the air. The device beeps and clicks, Zila playing it like a concert pianist in a concerto.
“Legionnaire Madran?” Tyler asks.
Zila shakes her head. “There is so little data. So many variables. But these growths, the infected animals, all we have seen … there appears to be a congruence between them. When one is hurt, the others appear to feel pain.”
I think back to the bridge of the Longbow. The words Aurora spoke when she pointed to those glowing red dots on the star map.
“Gestalt,” I whisper.
Zila nods. “A gestalt entity, yes. A multitude of organisms that actually comprise a single being. It is as if everything on this planet, everything affected by this plant bloom … it is as if they are all connected.”
Cat begins convulsing in Tyler’s arms, a fit gripping her whole body. Her teeth are bared, and he lowers her to the floor as she thrashes, tries to hold her still, tears shining in his eyes.
“Cat?” Tyler asks. “Cat, can you hear me?”
“Ra’haam,” she groans, echoing Auri’s words on the bridge.
“Hold on, we’ll figure this out, I promise.”
Cat groans, head thrown back, every muscle taut as she lifts herself off the floor, back bent in a perfect arch.
“Ra’haaaaa-a-a-aam!”
I feel so helpless, so useless, I want to scream. Every ounce of my terror, my horror, is echoed in the lines of Tyler’s body, in the way he bends down over her, runs a hand helplessly down her arm, tentative, like touching her might break her.
I know what happened between them on shore leave. Neither of them told me, but I figured it out. Coming back with those new tattoos and a new distance between them. I could see Cat wanted to close it. I could understand why Tyler didn’t. Why it might have been a mistake. Why it might have been the best thing that happened to either of them. Because as in love as Ty is with the idea of being a leader, of being a soldier, of being someone Dad would be proud of, I know part of Tyler is in love with Cat, too.
He just hasn’t figured out how yet.
But what will he do if he loses her?
“I can f-feeeeel it,” Cat hisses, sweat beading on her brow. “I can feel them. This place, this planet … I kn-know what it issssss.”
She sighs and sinks back down onto the mossy growth. Her eyes are open, the same faintly luminous blue as the pollen floating in the air around us. And with dawning horror, I realize her pupils aren’t round anymore.
They’re the shape of flowers.
“Cat?” Zila asks, kneeling beside her. “What is Ra’haam?”
Our Ace looks at Zila, tears shining in her lashes.
“We are.”
“Maker’s breath,” Tyler whispers. “Your eyes …”
Cat’s hand snakes out, grabbing Tyler’s arm so hard he flinches.
“G-get th-them out of here, Tyler,” she breathes, teeth clenched. “Auri, especially. It would have killed you all to stop her finding this place. But now she’s here … you … can’t let it t-take her.”
“Cat …”
“I can f-feel it.” She shakes her head, tears spilling down her cheeks. “I can feel it inside me, Ty. For the love of the Maker … get … get her out of h-here.”
My hands are shaking and I can’t breathe fast enough. I can’t talk, the sobs rising up in my throat to choke me. But Zila says what I’m thinking.
“But the star map inside the Trigger led us here,” she objects.
“Don’t you unders … understand?” Cat shakes her head, spine arching again. “W-wasn’t an invitation. It-t-t w-was a warning. …”
She falls silent, closing her eyes, shivering as if she has a fever. I look to my brother, see his face is pale as old bones. I can see the desperation in his eyes. The hurt. The same sinking feeling that’s building inside my own chest. There’s nothing usable in this med center. We have hostile inbounds—GIA agents in their faceless gray armor and who knows what else. He has to prioritize. He has to put the needs of the group before his own feelings. That’s what good leaders do.
He meets my eyes. And I speak to him without having to say a word.
Show the way, baby brother.
He reaches into the utility belt on Cat’s suit, grabs her uniglass, and speaks into squad chat. “Kal, what’s your status?”
“We were unsuccessful at the spaceport,” our Tank replies. “But Finian says he can synthesize the necessary components for a new Longbow core if he has access to the colony reactor. We are headed