• “You do realize, of course, that they have an advantage over us.”
    Ryan hesitated for a second, unable to believe that Juxa had said that. Then he whirled on her, anger shining in his dark green eyes. “What did you say?”
    “Don’t let the glory get to your head, or you’ll have another incident like the one with Thyu.” Juxa smiled, as if she had brought up an inside joke. Her blue-purple eyes hid whatever was behind them. “I’m just making an honest observation. Or should I let your ego fester until it causes your downfall?”
    “Fine. Say what you will.”
    “What’s with the hostilities? I’ve served you for years now. Do you really think your anger is well-placed?”
    “Don’t lecture me, woman. Say what you want, but get on with it.”
    “Jeez, you’d think—” she cut off when she saw his icy glare. “They have an Ayarthan.”
    “So? They have short lives, not to mention no intelligence when it comes to choosing weapons—”
    “And finesse in stealth and hand-to-hand combat. You would’ve lost that fight with Thyu.”
    “He’s not stronger than me!”
    “Combat isn’t just about strength, you know.”
    Ryan fell silent.
    Juxa continued, keeping her voice soft. “All I’m saying is that we need to watch out for them. You do realize which group is favored, right? Their group was sent after Nithril originally, and they were the original pick for our new mission. We were only added in because of Mark’s injury.”
    “So? We know we’re better. The world doesn’t have to know if they choose to be ignorant.”
    “If our mission is a failure, who do you think will take the blame?”
    She saw on his face that she had finally struck the mark. “Why are you saying this?” he asked her. “What do you have to gain?”
    “Listen, you and I both know that your team is better than theirs, and I don’t want them to take a future mission that only we can handle. That would be disastrous for the entire IGM. So we have to make sure we’re known as the better team to make sure that it doesn’t happen that way. We have to prove our worth. Just think about it.”
    * * *
    Who is this monster?
    Dociluas moved quickly and silently away, so that nobody would find out that he had been standing at the door. Everyone knew that he was moving back and forth on various tasks to assist the others, so nobody could blame him for walking around. But he had noticed that Juxa was not at her station, choosing instead to leave most of the piloting work for Kriqua. Kriqua had claimed that Juxa was merely taking a “coffee break”, but Dociluas didn’t believe it would take more than five minutes. And he was right.
    He now knew more about Juxa. She was a manipulator. For all the world to see, Ryan was the leader, but not even Ryan understood who was really in charge. But Dociluas knew. He wondered briefly if he would be able to warn Ryan, but quickly rejected the idea. There were a million ways it could end badly, and only one way, with a chance less than one percent, to end well.
    He would just have to continue his spying, and wait for an opportunity. Wait.
    He was good at waiting. He was trained in a lot of things, but in waiting he had trained himself. He used to sit in a room for hours, staring at a wall. At first it seemed to tear at his sanity, but he got better. He could now sit in a room for two days with nothing to do, nothing to eat, and nothing to drink. He could wait very easily.
    He tried to assemble in his mind what he knew. Juxa was manipulating Ryan, trying to shift his view to make Mark’s team the enemy. Why would Juxa do this? Once Dociluas found the answer for that, he could expose her, and she would lose.
    He reminded himself that he also had to worry about Inen. It didn’t take a mind-reader to see the murderous thoughts behind her eyes when she looked at Juyrl. It’ll be hard to spy on her, he thought. Ryeaoans have almost inhuman senses. If he so much as hesitated at her door, she would probably hear the irregularity in his footsteps. Worse—she would smell him.
    But there’s always a way.
    * * *
    1PH2NEIU
    What could it mean? First, he had to figure out what the first PH meant. There was likely a list of missions that were sorted alphabetically. But if that wasn’t the case, he would find something.
    It would represent two words. And those words would be the topic of the message. It could be a planet or moon, but none that were nearby where the spy was captured. He couldn’t have been captured within the Taqua system unless he was close to an enemy base; otherwise, the Taquan government would’ve protected him. So it had to be a mission within Taqua. He didn’t know many Taquan cities, but it could’ve been the name of one of them.
    Or it could be a title. President’s Hand. Nithril. Thyu knew that if it was President’s Hand, the pieces of the puzzle would soon fall into place.
    * * *
    They took off. Juxa got back to the cockpit with barely enough time to spare to stay on schedule. Kriqua had already taken care of all of the preparations. She wondered what had kept Juxa so long, but didn’t say anything.
    The Silent Thunder was as close as it could be to fitting its name. It had been designed for stealth missions, and was made to be as quiet as possible for everything. The process of lifting off the ground could not be made completely silent, but compared to most ships of the same size, it was difficult to hear. It’s chameleon hull, as well as its signal jammers, made it difficult to detect in space.
    The Silent Thunder made it outside of the atmosphere without any incident, as was expected. Now it would be a long journey to Vigs… The people of the past seemed to think there would be some way to travel at light speed, but scientists in this time still laughed aloud at that idea. With the microscopic amounts of friction in space, ships could easily go thousands of miles per hour—millions if uninterrupted for long enough—but it was still far from the speed of light. Besides, traveling at the speed of light would blind you, no matter how much technology you had to support your vision.
    It would take approximately three Earth weeks and five Earth days to get to Vigs, and that would be plenty of time for the various plans and self-assigned missions some individuals on the ship had.
    They could normally make it in two weeks, but they would make a side route so that no one would see them coming. They didn’t want to rely fully on their cloaking technology.
    Three weeks and five days would have to be enough.
    * * *
    “I guess this is goodbye, Grand Admiral Goft,” Marie said, regret in her voice.
    Regret that Voisloid believed was false. “Yes, Coordinator, this is goodbye. Go retreat and hide on Ayarth. I promise to take care of Taqua.”
    “Voisloid, you have to understand—”
    “I know, I know; our enemy is too strong. You need to be kept safe, and UNO needs to believe that the IGM is dead. But you can rest assured that I will fight to my last breath.”
    “I know you will. Thank you, Grand Admiral.”
    Don’t thank me just yet.
    * * *
    Twelve days left. It had taken a long time because of his duties assisting Juxa and Kriqua (and he suspected that Juxa had purposely been giving him extra work), but he had hidden a video camera in the cleaning robot. It wasn’t just a video camera—he wanted more evidence than that if he caught someone. He could also hear and smell what was on the outside.
    He didn’t have much time—he only got a break now because he was supposed to go check on the engines. But he watched the recording from the camera inside the robot.
    He watched it in fast forward until it entered Peyb’s room. Then he rewound it to a few moments before it entered. He watched from the camera as the recording moved toward the door. “…ya vlyinp egwa ypyni.” That was Inen. Interesting, Dociluas thought. Was it another secret meeting to stir aggression, like when Juxa spoke with Ryan?
    “Rud, giv ypyni,” Peyb said. Suddenly Dociluas realized that they were speaking in their own language. He mentally translated what he had already heard, glad that Ryeaoan had been a simple language to learn.
    “…that cleaning robot again.”
    “Yes, once again. I’ll let it in.”
    “Remember to check its programming for any changes!”
    Dociluas smiled. He hadn’t tampered with the robot’s programming for precisely that reason. Instead, he had hidden the camera behind one of the robot’s chest plates, with barely a crack to see through. That way no one would see the camera while they were digging through the robot’s head wires, clawing around for the interface to its brain.
    Dociluas focused on the smell streaming in. He didn’t smell it himself—he instead had the computer analyze it. The data told him that the two Ryeaoans had met for completely different reasons. Zooming in the camera on Inen’s lips, he saw them moist and slightly discolored.
    Dociluas smiled and turned off the recording. He had something now. Peyb and Inen were in a relationship, so what was Inen’s business with Juyrl? When this was brought to light, Peyb would be very, very angry. For now, though, Dociluas needed to return to his duties.
    * * *
    Ryan was starting to get suspicious. Mark was still in the medical bay, not because he needed it, but because the robot insisted on caution, so he was safe. Dociluas and Kriqua were assisting Juxa, so they were safe. But where was Thyu? Supposedly, he had been locked up in his room the whole time, coming out only for meals, and not even that was a constant. This last meal he had decided to skip.
    This dinner, there had only been Ryan and the three Ryeaoans. He wasn’t worried about Juyrl—Ryeaoans, to his understanding, didn’t try to hide their emotions. If Juyrl wanted to harm anyone, he would’ve done so by now. Besides, he had not been mysteriously disappearing like Thyu. Food was taken up to the cockpit for the Taquans, and to the medical bay for Mark. But Thyu just wasn’t eating.
    He had continually checked his room for any kind of listening devices or cameras, but had continually found nothing. He had, however, seen a camera hidden inside of the cleaning robot. Just like an Ayarthan, he thought. Thyu had set up a camera to spy on everyone. But why? Two can play at that game. Ryan wasn’t an expert with technology, but he had slipped a memory card into the camera that would transmit everything being taken out of the camera to him. Everything Thyu watched, he would watch.
    When Ryan finished his dinner, he went to his room and turned on his computer, checking to see if there were any transmissions from his memory card. There was one. He watched as the operator fast forwarded through the video, skipping over various cleaning routines, and stopping at a door. The video played normally as the robot stepped toward a door. “…ya vlyinp egwa ypyni.”
    Of course it’s in another language, Ryan thought, cursing his bad luck. But he recognized the voice as Inen’s. Then came another voice: Peyb’s. Were they having a meeting? The door opened, and Peyb moved around behind the robot. Based on the jostling, Ryan guessed that Peyb was digging through wires, searching for the interface so he could double check its programming. Ryan had made sure that everyone in his team knew how to do that.
    The camera zoomed in on Inen’s lips. He wondered about the dim lighting, but he wondered even more about why the operator would zoom in there. Ryan groaned as the transmission shut off. He would need more than that to find out what Thyu was doing, but at least he knew it had to do with the Ryeaoans.
    * * *
    Juyrl was a bit annoyed to find Dociluas in his room, but the Taquan spoke before he could. “Listen, I don’t have much time, but I need to talk with you. What did Inen try when she talked to you?”
    “We haven’t spoken this whole trip.”
    “Before the trip.”
    Juyrl shrugged. “She tried to start a relationship with me.”
    “Thank you, that’s all I needed to know.”
    Dociluas left at a quick pace, leaving Juyrl extremely confused.
    * * *
    The next day, Dociluas asked for permission to eat dinner with the main group. Juxa had smiled and said “I suppose so. I don’t have any errands for you to run at the moment, but you may have a bit of work when you get back.”
    Dociluas had purposely sat next to Inen, who had Peyb on her other side. He didn’t care to start the conversation casually—his mind was stuck on how this could go wrong.
    “So why do you think Juyrl rejected you?”
    He saw that he had immediately grabbed Peyb’s attention.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Inen said, a little too innocently.
    “Oh really? You have a thing for Juyrl?” Peyb said angrily.
    “No, of course not. I despise him!”
    “I knew that much, of course,” Dociluas said, aware that he appeared to be acting like a gossiping teenager. “I can see that in your eyes. You hate him because he rejected you, right?”
    It worked. Peyb had had enough. He grabbed Inen and threw her off of her seat and against the wall. Dociluas didn’t care to see the rest—he didn’t relish the idea of being around angry Ryeaoans. He left at a brisk pace, amazed that his plan had worked.
    * * *
    Juyrl had heard the entire conversation. As much as he hated being used for someone else’s purposes, he had to admit to himself that he enjoyed the sudden action.
    Ryan was shouting at him to help him stop the fight. “That’s not a good idea,” Juyrl countered. “It’s never smart to get between two angry Ryeaoans. They’ll tear you apart to get to each other.”
    “Inen is just defending herself,” Ryan argued. “It’s Peyb who won’t listen to me! Help me hold him down.”
    “Listen to him, Juyrl,” Thyu said. He had decided to show up for this meal. “This violence is needless.”
    “Fine,” Juyrl reluctantly agreed as he stood and walked over to where the conflict was going on. Peyb was swinging a punch at Inen, who held up her arm to block it. Fool, Juyrl thought. He jabbed lightly at Inen’s elbow, forcing her to bend her arm. Peyb’s punch hit her hand, which was already moving back. Then she grabbed the fist and pulled, using Peyb’s momentum against him as he hurtled over her shoulder. Then Juyrl dashed over and put his foot on Peyb’s throat, preventing him from moving. “Pure aggression does not win a fight,” he lectured in their language. Peyb simply glared, knowing there was nothing he could do.
    Inen stood gasping behind Juyrl. It took all of his willpower not to turn around and strike her, too, but he knew that Thyu and Ryan would take control.
    “You can let him go now, Juyrl,” Ryan said.
    Reluctantly, he released the pressure on Peyb’s neck, but not before pressing down just enough to hear him choke.
    “Peyb, what is wrong with you?” Ryan demanded.
    The beaten Ryeaoan only glowered as he rose.
    “I could charge you with betrayal for that,” Ryan threatened.
    “But you won’t.” That was all Peyb said as he walked away.
    * * *
    So that’s his game, Ryan thought. Thyu is trying to tear Squad Alpha apart by turning us against each other. I knew he would try something, but this? This is a little extreme. And to make things worse, he used Dociluas so that we wouldn’t suspect the real threat.
    * * *
    “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Thyu said as he entered the cockpit, “but I need to have a word with Dociluas.”
    “No, not at all,” Juxa said with a smile. “Kriqua and I can handle this.”
    Thyu motioned for Dociluas to follow him out.
    When they were out of earshot, Dociluas spoke up. “Actually, you are interrupting something. Juxa is designing a program to put into Kriqua’s head, and Kriqua is blindly going along with her plots. I’ve seen—”
    “These are our allies, Dociluas.”
    “With all due respect, Thyu—”
    “These are our allies. I won’t hear anymore of this talk. What you did to Peyb and Inen—”
    “I have proof.”
    Thyu stopped walking and stared at Dociluas. “What?”
    “Juxa convinced Ryan that we weren’t to be trusted. I heard their conversation. Inen tried to lure Juyrl into some kind of trap—I’m not sure exactly what she was planning, but she tried to get him into a relationship while she has one already with Peyb, which I know Ryan doesn’t allow! That’s why Peyb was so angry, and that’s why he can’t say anything about his motives. I don’t know about the rest of them, but Juxa and Inen are absolutely not to be trusted.”
    “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
    “I know you better than that, Thyu. Remember that I was brought into this team for my skills of observation. I know that you know the truth, because it explains everything about what happened, and because there’s no other reason for the way I’ve been acting. You’re only asking me such a dumb question because you’re stalling, trying to think of any other possibility, but you can’t, Thyu, because I’m right.”
    Thyu found Dociluas’ ability to read people unsettling. He can read me as well as Mark can. Maybe even better. “We need to talk to Ryan—”
    “Do you really think he’d listen? Juxa already—”
    “You said you have proof.”
    “Proof to you is not the same as proof to him.”
    Thyu paused. “You’re right. I was going to tell you to take out the video camera from the medical robot, but I suppose your work is acceptable.”
    “You saw that?”
    “Of course I saw that. Never risk a visual. Check the camera to make sure it hasn’t been tampered with the next chance you get.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Later on, check to make sure that Kriqua is safe, but I promise she won’t be harmed directly. Juxa’s too smart to make that mistake. For now, go get Juyrl and meet me in the medical bay. Be discrete about it.”
    * * *
    Mark was still lying down as they held their meeting. He didn’t want to lie down, but he also didn’t want to upset the obnoxious medical robot.
    “Now that we’re all here, except for Kriqua—”
    “And the other four members of our team,” Mark interrupted Thyu.
    “You need to listen to Dociluas.”
    Dociluas explained all that he had discovered.
    Juyrl looked thoughtful, and slightly amused. Knowing him, he was amused that Inen thought that she could use him for her methods.
    But Mark wasn’t satisfied. “That’s not any solid proof, Dociluas. You know you need more than that if you want them charged with betrayal.”
    “Sir, you know—”
    “Yes, I know exactly what’s going on in your head, Dociluas. The problem is that you don’t know what’s going on in mine.”
    “Excuse me?” Thyu said.
    “Do you honestly think I just sat here twiddling my thumbs?”
    Dociluas and Thyu grew broad smiles gradually as they realized what Mark was saying. Juyrl sighed. His face made it clear that he had expected this.
    “You have so much to learn,” Mark said. “Thank you for planting that camera, Dociluas. It drew attention away from my device. I put a gadget inside of the same robot. I attached it to its battery system. As soon as the robot plugged itself into the ship to charge its power, the gadget hacked into every security system on this ship. I’ve been allowed to use that computer you see in the corner of the room, and I have records of exactly what you’ve reported, as well as the proof you need against Juxa. I also know that Juxa has tried to install a meltdown program inside of Kriqua’s head along with the new hacking devices she put in. I’ve remotely hacked into the computer she’s using, and I’ve installed counter programs. She found those, of course, and tried to shut them down, but she didn’t catch the even smaller programs that rebooted the counter programs every time they were shut down. Her plans in that regard have been befuddled, and eventually she seemed to realize that, too. Also, Thyu, I was curious about your progress on your project, so I know you have a little more reason to hold this meeting.”
    “Yes,” Thyu said, a bit distant. Mark could tell that he had been caught off guard by how busy his leader had been. “The code.”
    “The code that the Ayarthan spy told us?” Dociluas asked, excited.
    “Yes. The second code. Nithril mission: needs more. It’s unfinished.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong,” Juyrl put in. “We know what it needs more of. More of everything we can offer. The only difference this code makes is that now I know we need to take him alive. Remember that the Ayarthan also said the mission was a partial success. ‘Misunderstood,’ he said. I’ve done a little bit of research of my own—that spy’s mission was obviously to spy on Nithril. That’s why he gave those codes. But officially, his mission was to steal the technology for UNO’s super weapons. The trick worked. That’s why he reported partial success. The reason it was partial wasn’t that he was captured, it was that he couldn’t say what Nithril was after.”
    Mark was amazed that this was coming from Juyrl. He knew that Juyrl was smarter than he pretended to be, but he had never heard the Ryeaoan talk so much all at once.
    Dociluas had been slouched, head down and eyes closed in thought. But suddenly he stood up straight, and his eyes snapped open. “Nithril encouraged us, and pointed out our failures. He wanted us to improve. He wanted us to survive to chase after him again. If he wants us to chase after him, then two things are possible. The first thing is that he’s leading us into a trap. The second possibility, since he seemed to want us alive for something, is that he was pulling us out of a trap.”
    “But why would he want us to survive?” Juyrl asked.
    “Perhaps he has an agent in our group,” Mark says. “I have full confidence that none of you, nor Kriqua, would willingly be an agent for him. The more important question is what trap he’s pulling us out of?”
    Dociluas’s face was pale, and his voice almost failed as he said “They’re going to attack Taqua.”
    * * *
    Taqua was finally within scanning range. So were the ships coming to meet them. Nithril transmitted an order for his fleet to come to a halt. His ship, the Reckless Wanderer, took longer than the other ships to come to a halt. It was by far the biggest ship. Big enough to hold a crew of thousands if it was operated by hand. Instead, a supercomputer followed his commands, and the empty space was filled by an army of robots. They were ready for battle.
    But there was something wrong. There were no Taquan ships coming at them, only standard IGM ships. He ordered his fleet to spread out to his left and right. The ships in the back were to have half of their guns pointed behind them, ready for use.
    As the enemy fleet came into view, they immediately began firing. “All other ships, return fire,” Nithril commanded. “Computer, have the Reckless Wanderer wait until we’re in missile range.”
    A few moments later, blips arrived at the inner ring of his radar. “Target the lead ship and activate all missile launchers. The ship complied without questions. In a split second, it had calculated the position, velocity, angle, and weak points of the ship. In another split second, it had fired. The rockets streaked through space, and most of them struck their intended target. However, the explosions that resulted from the first rockets knocked the other ones off course, which was what Nithril wanted. The missiles that had turned off course struck the ships behind the first one. Several of the blips on his radar flared, and there were significantly fewer when the energy readings returned to normal. The ship in front of him was no longer capable of supporting life. The holes in the hull were too large. But the engines were still running.
    “Give me a remote control missile,” Nithril told the computer. A joy stick appeared for him to grab as the screen in front of him went blank. “Launch.” A door opened, and he saw the stars ahead of the camera as the rocket shot out. Nithril maneuvered the missile until he could see the enemy fleet. The rocket shot forward, and as it got closer to the destroyed ship, he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do. He controlled the missile as it shot into a hole in the ship, then passed through various corridors. He struggled not to let it hit a wall. It was going at a hundred miles per hour, but he still fought with the controls, refusing to allow it to explode sooner than he wanted it to. It was a ship of a design he knew well from previous battles, so he was able to get the missile where he wanted it. Suddenly it reached the engine room, and he pulled hard with the joystick. The camera view went wild as the missile pulled up and right, then exploded.
    The ship had four engines running, but when one exploded, it went out of control. It spun around, off balance, and slammed into the side of a bigger ship, about three quarters of the size of Nithril’s ship. The damaged ship shattered and exploded, and when the flames died down, Nithril could see that the larger ship had a gaping hole in its side. “Fire all missile launchers into that hole.” The missiles shot forward. They went into the hole one by one, and in his mind’s eye, Nithril saw each explosion occurring farther into the ship. Then suddenly there was an explosion on the other side, but still more missiles poured through, peppering ships on the other side.
    “Now, all ships advance!” His fleet shot forward into space, guns of all kinds blazing. The two fleets got closer together, but Nithril’s fleet easily outnumbered and outgunned the other. Ships swept in from the sides to surround the IGM ships. Unlike human-controlled ships, Nithril’s fleet could survive severe amounts of damage, simply because robots didn’t need to breathe. Only a handful of his ships held humans.
    But most of his ships wouldn’t be damaged anyway.
    One round carrier ship was flying dangerously close to a large enemy ship. The IGM shot at it, and it split into four pieces. Those four pieces dropped countless metal objects into space and then sealed themselves off again. The metal objects that had been dropped came to life, and guns blazed as rockets launched. The tiny robots were not easy targets for the huge ship, and it was taking serious damage. The robots used jetpacks to propel themselves toward the enemy ship, and when they hit it, they began crawling across its surface, searching for weak points. When one reached the cockpit, it was all over for the people inside. The robot punched through the hull and shoved a gatling gun inside of the opening. After several human deaths, someone was able to gun down the robot, but more were coming. They couldn’t fight all of them. The machines tore through and killed everyone in the cockpit. Then they took control of the ship. They reprogrammed the computer to overload all systems simultaneously. And it did. The robots stayed on the ship as it exploded—the explosion was so big that most of the remaining IGM fleet was destroyed, and the ships that weren’t had their sensors overloaded, making them easy targets for Nithril’s fleet.
    The resistance Nithril met had been crushed with almost no losses on his side.
    And now he would advance on the planet Taqua.
    Nithril looked back. Scowling over his shoulder was Commodore Thorburn Fenn. He had been in charge of the fleet that had merged with Nithril’s own, larger fleet. He had black hair and bright green eyes, and would probably be good-looking if he would stop scowling all the time.
    “Is there a problem, Commodore Fenn?”
    “Why did you use that missile? A computer-guided missile would have been safer. Computer’s can react more quickly.”
    “In some situations, yes. But a computer-guided missile has to be programmed precisely. In an enemy ship currently falling apart, anything could go wrong—floating debris, a hatch suddenly closing, a burst of flames—even the best computers have flaws and can’t compensate for everything.”
    “Do you mean to say that your mind doesn’t have flaws?”
    Nithril grinned. “My mind’s only flaw is in my memory.”
    “How arrogant,” Fenn mumbled.
    “Is that all that’s bothering you? I certainly hope there’s something else.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Sheesh! A boy like you became a commodore? I suppose there isn’t much competition in a robotic army. What was wrong with that battle?”
    Thorburn’s expression changed. Nithril realized he had been wrong—even without the scowl, the twenty-eight year old man still wasn’t attractive. “The battle was too easy.”
    “Ah, so you can learn something.”
    The scowl returned. “Don’t talk to me like I’m your student!”
    Nithril’s expression darkened. “That’s a fine way to talk to your superiors.”
    “I—uh, sorry, sir. But why was the battle so easy?”
    “Because the best part of the army wasn’t in it. There wasn’t a single Taquan ship. Those designs were all of Earth and Ayarth. We have to assume that the Taquan fleet is still around.”
    * * *
    Not much later, he arrived at Taqua. He transmitted a typical message to them: “Surrender now, and your lives will be spared.” It was hopeless, he knew; they would fight anyway.
    “I accept, on certain conditions.”
    Nithril jumped in his surprise. “You what?”
    “I, Grand Admiral Voisloid Goft of the Independent Governments Movement, surrender to you. I have something you want, even if you don’t yet know it. The fleet you encountered was to get rid of those who would’ve resisted. There’s no more IGM here, just Taquans.”
    “This is a trap, isn’t it?”
    “The IGM abandoned Taqua! I was wrong for joining them in the first place. They are corrupt.”
    Nithril still didn’t trust Goft, of course, but he recognized the bond of having a common enemy. “Very well. I will send a transport to you. Do not resist.”
    “If you want the information I have before I erase it from my mind, you will meet me here.”
    Bold, Nithril thought. But he knew it wasn’t a bluff. Taquans could erase everything in their brains, if they wanted to. They could give themselves permanent amnesia. And killing him would produce the same result—the mechanical parts of their brains shut down permanently if their host died. And whatever information this was, he wanted it. But he also couldn’t go down on the surface. It was too dangerous. Decisions, decisions.