“The loss of our limited crop fields was a huge blow, but since we were already relying on the other planets for food, it wasn’t unrecoverable,” Shey says. “But that was only the beginning.” She lowers her eyes, hesitating for a moment before continuing. “First it started to spread. Soil that was nowhere near places we used the growth stimulant became similarly unusable. Then people started getting sick.” She draws a shaky breath. “It didn’t make any sense. They hadn’t consumed any tainted food, weren’t near the fields. At first we thought they weren’t connected, but… then came the storms. Huge ones that appeared out of nowhere. Impossible to detect with our weather radars. And the starting point for the storms was always—”

“Let me guess,” Scorpia says. “The statues?”

Shey nods. A chill runs down my spine as I think of the storms on Titan, the Primus statues buried beneath the ice. It’s eerie how the situation Gaia faces mirrors the conditions there in some ways. But what’s the connection?

“And you’re certain all of this is connected to the technology you used?” I ask, trying to pull my thoughts away from my home-planet.

“We’re not positive, but it started directly afterward. Perhaps it’s a part two to the weapon we accidentally unleashed on ourselves, a chain reaction, or…” She trails off.

“What?” I urge.

“Or we awakened something else,” she says softly, meeting my eyes. I suppress a shiver as Scorpia shudders openly beside me. As alarming as that thought is, and as strange as the parallels to Titan are, all of this information about Gaia is merely background. We need to focus on what’s happening now, and what it means for the future.

“So, essentially, Gaia is no longer habitable,” I say, trying to ignore Scorpia’s mutterings about “creepy-ass alien shit.” “That’s why your mother is doing this? The war-waging, the population-destroying weapon, is meant to…”

“Clear a path for us. More people die on Gaia every day, and the situation is escalating rapidly. We don’t have enough ships to transport everyone at once, nor the resources or time to build more, which is why she must have chosen Nibiru. It’s the closest. I assume she means to begin relocating our people there once the Nibirans are dead.” She bites her lip. “This weapon was carefully chosen, if it affects only humans. The weapons department must have discovered another buried alien biological weapon. Altered the design so that it targets human DNA.”