“Bringer of Hope!”

“We love you!”

People on the sidelines cheered as if this was a victory celebration instead of a funerary procession. The few former Torth who had been permitted to join the crowd paid their respects, touching Serette’s funeral casket like they were Alashani honoring a fallen warrior. Very few aliens did the same. Instead, they honored Ariock.

“Son of Storms!”

“Messiah!”

Perhaps Mondoyo’s refusal to join this procession wasn’t such a mystery. None of these people had known Serette.

Ariock had barely known her, either.

That made him feel guilty. Serette had helped to end the Torth era. Sure, she had invented a terrible way to defeat Ariock—apparently she was the primary mastermind behind insanity gas—but she had atoned. Now Ariock wished he could have talked a few more times with Serette, because she’d gone from villain to hero. She had helped destroy the Megacosm. Non-telepaths had not witnessed her mental symphony, but Ariock had heard about it from Thomas.

“Are you doing okay?” Ariock glanced down at Thomas, who walked next to him and Kessa. “If you need to take a break, everyone will understand.”

Thomas had guarded his expression all day. A stranger might assume that he was lost in thought, but Ariock knew better. Super-geniuses didn’t get lost in thought. Not for more than a few seconds, anyway. That pensive look meant Thomas was struggling with emotions.

With Serette gone, Thomas was the eldest super-genius in existence. Mondoyo was nearly a full year younger than his partner had been. He remained cloistered in the Dragon Tower in order to grieve.

I understand about survivor’s guilt, Ariock thought to his friend, skipping the tedium of language.

Thomas looked grateful and a little bit surprised. Maybe he hadn’t expected Ariock to identify his problem.

We can blame Ah Jun, Ariock thought. The oracle was the main reason why Ariock and Thomas were still alive, while so many of their friends and colleagues and family members were dead around them. Each loss hurt. Each loss was an insult to what should be.

“I’m really worried about Mondoyo,” Thomas admitted. “I want to connect with him, but he isn’t—hold on.” He stopped walking and frowned at his control sleeve.

Ariock’s eyes widened as he glimpsed the holograph that played atop of Thomas’s sleeve. A crude simulacrum of Vy … and a sword sliced through her neck!

Her simulated head toppled away. Her headless body was replaced by a crude animation of Ariock, enraged.

The funerary procession came to a halt. Kessa said something to appease the crowd, but Ariock was fully focused on Thomas.

“That’s got to be a message from the Death Architect,” Thomas said. “To her cultists. One of our crews picked it up from a shuttle we appropriated, probably fifteen minutes ago.”

“Where is Vy?” Ariock’s awareness spiked out, and he let it unravel across the crowd, across the entire city.

If only Vy’s life spark would stand out to him like a beacon. She just wasn’t powerful. She never registered as anyone special to his Yeresunsa sense. He just couldn’t find her this way.

“I’m checking right now.” Thomas had access to all the superluminal tracking signals, and he scanned through menus on his sleeve. “Crap.” He sounded devastated.

Not just worried. Devastated.

All of Ariock’s suppressed fear and rage rose to a boil. He felt as if he was entering battle. The crowd surged away from him as he held out his arms and item-teleported his galaxy armor onto his body. Soon he was bulky with spikes and tungsten plates. His helmet fit snugly in the gorget. He left the faceplate retracted for now.

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“She’s halfway across the galaxy,” Thomas said.

“What?!” Ariock felt sure he had misunderstood. He too upset to think.

“I don’t know how she got there,” Thomas admitted. “There’s no Necrocosm for me to scan for answers. But her tracking signal is coming from the Araya Moon Belt.”

“Show me how to get there,” Ariock commanded.

Thomas focused on a cleared space in front of him. Points of light coalesced, forming a galactic map. Ariock studied the highlighted region. He memorized the route as the map zoomed in, ratcheting tighter and tighter. More zooming. More ratcheting.

“Take an immunity pill,” Thomas said. He popped a pill into his own mouth.

Ariock had actually forgotten that crucial safety tip. He item-teleported two immunity pills directly into his mouth and swallowed. They should take effect quickly, making him invincible in battle.

“My dragon armor is in the aerie,” Thomas said. “Put it on me, please. I’m coming with you.”

Ariock never did well when his attention was split, and he didn’t want to have to protect Thomas while he also wanted to rescue Vy. But if Thomas believed he needed to be there—

“Bring me,” Thomas said in a tone of command.

Ariock decided not to question his friend’s judgment. He item-teleported the outfit, hastily stripping off Thomas’s brocaded cape and other accoutrements and replacing them with the armor designed and created by Garrett.

Kessa stared at them both with wide-eyed anxiety. Nearby people shouted questions, but Kessa only said, “Be safe. Bring Vy back.”

“Tell Evenjos and Garrett,” Thomas said. “And tell them to be extra careful. I think this is the Death Architect’s lair. She’ll have traps. Assume she’s smarter than I am. And remember, we cannot kill her without ending the universe.”

“I will tell them.” Kessa stepped away, already making the call on her control sleeve.

“Ready, Ariock?” Thomas used his projection power to step through the hellishly complicated galactic route once more. “I can’t tell whether Vy is inside or outside the asteroid, and I don’t know what to expect. Please prioritize caution about all else.”

Mirrors blocked clairvoyance. Ariock steeled himself for a mind-numbing search of the faraway asteroid field. He memorized the route as best he could, and admitted, “I may need help getting there.”

“I know,” Thomas said.

Ariock wasted no time, sinking into a clairvoyant trance. He wanted to get there on his first try, but it was like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle of fog divided into a million pieces. Space was three dimensional, and every slight rotation in perspective made each view indistinguishable from other celestial regions.

Thomas gave him custom-tailored directions each time he snapped back to his body. Finally, after several dozen attempts, Ariock ghosted across the entire route to the correct asteroid.

“Bring air.” Thomas sealed his visor. His voice came through the supercom, tinny and distant. “And force the airlock open. Bring me inside along with you.”

Everything about the asteroid looked sinister. Ariock sealed his own visor, then ghosted back to it. He spent precious seconds finding a smooth door embedded in the frosted rock. It was nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the icy surface.

Once he was sure of it, he teleported his core self across countless star systems, including Thomas and a bubble of air encased in a pressurized shield.

He forced the airlock door open. They descended into utter darkness.

Ariock didn’t need to be told how airlocks worked. He used his powers to seal the upper gate before he forced the second gate open. He detected dank but breathable air in the dark corridor beyond. Thomas led the way.

Unlike Thomas, Ariock barely fit in the corridor. He had to hunch, his spiked shoulders scraping each wall.

He tried to ghost, determined to find Vy, but every surface was mirrored. The reflections baffled his disembodied self, and he returned to his body, frustrated and annoyed by the claustrophobic environment.

Thomas opened his visor. Ariock did the same. It was best to conserve their air tanks for when air was needed.

“Expand your awareness,” Thomas suggested.

That was such an obvious next step, Ariock felt humiliated for needing the suggestion. He cautiously sent his awareness down the hallway and through walls, searching for life sparks.

Three people. No, four. One of those life sparks blazed. That one had to be a Yeresunsa.

“The strong one is probably our teleporter.” Thomas walked down the corridor in the correct direction, having absorbed Ariock’s thoughts. “It could be a rogue cultist. Please stay on your guard.”

Ariock followed Thomas, ducking and twisting and then even crawling to avoid pipes and wires. He wanted to rip the stuff out of his way, but he didn’t want to risk destroying the life support system.

At least he was light on his feet and knees. Gravity was artificial here, and weaker than it was on most planets.

A child-sized shadow skittered through the darkness ahead.

Ariock did not detect a life spark there. Was it a robot? Or a strange reflection in the mirrors?

The shadow came back, floating in a hoverchair. Its eyes were too close together and glowing in a dangerous way.

“It’s a trap,” Thomas said before Ariock could decide how to react. “I’ll disable it. Hold on.” He tapped his command sleeve.

Ariock became aware of hissing gas. He was glad that he’d swallowed immunity pills.

“Remember,” Thomas said, moving forward again. “If you see the Death Architect, do not kill her. But you’ll need to prevent her from moving. Shield her and stop her from using any electronics.”

Otherwise the universe would be destroyed.

“Right,” Ariock said.

Deep down, though, he knew that he would find Vy, protect her, and save her, no matter what. Thomas had erased his memory of the nightmare, but it was coming back to him. That terrible desolation. That failure.

He wasn’t going to let it come true.