The silence was killing me.

  The Pharaoh needed to shut down all systems and appear like a normal ship, sitting empty, on a world full of overtaken. They couldn't risk any signals or communications. That meant all we had to go on was what our own sensors could pick up, and our suits had limited range that was only good for avoiding the zombies of Dactyl.

  Don't get me wrong. I didn't want to face off with a swarm of overtaken, so I was grateful we could navigate the streets. But not knowing what was happening on The Pharaoh, or to The Pharaoh, was pushing me forward faster than I'd ever run before.

  Little puppy Kibble was able to keep up, and @sundial was pretty quick herself, but @awesomedog and @foxcutter weren't as fast. I had to force myself to slow down, and that only made me angry. My hatred over the loss of @astrowave added to the frustration.

  A thunderous set of booms in the distance didn't help.

  I stopped myself. Why we have to stop in those moments must be organic instinct. I couldn't see any signs of blasts. I could only hear the dull booming somewhere off ahead of us in the direction of the ships. I swore and started sprinting ahead again.

  With the pyramid roofs over the colony, we couldn't see what was going on in the space around the moon. Not even the landing pad was open to the elements. The pad opened to allow ships to land, and then closed to secure them and protect them from the terrordactyl storms.

  We were getting closer to the landing pad now. Just a few more blocks, and that was a good thing because we were starting to attract overtaken now. We didn't have the time to slip forward like the Infiltrators had been doing when we were leading. Now it was my Vanquisher speed carrying us forward.

  I just hoped The Pharaoh would be ready and waiting. I hoped the explosions didn't mean that Oblivion was out there making sure no one could get off the moon, but who was I kidding? It was the most logical conclusion.

  I cared mostly that @bitchfrog, @dustcaller, and Sango were on board, our two humans and organic kitten, who would all be lost forever. @zerogstar would have a memory gap. @auroraloon? I had no idea what would happen to her. I assumed at some point the Solar Union would reanimate her, their Infiltrator lost again on a secret mission, having missed enough check-ins to be considered gone. She, too, would have a memory gap. Would her new clone remember us?

  I would miss The Pharaoh, too, but it was just a ship.

  The dozen zombies behind us became dozens of zombies as we made our way around the corner of the 4C customs building, intersecting with the street that led down to the landing pad. The road was lined by the tall buildings of the commercial district that ran nearly all the way to the roof.

  The landing zone on Dactyl wasn't large. After all, only approved ships coming in from Ida would be given authority to land so that they could manage the number of vessels visiting the colony. The landing area was open in the middle, where ships could come and go, surrounded by parking spots on two levels. The lower level could accommodate five larger cargo ships. The level above it, where The Pharaoh was parked, could fit ten smaller ships like ours.

  We ran down the slope toward the lower level in what seemed like growing shadows. Oblivion must have been targeting power generators. The lighting along the street was dim, and in the distance ahead, I saw only darkness.

  My worries multiplied. I tried not to spiral at the thought that even if we made it to The Pharaoh and it was still undamaged, we might not be able to open the retractable roof to take off and away from Dactyl.

  Another set of booms sounded, shaking the air, and I could feel the subtle vibrations in the ground. This time, we could hear the tearing of metal ahead of us in the darkness, a creaking noise with a cascade following the blast that could only mean one thing. Something had been destroyed to the point that it had been blown apart.

  "Masks!" I shouted, checking the specs of the Infiltrator armor. I triggered the full helmet, hoping I got it right, and I did. The suit was now surrounding me completely. If I wanted, I could disappear altogether.

  And, oh wow, was the suit comfortable. The nanobots shifted around my body like a hug, regulating the temperature, almost feeling like a second skin.

  I turned the suit bright yellow so that my companions could see me, becoming a yellow streak sprinting down into the black cavern that was the landing zone. Only @foxcutter was lacking armor. My readings showed he would be fine for now, but we needed to get him to the ship quickly.

  My futurecasting abilities were working perfectly, an extension of my human mind, as I pieced together what was happening. The blast we heard was the roof over the landing zone. We would be exposed to deep space. Dactyl would start losing oxygen. Oblivion wasn't content with targeting power generators, knowing the backups were still active. Oblivion had moved on to the landing zone. They would blow the roof, then destroy the ships.

  At the same time, the exposure to deep space would throw Dactyl into lockdown. Large doors would seal off the area to preserve the habitable regions of the colony. We had to get inside the landing zone before we were cut off.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  I could see the next set of explosions. They briefly lit the landing zone. If I had been looking in the right place, I might have seen The Pharaoh, but the scene before me was playing out just as I had expected.

  The thundering explosions gave us flashes of visibility. In those instants, I saw that the roof was partially destroyed. A large section was hanging down, and the next set of blasts would likely dislodge it. The opening would give Oblivion free range to fire on the ships below.

  We were about to enter the landing zone, and we had a choice to make. Do we make for the ships, or hide out on Dactyl and call for help? Oblivion wouldn't stop until even the backup power was gone. We knew from our time at Racers General Store that each building could be self-contained. Oblivion wouldn't be able to destroy the roof over sections of the colony and kill us all right away. We would have to hide away in one of the buildings. Eventually, we would run out of food and oxygen, trapped inside.

  We had to choose quickly because I was right about what was coming next. A large door ahead of us began to close. The rate of closure and the size of the opening gave us 52 seconds to make it into the landing zone, if we wanted to try for the ships. The overtaken pursuing us would arrive a few seconds before that.

  I pulled up where the door would close, standing right in the middle of our choices. Forward to the ships. Backwards to stay in the colony. I waved my bright yellow arms to gather everyone as the enormous door came steadily forward, giving off a deep grinding sound as it moved.

  Kibble jumped at my leg, barking for us to keep going, into the darkness of the landing zone.

  @foxcutter was bent over, gasping for air. The run had been hard, and the air was getting thin as oxygen escaped the area, making it even harder for him. I didn't spot @awesomedog or @sundial. Where were they? We didn't have time to dawdle.

  They flashed into existence around me, altering their suits to bright yellow like mine, causing me to jump in surprise.

  "Stay or go!?!" I shouted to @awesomedog over the resounding blasts and the grinding of the door.

  Yes, I could have just kept on running to The Pharaoh. Maybe I should have. Maybe things would have ended differently. But I wasn't @awesomedog's commanding officer. "My crew is going."

  The next set of blasts flashed. We could feel the heat of the explosions now. We were about to run into the heart of the destruction.

  The door stopped closing.

  "Power," @awesomedog yelled. "We need power."

  My mind sprinted ahead, synapses firing so fast that I had processed everything before I could finish blinking.

  Dactyl had a roof to protect against terrordactyl storms because they were so frequent. A constant shield would work, but it would consume a lot of power compared to the resources needed to repair and maintain a roof. Dactyl would, however, have a shield as a backup.

  The opening Oblivion was carving out with its weapons was large enough for us to fly out. Oblivion was making a pathway for us.

  But Oblivion would shoot us down before we could get out.

  We needed that shield activated to protect us, not from the meteorites of a terrordactyl storm, but from Oblivion's firing power.

  "We need to restore power to the landing zone and activate their shield," I yelled, finishing the thought aloud. "Otherwise, Oblivion will blow us to pieces."

  "To die is not the Infiltrator way," @awesomedog said, "but we should stash our memories. That should be the priority now. We're not likely to make it."

  I shook my head vehemently. "I have humans with me on that ship. I'm not going to let them die."

  To his credit, @awesomedog understood immediately. "Escape it is then! @sundial and I will restore power. Kibble, go with them."

  @awesomedog reached down and patted the little puppy on its head. Kibble chirped in acknowledgement and started running toward the ships, turning several feet away from us to wait. He would guide us through.

  I didn't have time to argue this. I felt like it should have been me who stayed behind. It was my mission that got us into this situation in the first place. But it was also my mission to complete. @awesomedog knew he was here to support my mission, and I respected that.

  "Take this!" @sundial yelled over the detonations. She reached toward her yellow head, pulling out a memoryshard, and handed it to @awesomedog. "I got this."

  "You don't have to prove yourself," @awesomedog said, but he took her memoryshard.

  I wondered if they were having a private plink together as they talked among the rest of us. I sensed that there was some exchange now between them, a quick back and forth to sort it out.

  "Two ships give you a better chance to escape," @sundial shouted aloud, directing her comment toward me.

  So that was their plan.

  @sundial would restore power to activate the shield and save us from Oblivion's incoming weapons.

  @awesomedog would pilot his ship to attract Oblivion's attention, giving The Pharaoh a better chance to get away.

  That could work.

  "@foxcutter, follow Kibble to the ship," I commanded. "You're going to suffocate if you wait any longer. Go!"

  He hurried off, and I turned back to my bright yellow friends. @awesomedog and I exchanged a firm handshake, and he sprinted off into the dark toward his ship.

  @sundial raised a hand back to her head, loading another memoryshard and stepped toward me. We dropped our helmets simultaneously.

  I was about to speak, to ramble about her courage and bravery, and how I felt about her. She held up a finger to stop me, coming close so that we were standing together, our bodies touching. She didn't have to yell anymore this close.

  "Take my memories," she said, slipping her extra memoryshard into my hand.

  Then she took my left arm in her hands. "Don't forget that you can mold the nanosuit around you. You covered your ARM. Don't." She gently touched where my ARM was, below the yellow armor of the Infiltrator suit. "Let the suit integrate with it, form around it, connect with it."

  @sundial showed me, using her own suit to open up as if she had an ARM herself. I tried to mirror her. It wasn't perfect, but my ARM was now exposed, and I would be able to fire my grappling hook.

  "I'll practice," I said, calling out my partial success. "You …"

  "Feel the same," she smiled, "but I have a job to do."

  We kissed. Too brief a kiss. We both wanted it to be longer. My mind replayed our encounter in the dungeon. I wanted to kiss her until the buildings caved in around us, crushing our bodies together to rest in the rubble, a single pool of blood.

  Our lips touched, quick, but connected in a way that spoke of more than just mutual attraction, the start of something more.

  Then @sundial disappeared. She turned herself invisible and ran off toward the buildings, heading right into the swarm of zombies that had been chasing us. Maybe she was worried I would try to follow her.

  Because that was exactly what I wanted to do.

  But I had a job to do, too. I had a crew to get to safety and a virus to stop.

  I ran down into the darkness, flipping on my night vision, looking through the smoke and debris for the stairway that would lead me up to The Pharaoh. Blasts continued ringing above me. I started climbing the stairs, two or three at a time, as the roof caved in.