September 4, 2028

“Sunfish Mirror” Research Facility

Central Iowa

 

"Bragglemurf!"

The gleeful exclamation came from a blue- eyed, black-haired two-year-old being held in his mother's arms. She was a stocky muscular woman with black hair, a generation or two removed from the shores of the Mediterranean.

"Verooo!" a nearly identical child yodeled to the first, this one held in their father's arms.

Oliver laughed and bent to rub his nose with his child's. In contrast to his wife Claire, Oliver was over two meters tall, with pale skin and long straight black hair that had been gathered into an intricate braid that fell nearly his waist and the same deep blue eyes as their children.

"Ollie, are you sure you got the right clothes on the right one?" Claire asked. "Theo is usually fussier when you carry him."

Oliver looked thoughtfully at the child he was holding before checking the back of the shirt's collar. There was a capital T just inside, making this Theo, instead of his twin, Emma. Both parents had felt a little guilty about resorting to this, but it was the best way to tell them apart because not only did the twins insist on wearing matching clothes, they were delighted at the confusion it added to whatever caper they'd gotten into. Their parents had done their best to give the twins individuality but the pair resisted them at every turn.

One unforgettable morning, they went as far as dressing the pair separately in different clothes and had then managed to keep them apart until it was time to go to class. When the twins had seen each other, there had been a quick moment of confusion between them, followed by howls of protest. It quickly built into an utter maelstrom of emotion, as only a pair of toddlers could do. When they were finally exhausted, they were taken to their preschool. After Claire had explained what was going on, she'd tried to rub noses with Theo, but he turned away. Emma was as grim-faced, refusing to even look at her.  

Claire had gone down to see them at lunch, wondering if they'd settled down. She'd heard the twins had been gabbling at each other from one of the side rooms. Gratified that they'd accepted the change in routine, she'd peeked in on them. They were working on a puzzle together, stripped to their underwear. Their teacher saw her and stepped out of the room and quietly, but urgently, asked Claire if they really needed to wear separate clothes. The emotional turmoil had erupted again once their parents were gone, and after a couple of hours, the teacher had finally given up and let them strip down. Claire tried hard not to laugh, promising that the twins could go back to choosing their own clothes.

That evening, after they'd been put to bed, Claire and Ollie shared some wine, grateful for the quiet.

"The only reason I'm not the smartest physicist here is because Dhammie is with me," Ollie finally said. "It does not help with those two."  

"But we all deeply appreciate your modesty," Claire said, nudging his ribs.

"And you, a decorated veteran, mistress-at-arms, and a tactical genius. Even you are outmaneuvered at every turn."

"So, my magic marker idea?"

"If we can't tattoo them, it's the next best thing. I will collect their clothing while you pour us more wine."

The plan had worked well, neither one seemed to notice the small T or E on the tags and with a glance, a parent could identify a miscreant. But now...

"What's your name?" Ollie asked the child he was holding.

The answer was pursed lips and an emphatic shake of the head.

"Well, what do I call you? Still no? I think your name must be Miss Elephant Hat."

Getting another shake of the head, with a hint of a smile, Ollie went one, guessing sillier and sillier names.

"...Duchess Flooga Snortensen perhaps?"

Both children burst out laughing at that one.

"Noooo! Emmmma!" the child in Oliver's arms protested.

Theo laughed and turned to rub his nose against Claire's.

"Someone is suspiciously proud of himself." she said.

He chuckled deep in his throat. "Flaggle!" he declared, waving his arms.

"I didn't want it to come to this, little one, but now you're going to get a tattoo on the forehead," Oliver said to Emma.

Claire laughed. "We are not tattooing their foreheads."

They put the children down on the carpeted floor and waited in the deserted reception area at the entrance to Oliver's lab and waited while the twins played. A few minutes later, the doors opened again, and two women entered, much to the delight of the children.

"I guess they missed us," the taller of the women, Oliver's twin sister Amanda said, kneeling to hug each of them.

Amanda wasn't as tall as her brother, just under two meters. They weren't mirror images like the children, but their identical blue eyes, complexion, and long black hair made the relationship obvious.

The woman with Amanda was named Mirjam. She had pale grey/blue eyes and close-cropped white-blonde hair. She was as muscular as Claire and wore a shoulder holster with a large pistol in it.

"What're you two gremlins so happy about?" she asked the children as they collected hugs from her. There was a touch of a lisp in her voice, a consequence of her accent.

"They seem to have figured out the initials on the clothes," Claire said.

Emma was hugging Amanda's leg while Theo demanded to be picked up by Mirjam. When their faces were on the same level, Theo babbled at Mirjam, making emphatic motions with his chubby little hands.

"I think you're probably in trouble," Claire said. "They spent hours looking for you two."

"He does look pretty serious," Mirjam agreed. "I missed you too, Theo."

He tried to look stern but laughed after a moment, pushing his face to hers. Mirjam checked to be sure he was booger free before rubbing noses with him.

"Want to walk them down with me?" Claire asked.

Mirjam considered Oliver and Amanda for a moment. The elder set of twins looked back at her.

"Oh come on, we'll be fine on our own for ten minutes," Oliver said.

"And we're in the middle of a fortress," Amanda added.

"That one tried to sneak away from me on Garradya," Mirjam said to Claire, nodding at Amanda.

"I did not sneak away. I was letting you sleep," Amanda protested.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Oliver promised.

"But who would keep an eye on you?" Claire asked. "We could just lock them in."

"Behave," Mirjam told the pair as Claire picked up Emma. The children babbled happily, knowing this routine. The time for boring adult stuff was over and they were headed to their favorite place in the world.

Oliver and Amanda went through into the laboratory proper. Equipment was scattered around the room, sharing space with several whiteboards with protective covers over their faces. In the center of the large room, more whiteboards and test racks were clustered around a tangle of equipment, concealed beneath the sheets draped over it.

"The twins still aren't talking?" Amanda asked.

Oliver snorted. "They talk all the time, they just don't bother to include the rest of us."

Amanda frowned. "They're obviously intelligent but at their age we were already using full sentences. Is this something to worry about?"

"Dhammie, they're nothing like we were, looking for parallels is pointless. Once they figure out that they can talk to the rest of us, it will never stop. Enjoy the relative peace and quiet. How was Garradya Hoh?"

"Too much to do and not enough time, like always. Did you end up working all week?"

"Yes, mostly banging my head against the same wall." Oliver flipped the security cover back, exposing a whiteboard covered with a long equation. "Another dead end."

"Let's take a look," Amanda said, examining the board.

Letting her work, Oliver began uncovering the test stands. In the center was a squat shape covered with another dust cloth. As he pulled the cover away, it revealed a device shaped a bit like an antique cannon, if it had been designed by H.R. Giger and constructed by Swiss watchmakers.

Amanda looked up at the device and her eyebrows went up at the triceratops head that now decorated what would have been the cannon's "muzzle."

"Does that help the functionality?"

Oliver glanced at it and laughed. "Not so far, Emma decided that was what it needed though. They both start laughing whenever they see it, I have no idea why. Makes me wonder if they're trying to tell me something."

"Yes, they're telling you that they're toddlers."

"Maybe that's it. You finished that proof too quickly. Where did I go wrong?"

"You'll just get mad if I tell you."

"Will not. Where is it?"

Amanda led him over to one of the boards. "Let's start over here with your initial field state functions. I think that's where the flaw in your conditional expression creeps in."

He winced. "That much?"

She began to explain, and they quickly dropped into their native language. Soon, he dragged over another whiteboard and they both began write as they talked.

 

By the middle of the day, Oliver and Amanda had moved from the whiteboards to the strange device, making painstakingly adjustments. Claire and Mirjam had come back to the lab hours ago and were in their usual spot at the lab's portal. Like every other day, their Wards were so focused on their work that they ignored everything else. Claire kept a book with her while Mirjam had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of various firearm publications in her bag. They glanced at each other with amused looks when Claire's tablet alarm went off. After a week apart, the physicists were already back to the same schedule. They'd have to pry the other two out of the lab to eat, and likely sleep. The pair of Wardens went over to where Oliver and Amanda were working. Oliver had crawled under the cannon, adjusting something while Amanda watched a nearby screen. She glanced up at the pair of Wardens and smiled before looking back at the screen.

"Wait, hold it right there," Amanda said. "This is interesting, a perfect waveform, except out of phase and inverted."

"What?" came Oliver's voice from under the machine. "Why? All the emitters are set to the original activation sequence."

Amanda grinned at Claire and Mirjam. "Well, it is upside down now, maybe they got confused."

There was a pained sigh from underneath the equipment and both Wardens grinned.

"Sweetie, upside down is important, isn't it?" Claire asked, doing her best to sound innocent.

"Uhm, no, my love. Gravity is far too weak of a force to act on most any exotic particle at these scales. They can't feel up or down."

"But how do you know?" Claire asked. "Have you ever asked them?"

Amanda started to laugh and put a hand over her mouth.

There was a long silence from under the device. "Yes, except with math. Dhammie, I'm going to check the wire harness again."

"There's chilidogs in the cafeteria today." Mirjam said, holding up her tablet. "We'd better hurry before they're all gone."

"Don't get between her and a chilidog, remember?" Claire said, tapping Oliver's ankle with her toe.

"Anyway, maybe your particles are afraid of the lizard head there on the far end," Mirjam said helpfully.

There was another, more frustrated sigh. "That's even less likely."

"Anyway, that's a dinosaur," Claire said.

Mirjam raised an eyebrow. "And those were what?"

"Reptiles, but there's a semantic difference..."

"Oh, I see," Oliver suddenly said. "You wired it backwards, Dhammie."

"I did not wire anything backwards," Amanda said. She crouched down to look at where he was pointing. "Well...shit. I guess I did."

"It won't take ten minutes to fix. No big deal."

"Ollie, chilidogs," Mirjam said. "The erotic particles can wait."

"Exotic, not...never mind," Oliver said, sliding out from under the device. "Let's go eat."

 

Forty-five minutes later, they sat and watched as Mirjam demolished her fourth chili dog.

"I'll never understand y'all's fascination with those," Claire said. "They're okay but I think Mirjam is having a religious experience over there."

"Is there some kind of alert planned?" Amanda asked, watching the far side refectory.

"Not that I know of," Claire said. "What's wrong?"

"I think something is up," Amanda said. "Watch that new admin."

Claire and Oliver turned to watch the Ian Jones, the research facility's brand-new Administrator. He stopped at another table and spoke quietly to the group there.

Almost immediately they were up and jogging toward the doors.

"Those are all pilots," Claire said. "Yeah, something's up."

They didn't have to wait long. Ian looked around the large room once more and walked to the middle of the room.

"If I could have your attention please?" he said loudly.

The room went immediately went quiet as everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to face him. Ian, suddenly the center of their undivided attention, looked a little startled.

"Uh, right. I apologize for interrupting your meal. A Commonwealth courier just got to broadcast range and passed on some very dark news. Black Swarm ships were detected entering the Te'varvfathi Hoh system."

There was a collective sigh in response.

"What kind of mass are we talking?" someone called.

The administrator looked back at his tablet. "Initial mass scans indicated at least fleet size before they were destroyed." 

Oliver and Amanda's faces had both gone gray and they stared at each other in horror while something like a sigh went through the room. It could only mean one thing; the Black Swarm had found another of their planets. They were suddenly all a little closer to their own extinction.

"There are no indications that Terra is a target, but the Orbital Arrays are moving to full alert and all defense units have been recalled. Our pilots here are part of that, please give the combat specialists the right-of-way, wherever you are. I'll make further updates electronically, I wanted to let people know in person first. Thank you."

"The Ta'avi-kin," Amanda whispered. "We've got to help them."

Claire put her hand gently on her husband's arm, but he didn't notice. He was raised his eyebrows and moved his head slightly. In return, her eyes widened but she nodded slowly after a few seconds.

"It could, but it's not calibrated for complex life forms."

He shrugged. "Would it be worse than dying? If we use a gravimetric shift..."

A few minutes later, Ian Jones noticed their little group, still sitting at their table after everyone else had hurried out. The Wardens were watching the twins work, Amanda was gesturing, speaking quickly in Shareef, while Oliver scribbled equations on the table with a sharpie, occasionally interjecting.

"Doctor and Doctor Tulani," Ian said. "We haven't been formally introduced; we'll have the pleasure later. I've been briefed on your project, is there a chance you can help somehow?"

Amanda nodded, looking down at what Oliver had written. "I'm fairly certain that we can evacuate some people at least. I wish we could do more but..."

"Let me know who or what you need, and when you need it," Ian said. "I'm putting the facility at your disposal."

"Then some numbers people and a couple of engineers," Oliver said, getting up. "Oh, and, uhm, this table."

Mirjam took a picture of the table without missing a beat. Ollie nodded happily at her and took the tablet. Without another word, he and Amanda turned and strode toward the doors. Mirjam rolled her eyes and got up to follow them.

"I'll take care of this," Claire said.

Mirjam nodded before running to catch up with the scientists. Claire got up and began to collect their plates.

"I can take care of this if you need to stay with Dr. Cosineau," Ian said.

"Mirjam can keep an eye on them. I'm sure that Facility Support has better things to do than clean up after us."

She was surprised when the Project Administrator began to help.

"I'm assuming they know someone that's on Te'varvfathi Hoh?" he asked. "I'm still getting situated here and haven't finished all of the exo lectures yet."

"Ollie's family has some business interests there but that's not what they're upset about. When the Ancients established their colonies, the Ta'avi and the Garragh ended up a couple light-hours apart and have always been close friends. When my husband and his family refer to Ta'avi in Shareef, they use a suffix that indicates close kinship."

"Oh, right," Ian said, as they stacked the plates. "I read that you're human."

Claire chuckled as she wiped her hands clean. "I'm a little short for a Garragh, yeah. We fell in love when I became Ollie's Warden."

"That's all that's important," Ian said. "From what I've heard, if anyone can pull off a miracle, it'll be those two. I'll send my assistant down, tell her when you need something. I'll ride the desk and block any interference."

Claire impulsively kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks Ian. And welcome to the Sunfish. It's your first week, right?"

"All of four days now. I'd better get to the office."

 

An hour later, Ian Jones had come down to the lab and was watching Oliver finish connecting the cannon- like device. Beside him, Amanda was verifying his progress on a computer.

"This is going to move people somehow?" Ian asked.

She nodded, watching the screen. "It works on the same principle as a Slingshot gate, except much smaller phenomenon that we can steer. The old stories mention the Old Ones using something like this to get around. Since we haven't had thousands of years to work on the problem, ours hasn't moved anything but test instruments. But we know it works. It'll be a rough ride, we're still working out issues with the signal-to-noise."

"What do you mean by 'rough?'"

"The test units lost moisture, maybe some minerals. It'll be safe enough once, but they'll be dehydrated, maybe sick."

"I'll let exo-med know," Ian's assistant said and jogged to the door.

"Targeting data is coming through now," one of the astronomers said, coming over to the computer. "Safest will be that small village, Doc. The city centers are probably primary targets for the Bugs."

Oliver nodded as he finished hooking the device up and looked at one of the attached screens. He whistled quietly. "Look at this heat bleed."

Amanda looked over his shoulder. "We could massage that with a little time. Or an orbital platform so we didn't have to adjust for atmosphere."

Claire stepped up. "With what you've got now, what does heat bleed mean? In small words with big pictures for us lesser mortals."

"Basically, it's going to look like a ball of flames at the other end," Amanda said. "But because...physics and stuff, the heat is only generated the outgoing signal. They'll be perfectly safe coming this way. Going out, much toastier."

"And what's that mean?" Mirjam said.

"It'll look like a stationary, ongoing explosion. I think." Ollie said. "Theoretically anyway. Got the tracer ready, Dhammie?"

Amanda pointed at a backpack with several antennae sticking out. "I'm ready."

"But I'm not sure anyone will equate rescue with a ball of fire," Claire said.

"That's why I'll be there to tell them," Oliver said, pulling the heavy backpack on. "I'm going through the gate with this. It'll give our signal more to lock on to."

"Don't be absurd," Amanda said. "The children need you. I'm going."

He went over and put his forehead against hers. "Dhammie, you're better than I am at the math. I need you here so I can make it home again."

"And neither of you maniacs is going anywhere without us," Mirjam said firmly.

Oliver sheepishly looked back at Claire.

"Oh, right, you've got a family," she said. "You forgot again, didn't you?"

"Did not. You can stand right there, I'll only be a few meters away, relative."

Claire smiled sweetly at him. "No, we'll only be a few meters away."

Oliver got a stubborn look on his face, but Claire had her own look. 

He sighed. "Fine. Just stay close."

Ten minutes later, a large rectangle on the floor had been outlined in duct tape, Claire and Oliver waited at one end, pulling wet towels over their heads. They wore firefighters' bunker coats, borrowed from Emergency Services.

Around them, a quiet hum filled the room, building in pitch and volume. A mirage-like shimmer flickered at the far end of the rectangle.

"We're ready," Oliver said.

Claire put her arms around him, and they shared a quick kiss.

"Anything special we need to do? Run through?" she asked.

"No, the heat bloom comes from zeroing out our momentum, we can just walk through. Walk quick though, it's going to be hot."

She nodded, taking his hand. They walked into the shimmer together.

Claire thought she'd tripped over something at first and was falling forward. At the same time, her inner ear insisted that she was on her feet. A roaring and intense heat washed over them around them and she pulled the towel further around her face. They staggered a few more steps forward and the heat was suddenly gone, replaced by the warm air of Te'varvfathi. It felt like a polar wind against her face. Claire's mouth and throat were utterly dry. She coughed and the movement stretched her skin oddly. It felt almost like leather against her fingers.

Lowering the completely dry towel, Claire looked around. It didn't look all that different from home, they could've been in Greece maybe. The houses around them looked like plaster and were all painted brilliant white with large round windows set deeply back into the thick walls. Claire looked over her shoulder and saw that the gentle shimmer had been replaced by long tongues of fire, being blown back by a hurricane wind.

They were in a crowded town square, it looked like a market day. All around them, the crowds were staring at the pair of them. Oliver yelled something to them as something big roared across the sky, trailing smoke and flame.

That got them moving. The first to arrive was a man and his family. He asked something Claire didn't understand but Ollie answered, sounding reassuring. He took a deep breath and stepped forward. His family followed him through and disappeared. Reassured, the Ta'avi began running past them, disappearing into the shimmer. Then she saw a woman running with two children in her arms. The ground jolted underneath them, knocking the woman off her feet.

Claire immediately ran to help and saw that she'd probably sprained her ankle. The kids looked okay but were obviously more than she could handle. Then Oliver was beside her, helping the woman to her feet and saying something. The woman clutched the infant and Claire scooped up the other child. It was a little girl that looked close to the same age as her twins. She clutched Claire's neck as she and Oliver helped the mother limp to the gate. Claire handed her the toddler as Oliver explained something to her. She nodded at Claire and stepped through the gate.

Oliver saw a man leading a small group of black haired Garragh into a house and called to him. The man changed direction and ran toward them.

"Hey, it's Jhendrui!" Claire said, surprised.

The man stared at them. "Master Oli'vehndra? And Lady Claire! How is this?"

"This is a gate to our lab on Terra." Oliver said. "The Black Swarm has come."

The man paled and made sure his daughter was with him. Without a word, he pushed her into the shimmer and began yelling orders at the rest of the Garragh. Claire tried to nudge him toward the gate, but he shook his head.

"I am a Tulani Steward! They are my responsibility!"

Claire let him go and started helping people go through as Oliver kept fiddling with the equipment in the backpack. There were just a few people left when a crackling roar began, so loud that Claire felt it as much as heard it.

"Holy god," she whispered, looking up.

Above them was a massive cloud, boiling black and gray, lightning constantly strobing. It grew rapidly along with the roll of accompanying thunder. Claire took a short step toward the Tulani steward, spun as she grabbed him and threw the larger man over her hip and through the gate.

The roiling chaos was nearly on top of them now and her husband was yanking wires out of the device. The gate vanished and Claire nodded, understanding. He grabbed her and they hugged tightly.

Goodbye, little ones. We love you both so mu...

 

 

Amanda looked up as Jhendrui slid across the floor, crashing into the little group that had just staggered through, knocking several of them over, adding to the chaos in the room. There was a sharp pop as the gate disappeared.

"Get it back," she said to the engineer on the targeting board.

His fingers were already flying across the keyboard as she leapt down to the arrival area. Jhendrui was looking around, bewildered. She went and helped everyone to their feet.

"Lady D'hamandhau!" Jhendrui yelled when he recognized her.

"Just call me Amanda, old friend," she said quietly, helping him to his feet.

"Lady Claire was there, she...threw me," he said indignantly. "I must go back, there was a giant black cloud..."

"Doctor!" the engineer called over the sound of panicked refugees. "I'm not able to pinpoint the planetary mass. There's something there, but it's fuzzy. And the EM interference from the moons disappeared..."

Amanda's chest clenched and there was pain in her throat as she realized what had happened. Just like that, their lives were snuffed out, her other half, her oldest and best friend, was gone. With him went her friend, the brave woman who had sworn to protect him and had gone through so much to give him children. She closed her eyes, feeling the tears run down her cheeks.

Goodbye Oli'vehndra and goodbye dearest Claire. May you find eternal grace and mercy beside quiet rivers. Oh Mercy's tears, the twins! What am I going to...

"Doctor?"

I swear to you both, I will raise your little ones as if they were my own.

"Doctor Tulani?"

She took a deep breath and looked up at the man at the jury-rigged controls. "Shut it down. It's gone."

The man looked at her in dawning horror. "The whole planet?"

She nodded, the numbness sweeping over her. "Just...shut it down."

Amanda turned to Jhendrui who was looking around him, trying to understand where they were.

"Mistress, what about the gate?" he asked in Shareef.

Amanda realized he didn't speak English. Why would he? He'd never been to Terra before. She took another deep breath and wiped her face. There would be time for emotions later. Right now, she still had a lot to do.

"Oli'vehndra closed it from the other side. Otherwise, the energy from the impact would have followed you through. You remember Nikolai? He's trying to get the refugees settled. Will you help him?"

"Of course, Lady...Amanda. We'll be able to get home from here?"

"Very easily," Amanda said, patting his arm. However, she doubted either of them would ever set eyes on Garradya Hoh again. Their system was so close to Te'varvfathi Hoh, it would be hard for the enemy not to find them. The Garragh had far better armaments than the Ta'avi had, but once the Swarm found a planet it could only end one way.

 

 

September 7, 2028

"Sunfish Mirror" Facility, Security Section 

Central Iowa

 

The captain pulled her car into the circular drive of the security building and stopped under the canopy that sheltered the front door. It was a no-parking area, but she wouldn't be here long. Overhead, the Iowa sky had begun to turn into the deep blue of evening, and the last sliver of the sun turned the western horizon orange and bronze. A warm breeze made the surrounding fields of corn toss and rustle. She decided it was a good omen, she would be the wind of change.

Outside the door, she paused, emptying her mind of extraneous thoughts. There was only the path forward, she had planned well. Once focused, she took a deep breath and stepped through the front door.

At the desk was one of the young Cadets. He looked up from whatever he was reading and smiled at her.

"Hey Captain Jenkins, I heard you were on leave."

His eyes barely had time to widen in surprise as she pulled the silenced pistol out from behind her back and shot him. The kid slumped back in the chair, the look of surprise still on his face and a wisp of smoke coming from the black hole in the middle of his forehead. She waited but the sound hadn't been enough to alert anyone else in the building. Captain Nina Jenkins pulled out her key card and headed for the armory. The clock had just begun ticking, she had to time this perfectly.

Tick-tock, tick-tock. she reminded herself.

Eight minutes later, exactly on schedule, Jenkins was back at the front door with a large duffel bag over her shoulder. She pushed a detonator into the block of composition explosive and pulled the tab before tossing it into the lobby behind her and ducked behind her car.

Fifteen seconds later, an explosion blew the glass out of the doors, showering the car with small fragments. Her back pressed against the front tire, she saw the shockwave racing away, pushing the corn tassels over as it went. There was a second explosion from deeper in the building and Jenkins stood up and dusted herself off. She'd used two blocks of the enhanced plastic explosive it had easily destroyed the reinforced training building. There were four more blocks of explosive in her duffel. It would be more than enough to erase the High Energy Research building. She tossed the duffle in the car and got in.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Barely an hour later, Jenkins was back behind the wheel. Behind her, a towering column of thick black smoke marked what was left of her former employers. She rolled the window down, letting the roar of the wind fill the car. The Project issued cell phone had already gone out the window, consigned to the night air flying past the windows. After a couple of miles, she shut the rushing air out and pulled out a cellphone she'd never used before. It had been secreted in the bag along with her weapons and she'd been warned to leave it alone until she needed it. Nina hadn't charged it, but the screen immediately lit as soon as she pushed the button.

"Yes." The dry, almost sibilant, voice filled the car and she shuddered slightly in spite of herself. If a desert predator spoke, it would sound like that. The voice of snakes and scorpions.

"It's done." There was a long pause and she thought he'd disconnected.

"The fires are seen, yes. We are coming. Do you have them?"

Jenkins swallowed, mouth dry. "I could only get one."

There was another long pause, and she felt her arms and legs start to tremble. She would just kill herself out here. Fast and clean rather than the things he'd shown her. A quick death would be paradise compared to...she jumped when the lizard voice spoke again.

"One is sufficient. Bring it to me."

Nina Jenkins almost wet herself in relief. The screen went dark and seconds later she was swearing and fumbling the smoking device out of the window. There was a dull flash on the road behind her and she shook her hand. That was going to leave blisters.

She'd drive straight through, she decided. When the caffeine stopped working, she'd switch to the amphetamines. Getting her adrenal glands back in order would be a bitch but nothing like what they would do to her if she failed.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

 

Amanda and Mirjam stood on the roof of a prefab building and watched the fires raging across the R&D facility. Footsteps crunched across the gravel behind them and Mirjam turned and saw Lou Hayden, the Security Service chief.

Until today, Mirjam had allowed Lou and a few of his team captains to approach her Ward without being frisked. They'd been trusted comrades and friends. Until today.

Lou had been around Wardens long enough that he could easily guess Mirjam's state of mind. He'd left his weapons with an assistant and stopped ten meters away, holding his hands away from his sides as he turned in place. Mirjam nodded and he came close enough to speak comfortably.

"Doctor Tulani, we've accounted for Captain Jenkin's team. Six bodies were found at the Citadel along with several Cadets that were on duty. The other four had signed out on leave last night. We got a message to them and all four immediately surrendered themselves to a facility on the East Coast thirty minutes ago. They've been separated and all of them appear to be in shock. Medical wants permission to sedate one who's...highly distraught."

"What's that mean, Lou?" Amanda asked.

The man took a deep breath. "Sergeant Andy Howard is hysterical and had to be put in restraints. He was engaged to one of the casualties. The other three have already volunteered for destructive interrogation."

Amanda made a face and shook her head but didn't say anything. Lou looked at Mirjam.

"You and I both know that smear of filth went solo on this," Mirjam said in her low, mean voice. "We've got enough dead, don't waste any more assets."

"Thank you. They'll be assigned to separate postings when things calm down. There's something else; Ian Jones' body was identified a few minutes ago. His death triggered failsafe messages designating an interim Project Director. You are the most senior person, Dr. Tulani."

Amanda laughed bitterly. "Why not? It's not like I can quit and go home, right?"

Lou didn't know how to respond to that. Only fifteen hours after Te'varvfathi was shattered, the attacks had begun on Amanda's homeworld. The Garragh fleet had counterattacked immediately but had been easily overwhelmed. Within a day, all three of the planet's moons had been accelerated into the planet. Like Te'varvfathi, there was nothing there now but a rapidly expanding cloud of dust and debris.

"You're expecting a clean-up operation?" Mirjam asked.

Lou nodded. "We're assuming they're already on the way. All the backups are long gone. The last personnel are loading now."

He didn't bother to mention the sensitive projects. All the labs with exotic materials were in the center of the inferno.

"Any sign of Theo's body?" Mirjam hated the words as they left her mouth, especially as Amanda flinched.

"Nothing. The playrooms were only slightly damaged, we should have found him. My people are still looking."

Amanda took a deep breath and turned to face Lou for the first time. "Captain Hayden, get notifications out to the field groups and other centers. We need to get replacements recruited and up to speed."

"You've got it, ma'am. There's transport waiting downstairs, we're being relocated to the Echo training facility."

Mirjam nodded to Lou and he went back down the ladder.

"Are you up to the job?" Mirjam asked quietly once they were alone again.

"Why wouldn't I be? I don't have anything else left."

"Yes, you do," Mirjam said firmly. "You have a niece, and large groups of frightened refugees, depending on you. We can get you some help, you've already been through..."

"I know exactly what I've been through. And as I said, I have nothing else left to do. Your job is to keep me under control. If I can't do it, you'll be the first to know."

Mirjam stepped closer and put a gentle hand on her arm. "You're wrong. My job is to care for you, not control you."

Amanda nodded without saying anything. They'd been bonded long enough that Mirjam knew the signs and pulled the taller woman into a hug. Amanda put her face into her Warden's shoulder and finally let herself weep.