This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any

resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016 Kit Walker

All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of critical reviews, fanworks, and certain other noncommercial uses permitted

by copyright law.

RemnantsKit WalKer

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In the year 2083, Project Oasis embarked on a mission to establish the first human settlement on another world. A hundred volunteers, including a young technician named Asha Reed, boarded the CSV Frontier and went into cryogenic suspension to conserve resources on the long journey to Mars.

When Asha came out of cryo, Frontier was adrift in alien territory and six hundred years had passed.

Asha joined the crew of the cargo ship Wayfarer and sought a way back home, only to discover that the Earth as she knew it was gone. She is now the only surviving member of the human race.

All things considered, she’s handling it pretty well.

�

There’s a pile of scrap metal in the cargo bay.

“It’s a landing craft,” Laela barks from somewhere inside the pile.

The ‘shuttle’—Asha can’t bring herself to think of it as such without mental sarcasm quotes—is about the size of a truck, and might be impressive if it weren’t utterly dwarfed by Wayfarer’s immense cargo bay. Its designer obviously valued function over form; the thing is essentially a box with some antigravity pods bolted onto the sides.

“How much did you pay for this?” Asha asks, hoping the answer is a low number.

“Nothing,” Laela replies between suspiciously loud banging noises. “Dealer let me have it for free as long as we towed it off the lot ourselves.”

“You need to stop adopting things you find in the trash, Laela.”

“Says one of the things I found in the trash.” There’s a pause, then a quiet, “Fuck.”

Asha climbs up the ramp of the shuttle and pokes her head into the cockpit.

Laela lies on her back beneath the shuttle’s partially disassembled control console, her short fur streaked with grime and dust. Her arm is elbow-deep in the guts of the console, and as Asha watches, Laela tries to tug it free. It doesn’t move.

“You stuck?” Asha says.

“I think my harness got caught on something,” Laela grumbles.

“Need any help?”

“Just... wait there, would you?” Laela reaches up with her other hand and presses something on the elbow joint of her mobility harness, hidden under her jumpsuit. There’s a quiet beep, and Laela pulls the now-disconnected arm of the harness free.

�

Laela scoots along the floor, out from under the console, and reconnects the harness to the implant on her wrist. She tests it a few times, clenching her fist and wriggling her fingers.

“All good?” Asha asks.

“Yeah.”

“Can we throw this thing back in the garbage now?”

“We need a landing craft for our next job.” Laela pushes herself up to a sitting position. “M808-4 doesn’t have a docking platform, and Wayfarer can’t enter the atmosphere.”

“I’m not debating that we need a shuttle,” Asha says. “I’m just not sure it should be this shuttle.”

“It only needs minor repairs,” Laela insists. “And a systems upgrade. And I should probably tune up the antigrav unit. And replace the landing gear.”

“I’m going to die in this thing.” Asha closes her eyes and tips her head back. “After everything I’ve survived, this is it. This is how I go.”

“Knock it off with the dramatics and find me the plasma welder. I know I left it around here somewhere.”

Asha backs out of the cockpit and moves to the rear of the shuttle, where Laela dumped most of her tools and promptly forgot where they were. She can’t see the plasma welder at the top of the heap, which means she’ll have to dig for it.

Laela scoots back under the control console. There’s a stiff, forced neutrality in her voice when she says, “I heard they’re preparing to lift the quarantine around your planet.”

Asha pauses. Trust Laela to bring this up while she’s wrist-deep in sensitive equipment. “Oh?”

“Gesture of goodwill, or something like that,” Laela continues. “Rumor is, the Sentinels are desperate to bring Aegis on as an official ally of the Protectorate.” After a moment, she adds, “We could go. If you wanted.”

“What, to Earth?”

“Yeah.”

Asha turns the idea over in her head. When she thinks about Earth, what it must be like now, all she can picture is Charlton Heston screaming in front of a destroyed Statue of Liberty. “I... don’t think it would help.”

�

“Okay,” Laela says firmly, as if relieved the conversation is over. “Hurry up with that plasma welder, would you?”

•

Trust is an odd thing.

Kadar’s characters are all variations on the same theme: the lone Sentinel; the young, idealistic businessman; the smuggler with a heart of gold. Versions of himself that are charismatic, noble, recognizable. Trustworthy.

But Wayfarer’s crew only let their guard down once Kadar revealed how untrustworthy he really was. He’s had to become a new version of himself. One that hews a little too close to the truth for his comfort.

Kadar reduces Wayfarer’s speed as they enter the M808 system and sets her on a course that will take them into orbit around the star’s fourth planet. The helm’s controls are an odd combination of obsolete Sentinel protocols and completely unfamiliar alien design, with some cleverly hidden safety measures to prevent Kadar from taking control of the ship.

Trust has its limits, apparently.

The door at his back opens, and someone enters the command deck. The footsteps are too heavy and regular to be Laela’s, and too light to be Ysal’s. Kadar makes an educated guess.

“Hey, Vaz,” he says, without turning around.

“Don’t know how you do that with that dead dieni nose of yours,” Vaz mutters. “Are we in comm range yet?”

“Almost.”

Vaz is another odd thing. If Kadar were to compose an overwrought ballad about his new companions, he’d probably end up calling Vaz ‘the healer from a warrior race.’ Although Vaz would probably roll his eyes upon hearing it. Kadar can’t resist poking him, trying to peel back that ‘noble, persecuted doctor’ persona to see what’s really underneath.

He also makes the most adorable faces when he’s disgusted with Kadar’s entire being.

“Nice job you got us.” Kadar leans around the edge of his seat to look at Vaz. “Pays well, one hundred percent legal. Still haven’t figured out what the catch is.”

“There’s no catch,” Vaz answers wearily. “Bryn’s a friend, and she asked for a favor. Which is a thing that happens when you don’t rob everyone you

�

meet.”

“Sir!” Kadar clutches at his heart in mock offense. “You wound me!”

Vaz decides to start ignoring him and sits in the furthest available chair, attached to the science station.

The door opens again; Asha enters and drops into the comm station next to Kadar.

“Where’s our captain?” Kadar asks.

“Probably still swearing at the shuttle’s antigrav unit,” Asha says. “She’ll be a few minutes.”

They’re now within sensor range of M808-4. Asha brings up the readout on her console and starts scrolling through, frowning slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Kadar asks.

“I’m just confused,” Asha says. “This planet’s basically a paradise. But there aren’t any settlements on the surface, no orbital docking platform, and no other ships anywhere near the system. I know it’s out in the middle of nowhere, but—”

“M808-4 is inhabited,” Vaz explains. “The locals had just invented the wheel by the time a Sentinel survey team showed up, so access to the system is restricted.”

“What’s our client doing there?”

“Bryn got special dispensation for an archaeological survey.”

Laela opens the door and stomps onto the command deck, still swearing quietly about the shuttle. Ysal isn’t far behind. Kadar hasn’t quite figured out the relationship between their tiny telian captain and her enormous sivari companion, but he knows better than to ask either of them about it.

Ysal gestures silently at the smudge of grease across Laela’s nose, and Laela rubs at. “Are we in range?” she asks.

“Yeah,” Asha says. “Good timing.”

“Hail her.”

Asha taps a few icons on the comm panel. “We’ve got a reply. Audio only.”

A woman’s voice emanates from the comm, crackling slightly. “Hello?”

�

“Bryn Adelkiin?” Laela asks.

“That’s me! How can I help you?”

“I’m Captain Laela of the Wayfarer. We have a supply shipment for you.”

“... Oh! Yes, excellent. Is Vaz there?”

“Hi, Bryn,” Vaz says.

“Vaz! You have to see this. Do you remember—”

Laela clears her throat. “We need landing coordinates, Professor Adelkiin.”

“Right, right, sorry,” Bryn says. “Sending them now. I’ll meet you there.”

“Understood,” Laela says. “Wayfarer out.”

The call ends, and Laela turns to Asha. “I’ll stay here. You take the first half of the supplies down and scan the professor’s payment chit.”

Kadar raises his hand. “I have a question.”

“What?”

“Who’s going to fly the shuttle?”

Laela stares blankly at him. “You can’t fly a shuttle?”

“I don’t have any atmospheric flight training, no,” Kadar says.

Laela squeezes her eyes shut, buries her face in her hands, and mumbles something inaudible.

“Sorry, what was that?” Asha says.

“I need to teach you two how to fly the shuttle,” Laela repeats, more coherently.

“Can you do it in ten minutes?”

Laela emerges from her cocoon of shame. “Ysal, can you stay with the ship?”

“Of course,” Ysal says.

“The rest of you, with me.” Laela heads for the door. “Ysal, keep an eye on those sensors. We’re too close to the border.”

•

10

The shuttle breaks through M808-4’s thick cloud cover, revealing the surface below.

Bryn’s landing coordinates point to a small continent near the equator. It’s a landscape of sharp cliffs and rolling hills, overgrown with jungle. The shuttle descends further, and like an optical illusion where a vase transforms into two faces, the shapes below them abruptly come into focus.

“Holy shit,” Asha says.

The hills aren’t hills at all. Enormous humanoid statues, hundreds of feet tall and hewn out of pale stone, lie scattered around the area like discarded dolls. If the statues once had faces, they’ve been worn into anonymity by the ages and the relentless growth of the jungle.

The shuttle lands near a stone head the size of a house, lying on its side and half-submerged in the dirt. Asha glances at the rest of the shuttle’s occupants; none of them seem as shocked as she feels.

“Really?” Asha says. “I’m the only one who thinks this is weird?”

“It’s not that weird,” Laela replies. “Door.”

“It wouldn’t kill you to say ‘please’ once in awhile.” Asha moves to the back of the shuttle and hits the panel next to the door.

It slides open to reveal a tall, delicate-looking alien with big dark eyes.

“Um,” Asha says. “I’m guessing you’re not Professor Adelkiin.”

The alien blinks at her, its large, fluffy antenna twitching slightly. It looks a bit like a moth, if moths were six feet tall, stood on two legs, and had a tendency to arm themselves with big sharp sticks.

Someone behind the alien shouts, “Hello! Over here!”

Bryn Adelkiin—a small, round marcor woman in a floppy, wide-brimmed hat—climbs up the ramp and makes a complicated series of gestures to the alien. The alien gestures back and hops down off the ramp.

“Don’t worry about Rain-in-Summer,” Bryn says. “She wanted to make sure you weren’t a threat to the village.”

“That would be... one of the locals, then,” Asha guesses.

“Correct.”

Asha waves to Rain-in-Summer as she retreats to the cover of the trees. “Hi, there.”

11

Rain-in-Summer doesn’t reply.

“The opterian language is pheromone-based,” Bryn says. “Translator implants are useless here. Sorry, should’ve warned you.”

“Bryn!” Vaz says from behind Asha.

Bryn’s face splits into a wide grin. “Vaz!”

Asha quickly edges out of the way as Bryn hurries forward and grabs Vaz by the strap of his medical kit, dragging him out of the shuttle.

“Come see the dig site,” Bryn says. “It’s incredible.” She trots off into the jungle, Vaz in tow.

From the cockpit, Laela says, “Did she leave?”

“Looks like,” Asha replies.

“Fuck’s sake,” Laela grumbles. “Go after her and scan her credit chit, would you?”

The moment Asha leaves the climate-controlled shuttle, the heat and humidity of the jungle hit her like a wall. She takes a few seconds to ensure she won’t pass out, then hops down off the ramp and follows Bryn’s trail into the jungle.

Bryn isn’t hard to track; a safe path has been marked off with posts and rope, and her unrestrained torrent of excited babble keeps Asha headed in the right direction. After a few minutes, she passes through a gate into a huge swath of cleared land. It’s been fenced off with a solid metal wall, but already the jungle has started to encroach on it, slowly reclaiming the area.

There’s a hole in the ground at the center of the site, revealing a wide, heavy doorway and a tunnel that leads further underground.

Vaz kneels by the doorway, examining the material—Asha can’t tell whether it’s stone or metal—while Bryn continues to lecture.

“Excuse me,” Asha calls out as she approaches them.

Bryn stops mid-sentence and turns to Asha. “So,” she says. “You’ve seen the colossi.”

“You mean the big statues?”

“They’re not unique to this planet,” Vaz says, excited. “Similar constructs can be found all over the galaxy.” He stands, seems to notice Asha for the first time, and clears his throat. “Bryn and I took a class together at

12

university.”

“Come see,” Bryn says, gesturing for them to follow as she heads down the tunnel.

“Is she always like this?” Asha asks Vaz.

“More or less,” Vaz says. He glances at the tablet in Asha’s hand. “... You need Bryn’s credit chit.”

“Yep.” Asha sighs and follows along behind Bryn.

The tunnel is wide, with a high ceiling, and lit by some kind of luminescent material laid into the walls in geometric patterns. It leads to a huge, cavernous room deep underground. The walls are made of the same not-metal not-stone as the door, and a tall pillar of light occupies the center of the room: some kind of holographic interface, rotating gently and displaying words and images that Asha’s translator implant can’t seem to parse.

Asha hazards a guess: “The opterians didn’t build this.”

“Most likely not,” Bryn says. “This chamber dates back to roughly the same era as the colossi. I think it might be some kind of archive, a backup from what must have been a galaxy-wide information network. I won’t know for sure until the rest of my team arrives—”

“Which is why you ordered all the supplies,” Asha interrupts. “The supplies you still need to pay for.”

“Hmm? Oh!” Bryn looks apologetic. “Of course. Here.” She digs a credit chit out of her field bag and hands it over.

Asha taps the chit against the reader on her tablet and hands it back. “Thanks. If you’ll excuse me, I need to help unload the shuttle.”

Bryn nods and waves over Asha’s shoulder. “Vaz! Come take a look at this.”

Asha makes her way back up to the surface, passing Kadar on the path back to the shuttle.

“Laela sent me to find you,” Kadar says. “What’s taking so long?”

“The professor likes to chat,” Asha replies. “Keep an eye on Bryn and Vaz, would you? I’ll take care of unloading the shuttle.”

•

“So,” Asha says, checking another item off the manifest. “In summary:

13

there are gigantic identical statues all over the galaxy, and nobody thinks that’s weird.”

Ysal hoists another crate into the shuttle and stacks it with the others. They saved all the really heavy stuff for the second trip, and Asha’s not entirely sure how she’s going to get it out of the shuttle once they land. Maybe Vaz can help, once he’s done geeking out with Bryn.

“There are similar constructs on Aviri.” Ysal walks down the ramp and picks up the next crate. “My people once believed they were protector spirits. Many other species think the same.”

“’Once’? You’re saying the sivari don’t believe that anymore?”

“Not... ardently, no,” Ysal says, crate balanced on her shoulder as she heads back up the ramp. “Some rituals remain, but history has proven that we must take responsibility for our own protection.”

A warning klaxon shrieks almost directly above them. Wayfarer lurches, as if the ship has made a sudden stop and turn. Asha loses her footing and hits the floor.

Ysal stumbles, dropping the crate, but recovers. “Laela?” she says, activating the ship’s intercom. “What is wrong?”

“We’ve got an enemy ship headed into the system,” Laela replies, frantic. “I need to hide Wayfarer before they see us.”

Wayfarer lurches again, and Asha decides it’s safer to stay on the floor for now. “What do you mean, an ‘enemy ship’?”

“Telian,” Laela says. “It’s a telian strike vessel. I knew we were too close to the border—”

“That’s bad?” Asha asks Ysal.

Ysal’s tail twitches and curls protectively around her body. “Very bad.”

“Shit.” Asha fumbles for her comm. “We need to call Vaz and Kadar.”

•

Vaz and Bryn have finished whatever they were up to in the old underground archive bunker thing. Kadar parks himself in the shade under the doorway and watches the two of them chat excitedly under an awning set up across the field to protect Bryn’s equipment from the rain. There are a lot of hand gestures.

Kadar’s never seen Vaz this animated before. Well, that’s not exactly true.

1�

But in all previous cases, Vaz had been yelling at Kadar. This is the first time he’s seen Vaz so animated and happy.

Vaz is a dedicated doctor, but Kadar suspects that’s not where his true passion lies.

Kadar’s communicator goes off, alerting him that he’s got a call from Asha. He answers it, but all he gets is a burst of static. Kadar glares at the comm. He can’t remember doing anything to damage it—

A deafening boom echoes through the air.

Kadar instinctively ducks, cringing, and looks up at the sky. Something’s just entered the atmosphere, leaving a streak of superheated air behind it.

It’s a ship. Small, sleek, angular. An attack craft.

Kadar shouts at Vaz and Bryn, pointing at the approaching ship.

Vaz and Bryn run in opposite directions. Bryn heads for the shelter of the treeline, but Vaz sprints straight toward Kadar. He shouts something, but it’s drowned out by the sound of gunfire.

The ship strafes the dig site. Vaz stumbles and rolls out of the way, bullets churning the ground perilously close to where he’s lying.

Kadar rushes out of cover as the ship passes and circles around for another run. He grabs Vaz’s arm, drags him to his feet, and doesn’t let go as he retreats to the safety of the tunnel.

The ship strafes the dig site again. Kadar ducks inside the door, pulling Vaz with him, and the hail of bullets ricochets off the top of the doorframe.

A deep, resonant sound, almost like a bell, echoes from deeper within the archive. The floor and walls vibrate slightly.

The archive door descends from above and slams shut, sealing Vaz and Kadar inside.

•

Asha has a few colorful new bruises by the time she and Ysal reach the command deck.

“I managed to keep Wayfarer between the enemy ship and M808,” Laela says as soon as they arrive. “If we’re lucky, they couldn’t tell the difference between our radiation and the star’s.”

“They did not detect us?” Ysal asks.

1�

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, here’s the bad news,” Asha says. “I can’t get through to Vaz or Kadar.”

“The telian strike team is probably jamming all communications,” Laela says. “A small ship like that wouldn’t last long in a real fight. If anyone called for help, they’d be fucked.”

“We need to warn everyone on the surface about the telians.” Asha climbs into the comm station. “Is there any way to cut through the interference?”

“The ship’s already landed,” Laela says. “Trust me, everybody already knows.”

“Okay.” Asha pinches the bridge of her nose. “Okay. We need to help them.”

“How?”

“I don’t know! But we can’t leave everyone down there with a bunch of hostile soldiers.” Asha looks over at Laela. “What if we took the shuttle down?”

“I’m not going down there,” Laela snaps. “We are staying here and hiding until that strike team is gone.”

“And what if something happens to Vaz? Or Kadar?”

Ysal takes a small step forward. “Perhaps we should—”

“What if something happens to us?” Laela interrupts.

Asha rolls her eyes. “God, can you think of someone besides yourself for five minutes?”

“How about you stop mindlessly throwing yourself into every available fucking crisis instead?”

“You’re a coward,” Asha fires back. “A selfish coward.”

“You don’t know a thing about me,” Laela growls.

“Well, whose fault is that?”

Ysal takes a deep breath and bellows, “Be. Quiet.”

A moment of perfect, terrified silence passes.

“We are wasting time,” Ysal continues at her usual volume. She turns to

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Asha. “Laela is no coward. She has faced more and greater dangers than either of us.” She turns to Laela. “But we cannot leave Vaz and Kadar in the hands of the telians. You understand this more than most. And we cannot save them without your help.” Ysal pauses, then nods. “I will be in the cargo bay. Join me when you are ready.”

•

Kadar cautiously approaches the center of the archive chamber and examines the holographic interface. It’s unreadable, but there are a lot of flashy red lights rapidly circling the column.

“Kadar,” Vaz says.

“Just a second.” Kadar could start pressing buttons, but that might do something even more dramatic. Like suck all the air out of the room. Or—

“Kadar!”

“What?!” Kadar looks over his shoulder. “Oh. Oh, hell.”

The attacking ship scored a lucky hit on the medical kit slung over Vaz’s shoulder. The front half is an exploded, twisted mess of shrapnel. And the largest piece of that shrapnel is currently located in Vaz’s abdomen, just above his hip.

Vaz leans against the wall and slides down until he’s sitting on the floor. “Kadar,” he says. “I need you to get over here and do exactly as I say.”

Kadar hurries over and drops to his knees. “Okay. What do we do?” He reaches for the shard of metal buried in Vaz’s gut.

“Don’t touch it,” Vaz snaps. He pulls the strap of his medical kit off his shoulder and slides it over to Kadar. “Open that up and figure out what still works.”

Kadar quickly sifts through the kit’s contents and immediately discards everything that’s been smashed. He holds up an injector and tests it a few times. Nothing.

“No painkillers,” Vaz says through gritted teeth. “Great.”

By the time Kadar’s finished, there are only three usable instruments. And two of them are used to treat allergies.

“Well,” Kadar says. “Now what?”

Vaz points at something that looks an awful lot like a tube of adhesive. “Use that to seal the edges of the wound and reduce the bleeding.”

1�

Kadar grabs the adhesive and gently prods at the wound. Vaz hisses as blood wells up, and Kadar gags.

“Do not throw up on me,” Vaz warns.

“This may surprise you, but I don’t do this very often.” Kadar works quickly and leans back, breathing deeply. “Okay. Now what?”

“You call for help.”

“I can’t,” Kadar says. “Something’s wrong with the comm.”

“Then get that door open.”

“Also not happening,” Kadar says. “I think we’re stuck in here. Which is better than being out there, I guess.”

“I need surgery, Kadar,” Vaz says. “We can’t stay—”

They both jump as a heavy thud echoes down the hall.

•

“She’s not coming,” Asha says.

“Yes, she is,” Ysal replies, waiting patiently at the bottom of the shuttle’s ramp.

Asha perches on a crate and sighs. “We’re losing time. We should just go.”

“Neither of us can fly the shuttle,” Ysal points out.

“How hard can it be? Wayfarer’s controls are practically point-and-click.”

“Don’t you dare try to fly my shuttle,” Laela snarls.

Asha hops down off the crate as Laela stalks through the cargo bay to the shuttle.

“Laela—” she starts.

“We’re not having this conversation right now,” Laela says, climbing into the cockpit. “Get in the fucking shuttle before I come to my senses.”

Ysal has the common courtesy not to say anything as Asha boards the shuttle, but there’s no mistaking the smug ‘I told you so’ look on her reptilian face.

•

The shuttle enters M808-4’s atmosphere as far from the dig site as possible and approaches low to avoid the telians’ sensors. They land deep in the

1�

jungle, in the shadow of a colossus slumped against a cliff like a wounded soldier.

Laela kills the engines and doesn’t look at Asha or Ysal. “I’ll stay with the shuttle.”

Ysal nods. “Thank you, Laela.”

Laela doesn’t answer until Asha’s almost gone. “Don’t get killed, okay?”

“I’ll do my best,” Asha replies.

“I’m serious,” Laela says. “Training your replacement would be a real pain in the ass.”

Asha closes the shuttle’s rear door behind her.

Navigating through the jungle isn’t as easy when there’s no path to follow. Ysal takes the lead, occasionally sniffing the air before changing direction. Asha loses track of time, following along in the minor wake of destruction that Ysal’s massive form leaves behind her.

And then, out of nowhere, a wall appears.

After a moment, Asha realizes it’s one of the walls around the edge of the dig site. She can hear voices arguing on the other side.

A questing vine has managed to wriggle between two of the wall’s panels and pry the gap open slightly. Asha kneels so she can peer through.

The telians look like Laela, except where they don’t. They share her feline features and large eyes, but where Laela is small and skinny, the telian soldiers are tall, broad, and athletic. There are five of them: two stand on either side of Bryn, restraining her, while two more examine the closed door to the archive. The last—their leader, judging by the gold stripes on her uniform—paces between the two groups with an impatient, menacing air.

“Major Valeria?” says one of the soldiers by the door. “I don’t think the ram is going to work.”

The lead telian nods and approaches Bryn, glaring down at her. “We need that door opened.”

“Afraid I can’t help you there,” Bryn replies conversationally. “You’ve activated some kind of emergency lockdown. There may be no way to deactivate it from this side.”

“You’re too modest, Professor,” says Valeria. “I’m sure you have a few ideas.”

1�

Bryn shrugs and doesn’t reply.

Valeria gestures to the soldiers holding Bryn. “Take her back to the ship for further questioning.” She turns back to the soldiers by the door. “Try the plasma cutter.”

Asha watches the soldiers march Bryn into the jungle, then stands and steps away from the wall. “I have an idea,” she whispers to Ysal. “Follow me.”

•

“They’ve given up on the battering ram,” Kadar says. “I think they’re trying to cut their way in now.”

Vaz nods in acknowledgment, staring at nothing. He’s sweating, and there’s a gray cast to his skin that Kadar doesn’t like the look of.

“Hey.” Kadar nudges him. “You okay?”

“No,” Vaz says. “I think I’m bleeding internally.”

Kadar’s no medic, but even he knows that’s not good. “What do we do?”

“Nothing,” Vaz says. “We wait until we can call for help, or until someone comes and gets us.”

“We have to do something,” Kadar snaps. “Come on. Tell me what to do.”

“Just... keep talking,” Vaz says. “Give me something else to focus on.”

“Okay,” Kadar says. “I can do that. Annoying you is what I do best.”

Vaz rolls his eyes and groans.

“You can’t be doing that badly if you have the energy to be disgusted with me.” Kadar settles into a more comfortable position next to Vaz. “Did I ever tell you about the time Covax and I sold the mining rights to an imaginary moon?”

“You can’t be serious.”

“No, really! Well, Covax sold it. I posed as the competing buyer. Our mark was this marcor resource baron—”

A side benefit of Kadar’s constant stream of chatter is that it almost drowns out the sound of the plasma cutter.

•

“This is a dumb idea,” Asha says.

20

“It was your idea,” Ysal points out.

“Yes, yes it was. Ready?”

Ysal nods and disappears into the jungle as Asha hides in the undergrowth beside one of Bryn’s paths.

It isn’t long before the two telian soldiers approach, with Bryn between them. Asha isn’t particularly good at sneaking around, especially in the wilderness. Which is why she’s completely unsurprised when the telian soldier in the lead points his gun directly at her hiding spot.

“You,” he says. “Out of the bushes. Now.”

Asha stands, hands above her head. “Okay, calm down,” she says. “Just listen, okay?”

The other soldier steps forward, raising her gun.

“Okay, good,” Asha says. “I need your full attention.”

Ysal emerges from the jungle behind the two soldiers and brings both her fists down on their heads. Each fist collides with a sharp crack, and the soldiers collapse.

Asha cringes. That looked incredibly lethal.

Ysal glances briefly at the bodies before turning to Bryn. “Professor. Did they harm you?”

Bryn raises her eyebrows and whistles, impressed. “You must be the sivari.”

“I am Ysal sai-Vysri,” Ysal says. “I regret that we did not meet under more pleasant circumstances.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Asha says, stepping forward. “Where are Vaz and Kadar?”

“Inside the archive,” Bryn says. “It sealed itself during the attack. I had no idea any of the security protocols were still active—”

“We need to get them out of there,” Asha says. “And we need to get off this planet.”

“Oh, no need,” Bryn says pleasantly. She reaches into her pocket and produces a small transmitter. “I’ve activated my distress beacon. The Sentinels should be here shortly.”

21

“The telians are jamming all communications,” Ysal says. “It is likely that your distress signal has been blocked.”

“Well,” Bryn says. “I suppose we should do something about that.” She turns, takes a moment to orient herself, and points. “The opterian village is that way. With their help, we can find the telian ship and disable whatever device they’re using to block the distress signal.”

“The ship will be guarded,” Ysal warns her.

“Rain-in-Summer can handle that.”

“The telians have guns,” Asha says, skeptical. “The opterians have slings and pointy sticks.”

“If I’ve learned anything on this expedition,” Bryn says, “it’s never to underestimate slings and pointy sticks.”

•

“So Covax and I both go for the gun, fake-struggle for it, and Covax ‘shoots’ me. What we didn’t anticipate was that the mark wasn’t as stoic as he claimed, so of course he panicked—Vaz?”

Vaz hums in response, slumping to the side. He can’t seem to keep his eyes open for very long, despite how fast he’s breathing.

“Stop that,” Kadar warns. “You’re falling over.”

“I’m lying down,” Vaz corrects as he slides to the floor and settles on his side.

“Should I be letting you do that?”

“Yeah.” The room is a little chilly, but Vaz is sweating. He looks up at Kadar. “You’re doing everything right. If I don’t make it, it’s not your fault.”

“Stop saying things like that,” Kadar snaps. “How are you so calm about this?”

“’M not,” Vaz mumbles. “My heart’s actually beating faster.”

“You know what I mean. If it were me with the shrapnel in my stomach, I’d be screaming at you.”

Vaz shrugs as best he can in his current position. “Everybody dies.”

“Not me, I plan to live forever.” Kadar nudges Vaz’s knee with his foot. “You’re not dying either. Not today. You’re not allowed.”

22

Vaz doesn’t reply.

Kadar pulls his knees up to his chin and studies Vaz, huddled on the floor. He looks so small.

“We did a unit on your people back when I was in school,” Kadar says, “They showed us a video of dhovar shock troops during the war. I saw one take ten shots to the chest and still keep fighting.”

“Those soldiers were on a lot of drugs,” Vaz says. “You can’t believe everything you hear about us.”

“So those romance novels about dhovar going into heat and mating for days are probably inaccurate, too.”

Vaz groans. “Don’t tell me you read those.”

“My mother had a stash. I got bored easily.” Kadar pauses expectantly. “So...?”

“We do not go into heat,” Vaz grumbles.

“Another of my illusions shattered,” Kadar says mournfully.

Vaz actually manages a dry chuckle.

•

The telians parked their ship at the top of a plateau, in an area with precious little tree cover. With their backs to the cliff, the three telian guards can see everything coming at them for almost a hundred yards.

From the closest hiding spot, behind some rocks, Asha says, “Are you sure your friend can handle this?”

“Rain-in-Summer will be fine,” Bryn says. “Be ready.”

Ysal gently elbows Asha and points at a shadow moving beneath the telian vessel.

Rain-in-Summer must have scaled the cliff; that’s the only way she could now be sneaking around from the far side of the ship. She stops once she’s got a clear line-of-sight to the nearest guard, draws her sling, and starts spinning it in one hand.

A rock whirs through the air, almost too fast to see, and hits the guard’s temple with a crack that can be heard even from Asha’s position.

The guard collapses into a heap. The remaining telians react immediately,

23

spinning to face the cliff with their guns drawn, but their assailant has already vanished.

Rain-in-Summer reappears a few seconds later, climbing onto the top of the ship. She creeps toward the end of one wing and perches at the edge, waiting for one of the guards to pass beneath her.

At the right moment, Rain-in-Summer drops off the edge of the wing and lands on the guard’s shoulders, driving his face into the rocky ground at terminal velocity. She ducks low, avoiding the last guard’s instinctive shot, and jabs the point of her spear up under his chin.

The guard makes a brief, wet noise and falls over.

“I take it all back,” Asha says, eyes wide. “That was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Rain-in-Summer prods all three bodies with the butt of her spear. Satisfied, she waves Asha over.

“We will watch for reinforcements,” Ysal says. “Go.”

Asha carefully edges out of cover and up the plateau to the telian ship. She gives Rain-in-Summer a thumbs-up as she passes, although she doubts the gesture translates.

The telian ship is empty, near as Asha can tell. A single corridor runs the length of the ship, with doors lining either side—crew quarters, probably. Asha makes her way down to the cockpit, hyper-aware of every noise along the way.

The ship’s computer interface is a little familiar; Laela must have copied some standard telian protocols when she upgraded Wayfarer’s systems. Asha pages through the various control panels, scanning for anything related to communications.

She’s so absorbed in her work that she almost doesn’t notice when someone presses a gun against the back of her head.

•

“Vaz?” Kadar prods him in the shoulder. “You still with me?”

“Mmh,” Vaz replies. His eyes open slightly. “Think’m gonna pass out soon.”

“Dammit.” Kadar reaches out to check Vaz’s pulse. It’s weak and rapid. “God, you’re freezing.”

2�

Vaz hums, but doesn’t answer.

Kadar shrugs out of his jacket and drapes it over Vaz’s side. He’s not sure it’ll even help, but he has to do something and this is something.

“Kadar?” Vaz says quietly, like he’s lost in the dark and calling for help.

“Yeah,” Kadar replies, moving to sit where Vaz can see him. “Yeah, I’m here.”

“I don’t want to die.”

Kadar isn’t a crier. This is an established fact. The sudden lump in his throat is probably due to the dry air in the archive. It also has nothing to do with how he reaches out and takes Vaz’s hand. It’s cold and clammy, but Kadar holds on like he’s the only thing between Vaz and oblivion.

“They’ll be here any minute,” Kadar says. “You’ll be fine.”

•

“Turn around. Slowly.”

Asha lifts her hands away from the computer and turns.

Gun pointed at Asha’s face notwithstanding, Valeria’s considerably less intimidating than she was at the dig site. Partly due to the fact that she’s much shorter up close—Asha has to look down to meet her eye—but mostly because of the perplexed look on her face.

“... How did you get here?” Valeria asks.

“That’s kind of a long story.” Asha replies, voice shaking a little. “You didn’t happen to see a sivari or a fluffy bug alien on the way in, did you?”

The deepening confusion on Valeria’s face is all the answer Asha needs.

It’s amazing how quietly Ysal can move, considering her size. She reaches over Valeria’s head and grabs her gun hand, pointing the barrel at the ceiling. With her other hand, she clamps Valeria’s arm to her side.

Valeria spits a long and colorful series of expletives and struggles in Ysal’s grip.

“Thanks,” Asha breathes in relief. She turns back to the console and pages through the remaining controls. Engines, life support—there. Communications.

A simple flick of a switch, and the jamming clears. The comm panel lights up,

2�

reporting a powerful, unidentified transmission emanating from nearby.

“If I were you,” Asha says, turning back to Valeria, “I’d recall your guys and get out of here before the Sentinels show up.”

Judging by Valeria’s expression, she’s vividly imagining Asha’s painful death.

Ysal gestures at the door with her chin. Asha edges past them and out of the ship, where Rain-in-Summer stands watch for any more surprise visitors.

About a minute later, Ysal emerges from the ship and drops a crushed lump of metal into the dirt.

“We should return to the dig site,” she says.

•

Vaz lost consciousness a few minutes ago. He’s still breathing, but it’s quick and shallow and that’s probably a bad sign. Kadar maintains his grip on Vaz’s hand. He’d like to think that, somehow, Vaz knows he’s still there.

Something in the archive starts to emit a shrill beep, and it takes Kadar a second or two to realize that it’s his comm going off.

He reaches over to where his jacket is still draped around Vaz and digs around in his pocket until he finds the comm. “Hello?”

“Kadar?” Asha says.

“Yeah, I’m here,” Kadar replies. “What’s going on out there?”

“Telians,” Asha says. “They’re gone now. I’ll explain later. You guys okay?”

“Vaz is hurt. It’s really bad.”

There’s a staticky noise, as if the comm has been grabbed out of Asha’s hand, and Bryn’s voice comes over the line: “Kadar, I need you to go to the central console and look for a red panel. It will have a pictograph of a shield on it.”

Kadar looks down at Vaz and reluctantly releases his hand. He stands and approaches the console. The multitude of red panels are still spinning around the column, and Kadar can feel every millisecond passing until he finds the right one. “Okay. Now what?”

“Swipe your hand across the panel, left to right.”

2�

Kadar does as he’s told. A slight vibration passes through the floor, and there’s a grinding noise from further up the tunnel.

Multiple sets of footsteps echo down the hall. A team of Sentinels burst into the room; a few of them immediately stop to examine Vaz. Kadar scans their faces, but doesn’t recognize any of them. More importantly, none of them recognize him.

It isn’t long before a few more Sentinels arrive—medics, this time. They spend a few moments scanning him and prodding him before they hoist him onto a gurney and disappear back up the hall.

One of the Sentinels approaches Kadar. “What’s your name?”

Kadar has just enough presence of mind not to blurt out his real name. “Kadar,” he says.

The Sentinel nods. “Come with me, please. We need to debrief everybody.”

Kadar suppresses a sudden jolt of panic and follows the Sentinel out of the archive.

•

It’s a few more hours before the Sentinels get around to interviewing Asha.

They take her aboard their ship—the Defender Ghada, according to the Sentinels who escort Asha into the briefing room—and deposit her at the foot of a very long table. At the head of said table sits a short, rectangular Sentinel in a commander’s uniform. She regards Asha suspiciously from beneath her angular eyebrows, and Asha is suddenly reminded of her fifth grade music teacher.

“Asha Reed,” says the Sentinel. “I’m Commander Zahra.”

Asha nods and doesn’t answer. She suspects the usual pleasantries would only annoy Zahra even more.

“I’ve looked over your records, such as they are,” Zahra says. “They’re... unusual.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Asha says, unsure what response would be appropriate.

“You’ve already provided a statement,” Zahra continues. “I won’t waste time having you repeat it. There are just a few more details I need.”

Asha nods again and waits.

2�

Zahra picks up her tablet and turns her attention to whatever’s on it. “You were aboard the telian vessel.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You came into contact with their commanding officer.”

“... Briefly, yeah.”

“But you have no idea why they attacked the dig site.”

“I was a little preoccupied,” Asha says instinctively, and winces at the stern look she gets in response. “They were trying to get into the archive. That’s all I know. Sorry.”

Zahra makes a noise of acknowledgment and starts scrolling through something on her tablet. A very long something, judging by the widening gulf of silence between them.

Asha awkwardly clears her throat. “How’s Vaz doing?”

“Recovering,” Zahra says absently. “We need to keep him aboard long enough to ensure there are no further complications. After that, he’ll be transferred to your ship.” Without looking up from the tablet, she adds, “I have one more question. According to your report, your sivari companion killed two telian soldiers.”

“Is she in trouble for that?”

“Under the circumstances, no.” Zahra finally looks back up at Asha. “She was also in a position to kill the telian commander, yet she didn’t. Do you know why?”

“I... guess it wasn’t necessary?”

“Killing Major Valeria would have ensured the safety of your entire crew and possibly prevented the telians’ escape.”

Asha rubs her eyes. It’s been such a long fucking day. “This is a weird question and I don’t have the answer to it. I’m sorry.”

“Hmm.” Zahra puts the tablet down. “You’re free to go.”

Asha can feel the commander’s eyes on her all the way out of the room.

•

Kadar’s almost supernatural level of luck has held out once again.

The Sentinels were so concerned about the telians that they neglected to run

2�

a facial recognition scan on Kadar. They didn’t even question him all that thoroughly. Kadar manages to leave the briefing room without collapsing in relief. The last thing he needs is for his mother to come collect him.

He passes Ghada’s infirmary wing on his way to the shuttle bay and hesitates. Last he heard, Vaz was out of the woods but still recovering. Kadar shouldn’t bother him.

Still. Doesn’t hurt to check.

Kadar taps the control panel, and the door slides open. The ward is nearly empty, and the lights have been dimmed to almost total darkness. Kadar moves to close the door again, but Vaz says, “Who’s there?”

“What happened to that superior dhovar nose?” Kadar coughs and drops the sarcasm. “I’ll let you sleep. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Vaz says. “Did you need something?”

“No, I—” Kadar steps into the room and the lights react to his presence, brightening slightly. “Just checking in.”

Vaz lies on his back in one of the spectacularly uncomfortable-looking beds arranged in circular clusters around the ward. “I’m fine,” he says with a sigh. “Every time I start to fall asleep, I try to roll onto my side. Which hurts. So I wake up again.”

“How long are you going to be stuck here?”

“A day or so,” Vaz says. “Dhovar heal quickly.”

Kadar remembers that from the school vids, too, but this probably isn’t the time to bring that up.

“Right,” Kadar says. “Good.”

“Thank, you, by the way.”

“What?”

“For helping me,” Vaz explains. “Thanks.”

Kadar shrugs. “All I did was glue your wound shut and hold your hand.”

“It’s more than a lot of people would have done.”

Kadar shifts, uncomfortable. He’s seen more of Vaz than he suspects he was meant to. He’s desperate to go back to the sniping and poking, but he’s not sure how. Not after today.

2�

“I.... should probably go,” Kadar says. “Get some sleep, okay?”

Vaz studies him for a moment, but nods. “They left your jacket on the chair over there,” he says, gesturing across the room.

Kadar darts in, grabs his jacket, and dims the lights again on his way out of the ward.

•

It’s the middle of the night, going by Wayfarer’s clock, and yet Asha can’t sleep. Instead, she finds herself scavenging in the kitchen. Her rummaging through the cupboards is interrupted when a voice behind her says, “Hey.”

Asha stifles a scream and spins around.

“Wow,” Laela says. “I assumed you heard me coming.”

“I’m barely conscious,” Asha says, defensive, and closes the cupboard. “I’m also not back on shift for another six hours, so unless the ship’s about to explode—”

“I just want to talk,” Laela says.

Asha squints suspiciously at her. “You never want to talk.”

“Well, now I do,” Laela snaps. “Sit down.”

Asha heads out of the kitchen and into the mess hall, sitting at one of the tables. Laela carefully lowers herself into a seat across from her.

“There’s something I need you to understand,” Laela says. “I told you that I left the Telian Hierarchy.”

“’Defected,’ is what you said.”

“Right. Well, ‘escaped’ is probably more accurate.” Laela scratches the back of her neck, where her mobility harness connects to one of the implants on her spine. “The Hierarchy isn’t like the Protectorate, okay? Everything is controlled. Even reproduction. Especially reproduction.”

“... Creepy,” Asha says.

“That’s one word for it,” Laela’s hands drop into her lap. She doesn’t look at Asha, instead glaring down at the tabletop. “The Hierarchy breeds soldiers to make more soldiers. They breed scientists to make more scientists. Those who excel are selected to pass on their ‘superior genome.’ And ‘defectives’ are isolated from the rest of the population so we can’t ‘contaminate the gene pool.’”

30

Asha has a horrible feeling that she knows where this is going.

“They send us to colonies in the middle of nowhere,” Laela continues. “They tell us they’re doing us a favor, feeding us and sheltering us and letting us serve the Hierarchy despite our obvious inferiority.”

“Well,” Asha says. “I can see why you left.”

“You don’t understand,” Laela growls. “I’m an escaped defective. My whole existence is a threat to the Hierarchy. Any telian who sees me is going to know exactly what I am and what I’ve done. And if they don’t kill me on the spot, they’ll drag me back to the Hierarchy to serve as an example.”

“If you’re trying to explain why you reacted the way you did, I get it,” Asha says. “No further explanation needed. Really.”

“That’s not it.” Laela rubs her eyes. “I guess I’m trying to apologize.”

“You don’t need to—”

“I do,” Laela interrupts. “I’m your captain. You’re all my responsibility. And I need to do better.”

“Well, for the record, I’m sorry too,” Asha says. “Ysal was right. You’re not a coward. And I shouldn’t have called you that.”

“You also called me ‘selfish,’” Laela points out.

“Jury’s still out on that one,” Asha says. “But considering what you just told me, I figure you’ve earned a little selfishness.”

Everything’s quiet for a moment.

“Well.” Laela puts her hands on the table and stands. “That’s enough talk about our feelings for one day. I have to get back to the command deck.” She heads for the door.

“Hey, um, quick question,” Asha calls after her. “You know Ysal better than anyone, right?”

“Anyone on this ship,” Laela says, pausing at the door.

“The Sentinels were asking about her and Valeria,” Asha says. “They couldn’t figure out why Ysal didn’t kill her.”

Laela sighs, and it’s an existentially exhausted sound that Asha’s never heard her make before.

“I know why,” she says, and walks away without another word.

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