Tameka sulked outside the conduit as they waited for Xelan to find Sagan. An entire plane crash. Tameka had missed an entire plane crash. Damn it! “Did anybody leave me something to eat?” Was her tone a little harsh? Maybe. Did she care? Not yet.

Rayne slipped a granola bar from her retrieved backpack. They’d salvaged most of their gear from the wreckage. Tameka accepted it with a smile of gratitude. A crack of forest debris turned their heads to the edge of the clearing. All but Tumu, who was staring at the back of Rayne’s head. Odd.

Xelan and Sagan joined the group. The blond girl’s cheeks glowed rosy, and she was sniffling. The Icarus’ shoulders were slumped, and he took his time raising his eyes from the snow. Something was wrong.

Staring into the ripples of electricity from the forest floor to the tops of the pines, Tameka decided to wait and ask questions later.

When Xelan finally looked up, he zeroed right in on Tameka. Warmth blossomed from her toes to her ears at the reassuring smile spreading across his lips even with his eyes full of sadness. He asked, “Everybody ready to go?”

Tumu said, “We’ve been ready for about half an hour now. Star, come over here by me. We need to get the proportions right.”

The shortest on the outside working to the tallest in the middle, putting the girls on the outside and Xelan in the center. Although according to everyone who got to see it, Tumu was by far the tallest. Another event Tameka had missed. The energy swirled and crackled, akin to static.

“Will this hurt?” Tameka asked the ancient alien standing with them.

Xelan answered, “Close your eyes. And take three steps forward.”

Her eyes shut automatically. When she moved, the crunch in the snow let her know the others followed beside her.

Pops and zips on Tameka’s skin. Goosebumps. The air grew warm around her, but not humid. Filtered and unnatural.

Xelan’s whisper next to her ear made her jump, “Open your eyes.”

Tameka opened her eyes. Sense flew out the window. Understanding was a mere idea far outside her reach. Xelan’s warm hand slipped into hers, and she held onto that lifeline.

What was Tameka even looking at? What was she even standing on?

Starting with what was straight ahead of her. Easy. Some great distance away, there was a swirling of gray fluffy clouds. Beyond that, a plane of green and brown and blue. They blended together like the oil pastel painting Sagan had gifted Tameka two years ago for her birthday. This plane stretched up. Tameka dared not look. It reached down. Definitely not looking down. It spread out and out so far she had to turn her head to follow to its eventual ends. A great divide separated the plane from a vast blue expanse. An ocean. Tameka had to turn her entire body to find the edge of the ocean. Far away to her right, another divide introduced the next plane.

Tameka’s man watched the entire time she took in the sight. With her heart thundering in her chest, she smiled into his waiting gaze. He rewarded her with a breathtaking smirk. “Look up. I’ll catch you.”

Deep breath.

Tameka feared the confounded, overwhelming sensation she knew the ‘ceiling’ of this place promised. Scoffing at herself, she stamped her foot. The dragon slayer, Tameka, feared nothing. She looked up. The planes, the oceans, and their clouds stretched high. Beyond her understanding of height, so far away and indiscernible. There was an ocean on the ceiling. In the very apex, concrete or marble. It was something solid and maybe peppered with buildings. Tameka’s view was unobstructed by walls or frames, and she ignored the dizziness staring into something upside down above her had wrought. She was fine.

Xelan’s arms encircled Tameka as her knees gave. “I got you. Close your eyes. The vertigo will fade.”

Naw, Tameka wanted to know what the hell they were standing on. Solid air. No walls, no floor, no ceiling. Untethered in the middle of this madness. There was a fucking sun off to her left, but she fought not to look in its direction. More continents and oceans were beyond that. Her stomach flip-flopped.

“What the hell are we standing on?” Kyle asked.

Tameka groaned. Kyle had stolen her bit. Her family clung together, hovering around the conduit as they entered. Tumu opened his mouth to answer, but Rayne spoke first, “Glass.” She took a few steps across the invisible floor, sending Tameka’s heart into convulsions.

“Enki is a Dyson’s sphere,” Sagan announced, her voice filled with wonder. She followed Rayne onto the glass walkway, both of them grinning at each other.

Kyle pressed, “Okay. And?”

Xelan nodded toward Sagan, encouraging her to continue. She beamed at him. Then she peered over at Tumu, her face closed off, shy. He gave her an encouraging thumbs-up.

Sagan said, “Named after some guy called Dyson—”

Xelan cleared his throat and spoke simultaneously, “Freeman Dyson.” He winked at Sagan.

Tumu shook his head with a grin planted on his lips.

Rayne and Tameka giggled.

Sagan went on, “Right. Freeman Dyson. It’s a construct encasing and powered by a star. The exterior walls are the same distance from our planet to our sun. That’s the radius. The diameter, obviously, being twice that.”

Kyle shrugged facetiously with wide eyes. “Obviously.”

Tameka noticed Rayne watching, enraptured with her girl as Sagan continued, “See that storm over there?” The redhead groaned when turning to look made her head spin. A big swirling mass of dark gray clouds was spread across another oil painting of a continent. “That’s several thousand times larger than our whole planet.”

Deep breaths. Inhale through the nose. Exhale through the mouth.

The air smelled so sterile. Xelan helped Tameka place her head between her knees. Too much. It was all too much. Pretty. Fantastical. But Tameka’s stomach protested.

Xelan put his face in hers, saying, “This is a lot after last night with little to eat.”

That made sense. Yes, that made sense. Tameka nodded for him. He reminded her of Rayne’s granola bar, and although initially queasy, Tameka forced herself to eat it. Even the first bite made a difference in her disposition.

“While Peaches gets the royal treatment…” Tumu gave her a wink before continuing. “Everyone else stand apart for me, please. This is simple admission security check.”

Xelan’s head snapped up, and Tameka watched the muscles strain in his neck and his jaw clench. Something was wrong.

The others obeyed. Without notice or warning, their weapons were ripped from their bags and their clothes attracted to a high invisible ceiling where the weapons gathered as if drawn by a magnet.

Kyle shouted, “What the fuck?!”

Sagan growled, “Give. My. Axe. Back.”

Rayne glared at Tumu. No words. Her blue eyes seethed with rage. Tameka knew that look. This was going sideways.

Xelan kissed Tameka’s forehead and left her on the floor, where she tried very hard not to look down. “Tumu, we agreed to let them have weapons for their approach to Cinder.”

The Tritan nodded along. “You’re right. For their approach to Cinder. This is Enki. They’re safe here, and weapons are not permitted.”

Tameka’s man examined the arrangement of the weapons and the invisible walls. “This is new. When did you start employing this sort of technology?” The implied ‘why’ hung in the air.

Tumu said, “You know what you need to know which is this: we will help your people on Earth, but we will not endanger Enki in the process. Have some faith in us while you obtain your nacre, and you’ll see your weapons returned to you after an inspection. Oh, and one more thing.” Tumu stepped over to Rayne, who glared without blinking into the voids on his face. Without asking, without indicating what he meant to do, he grasped the girl’s sling and shoved his free hand inside. He retrieved the golden knife hidden within as Rayne fumed, silently.

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Beside Tameka, Xelan clenched his fist. What the fuck was happening? She’d missed something vital.

Tumu said, “I promise you’ll get it back.” The Tritan glanced at the others. “All of you. Try to understand we don’t permit violence here. No weapons. It’s simple.”

Tameka liked Tumu better when he was all ‘Peaches’ and ‘Star’ and…

Did he always refer to Rayne by her name? Why?

“I better get my axe back, Tumu,” Sagan insisted.

“As soon as you’re done here.” He peered back at Rayne. Her rage was apparent and unwavering in the tension of her body and the exertion of her breath. Did the Tritan just shudder as he looked away from her?

Tameka stood and took Xelan’s hand, grabbing his attention. She tried to communicate her question without words. He mouthed, “Later,” and squeezed.

As the weapons disappeared into the invisible ceiling, Kyle groaned, “There goes all my hard work.”

Tumu walked a few steps out into space and stopped. He gave an abbreviated bow to Rayne. “Generals first.”

The brunette glanced at Xelan, who nodded. “You’ll be the first human through that door, Rayne. Make me proud.”

“You and Elden, both,” she vowed, shedding her borrowed coat.

Beside Tameka, Xelan stood taller, his chin a little higher. She couldn’t help but smile.

Then their leader stepped through the conduit.

“Star, you’re next. One at a time.”

Before stepping through, Sagan spared Tumu an unfriendly look. Then the air sizzled, and she disappeared as well.

“Peaches.”

Tameka squeezed Xelan’s hand and stepped inside. This time she kept her eyes open. The harmless electricity danced along her skin like static through the transition from one space to the next. Tameka glimpsed an illusion of a world in between: a vast hall in gray-scale. Then she completed the transition. Did she imagine the other space? Her feet planted to a tiled marble square surrounded by water, basking in the sunlight. An ocean. The air went from sterile to briny. The horizon stretched so very far. There was nothing else in sight. Her brain appreciated the more familiar perspective as opposed to the alien one from above.

Four Tritans occupied the platform with the three girls. Each varied slightly in size, shape, and features from Tumu. Rayne conversed with a darker blue male who held a staff and dressed in a robe with a staff. His full height matched hers, making him the shortest alien they’d met so far. Sagan stared off into the horizon. Was she looking northward?

From behind her, Kyle muttered, “Yeah. My brain likes this better.”

Tameka turned and caught him doubled over with his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths. Xelan stepped through next, followed closely by Tumu.

The short Tritan called to the group, “Very well. Let’s begin. As Earth’s first representatives, welcome. I am Eminent Lance.” Rayne and Sagan formed a line with the others. Xelan stayed with their Tritan escort a few paces back. “This is our first in a line of hearings to review your petition for aid and for official enrollment into the Vast Collective.”

Tameka fought not to fidget. The longest she’d ever had to sit still was her grandmother’s funeral. She’d shredded her entire pack of tissues before the day had ended. With little practice in these matters, she feared breaching some kind of galactic etiquette standard.

Eminent Lance stomped the boot of his staff into the marble platform. “Chief among you, state the case on behalf of your planet for introduction to our technology.”

General Callahan took a step forward. There was no other way to refer to the strong, capable girl before them. “We are under attack by a far superior alien race not yet reviewed or petitioned under the Vast Collective but harboring Tritan technology all the same. We lost over half our planet’s population to the initial assault, and the remaining numbers dwindle every day. We are not without hope. We can beat them back, but we need your help. Post recovery, we are happy to contribute to the Vast Collective in ways the Tritan people find useful after negotiation of terms.”

Tameka beamed. That was her best friend right there.

The Tritan leader gazed at her with dark voids. He measured her, intently. “State the name of your enemy.”

Rayne didn’t hesitate. “King Nox of Cinder.”

Eminent Lance’s head tilted to the side like a bird. “Not the Icarean race?”

“They can be saved. We cannot punish an entire race of people for the crimes of a few.”

After another long minute of Tritan eye contact, Eminent Lance said, “We will deliberate on the matter. Please provide us a few moments. Officer of the Third, stand witness.”

Tumu rounded the line of Progeny to join his compatriots in the platform’s corner. Rayne stayed put, her back straight and shoulders squared. Tameka looked over her shoulder at Xelan. Before he caught her looking, there was a strange expression on his face. Xelan was frowning and glaring at Tumu. Then his entire face transformed at Tameka’s curious gaze. He beamed at her and blew a kiss.

Tameka shook her head with her eyes narrowed. She mouthed, “Tell. Me. Everything.”

The smile saddened as his eyes grew heavy. Xelan nodded at her, giving in. He mouthed, “Later.”

The Tritans returned. Eminent Lance stepped up to Rayne. He cast an occasional sweeping glance to the others as he said, “Your request for aid is granted, but we determine the terms of that aid. No negotiation.” He looked beyond them. “Stay put, Prince of Cinder. We have not forgotten you.”

Rayne’s jaw clenched. Was something going wrong?

Eminent Lance continued, “We grant the Progeny descendants nacres. We will not provide the technology to the rest of your race without further testimony from our Officer of the Third. General Callahan, while we find your compassion for the Icarean species promising, we are told this is not always the case amongst your kind. Before we permit such a technology as nacres into the hands of the human race, we must first ensure they are worthy of it. Do you disagree?”

Rayne licked her lips. “No.” The Eminent went to carry on, but she interrupted him. “But if I may?” He nodded for her to continue. “If you won’t provide us with global-scale technology, how will we defend our planet? What aid do you suggest for that?”

Eminent Lance nodded along. “You’re right. Your entire species will die without our help in three weeks.”

Tameka’s eyes bulged out of her head, and she couldn’t contain it anymore. “Three weeks?!”

“The Probability Matrix has confirmed it. Any scenario without our aid leads to total annihilation in three weeks.”

Sagan cupped a hand over her mouth while gaping at Eminent Lance. Kyle went empty. Hollowed out. Tameka turned to Xelan, who stared at Lance with unmatched vehemence.

Then there was Rayne. She waited, unsurprised, as if she’d been told this before or knew something more reassuring than the damning announcement. She pressed again, “What help will you provide?”

Eminent Lance stared at her again before answering, “Some minor concessions in technology excluding weapons. Troops to stand under your command from all over the Vast Collective. After the passing of one just this week, we cannot spare a second Gargantuan, but we will permit Tumu to fight alongside you.”

Rayne asked, “Did the Matrix calculate this amount of help provides some chance, some hope of our survival?”

The Tritan took Rayne’s hand in his. “Child, the Progeny stand a significant chance of saving their race. You are doing excellent work for so unadvanced a species. Hope. Faith. And now…” Eminent Lance swept his arms to the side. Another Tritan carried a pillow from out of nowhere. Four small pearls rested on it. “We grant you nacres for the sake of your survival and the survival of your planet. General Callahan, please accept on behalf of your people our gift, and the opening of our formal accord as the newest planet introduced to the Vast Collective.”

The ceremony started with Tameka. She took the nacre on the far left. Warm and small in her hand, she gazed at it. So clear. Some commotion drew her from her reverie. Sagan had tried to take the nacre from the far right, but Eminent Lance had refused her, insisting she take the one on the left.

Tameka asked, “Aren’t they all the same?”

“Excellent point, Tameka. Why is one being treated differently from the others?” The fire in Xelan’s voice shocked Tameka. She glanced at him behind her. He didn’t notice. He was too busy glaring upside Tumu’s head. What the hell was happening?

Eminent Lance ensured, “Please. It is tradition to take left to right. That is all.”

Tameka watched Rayne take the last pearl with her brows drawn, and her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“So, this is it?” Sagan asked, staring into her nacre.

Kyle rolled the tiny sphere around in his hand. “Changing our lives forever with a marble.”

One alien came around with a tray containing weird flat disks of water. “As humans, you may simply—”

Rayne popped the nacre in her mouth and dry swallowed it.

Everyone blinked at her another minute before the Progeny followed her lead. Each swallowed their nacre. Then a quiet settled over the group. They waited.

Xelan moved closer to them. With every step, the air pulsed and breathed a sigh around Tameka. She squeezed her eyes shut as his boots connected with the platform. She heard the flex of the treads and the strain of the laces. The nearer he came, the more his warmth reached out for her to touch. An echo of her pulsed inside him. Her blood beat in his heart. The fatigue melted away. A headache Tameka had nursed, unaware, vanished, taking the pressure with it. Apprehensive, she opened her eyes and truly saw Xelan for the first time.

There were so many tiny, intricate details. Light lines formed around his eyes and mouth. Blood vessels peeked through his complexion. His skin was kissed with the occasional faint freckle. That luxurious hair hid split ends. Xelan had flaws.

Wow.

Xelan smiled, and Tameka excused them. So much warmth. So much love. She reached up to touch him, and he took her hand. He led it to the side of his neck. With it pressed against his light skin, his carotid hammered into her darker palm. Discomforting, her gums stretched and widened to accommodate a foreign sensation inside her mouth.

Xelan’s smile twisted into a smirk. Bringing his thumb to Tameka’s lips, he lightly grazed her canines with it. They had elongated. With that sexy smirk, he mouthed, “Later.”

Later promised a lot.

Tameka caught the scent of something amid the salty brine of the ocean. Strong like leather and honey. Catching her sniffing, Xelan nodded a confirmation and gave her a sly wink. She blushed. So that’s what he’d meant.

Sagan cried out beside them. The sound reverberated in Tameka’s head, almost painfully. Sagan jumped. Once. Twice. Then she hopped on one foot.

Rayne burst into a broad smile. “Your bad ankle! Is it fixed?”

With a grin, Sagan nodded. “No pain.” She frowned as Rayne scrunched her face in scrutiny. She took two steps toward Sagan and turned her head to the side. Sagan asked, “What is it?”

“It’s gone. The scar from Fair.”

Sagan pulled Rayne into a tight hug and squealed.

Tameka glanced at her shoulder, but couldn’t make it out. “Xelan is mine gone, too?”

He grinned at her. “Completely.” But the smile lasted only seconds before his face fell. He was staring at the other girls. No. The Icarus was staring at Rayne.

Kyle said, “Hey, guys.”

They peered over at him, but he was staring off into the horizon. Tameka joined the rest as they formed a line with him to see what all the fuss was about. When she saw it, understood it, Tameka realized she had never understood anything at all.

The ocean swept on and on into the horizon until it didn’t. An almost undetectable curve gave it a shape she hadn’t noticed before the nacre. Looking up, the curvature extended both to the north and south apexes of the sphere. What kept it from falling on them like a great tidal wave? What kept it from spilling away into the bottom? It was beautiful and terrifying all at once.

Nineteen-years-old, a human from Earth, and Tameka knew well enough to fear an ally unwilling to provide more assistance when they possessed this much technology.

No.

Something was wrong in Enki.