“Pre-mission jitters always fuck me up. You’ll get over it quick. Or we’ll have one less way to split.”

—Treida the Thief Queen to her rookie apprentice, Fylarl

Zaina stood and made sure everything was adjusted properly. She stretched her legs and back. Then she closed her eyes.

If ever there was a time to summon my cipher, now’s it. Come on—

She focused all her energy on manifesting the blade. When Zaina’s eyes opened, they were met with an empty palm and Reida’s confused stare.

“Is that some weird lancer meditation or something?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Zaina replied, “we’ll go with that.”

Reida walked over to the turbine and motioned for Zaina to follow. “Okay—we only get one shot at this. We have to go through at the same time—got it? If we trip the sensor at intervals, it’ll draw more attention from the system.”

“What, it’ll think we’re some kind of weird bird or something?”

“Yeah, maybe. But with what’s going on below, it won’t care about a single instance. This turbine shaft goes down about five hundred feet and terminates at the start of a ventilation system—from there, we’ll be able to locate an employee who can get us access to the central elevator terminal.”

“You think we’re gonna have company?”

Reida smiled. “It wouldn’t be a party if we didn’t. I’d expect security droids. The lancer’s fifty-fifty; he might stay and guard the crystal, but if the captain creates enough ruckus, he might leave his post to help. Let’s hope he leaves.”

“Okay,” Zaina said with a nod. “So—how long do we have?”

“A little over two minutes.”

“Right. Can I ask you something?”

“As long as it’s quick,” Reida said, still focused on her vis-screen.

“Why—why me?”

“Huh?”

Zaina clasped her hands behind her back. “Well—I don’t get it. Why choose me over someone you know? Someone you trust?”

Reida pursed her lips. “You’re strong, you’re fast—and you saved me. That counts for something.”

“You don’t care that I’m—you know—” Zaina sighed and pointed at her eye.

A chuckle escaped Reida’s lips. “No, not at all. I was surprised at how nice you are, actually. The captain’s told me a lot of stories. You know, she offered me a whole team for this, but I turned her down—she said it was either you or them. I chose you—and I did it because you’re exactly the kind of person I want to work with.”

Blood rushed to Zaina’s cheeks as she smiled and looked away. “Thanks, Reida.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she replied. “All right, let’s get into position. We’re going in in thirty seconds.”

Reida climbed to the top of the turbine’s casing, and Zaina followed. Their eyes met, and they both nodded. Once the timer reached ten seconds, Reida counted it down aloud, her finger hovering over her vis-screen.

“Nine—eight—seven—six—five—four—three—two—here we go!”

Everything unfolded in slow motion: a massive boom broke out below, shaking the entire building; Reida tapped her vis-screen, and a jolt of electricity ran through the turbine’s engines and shorted them in an instant. The spinning blades stopped. Reida grabbed Zaina’s arm, and they both jumped through.

The turbine shaft was long and went straight down. Reida slammed her armored forearm into the wall, and it attached; her other arm swung Zaina into the cold, metal wall, and Reida jerked with a pained grunt.

Between clenched teeth, she said, “Please activate your armor’s magnet climbers.”

“Uh, okay, hold on—” Zaina stared at the armor control pad on her free-hanging wrist. She hadn’t bothered to learn how to use it.

Reida, turning red from the strain, said, “Red—it’s the red one!”

Zaina reached for her other arm, still in Reida’s grasp. It took a little stretching, but she pushed the red button and firmly attached to the wall. Reida let go with a pained gasp.

“Sorry,” Zaina said sheepishly.

“No—no, I probably should have gone over that with you,” Reida said. “Okay, we don’t have much time. We’ve gotta climb down. This is the long part.”

They shimmied down one forearm-length at a time until they came to a metal floor. To the right was a darkened, cramped metal hallway, which led to the building’s airflow system; to the left was a lime green, slotted ventilation grate.

Reida didn’t detach from the wall until her feet were on the floor—Zaina did the same, careful not to make a sound. Light came in through the thin slots—they were above a room with blue walls.

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“Okay,” Reida whispered, “I’m going to blow the grate. If I’m right, we should be right above our target. I’ll handle the talking. Oh, and there might be androids, so be ready.”

Zaina nodded, still hesitant to go along with the morally questionable tactics; still, there was no turning back now. One hand grasped the resonedge—its weight was burdensome, and she wished she had her cipher—and the other hand hovered near the scrapshot holstered at her waist, ready to draw in an instant.

Reida stooped next to the ventilation grate and placed at its base a small, thin disc with three stripes of green, pink, and blue color. Then she backed up, grabbing Zaina’s arm to pull her with.

“What the hell is that?” Zaina asked once they stopped.

“My favorite,” Reida replied. “Concussive flash flare. It’ll give us a second to get in there. You ready?”

“Yeah, but—”

“GO!”

Zaina closed her eyes as the disc released a loud burst, enough to ring through her chest—a bright light pierced her eyelids, and when she opened her eyes, the grate was gone. The ventilation shaft’s edges were torn away, and a trail of smoke obscured the room below.

Reida charged into the haze; Zaina followed, activating the resonedge as she landed amid the gray smoke and odorous fumes.

Low buzzes filled the room. A low-pitched voice broke out: “There they are! Shoot them! Shoot them!”

Zaina activated her mask’s tracking system—the androids were glitching out. Reida’s grenade had done a number on their systems, apparently.

A shrieking bolt of green energy tore through the cloud and struck one of the androids in the chest—its metal skin turned red instantly as its torso split apart, spewing its molten mechanical insides. More bolts followed, each virtually disintegrating one of the androids. Zaina turned. Reida, with both hands on her phase cycler, finished off the last of the robotic enemies.

Reida glanced over at Zaina and said, “I told you phase cyclers are better. Now, let me do the talking.”

The room was empty except for them. Shelves holding what looked like torture instruments lined the walls; three rows of surgical tables stood on the other side of the room, as well as a desk.

Reida swaggered toward the tables and said, “Ilstevor Vahn. Senior mechanical overseer—cybernetics division. That’s you, right?”

Movement caught Zaina’s eye—something crawled between the tables, emitting a panicked whine as it went. She drew her scrapshot.

Continuing, Reida said, “Is this how you want to play things? If you cooperate, you might walk out of this building alive.”

There was a moment of silence—then, a five-foot-tall figure sprang up from behind one of the surgical beds. It was a middle-aged Lymedaran, with a wide, flat head, six bulbous eyes, and scaly, leathery skin of a gray-green hue. He wore a long, gray coat with soaked-in oil stains. In his hand was a phase cycler aimed at his own cheek.

“You need me,” he said, “don’t you? To get in. If I do this—you two are done for.”

“Maybe,” Reida said coolly. “Maybe not. But you know who really would be done for if that happened? Elvina—Valha—Torus.”

The green color drained from his face. “How do you know their names?”

“I know a lot more than that,” she replied, her voice icy and clipped. “I know exactly where to find them. And if you do something stupid, I’ll have to pay them a nice little visit.”

Zaina recoiled, surprised by Reida’s cold demeanor.

Fear overtook Ilstevor’s six eyes. “You wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t I?” Reida mocked him. “You really willing to take that bet?”

Ilstevor, hand shaking, lowered the gun. Reida surged forward and stabbed a knife into his arm—he bellowed and fell backward. She kicked his gun away.

Zaina watched in horror as Reida pulled the knife out and kicked him in the face. “There’s more of that coming if you try anything funny.”

He groaned and tried to crawl away, but Reida grabbed him and pulled him up. Then she pushed him toward the door and pointed her phase cycler at his back.

“Get a move on,” she said.

Zaina frowned. She’d never seen this side of Reida before. She’d never seen anyone act this way—except for maybe Beni, but—

She shuddered. What’s her excuse?

Ilstevor led the way to a metal door at the far side of his office, cradling his wounded arm. Reida kept the gun trained on his back.

Zaina caught up with her and whispered, “What was that? Were you—were you serious?”

Reida’s eyebrow raised. “Come on, Zaina, is that really what you think of me?”

Zaina’s stomach turned. She didn’t know what to think of all this. Ilstevor pushed his palm against a vis-screen on a podium next to the exit.

The door opened to a narrow hallway with a low ceiling; identical doors lined both sides, with light coming from strips above. The walls, ceiling, and floor were dark blue. Black metal arches extended from the wall segments between every door.

“All right,” Reida said. “Let’s mosey. This is the way to the central elevator terminal, right?”

“Yes,” Ilstevor said. “But it’s heavily guarded. Even after you pirates—”

“That’s enough, now.” Reida pushed him forward. “Take us there. Try anything, and you know what’ll happen.”

Zaina shook her head. What had he called them? Pirates—maybe Reida wanted Ilstevor to think they were pirates. None of this sat right with Zaina.

She winced and walked along behind Reida, who moved with an icy stillness. Zaina gulped—three months at Hobst’s shop didn’t seem so bad compared to this. With an anxious sigh, she hoped the worst of it was over—but she couldn’t shake the cold sensation of dread building up inside.

Ilstevor’s pace slowed down gradually until he fell between Reida and Zaina. As Reida led the front, he glanced toward Zaina and whispered, “Please—you’re not one of them, are you? You have to help me. She’s going to kill me. Please—”

Zaina gulped, keeping her eyes on Reida to make sure she hadn’t noticed. “It’ll be all right—don’t worry. Do what she says and you’ll be fine.”

Ilstevor didn’t need words to express his doubt—his eyes did enough. He turned, hanging his head as he walked a little faster.

They kept straight on until Reida grabbed Zaina and Ilstevor and pulled them behind one of the arches.

“Hey—what’s wrong?” Zaina asked.

Reida peeked around the corner. Then she turned back and said, “I’m picking up six heat signatures at the end of the hallway. Androids, from the looks of it.”

Ilstevor chimed in, “There are android guards stationed on every floor connecting to the central terminal. You won’t be able to get past them. If you so much as peek out from cover, they’ll get you.”

“Oh yeah?” Reida put her gun against his temple, making him cower. “Then what’s to say I shouldn’t kill you now?”

Zaina grabbed her arm. “Come on, Reida—don’t.”

Shooting a disgusted glare Zaina’s way, Reida ripped her arm free and scowled at Ilstevor. “You’re lucky we need you.”

Ilstevor was still shaking. Though Zaina didn’t want to hurt him, the sooner this was over the better; he could go home to his family, and all this craziness would come to an end. Wanting to keep everything on track, Zaina said, “So what’s our next move?”

Reida sighed. “We need an angle on those androids. If my scanners are picking them up, they’re definitely seeing us.”

“So—what do we do?”

Reida peeked around the corner again. “Okay—on my signal, you run for that forward position. I’ll cover you.”

“What—why me?”

“You’re faster,” Reida said, “and I’m a better shot. Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.”

“But what if—”

“There’s no time for questions,” Reida said. “We need to hurry and get them off-line. They’re sending data about us to the security network—we’re on the clock now, okay?”

Zaina frowned and stared at the scrapshot in her hand.

“Hey,” Reida said, “don’t think. Act. Come on, now. You can do this.”

A warm rush of courage surged through Zaina. Her heart was pumping faster every second, but she swallowed her fear.

The air was still; Reida’s voice pierced the eerie silence with a shout: “Now!”

It was now or never. Zaina dashed from behind the arch and into the open hallway—deafening sputters and pops broke out, echoing through the hall.