“How many times do I have to tell you, you’re not my dad,” Skits shot back in her usual tone.

Number Nine didn’t protest however. “I am detecting a high concentration of heavily charged particles in the atmosphere,” he said. “I feel as if an electrostatic discharge is imminent.”

“I love it when you talk technical,” Skits said, then turned back to Leo. “Fine. We’re coming.”

Leo tucked in behind Boo, who was following the Orin, all save Rint, who hung back, hurrying the Larks and their robots along. Leo could feel the electricity in the air now. The hairs on his neck stood at attention. Thankfully the village, with its scattering of buildings, some still fully intact, was close. They could surely make it before the clouds opened up.

As if it could hear Leo’s thoughts and was determined to prove him wrong, the whole sky seemed to snarl. It wasn’t paralyzing like a Queleti’s roar, but it was momentarily deafening. More than enough to rattle Leo’s spine.

It wasn’t half as startling as the bolt of pure white electric fire that suddenly split the air, however, touching down less than a mile away.

“My sensors have detected an electrostatic discharge in our immediate vicinity,” Number Nine informed them. The robot was clicking along right beside Skits, whose treads were kicking up dust.

“Not sure we needed Aykari-level technology to tell us that,” Leo muttered. A glance upward showed the sky had come to life, like a monster waking from its slumber, the clouds crackling with tendrils of yellow and white. A sound like an old-fashioned gunshot was immediately followed by another deadly fork of lightning.

Leo broke into a run. He didn’t feel a single drop of rain, but there was a constant humming in his ears, broken up by the explosion of another touchdown three hundred yards behind them. This wasn’t an afternoon rainstorm. It was something much more dangerous.

Sometimes the planet itself seems to revolt against the process, Crayt had said. This planet was certainly angry about something. With snaps and sizzles, one bolt after another arced out of the sky. It might have been beautiful—from a distance. But out here in the open, running just ahead of two robots made almost entirely of superconductive metal, Leo didn’t appreciate the aesthetics. It certainly wouldn’t be pretty when one of those bolts fried his brain right in its pan.

“I feel all tingly inside. And not in a good way. My power cells are fluctuating,” Skits said. “What’s happening to me?”

In front of him, three of the Orin had already reached the edge of the village and were ducking into the first intact building they could find. Shree turned and beckoned them with a waving paw. Rint ran alongside Leo, though his shorter legs meant he was barely keeping up.

Up ahead, Boo called out, “C’mon, Leo. Get a mo—”

There was no warning this time. The sound and the light were one, fused together into a sudden burst that sent Leo airborne, limbs flailing. He hit the ground, slamming his ribs, his chin, rattling his teeth. He shook his head, conscious only of the steady buzzing in his ears, like the drone of a thousand bees defending their hive. It felt like his body was thrumming, prickling with its own electric current.