She didn’t have long. A moment later, she heard buzzing.

Not more flies, she thought.

But it wasn’t flies. It was bees. They began pouring into the globe through the cracks in the planet’s surface. They immediately surrounded Nemo, stinging. She swatted at them with her hands, but it did little good. For every one she killed, there was another to take its place. Soon they were stinging her all over.

Out of desperation, she climbed again, going up to the little platform. She shoved open the door she found there and crawled out onto a narrow platform that extended out about ten feet before connecting with a wider, curved ledge. It was supposed to be the ring around Saturn, she realized.

The bees had followed her, and continued to sting. Her body burned as their venom coursed through her. She tried using her telekinesis to push them away, but it didn’t work. The constant pain made it impossible to sustain a field for very long, and whenever she faltered, the bees slipped through and resumed their assault.

Out of desperation, she crawled along the platform and onto the metal ring. Looking down, she saw that she was now actually extended over the edge of the room. The ground seemed miles away, and she felt her heart freeze in her chest as vertigo overwhelmed her. She flattened herself against the metal and closed her eyes.

“Not afraid of heights, are you?”

Boomer’s voice came from behind her. Her eyes, swelling shut from the bee stings, refused to open. She forced them, blinking through tears, and saw Boomer in the doorway. He held something in his hand. Something glowing.

“You should have gone down,” he said.

Nemo started to crawl. She could barely see, but she could feel the metal beneath her hands. The buzzing bees kept up a disorienting cacophony that filled her head. She almost didn’t feel the stings anymore, there were so many of them.

She felt a burning pain sear through her leg. Boomer had thrown whatever was in his hand at her. She screamed, instinctively rolling onto her side. Then she realized that her shoulder and head were not touching anything solid. She had almost fallen over the edge of the ring.

“Magdalena says she doesn’t have any use for you,” Boomer called out. “She says I can do what I want with you.”

Nemo, on her back, forced her eyes open. Boomer was standing on the ring, staring at her from a dozen feet away. He had another glowing object in his hand.

“Guess I don’t have a fear of heights,” he said.

Nemo anticipated the hit, but it still felt like being shot when the burning thing struck her stomach. She screamed and rolled. She felt herself sliding over the edge and clutched at the surface of the ring. She managed to hang on, but she knew she was close to falling.

Boomer laughed. “This is too easy,” he said.

The bees buzzed in Nemo’s ears, taunting her.