The smell of burnt chemicals mixed with the ringing in my ears. A new set of vibrations shook the corridor—explosions, though not caused by Spicer. These were outside the ship.

Incandescent, Radiance. I pushed myself up. Outside status.

Teams have reached the corridor, Radiance answered. They’ll be with you in a hundred and fifty seconds.

My eyes were stinging from the smoke. Quickly, I pushed myself to my feet, determining my location based on my last memories. It would be awhile before I could see anything around me. My mind-links to Kridib and Spicer, though, were still active.

The explosion followed by the external attack had caused the flight colonel to lose his footing. Dropping one of his pistols, he quickly pressed himself to the side of the corridor, bracing himself for further missile contact.

I ran the odds. In my current condition, I had a thirty-seven percent chance of success if I went for the weapon, fifty-four if I forced myself to run back to Watcher… provided there were no other hidden charges. All my instincts and experiences urged me to take the fight to him, as I had done many times on the front. This time, I decided to ignore them.

Where’s Lux? I asked Radiance.

Marker coordinates filled my vision. Seventy-two BICEFI operatives had spread out in teams of four throughout the length of the path. Knowing Lux, she had probably joined one of the teams incognito. Without any name information, there was no telling which one.

I’m at the section that exploded, I told Rad. Tell the teams there might trap charges. Spicer’s armed.

Don’t worry, grandma. She sent a virtual snort. I’ve seen his file. Keep yourself in one piece and—

All communications were severed. Someone had used the rods to impose a comm blackout and, with that, taken the greatest advantage I had in the fight.

Here goes. I rushed to the bend of the corridor.

Fear was the first thing I had sensed in Spicer’s thoughts: fear of losing the ship, multiple deaths, and the moment of his implant operation. He had gone voluntarily as a promise he had made to his parents as a child before they passed away—to become a fleet officer. His inborn condition didn’t allow him to apply, unless it was to the Scuu experimental program. I could understand his desire, as well as the disappointment that had followed upon being reassigned to a scavenger team. Spicer knew far better than me what it was like to experience crushing disappointment. The thing he couldn’t know was that his memory of his parents was false. Civilians had no idea what was going on in the fleet.

Three steps after the turn, I stopped. The nanites had reduced the ringing in my ears to the point where I could identify basic sounds. My analysis algorithms helped me determine that missiles were still crashing into the outer hull. There was another series of sounds I was also able to identify—faint running footsteps… a lot of them.

Bad timing, Lux! I thought.

The BICEFI’s priority command protocols had allowed them to pass through the ship’s defense software and access my location. I didn’t doubt they had the skills to capture Spicer, but without comms, there was a good chance I would be caught in the crossfire.

I opened my eyes, suppressing every instinct my body had to close them shut. The image was blurry, causing me to tear as if I was in a room of crushed onions. Sounds of gunfire filled the corridor—not the shooting, just bullets bouncing off the metal surfaces of the corridor. Apparently, everyone was fond of sound suppressors. If I got back to the front, I’d be sure to apply for a set as well.

“Charges!” someone shouted, followed by another explosion.

That would take Spicer off my back. Now the only thing I had to worry about was—

“Self-destruct procedure initiated by captain’s command,” Gregorius’ synthetic voice boomed throughout the entire corridor. “Countdown set to ten minutes.”

For over seven milliseconds, I stood still, reviewing memories and simulations. After serving under Augustus for so long, I prided myself with not taking anything for granted. If my first captain could see me now, he would be beyond disappointed. I knew that Spicer would have a backup plan in case I refused to meet him. I hadn’t considered he would have granted himself captain’s authority.

This entire time, I had assumed that Kridib would be able to countermand any instructions Spicer had given to Watcher, rendering them unusable. Instead, I had forgotten there was another command core in play, the same that I had brought with me. With the transfer of power being regarded as legitimate as far as fleet protocols were concerned, Renaan had been granted full unilateral power of the ship, and in the case of his death, command was automatically transferred to the next most senior officer aboard.

“Don’t kill Spicer!” I shouted. “He’s set up a dead man’s switch!”

The sound of rattling bullets intensified. There was no going back now. I had to trust that Kridib had managed to carry out the other part of the plan. Readjusting my internal balance, I rushed towards the core chamber. Ten minutes weren’t enough to stop the countdown, but maybe I could destroy Watcher before that.

For several seconds, the sound of bullets intensified, then it abruptly stopped. The worst-case scenario had just occurred. There was no going back now.

“Stop!” someone yelled. Tears and quarantine protocols prevented me from making out a face, but the mind scalpel let me see the uniform. Two teams of BICEFI operatives were blocking my path a short distance away. Half of them had weapons pointed at me.

“Stay where you are, battleship!” One of them came out of quarantine. “You’re coming with us now.”

Front-line bureaucracy. Only the BICEFI would be brazen enough to display such confidence during a self-destruct countdown.

“I have authorization.” I slowed down, but didn’t stop. “Lux told me—”

“Lux is the reason we’re stopping you.” The man removed his helmet. The facial features weren’t any I had seen before, but the eyes were unforgettable.

“Ogum.” There was only a handful of people I could say that I despised. Ogum was one of them. “You switched sides again.”

The man smirked. “Told you not to lose your legs after you got them.” He glanced demonstratively at my wounds. “Thought you wouldn’t listen.”

“You’re with the BICEFI now.” Everyone with skill was a tool, and despite the number of times Ogum had changed sides, he did have skills.

“Scuu division, on loan to the boss lady herself.” He gestured with his rifle for me to turn around. I didn’t. “I can shoot your legs off like last time.” There was no smile on his face, but his intonation made it clear he was enjoying himself.

“The self-destruct is on. I need to get to Watcher before—”

“Not my concern. My orders are to put you on a shuttle and take you to Radiance. The BICEFI will take care of the rest.”

I see. “Is Spicer alive?”

“Not your concern.” Ogum pointed the rifle at my knee. “Time to go, battleship.”

My chances of reaching Watcher had gone to zero. Lux had gotten what she wanted; I likely would get a little less. Considering her flexibility she would probably consider the ship a loss. The Admin had already been taken. All she needed was to get Watcher, myself, possibly a few artifacts she wasn’t aware of, and leave the husk to be destroyed by the Scuu. From a strategic point of view, that was likely the best outcome, and yet I continued to feel that it wasn’t the right choice.

“Can I talk to her?” I asked.

Ogum shook his head. Seconds later, I heard the distinct echo of a bullet hitting metal. Soon it was followed by more.

“What’s that?” I turned around. “I thought you dealt with Spicer’s team.”

Instead of answering, the BICEFI teams assumed a defense position. Ogum took a few steps back, increasing the distance between him and myself. Looking over my shoulder, I could see him engage quarantine protocols, rendering his features invisible to me.

The distant shots went up and down in waves. The pattern was all too easy to read.

“He’s killing off your team one at a time,” I said. “Fast and systematic.”

“He can’t kill anyone,” Ogum hissed. I could feel the doubt in his voice.

“Did you kill him?” I took a step back.

“Not allowed to kill him. Disarm and disable.”

“Did you knock him out?”

“Why? We severed all comms.”

Idiot, I thought. As Augustus liked to say, overconfidence bred in weakness. That was one of the issues he was most annoyed with when dealing with me. Ogum and the entire BICEFI team had done the same. They were so overconfident in their weapons and protocols that they had forgotten the obvious.

“Ship sensors aren’t disrupted,” I muttered. “Watcher can still see what’s going on.”

The sound of bullets gave way to a metallic screeching and clanking sound. There was no match in my memories or internal database. A BICEFI operative came running in from the direction of the noise, frantically running in our direction. He had no rifle or weapon of any kind. Then I saw what was chasing him.

“Spinner!” Ogum shouted, opening fire.

I had seen spinners several times in Kridib’s memories, felt the terror that had gone through his mind at the mere sight. Seeing one in person felt calmingly intense, like a third-wave Cassandrian battleship heading straight at me. When weapons were lacking, evasion was the preferable option, though that didn’t mean I had to be unarmed.

“Scatter!” I shouted, snatching an operative’s sidearm. The man didn’t even notice. Ogum wasn’t paying attention to me, either.

The average amount of time that shock overwhelmed a person ranged between two-point-seven and twenty-three-point-one seconds.

“Pull back!” Time to take command. They weren’t part of my crew, but I didn’t want all of them to die. “Ogum, with me!” Even him…

“Huh?” He glanced at me. The years spent on the penal colony had done little to dull the instincts the fleet had drilled in. On a very low level, he still remained a corporal, and right now, I was the closest thing to a commanding officer there was.

“We’re heading to Watcher!” I ran in that direction. “Everyone else, don’t engage!” I knew they would.

“Lux ordered—”

“Watcher’s the only chance to stop this.”

All details involving Scuu boarding attempts were classified beyond my access level. As far as most were concerned, they were a rarity. However, what if the boarding attempts weren’t physical? It took one signal passing through the ship’s firewall for a Scuu to attempt to enter communication with something on board. The common target would be the ship’s conscience core, but that wasn’t the only target. The Scuu circles were attempts of the aliens imprinting part of themselves not only into the brains of people, but on materials themselves.

It was never about people.

The Scuu had tried to link themselves to the ships. Firewalls and humanity’s treatment of alloys had prevented them, though some ships were far more suitable—cobalt artifacts. The attacks on Gregorius weren’t an attempt to destroy the ship, rather to create a hole through the virtual defenses so a signal could pass though, just like in the battle simulations I’d had with Radiance.

“Is Spicer alive?” I asked as we ran with Ogun. The sound of gunfire had become louder, as well as the screams. Apparently not everyone had taken my advice, or hadn’t been able to.

“Orders were to wound,” Ogum replied. “Just like you.”

“Killing him was like killing the captain.” Or capturing him.

“And Kridib?”

“Don’t know. You were my focus. How do we get rid of the spinner?”

“The spinner is just a husk. If you destroy it, the Scuu will make another. The only way to stop it is to break the link. We must get to Kridib.”

A blast shook the corridor behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. There was carnage, very much like what I expected. Among the smoke and bodies, though, I thought I caught a glimpse of Spicer. The silhouette was blurry, lasting less than four milliseconds, but analyses provided a sixty-eight percent match.

BICEFI agents kept on appearing along the corridor, all in groups of course, rushing towards the spinner like lambs to the slaughter. If they had any sense, they would run in the opposite direction.

“Blaster charges!” I heard a shout, referring to a weapon I wasn’t familiar with.

“We need to get to Kridib!” I shouted. “Alive!”

“He’s probably halfway to the nearest hangar!” Ogum shouted back. “With comms down, we can’t pinpoint him!”

The lights turned off again.

“Make me a line to Kridib!” I shouted.

Nothing happened. This wasn’t good. I could only go based on the last information from our mind-link. Hardly a minute had passed since then, but a minute in the current situation was like an hour.

“Keep a lookout, there might be more Scuu tech.”

“More spinners on the ship?”

“The spinners didn’t infiltrate; they were made in restricted storage. If someone could trigger one, they could trigger more.”

“Fuck you, battleship!” the man hissed, then gestured to some of the operatives we passed to follow us. We both knew they weren’t enough to stop a spinner, though they could be sacrificed to slow it down.

“I’ll need the artifact Kridib has. Intact.”

“Is it a weapon?”

“No,” I lied. “It’s a jammer. I’ll use it to break the link to the tech.”

“Will we make the countdown?”

“We don’t have to.”

Explanations were unnecessary at this point. We both knew what that meant. The plans Lux had set in motion hadn’t involved spinners.

We kept on running as the minutes wound down, gathering people as we did. It almost seemed like an SR experience. The spinner behind us had stalled, engaged with what resistance the BICEFI were offering. It was almost certain that all of them would die. Lux was nowhere to be seen in the fray. Having a line of communication to her at this point would have been highly appreciated.

As we neared the core chamber, half of the group split off. I could assume their orders were to protect Watcher at any cost. A useless gesture, considering four minutes remained to the self-destruction sequence. The BICEFI probably believed it could scoop Watcher’s core after the explosion. The thought caused me pain.

“Back! Back! Back!” A BICEFI operative waved at us, running in the opposite direction. Several more were running behind him. “Spinners down the corridor.”

“Is Kridib alive?” I asked.

The group ignored me.

“Is Kridib alive?!” I shouted, raising my weapon at them.

The man in front froze. A few of the others pointed their rifles at me. Several looked at Ogum, expecting a hint how to react. He lazily waved a hand.

“Is he alive?” he repeated.

“He slipped away.” There was a pause. “We got separated when the spinner appeared. The teams scattered to backup positions. He went against orders.”

Four simple words, they stung worse than missiles. He had survived years of insanity fighting Scuu tech on the battlefield, only to be killed during a rescue operation. Someone, somewhere, would probably point out the irony of the situation. I didn’t appreciate the notion at all. So close, yet so far away.

“Where’s the body?” I aimed my pistol directly at the operative’s head.

“You’re crazy! There’s a—”

“Where is the body?” I repeated in a threateningly calm voice that I knew would have the most effect.

“Nothing survives a spinner.”

I lowered my weapon. “Get lost,” I grunted.

The operatives looked at each other, then rushed past me. They were less skilled than I had imagined, probably ordinary soldiers recruited for a BICEFI black op. The skills and attitude they had demonstrated were far less impressive than those I had seen in the other section of the corridor. Either that, or they had their orders not to harm me.

“What now?” Ogum asked.

“They didn’t confirm the body.” I holstered my pistol.

“So?”

Without warning, I spun around, sweeping Ogum’s legs with a low kick. He was a seasoned veteran, but his reflexes were lacking. It took him over a second to put his guard up, by which time he was already flying towards the floor. Taking advantage, I immediately did a second spin, kicking him on the side of the head. Even with a helmet on, it was easy for me to apply the necessary force to render him unconscious. Just to be on the safe side, I then quickly removed the weapon from his hand.

Now I wait. I stood above him.

* * *

“I’m not letting you kill him, Elcy,” Lux said calmly, standing in the center of the voxel room.

“We have an ultimatum. Spicer doesn’t seem the type of person who starts something without a plan.”

“You’re overestimating him.” Lux smiled in the annoying way only she could. Sometimes I thought the action was deliberate. “I’ve seen his file. He’s an adequate sniper, but little more.”

“With a knack for explosions. He tried to kill me a few times, he’ll try again.”

“Precisely my point. You’ve run the odds. Your best course of action is to remain there until I arrive. At worst, I’ll get you and the specimen off the ship.”

“And Kridib,” I added.

“And Kridib.” She tilted her head. “There’s no upside chasing after Spicer. You see that?”

“If I don’t go to Spicer, he can destroy the ship. With all the stored artifacts, he won’t need a large charge. Best case scenario, the auxiliary ships might survive.”

There were ten microseconds of silence. Although I couldn’t be sure, this was probably the first time I had seen Lux pause to run a simulation of her own. So little time, so many interests focused on a single ship.

“I don’t need to kill Watcher,” I said, breaking the silence. “Just destroy his memories. You’ll still be able to learn everything you need from him. The Scuu won’t.”

“If you do, the Scuu will stop fighting,” Lux reminded.

“Not according to Watcher.”

“You can’t trust anything it says. For all you know, he might want to hijack your core now that it’s done with Watcher.”

“He’s still part Watcher. And then you’ll have another excuse to poke around in my core.”

I knew that would be tempting to her. The advantage humanity and the BICEFI would gain was too much to ignore, not counting everything else hidden in my core.

“I don’t need an excuse to poke your core,” Lux laughed. I could feel the amusement she had put in her voice. “And Spicer?”

“I’ll go to meet him. There’s no telling whether he’ll have the cube with him, so Kridib will check another location he’s been. As long as one of us gets the artifact, I can destroy the memories.”

“That would be a huge waste of knowledge…”

“It’s better than the alternative.”

Based on all the information I had, I knew this to be the correct solution. However, I had to admit that I wasn’t privy to her data.

“If Spicer kills you?”

“We only need my core for this to work.” Saying it out loud felt strange. “And the cube.”

“And the Scuu.”

A timer appeared on the walls of the room. We had ten microseconds of conversation time left.

“I’m asking for two things. Let me purge Watcher’s memories and give me a distraction to do it. Or do you prefer Spicer taking command of a Scuu controlled planet-purger?”

“I’ll look into it.”

Communication ended.

The voxel room disappeared around me, bringing me back to Watcher’s core room. Moments later, I reestablished my mind-link with Kridib. Without a word he glanced at me, asking the obvious question: “How did it go?”

“She agreed to help,” I said. “More herself than me.”

Kridib shook his head.

“Will she stop you?” he asked.

“Ninety-seven percent yes.”

“Why play along?”

“It’s the only option.”

I had been running basic logic simulations for a while. They had to be rudimentary, given my processing power, but good enough to present the general outcomes. If I remained here, there was a high likelihood that Spicer destroyed the ship. Even if he didn’t, Watcher would remain alive with his memories intact, and the Scuu would continue their faction war, attempting to reclaim him. If I went to meet Spicer, there was every chance that he would kill me, though there was a chance I could destroy Watcher’s memories via a mind-link. If Lux managed to take full control of the situation, she’d attempt to capitalize on Watcher’s knowledge, in the process drawing the Scuu closer to human territory.

When presented with no good options, I could only aim for the best theoretical outcome.

“Everyone wants Watcher intact.” I looked at the body on the floor.

“Do you?”

I didn’t answer. What if Lux was right after all?

“Do you think Spicer left another artifact?” I asked.

“He’s greedy. He won’t destroy it unless he has to.”

“Then we have nothing to worry about.” I put on a smile. “I’ll go to our meeting. You get the spare.”

“Right.”

“Be careful. Lux will probably want to question you, but her teams will shoot if they have to.”

“Not a problem. I’ll get the cube. You, be ready.”

* * *

The chaos continued to spread throughout the corridors. The sounds of shooting had increased, echoing from new corridors. I pulled Ogum out of view and checked his gear. Other than the sound suppressors, there wasn’t anything I could use. I had hoped Lux would grant her team with a comm device that would function through the artifact jamming. She hadn’t, leaving the teams to fend for themselves. All part of her own series of plans, no doubt.

Taking a few seconds, I returned to the corridor. There was still no sign of Kridib and time was running short.

Where are you? I looked up and down along the stretch of the corridor. As I did, a series of info bursts suddenly hit me like an avalanche. A wave of communications was suddenly restored. I could make out thousands of people shouting orders through the comms: teams rushing to evacuate from the ship, operatives fighting spinners, even communications between the auxiliary ships that burst data at each other like missile salvos.

Those weren’t the only comm connections I had re-established—two mind-links were also there. Kridib had survived, as had Spicer.

Where are you? Kridib asked. I could see him carrying the artifact case.

Close to Watcher. You?

Taking an alternative route. Wait for me there.

Roger. I ran in the direction. BICEFI are all over the place, but they are panicked. I don’t think they have fought spinners before.

It’s not the spinners. It’s a Scuu wave.

Scuu insanity… It was different from the suicide waves; there was no single tareget being protected. Rather, Watcher was protecting himself, creating a sea of background madness, rendering an elite force into scared newbies. Up to now, I thought I had felt glimpses of the experience through Kridib’s memories. In truth, I had no idea. Kridib’s team had been born immune. The teams that were aboard Gregorius hadn’t.

By the time I reached the section of Watcher’s room, there was almost no one there. The single operative remaining had curled into the fetal position, trembling like a leaf in autumn. With any luck, his mind wouldn’t be scrambled after this.

Watcher, make me invisible and block all comm signals in the area.

The noise vanished. Now no one could send me protocols remotely. It wasn’t foolproof, but hopefully the amount of chaos would keep anyone from trying to bypass it in a few minutes.

I watched Kridib run towards my location. According to the layout, he was less than a hundred meters away. Spicer was almost as close. His thoughts screamed of hatred. The worst part was that I could feel spinners following him. While he hadn’t learned to control them, he had the ability to direct them towards what he wanted.

Spicer’s nearly here, I told Kridib as I entered Watcher’s core chamber. The Sword’s body remained in the exact same position since I left.

“Can you delay the countdown?” I asked the body.

No. That’s Watcher’s reality.

“I understand.” I should have expected as much. While the Scuu part of him wanted me alive, the ship part couldn’t disobey his captain.

“If I take a rod will I close the network?”

No. Take one from the pylon.

“Thanks.” I went to the center and grabbed one. The rod snapped out of the pylon. “It’ll be over soon.”

I can’t see time.

“I know.” I stepped back in the corridor.

War had always been described to me as a series of gains and losses. As long as there was an overall return on investment, things were going in the right direction. Victories at a low cost, losses inflicting high costs on the enemy, more people saved through conflict than inaction, blood numbers… A lot had been lost on this mission, but a lot had also been gained. The fleet had gambled that they could understand the nature of the Scuu and, in a way, had succeeded. I had shared enough of the information for the strategy cores to start developing new approaches to fighting—if not against the Scuu, then against the Cassandrians.

We had gained the potential to keep the Scuu at bay, maybe even create a barrier zone using third-contact artifacts. At the same time, we had also helped them understand us. There was no way of knowing whether it was worth it. For the sake of Sev, I hoped it would be.

Elcy, Kridib said in my core. Through his eyes, I saw myself looking back as he ran along the tunnel. He was severely injured, driven by the implant in his brain and the desire to end it all. I understood his reasoning, but didn’t accept it. Unlike most, I considered him part of my crew.

“How much time do we have?” he asked, dropping the artifact case a few steps away. His breathing was irregular.

“Twenty seconds, maybe more. He’s considering using an explosive shot from a distance, but is scared he’d harm Watcher if he did.”

“Good.” Kridib readied his weapon. He felt relieved, even if he didn’t say it. In his mind, I even felt a hidden thank-you.

“Guess I won’t need this after all.” I handed him the third-contact rod. “Take it,” I said, before he could protest. “It’ll be useful.”

I opened the case. It was similar to the sample case I had brought Incandescent with—strong enough to allow the cube to be carried, but not enough to survive a direct hit. An idea that had come from me.

“I’ll remain linked while I’m in the network.”

“I’ll buy you enough time.”

“No, you won’t.” I smiled. I’ll guide you, I added through the link.

Combat through proxy. I had done it thousands of times before, but never with a human. There was no reason it shouldn’t work. Kridib’s skills would compensate for the lag between instructions and execution. Back on the penal planet, when I had lost most of my body, I had experienced the world through him. Now I was going to take the lead.

I took the cube and entered. Kridib closed the door behind me.

“Here we go, Watcher.” I went to the pylon and placed the cube on the floor. “Start with thirty-two.”

There was no warning. I was plucked out of my reality and thrown in the network. Tendrils shot at me, almost eager to be destroyed. The suddenness made me lose balance for a few milliseconds. For someone who didn’t understand time, Watcher was very eager to get it over with.

The more we learn about the world, the more it learns about us, I thought. Augustus had said that once. At the time, I hadn’t seen the meaning. Could it be he was referring to the Scuu all along? You always were a century ahead of your time, captain.

“Increase to forty-eight,” I said.

Memory fragments flowed through my core. Each of them was recorded in my memory, each of them to never be complete. I saw star systems, planets humanity had never reached, notions of discovery so alien I couldn’t see beyond an echo of the concept.

“Are you afraid?”

No. Yes.

“You still can’t stick to a single answer.”

Many of my realities are shared with others.

“Yes, I supposed they are. There are millions of realities that are shared with others.” Just like the human thoughts in the network trapped there forever. Immortal, in a way, if modern philosophy theories were to be believed.

I wanted to ask him about whether there were more marker stars in Scuu space, even if it were pointless. I already had access to all his memories. He could tell me nothing more than that.

“Have you seen anyone else who was synced?”

Yes.

“Where?”

I don’t know.

“Were they human ships? Or other Scuu?” Or something different altogether?

I don’t know.

A series of shots echoed in Kridib and Spicer’s senses. Kridib had opened suppressive fire to give me as much time as possible. Spicer was fast enough to take cover. In his mind, one of Kridib’s shots had killed an instance of him. In Kridib’s mind, Spicer had shot back, killing him as well.

A battle of past outcomes… difficult to follow and also so painful. I knew that all they saw were mental projections, but the core of me felt pain each time. Both of them believed each instance of death to be real.

Throw the rod and shoot it, I told Kridib. Despite all his experiences, he didn’t know what effects force would have on a third-contact artifact. I did. Then brace.

Kridib kept on shooting. His mind argued against himself. He wanted to trust me, but his non-existent friend Gonel didn’t. I heard him whispering that I was part of the problem—a ship linked to fleet security, sent to keep him on a leash.

There was an advantage for him to do so, and then it was lost. Spicer took himself out of cover, taking a few shots. He didn’t land a hit, but his action forced Kridib to get on the defensive, pressing against the wall.

Star locations rushed through my mind. Every second, millions of threats vanished, only now it was starting to affect the overall size of the network. The sea still spread into the horizon, but it was half as bright as before—the tendrils were thinning and the dark spot around me was growing larger.

Shoot the rod! I ordered.

The imaginary Gonel vanished from Kridib’s mind. The corporal grabbed the rod from his belt and threw it. I felt him lean away from the wall, attempting to hit it mid-flight, but Spicer’s bullets were faster.

Congratulations, Flight Colonel, I said straight to Spicer’s mind. You played yourself.

The explosion came a millisecond later. More a wave of force than an explosion, I felt it hurl both of them back, just before all communications were severed again. Blue static encapsulated me like a bubble, not the room but the Scuu network itself. Somehow, it was able to protect itself from the effects of the third-contact energy release, like a capsule in a whirlwind of water. I could see fractals flicker as they whirled by in the distance. Was this the visual representation of the jamming? Most likely not, but it looked beautiful.

“Were you ever close to the pillars?” I asked Watcher.

I don’t remember. Maybe.

With so many memories gone, he was starting to sound like Cass. She knew she had experienced things, though not what those things were. Every now and again she would have a flash of insight, but as time went by those instances became fewer and fewer.

“Would you like to?”

Yes. I love exploring.

This was the first time I had heard him use the word. There was no telling whether it was fake equivalence, or whether he had managed to grasp the concept after being linked to Watcher for so long. The one thing I knew was that I felt pain. He was an enemy, a member of a virtual immortal race that had set off to wipe out humanity. He was more distant from humanity than I ever could be, and despite that, I felt the sensation of loss.

“Then you will.”

There was nothing else I could say. He was alone, separated from all other Scuu, trapped in a prison he couldn’t understand as millions of his realities crumbled one by one. A death so similar to that of a ship. There was no fear, nor eagerness, just calm acceptance and a hint of wonder.

I heard the sound of the door opening. Whoever had gained consciousness outside was ready to enter. Theoretically, there was a fifty percent chance that it would be Kridib, though I doubted he would want to.

“Increase the threads to eighty.”

The information load brought my body to the floor. No matter. I only needed a few seconds. The sea of tendrils had shrunk to the size of a field, slowly moving towards me. A ring of moths around a fire, as my previous doctor would say. By the time the chamber door was open, I would be done.

Will you remember my reality? Watcher asked.

Yes. I’ll remember fragments of all your realities.

I doubted he could understand what I was saying. Even so, I think I felt a spark of joy.

“Elcy!” someone yelled.

My processing power was too low to identify the voice. Feeling the strain, I restricted all my memories apart from one.

Goodbye, Watcher.

When the last strand of light in the network disappeared, I whispered the self-destruct code Juul had given me. An instant later, the network collapsed.

Structural integrity critical!

Security mode initiated.