The light flared even brighter, so much so that Reath had to shut his eyes. Through his own eyelids he saw a lacing of fragile veins and capillaries, silhouetted against dull red.

In the next instant, it was dark. The vibration and sound had stopped.

It took Reath a moment to recalibrate. “Dez? Are you okay?”

No reply.

Reath pushed at the door once more without much hope. This time it swung open immediately. The door was surprisingly heavy; the heft of it nearly knocked Reath down, the same as it had done to Dez. He could see into the tunnel—and it was narrow, thickly grooved.

Dez was not inside.

Carefully Reath leaned in to get a better look. Still no Dez, but he glimpsed two helix rings, ancient but still unmistakable. Helix rings were incredible energy boosters, the equivalent of enough pure coaxium to fuel forty or fifty large spaceships; they were seldom used because they generated too much power for almost any non-hyperspace purpose.

They had a tendency to malfunction, especially when older, and created energy surges capable of melting metal, blowing circuits, or—

Or disintegrating a human body, down to the atoms.

Chapter Eleven

The first hint came with a wave of panic and sorrow, one so strong it pierced Cohmac’s consciousness like a fine silver needle. He stood up in the cockpit, nearly knocking against Geode. “Something’s wrong.”

“We live in an imperfect universe,” said Leox, who was chewing on a stick of something that smelled minty. “So that’s a given.”

“I mean, something’s wrong with our people aboard the station, this moment.” Cohmac hurried toward the airlock. Leox was only a few steps behind; all his laid-back torpor had vanished at the first hint that Affie Hollow might be in trouble.

They had only just made it into the leafy glade of the station when they were met by Nan, who was breathing hard and, for some reason, had a potted flower tucked into her pocket. Behind her Cohmac could see the Mizi hurrying toward his own people, and Reath Silas emerging from the vines, his face white. Nan gasped out, “We heard this loud sound—but we didn’t see—Reath’s the only one who saw—”

“Saw what?” Cohmac resisted the urge to put his hands on the girl’s shoulders. It would probably comfort a Padawan, but to Nan it might come across as a threat. “Tell me.”

“Dez is gone,” Nan whispered.

Gone. What did that mean? He had traveled to another part of the station? Away from the station entirely? None of the docked ships had left—the Vessel’s sensors would’ve picked that up.

Or did she mean…?

Affie was finally emerging from the trees near the tunnel. Leox called to her, “What’s happened to Dez?”