“Can you hear me, Abaddon?” Cade said.

The voice stopped. Then:

“I can send you home. You and your friends. We’ll let the world know what you’ve done. Do not do this. You’ll never survive the blast.”

“Your game ends here, Abaddon,” Cade whispered, tasting the bitter tears trickling down his cheeks. There was nothing he could do now. Nothing but give Abaddon the fright of his immortal life.

“You’re right, Cade,” Abaddon wheedled. “It’s over. I see that now. But think of what we could do for humanity. Life eternal. A whole universe to explore. I cannot lie, Cade. Make one last deal with me.”

Cade laughed, half in despair. Perhaps he should make a deal. After all, he was bluffing. There was no way to set off the bomb now.

“This is my game now, Abaddon,” he hissed, his anger hot in his belly. “How does it feel to play?”

“Don’t do this!” Abaddon shrieked, and now it was the little girl’s voice, trembling and plaintive. “Did I not hold my end of the bargain each and every time? Did I not give you the bomb and timer? You can trust me, Cade. We can both get what we want. You must want to make a deal if you’re still here.”

And that was when Cade realized. He didn’t need the figurine at all. Abaddon didn’t even understand its importance.

Because the fool had already given him exactly what he needed: the timer.

Cade reached into his pack, giving a silent prayer. He grasped the timer Abaddon had given him, holding it up to the light. He closed his eyes … and pressed the button.

Nothing happened, and he pushed his head against the glass once more.

“There’s no self-destruct, Cade,” Abaddon’s voice came. “The timer lasts five minutes at least, and by then we’ll be back online. I’ll rip you to shreds, Cade. You and your friends. Your family. Everyone you’ve ever loved. Every human. Every animal. Every blade of grass. An eternity of torture. Make a deal with me now, and you’ll have everything. Ignore me and die. I never lie, Cade.”

Cade clicked the dial up, once. Saw the five minutes on the little screen.

“I’ll take my chances,” Cade said.

He pressed the button.

CHAPTER

67

Cade pushed off from the glass, gliding over the bomb and deep into the corridor. He had no plan. No inkling of what he would do next.

The corridor was an escape hatch—of that he was now certain. There could be no other reason for there to be a tunnel that led directly to the outside world. It seemed the pantheon had detected the EMP and almost triggered their ejection in time, machinery within the ship slotting their little ecosystem into position. But the EMP had put a stop to their ejection sequence before it had completed.

It was all just a guess, and Cade wished there was some way of hijacking the system to get to safety, but he had no time to figure out how it worked. Better to return to the Gray ship and try to figure out how to make it fly. At the very least, he’d be outside the pantheon’s ship when the bomb blew.