by Rachel Caine
Nadim.
No, you fucking don’t. That was Zara’s voice, crisp and calm. Even as it rang through them, she, Chao-Xing, and Yusuf surged forward in the bond to take the lead, warriors, while the crafters—Marko, Bea, Starcurrent—formed the weapons warriors would wield. Song was a weapon, at the right modulations, and Typhon and Nadim channeled it in ever-louder pulses. This time the warriors used it as a blunt object, hurtling in a broad fist to strike Lifekiller, and the flexing tendril that attached to Nadim ripped free from both Nadim and Lifekiller’s body. The dead flesh drifted limp and desiccated away into the darkness.
Lifekiller retreated. It could run, the two halves of Men Shen realized. With just two Leviathan, it was impossible to block every route, but they began to move in parallel, circling the god-king. The song pounded the creature relentlessly, wave upon wave, and its skin began to gray. Sleep, the combined song of Leviathan shouted. Aboard Nadim, Starcurrent added the recordings of zis own songs, and Lifekiller faltered.
It was working.
Men Shen was so fixed on the mission that the arrival of the Phage came as a shock.
Yusuf was the first to notice and called out—a small sound that drew little attention from the battle until Chao-Xing joined it, then Marko. Men Shen turned their joined attention outward.
Covering the god-king’s withdrawal, the dark swarm boiled from the darkness. The Phage from the asteroid field arrived in numbers so great their bodies blotted out the distant stars. The Men Shen’s song faltered, and Lifekiller took the chance. It fled behind the mindless, devouring shield, past the dead sun, and away into a universe that wasn’t ready for the danger.
Surrounded! Men Shen formed the thought even as that deepest of bonds splintered, and broke again, and again, dropping Zara—no, me—onto the floor. My knees would barely hold me, so I used the console to haul myself upright. Bea was on the floor nearby, and I gave her a hand up; she looked spun out, but I didn’t have the time. Starcurrent flailed, a ball of tentacles and indistinct noise. No help there.
Focus.
I was all over the instrument panel, trying for a brainstorm that would get us out of this mess and back on Lifekiller’s trail. We’d come so close, and now he was out there, powered up and free to menace the whole damn universe. It was impossible not to feel responsible for the lives he was going to take, though Bacia couldn’t escape the greater share of blame.
Nearby, Starcurrent braced on the wall, using all tentacles and filaments to stay up. The Phage had ignored us before; they were attacking at max, now. They swarmed Nadim’s hull, biting and drilling the plating, and with them covering us like maggots on a carcass, many of our weapons were useless. Nadim rolled and flipped some free, but there were so many, too many. There was no way we could fight them all.
“Dark run?” I felt short of breath. Crushed with anxiety. Even as I said it, I knew the answer.
“I don’t have enough energy, Zara, and even if I did, I wouldn’t leave Typhon.” Nadim was loyal to the core.
Snarling beneath my breath, I uplinked to Typhon. “Solutions, people. If we don’t shake the Phage now, we die along with this star.”
“Run,” Yusuf said. “Got to run.”
We ran, but we couldn’t shake the Phage. I had the worst case of claustrophobia, knowing they were crawling all over Nadim, looking for a weak point, trying to get in. The shudder that wracked me nearly bent me double. Nadim was doing his best speed, and so was Typhon, but the Phage were keeping up, and for each one we managed to shake loose, another clamped down. The armor was holding. For now. I felt a new, sharp fondness for that construction boss who’d been such a pain in our asses because damn, quality work.
“I’m going out there. I’ll shoot them one by one if I have to.” I meant it. I knew I was exhausted and strung out with worry. I could feel the light, constant tremor in my hands. I needed food and sleep and a little time for the damn stress to subside, but I wasn’t going to get any of that now. I’d rather kill things.
“Zara, no!” Nadim sensed my desperation, of course. It was keeping me from thinking clearly, along with all that other mess. “You’re far too tired. You can’t.”
Thankfully, Bea was, if not completely calm, then logically wrangling the problem. “Nadim. You and Typhon both have plating . . .”
She was onto something. I grabbed the tail end and ran with it, remembering how Nadim had said, We do not use weapons on each other. “Punishment!” I shouted, at the same time Bea said, “Discipline!”
I grinned at her, and she gestured that I should say it. I activated the comm to make sure the message broadcast to everyone. “Typhon, use your tail like you did over Nadim’s alleged bad behavior—which, don’t think I’ve forgotten that. Leviathan have trouble when they’re alone against the Phage, but we’re partners. So help each other!”
Nadim got it before Typhon did. He slapped the shit out of the Elder, like he’d just been waiting for the excuse. I couldn’t control a half-crazy laugh. The plating protected Typhon from physical harm, but it smashed the Phage crawling over his armor. Like lightning, Typhon returned the blow, so hard that Nadim spun out. I tumbled sideways and latched on to Bea. Starcurrent grabbed both of us with several tentacles. Handy having our own mobile safety harness, not that ze wasn’t good for other stuff. I was getting to like zim a lot, especially when ze crisply said, “Pardon my touch. Am respectful of boundaries. But better you do not die.”
To an external observer, it would probably look like a Leviathan slap fight, but they weren’t seriously hurting each other, and the Phage died by the hundreds with each strike. It took human ingenuity to come up with a solution this basic, because the Leviathan explored alone and died alone, once they encountered the Phage. They also weren’t killers, not like humanity or Suncross’s people. I wasn’t sure how the slapping thing had evolved in them, but I guessed there were territorial battles, ceremonial things, something that had developed into elder/younger protocols.
From this point on, surviving Leviathan needed to travel in pairs, at least until the threat passed. And slap each other. Dumb and basic, but effective as hell.
“Put on some speed now and roll,” I said over the comms.
The incredible burst Typhon and Nadim put in in tandem drained the last of their reserves, but it also scoured the last of the Phage from them, as far as I could tell. Even if there were stragglers as we blazed back toward the Sliver, they would be slow and stupid, easily put down. I might get my spacewalk hunting mission yet.
Not at this speed, of course. That would be suicide, because we were going to have to hit the brakes, and momentum was a bitch. But when we got to the crim station, I could check for stowaways. Honestly, the prospect of killing the Phage up close and personal sounded damn tempting. I was sick and tired of their inexplicable bullshit.
And then Starcurrent made it sickeningly explicable.
“Is true, then,” Starcurrent said.
“What is?” Bea asked.
“That god-kings command the Phage.”
That snagged everyone’s attention, hard. A babble of questions came from the console—Chao-Xing, Marko, and Yusuf all asking stuff at once. Bea just stared for a few seconds, her brow furrowing like it did when she was tackling a knotty puzzle. As I reviewed the chain of events, I realized it made sense. “Wait, wait, wait,” I said. “That wasn’t coincidence that they showed up? They didn’t come tracking us, either?”
“They ignored us in the asteroid field,” Nadim pointed out helpfully.
“Yes,” Starcurrent said. “They were summoned. Responded to Lifekiller’s call.”
“Damn,” I whispered. “And they went after us on his orders too. I did think it was too damn coincidental that they swarmed just as we had that bastard on the ropes.”
“Good,” said Starcurrent, and flashed tentacles. “You understand.”
“How could it command them?” I asked, because I felt like Starcurrent was still holding something back, and I did
n’t like it. Zis tentacles fluttered nervously and turned the colors of discomfort. Kid couldn’t bluff to save zis life. “Nobody else can.”
“Nobody else drinks stars, either,” Bea said, but I shook my head, attention on Starcurrent. I wasn’t about to let zim slide on this one.
“Legend only,” ze finally admitted. “Phage were made by conquered peoples, long dead now, to serve god-kings. When god-kings died, Phage did not.”
“So somebody bred an army and set it loose without a general. Great.”
Starcurrent’s embarrassment flushed rainbows through zim. “My people thought Phage would die without god-kings to sustain. Were wrong.”
I was angry now. Sharply angry. “Damn right you were! These things have been eating Leviathan! And you knew about that?”
All zis tentacles went up in surrender. “Is not our fault! Did not make Phage, do not know how to stop! But now is bigger problem. Now, Lifekiller can command.”
Lifekiller had a fucking army. Great. Well, at least now I had a sound grasp of our predicament, even if it felt like a sucker punch. If the god-king wasn’t enough to contend with, now we had the Phage as his shock troops.
In that moment, it was so hard not to just . . . quit. I was so tired; it felt like forever since I’d had a full night’s sleep or a decent meal. The little kid in me wanted to whine about how none of this shit should be my problem, and yet it was. All of it. Dispirited, I sank down into a nearby chair.
Bea put a hand lightly on my shoulder, then Starcurrent added a tentacle. That silent contact said, We’re here. You’re not alone. Some of the weight lifted, and when Nadim opened himself to me, it felt like a full embrace. I dropped into the bond long enough to give and take comfort, offering strength to both of us. Not long in actual time, but when I opened my eyes, I felt a lot better.
Chao-Xing was on-screen, looking serious. “We need your gift, Zara. Find us a weakness.”
“I’ll try to come up with something.”
Of course, everyone asked what that was about, so I had to give the nutshell version, explaining my supposed superpower. To my surprise, they all reacted like it was . . . right, that Chao-Xing had seen something special in me, an ability I’d never realized I possessed. And it felt good, really good. To be valued like that. The Leviathan DNA in my head might mean I was a better-than-average candidate for bonding, but this skill was mine, pure Zara Cole. It meant something.
“Approaching the Sliver,” Nadim said then. “Zara? What are we going to tell Bacia about losing our quarry?”
I swore. Bacia wouldn’t like us returning empty handed, but what were we supposed to do, two Leviathan against a fully fueled-up god-king and his Phage army? Come on. All factors considered, we were lucky we’d survived that encounter. Typhon or Nadim alone? Unlikely. And I grieved for all the Leviathan who’d died in the black.
It occurred to me then . . . we’d thought the Leviathan had been killed in a mass slaughter at the Gathering, but what if the Phage had picked them off one by one as they arrived? It would’ve left the same carnage, but made more sense, tactically speaking. If we’d come up with a solution between two cooperating Leviathan, then their Honors could have too. They could have used their bulk, formed defenses, fought back.
Unless each one died alone, got devoured, and the Phage saved an infested corpse to jump the next arrival, a decoy of sorts. That’s exactly what happened to Nadim. The strategic part of my brain activated, telling me I was on target. They were viruses, infecting and controlling another creature.
Before I could work out how this insight benefited us, a sharp pain broke over me. Not excruciating, more like the sting of an insect. A glance at Bea told me she hadn’t felt it. Neither had Starcurrent. But I checked my arms and legs to see if I was bleeding; that clarified whose pain I’d sensed.
At once I reached for Nadim. “You okay?” I didn’t know if I was talking or thinking.
His silence scared me, and then his sheer terror hit me like a wall of dark water. “Zara, it’s inside!”
Oh shit. There was no question he meant the Phage. I’d thought I could crush any stragglers on his armor, but one of them had found a soft spot to burrow in? First, I calmed Nadim because his fear made it hard for me to function, then I ran for the armory to gear up with one thought looping:
Gotta destroy this thing before it breeds.
Transcript from Good Day, New Detroit, with hosts Kephana Washington and Saladin Al-Masih, September 20, 2142
WASHINGTON: Good morning, New Detroit! This is poised to be a historic show. Coming up, we have a first look at the latest personal hovercraft, a new release from Obari—your favorite Nigerian pop idol—and finally, an incredible, unprecedented Honors announcement.
AL-MASIH: (feigns surprise) Are you serious, Keph? I thought we were done with Honors coverage for a while.
WASHINGTON: Oh, this is incredible! Just wait for it.
AL-MASIH: Come on, not even Obari can compare to an Honors exclusive. Let’s not keep our viewers in suspense! Can’t you give us a little hint?
WASHINGTON: (pretending to give in) Oh, all right! Two of our Honors have already been promoted to the Journey, without completing the Tour! And one of those extraordinary young women is a local—wild-card pick Zara Cole! She’s gone onward with her flight partner, Beatriz Teixeira, with their original Leviathan.
AL-MASIH: Oh my God. This has never happened, has it, Keph?
WASHINGTON: Never! We have a first look at their replacements: Kashvi Baphna from Bhilwara, India, and Derry McKinnon—another local boy! We’ll be interviewing Mr. McKinnon on a live linkup, later in the show.
Interlude: Nadim
All I know is terror.
I remember, I cannot forget, can never forget, the husks of my cousins, drifting as detritus. Devoured from within.
I can never wash away the horror of the mindless hunger, a thousand plague cells in Leviathan skin, attacking with a ferocity we barely survived.
I’m pretending to be calm—for Zara, for Beatriz, and for Starcurrent too. They are so precious, my beloved partners, and my fear might hurt them. I cannot permit this monster to harm them. I want to reach for them, but the bond would comfort only me and reveal secrets they must not know.
I am powerless.
All the weapons from that one, Bacia Annont, the heavy plating, my shields. None of that can save me from this intruder with fangs like steel knives and a relentless determination to infest. I can only trust in the ones who protect me, even as I care for them.
Typhon is powering up his guns. I will not tell the others.
But he will kill us himself—a merciful death—before allowing us to fall. He has seen too much death, too many of our kind lost. Even now, I am not sure how many remain. Their songs are distant and fearful, full of misery and mourning. And the Elder will not survive using weapons on me. Despair will claim him, and his partners along with him.
It must not come to that.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Binding Prisoners
“YUSUF! ANYBODY LISTENING on Typhon?” I shouted, hoping Nadim would relay the signal. “Check for stragglers who might’ve gotten inside. Do it now! We can’t let these things build a nest and breed!” I had no idea how long that would take, but it couldn’t be much time . . . they’d overtaken Leviathan fast enough to ambush the next to arrive. “Nadim, can you pinpoint it?”
“No,” he said. He sounded strained and shaken. “My senses don’t work on it. I can feel movement, but . . .”
“Where? Block out the rest of us and tell me where you feel it!”
He bonded with me and showed me, and the storm of his fear and helplessness made me stagger a little. I sent what reassurance I could, and ran as fast as I could for the area he’d indicated . . . but when I got there, it was a blank wall. “Nadim!”
“It’s in a place not fitted for humans,” he said. Growing panic in his voice too. “I don’t have the resources to make it safe, Zara . . .”
> I switched gears. “Bea! Bring the skinsuits! Nadim, what’s on the other side of the wall specifically?”
“Gases that are toxic to you,” he said. “They would kill you, Zara.”
“Can you vent them out somehow?”
“No, I need them.”
Dammit. “Can you form an entry door?”
“Zara—”
“I’ll wait until Bea gets here with the skinsuit,” I promised.
“Zara, you cannot go in without one. It will kill you on contact!”
“Can you give me a door?”
He did. It cost him; I could feel the burn of energy as he reshaped his flesh and created an opening that was sealed off from me by a thin membrane. On the other side was a small chamber, and another membrane. An airlock system. I’d have to break the membrane, step in, let him seal it up, then break the one into the toxic chamber. “Can you recycle from the airlock and keep the toxins from getting into our section?” I asked him.
“Yes.” A clipped, distracted answer. “Wait for the suit, Zara. Bea is almost here.”
Bea arrived, running flat out, and tossed me a skinsuit. It unfurled in the air, and if I could have done some magical vid thing and jumped into it in slow motion, I would have, but I had to step in and pull it on, yanking so hard I thought I might rip it apart. It held. I rolled the hood down and adjusted to instant insect-vision, which was much sharper and better once I got used to it.
I pulled my gun and said, “Going in. Bea, back me up. You and Starcurrent need to kill the shit out of this thing if it makes it through.”
“We will,” she promised. She was pulling on her own skinsuit—prepped, I realized, to go in to get me if something went badly sideways. Starcurrent already had on zis tentacle condoms, and could manifest zis bubble helmet at a moment’s notice, so we were okay.