Then out you come and take your first breath and the world you knew vanishes and here you are—in a new one.

The corridor climbs upward on a gradual slope towards the end.

A door.

I open it and step into the ship’s bridge.

—

At the controls, sit three figures. Akuji—no, Mara—is belted into her seat, staring out the window. No sign of Rodolfo, her brother. Two others. Pilots maybe? Bodyguards? Reapers in their human form? They wear helmets with opaque black visors and I can see nothing of their faces. All three wear headsets. None of them turn when I enter the room.

The sky beyond them is bright through a slanted all-around windscreen. And I see them—faded and paper-thin—the two floating moons. Clearly the ship has lifted out of the water and I lean forward and look below. The sea has fallen away, drained by the shifting tides of Jöve. Beneath us, the ground is bizarre terrain. Apart from what you’d expect from the bottom of the sea—craters and deep ravines and purple rivers of kelp, laid flat—huge skyscraper crystals tower up into the sky. And between them, rising from the strange surface, a multitude of tubular-shaped buildings with darkly curved windows, like something out of a sci-fi film.

I drag my eyes away from the view and scan the cabin.

And that’s when—for once—things go my way.

The sword. I see Ra laid out in a storage compartment, low in the wall. I pad silently to it, crouch and lift the blade. And when I stand and remove the sword from its scabbard, it makes a beautiful, unmistakable sound.

Shiiing!

Mara turns. A look of shock and dismay crosses her face, almost instantly giving way to white-hot anger.

Now the two men swivel and see me. They’re up and out of their seats in a blur, reaching for the guns on their belts. I swing the sword and lunge for them. There is no soul-searching. No hesitation. I don’t think about it.

Two clinical blows and they both go down.

Then I turn my attention to Mara. She’s managed to struggle out of her harness belt and I see her go for her fighting sticks, an arm’s length away, stowed under a bulkhead. Too late. I intercept her and point Ra at her throat.

“Ah, ah, aah,” I utter, adrenaline pumping through my veins. “I don’t think so.”

“Take it easy,” she says.

“Don’t worry,” I reply. “I’ll give you a noble death.”

The ship makes a whining noise and, without warning, we begin to pitch. The floor tilts violently and I lose my footing. I drop to my knees and slide across the space, then leap up just in time to see Mara retrieve her sticks.

The craft begins screaming towards the ground, engines roaring. Mara circles the bridge like a cat, silent as falling dust.