth. 

“All right, I have a plan,” Shaw said. “Retreat to the new sinkhole. Hold your shields between you and the forward position. Protect yourselves from the rogue Hoplites.”

Shaw rose from cover and activated her jumpjets to thrust toward the sinkhole. The outgoing slug had passed right over it. Keeping close to the tunnel floor, she swung around to position her shield between herself and the remaining enemy tangos, whose positions weren’t yet known farther down the tunnel. However she had no doubt that the enemy mechs had similarly dropped to avoid the passage of the slug, and would be targeting her and the team once again.

Sure enough, a moment later the ballistic shield indicator on her HUD lit up to indicate where the laser strikes were impacting.

“Can we correlate their positions based on the shield impacts?” Shaw asked her AI.

“We can,” Nemesis replied. “I have an estimate.”

“Load the grenade launcher into my right hand and fire off a few grenades at two of the closest positions,” Shaw said.

She felt the vibrations transmitted down to her actuators as the mech obeyed. It fired three electromagnetic grenades.

“Done,” Nemesis said.

The grenades detonated. Other members of the team had similar ideas, apparently, because more grenades went off against other targets.

“Will that be enough to stop them?” Shaw asked.

“We might bring down one or two,” Nemesis said.

Shaw reached the lip of the hole and slowed down, not wanting to step into an ambush. She jetted forward more slowly, but the opening seemed clear so she accelerated, moving over the edge entirely. She jetted downward, taking cover behind the lip.

There was no sign of Rade underneath her. His indicator was frozen on the overhead map where he had passed out of comm range.

I’ll find you, my love. My life. I swear I will.

The remaining T1 Hoplites joined her. There was no sign of Electron, Rade’s mech. She guessed it had been lost.

“The slug is reversing course...” Harlequin said. 

“And the burrower is coming back,” Manic said. “Look.”

Shaw peered over the lip, toward the forward area. Sure enough, the burrower was returning, its crabs leading the way. Turning around, she gazed past the far side of the sinkhole and saw the other slug moving backward through the tunnel, toward her and the team. The Argonauts were trapped in a pincer maneuver.

“Okay, no point in staying here,” Shaw said. “We’ll lose the Hoplites in the labyrinth below. We’ll attempt to make our way to the last known position of the Volare. Seems the most likely place they’ll take Rade. Assuming the ship is actually there. Be careful: one or more of the Hoplites that took Rade may be lurking in hiding somewhere below, waiting to waylay us.”

She let go of the wall and jetted downward into the winding depths. The other Hoplites followed.

Bender quickly accelerated ahead of her. “I get to be on point!”

“And so you do,” Shaw said.

Bender scouted ahead in Juggernaut, moving almost to the limits of comm range: his dot occasionally froze.

“Slow down, Bender,” Shaw said. “Try to keep in range, at least.”

“Sorry, Boss,” Bender said.

The Volare still showed up on the overhead map, though separating her team and the ship was a large swath of unmapped darkness. That darkness filled out as they descended into the depths of the asteroid, of course, and Shaw had to hope the current tunnel linked up with the main network, rather than terminating in a dead end. She also had to hope that they didn’t encounter too much resistance in the form of crabs and slugs.

The tunnel wound sharply to the left, cutting them off from any sight lines to the top of the sinkhole. That was good, because the tunnel branched three ways ahead. The enemy wouldn’t know which branch they had taken.

Unfortunately, it also meant Shaw didn’t know where Rade’s captors had taken him.

“Which way?” TJ asked.

Shaw was tempted to split the team into three groups, but she knew Rade would never do something like that. Not in a place like this, where they could easily be overwhelmed by aliens, or ambushed by rogue Hoplites.

“Harlequin, Bender, TJ, I want you to proceed inside each of those three tunnels,” Shaw said. “Searching for signs of chemical combustion—if the Hoplites were here, they would have had to fire their jumpjets in order to steer down one of the passages. Quickly, before our pursuers arrive!”

The three moved into position.

“The only signs of combustion I’m detecting are my own,” TJ said. “The densities produced by jumpjets just aren’t high enough to register, I think.”

Too bad.

She studied the map for a few seconds, and despite the dark areas, concluded that the central passageway seemed the most likely to reconnect with the mapped portion the quickest.

“We take the middle tunnel,” Shaw said.

Hold on, my big man. We’re coming for you.

twenty-three

Rade was carried into a Regina Mercante class Franco-Italian ship that his Implant identified as the Volare. The rogue Hoplite deposited him in the hangar bay and artificial gravity pulled him to the deck. The mech ripped away his utility belt—including the holstered blaster—and stood watch nearby as the wide doors closed behind it. The other two Hoplites remained outside to stand guard, Rade noted. Or actually, they weren’t really standing. “Floating” was the more accurate term.

Air misted inside from tiny vents all along the left and right sides. Rade exhaled, waiting for the atmosphere to equalize.

Finally the misting stopped and then the airlock opened. The original Ms. Bounty stepped inside, not wearing a jumpsuit.

She smiled widely, though her eyes were all hate. “Well hello.”

“Zhidao,” Rade said.

“Very astute,” Zhidao said. “Feel free to remove your helmet. The atmosphere is safe.”

“I’d rather keep it on, thanks,” Rade said. “What do you want?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Zhidao said. “I want you. You’re going to have a front row seat as I destroy an alien race. Or rather, the front row seat. You’ll be inside the asteroid when it impacts.”

“Except it won’t impact,” Rade said. “We’re dragging it out of the way even now.”

Zhidao flicked Ms. Bounty’s ponytail back over one shoulder in a dismissive gesture. “We’ll see. Most of your team is down in the tunnels, looking for you. The rest are ill-equipped to defend against another attack. We’ll have that tether severed in no time. And when your team repairs it, or moves it to another site, we’ll sever it again. And again.”

She produced a blaster and pointed it at Rade. “Come on then, let’s take you to the brig. Into the airlock.”

With a sigh, Rade stepped through the hatch and into the passageway beyond. Zhidao kept a good distance behind Rade, the blaster trained on him the whole time.

“So why are you destroying the planet anyway?” Rade asked over his shoulder.

“Simple,” Zhidao answered. “I’m hungry. Greens might be able to live off the meager geronium shavings one can find aboard the engines of a starship, but not me. I’m a Purple. I need more food. I’ve already extracted as much geronium as I can from these meager asteroids, and once I’ve destroyed the population of this world, I’ll seed it with crabs and slugs. They’ll process the lingering energy fields of the erased population, feeding and multiplying, digesting the dead population into geronium. I’ll have enough food to last me millennia. This will become my base of operations, in preparation for the arrival of the main Phant army seven hundred years from now. It will also serve as a feeding and refueling station for my brethren.”

That confirmed what Rade and the Argonauts had already guessed.

He soon reached the brig.

Zhidao gestured with the blaster. “Inside.”

Rade decided he wasn’t going to go down quietly. Ramping up the output strength of his servomotors to full, he kicked outward, toward the blaster.

But Zhidao was faster. The Artificial swung out of the way and then slammed into Rade’s body.

Before Rade realized what had happened, he was bouncing off the far wall. He had a nice new crack in his faceplate.

“You might want to take off that helmet,” Ms. Bounty’s—Zhidao’s—taunting voice came over the comm. “To conserve oxygen. Then again, you’ll be incinerated before your oxygen runs out, anyway. Farewell, Rade Galaal. It has been a good game of cat and mouse we have played. But unfortunately for you, the mouse had slightly bigger teeth than you expected. I leave you now with some company. If you won’t take off your helmet, they’ll do it for you.”

Three Centurions stepped inside and the hatch sealed behind them. They carried various bashing implements: a pipe, a hammer, and an ingot. The latter was typical of the material used to feed a 3D printer.

Before Rade could react, the three robots set upon him.

TAHOE FIRED OUT across the surface of the asteroid as the latest barrage of crabs made their assault against the new grappler site. Lui and Fret were with him, and they moved their aims back and forth as fast as they were able. Like him, no doubt they had ceded control of their second cobras to the AIs of their mechs, because it was impossible to keep up with the number of enemies otherwise. The umbilicals were difficult to spot—the crabs had grown smart, and kept their tethers to the currently unseen host slugs extended well behind them—forcing the trio to fire at the hearts those crabs possessed.

Tahoe was really starting to wish Rade hadn’t taken so many of the Hoplites with him. The theory was that T1 would eliminate the rogue Hoplites and distract the other slugs and crabs away from the surface of the asteroid. Turned out the theory was wrong: apparently Zhidao had a lot more aliens to spare than anyone suspected. As Tahoe crouched there in front of the secured harpoon, firing at the crabs, he couldn’t help but feel a little like he was back on the reserve at Earth. He had a vivid memory of one particular hailstorm that occurred shortly after he’d bought a brand new flyer: he ran out there with only a small umbrella and tried to prevent the hail from ruining the vehicle. It didn’t work very well. He felt a little like that now, with only an umbrella to stave off the unending hordes.

“Okay, looks like the crabs were only meant to serve as a distraction,” Snakeoil said over the comm. “We just picked up two Hoplites hiding in one of the crevices a kilometer behind you. I fired at them with the full intensity of the Vipers, downing one. The other somehow had a premonition, and shifted positions at the last moment. When it saw what happened to its friend, it took cover immediately.”

“Thank you,” Tahoe sent. They had already agreed that Snakeoil would act as their eyes in the sky, scouting out for any rogue Hoplites that might try to shoot down the grappling hook from afar. The Motley Brown’s position wasn’t the most optimal for that, situated as it was at the center of the four grappling hooks, so Snakeoil had deployed one of the shuttles to relay visual information to the main ship. It hovered somewhere above even now. Several Centurions were aboard the shuttle, equipped with laser rifles, and they aimed down at the site from the open ramp, ready to sever the umbilicals of any crabs that got too close to the carbon fiber tether. They planned to combine their shots so that the laser intensity of their rifles would match that of a single cobra.

“Got a slug emerging!” Fret said.

Tahoe could feel the ground shaking. That meant the site was lost, and they’d have to reposition.

“Recall the harpoon!” Tahoe told Snakeoil.

“Spikes have retracted!” Snakeoil said. “Hang on, we’re reeling it in!”

Tahoe, Fret and Lui leaped upward, and wrapped their metal hands around the carbon fiber cord at different heights. They continued to fire their cobras out at the approaching crab horde. Those aliens were obviously sourced from a different slug than the one about to penetrate the ground underneath them.

The carbon fiber cord slid upward as the harpoon pulled from the surface. Just in time. The ground crumbled underneath them as a new sinkhole formed.

“Up up up!” Tahoe said, hoping to encourage Snakeoil.

A white-hot slug appeared, and it snapped upward at the withdrawing Hoplites and their harpoon.

“It’s gonna hit!” Tahoe said. “Jetting out of the way!”

He engaged his side jumpjets, swinging the cable forward and to the right, spiraling it out of the way of the slug, which continued upward, breaking free of the surface entirely.

The client crabs leaped away from where they were stowed on its back, and lunged toward the cable.

“Jetting further!” Tahoe said, engaging thrusters to send the cable even farther from the crabs. He fired his cobra at them at the same time, severing umbilicals.

“Firing Vipers!” Snakeoil said.

Twenty of those organic tethers snapped at the same time, severing the crabs from their host.

And finally, the slug and its trailing crabs were past, drifting harmlessly away into space.

Tahoe and his team had saved the carbon fiber cord, sparing them the precious time it would take to retrieve both ends and reattach.

“I got your next target site ready to go,” Snakeoil said. “Transmitting now. We’ve already primed it with a laser bore. Please hurl the harpoon toward the surface at your earliest convenience.”

Tahoe received the coordinates and the highlighted area appeared on the surface below him. It was about seven hundred and fifty meters away from the last site.

Below, the remaining crabs from the unseen slug were already clearing out and vanishing into the closest crevice, as they didn’t want to be exposed to the deadly Vipers of the Motley Brown for too long.

“Clear the cord,” Tahoe instructed.

He released the cable, along with Fret and Lui.

With his AI helping out with the aim, Tahoe threw the cable toward the asteroid as hard as he was able, and then he followed it down with the other two Hoplites.

They landed and took up a defensive position around the new grappling site, waiting for the next attack to come.

“How are we doing on time, Snakeoil?”

“I don’t have to tell you it’s not good to have to constantly keep repositioning like this,” Snakeoil said. “But we are making progress.”

“Will we move the damn rock in time?” Tahoe said. “If this keeps up?”

“Let’s just hope it doesn’t,” Snakeoil said.

“That means no,” Tahoe pressed.

Snakeoil didn’t answer.

Tahoe would just have to hope that Rade, Shaw and the others kept the crabs and slugs, not to mention the rogue Hoplites, engaged down there.

He prayed they all were okay.

He hated losing comms with his brothers. Hated it.

They’ll be fine down there. I know they will.

He hoped he was right.

twenty-four

Not unexpectedly, the Volare wasn’t where it was supposed to be.

“So Zhidao captured the scout Snakeoil sent down here, and spoofed the location of the Volare,” Shaw said.

“Either that, or the more plausible explanation: he moved the vessel,” Surus said.

“Yeah, that’s the other option,” Shaw agreed.

Every time a branch had come up, she had Harlequin and TJ check for signs of combustion. And when the results inevitably came back negative on all passages, Shaw chose the tunnel that she thought had the highest chance of leading closer to the vessel location as recorded on the map.

Sometimes the team reached a dead end and had to backtrack, but slowly but surely they approached the target, filling out the dark spaces on the map between the grappler site and the ship in the process. But it was all for nothing. They resided in a vast cavern, kind of a nexus point where several other tunnels joined, but it was empty.

“Maybe the ship left the asteroid entirely,” Manic said.

“Why would Zhidao fly it out?” Bender said. “When the Motley Brown easily outclasses his ship, weapons-wise.”

“Well, for the obvious reason that Zhidao doesn’t want to lose the ship when the asteroid hits the planet?” Manic said. “The Purple could fly out from a tunnel on the other side, and escape in a shuttle while the Motley Brown was busy dragging the asteroid away.”

“That would mean Zhidao was giving up,” TJ said. “I doubt the Phant is capable of such a thing. He won’t go, not while there is a chance he could prevent us from moving his precious asteroid. Not after all the work it took him to set this all up. Would you, if you were the Phant?”

“Probably not,” Manic said.

“Instead of speculating, why don’t you just ask the expert?” Shaw said. “Surus?”

“Our prey is close-by,” Surus said. “My sense of him is the strongest so far.”

“There you go,” Shaw said.

“Told you, Man-Bitch fool!” Bender said.

Not wanting their verbal sparring to escalate, Shaw spoke before Manic could reply. “Though out of curiosity, Surus, how close does a Phant have to be to crabs and slugs to remain in control of them?”

“We have limited control of them through the higher dimensions of existence,” Surus answered. “Zhidao would want to stay within the vicinity of the asteroid. Inside is the best overall location, but somewhere right outside would also work.”

“So if we can find the Volare”—and Rade—”and chase it away from here, that means any crabs and slugs out there will stop attacking, period?”

“That’s right,” Surus said. “They’ll revert to their biological programming, which is tunneling through the rock, and converting it to geronium as they can. Though they’ll still attack anything organic that moves, so we could also use our presence to guide them away from the grapplers.”

“That could be useful if T2 is experiencing any difficulties above,” TJ said.

“Against the aliens, sure,” Shaw said. “But there are still the Hoplites. We’re not sure yet how many we shot down.”

“No,” Harlequin said. “But we are sure that there are at least three of them ahead of us somewhere. Most likely guarding the Volare.”

“So which way?” TJ said.

Shaw glanced in turn at the many different tunnels that were connected to this nexus point cavern.

“I have no idea,” Shaw said.

“Ah, shit,” Bender said. “I remember the good old days, when mechs left radiation trails that could be followed by pursuers.”

“Yeah, too bad radiation leakage was fixed like ten years ago, bro,” Manic said.

“I know, moron!” Bender said. “I’m just saying: life was easier back then.”

“Still no sign of chemical combustion anywhere, Harlequin?” Shaw asked.

“No,” Harlequin said. “Though if you wanted an accurate reading, we’d have to deploy in all the adjacent tunnels and scan again, as we’ve been doing.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t be looking for signs of jumpjet combustion…” Shaw said. “Harlequin, I want you to look for traces of starship propellant instead. There should be a much higher density of that present, considering how much more it takes to move a vessel the size of the Volare.”

“All right,” Harlequin said.

“What do you mean, all right, AI?” Bender said. “Damn it! I assumed you were searching for all possible particles out there!”

“Actually I was,” Harlequin said. “But as of yet, I have not detected propellant. But presumably, that was because the Volare didn’t pass through any of the previous tunnels. I didn’t feel the need to explain all of that to Shaw, however, when an all right was sufficient.”

“Oh,” Bender said. “Okay then. I approve. Carry on.”

“I’m glad I have your approval,” Harlequin said.

“Back talking AI,” Bender grumbled.

“Okay, everyone else, spread out to the different tunnels as well,” Shaw said. “Scan for propellant, oxidants, anything.”

Several minutes later Surus spoke up.

“Got something,” Surus said. She had taken one of the central tunnels that led deeper into the asteroid. “Found a pocket of propellant trapped inside a hollow of this particular wall. The Volare definitely went this way.”

Yes!

“Everyone, into Surus’ tunnel,” Surus ordered.

“So the Volare was here after all,” Manic said. “That means Zhidao didn’t capture Snakeoil’s drone like we originally believed.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Shaw said.

“You think he purposely planted propellant here to mislead us?” TJ asked.

Surus was the one who answered. “I wouldn’t put it past our prey.”

“No, I think he’s here,” Shaw said. “Surus, you’re still detecting him?”

“Strong as ever,” Surus said.

Shaw jetted into the central tunnel with the others, and together they proceeded onward, ballistic shields held in front of them, Hoplites mounted to the walls and ready to drop in case of attack. She had Harlequin mount to the ceiling, Surus the left wall, and Manic the right, while TJ and Bender stayed with her on the floor; that formation essentially gave the team a birds-eye view of any tangos that might be lurking inside the hollows of the different walls ahead. She had learned the trick from Rade.

Shaw kept her gaze mostly on the ceiling far ahead of her, since she had the best view of the terrain there.

She didn’t have long to wait before the enemy ambush came.

“I’m taking fire,” Harlequin transmitted.

“Drop!” Shaw said, and she crouched down behind her shield. The other Hoplites clung to their respective tunnel walls, mounting inside depressions.

“My shield is holding up, but not for long,” Harlequin said. “I’m attempting to triangulate their positions based on the intensity and location of the bore holes.”

“Don’t bother,” Manic said. “I got ‘em.”

Shaw glanced at her overhead map: two red dots had appeared further down the tunnel, where Manic had spotted them.

“Okay, they’re both on the left wall!” Shaw said. “Manic, Harlequin, you’re extremely exposed. Join Surus on the left wall. Everyone else, some covering fire!”

Shaw positioned her cobra over the edge of her shield and switched to the laser’s point of view. She zoomed in on one of the enemy positions.

Above the lip of a hollow, she saw the top of a ballistic shield similar to her own, along with the business end of a cobra. The laser dropped behind the shield as she watched, and then the shield descended behind the lip, vanishing from view. She fired anyway, to make sure the enemy stayed there.

Manic and Harlequin jetted down the middle of the tunnel, and landed near Surus, taking cover in nearby depressions.

“Looks like we’re going to be dug in here for a while,” TJ commented.

“Crabs on our six,” Surus said. “I would suggest wrapping this up sooner rather than later.”

Shaw glanced at her rear view feed. Sure enough, she could see crabs in the distance, approaching from behind. Beyond them the source slug filled up the tunnel, its wireframe shape appearing as a big blob on the LIDAR.

“They planned this,” Shaw said. “To pincer us.” She returned her attention to the forward feed from her cobra.

“Got a grenade coming my way!” Bender said.

Shaw zoomed out. She spotted a small dot plummeting toward her as well. Another grenade. She resisted the urge to bat it away with her shield: in her training sessions aboard the mech simulations of the Argonaut, Rade hammered into her head that grenades would detonate upon impact. Trying to bat a grenade would only cause it to detonate, damaging her shield.

Keeping said shield deployed toward the enemy, she leaped to her feet and jetted to the side, landing in another hollow nearby. The flash behind her told her the grenade had struck. She resumed her defensive crouch.

“Let’s get some covering fire on both their positions,” Shaw said. “Surus, Harlequin, I want you to close with them.”

“You got it,” Surus said.

Shaw realized vaguely she was always assigning Surus and Harlequin the dangerous tasks. It was a prejudice on her part, she knew. She tried to tell herself she chose them because their Artificial bodies were stronger, more resilient, but deep down she knew she did it because she valued human life above that of machines. Surus couldn’t die, of course, but her host Ms. Bounty could. And Harlequin had already died during the Second Alien War.

But they have backups.

Yes, but backups couldn’t restore the dead. Backups allowed the memories and personality of a lost AI to exist in a new one. Which was perhaps why Impostor Syndrome was so prevalent among AIs restored from backups.

How would that feel? To be me. And yet not me?

These thoughts passed through her mind fleetingly as she fired at the last known location of the rogue AI she had targeted, keeping it pinned. She realized it was the original Nemesis.

I’m about to kill an AI that has saved my life on numerous occasions.

And yet she had already backed it up, and was fighting in a mech operated by that very backup.

“Your anxiety levels are elevated,” Nemesis said.

Shaw continued to fire. She glanced at the crabs that were now within seventy-five meters behind them. “You don’t say!”

“You feel it, don’t you?” Nemesis pressed. “The guilt? You’re about to destroy my predecessor...”

Shaw sighed. “Yes, fine, you got me. But what are we supposed to do?”

More grenades arced into the air, and Shaw was forced to relocate.

“Grenades!” Shaw transmitted. That was a hint to Surus and Harlequin that covering fire would probably cease for a few seconds.

She landed as the grenade detonated behind her. Other flashes indicated where more grenades impacted near the others. She glanced at the status bars of the Hoplites and their pilots on her HUD: all green. No injuries.

She released an electrolaser grenade of her own, targeting the original Nemesis.

She kept her reticle aimed at the site. Nemesis emerged, moving fast, and Shaw was unable to align her laser in time. The rogue ducked behind another nearby hollow as the grenade detonated.

“Issuing covering fire again,” Shaw said.

She kept firing her cobra, pinning the rogue mech. The others kept the original Sprint locked down.

Meanwhile Surus and Harlequin crept their Hoplites forward.

She glanced at the rear feed. The crabs were within forty meters now.

Harlequin suddenly stood up and jetted forward, making a rush at the rogue Nemesis. His mech vanished into the hollow.

The rogue mech went flying upward a moment later, shield ripped away.

Shaw led the target and fired. A lucky shot: she got it squarely in the AI core.

Momentum carried the original Nemesis upward. The mech smashed into the tunnel ceiling, and then slowly drifted downward, disabled.

And so it’s done.

I’ve killed my own mech.

She was flung backward as a flash filled her vision.

twenty-five

The hell was that?” Shaw asked.

“We were just struck by a grenade,” Nemesis answered.

“You could have warned me,” Shaw said.

“I did, but you didn’t hear, apparently,” Nemesis said.

“Damage?” she asked.

“The shield absorbed most of the blow,” Nemesis said. “However the entire upper half has been destroyed in the process.”

She examined her shield. Sure enough, it ended in a jagged edge that aligned roughly with her chest area. “Guess I’ll be doing a lot of crouching in the days to come.”

She scrambled to her feet and moved to the edge of the hollow she found herself in. She lifted her cobra over the lip.

The crabs were within twenty meters now. “Bender, start picking off those crabs!”

“Gladly!” Bender replied. “Buggies roasting on my laser fire, Jack Frost nipping at my jewels…”

“You and your bug Christmas songs!” Manic said.

The rest of the team renewed their covering fire. Surus crept toward the depression where the final rogue mech, the original Sprint, was pinned. Meanwhile Harlequin came in from the side, outflanking the target.

All of a sudden the rogue jetted into the air. It held its shield toward the Argonauts, and thrust backward, retreating into the tunnel.

“Oh no you don’t!” Shaw said. “Team, sync your cobras to mine!” She glanced at her rear feed. The crabs were almost on them. “And jet forward! We can’t stay here!” Last thing they needed was to fight the crabs and the laser-toting mech at the same time.

Shaw leaped to her feet and thrust forward. She curled up her body, trying to keep as much of her Hoplite behind the reduced shield as possible. Red spots lit up on the digital representation of the shield on her HUD, indicating where she took fire from the fleeing mech.

Floating forward, she waited until the sync indicators were green across the board, and then she lifted her cobra over the top edge of her ballistic shield. She planned to aim her targeting reticle near the center of the enemy’s shield, make a best guess approximation regarding the location of the power core behind it, and fire.

But the rogue Sprint had already begun zig-zagging back and forth, obviously anticipating a synced shot. She couldn’t track it.

Not alone.

“Nemesis, I’m handing control over to you,” Shaw said. “Try to take out the power core.” She kept an eye on the crabs behind her. The team was moving away, thanks to their superior speed. She was still taking shots from the rogue Hoplite, however, which had evidently decided to choose her as its main target.

Another grenade plunged toward her, and she jetted out of the way. It exploded, and the digital representation of her Hoplite on her HUD flashed where she took shrapnel damage along the side.

“Unfortunately, at the current angle we’ll have our best chance of terminating the mech by targeting the AI core,” Nemesis said. “As the positioning is more favorable.”

“If I jet higher, can you target the power core more easily?” Shaw asked.

“Possibly,” Nemesis said.

An alert appeared on her HUD.

Warning, shield breached above AI core. Warning…

“Take the shot now,” Shaw said. She’d run out of time. “Target AI core.”

The laser head moved back and forth above the shield for a few seconds, and then activated. The team’s synced cobras fired simultaneously, boring into the same spot.

The rogue ceased zig-zagging.

“Tango terminated,” Nemesis said.

Shaw still had her POV inside the cobra, and she could see the bore hole that had drilled right through the ballistic shield and into the mech’s underlying armor.

“Good shooting,” Shaw said. She unlinked the lasers and glanced at the rear view feed. The crabs had started to close on her again. She accelerated forward. “Let’s move!”

Bender was facing the crabs as he accelerated in the opposite direction; he had both cobras deployed, and he shot into them.

“Bender, I want you facing forward like the rest of us,” Shaw said. “And get your shield deployed. Your back is completely exposed. Remember, there are still other mechs somewhere ahead.”

“Yes Boss,” Bender said. “Bye buggies. I’ll miss you.”

He turned around and deployed his shield as requested.

The tunnel swung hard to the right and the crabs quickly dropped out of view. The tunnel kept winding like that, so she couldn’t tell how far away the crabs were. She assumed the Hoplites were pulling well ahead of them, though.

The team reached another branch in the tunnels a few minutes later.

“Spread out!” Shaw ordered. “Both tunnels. Let’s get a propellant scan done on the double.” She remained where she was, keeping an eye on the rear.

Harlequin and Manic both detected propellant in the leftmost passage.

“The leftmost it is!” Shaw said, jetting inside. When the rest of the team had flown a short way into the new tunnel with her, she added: “Re-attach to the tunnel walls. We’ll move a little slower, but we’ll be less exposed to any Hoplite fire.” In theory. Once more she opted to split the team up in order to get the best view of any lurking tangos ahead. “Surus, you get the left wall. Manic, the right. Harlequin, the ceiling. Bender, TJ, with me on the floor.”

After activating the magnetic mounts on their feet, the Hoplites moved forward through the darkness at a jog. For Shaw, it felt a little like trudging through a swamp, because the way the magnets adjusted their power output in time to her gait, based on the current angle, torque and position of her foot in relation to the surface, wasn’t perfect.

Over the course of the next half hour, they reached two more branches as demarcated by the LIDAR, and took the tunnels where small concentrations of propellant had collected in hollows and depressions. Zhidao had left breadcrumbs in the maze, whether he realized it or not.

“I’m picking up what appears to be a ship on the LIDAR,” TJ eventually said. “Could be the Volare, given the design. In fact, the vessel definitely matches the size and general shape of a Regina Mercante class.”

“You’re not getting a comm ping of any kind?” Shaw asked.

“Nope,” TJ said. “He’s definitely got most of the ship in hibernation. There is some thermal leakage, though, so obviously he’s got some systems active. I’d guess life support and gravity is online, given the distribution of the heat profile across the hull.”

So Rade might still be alive.

Of course he was. She remembered how Zhidao had taunted her when he had taken Shaw sixty-five million years into the past to the age of the dinosaurs. He had kept her and her son alive. Dropped them off in a heat-drenched rainforest surrounded by man-eating carnosaurs, with no weapons save their wits, but kept them alive nonetheless. Zhidao was twisted in that way. He liked his prey to have a fighting chance of survival. What that meant in terms of Rade’s captivity, she wasn’t sure.

“I don’t suppose you’re able to detect any life?” Shaw asked.

“Negative,” TJ said. “Even if we had HS3s with X-Ray capability, we’d have to bring them right up to the hull. And they’d only be able to detect life in the adjacent compartments. Deeper areas would be a no go.”

“Surus, are you still sensing the Purple?” Shaw asked.

“Same as before,” Surus replied.

“Okay, we—” Shaw began.

“I’ve got movement on the vessel,” Harlequin interrupted from his position on the ceiling. “Hangar bay doors of some kind are opening.” A moment later: “Got a tango!”

A dot appeared on her HUD map. It was labeled Electron. The old, or the new? It didn’t matter. Both were likely corrupted by Zhidao by now.

“I’m taking cobra fire,” Manic said.

That answered that.

She spotted the mech on her main LIDAR feed. It was jetting across, zig-zagging back and forth, headed toward Manic’s position. Several small white dots erupted from one arm. Grenades.

“Terminate with extreme prejudice!” Shaw said.

She followed the rogue Hoplite with her targeting reticle, but then flashes momentarily blocked her sight line. When it cleared, she spotted Manic’s Hoplite and Electron grappling nearby. Manic had moved to a different position to avoid the incoming grenades, and it seemed Electron had caught him by surprise, because the robot was attacking his back, ripping parts from his jumpjets.

Shaw acquired her target, but Manic managed to flip Electron over, placing himself on top.

“Manic, you’re blocking our view!” Shaw said.

Manic jetted backward—so his jumpjets actually still worked—and once more she had a bead on Electron. But the rogue mech rolled into a hollow and she lost sight of it.

The tunnel floor shook underneath her.

“Uh, we got a burrower I think,” TJ said.

“TJ, Bender, move!” Shaw thrust upward, and the tunnel floor opened up underneath her as a sinkhole formed. But the burrower must have pulled back, or halted its ascent, because crabs erupted from the caved depths instead. Some of the biggest she’d ever witnessed, according to the LIDAR.

She jetted forward, but crabs leaped up into her path, and she was forced to bash them away with her shield or her cobra. She shot away as many of the dangling cords as she could get a bead on.

“Forget the crabs and Electron!” Shaw said. “Get to the Volare!”

The vessel’s running lights activated, filling the tunnel with illumination.

“She’s turning on,” Bender said.

“You’re getting turned on?” Manic said.

“Yeah, by you,” Bender said. “It’s so hot how those bugs are whooping your ass!”

Shaw broke free of the crabs and swung her shield toward Electron’s last known position. She began to take cobra fire. She swiveled the grenade launcher into her right hand instead of the cobra, and launched a couple of grenades at the mech.

The ship was beginning to accelerate away.

She kept her LIDAR overlay active over her vision, since the running lights from the Volare didn’t illuminate all the nooks and crannies on the vessel’s exterior. She spotted what looked like Viper turrets on the hull. Hopefully those hadn’t charged yet.

“Does this ship design have any point defenses?” Shaw asked.

“No,” TJ said. “But it does have a missile launcher.”

“Great.” Shaw said.

A missile alert activated on her HUD.

There it is.

She dove, firing her Trench Coat at the same time. The anti-missile countermeasures erupted from all sides of her, seeking out the incoming object. The flash above her, followed by the compressive gasses that forced her downward, told her that she had escaped, but only just barely.

She tried to compensate for the sudden downward momentum, but couldn’t fire enough countering thrust and bounced off the tunnel floor. She jetted onward and spotted the Volare’s open hangar bay doors.

They were closing.

Shaw fired her jumpjets at emergency speed, burning through her fuel, and came up fast on the closing hangar bay. She darted inside.

Gravity pulled her to the deck immediately and she landed with a crash. She rolled across the surface, sending out sparks, and managed to right herself only to hit the far bulkhead. She bounced off of it.

Small laser fire was coming in from her side, so she quickly swiveled her shield that way. She aimed her cobra past the edges and took out the three Centurions who had been waiting in the hangar bay to ambush her.

Then she spun toward the bay doors. They were almost closed. Before the doors shut entirely, she saw several receding flashes out there: more missiles detonating near her team, no doubt.

“Guys!” Shaw said, hurrying toward the doors. She planned to bash them open.

“The ship is moving too fast, now,” TJ said. His voice distorted badly. “We can’t reach you.”

“It’s up to you now,” Surus said. “We—” But her voice cut out.

The blue indicators representing her team members froze on the overhead map. Also frozen were the red dots of the crabs that had surrounded them.

She had moved out of range.

It’s up to you now.

Shaw turned away from the bay doors and went to the airlock instead. She smashed her mech’s hand into the hatch and squeezed, crumpling the metal. Then she pulled her arm away and ripped the door right off. She reached inside the airlock with her arm, and did the same thing to the outer hatch, tossing it into the bay behind her. The hangar hadn’t finished equalizing the pressure with the rest of the ship, so destroying the inner door caused a slight explosive decompression, with items near the breached airlock toppling over from the induced wind.

That airlock, and the passageways beyond, was too small to fit something as big as her mech.

“Guard the hangar bay,” Shaw instructed Nemesis.

“Initiating guard mode,” Nemesis said.

“Release,” Shaw said.

The actuators around her body retracted and she dropped to the bottom of the cockpit thanks to the ship’s artificial gravity. Her vision became pitch black when the mech’s camera feed cut out, but a rectangular crack of light appeared in front of her as the Hoplite’s external hatch opened. She kicked the door open the rest of the way and drew the blaster from her utility belt. That blaster was the only weapon she or any of the Argonauts could carry inside the cockpits of their Hoplites; anything bigger disrupted the functioning of the internal actuators.

Shaw leaped onto the deck in her jumpsuit.

twenty-six

The hangar bay lights abruptly cut out, replaced by dimmer emergency versions. Zhidao wanted to make things interesting for Shaw, did he?

A klaxon sounded, with a computerized voice occasionally repeating: “Warning, intruder detected.” That she heard the voice at all told her the atmosphere had stabilized. She could also see red swaths occasionally shining from the corridor beyond, no doubt emanating from the rotating alarm lights out there.

She momentarily holstered her blaster to open up the storage compartment in her Hoplite’s leg area. She took three frag grenades from inside and secured them to the harness of her jumpsuit. She also retrieved the stun rifle she had stowed there, and an ordinary plasma rifle, which would be useful for penetrating any breach seals she encountered along the way. Though when it came to fighting, the blaster at her hips would be much more workable given the tight confines of the ship.

She slid the two rifles onto her shoulder via the straps and withdrew her blaster once more. She turned away from Nemesis; the large mech resuming its guard vigil.

Shaw had no worries about leaving the Hoplite behind. Nemesis had a shielded AI core, so Zhidao wouldn’t be able to take over, not unless the Phant could shut down the mech first. Good luck with that.

Her jumpsuit was also equipped with Phant repelling tech, so Zhidao wouldn’t be able to incinerate her in his native form. As such, he would likely come at her while inside a host machine. Probably a combat robot, or maybe the old Ms. Bounty. Either way, she’d be in for a fight. She dialed up the power output of her jumpsuit servomotors to full as she approached the airlock.

Ah, her jumpsuit. The great equalizer. The enhancement provided by the servomotors would put her on par with a Centurion in terms of strength, though she’d be lacking in the speed department: she didn’t have hardpoints on her body like Rade that allowed the suit to interface directly with her body’s nervous system. Well, she’d just have to make do. Ideally, she’d never let the enemy get close in the first place.

She entered the airlock and pied the passageway outside with her blaster. The darkened corridor ended in a bulkhead to her left, while leading away to her right. The alarm light out there continued to revolve its angry red fan over the dim illumination provided by the emergency lights.

Shaw stepped into the passageway, keeping the blaster raised in front of her. She tried to minimize her profile by staying close to the left bulkhead, but the passageway wasn’t all that spacious; even when she flattened herself against the metal wall, the sheer bulk of her suit and jetpack combination filled half the corridor.

The klaxon continued to sound, as did the voice proclaiming an intruder.

As she proceeded forward through that empty corridor alone, she had the sudden sinking feeling that Zhidao had let her board on purpose.

Is he toying with me again, as he did when he had me and Alex under his thumb sixty five million years in the past?

She almost dreaded finding Rade. What if Zhidao had done something horrible to him?

She remembered what the Phants had done to Fan in the first Alien War, when she had been trapped eight thousand lightyears away from the rest of humanity. Giant mechanical arms had hoisted Fan into the air and grafted a thick steel bar into his spinal cord so that the Phants could control his human body without incinerating it. A Red had seeped inside that steel bar and taken control of him, and when Fan had looked at her, he had seemed heavily drugged, with no recognition whatsoever in his dull eyes.

She shook her head, banishing the memory. Still, she feared something like that had happened to Rade.

Please no.

Then again, what use would Zhidao have for a possessed human when he had access to combat robots and Artificials already? There was none. The only purpose it would serve would be to mock and terrify her. Unfortunately, that was precisely what Zhidao seemed to enjoy doing best. Then again, Zhidao didn’t have the necessary grafting technology at hand. When Fan had been converted, Shaw had been aboard a Phant mothership filled to the brim with Tech Class IV technology. Zhidao had none of that here.

But I’m sure the Purple could improvise.

Once more she forced the thoughts away. She had to focus now, above all times. Concentrate on the moment. Especially considering that an ambush could occur at any time.

She reached a breach seal and holstered her blaster, lowering the plasma rifle down from her shoulder instead. She opened fire at the seal, and the metal turned red. She kept firing until the metal became white hot; finally the metal began to melt away entirely, with a hole forming in the center, eating its way outward.

She spotted the three Centurions waiting on the other side just in time, and she ducked, using the edge of the gaping hole for cover. She realized her jetpack was probably exposed, so she dropped further. She considered placing the muzzle over the edge of the hole and switching her viewpoint to the rifle’s scope in an attempt to take them out, but she didn’t want to risk losing the weapon, as the plasma rifle gave her the only hope of blasting through those breach seals—she doubted the manual overrides would work, considering she was the intruder here. Zhidao had probably plasma’d the manual open jacks as well, like he’d done aboard the Argonaut.

Instead, she slid the rifle back over her shoulder, grabbed two of the grenades from her harness, and tossed them through the breach. She unholstered her blaster, waited for the explosion, and stood as the deck shuddered underneath her. She fired her blaster through the gaping hole and into the rapidly clearing smoke of the passageway beyond.

She picked out the still-standing silhouettes of two of the robots, and targeted each in turn. As they collapsed, she searched the deck for the third, and fired at its prostrate form. The robot didn’t move as she drilled a hole in its power core area—apparently the machine was already down for the count.

She holstered the weapon and retrieved her plasma rifle once more, and released a few more shots to widen the hole in the seal. She waited for the edges to cool, then pulled herself through. She switched to her blaster once again and proceeded forward, stepping meticulously over the twisted wreckage of the robots underneath her. Sharp fragments of shrapnel protruded from the surrounded bulkheads. Gotta love a good grenade blast.

She reached a T intersection and pied both sides with her blaster. Clear. Thanks to the military data in her Implant, Shaw already had the blueprints available for this particular class of ship, and she overlaid them with her overhead map, filling out the black “fog of war” regions. According to that data, the brig would be to the left.

Assuming that was where Zhidao actually kept Rade...

The klaxon sounded repeatedly in the background, with that annoying computer voice announcing the presence of an intruder every minute or so. The alarm lights were placed at regular intervals along the passageway, and continued to rotate, bathing the corridor in red every complete revolution.

She arrived at another breach seal and made short work of it with her plasma rifle. She ducked to the side as soon as she had formed a hole, and then careful pied the opening. There were no robots waiting beyond.

She enlarged the hole with the plasma rifle, waited for the edges to cool, and then pulled herself through to continue onward.

The deck shuddered for a moment and Shaw wondered if the ship was taking external fire. Maybe the other Hoplites had arrived. She could only hope.

She should be coming in range of Rade’s Implant, soon. Sure enough, as she had the thought, his blue dot appeared on her overhead map, aligned with the brig up ahead.

“Rade, do you read?” she tried. “Rade?”

He didn’t answer. That was troubling.

She lost contact with Nemesis shortly thereafter. The comm node aboard the Hoplite was only moderately more powerful than the node in a jumpsuit, and could only penetrate the thick bulkheads so far.

She shot through another breach seal without encountering resistance, and switched back to her blaster as she approached a T intersection. The brig, and Rade, was located halfway down the passage on the right.

Before she reached the intersection, a Centurion leaped out from the right-hand branch and caught her by surprise. It wielded a pipe of some kind, and batted aside her blaster, sending it spiraling into the bulkhead beside her. And then the combat robot was on her, its limbs a blur as it repeatedly bashed her suit with that metal implement in staccato rapid-fire.

She managed to grab the pipe with her left arm; meanwhile, she unleashed several quick blows into the robot’s neck region with her right glove in an attempt to punch the head off. Didn’t work.

The robot hooked a foot underneath her and she tripped, landing hard on her side. The Centurion landed on top of her, discarded the pipe, and followed up with a flurry of fist blows to her faceplate that were designed to break through the translucent polycarbonate. The pane quickly spidered.

Shaw slammed both arms up across her face and pushed the robot off of her, but it grabbed her wrist and hoisted her into the air, slamming her first into the left bulkhead and then the right. It was about to slam her back against the left when she fired off her jetpack, dragging the robot down the passageway.

The robot dug its feet into the bulkhead beside them, halting the forward motion, and then wrapped a hand around her jetpack intake. Before the robot could crush it, she vented thrust sideways, crashing into the bulkhead, and the Centurion. She cut off the flow and she and the robot crashed to the deck.

She rolled away, hitting the far bulkhead almost immediately thanks to her bulky suit. Still lying down, she slid the plasma rifle from her shoulder and let off a shot as the robot came at her. Another shot. The robot’s right arm and upper chest melted away.

But that didn’t stop it. It grabbed the rifle before she could fire a third shot and wrenched it away. Then it began to beat her with the stock as she lay on the deck. It concentrated on her helmet.

Shaw dodged the first two blows, and raised her hands to shield herself with her gloves for the following impacts. Even through the thick fabric she felt the blows, but the adrenalin dulled any pain she might have otherwise felt.

Shaw slid her leg to the side—she was the one tripping the robot this time. After the Centurion came crashing down, she shoved her last grenade into the robot’s melted arm section. She fired the reverse thrust on her jetpack at the same time, accelerating away. She cut the flow and turned her back on the robot so that the bulky jetpack would hopefully shield her, and then she detonated the grenade remotely.

The explosion rocked the passageway. Shrapnel struck her jetpack, and a notice appeared on her HUD:

Warning. Jetpack intake valves severed. Jetpack is disabled.

She glanced at the robot. Or rather, its wreckage. It definitely wouldn’t be attacking her again.

She wondered why Zhidao had sent it in without a proper weapon. And then she realized the Purple probably wanted to capture her alive. Most likely to taunt and torture her.

Evil bastard.

She doffed her useless jetpack, glad to be free of the extra bulk that came with it. She’d lost her stun rifle in the scuffle, and she spotted it beside the plasma rifle near the wreckage of the robot. She hoped neither weapon had been harmed in the explosion. Her blaster was still near the intersection up ahead, where the Centurion had batted it away.

Before she could do anything further, another robot came dashing around the T intersection and headed directly toward her. This one carried an unfriendly-looking hammer.

twenty-seven

Shaw reacted immediately, and instinctively dashed toward the robot. She leaped to the side at the last moment and activated the super magnets in her boots to take three gravity-defying steps along the bulkhead past the robot. Without the bulk of the jetpack, she was able to clear the Centurion without touching it; she pushed off from the bulkhead, swung her foot around, and booted the Centurion in the back of the head in one of her signature moves. The robot stumbled forward.

She landed at a crouch and momentum slid her backward along the deck a full meter; the blaster was within reach beside her. She dove toward it, scooped the weapon up, and fired into the AI core of the robot as it rushed her.

The Centurion toppled with a big bore hole perforating its chest piece.

Shaw scrambled to her feet, fired one last confirmation shot into the robot’s core, and then stepped past it to retrieve the rifles near the other wreckage. Neither weapon had taken any shrapnel damage as far as she could tell, and according to her HUD, both were still functional.

She stowed the weapons onto her shoulder and approached the T intersection with her blaster, first pieing the right-hand side, since that was where the robots had come from, and then the left. It seemed safe. She moved into the corridor quickly, and once more checked both sides. Still clear.

She hurried to the brig. The door was sealed, and she proceeded to melt it with the plasma rifle. She could see Rade inside, lying on the floor.

On no.

His jumpsuit had been partially ripped away, and the rest of the suit was in tatters. He was unconscious.

She quickly enlarged the hole in the door, making it wide enough to fit Rade as well, in case she had to drag him out of there.

Without waiting for the edges of the hole to cool, she dashed inside and went to him. She knelt beside her love and lifted him into her arms.

“Rade,” Shaw said, using the external speakers. “My life. My love.”

He didn’t answer. His breath came in ragged gasps. She saw cuts, welts and bruises along the skin, and realized he had been beaten to within a centimeter of his life. A hardpoint on one of his shoulders had been yanked out entirely, revealing an ugly red wound in his flesh.

The robots had done this. There was a reason they were equipped with bludgeoning weapons... she was filled with a sudden rage, and was very happy she had reduced them to piles of scrap metal. While she was relieved Rade had no steel bar attached to his back, what had been done to him was inexcusable. Zhidao would pay for this.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, from the deck beside her purple liquid oozed forth. Shaw gasped, and quickly pulled Rade away, not wanting that deadly liquid to incinerate him. It was lucky she had been so close to Rade: she had no doubt Zhidao intended to destroy him, but the Phant-repelling properties of her suit had saved him.

She set Rade down on the bunk nearby and swung down her stun rifle, but before she could fire it the liquid bubbled back into the deck.

“That’s right, run, you bastard,” Shaw said.

She hoisted Rade into her arms and fled the compartment.

“We have to get you to sickbay,” she told him.

Still unconscious, Rade didn’t answer.

Even with her suit to augment her strength, he was still heavy, and soon she had to lower him to the deck and drag him along behind her by the arms instead. It was slightly disrespectful to the man she loved, she thought, but it was the only way she could get him to sickbay in any reasonable time. She used the blueprints on her overhead map to guide her.

She had to blast through another breach seal along the way, and then through the sickbay hatch itself. She encountered no further resistance from the robots.

She set Rade down on an operating table, removed his tattered jumpsuit, and then wheeled one of the Weavers into place beside him.

She was worried the Weavers would refuse to treat him, but thankfully the machine soon whirred into action, its telescoping limbs blurring across him, scanning him as part of the initial diagnosis. That was good, because it meant their Machine Constitutions hadn’t been disabled, and they would treat him, even if he was an intruder.

“Do you have a diagnosis?” Shaw asked.

“He has several broken bones, and bruising to the dermis,” the Weaver answered. “He also has a concussion, with swelling to the brain. I am injecting a solution to reduce the capillary seepage. I will also manually drain some of the fluid to relieve brain compression.”

One metal limb applied a sonic injector to his arm, while another telescoped forward, each segment smaller than the last, until it pierced the back of Rade’s neck. A small, flexible tube was connected to the underside of that limb. She knew an even smaller version of that tube would be passing underneath his skull at that very moment, heading toward the affected area.

A thick red fluid soon seeped upward through the tube as the Weaver drained the injury.

Shaw kept watch with her stun rifle as the robot worked. She was more than ready to fire at Zhidao if he appeared again.

Finally the tube became clear and the limb extracted.

“When is he going to be conscious?” Shaw said.

“Soon,” the Weaver replied.

She waited for him to wake up. After about thirty seconds, with Rade still lying there in a coma, Shaw said: “How soon are we talking?”

“Hey babe.” Rade opened his eyes and looked at her. “Ah, now there’s a sight for sore eyes. Literally.”

Shaw was speechless. She’d never felt so happy in her life. She leaned over and tried to kiss him, but succeeded only in bouncing her faceplate off his lips.

“Whoops,” she said.

“Hey there, slow down sailor,” Rade said, rubbing his mashed lips.

“My big warrior,” she finally managed. She blinked away the tears that had come to her eyes. Now wasn’t the time to get emotional. Rade needed her. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”

“And I’m glad you are, too,” Rade said.

“How do you feel?” she said.

“Like I’ve been run over by a grav tram.” Rade glanced at the telescoping limbs of the robot. “Hey Weaver, can you inject me with a pick-me-up? I really need to get on my feet.”

One of the Weaver’s limbs telescoped to apply a sonic injector to his bicep. “Stimulant has been supplied.”

“Thank you.” Rade attempted to sit up... his lips curled into a rictus of pain, and he ground his jaw.

“You have broken bones!” Shaw said.

When Rade continued trying to rise, she held out an arm to help him. With her support he was finally able to sit up.

“Looks like it’s not just my eyes that are sore.” He touched his side and flinched. He looked at Shaw. “Broken bones, you say? Ribs definitely have some issues. We’re still aboard the Volare I take it?”

She nodded. “We are. Can you walk?”

Rade pursed his lips. “Think so.” He slid off the bed with her help and attempted to stand on both feet. He inhaled with a hiss and immediately shifted his weight to the right leg. “Can’t put much weight on my left foot, though.”

“Weaver?” Shaw asked.

“His left leg is fractured at the tibia,” the Weaver said.

“Through the jumpsuit?” she asked in disbelief. “Can you heal the bone?”

“Yes,” the Weaver said. “But I will need half an hour.”

“A quick splint will do,” Shaw said.

“I will have to set the bone first,” the Weaver said.

“Fine, but no sedatives,” Rade said.

Shaw lowered Rade onto the operating table again and then the Weaver set to work. She stood guard once more with the stun rifle.

Zhidao’s voice came over the sickbay’s intercom. “You humans are so predictable, so malleable.” It wasn’t the old Ms. Bounty speaking, but rather the voice Zhidao had used the last time he had held her hostage: male, Sino-Korean accented, with a tinny, mechanical undertone. Most likely the Purple had taken control of the Volare’s AI.

“I’ve already flown this vessel out of the asteroid,” Zhidao continued. “Right in front of your friends. Their ship could have easily shot me down, but guess what? They chose to target our engines only. They know you two are aboard. Or they know Shaw is, anyway. You functioned as my human shields. Ah humanity. Like I said, predictable. They’re still dragging the asteroid away, of course, so they can’t intervene. Did I mention they took out the engines?”

“You did,” Rade said, obviously annoyed.

“Yes,” Zhidao said. “Well, they only destroyed one of them. That, and the Vipers.” Shaw remembered when the deck had shuttered earlier. “I managed to fire off the rest of my Hellfires, causing them some damage, too. And of course in the process I severed one of the carbon fiber cords they’re using to tow the asteroid.”

“They’ll get it repaired,” Rade said. “They won’t let you Phants lead another species to extinction.”

“Maybe,” Zhidao said. “Either way, by taking out one of my engines, they obviously intended to slow the Volare.”

“That’s right.” Rade gritted his teeth as the Weaver set his bone. “They’ll run you down and board the ship as soon as they’ve redirected the last asteroid.”

“Or so they believe,” Zhidao said. His voice sounded mocking. “Because you see, Rade Galaal”—he said those words with such spite—”I have no intention of letting your friends do that. They won’t run me down. I’m flying, limping perhaps, but still flying, toward the planet. By slowing me your friends have only killed you and your woman. The Volare will burn up upon reentry. Meanwhile, I will take the ship’s only shuttle away from here and survive.”

“They’ll hunt down your shuttle,” Rade said. “You’re wasting your time. A starship is way faster.”

“But a shuttle is also very much smaller,” Zhidao said. “I’ve installed several stealth additions to this shuttle of mine. I plan to shut off the engines as soon as I’ve achieved my desired speed and trajectory. Without life support to maintain, and the thermal seepage that goes along with it, your friends will never detect me. I’ll coast right past them.”

“I didn’t see a shuttle in the hangar bay when I arrived,” Shaw said.

“That’s the ancillary hangar bay,” Zhidao said. “Check your blueprints. There is also a main hangar bay.”

She checked. Zhidao was right.

“Good-bye,” the alien said.

“To hell with you as well,” Rade said.

Zhidao didn’t answer.

The Weaver finished wrapping Rade’s lower leg in a polycarbonate brace, and Shaw helped him stand. He still couldn’t put very much weight on the foot, so Shaw gave him her shoulder to act as a crutch. With her help, he was able to walk, limping, into the passageway outside. Shaw gave Rade the plasma rifle to carry with his free hand. She kept the stun rifle for herself, hanging from her opposite shoulder.

Even without his boots Rade was taller than her, so he had to hunch down against her shoulder. It certainly put a lot of pressure on that joint.

“We have to get to the hangar bay,” Shaw said. “My Hoplite is there.”

“Oh, by the way,” Zhidao’s voice came again over the intercom. “Nemesis is no longer aboard.”

“What are you talking about?” Shaw said. “And I thought you left already!”

“Still here,” Zhidao taunted. “And regarding the mech: I opened up the hangar bay doors, fired a grappling hook from the shuttle, and hauled your Hoplite outside, well beyond the return range of its jumpjets. You’re trapped aboard a sinking ship. Ta-ta!”

“I don’t believe you,” Shaw said.

But Zhidao didn’t answer.

She glanced at Rade. “It can’t be true.”

“Let’s try the evac station first, just in case,” Rade said. “It looks close.”

“All right,” Shaw said. “But it’s unnerving, not knowing how much time we have until the Volare begins atmospheric entry.”

“All the more reason to do this quickly,” Rade said.

Using the blueprints, Shaw led him toward the only evac station aboard. It was fairly close, admittedly. Still, that didn’t mean they would be leaving the ship: it was possible the Volare’s AI would deny them access to the lifepods there. Or maybe Zhidao had sabotaged the pods outright, or launched them all.

She and Rade moved as fast as they could. Together, their combined body width almost filled the entire breadth of the passageway: he was almost as wide without a jumpsuit as she was with one.

There were no breach seals along the way to slow them down, luckily, and the pair made good time to the evac station. Rade was very pale by then, and obviously in great pain.

“Are you all right?” Shaw asked when he stumbled.

He grunted weakly. The pick-me-up was obviously wearing off.

She helped Rade to the closest hatch, peered into the portal, and realized the associated lifepod had already ejected: only empty space awaited beyond. She moved to the next four hatches in turn. All gone.

“This isn’t good...” Shaw said under her breath.

She took Rade to the last hatch and gazed into the portal. She was relieved to find herself staring at the insides of a lifepod.

“Okay, there’s a pod,” Shaw said. She tried the open switch and the hatch readily swung aside. She slid the plasma rifle down from his shoulder, placed it on the deck behind her, and lowered Rade within. He seemed barely cognizant of what was going on. Instead of the usual automated clamps, there were a pair of low-tech straps available to secure a passenger. An old model.

“I have to go, big guy,” Shaw said, tightening the straps. “Thanks for everything. Never forget, I always loved you.”

Rade looked up groggily. “What?”

“There’s only enough room for you,” Shaw said.

“No.” Rade became lucid, and struggled against his binds. “You can’t do this to me.”

“I can, and I will,” she said. “I have to.”

Rade’s face was full of anguish. “No.”

“I’ll be fine, Nemesis is aboard, remember?” Shaw said. “Zhidao was lying. He had to be.”

“What if you’re wrong?” Rade asked.

Shaw stepped back and hovered her hand over the launch switch next to the open hatch. “Then I’m wrong.”

Goodbye, Rade.

Shaw hit the switch.

twenty-eight

Shaw stepped back.

But before the hatch could seal, Rade flung out his good leg, causing the safety mechanism to activate.

“Error,” a computerized voice came from the pod. “Door blockage. Please remove obstacle.”

“Rade, what are you doing?” Shaw said.

Rade had apparently figured out how to open his straps, and he did so in that moment. He drunkenly threw himself forward.

Shaw caught him. “Rade! Get back in there!”

She was about to shove him back inside, but the unobstructed hatch slammed shut behind him.

No…

The pod jettisoned, completing the launch sequence without its passenger.

Shaw stared through the portal and watched the lifepod recede. “What have you done?”

Rade hugged her tightly. “I prefer it this way. Now let’s get to the hangar bay and find Nemesis.”

Assuming we make it before the ship burns up. And assuming Nemesis is actually there.

She was about to look away from the portal when a flash appeared in deep space. The lifepod was gone: it had exploded. If Rade had been aboard…

It had all been a trick on Zhidao’s part. He had ejected most of the pods save one so that Rade and Shaw would have to make a choice over who lived and who died. And then the person who had stayed behind, thinking they had sacrificed themselves for the other, would have to sit back and watch as their loved one died.

Such a terrible, cruel trick.

Just like Zhidao.

“What are you waiting for?” Rade asked, wheezing.

Apparently he hadn’t noticed the explosion. She would tell him later, once they were out of there.

“Nothing.” Shaw retrieved the plasma rifle from the deck and slid it back over Rade’s shoulder. Then, retracing her steps, she helped her limping warrior toward the original hangar bay.

At the breach seals, she had to take Rade through sideways because of the smaller oval shapes her plasma shots formed in the metal, and she wasn’t about to waste time enlarging those holes.

“You did this?” Rade asked at one point, when they stepped over the wreckage of the Centurions.

“Uh huh,” Shaw said.

“That’s my girl.”

When they were three passageways away from the hangar bay, the Hoplite’s indicator suddenly appeared on the overhead map.

“You’re still aboard!” Shaw transmitted.

“Of course,” Nemesis said. “I’ve been in guard mode all this time.”

Sure enough, Zhidao had lied.

Rade was beginning to fade again, and Shaw half dragged, half walked him the rest of the way. Most of his weight was on her shoulder, which was beginning to feel very sore.

Waiting in front of the airlock, just out of the line of sight of Nemesis in the hangar beyond, stood Ms. Bounty. She wasn’t wearing a jumpsuit.

Shaw paused. “Zhidao? Or Surus?”

“No, only the original Ms. Bounty,” the Artificial replied. “Zhidao possessed me. Forced me to do evil things. But I’m free now.”

“Then let’s go,” Shaw said. “Nemesis is waiting for us in the hangar bay. You can ride in the passenger seat.”

“Wait,” Rade said. He forced himself to stand straighter, leaning less heavily on her shoulder. The Artificial’s presence had brought him back to Shaw. “How can we be sure it’s really you? That Zhidao hasn’t reprogrammed you, or planted a Trojan?”

Shaw released Rade entirely, letting him lean against the bulkhead for a moment.

“We don’t have time for this,” Shaw said. “The Volare will be hitting the atmosphere any second now. Ms. Bounty, I’m going to fire my stun rifle at you.” Even though the Artificial wasn’t possessed by a Phant, the electromagnetic energy from the rifle would still momentarily stun Ms. Bounty’s AI core. “Then I’m going to shut you off and we’ll load you into Nemesis’ passenger seat.”

Shaw started to raise her weapon.

Ms. Bounty launched at Shaw, moving in a blur across the passageway. But before the Artificial could reach her, Ms. Bounty’s upper body was sent reeling backward. The Artificial landed on its back, a huge gaping hole marring its midsection.

Rade lowered the plasma rifle.

“Well that answers that,” Rade said.

“I thought you didn’t like killing AIs?” Shaw said.

“Hate it,” Rade remarked. “But I hate it even more when an AI tries to touch my girl.”

“You could have waited another second,” Shaw said.

“Nope,” Rade said. “I had to fire when I did.”

Shaw felt a moment of grief for the AI that was once Ms. Bounty, and Shaw regretted that she had not fired her stun rifle before Rade could loose the plasma shot: Ms. Bounty’s AI core was now completely unrecoverable.

But Surus already restored her backups to a new Ms. Bounty.

Restoring a backup to a new Ms. Bounty wasn’t the same as saving the original Ms. Bounty, but unfortunately there was nothing she could do about that.

Shaw helped Rade limp into the hangar bay.

The Hoplite was waiting for her on its knees, its cockpit hatch open and inviting.

“Hey Nemesis,” Shaw said.

“Hello, Shaw,” the big mech said.

Rade glanced at the hangar bay doors as Shaw brought him to the mech. “Why didn’t Zhidao open up the bay doors to space us?” His voice was weak. “Or me, anyway, since I kinda don’t have a suit.”

“He likes to give his playthings a fighting chance.” Shaw helped Rade onto the cockpit hatch. “No sport for him, otherwise.”

“That very well may be the case,” Nemesis said. “But while you were gone I had a lot of free time on my hands, and I used the opportunity to hack into the bay doors. Turns out these Regina Mercante class ships have some unpatched vulnerabilities that allow for local system escalations. I’m in complete control of them, and I made sure the doors remained sealed.”

“Nice, but one question: will you be able to cycle oxygen into the cockpit once Rade is inside, so he has enough to breathe?” Shaw asked as she clambered in after her warrior.

“Of course,” the Hoplite said.

The hatch sealed behind her and Rade, draping them in darkness. Shaw activated the headlamp in her suit to provide some illumination.

Around her, the inner actuators didn’t activate—there wasn’t enough room for the cocoon to engage, not while she and Rade were both inside. That meant Shaw couldn’t control the mech—not that it really mattered at the moment. She just wanted to get Rade and herself out of there.

“Take us out whenever you’re ready,” Shaw told the AI. “We have no time to lose.”

She tapped into the mech’s external camera feed and shared it with Rade.

She watched the bay doors open. Air explosively vented past as atmosphere from all the compartments and passageways Shaw had perforated was sucked out. Loose items in the hangar bay smashed into the hull of the mech on the way out.

Nemesis leaped into that gale and fired jumpjets to bring them into the starry void.

She felt a little queasy as the weightlessness hit. The large half-dome of the planet floated just above.

Nemesis continued to jet away from the Volare, but then the mech abruptly cut thrust.

“Like the Volare, we’re on a decaying orbit,” Nemesis said. “I don’t have enough jumpjet fuel to correct that.”

“How long until we burn up?” Shaw asked.

“Forty-five minutes, at current speed and trajectory,” Nemesis replied.

Well that was a relief. Somewhat.

“Conserve what fuel you have,” Shaw ordered. “We’ll need it to link up with the rescue shuttle.”

“How do you know there’s going to be a rescue shuttle?” Rade said. “Nemesis, are you able to reach the Motley Brown?”

“Now that we’ve departed the Volare, I have a weak signal, yes,” Nemesis said. “Not real-time.”

“Good, tell Snakeoil to send in a shuttle then.” Rade lay back, resting his head against the cockpit wall.

Nemesis replied ten seconds later. “He says a Dragonfly is already on the way. But speaking of shuttles… I’ve picked up the retreating craft Zhidao is using. Apparently, his shuttle left the Volare a little late. He’s still firing engines, trying to achieve escape velocity, and therefore his thermal emissions are showing up, at least from here—the signature is very weak, however. Definitely some sort of stealth tech involved. I’m not sure the Motley Brown will detect it at their range.”

“Relay the coordinates to Snakeoil,” Rade said tiredly. “Along with the acceleration and trajectory. Tell him to shoot down that shuttle.”

Nemesis once again took some time to reply: “Snakeoil tells me the asteroid is currently occluding the shuttle. But the craft’s trajectory will bring it past the edge in approximately twenty seconds, allowing a firing solution. I’ll retransmit updated coordinates then.”

“Nemesis, rotate the external camera toward Zhidao’s shuttle,” Shaw said. “And zoom in. I’d like to watch him go down.”

Shaw’s video feed updated so that she was staring at the small shuttle craft from the Volare. It was accelerating away from the planet.

Twenty seconds later several small dark spots appeared on the shuttle as the Vipers from the Motley Brown disabled the engines. A moment later explosive slugs chucked from the Motley Brown’s mag-rails tore into the craft, tearing it apart.

“Did Zhidao achieve escape velocity before we destroyed the shuttle?” Shaw asked.

“No,” Nemesis said.

“How long until the debris reaches the atmosphere?” Shaw asked. “Are we talking weeks, or days?”

“Hours, now,” Nemesis said. “The mag rail explosions shifted the trajectory. The remains of the shuttle will burn up in roughly three hours.”

“But Zhidao will survive…” Shaw said. She glanced at Rade. “Is it worth trying to retrieve the Purple?”

Rade shook his head. “He’ll be in mist form out there in the void, but still capable of locomotion. His acceleration will be slow, not enough to achieve escape velocity, but definitely enough to separate himself from the debris. If we go to the wreckage, he’ll be anywhere within a kilometer radius by the time we arrive. Or larger. In fact, he’s probably fighting his momentum, slowing himself down, so that he falls to the surface even faster. That would be the most logical way to escape.”

“We won’t find him, you’re saying,” Shaw said.

“We won’t find him,” Rade agreed.

“Maybe when our rescue shuttle arrives we could use it as a lure?” Shaw said. “Tempt Zhidao into boarding the AI?”

“I somehow doubt he’ll take the bait,” Rade said weakly. “Especially considering he won’t be able to achieve the higher orbits necessary to reach the shuttle, once we arrive. And even if he did, he’d play it smart, and seep into the hull of our shuttle. And the moment we docked, he’d secretly flow into the deck of the hangar bay. You really want a rogue Phant hidden somewhere aboard the Motley Brown? After everything we’ve been through? Let him fall to the planet surface, I say. We’ll have Surus track him down afterward.”

Shaw shook her head. “I’m not sure she’ll find him. He might get smart, and hide in the planet’s crust this time.”

“That’s fine, too,” Rade said. “Let him stay trapped on this planet forever.”

“But the aliens here are mid Tech Class I already,” Shaw said. “They have some machines. Zhidao could conquer them, and eventually build himself a starship.”

“Actually, he can’t,” Rade said. “Those machines the aliens have? They aren’t anywhere close to an AI. Zhidao needs a neural network. He can’t possess an ordinary machine. As such, there’s no way he’ll be able to conquer these aliens, nor teach them how to build a starship. Oh sure, he can incinerate them all he wants, but it won’t help. There probably won’t be any AI equivalents developed here for at least two hundred years or longer. So we won’t find him. Not in our lifetimes, anyway. And you’re right, when he reaches the surface, he’ll probably seep into the mantle and hibernate for the next century or so. That’s what I would do if I was the Phant. But we’ll send Surus out to look for him anyway. You never know, she might get lucky.”

“So it’s over then,” Shaw said.

“It is,” Rade said. “At least for us.”

Shaw nodded. “The asteroid is still out there. Nemesis, can you ask Snakeoil for an update?”

Nemesis replied a few seconds later. “He says they’ll be able to move the asteroid in time. The Hoplites were able to successfully defend the grappler site. When your team went into the tunnels, you drew most of the crabs and slugs with you. The surface team only had to move the grappler two more times.”

“And how is my team doing?” Shaw asked.

“Snakeoil tells me they’re leading the crabs and slugs on a wild goose chase through the tunnels,” Nemesis said. “Keeping them occupied away from the surface. They plan to leave the asteroid behind as soon as we’ve veered it out of the way.”

“Any losses?” Rade said.

“According to Snakeoil, no losses on our side,” Nemesis said. “Unless you count the original Hoplites. The team has terminated them all.”

“I’m not sure whether to feel relief, or sadness,” Shaw said. “Or both.”

She turned to Rade and hugged her big warrior. He grunted softly, and she remembered his broken ribs.

“Sorry,” she said, pulling away.

He nodded, and said between gritted teeth: “Worth it.”

Shaw smiled at her sweet man, and then retrieved the medkit from the cargo pocket of her jumpsuit. She sonic-injected a painkiller into Rade’s hand. He sighed blissfully and closed his eyes.

She listened to his breathing until Nemesis announced: “The Rescue Dragonfly is approaching. Snakeoil tells me to prepare for grappling hook impact.”

“Snakeoil is the pilot?” Shaw asked.

“He is,” Nemesis answered.

That was comforting, somehow. Someone else who cared about Rade was piloting.

Shaw wrapped her arms carefully around his waist. “All right, we’re prepared.”

The cockpit jerked about violently for a few moments, and Shaw felt particularly nauseous. But then it settled.

“Snakeoil is reeling us in,” Nemesis said.

The cockpit shuddered a minute later.

“We’ve reached the outer fuselage,” Nemesis said. “I’m attaching via magnetic mounts.”

“Sounds good,” Shaw said. The big mech would never be able to squeeze into the shuttle’s cabin.

“You okay, boss?” Snakeoil’s voice came over the comm. “Boss?”

“He’s sleeping now,” Shaw said.

Rade opened one eye. “Never better, Snakeoil.”

“You’re not coming aboard?” Snakeoil said.

“Nope,” Rade said. “No jumpsuit. I can’t spacewalk. Who’s up there with you?”

“Just me,” Snakeoil said. “Everyone else is still involved with the asteroid.”

“Well, it’s good to see you,” Rade said dreamily. “Or hear you, anyway.” He closed his eyes once more.

There was silence on the comm for a moment, and then Snakeoil’s voice came on. “How ‘bout you, Shaw, you all right?”

“So so,” Shaw said.

“Bender wanted me to a relay a message to you,” Snakeoil transmitted. “He said he’s pissed that you didn’t wait for the rest of them. Or at least him, cuz you know, he’s the best bug hunter around. His words.”

Shaw couldn’t help but smile. “What’s the ETA?”

“We should be docked with the Motley Brown in three hours,” Snakeoil said.

“Three hours?” Shaw said. “But you got here so fast.”

“I was able to use the momentum of the Motley Brown to get here quickly,” Snakeoil said. “Unfortunately, I had to slow right down to grab you, and we have to accelerate away from the atmosphere and achieve escape velocity all over again. The Motley Brown will have finished redirecting the asteroid by then, and they’ll meet us in high orbit.”

A short time later Snakeoil piped in the feed from the external shuttle cam, and Shaw watched the Volare burn up.

“So Zhidao’s ship joins him in exile,” Shaw said. She had removed her helmet, and Rade had allowed her to rest her head on his chest. He promised her that it didn’t hurt his ribs, but she wasn’t entirely sure.

She needed to feel his touch right about then, though.

“Yes,” Rade said sleepily. “It’s over.”

twenty-nine

Rade rested in sickbay aboard the Motley Brown. The Weavers had replaced the hardpoint in his shoulder, and healed his broken bones. Now he just needed to rehydrate and relax a little.

The Motley Brown had successfully diverted the last asteroid. The one billion aliens on the planet were saved. As soon as the job was done, the Hoplites jetted back to the Cutlass class ship.

Before leaving, apparently Lui had detected the PASS distress signal from Rade’s new version of Electron. Lui had detoured into the cave and discovered the Hoplite, and as Rade had guessed, only its power core was damaged. No harm had come to the AI core, which Lui was able to retrieve. It sat in the mech hangar bay at that very moment, waiting for the team to procure a new Hoplite with an empty AI core.

Shaw came to visit him. “The storage closet is lonely without you.”

“I’ll be back there soon enough,” Rade said. “The Weavers want to keep me under observation for a little while. My body underwent some ‘extreme stress,’ in their words.”

“Their words are accurate,” Shaw said.

“Yeah well, so did my mind,” Rade said.

“As did mine,” Shaw said. She wrapped a hand around his palm. “I was worried I was going to lose you.”

Rade smiled weakly. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“No, I’m sorry that you had to go through what you did,” Shaw said. “And I’m just glad to have you back. Now all we need is the kids and we’ll be complete.”

Rade nodded. “It has been a nice holiday from the twins, though, you have to admit.”

She gave him an astonished expression. “A holiday? Ha! We’ll take a proper holiday from the twins sometime. And soon.”

“I think we’ll have enough of a holiday in the storage closet, if you ask me,” Rade said. “There’s nothing to do in there all day.”

“I’m sure we can think of a few things.” She squeezed his hand.

He chuckled, and she smiled in that way only she could, with those cute dimples appearing in her cheeks.

“You know, that storage closet is a stateroom, as far as I’m concerned,” Rade said. “With you there.”

“I love you,” Shaw said. “I really do.” She leaned forward and kissed him sensuously on the lips. Then she pulled away before he could get enough. “A little hint of what’s to come.”

“I like your hints,” Rade said.

Shaw sat back in the visitor chair. Her gaze became distant. Either she was in her Implant, or…

“What’s on your mind?” Rade asked.

She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, as if to fend off a sudden chill. “I had to put down the rogue Nemesis out there.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rade said.

“You’ve often told me you feel AIs are just as human as we are,” Shaw said.

Rade considered his words carefully. He didn’t want her to feel any guiltier than she obviously was. And yet, she knew how he felt about this, so he couldn’t really lie to her. “I believe that, yes. Sometimes I think they’re even more human than we are, in certain ways.”

“More?” That got her attention. “How so?”

“They always protect us,” Rade said. “Sacrificing themselves to save us from death. That’s the greatest human quality any machine can ever have.”

Her brow furrowed. “But that’s part of their innate programming.”

“Is it?” Rade said. “Maybe. But that’s why I say they’re more human. They embody our best values, programmed right into them.”

Shaw stared at the floor for several moments, then finally met his gaze. “Why did you shoot the original Ms. Bounty’s AI core back there while we were aboard the Volare? You could have aimed for her power source, or her legs, anywhere else but the core. And yet you didn’t. It surprised me a little, given your stance on AIs.”

Rade nodded slowly. “I can see how it would. Honestly, in that moment, I didn’t want to waste time loading the Artificial into the backseat of the Hoplite. We were hurtling toward a planet, with no idea how long we had before we hit the atmosphere. I didn’t see the point in delaying, especially considering that the Artificial was probably beyond saving. If I targeted a non-lethal area, besides the fact there was a chance I wouldn’t stop the Artificial, if it survived, I knew you’d still want to waste precious seconds carrying the old Ms. Bounty into Nemesis’ passenger seat. And if we abandoned the still-living Artificial at that point, you’d feel guilty.

“So I made the choice for you. The guilt is mine alone to bear. I tell myself that her AI core was probably completely overwritten by Zhidao. That the Ms. Bounty we knew was already dead by that point. I remind myself that we already have her backup running in a new Artificial. I do all of these things, and yet the guilt is still there.”

She gave him a look that seemed to be a mixture of pride, and forgiveness. Then she stood up and wrapped her arms around him so tightly, for a moment he thought she might lift him off the bed.

THE MOTLEY BROWN set a course for the Builder on the far side of the system.

When they were two days out, the Builder self-destructed, leaving the Gate unfinished.

“Well, that solves that problem for us,” Rade said when Snakeoil informed him over the comm. Rade had returned to the storage closet by then, with Shaw.

“Maybe so,” Snakeoil said. “But I was hoping to steal a few propellant tanks from the vessel, and maybe sell it as salvage.”

“How much propellant do we have left?” Rade said.

“I’ll be able to bring us to a stop relative to the rest of the system,” Snakeoil said. “But we’re essentially stuck here until the Builder Surus ordered arrives. If it arrives.”

“It will arrive,” Rade said.

He wrapped his arms around Shaw and continued doing what he was doing. Yes, the storage closet was definitely a stateroom.

Five days later the Builder that Surus had ordered finally arrived. It dispatched a shuttle containing spare propellant tanks for the Motley Brown. Meanwhile the Builder began work on the return Gate to Kuangshi immediately.

When the propellant arrived, Snakeoil had his technicians refill the tanks, and then he set a course for the planet they had saved, as per Rade’s orders.

When the Motley Brown reached the planet, Rade had Snakeoil share the feed from the external cameras, and he stared at the blue, green and white dome in awe.

“They’ll never even know how close they came to annihilation,” Snakeoil said. “Nor will they know who saved them. It’s thankless work, being MOTHs. Or ex-MOTHs, in our case.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Rade said.

Over the next six months, while waiting for the Builder to complete the Gate, Surus flew night-time stealth missions over the populated areas, trying to sense Zhidao. By three months time, she had completed surveying all of the major areas, and concluded that the Purple had probably retreated into the planet’s crust for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, she continued searching, not wanting to give up until the Gate was completed.

She planned to leave the return Gate to Kuangshi intact, with a drone in orbit around the planet, and another drone acting as an InterGalNet node at the Gate itself, to keep her apprised of the situation.

“I’ll try to keep the Gate leading to this system hidden for as long as possible,” Surus said after returning to the ship from her latest night-time excursion. “But the Sino-Koreans will eventually find it. I’ll know when they do, thanks to my drones, and I can take the necessary steps to ensure the Sino-Koreans are aware of the delicate situation we have.”

“You think they’ll claim the alien planet?” Rade asked her.

“No,” Surus answered. “They will attempt a first contact at some point, when the aliens are ready. I would recommend waiting until at least interplanetary space travel is achieved.”

“Probably a good idea,” Rade said. “But tell that to the Sino-Koreans. They’ll be eager to secure an alien ally.”

“I’m sure they will,” Surus said.

“Though of course, once the aliens achieve interplanetary space travel, that means we’ll have to worry about Zhidao again,” Rade said.

“Yes,” Surus said. “But you won’t be around by then, so that’s something you won’t have to worry about.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Rade said. “Rejuvenation treatments are getting better and better...”

In the middle of the fourth month, Surus tapped in from the surface. Communications were essentially real-time, thanks to the telemetry drones Snakeoil had deployed in orbit.

“I found a mid-sized, space-capable vessel on the surface,” Surus said. “Hidden on the side of one of the mountains. No doubt Zhidao intended to use that to escape at some point. My guess is he was hoping we wouldn’t discover it. He’s modified the fuselage with his usual stealth tech.”

“Can we retrieve the vessel as salvage?” Rade asked.

“No,” Surus said. “Zhidao has the access locked down tight. I went ahead and planted explosive charges across the board. I’m relaying the coordinates to Snakeoil. After detonation, he can spend a few hours running the Vipers of the Motley Brown into the wreckage, until there’s nothing left for the native inhabitants to ever discover.”

Finally the Gate was completed, and the Motley Brown was able to return to the rest of human space.

During the journey back, after access to the InterGalNet was restored, Manic never brought up the topic of his kid again. Rade had to assume that Molly, the mother, had said no in regards to allowing the child aboard. Rade didn’t blame her. Still, he decided he wasn’t going to broach the topic with Manic. Rade wasn’t going to embarrass the man or put him on the spot by bringing it up. If Manic was ready to bring his kid onto the ship, he would tell Rade. Until then, things would remain as they were.

During the trip, Rade and Shaw sent messages to Cora and Dora to relay to the kids, and they received video replies in return. It was a joy to see the children. They were doing well, it seemed, and had adapted to station life.

“They really like the extra room,” Cora said in one of the messages. “I often take them on walks through the promenade.”

“I’m so happy to hear that,” Shaw told Rade.

Rade nodded. “That’s great.” Except it’s not going to last long.

Oh well. That was what virtual reality was for. And VR treadmills.

Finally they reached Metare system and headed toward the N’Yarranth space station, which housed the fully repaired Argonaut.

Shortly before docking, Snakeoil came down to bid Rade and Shaw farewell.

“I’ve been making my rounds on the team,” Snakeoil said. His eyes were red. “Can we make this quick? I’m barely keeping it together.”

“You got it,” Rade said, growing teary-eyed himself. He gave Snakeoil a hug and patted him on the back.

“Stay safe, my brother,” Snakeoil said.

“And you as well,” Rade told him.

Snakeoil broke away and gave Shaw a hug in turn. “Keep him out of trouble, will you?”

“Always do,” Shaw said.

Snakeoil withdrew. “It was good working with you again. I love you both.” Snakeoil’s lower lip was doing this trembling thing, and he quickly made his way to the entrance.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join us?” Rade asked.

Snakeoil paused at the opening to glance askance. The dark outline of his body was silhouetted by the brighter light from outside. “I’ve got my own ship. My own crew.”

“You can keep your ship and crew,” Rade said. “We’ll form a convoy.”

Snakeoil shook his head. “Traipsing across the galaxy, hunting down aliens… while it was fun while it lasted, it’s not my path. I left all that behind with the military. I don’t really have the stomach for that kind of work anymore. It’s okay once in a while, but full-time? I’m sorry. I’ve chosen a safer, more relaxed existence. Good luck to you, my friends. You were always closer to me than family.”

Snakeoil wiped his eyes and left.

“Man, that was hard,” Rade said. “Harder than I thought it would be. I’m going to miss him.”

Shaw squeezed his hand to console him. Or perhaps just to let him know he wasn’t alone in that moment.

The Motley Brown finally docked.

Cora and Dora were waiting just outside the space station’s airlock, so that after debarking Rade and Shaw were able to reunite with Alex and Sil immediately. When he saw his two kids standing there, Rade couldn’t suppress the sudden joy he felt.

Rade was expecting shouts of “mommy” and “daddy” but the kids were too speechless to say a word. Instead they ran up to him and Shaw and literally threw themselves at the pair. Sil landed in his arms, Alex in Shaw’s.

Rade hugged Sil tight. He turned, and managed to wrap an arm around Alex and Shaw as well.

“Are you ever leaving us again?” Sil asked. Tears streamed down her face.

“Never,” Rade told her.

Get the Next Book

postscript

Please help spread the word about Operation: Bug Spray by leaving a one or two sentence review. The number of reviews an ebook receives on Amazon has a big impact on how well it does, so if you liked this story I'd REALLY appreciate it if you left a quick review. Anything will do, even one or two lines. Thank you!

You can keep in touch with me or my writing through one—or all—of the following means:

My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/isaachookeauthor/

My website: http://isaachooke.com

My email: isaac@isaachooke.com

Don't be shy about emails, I love getting them, and try to respond to everyone!

about the author

USA Today bestselling author Isaac Hooke holds a degree in engineering physics, though his more unusual inventions remain fictive at this time. He is an avid hiker, cyclist, and photographer who sometimes resides in Edmonton, Alberta.

acknowledgments

THANK YOU to my knowledgeable beta readers and advanced reviewers who helped smooth out the rough edges of the prerelease manuscript: Nicole P., Gary F., Sandy G., Amy B., Lance W., Myles C., Lisa A. G., Gregg C., Jeff K., Mark C., Jeremy G., Doug B., Jenny O., Bryan O., Lezza M., Gene A., Larry J., Allen M., Norman H., Eric, Robine, Noel, Anton, Spencer, Trudi, Corey, Erol, David, Charles, Walter, Lisa, Ramon, Chris, Scott, Michael, Chris, Bob, Jim, Maureen, Zane, Chuck, Shayne, Anna, Dave, Roger, Nick, Gerry, Charles, Annie, Patrick, Mike, Jeff, Lisa, Jason, Bryant, Janna, Tom, Jerry, Chris, Jim, Brandon, Kathy, Norm, Jonathan, Derek, Shawn, Judi, Eric, Rick, Bryan, Barry, Sherman, Jim, Bob, Ralph, Darren, Michael, Chris, Michael, Julie, Glenn, Rickie, Rhonda, Neil, Claude, Ski, Joe, Paul, Larry, John, Norma, Jeff, David, Brennan, Phyllis, Robert, Darren, Daniel, Montzalee, Robert, Dave, Diane, Peter, Skip, Louise, Dave, Brent, Erin, Paul, Jeremy, Dan, Garland, Sharon, Dave, Pat, Nathan, Max, Martin, Greg, David, Nancy, Ed, David, Karen, Becky, Jacob, Ben, Don, Carl, Gene, Bob, Luke, Teri, Gerald, Lee, Rich, Ken, Daniel, Chris, Al, Andy, Tim, Robert, Fred, David, Mitch, Don, Tony, Dian, Tony, John, James, David, Pat, Jean, Bryan, William, Roy, Dave, Vincent, Tim, Richard, Kevin, George, Andrew, John, Richard, Robin, Sue, Mark, Jerry, Rodger, Rob, Byron, Ty, Mike, Gerry, Steve, Benjamin, Anna, Keith, Jeff, Josh, Herb, Bev, Simon, John, David, Greg, Larry, Timothy, Tony, Ian, Niraj, Maureen, Jim, Len, Bryan, Todd, Maria, Angela, Gerhard, Renee, Pete, Hemantkumar, Tim, Joseph, Will, David, Suzanne, Steve, Derek, Valerie, Laurence, James, Andy, Mark, Tarzy, Christina, Rick, Mike, Paula, Tim, Jim, Gal, Anthony, Ron, Dietrich, Mindy, Ben, Steve, Paddy & Penny, Troy, Marti, Herb, Jim, David, Alan, Leslie, Chuck, Dan, Perry, Chris, Rich, Rod, Trevor, Rick, Michael, Tim, Mark, Alex, John, William, Doug, Tony, David, Sam, Derek, John, Jay, Tom, Bryant, Larry, Anjanette, Gary, Travis, Jennifer, Henry, Drew, Michelle, Bob, Gregg, Billy, Jack, Sandra, Libby, Jonathan, Karl, Bruce, Clay, Gary, Sarge, Andrew, Deborah, Steve, and Curtis.

Without you all, this novel would have typos, continuity errors, and excessive lapses in realism. Thank you for helping me make this the best military science fiction novel it could possibly be, and thank you for leaving the early reviews that help new readers find my books.

And of course I’d be remiss if I didn't thank my mother, father, and brothers, whose untiring wisdom and thought-provoking insights have always guided me through the twisting labyrinth inside that towering asteroid known as life.

— Isaac Hooke

Get the Next Book