“I still think it’s terrifying,” Dorian-2 said after Miller left. Its voice had finally loosened, like it had been holding its breath.
“It saved us twice,” I said. “Possibly three times.”
“Wyatt, sir. If what it said is true, you’ve to take the chance and leave.”
“Of course,” I said. “We leave together.”
“No.” Dorian-2’s tone went flat. “Don’t worry about me. I’m only a copy. And… look.”
It pointed at its own body. At first I thought it meant its missing legs.
Then I saw what it really meant.
A spinning blade was embedded in the captain’s chair. It had punched through the chair’s backrest and pinned Dorian-2 to the seat itself.
“If I leave the chair, I’ll shut down,” Dorian-2 said. “And you only have one hand. When the time comes, don’t worry about me—just take the Prism-Etched Scepter head. It will still be useful.”
“We’ll find a way,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “Don’t move. I’ll get the spinning blade out.”
“No, Wyatt, sir. Don’t waste the effort. I understand my condition.”
It was right.
The spinning blade had barbs, and it had penetrated an energy region. If I yanked it, I could sever Dorian-2’s power supply—or trigger an explosion.
The only safe method was to dismantle the captain’s chair first.
That wasn’t something you did in minutes.
The overhead speaker sounded again, urgent and close.
“The ship will impact in fifteen minutes. Initiate emergency measures…”
“Phantom Forge’s signal is still covering the ship,” Dorian-2 said, bleak.
“It’s been two minutes,” I said. “Give Miller time.”
“Miller… Miller… hurry. Please.”
The Hope pushed through the cloud layer. It was night, but the ground below wasn’t dark—faint desert patterns rolled across the display like bruises in the earth.
“Is that the route we traveled?” Dorian-2 asked, staring.
“Maybe,” I said, distracted.
“If, in the last five minutes, Miller still hasn’t blocked the signal… you’ve to go,” Dorian-2 insisted. “Even if Phantom Forge takes control back, it won’t have time to change the impact.”
“I can’t fly anymore, Dorian,” I said again. “If I jump, I’m just jumping into a firestorm.”
“Let me check,” it said. “Maybe it’s minor.”
“No. I know my condition. It’s fully destroyed.”
But Dorian-2 pressed, so I let it run a diagnostic anyway.
The conclusion was obvious.
[DATA CORRUPTED]
The flickering garbage in my mind made it clear my problems didn’t end with propulsion.
“Then… then we’ve to rely on Miller,” Dorian-2 muttered, anxious. “Miller. Miller. Hurry. Hurry.”
Two more minutes passed.
What Dorian-2 wanted didn’t happen.
What I feared did.
The radar lit up again as yellow contacts swept in. This time it wasn’t only fighters. Assault ships. Frigates. Even two carriers—an entire cloud of metal spread across the sky.
“Wyatt, sir! What do we do? We don’t have turrets!”
Missiles fell without interception and slammed into the Hope. Ship guns and lasers joined in.
“They’re focusing on the engines!” Dorian-2 cried.
“Raise shields,” I said. “They won’t break us that fast.”
The Hope’s engines were built for interstellar voyages. The armor around them was as thick as the bridge’s.
I didn’t believe Phantom Forge could destroy all seven massive engines in under fifteen minutes.
I kept my eyes locked on the damage display—
“Enemies inside are moving too!” Dorian-2 shouted. “They’re coming toward the bridge.”
I switched to the Hope’s internal scan.
It was true.
One hundred meters. Ninety. Eighty.
Red dots jammed the corridors, flowing toward us in a solid stream.
“Don’t panic,” I said. “Miller’s wall will hold them.”
Sixty. Fifty. Forty.
“They’re about to break in!” Dorian-2 sounded close to panic.
I froze.
That wall was less than fifty meters from the bridge. Yet the enemy markers were slipping past as if nothing existed.
I grabbed an electromagnetic rifle and sprinted through the second-floor hatch.
I came up with the gun raised—
Nothing.
The two lizardmen standing guard near the corpse wall stared at me in confusion.
Malfunction?
“Are they still approaching?” I shouted back.
“Forty-five. Thirty meters. They’ve slowed, but they’re still closing!” Dorian-2 yelled. “You should be seeing them!”
“I see nothing!”
Then I heard it.
A faint skittering—soft at first, half-buried under the external bombardment, but unmistakably coming from above.
The lizardmen heard it too. Both lifted their heads.
“Air ducts,” I said.
The ceiling ventilation tubes were narrow—less than half a meter in diameter. What could fit inside them?
I opened fire.
The electromagnetic rifle chewed open a gap in the duct where the sound was strongest.
Several scorpion-like machines dropped out.
“Invaders!” I shouted.
They were fast. The moment they hit the deck, they launched themselves at me.
My fire shredded them mid-leap.
Phantom Forge realized it had been exposed. More scorpions broke through the ductwork and began raining down. The corridor filled in seconds—Invaders crawling over floor, walls, ceiling.
The lizardmen’s hands reshaped into blades as they tried to block the swarm.
There were too many.
They killed a handful and then disappeared under the wave.
Invaders poured toward me. I fired and retreated, full-auto. It barely slowed the advance.
Behind me, there wasn’t much space left to give.
I backed into the liquid-nitrogen pump room. A grenade had blasted open part of its wall earlier, exposing the huge LN2 tank inside.
No time to think.
I swung my rifle and hammered the tank with round after round.
White fog erupted.
The closest Invaders flash-froze on contact. The frost spread outward like dye in water—wherever the fog rolled, everything it touched was coated in white.
Scorpions crawling on the ceiling and walls dropped, clattering like hail.
Even at my distance, I felt the temperature plummet. An Invader could be skittering one second, and the instant it touched that fog it was as if someone had flipped a switch—two weak spasms, then nothing.
Then the frost claimed it too.
I turned and ran.
The fog was racing toward me.
By the time I slammed the hatch shut, most of the corridor was frozen solid. Three seconds later, frost began blooming through the seams.
The thick hatch itself was soon filmed in white.
[DATA CORRUPTED]