A red light blinked on the edge of the table, an urgent message from air traffic control. Weizza pushed a button and a grey-bearded general appeared on the screen.

"This is Commander Kovacs, acting Prime Minister. You stand accused of sedition and treason. Your plane is not cleared for takeoff. If you attempt to leave you will be presumed guilty and summarily executed."

The plane taxied toward the runway, heedless of the warning. Flashes in the distance marked Weizza's spiders intercepting Hungarian ground forces.

"Greetings Commander Kovacs," Weizza responded. "As a one-time courtesy, I will ignore your last statement. Repeat your threat and you will find the limit of my mercy."

The man on screen looked taken aback, clearly unused to open defiance.

"I can see you are using a command module. One that I supplied. A powerful piece of technology. Though it has a flaw, Kovacs.

"All the command modules I distribute are networked with the one in my head." Weizza parted her hair, revealing a copper stud. "Yours are identical. Mine is special. Each of your modules has a pea-sized explosive charge, a feature mine lacks. In the event of my death, a special signal is broadcast through the network. The signal instructs all linked command modules to detonate."

The general furrowed his brow, struggling to keep up with Weizza's English.

"I will speak plainly. If you kill me, your head will literally explode. Good day Kovacs." Weizza disconnected the feed.

The plane accelerated down the landing strip and roared skyward. The control tower was silent as they made their ascent.

Alice looked out the window and was startled to see a fighter jet pacing them. "Weizza, there's a–"

"Yes, I know. Consider it an escort. I know Kovacs, he's not foolish enough to call my bluff."

"Is it a bluff?" Robert asked.

"No."

Robert stared at his hands. "May I–"

"You are dismissed Robert."

He nodded and retreated back to the room he was sharing with Alice. Ba Kuang went to the back as well, leaving Weizza and Alice alone.

"Marcos tells me you were lovers Alice."

"I doubt he used those words. But yes, we were married."

"Recently?" Weizza asked.

"I don't see how this is any of your business." Alice replied.

"You and Marcos are both my employees now. I need to know what happened between you to know how it might compromise your judgement."

Alice stared at Weizza defiantly.

"You don't have to be under my protection Alice," Weizza threatened. "I can let you off at the next airport. Or just hand you over to Lynch myself."

"I don't think you want me going over to Lynch."

"No, you're right. I'd just kill you." Weizza hadn't moved, but her posture had changed. Still sitting down, somehow she loomed over Alice.

"This is foolish. Fine, what do you want to know?"

"What was your relationship with Marcos, when did it end, and why did it end. That should suffice."

"I met Marcos back at university. I was studying abroad in America. He was ROTC; that's a military officer training program. We had all the same intro classes.

We were like oil and water. I was a classic naive liberal, he was a southern conservative. We debated constantly, but there was something underneath our fighting, some spark.

"We started taking our arguments to bars after class, and then, to the bedroom. I can't fully explain the dynamic, something about the flush of youth I guess.

"Then we made a mistake. Miscalculation rather. Three months after we started dating, I got pregnant. I wanted to abort, but Marcos talked me out of it. Traditionalist that he was, he proposed to me on the spot. And foolish child that I was, I accepted.

"Baby Julian was born a month after the nuptials. My pregnancy made for some awkward wedding photos, but it was actually a pretty beautiful affair.

"After that it kind of worked, for a while. We finished out our degrees. Marcos went to the Air Force, I went to a small mining conglomerate that would later be bought by Space Core.

"We both rose rapidly. Marcos got involved in espionage, classic cloak and dagger stuff. I never got the details, he wasn't allowed to tell me.

"Our relationship was always rooted in physicality, and when we weren't sparring verbally we were sparring physically. He outmatched me, being bigger and stronger. But he was predictable, and I was quick. I won about as many bouts as I lost.

"It wasn't a traditional harmonious marriage, but we had something that sort of worked. Until he started bringing work home with him.

"First it was just the occasional shady foreign dignitary. Awkward dinner guests trying to pump me for information when Marcos got up to use the bathroom.

"Then I started noticing strangers loitering around our house. Severe looking men that always seemed to be busy with something on our street.

"Next came the threats. Mostly against Marcos, sometimes against me. I can't say I wasn't scared.

"I asked him to quit, or at least ask for a transfer. But all he could see was the money. He had picked up some corporate contracts on the side, "supplementary income," he called it. He wouldn't hear about leaving the business, even when I threatened to leave him. He said we would stick it through. Just a few more years and we'd have enough to retire. A few years passed, and he said it again. We were always on the cusp of a big payday that never came.

"The last straw was on Julian's fifth birthday. I'd just put my boy to bed when I realized he didn't have his water cup. I brought it back to his room and I noticed the window was open. It was a cold day and I didn't remember opening it. Then I saw the man with a gun standing over Julian's bed.

"I blacked out the next part. I know I got a concussion and a powder burn. I know I killed that son of a bitch with my bare hands. And I know that as soon as I got out of the hospital I packed up Julian and left Marcos forever. That was eighteen years ago.

"To his credit, he didn't try to convince me to stay. He didn't fight for custody. He just chain smoked cigarettes from the bedroom window, watching us leave. After that I only ever spoke to him through lawyers."

Alice stopped and took a breath. She hadn't ever talked about her failed marriage. Not with friends. Certainly not with homicidal strangers.

"Is that enough for you? Any other forms from the Weizza Incorporated HR department?"

"No, that will be all."

"Can I ask you a question Weizza?"

"You may."

"What do you want with Petbe?"

"That is not your business, Alice."

Alice grunted and went back to the couch she shared with Robert. He was busily tapping away on his laptop.

"What're you doing now?"

"Replaying the logs. I recorded our session with Petbe. Trying to see if there's anything I missed, something that might help us."

"Find anything?"

"No." Robert frowned. "I should just sleep." He put down his laptop and folded out the couch. He lay down on top of it with his clothes on.

Alice lay behind him, big spoon. "Do you mind?" She asked.

"No, it's fine."

In time Robert began to lightly snore. Alice replayed her own conversation with Weizza in her mind. She also didn't find anything, no matter how many times she turned it over in her head.

* * *

Alice opened her eyes, adrenaline thrumming in her system. Something was wrong. It was dark, and the bed was too firm. A dull roar came from all around. Where was this? Some shitty hotel room by the highway?

She groped out with a hand, accidentally shoving Robert in the back. He grunted and rolled, then went back to snoring. Then it all came flooding back: The asteroid strike. The mad dash to stop Lynch from doing it again. The failure.

She rolled out of bed. Her clothes were still on, thank god. Not that Robert was a bad man, she'd slept with worse. Just didn't need any more complications right now.

Judging by the clock she's been asleep about four hours. Not a surprise, she was an insomniac on a good day. Her throat was dry and raw from breathing thin plane air, she needed a glass of water.

The sense of wrongness hadn't left though. She cracked the door and peaked out. The light from the cockpit shone down the hallway, silhouetting a man standing in the doorway. Funny, she hadn't ever recalled seeing that door open. Or heard anything from the pilot, for that matter.

As she listened she heard angry whispering - some kind of conflict was underway, though she could only hear the one voice. The lights flicked on, and someone further up the hallway called out.

The cockpit door slammed shut. Ba Kuang rushed up the aisle and pounded on the door. "Open up Dimitri. This is foolishness."

Emergency lights began flashing, an alarm blared. The floor tipped under Alice and she stumbled forward.

They were going down.