“Self-destruct sequence initiated,” Computer said. “T-Minus ten minutes.”
“Um… Is this something we should be worried about?” I said.
V’Sen didn’t answer me.
Dust continued to fall in some areas, forming a shroud that made attacking difficult. But it was also an advantage. The Changelings would find it just as hard to see as we did.
The reassuring echoing tap of our footsteps off the nearby walls faded as the hallway expanded. It was difficult to see much further than two yards out but already I could tell this was a much larger room than the regular hallways.
V’Sen approached a nondescript door.
“They should be in here,” he said.
I reached for the handle. V’Sen raised a hand and shook his head. He knocked on the door in a strange and unusual rhythm.
Probably a way for people on either side to know we were one of their own.
No response came.
V’Sen repeated his secret knock.
And again, there was no response.
He glanced at me with hard eyes. He didn’t need to give me an order. It was clear from his expression that it was not what he’d been hoping for.
He reached for the handle. He pressed it but it wouldn’t open. He tried again.
No good.
“Computer,” he said. “Open the command center door.”
“Negative,” Computer said. “The self-destruct sequence has been initiated. Please process to the closest exit.”
I kicked at the door. It didn’t produce so much as a smudge.
“It’s no good,” V’Sen said. “You’ll never get inside in time.”
“Want to bet?” I said, striking with another kick.
“She won’t be there,” V’Sen said.
“Say that again. I thought that was why we came here?”
“We came here to get my new instructions. Now that the self-destruct sequence has been initiated, the instructions are the same for everyone.”
“What?” I said.
“We must pull back.”
“Pull back where?”
“To the emergency base.”
“The emergency base? And where’s that?”
I never got to hear V’Sen’s response.
A scream cut him short.
My insides turned to water. I turned to face the thick mist that’d descended over the entire area. I gauged the direction the scream had come from and took after it.
The scream was nothing unusual. I must have heard dozens since emerging from my dirt cocoon.
As horrible as they were, none of the other screams meant much to me.
This one did.
It belonged to her.
I could only pray I wasn’t already too late.
Maddy
Ever since I discovered the location of the Control Room the Changelings used to oversee Lovers’ Escape, the Yayora leaped into action, improving their shuttlecrafts, boosting their speed, armor, and weapons systems. Chief among them, and leading the operation, was Stari. She weaved between the ships, checking their diagnostics and ensuring they were ready to launch in the morning.
The morning.
That was when they would launch their attack on the Changelings. They had waited all this time for that one piece of information. Now they had it, they intended on acting upon it immediately.
“Stari?” I said. “Can I speak with you for a minute?”
“Of course you can,” Stari said, before turning to the mechanic working on a shuttlecraft that looked like it’d seen better days. “Hey, Morpik!”
“What?” the mechanic said.
“I thought you said this hunk of junk would be ready to fly already?” Stari said.
“What can I say?” he said. “Sometimes perfection takes a while.”
“We don’t need perfection!” Stari said. “Operational is good enough!”
“Is that what you tell yourself every day when you do your makeup?” the mechanic said.
“You…”
Stari snatched up a wrench and hurled it at the mechanic’s head. He barely ducked in time.
“Hey!” the mechanic said. “That almost hit me! Be careful next time!”
Another mechanic approached the toolbox and searched for a wrench. He was finding it difficult to locate the size he was looking for.
“Go check over there on the floor,” I said to him.
The mechanic rolled his eyes.
“Stari again?” he said.
I grinned at him. I had no idea it was a common occurrence around here.
“As I was saying,” I said, turning back to Stari.
She wasn’t there.
I spun around to try and locate her but it wasn’t until I heard another wrench bounce along the floor somewhere that I realized where she was.
“So as I was saying,” I said, catching up to her again. “Chax told me about a funny feeling he has that the Changeling siblings are up to something.”
“They’re locked up in one of our cells,” Stari said, checking a report. “I would say their ‘up to something’ days are well and truly numbered.”
“I know,” I said, “but I really think he’s onto something. I mean, he’s had to deal with Changelings a lot more often than the rest of us. He knows them. He knows what their tells are.”
“What’s a tell?”
“It’s something in a game called poker back home. That doesn’t matter. Look, I think he’s telling the truth.”
“And what’s his evidence that they’re up to something?”
“He has a feeling.”
“He has a feeling?” Stari repeated back to me, pouring a whole load of doubt on top for good measure. “That’s not exactly the most powerful evidence I’ve ever heard.”
“I can’t tell you how I know he’s right, I just do.”
Stari studied my expression.
“First, a feeling from him, and now a feeling from you,” she said.
“Trust me,” I said. “If he says they’re up to something, then you can bet your bottom credit he’s right. And you don’t want a surprise to suddenly spring up when you’re so close to getting your homeworld back, do you?”
Stari finished checking the paperwork and handed it to an assistant. She kept her eyes on me but spoke to the mechanic.
“Increase the dampeners,” she said.
She sighed and shook her head.
“I suppose not,” she said. “But they’re locked up. What could they do that might cause such a big problem?”
“Maybe it’s not what they do, it’s what they know.”
Stari scanned my expression.
“They know something?” she said. “About us?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
Stari leaned in close to me.
“I understand you’re in love with this dude,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean he has any kind of supernatural powers.”
“I’m not saying he does,”
