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SIX
SELINE
“What? No!” Seline gasped. She looked at Nox, who was already doing something to the controls.
“Don’t worry,” he said in a low voice. “I’ve studied the Scourge—my ship can outfly them. I have altered it using Dark Kindred technology.”
As he spoke, several smaller black vessels broke away from the huge one—which must be the Father Ship—and began heading towards them with frightening speed.
“Are you sure?” Seline asked in a trembling voice.
“Yes. Didn’t I swear an oath to protect you, Seline?” Nox shot her a glance before going back to manipulating the controls. “I swore that not a drop of your blood would be shed unless all of my own was spilled first. Don’t be afraid—I’ve ‘got this,’ as you humans say.”
As he spoke, the long-range shuttle dived suddenly, just as the black ships reached them. They zipped around in a circle that made Seline nauseous. She wanted to close her eyes but she felt frozen—unable even to blink.
The shuttle sped past the moon and deeper into space with the black Scourge ships in hot pursuit. She had no idea how Nox was planning to lose them—they hadn’t quite caught up, but they seemed to be getting closer all the time—at least if what she was seeing on the viewscreen was accurate, and she assumed that it was.
Suddenly, an enormous reddish-orange planet was looming in front of them.
“Oh my God—is that Mars?” Seline gasped. She had never seen the planet in person before, since every time she and Nox went on a mission they simply flew out a little way past the Mother Ship and folded space.
“It is—named after a human deity of war, I understand,” Nox remarked. Even under stress, he seemed cool as a cucumber. It was probably a good thing that he didn’t have emotions at this moment, Seline thought.
They zoomed around the curvature of the enormous red planet, dipped again and then came to a dead halt.
“What…?” Seline frowned and shook her head. “Hey—why are you stopping? Look—they’re still after us.” She pointed at the viewscreen where three black ships were still in hot pursuit.
“They are, but they won’t find us. I’ve engaged my ship’s stealth tech,” Nox assured her. “Look…” He pointed at the viewscreen and Seline watched as the black ships flew right past them.
“But…how did they not see us?” she asked.
“My stealth tech enables us to blend in with the colors and objects around us. In this case, we simply look like a part of the planet,” Nox explained. “We’ll wait here until they give up looking for us,” he added. “Hopefully they’ll think we flew into a nearby wormhole.”
“Are there wormholes this close to the Earth, though?” Seline asked.
“Oh, yes.” He nodded. “Many. Of course, it’s important to choose a stable one if you’re trying to travel via wormhole. But there is no shortage of those.”
“I just don’t understand what happened,” Seline moaned, laying her head back against the seat and closing her eyes. “How did we end up here? What happened to the Earth?”
“My best guesses are either we have gone back in time somehow or entered an alternate universe in which the Kindred never came to save the Earth from the Scourge,” Nox remarked. “It could be either one—I have never seen the fold change colors before,” he added.
“Yes, but how? I mean, why?” was all Seline could get out. “What could have caused this? I mean…”
She trailed off as she noticed something—the Far Box was still in her hands and it was glowing faintly.
“What is it?” Nox looked at her sharply. “Have you thought of something? Some reason for us being in a time or reality which is not our own?”
“Yes…” Seline held the half-cube out to him with trembling hands. “I think it has to do with this.”
SEVEN
NOX
Nox looked at the Far Box—or the half of the Far Box which they had anyway—and frowned. It appeared to be glowing faintly, though even as they watched, the glow faded.
“Was it doing that before? Glowing?” he asked Seline.
She shook her head, her long, auburn hair swishing over her shoulders.
“I…I don’t know,” she admitted, still staring down at the half cube in her small hands. “I don’t think so.”
Nox’s logical mind began to work.
“Were you holding it earlier? As we were flying into the fold?” he asked.
“I think so…yes. Yes, I was.” She looked up at him, eyes wide. “Oh God, and we were talking about what would have happened if the Kindred hadn’t come in time!”
“Yes, we were,” Nox agreed gravely. “We were talking about it as we flew into the fold and it changed colors.”
“You mean I was talking about it,” Seline said. “I always babble when I get nervous and folding space always makes me so tense. What exactly did I say?”
Nox closed his eyes, recalling her exact words.
“You said—‘But just think if the Kindred hadn’t come! I mean, the Scourge would have taken over the whole planet! Humans would probably be their slaves and we would never, ever…’” He shrugged. “At that point we flew into the fold, which subsequently changed colors as we entered it—a phenomenon I have never observed before.”
