Then what? Run? Surrounded by Aggregates, he would be lucky to reach the exit, much less the outdoors, much less someplace safe.

He knew the Adventure humans were present and willing to help him . . . but he had no idea how to find them.

All right, then, your plan is hit the right switch, then excuse yourself to go to the bathroom.

Even as he thought it, he knew it was hopeless, lame. He had to accept the fact that his best option was dead hero.

“Murray!” That was Counselor Kate’s voice, but not through the link. Whit turned.

Counselor Kate was behind him, and she looked shaken. With her were her two THE companions, Counselors Margot and Hans. They had been present in the control center all during the morning but generally out of Whit’s view.

“Step away from the console,” Counselor Hans said.

Oh God, Whit thought. He forced himself to say, “Why?”

“Your behavior is suspect,” Counselor Margot said.

“You shut down information flow,” Counselor Kate said.

“For good reason.”

“It’s inconsistent with your past behavior,” Counselor Hans said. “Step away.”

The countdown voice said, “One minute.” The OVERRIDE icon glowed.

“I think your behavior is suspect!” Whit suddenly shouted. He jumped to his feet, pointed at Counselor Hans. “They’re trying to wreck the operation!”

The Aggregates to either side buzzed into motion, quickly closing on the trio from THE and giving Whit time to click MANUAL, then, as Counselor Hans screamed, “You have to stop him!” UPDATE and AUTO.

The purple window disappeared.

Other Aggregates joined the struggle. They were no longer needed at their consoles; Fire Light couldn’t be stopped now. It was like a rocket with engines igniting just seconds prior to liftoff; shutting it down would only destroy it.

Whit stood back from the console, hands raised. “Fine, I’m suspect? Let’s settle this elsewhere.” And he allowed himself to be hustled toward the rear of the control room by a trio of Aggregates.

Before they could reach the door, Whit thought he smelled smoke of some kind. Then he saw a cloud of vapor descending from overhead vents.

The door opened, revealing a giant, strange-looking being with four arms.

Then Whit fell down.

FIRE LIGHT

IN PROGRESS

IGNITION

21 MAY 2040 0001:00 MDT

COUNTDOWN CLOCK AT SITE A

RACHEL

“Did you see that?”

Yahvi turned away from the window with such a look of pure joy and wonder that Rachel almost forgot how much trouble they were in. Her child was happy, and that was all that mattered. “It was a glowing ball flying through the sky!”

Rachel joined Yahvi. The window looked south to a corner of one of the staging areas and its collection of vehicles. Beyond that lay a high desert plateau.

And in the sky . . . a bright light moving from the southwest.

“Looks like an aircraft,” Pav said.

“It’s moving too fast,” Rachel said.

So fast, in fact, that it grew to the size of a coin held at arm’s length, then vanished somewhere to the east.

“Well,” Rachel said, “what do you think?”

Pav’s face showed the beginnings of a smile, one of Rachel’s favorite looks. “It’s what I saw at Bangalore and you saw at Houston.”

He was still being a bit too cagey, bless him, but nevertheless confirmed Rachel’s hopeful conclusion:

What she had seen flashing across the sky, touching down somewhere nearby, was a vesicle, a Keanu-launched object crewed by Zhao Buoming and Makali Pillay and, apparently, Sanjay Bhat and several others, and equipped with enough nasty shit to wipe the Reiver Aggregates off the face of the Earth.

And maybe take Rachel and crew back to Keanu.

“I hear you!” Yahvi suddenly said. She walked to the other side of the small room, her hand to her head.

Pav reached for her, ostensibly to keep her from saying anything too revealing, but Rachel stopped him. “Surveillance won’t mean anything now. Either it’s working or it isn’t.”

“Is that the vesicle calling?” Tea said.

“Keanu,” Yahvi said, her face scrunched up.

“Say that again, please!” Yahvi looked horrified as she and Rachel suffered through the lag. Then Yahvi nodded and told the others: “We have to get to the vesicle now.”

“And what then? Fly us back to Keanu?”

“Yes.”

“That’s going to be difficult,” Pav said.

“It can’t be more than a few kilometers!” Rachel said.

“And we’re surrounded by thousands of Reivers!”

She slapped Pav on the shoulder. “Have a little faith!”

She desperately wanted to take her own advice.

When Rachel and Yahvi reached Zeds, the Sentry was already afloat in his pool, looking more serene than he had since leaving Keanu.

Rachel had no idea what his “malady” was, or what Yahvi was supposed to do about it. But her daughter displayed a surprising flair for improvisation, asking pointed questions about Zeds’s physical parameters, then insisting that de la Vega immediately bring her items that someone unfamiliar with Sentry dietary needs would find exotic.

The resulting moments of chaos gave Zeds time to tell Yahvi about the timing of the cyberattack on the Ring and his plans for evasion and escape.

Rachel would have loved to know more, but de la Vega was soon on them. And they were forced to leave Zeds.

While being escorted back to their quarters, they passed Xavier, who was in his glory, giving orders and issuing pointed criticism of those around him like an arrogant chef in a busy kitchen.

He did manage to wink at Rachel.

Returning to their cell with Counselors Cory and Ivetta, they found Pav, Tea, and Colin Edgely being guarded by Counselor Nigel.

“Now what?” Rachel said brightly, once they were all together. “Still restricted to base, I see.”

“Actually, to this room,” Tea said.

“Could we help Xavier?” Edgely said.

Rachel sympathized; she knew the Aussie astronomer just wanted to get out of the room. But Xavier and Zeds needed no distractions. Everything depended on their success with the Aggregate replacement parts and related actions. “He’s doing fine without us,” she said.

Counselor Ivetta said, “You’ll be here for the next two days.”

“Then what? Free to go? That would be great!” Rachel smiled at Tea. “You could be our guide to the Grand Canyon!”

Tea was ready to tweak their captors. “Yeah, I’ve visited a lot. I bet we could drive there in a couple of hours.”

“Why only two days?” Pav said.

Counselor Nigel looked troubled. “Our briefings only cover that time.”

At that moment, a boom shook the building. Counselor Cory said, “What was that?”

Counselors Nigel and Ivetta rose. “Let’s find out.” All three walked out, leaving Rachel to contemplate the meaning of “two days.” It could not have been good.

That was when Yahvi squealed.

To Rachel, it felt strange to be locked in one room while important things were going on a few meters away. It was like huddling in your house while a tropical storm raged outside—only silently.

And while grateful for the welcome sight of the vesicle, she longed for a view to the north, toward the Ring itself. Would she be able to see the cone? Would it be like some giant searchlight waving from one direction to another?

Didn’t matter.

They could hear shouts through the door, then crashes, as if furniture had been knocked over.

“What’s going on out there?” Tea said. She leaned close to the door to hear, then quickly pulled back, fanning the air. “Oh, God, that’s nasty—”