I thought about all of our lives together. “I love you, Farley. If we have to die tonight, I’m glad we’re together.”

“I love you, Ella. We only step into Elohaia. The 6th will send someone else. We have to have hope, Ella.” He gave a sigh and shivered. Another shiver. I rubbed his arms.

Shivers became rhythmic. I looked at his face, lit by light that somehow came from black glass walls. His ears and the tip of his nose were white. The rest of him was gray. Regen. He’s going into regen. In this cold, he’ll die fast.

I kept talking. I want him to have the comfort of my voice, if his head doesn’t hurt too bad. “What is this place? I never saw a building with one empty room, and open to the sky like that! Oh, that must be Mican’s ship. He’s running something like a vaporizer. What’s he trying to get? Vaporizer progs analyze things, and they can port it to alt storage. Sand is vanishing, and there’s black obsidian left, like when ships used to leave it in spaceports, and we still see melted sand obsidian in old spaceports.

“Oh, he makes me mad! I wish his engine would just fall out!”

I was watching his stupid ship. Suddenly, his engine, an engine very much like the one the scientists demonstrated in the festival that day, I saw it. Vibration began.

What are you doing? I’ll kill you!

A crack formed in the side of his gray metal ship! It grew wider.

Stop it! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill--

The crack was just wide enough. The engine fell out and the black obsidian cracked, too! A crack spread until the room we’re in—the wall cracked! Boom! His ship fell! Black obsidian cracked, and engine and ship fell through!

I pulled Farley back. Expected glass shards to finish us! But, the wall slid down and was smooth. A panel behind me in the floor slid open.

The other walls wavered. I pulled my husband into the space and a ramp slid us down! It wasn’t a steep slope, just enough that my jeans slid, and it made a wide spiral.

At the bottom was a room I knew well from Sigan Mas. More than once, I went in the biome storage to check on our men. Before me, a panel of glass had Biome Maintenance Facility in Elshar script. It had its own? And Pirad didn’t get it?

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

There was another glass panel. On the other side of it, Mican stared at me with his eyes black. “I’ll—kill you—” Pinned by half his ship. On top of half his body.

But, the way to that Clean Room was open. All I have to do is tap in a DS code and I’m in. I have to destroy that server!

Despite all the noise, Farley had a strong regen going. “I wish Farley was okay!”

Nothing. Maybe I’m not being specific enough? “I wish Farley was completely healed, so he can help me!”

That didn’t work. We’re still going to die! But, I’ll take this server with me!

I carefully slid my husband onto the floor. Hoped that wouldn’t stop his regen! But, there are supplies in that room.

I kissed Farley’s most forehead. “I’ll be right back, Love. Don’t be scared. I have to check the progs.”

Regen looks scary. Farley didn’t give a sign that he heard. His arms and legs were tightly rolled up and he was dark gray. My jeans were full of dark green sweat. Yellow’s bad enough. Green is a sign that death isn’t long.

When I stood up, all of the sparkles glittered in a cloud. Mican smiled, the snake. He didn’t look good. Also gray. Wasn’t struggling. But, he faked his death once. He can do it again.

I tapped the code onto a metal square in the glass. The panel slid open.

Shelves were empty. I found one blanket and went back. Put it over my husband. It got hot. It won’t be when I come back.

I went back in. Normally a biome tech puts on a suit like a hazmat suit, so she doesn’t contaminate the biomes. Biomes are glass jars with algae that stores data. One sneeze is enough to bring it down, not just a server, but a Hub installation, if it’s in the same facility.

I didn’t suit up. Opened the next panel with the tapped code. It slid open.

The other half of Mican’s ship crashed through this wall and toppled hundreds of glass jars the size of my head. Maybe his ship did the job for us.

To my left, I had just enough room to slip behind a shelf full of biomes that broke. Glass shards were everywhere. There’s no protection for my feet that’ll stop ‘em. I waved up a menu and had a vaporizer run. Made it start where I needed to walk.

I followed the white light and the floor got hot! I’d never run these progs, but our men shared memories of doing this. It looked like a facility after an earthquake and our team had to clean it up!

A group of mechs, a kind of biological robot, spread out to gather the algae so dead cell work could be performed. Didn’t want that to happen!

But I continued on to find the server. It’ll be a cube shape.

At the back of this room was another one. And, it had a blue cube.