“For what it’s worth,” I said, “I was ready to take a chance on it. We will have to face the Nine and it would be easier with whatever you got out of Arete.”

He gave a weak nod and coughed, “There’s another chance. I knew you had to destroy us completely. I created a spore, separated from us, and encased it as completely as I could. Look past me. I’d give it to you, but I shouldn’t touch it.”

I stepped around him. Hidden from direct view, a ball made of a pearl-like hard substance sat on a bare spot of concrete.

“We put as much of ourselves into it as we could, taking Arete’s knowledge, but not his faction. We understand that in order to live together, we have to respect your personhood. They did not. Please don’t let this be our end.”

Could I trust him? I had no idea. My gut said yes, but I didn’t feel like I was amazing at reading normal humans, much less gestalt intelligences created earlier in the day by accident.

Taking a quick look at Amy as I squatted, I pulled a hazardous waste container from a pouch on my belt. Amy didn’t stop me, but if she had a caption over her head, it would have been, “He’s not really going to take it, is he?”

The hazardous waste container didn’t even look like a container. It looked like a ball. People familiar with my tech might have recognized it as similar material to my suit.

I dropped it over the spore and the ball fell, expanding and absorbing the spore. The new golden ball was designed to contain hazardous waste of all kinds—radioactive, chemical, or biological within a specified range of characteristics.

It could also be reconfigured to be a water bottle in a pinch, but then it was best to pay close attention which container you were drinking out of.

I set the ball’s accent color to red (don’t drink this!) and attached it to my belt.

The boy watched me and as the ball clicked into position, he said, “Thank you.”

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“We need to go,” Amy pointed her spear toward the portal. Tall enough to drive a truck through, the glowing, silver circle was wide enough for multiple people to go through at once and they were.

“I’m sorry,” I took a last look at him lying on the decaying mushroom flesh that covered the floor. He didn’t look much different from it. He’d pass soon.

The boy shook his head, “You’ve saved me in every way that’s important.”

Then he laid his head against the ground and watched as Amy and I flew across the room. I didn’t go at full speed, turning on the anti-gravity and firing the rockets at a speed that wouldn’t have kept me in the air by itself.

I dropped out of the air about ten feet short of the main group. Alex and a group of Jennys were directly ahead of us.

Amy eyed me, “I can’t believe you took it. You’re such a softy.”

“I guess,” I checked my HUD. The boy hadn’t moved since we left, “but we could use the information on the Nine. Besides, if everyone thinks it’s too dangerous, I’m sure Cap’s gun will be happy to help us dispose of it.”

Amy laughed, “I’m sure and it’s not the only one. Some of the past Bloodmaidens think you’re doing the right thing. A few others have been giving me suggestions about how to magically dissect it. They think we might be able to get Arete’s memories of the Nine out without the risk of releasing the creature.”

I thought about it, “Is this a sure thing or speculation?”

“They’ve never done it to whatever the Fungus Collective is, but they’d like to try,” Amy shook her head. “A few Bloodmaidens were mad scientists, but with magic. I wouldn’t trust them with anything you’d like to keep.”

“That’s a no then,” I stepped toward Alex and the Jennys. Alex turned away from watching people step through the portal to point at the ball on my belt, “You’ve got coffee?”

Watching the Jennys move to stand behind us, I said, “I set it to red for hazardous material.”

Alex cocked his head, “I’m never carrying hazardous material. I use red for hot coffee. It’s better than a Yeti.”

One of the Jennys said, “I told you that would cause problems.”

She turns away from Alex and asked me, “What do you have in there?”

“Not coffee. It’s worth a team discussion later, but I don’t want to start one now.” I noted that Dayton was still carrying Jody, but that Jody’s head had turned toward my voice.

Then Dayton stepped through the portal and Sean followed him.

A deep ripping noise came from behind me. Checking my HUD, I saw that the mushroom flesh on the ceiling of the far end of the circle had fallen in, pulling away from the concrete above it along with the concrete it had been attached to. The fallen flesh covered the mounds like a decaying blanket.

Ahead of me, standing next to Kals who carried Katuk, Daniel said aloud, “Everyone hurry up. I don’t know if everything will fall in, but it might.”

Following his own advice, he stepped through the portal.