Cage’s touch against my face suddenly burned, pinpricks of energy that made me want to yank free of him but also to pull him closer. He grinned. “There we go. You ready?”

“I’m ready,” I said, and for once I meant it. He leaned toward me, and for a moment I was sure he would kiss me, or I would kiss him. But Rune shuffled her feet impatiently behind him, and Liam coughed, and Cage released me and stepped away.

Not knowing the station made it hard to picture the command level, and Liam’s explanations did nothing to help. At last I simply imagined Sanctuary. As soon as I did, the entire layout leaped into my mind with such crystal clarity it almost brought a tear to my eye. I knew Sanctuary was, in many ways, an awful place, imprisoning anomalies for no reason other than their existence, Omnistellar’s crown jewel in a collection of lies. But it was still my home, still the last place I’d lived with my family before everything fell apart. Maybe the pills were working on my emotions. I didn’t want to think about that too hard.

Focus. Get us out of here. Where could I take us safely? Obsidian’s layout wasn’t exactly the same as Sanctuary’s, but the general design was similar, and I bet some places were exactly the same—like the med bay. Med bays hadn’t changed in decades. I visualized Sanctuary’s med bay in excruciating detail and extended my mind.

At the last second a frantic fear seized me. What if, instead of taking us to Obsidian’s med bay, I opened a door to the hollow where Sanctuary’s actual med bay used to be? I pulled, pushed, stumbled over my own adrenaline, and eventually just swore and yanked on the door. The pills both stoked and dulled my fears. They were probably to blame for the sudden terror, but they also made me throw caution to the wind. A flash of light indicated a portal. I opened my eyes, for the first time maintaining it long enough to study it: nothing but a flare of light in the wall, about the size of a door. I glanced at Cage, nodded, and stepped through.

We stumbled into an empty med facility. At first it looked exactly like Sanctuary’s, and again I found myself disoriented. After all, the last time I’d stood in that med bay, Cage had ripped a chip out of my arm, I’d learned the bizarre history of my own abilities, and a horde of aliens had torn Rita to shreds. As usual when I thought of Rita, suppressed tears stung my eyelids. Rita was the one person I mourned without any other mixed-up emotions. She hadn’t lied to me or betrayed me, and she’d deserved more than death at alien hands.

But quickly I noticed tiny differences. For one, this facility was larger; for another, it wasn’t as modern, not as well equipped. The machinery was old, but in excellent repair. Some of the beds were stitched where they’d torn. “There must be medical staff on duty,” I murmured. “You’d think there’d be injuries from the aliens.”