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  Pandora continued. “When you’re escorted to the leader, you will offer them the gift we have brought, in exchange for a sample of their blood. Do not accept no for an answer. Threaten them if you must. Do whatever it takes to get that blood.”

  I frowned. That didn’t really sound like negotiation to me. That sounded more like coercion. From the expressions on the others’ faces, I could see they were thinking the same thing.

  “They won’t take kindly to violence,” Navan remarked.

  Pandora smirked. “I don’t care if they take kindly to it. If they won’t give you a sample of blood, you must do whatever you have to in order to get it,” she said emphatically. “Start with a soft approach, if you feel you should, but don’t tolerate any reluctance. We are not leaving without the blood, and that is final. Make sure they know that, too.”

  “What are we supposed to tell them when we explain why we want the blood? We can’t exactly say it’s for an immortality elixir,” I interjected.

  “Come up with some excuse. You’re supposed to be intelligent lifeforms, right?” Pandora retorted, leaving a dramatic pause. “So show me that you are. Be creative. Make up something believable.”

  “And if they won’t give it to us, regardless of what we try, or what we say?” Bashrik asked, turning away from his flashing screen.

  Her smirk widened into a smile. “Then you take it by force.”

  “What if they chase after us?” Angie asked, biting her lip.

  “Another good reason for someone to remain on the ship,” Pandora said simply.

  Lauren sighed nervously. “What if they still come after us?”

  “I have trained Riley on the guns. They don’t have warships like this. If they are stupid enough to follow us, we will blow them out of the sky,” Pandora replied, looking alarmingly pleased by the idea.

  The five of us shared uncertain glances. If this was the way Vysantheans negotiated, I could understand why they were hated in the universe. Sensing the nerves of the others, the same thought came back to me. Space junk was one thing, but killing innocent people was another thing entirely. If it came to it, my finger would never be able to press the trigger.

  A day later, one earlier than expected, with the engine pipes scrubbed within an inch of their lives and the laundry beginning to fray from so many washes, Zai came fully into view.

  “Prepare for our descent!” Pandora’s voice trilled through the loudspeaker. “Navan, you are needed in the control room. Kryptonians—humans, whatever—keep to your tasks!”

  Pandora had instructed me to go to the weapons deck and study the systems for a few hours, to keep me busy, but with her distracted up in the cockpit, I took the opportunity to visit the observation deck. I wanted to properly see Zai as we landed, and the firing pods didn’t quite offer the same panoramic views, with all the guns and metal framing in the way.

  As we approached, my eyes widened. I felt like a kid in a planetarium, watching the projected galaxies and solar systems whizz by above my head. The Hayden Planetarium in New York City had always been one of my favorite places to visit, even when I got older. On school trips, the other kids would complain about it, saying how boring it was, but to me it was as exciting as going to the zoo, or ice skating, or getting to take pictures with mummies in the museum. Lauren had been the same, with us geeking out over some new discovery, like planets found in Goldilocks zones throughout the universe, thousands of lightyears from Earth—the right conditions offering the potential for alien life. Angie, however, used to be one of the loudest whiners; planetariums were not her thing, but she came with us anyway, rolling her eyes at our nerdy discussions.

  That all seemed so strange, now that we’d traveled through space, and we’d seen alien planets for ourselves. I wondered if any unsuspecting astronomers were on Earth right now, looking up at the vastness of space, their telescopes pointed in our direction. Their technology wouldn’t be strong enough to see us, but the thought that someone might be watching filled me with a peculiar sense of comfort. For a moment, I felt connected to Earth again.

  Zai would be the second alien planet I’d visited, and I couldn’t wait to see what it had in store for us. Looking through the glass, I could tell the Vanquish was almost in its atmosphere. The ship started shaking slightly as the gravity of Zai began to draw it down. From where I stood, it almost didn’t look real. It was like a painting or a projection staring back at me.

  The planet itself was surprisingly small, with four tiny moons orbiting slowly. Two were a pale shade of silvery gray, with craters covering the surface like pockmarks. The third was a deep shade of blue, while the fourth was a funny, almost pink color. All of them looked like they’d taken a beating from countless meteorites in their time, but there was a quiet beauty to them that reminded me of Earth’s moon. I’d lost count of the times I’d lain back and looked up at the stars, our moon casting its cold glow on the world below. Honestly, I missed it. No other moon could compare.

  With growing excitement, I moved up to the edge of the observation deck, pressing my face against the glass to get a better look at Zai. Like Earth, it had a similar blue and green pattern to it, though the landmasses were different, the terrain colored a deeper green, while the oceans were a tempting shade of aquamarine. Though we still had a way to go before we reached the surface, I could see evidence of volcanoes peppering the landscape, alongside verdant valleys that looked lush and rich with life. In fact, the majority of the planet’s surface that I could see looked almost tropical, like a rainforest or a jungle.

  After weeks and weeks spent in a freezer, the prospect of a warm climate filled me with overwhelming eagerness. If we weren’t being forced to wear hot, sweaty hazmat suits, and didn’t have a mission to get on with, it would have been the perfect vacation. Sadly, there was a job to do, and I doubted we’d have much time to enjoy ourselves.

  Turning away from the glass, I wandered over to the central chair and sat down, keeping my head and shoulders as still as possible as I reached down the side of the cushion and retrieved the Note. Holding it close to my body, I tapped the screen. A message flashed up.

  N: Let’s use P’s absence on Zai to our advantage. The Draconians could be the perfect allies. They have more reason to hate coldbloods than anyone.

  I tapped again, to read the next response.

  B: I doubt a bunch of pacifists will help us win a war. They probably don’t even understand the concept.

  That made me smile. As much as Bashrik sided with Navan on most things, there was still a defiant streak of coldblood attitude in him, which Navan seemed to have shrugged off. It was there in his embarrassment about Angie, and the way he continued to look down on other species. Still, he was coming around to a more open-minded way of thinking, and I had a sneaking suspicion that my dear friend was part of the reason, no matter how hard they denied their feelings for each other.

  Angie’s message was the next on the Note.

  A: Why do we have to get involved, anyway? Why don’t we just get the sample back to Brisha, show her how loyal we are, steal a ship, and get our asses back home? We can chill, let Tweedledee and Tweedledum fight it out between themselves.

  I’d been asking myself that very same question. Once we got back to Vysanthe, there would be nothing to stop us from heading straight home. If we decided not to get rid of Pandora and forget about the Fed outpost, we could ask her to figure out our return to Earth, and if she refused, we could just steal a ship and leave. The queens would be too busy fighting to care that we’d gone.

  L: If the queens ever find Earth, then it won’t be home anymore.

  Lauren—ever the voice of reason. The deep-space tech was still in play, and as long as one queen knew about it, we were in danger. Earth was in danger. No, we had to make sure that technology was destroyed before we went anywhere, and that meant getting involved in the sisters’ warmongering. Vysanthe had to be stopped, before it got its hands on a huge source of human blood. If we left, then on
e day they’d figure it out and come looking for Earth, and that would be the day we’d wish we’d stayed.

  It was better to stay after the mission was over, and see to it that they crushed one another, all hopes of deep-space tech and an immortality elixir crushed too. We still needed to figure out a way of getting the rebels off Earth, but that wasn’t the most pressing issue right now. Gianne and her space tech were the first things that needed sorting out when we returned to Vysanthe. After that, the elixir and the rebels would follow. Somehow, we would stop them.

  Well, that was if we managed to live that long. I mean, there was potentially a plague waiting for us, and the more-or-less imminent danger of a species who hated coldbloods and everything they stood for. We were entering their territory and asking them to give us something. After everything the coldbloods had done to them, why would they even listen? They’d have every right to laugh in our faces. It wasn’t exactly going to be a piece of cake, and Pandora’s lesson on negotiation had been completely useless. There was no way we could use violence on these people. I definitely wasn’t going to.

  Ahead of me, the planet’s surface loomed ever closer. Zai no longer resembled a surreal painting hanging in the black expanse of space. Instead, it looked like solid ground, with trees and earth. In fact, it looked beautiful.

  Chapter Six

  The ship shuddered as we moved through the atmosphere, and the surface grew closer and closer. As we neared the ground, I felt the surge of the engines blasting, then the jolt of landing gear coming down as we came to rest on the solid earth below us. Through the glass, I could see the dense canopy of a jungle, with vines twisting downward, and the colorful flight of exotic birds as they soared between the gnarled boughs. Overhead, the sky was a pristine shade of aquamarine with barely a cloud in sight, and the sun beamed down on the flourishing land. Smiling, I pictured myself at the edge of the Amazon rainforest, or on some tropical island in the middle of the ocean. It was easy to do, if I ignored the alien spaceship I’d just landed in.

  Putting the Note device back down the side of the cushion, I moved toward the glass again, peering out. We’d landed in a clearing with a structure at one end. It was the only visible sign of civilization in an otherwise wild, rambling rainforest, and it was an impressive sight. The building appeared to be a temple, with nine opaleine minarets twirling upward, each one flanked by a statue of a dragon hewn from the same glittering opaleine. The statues were arched in midflight, their wings out, their jaws opened toward the heavens, their tails coiled around the bases of the minarets. Each of them held a different object in clawed hands. It was hard to see what the objects were from this distance, but I had a feeling they had some symbolic meaning.

  Peering closer, I noticed something strange about the opaleine. It wasn’t shimmering the way it usually did. The veins looked less like sapphire, the color dulled, the sheen gone. In fact, from where I was standing, they looked almost black. Rubbing my eyes, I guessed it must’ve been a trick of the light. After all, this was a different kind of sunshine than what I was used to on Earth and Vysanthe. Perhaps, here, the sun’s rays didn’t pick up the color blue as sharply.

  “Everyone in the control room, now!” Pandora’s voice thundered through the speakers, startling me.

  Tearing my eyes away from the beautiful temple, I hurried back to the cockpit, knowing I would soon experience Zai in real life instead of viewing it from behind a glass pane.

  Pandora and the others were all waiting as I entered. On one of the tables, off to the side of the main control panel, were five huge metal cases kept closed with large clasps, though these had all been sprung open to reveal the bright red suits inside.

  “Wow, you really mean business!” I whistled, walking up to the first of the cases. Tentatively, I reached down to touch the thick, rubbery fabric. The texture sent an involuntary shiver up my spine. To me, that kind of material was like nails on a blackboard. There were heavy-duty boots in the case, alongside a helmet with a breathing apparatus built in.

  “Whose is whose?” Angie asked, joining me.

  Pandora sighed, as though we were all total idiots. “They are arranged in size order. The large ones are for Navan and Bashrik; the smaller ones are for you three,” she explained.

  “I’m guessing this one’s mine,” Navan muttered, pulling out a suit and holding it against him. Even next to his broad frame, the outfit looked way too big.

  “Bashrik, this one must be yours,” I said, lifting out another one of the larger suits. The remaining three were smaller than the ones the guys had, just as Pandora had said, but not by much.

  Knowing things were about to get sweaty and uncomfortable, I lifted out my suit and stepped into it, zipping up all the parts that needed zipping and fastening all the parts that needed to be fastened. There were straps on the wrists, neck, and ankles that needed to be tied as close to the skin as possible, as well as three straps around the back that kept the body of the suit airtight.

  “Will you belt this part for me, Lauren? I can’t reach,” I asked, almost popping out my shoulder as I attempted to tighten the three straps at the back. I would have asked Navan, but he was in the middle of belting up Bashrik.

  She smiled, halfway into her own suit. “I’ll strap your back if you strap mine,” she joked.

  I grimaced as Lauren pulled my straps tight, feeling the pressure of the seal as it tightened around me. Already, the collar felt like it was strangling me, and I knew it was only going to get worse. The suit had started off loose, but now it was becoming uncomfortable. It flapped in all the wrong places and felt too tight in others.

  “All done,” Lauren announced, turning her back to me so I could do the same for her. Bashrik and Navan were just finishing up helping each other put on their suits.

  As I fastened up the back of her suit, I glanced across at where Angie was standing, defiantly attempting to do up her own straps. It looked like Navan was about to offer her some help, when Bashrik stepped in.

  “Here, you can’t do that on your own,” he insisted.

  Angie flashed him a sour look. “You think I’m incapable of fastening up a few straps because I’m—” she began, but he cut her off.

  “No, it’s not because you’re human, and it’s not because you’re a female. I know how strong females can be—there are plenty of Vysanthean females who are stronger than the males—and I know how strong you can be,” he rambled, his cheeks reddening. “It’s… It’s just that these straps aren’t meant to be done up by yourself. You have to get someone else to do it. Otherwise, the seal won’t be tight enough,” he explained, his eyes locking with hers.

  I grinned, watching as Angie struggled to reply. The two of them hadn’t spoken much on the journey from Vysanthe, sticking to polite conversation and the occasional jibe, so it was nice to see them tongue-tied around each other again.

  “Well… fine, as long as that’s the reason why,” she relented, turning back around so he could finish fastening her into the suit.

  “That’s a little bit tight, Riley!” Lauren wheezed, making me realize I’d been so focused on Bashrik and Angie’s cute moment that I’d pulled the strap too hard.

  “Sorry!” I yelped, loosening it. “The lovebirds distracted me,” I added in a whisper.

  Lauren smiled, watching the last of Bashrik’s chivalry. “Progress at last,” she whispered back, just as Angie looked up, catching the two of us staring at her. Immediately, we turned around, attempting to look busy.

  A few moments later, Pandora glanced up from her screen. “Are you all ready?” she asked, scrutinizing us.

  I looked along the line. All of us were in our suits, everything properly strapped up, our helmets under our arms. Navan had moved to stand beside me, his gloved hand snaking around my waist. The universe was working against us—I finally got a chance to be near him, and I was dressed head to toe in thick rubber.

  “I think we’re good to go,” Navan replied, giving me a playful squeeze. Not tha
t I could feel much through the annoying suit.

  All we needed now were the rest of Pandora’s instructions, and then we could head out into the unknown world of Zai, leaving her way behind.

  “Good. Put these in your ears,” she demanded, handing over five earpieces. They were tiny, slotting inside the cavity of our ear canals, with little barbs to stop them from falling too far in. I held mine in the palm of my hand, examining it closely. “Put them in!” she repeated impatiently.

  “Sorry,” I murmured, putting the earpiece in. It felt uncomfortable for a moment as the barbs hooked into my skin, but then it felt like nothing was there at all. Down the line, I watched as everyone else put theirs in. Angie and Lauren showed the same brief discomfort I’d felt, though the pieces didn’t seem to bother Bashrik and Navan at all.

  “Through these, you will be able to hear my instructions,” Pandora said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Now, remember what I told you before?”

  “We can’t leave without the blood?” Angie replied, raising her hand as though we were in class.

  Pandora nodded. “Precisely. Orion needs that blood, so don’t return here without it. I will not let you on board if you return empty-handed. Do you understand?”

  We nodded.

  “Good. Be firm with the Draconians. They are not a species to fear, even if they do seem to have some grasp of biowarfare,” she muttered. “It’s likely they will have removed it from the atmosphere, if they were the ones who put it there, but keep your suits on regardless.”

  “I think that goes without saying,” Bashrik remarked, his face pale. I realized it must be harder for the coldblood contingent to risk going out onto Zai, not knowing if they would come back uninfected.