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Chapters (53)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. EPILOGUE
  51. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  52. About the Author
  53. What’s next onyour reading list?

“If you want to protect that woman, you won’t take her anywhere near CDAS,” Misato hissed. “What makes you so sure that’s even your idea? ‘Mother’ could be telling you to do it. Anyway, if there’s Foxfire somewhere on that station, then it’s a death trap. It’s bad enough she’s mixed up with us, now you want to steal her identity and put her in more danger? You’re heartless, Edison. Just get her back to that ship of hers and be done with it. You know it’s the right thing to do.”

He was quiet for a long moment, running his fingertip along a flaw in the table. His head drooped lower. She had always thought him a handsome man, but the Foxfire was taking its toll. There was gray in his beard, and the smile lines at his eyes were deepening. His left hand seemed to shake constantly with some kind of tremor.

“I don’t know what’s right,” he told her. “I don’t think I can let her get away. The Foxfire wants her here; it’s going to make us keep her here.”

“So you’re playing right into it?” Misato marched over to the table and slammed her mug down. She took him by the shoulders and shook. The glowing blue of his eyes twinkled, threatening white, but he seemed to beat it back. Thank God. He could overpower her without trying, and she needed to be heard. “I get it, Edison, you want to be the big bloody hero. You want to save the whole galaxy. Sometimes you don’t get to do that, sometimes all you can do is just keep things from getting worse. We don’t know what’s on CDAS. It could be—”

The warm emergency lights in the quarters blinked, twice, the ship suddenly juddering, the floor beneath them shaking before the lights went out altogether. They froze, bathed in the glowing turquoise Foxfire clinging to the walls and ceiling.

“What was that?” she whispered.

She saw Edison close his eyes and snap them open again. “It’s not one of us,” he murmured. The engines whined, the ship drifting through space still while the floor again shook.

“It’s her, then,” Misato said, following him to the open door and into the corridor. “What do you think she’s doing?”

“I don’t know,” Edison grunted, navigating easily through the pitch black. “But I doubt it’s friendly.”

17

Messing around with highly dangerous, highly volatile tech fueled by an hour or two of restless sleep was not an ideal plan by any stretch of the imagination, but desperation did funny things to the body. And the mind.