The beating on the door was becoming louder, more frantic. It sounded as though someone had found a makeshift ram.

“I’m calling them Cymic Parasites in honour of my mentor, Doctor Cymic, who sacrificed himself to ensure I could escape. He was able to identify what they were and what they could do. The parasite lives inside its host, using the human face to gain trust, but it can roll up its disguise at any moment and attack. You cannot kill them with knives or guns. I’ve only found one thing effective against them: fire. If you cook them, you kill them. Grenades, flamethrowers, incinerators—use whatever you can get your hands on to defend yourself. Bullets and knives can only ever slow them down.”

There was a splintering sound in the background; the door was breaking.

“This is spreading quickly, and it’s spreading violently. Hundreds of stations have already fallen or are in the process of falling. Do your best to get to one of the safe sections of the network—I believe Central, certain parts of Bargove, and the Eastern quadrant of Eulectics System are being turned into safe havens, and they have makeshift testing facilities at their ports to guard against the Cymic Parasites.”

The shouting voices became clear, followed by more splintering. Cody chuckled. “Looks like my time is up. I’ve done as much as I can. The rest is up to you. Good luck.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The communication ended with a quiet click. Maren, her arms still around Gin, felt her friend shudder. She gave her another squeeze then pulled away to pace through the room.

A glance at the screen showed Mark and Holly hadn’t moved. They might as well have been hibernating. Saul had his arms crossed, and his half-closed eyes stared at the floor. None of them spoke for a long time; Maren couldn’t find the right words, and her companions seemed deep in thought.

Gin broke it at last with a surprisingly resigned tone. “This is the end, isn’t it?”

“What?” Maren stopped pacing.

“How can you fight a monster when you can’t tell them apart from your friends?” Gin was looking at the screen, and her voice was choking up. “That woman spoke about safe places, but really, all it will take is one tiny mistake—an act of mercy or one of the staff letting their family through without testing—and the whole planet could be wiped out in a day.”

“People are going to learn how to fight these things,” Maren said. “They’ll develop scanners and protective suits and special guns. Yes, it’s nearly impossible to tell a Cymic Parasite apart from a human at the moment, but that won’t be the case for long. We’ll find efficient ways of identifying and killing them.”

“Fast enough, though?” Gin asked. Her eyes were rimmed red, but at least she’d lost the earlier listlessness that had scared Maren so badly. “Look how fast they’re spreading! Look how many stations are still sending through requests for help!”