“What do I see?” Marchion Ro said, his voice quiet, a breath, not a scream. The crowd hushed to hear it. “What does your eye see for the Nihil?”

“WHATEVER WE WANT!” came the answering roar, immediate, every voice lifted—hungry and certain and joyful.

Marchion looked at Pan Eyta and nodded. This was the Dowutin’s show. The gigantic being adjusted the lapels of his leather suit, stylishly cut, its pale turquoise color chosen to set off his yellow skin.

“That’s right,” Pan said. “Whatever we want. Just like in Ab Dalis. We killed that convoy dead. We ripped those ships down to the bones and took everything they had, and now everyone who fought alongside me there gets a share, through the Rule of Three. With the Nihil, everyone eats.”

Pan Eyta pointed out off the platform, into the strange wilderness of No-Space, where the emptiness was interrupted only by the fleet of ships that had carried the Nihil to this place. Marchion Ro cast his eyes across the vessels. No two exactly alike, and all reflecting the taste and cultures of their owners to some degree. They did all share a certain brutalist aesthetic, and the glowing, green half-spheres that were the Path engines, the navigational miracle provided to the organization by Marchion and his father.

The Nihil’s ships, large or small, looked like armored, spiked fists, coming to pound you into nothing and harvest your corpse. No curves where a straight line would do. Sharp edges, a lack of overall symmetry. The smaller, fighterlike Strikeships, larger Cloudships and Stormships, all the way up to the three corvette-sized vessels of the Tempest Runners. Kassav had the New Elite, Pan Eyta flew his Elegencia, and Lourna Dee…she called her ship the Lourna Dee.

Much larger, imposing, looming behind the rest of the Nihil fleet with a silhouette like a marine predator, was Marchion Ro’s flying palace and fortress, its empty, echoing corridors the only home he had—the Gaze Electric.

“That’s why we all came here today,” Pan Eyta said. “That’s why we’re celebrating. We fly together and we die together, and when we come back…we reap the rewards.”

Pan gestured toward Lourna Dee and Kassav.

“I also gotta give my gratitude to my fellow bosses here. Ab Dalis was a job that came through my Tempest, but both Lourna Dee and Kassav gave support with their crews. They’ll all get their piece, too.”

He reached to the table and lifted a massive goblet of spiced wine, showing it to the crowd, then turning to Marchion Ro.

“And here’s to the Eye of the Nihil, who gave us the Paths to make it all happen. Couldn’t have done it without him.”

Pan Eyta tilted his head back, lifted his mask, and drained the goblet, wine splashing to the floor. The crowd roared its approval, and Marchion Ro held up an acknowledging hand to the cheering Nihil.