Then there was a beep, repeating over and over. Dis couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. The Eye of the Nihil walked back toward him, clipping the comm to his belt.

“Thank you,” Ro said standing over him. “You have served me well. Served your Eye. You were the proof I needed, with your special gifts. Your work here is done.”

Without another word, Ro brought his foot down on Dis’s head.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Cyclor Shipyards

There is no pain. There is no pain. There is no pain. There is no …

Who was he trying to kid? The pain was all-encompassing, overriding every thought, every instinct. All he could hear was noise: Ember’s barking, Indeera yelling over the comm, the pounding of blood in his ears.

But Bell wasn’t dead. Why wasn’t he dead?

The harpoon had slammed through the bow of the Vector, spearing him to his seat. The tiny craft should have depressurized, but he wasn’t being pulled along the blood-slick shaft toward the breach. He forced himself to focus on the projectile. Thick barbs were holding it into place, larger cousins of the hooks that were now lodged inside his guts, but the breach hadn’t been completely sealed by the weapon. Bell’s vision blurred but he could see cracks in the hull exposing the cockpit to the vacuum.

Still Ember barked. Still Indeera called.

There is no pain. There is no pain.

They were moving. The Vector’s thrusters had cut, but the momentum of the ship was shooting them forward, with nothing in the void to slow them down. He looked up through the durasteel canopy. They were on a collision course with the Nihil Cloudship, the cruiser getting closer by the second. The impact would detonate the Vector’s power core, but he doubted it would do enough damage to take the enemy out with them, not with that armor plating.

There is no pain. There is no pain.

Bell couldn’t move his arms. He reached out with the Force, the way Indeera had shown him, flicking the switch that fired the Vector’s retrothrusters. Yes, that worked. They were slowing.

Slowing.

Slowing.

The Vector came to a stop, Bell breathing heavily. He tried to focus on the controls. Hitting the retrothrusters was one thing, but piloting the ship using the Force? That was impossible. Indeera had managed it once, fighting the Nihil over Elphrona, but it had exhausted her. Bell was in too much pain to even attempt such a feat.

He could barely even talk.

The Vector jolted. Bell cried out, fresh pain gripping his belly. They were moving again. Why were they moving?

“Bell?”

Indeera’s voice again. She sounded strained, as if she was trying to concentrate, difficult in the midst of a battle.

“I’m here,” he managed through gritted teeth.

“Thank the Force. When you didn’t reply—Well, never mind that now. They’re reeling you in, Bell.”