Anya left Pan with Immonen as she flew back to Antarctica the next afternoon. She’d called Gary and he’d told her he was back in his lab, waiting for her arrival. After Anya told him she was on her way, she called Samaira.

“Hey, Anya. What’s up?” Samaira asked. She looked tired, her dark indigo hair a bit more limp than usual.

“I’m on my way to see Gary. Did he come visit you yesterday?” Anya asked.

“Yeah, he swung by. I was in DC so he didn’t stay long, but Chell and I had an early dinner with him. He looked pretty beat and we’re both pretty busy so we didn’t want to keep him.”

“Ah, yeah, sorry about leaving you two with all the work,” Anya said as a spike of guilt jabbed at her.

“It’s fine. Honestly I’m still not too happy going back to my place. With Chandrali gone…it’s just not the same,” Samaira said and sighed. Anya felt another guilt spike. Sam’s giant magic saber-toothed tiger had been bisected from nose-to-tail by the pharaonic cobra. Anya had helped Sam bury Chandrali’s remains once the immediate area around Gary’s factory had been cleared of aliens.

Later, when they’d had a few moments, Anya had asked her if she could just buy Chandrali from the RAC store again. Samaira said she could buy another magical saber-toothed ice tiger, but it wouldn’t be Chandrali. Chandrali was very dead and there was no bringing her back. Even Mona’s necromancy would just animated the big cat’s bones. Whatever spark that Chandrali had that made her uniquely Chandrali was gone forever, same as when anything or anyone else died.

“I’m sorry, Sam,” Anya said. “I know you can’t bring Chandrali back, but you could still get another familiar so you wouldn’t be alone, right?”

“I could, but I don’t think I’m ready,” Samaira said. “Anyway, the workload here isn’t too bad, but Anya, they’re talking about extending your suspension.”

“So? Fuck ‘em,” Anya said and shrugged. “I’m getting pretty sick of their bullshit. And what are they gonna do?”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I. I saved Hawaii and I get reprimanded. I save London and I barely get a thank you for it. I blow up an asteroid and slay the toughest alien to date and I still have people giving me the stink-eye. Seriously, it’s never gonna end with them. I heard Senator Kalawai’a is already building her next campaign around ‘corraling’ ‘uncooperative’ hosts like me with more bureaucratic bullshit.”

“She’s not playing. She’s proposed several bills and has been getting committees together bent on holding us down with red tape and imposing heavy penalties for unregulated use of our skills or causing excessive collateral damage.”

Anya snorted hard enough to make her nostril stretch upward.

“They can’t make us do shit, and if that’s gonna be their attitude, I quit. It’s been nice getting some recognition for, y’know, saving the entire human race.”

“I agree they could show a little more gratitude but I can’t blame them for wanting as much protection as they can get,” Samaira said. Anya rubbed at the bridge of her nose. Amahle had said something similar weeks ago, when they’d been hunting Alien Omega. It was easy to forget what it must be like for normal people without menus. Even with the aliens gone, there were still over a hundred superpowered hosts across the globe, anyone of them who could be a total psycho. Hell, at least a few of them already were. Kan was a known serial killer, Zoya loved blowing random shit up, Harrison was becoming some demonic debauchery lord, and now all the hosts on Mars…

“No, I can’t blame them for being scared or wanting to be safe. But I can absolutely blame them for treating me like the bad guy and trying to control my life,” Anya said.

“Anya…”

“Hey, you don’t have to protect me. If MacDougal or Hanover or somebody doesn’t like my attitude, fine. I’ll deal with it. I’m a big girl. You just take care of yourself. You look like you haven’t had any rest in days,” Anya said, her voice softening as she finished.

“It’s been a lot of…it’s just been a lot, since Corva and those others came down. Raised a lot of questions with no answers or way too many possible ones. Chell is still worried about her menu, but she’s mostly recovered from the phage-beam, maybe. She’s under a lot of observation since she’s the only one hit with it who’s survived.”

“Yeah, I need to stop in and see her soon,” Anya said. “I’m off to Gary’s now. He’s…”

“He’s what?” Samaira asked. Anya bit her lip. She couldn’t tell Sam. She had enough to deal with and she was, well, Anya suspected she was something of a teacher’s pet. She’d likely take knowledge of the staff, Gary’s research, straight to MacDougal and Hanover.

“Well, you saw. He’s tired, probably from rebuilding his lab and all the stuff the aliens tore up,” Anya replied. “And he’s alone in that huge factory. He needs the company.”

“True enough. Thank you, Anya. I’d go myself but…y’know,” Samaira said.

“No problem. I’m suspended. What else am I gonna do?”

“I should go. Tell Gary it was good to see him and we’ll do it again when we have more time,” Samaira said, then waved and hung up. Anya felt a final, mild guilt spike at witholding information from Samaira.

But still, she thought, MacDougal and the rest of the government can’t know. They’d lose their damn minds. And I really am tired of their bullshit.

Antarctica

Gary’s Factory

“Anya? I’m picking up a few signals down there,” Felix piped into her ear as she approached the hangar.

“Well, Gary’s, obviously. Who else is visiting?” Anya asked as she piloted the V-200 down through another blizzard and into the small opening of the hangar.

“In addition to Gary, I have Renn, Mona, and Francis plus two other signals I don’t recognize. They’re all in the Central Control room,” Felix said.

“Mm,” Anya grumbled as she set the V-200 down. She flew across the hangar, pausing just a little as she saw Mona’s Gothic carriage, and an oblong craft made of sleek chrome and glowing green inlays. It was a Martian craft, exactly the same style that Vaastukaar guy seemed to favor. Anya flew faster toward the nearest grav-lift and let it take her to Central Control.

The last time she’d been in the factory’s primary hub had been when she had fought the pharaonic cobra. Since then, it had been fully prepared. The central hologram column once again displayed normal productivity data instead of warning signs, and dozens of droids and drones went about their administrative tasks.

Gary was seated in his hovering armchair, glancing between several digital readouts and a discussion happening a few feet in front of him. Renn, Mona and Felix stood together, opposite Corva and Vaastukaar. All of them glanced up as Anya entered the control room. Gary gave her a tired nod and Mona gave her a cheery wave. Everyone else kept their faces neutral (though Anya couldn’t guess at Renn’s face behind his reflective helmet), but Anya sensed the Sun’s Heart within Corva’s chest grow a tiny bit hotter.

“Heya kid,” Gary said. “Come join the discussion.”

“I didn't know we'd have company," Corva said, not unpleasantly.

“Anya comes and goes as she pleases. I’m entertaining the rest of you out of courtesy and curiosity, nothing more,” Gary said. “Both of which are quickly running out.”

“We only came to make you our offer in-person and give you the communicator in case you change your mind,” Corva said.

“I know the quality of your offers,” Renn said. “This isn’t what I wanted. This isn’t what we discussed.”

“No, it isn’t,” Corva responded with a smirk. “It’s better.”

“Can somebody fill me in, please?” Anya asked. “What the fuck did I just walk into?”

“Renn and his friends showed up with a proposal for me. Then hair-do here,” Gary said and gestured at Corva and her tall mohawk, “showed up with her pal to personally invite me to Mars post haste, but only if I deconstruct my factory here.”

“And I was telling Gary to be very careful with what he tells Corva and what to expect,” Renn added, to which Corva laughed.

“I never lied to you,” she said.

“No, you just led him on and left when things got a bit rough,” Mona said and gave Corva a poisonous smile.

Cora rolled her eyes, then glanced at Gary. “My offer stands. We could use you there more than they’ll ever be able to here, and you’d remain independent. Or you and Vaastukaar could unlock every secret of the menu together. Either way, we have your contact info now, and you have ours.”

“It would be an honor, Mr. Hendricks, but we will respect your wishes,” the tall Indian man, Vaastukaar, said. He bowed slightly, then he and Corva moved past Anya with a brief nod.

“Okay, what the hell?” Anya asked and looked at Renn. “Was she your ex or something?”

“Oh please,” Renn said and Mona laughed. “No, she was…well, she joined me, briefly, before I met Mona. She was a backpacker going across Europe, and stopped in France when the menus hit. An American. We met when the aliens first landed, stayed together a few days, saved each other's lives. I told her the same thing I told you: that we had an opportunity to elevate mankind with positive incentives. Show them what they could become, what they could have. She sounded like she warmed to the idea, but then she used a fair amount of RAC to get off the planet and, I assumed, escape.

“Turns out she went to go find other hosts, got them to follow her to Mars, and start my plan without me…but not really. I intended open negotiation and then moving forward as one. She’s already planned out a city, and now she’s holding it out of reach of normal people. A cruel, pointless temptation. It isn’t motivation, it’s mockery.”

“And she’s already creating bad-blood between hosts and normal people,” Mona said. “Couple weeks ago I was the toast of London. Now I get people glaring at me like I just farted in their faces.”

“It sucks,” Francis said from beneath his gray hood. “We were just getting ready to call a meeting with the UN before Corva showed up. Me and Renn spent days writing up the proposal, wording it just right to not make the governments feel like we were threatening them and it would all be great. Then she shows up and just says she owns Mars? Pisses me off.”

“Great, so you don’t like she stole your idea,” Anya said. “But you were already here to see Gary before you even knew Corva was coming here to recruit him. Or whatever. Why?”

Renn paused and glanced down at Gary, who smirked.

“If you’re not gonna tell her, I will,” the old man said and chuckled.

“Fair enough. I’m sure Mona isn’t alone in feeling a bit ostracized as of late. Has your government been a bit more tense since Corva made her announcements?” Renn asked. Anya grunted and nodded. She supposed MacDougal suspending her and holding meetings about how best to metaphorically tie her down counted as “tense.”

“Corva is already dividing the brief unity we enjoyed. When the aliens were attacking, we were all human. Now we’re rapidly fracturing into hosts and humans. The people of Earth and those of Mars,”Renn said.

“We are human,” Anya said. “Well, except for Pan and Brody. And that polar bear, Ursula.”

“Yes, that’s the point. Our fellow humans have already begun to see us as ‘Other.’ I do not think Corva choosing Mars is mere fancy, either. It further establishes hosts as something apart from humanity. Her no-entry zone and her appearance in front of the moon also act as irritants, and obstacles to unification and peace. She hasn’t taken my idea, she’s perverted it to the point that were I to say something now, I’d likely be seen as a defector or something.”

“All right, fine. She’s a problem. We agree,” Anya said. “Still doesn’t explain why you’re here with Gary.”

“Because, we need his help,” Mona said.

“And yours, potentially,” Renn said. When Anya quirked an eyebrow at him he continued, “We’re planning a spy mission.”