“This is how I disabled their ship, so we could have this conversation,” Song said, running his hands along the rings of bronzed wiring. “It is the same weapon as the one that gave us those seven days of freedom all those years ago.”

Here, the Codex’s translation crackled through speakers, hidden somewhere above.

Cade was amazed. Finally, a way to strike back at Abaddon.

“An EMP?” Cade asked.

“That is the closest translation to what your species is aware of, though it is more sophisticated than that.”

Cade strode closer, craning his neck to take in the full scale of it.

“Why not keep using it?” Cade asked.

Song shook his head. “This took almost a decade to charge up for the single pulse I used today. The pantheon will have recovered long before I can produce a second. Worse still, they will know where the attack came from. When they come back online, this place will be destroyed. As will I.”

“And how long will that be?” Cade asked.

Song’s mouth pursed. “The first time the pantheon were unprepared, and unfamiliar with this type of attack. We have watched their preparations for another attack of a similar kind, though it does not seem they were too concerned about a repeat. You see, when they returned, they made sure to teleport away any weapons that might be capable of such a thing again. But they did not know we had been busy down here, preparing for an opportune moment.”

Cade grinned. “Hubris seems to be a theme here.”

Song nodded. “They have been unable to protect themselves fully, for in blocking an EMP, so too do they block their ability to interact with the outside world. Were they to build a similar Faraday cage to the one that surrounds us now, they would be unable to manipulate anything beyond. It blocks all signals, inside and out.”

“Surely they’re advanced enough to figure out a solution?” Cade asked.

Song let out a trill, one that Cade assumed was laughter.

“The pantheon are not who you think they are,” he said. “I have watched them for many years. The members we suffer under today have no understanding of the machines they use now. The Codexes, their teleportation technology—even the ship they reside on—was built by their ancestors. They simply inherited it. The pantheon are but spoiled children.”

He held up a finger before Cade could speak, though he had a thousand questions to ask.

“Do not misunderstand me. They are creatures of vast intellect. Capable of multitasking to a degree that I once thought was impossible. Able to simultaneously monitor and process billions of viewpoints at once. But their technology is beyond their understanding. The vast machines that built the tools they use have long been lost. They repair and maintain, and teleport from elsewhere. They do not create.”

“So we have a week?” Cade asked.

He was excited by that prospect … though he had no idea how they would be able to do anything beyond what Song had prepared.