Tubal Last said, “It took a long time for my Pet to realize you weren’t coming back. Years, didn’t it?”

“I was coming back,” Niko said to Petalia. “But I had other responsibilities as well.”

Quick as thought, the Florian stalked away from Last, over to Niko. They stood looking at each other in silence.

Atlanta expected some dramatic gesture of repudiation, some theatrical moment. Tension sang in the air.

But in the end, Petalia simply turned away.

Tubal Last had been leaning forward in his seat, watching with avid curiosity. When the Florian turned, he made a small, disappointed noise. “I told them whatever they might want to do to you, they could,” he told Niko. “But sadly, they have refrained from that and it is left to me to figure out what is to be done with you and your companions.”

His expression left little doubt that he had already figured that out.

“Tell me, Niko, accounts say that the neural shunts that the Holy Hive Mind installs in its soldiers are not removed, just deactivated. They want a way to be able to use them again, if the soldier should return to them. Even if they do not think the soldier will return—perhaps the soldier has gone into some sort of retirement, like pretending to be an artist.” Here he smiled with frank malice. “Even then the capability is still there. I would guess it is there for all your folk except your two latest acquisitions, who did not have the pleasure of serving under you in battle.” He pointed at Atlanta and Milly.

“The girl is an Imperial Heir—” Niko started again.

“I don’t care,” he said. “It amuses me that you care what happens to her. Or that you thought a knife up your sleeve would help you. I only care that it means I can use her to hurt you, just like the others. That gives us so many possibilities, Nicolette. Perhaps I will activate the neural net that ties you all together. I will kill the lesser soldiers at first—perhaps start with one lion so he can feel his twin die, then the Squid, then the chimp, then the other lion. You will feel all of them and, better yet, you’ll feel your sergeant’s pain at their deaths too. He’ll go next to last. I’m sure you have realized whom I intend for the final moment. I will stretch it out so you have plenty of time to think about their death agonies. And then I will seal you into a pillar and make you relive that over and over until the end of time.”

His voice had gained momentum and emphasis over the course of this speech until he almost spat out the final words.

“Well,” Niko said when he had finished. “You certainly have put a lot of time into planning this.”