“You have a unique way of finding the good in a bad thing.”
“That’s me, always upbeat.” Which was hilarious because I’d lived my entire life as a pessimist, and now that we were facing the end of everything, I couldn’t stop looking for upsides. Living on the edge really did suit me.
“Zara?” That was Bea, coming through the communicator. “Better get up here. Now.”
“On my way.”
Hurry, Nadim said. I felt his urgency.
I kicked it hard, with Starcurrent keeping up but—I now realized—struggling in the higher grav we kept on the ship. We should mod that down. I’d just told zim that this was home. We ought to make it feel like that too. It was time to start thinking of Nadim as partner and home. And we all had to feel right here, or it wouldn’t work.
To keep myself from worrying, I focused on Starcurrent until I arrived at the command center. I spotted Beatriz standing still, back pressed against the transparent wall of Nadim’s skin. That was very wrong because she still suffered a little from vertigo. Nadim usually closed it up for her when she was on her own. This time he hadn’t, and I wondered why.
As I rounded the console I found out. Facing Beatriz, and just a short distance away, stood a Phage.
For a knee-jerk second, I calculated all the ways to try to kill the intruder, and then I brought myself up short. This wasn’t an invader who’d cut through Nadim’s defenses without raising an alarm or causing him discomfort; this was Xyll.
Our Phage. Our prisoner. Kind of.
Being ours didn’t make it easier for Bea to face because the Phage were nightmare blends of spider and mantis with a dash of scorpion thrown in, plus a wholly alien sort of movement. Since I had spent the most time with Xyll, it didn’t unnerve me anymore, but I didn’t want the Phage cell terrorizing Bea.
“Why are you out?” I demanded. “We gave you comm access.”
“Used the device. There was no reply,” it said.
I glanced at Bea, who broke eye contact with a conflicted look. She hunched her shoulders. “I didn’t want to talk. Besides, I was paying attention to what was happening on Greenheld, in case . . .” She didn’t finish that sentence. Didn’t need to.
Relaxing a fraction, I said to Xyll, “Okay, that’s a good reason. What’s the problem?”
“They are coming.”
“Who is?” Nadim asked.
That was my next question too.
“The swarm. The eaters. They are coming.”
“Oh, shit. The Phage?” Last I saw them, they had followed the god-king away like favored pets. Seemed like they had new orders. I didn’t wait for Xyll to confirm. “Bea, what do the scans say? Nadim, can you hear them?”
His unease shivered through me, tangible as a touch, and I fought the urge to pace. His fear might as well have been mine, all discord and bad angles. “Yes, Zara. The noise is . . . unnerving. It’s more focused.”
“Like they’ve locked on a target,” I guessed. “And they’re no longer just eating whatever they come across.”
Bea swept her hands gracefully around the screen, pulling up a long-range sensor display. “When we leave Greenheld, they will intercept us.”
Another battle with the Phage while we were still drained from bonding? The odds didn’t look good. Popping my neck, I yielded to my need to pace, thinking hard. We had two tired Leviathan and some reckless war lizards driving a mech ship.
“Not all information I have,” Xyll said then.
“What, there’s more good news?”
“I hear chatter from the mind. The swarm plans.”
At first, I couldn’t process that. I exchanged a confused look with Bea, who said, “What are you talking about?”
“Plan to focus on big one first, then use captured weapons on lizard ship, then finally infest Nadim, after using Typhon guns on him.”
Oh my God.
The Phage cell was right; that was a plan, much more strategic than anything they’d tried before. Before, we won because we could outthink them, but now it sounded like they were smarter, possibly because of the god-king’s influence. I tried to hide my fear; it wouldn’t do any good, but the possibility of Typhon dying and being puppeted? The Elder would go insane if he got a whisper of this. He might not even be rational enough to fight, which could work in the Phage’s favor.
“Okay, first off, we cannot tell the others about this. At least nobody aboard Typhon. If he gets even a hint of this, he’ll go nuclear,” I said.
I expected disagreement from Nadim, but he sounded both sorrowful and resolved. “Yes. It is not deception but protection. I understand.”
Bea said, “I think we should bring Suncross’s crew in. They might come up with something that will help us.”
I nodded. “We don’t have a lot of time for confab, but five minutes here could save all of us later.” As I called Suncross, I turned to Xyll. “Time to earn your keep. Tell me something useful, anything that could help us win this.”
The Phage cell oscillated its head, claws clicking, limbs scraping against each other like knives sharpening.
Before Xyll could speak, Starcurrent did. “Is not my specialty, but . . . could we not poison them?”
Suncross and crew came up on the screen then. “What is it, Zeerakull? You interrupt important business.”
“Can’t be more important than this,” I shot back. “But hold up a sec, Starcurrent. You want to poison the Phage? How?”
“Flaff,” said Starcurrent. “You gave this one flaff to eat. It grows even in vacuum. If—”
“If we altered the nutritive value with chemicals toxic to the Phage, they might eat themselves to death,” Bea finished.
“Cowardly!” Suncross shouted. “No honor!”
Yeah, he wouldn’t approve of any strategy short of blowing them up or setting them on fire, sadly impossible in space. I liked the idea, but I wasn’t sure if the Phage were hungry enough—or dumb enough—to fall for the bait of random flaff found floating around in space. Unless . . .
“I have an idea.”
Starcurrent made a worried sound. Probably ze knew me well enough to grasp that any embellishment I made to a plan would be dangerous and outside the box, but hey, that’s why I earned the big mynt. Well, I had, before we left the Sliver for good.
Leave or die, just like Greenheld. I could almost start taking offense.
“Tell us, Zara.” Nadim, at least, was willing to hear me out, and Bea was leaning forward, her gaze intent. Suncross and his whole team were still rumbling objections.
“Right. Well, first, we convince Typhon that it’s vital for him to watch over Greenheld. He cannot participate in this fight. Now that we know he’s part of the Phage’s game plan, we deny their access.” I glanced at Starcurrent. “Your people won’t mess with him as long he’s in orbit, right?”
The Abyin Dommas swirled some tentacles, a gesture I still couldn’t read. Sometime—just not now—I needed to ask for a primer on zis body language. “Likely . . . not. My people are not aggressive, but they are angry.”
“Understood,” said Bea. “Go on, Z. I’m with you so far.”