I screamed loudly and gleefully when I reached the top of the stairs and saw The Pharaoh in the distance. The amount of dust and fallen rock surprised me, but I should have known that the roof would be a hybrid construct of reinforced metal and insulation. It was the insulation that drifted through the air, making me grateful for the mask.

  The caving roof had crumbled on the opposite side of the platform, taking out three ships. I remembered some of them from when we arrived, small common ships, short-range, probably the type that mostly ran from Ida to Dactyl and back. They looked like circles stretched out into ovals, with a dozen little flippers on the sides. Two were completely covered by the roof fragment, crushed under the rubble, and the third was struck on its side and split down the middle with parts jutting up into the air. Electrical sparks zipped along its broken edges where power jumped across.

  I wondered if anyone had been in there. Were there others who survived, who hadn't turned?

  Above me, I saw another streak of missiles. Another section of the roof on that side was ready to give. Oblivion was rotating its way around the roof, and we were lucky to be away from where it was firing now. In an alternate universe, our ship would have been crushed, and I would be crying my eyes out while trying to hack my way onto a stranger's ship, which is not impossible when you're planning ahead, but troublesome to say the least unless you have the body of someone the ship recognizes lying around.

  But in this universe, The Pharaoh was still in one piece, just covered in dust and debris. Outside the ship, I spied Kibble and @foxcutter. @foxcutter was holding the puppy to his face, while the puppy licked him all over.

  "Why aren't you on the ship?" I asked, skidding to a halt next to the hatch.

  "We didn't want the ship to power on," said @foxcutter. "Oblivion would notice and might target the ship."

  "Well, we have to get on," I replied, "so we'll have to power up the ship eventually."

  "We knocked," barked Kibble in a robotic doggy voice. "They can manually open the hatch."

  I jumped. I didn't realize Kibble could speak. The dog was right, though. We were trained in the Alliance Starmada on how to do this, on how to go completely dark, but I hadn't bothered reviewing it during my time as a Wavepilot. It wasn't applicable to me, and I figured I would never need to do it. Oops.

  I wondered if medics were also trained in going dark because @bitchfrog was the only trained Alliance Starmada member on board. Surely @auroraloon would have similar training with the Solar Union, though, right?

  "And what is this? Why are you licking his face?" I asked Kibble, gesturing to the way it pawed and licked at @foxcutter's face, with my hand in my face to mirror its behavior.

  "He needs oxygen," the robot explained.

  Okay, then. Makes sense. Who am I to judge the robotic design of a puppy, as long as it worked?

  I knocked on the ship's hatch, three solid raps of my knuckles. Come on. Someone respond.

  Two knocks returned from the other side. Good!

  The door creaked open as a laser streaked through the sky above us, casting a blue light through the interior of the landing zone, throwing shades off the floating insulation and highlighting the ships around us. In other circumstances, it would have been a gorgeous sight to see. The laser blazed toward the remaining portion of the roof opposite us and seared through it with a loud buzz, leaving a hot red of melted metal dripping as it carved its way until the roof on that side completely gave in.

  We were running out of time.

  The hatch swung open. "@kittyboy!" @bitchfrog shouted from behind @dustcaller, who had been working the door. He looked different now. They had dressed him in some of my gear, which didn't fit him. It was way too snug, but he looked more imposing now, more authoritative. @dustcaller reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me in.

  The interior of The Pharaoh was cold and smelled stale. With the power off, the ship's temperature had been dropping fast. I could see my breath. And without air circulating, the ship felt like a derelict that had been abandoned in space.

  The rest of the crew was there, shivering. @bitchfrog stood eagerly awaiting us. @zerogstar was standing next to her in a blue leather jumpsuit, tapping her foot nervously. And @auroraloon surprised me by stepping forward before I could even get a good view of her, wrapping me in a hug as I stumbled into the ship.

  "Welcome back, idiot," she mumbled in my ear.

  I clasped her back, but I hesitated. I wondered if she noticed. The @auroraloon I knew didn't miss details. I returned her hug quickly, my mind thinking about her and thinking about @sundial, who was out there dying for us.

  @auroraloon had abandoned me to die. She was the Burner who put the greater good above me, above herself. I cared deeply for her. @sundial was the Darksider who did what it would take to make sure I could get to safety. She didn't just save me and the humans. She saved @auroraloon as well. It was unfair to compare them. They were heroes in their own ways, brave and full of courage.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  But my awkward hug told me something my brain hadn't processed. @sundial was my girl right now, and she was out there alone on the zombie-infested colony, trying to save us.

  "@foxcutter! You made it!" @bitchfrog yelled, cutting through my thoughts as she rushed over to him.

  I stepped back from @auroraloon. "You two," I said, pointing at @bitchfrog and @foxcutter. "Get to the med bay and make sure he's okay. Then buckle in. We have to make a run for it."

  I glanced at @auroraloon. She was observing me carefully. I hoped she was mainly taken aback by my bright yellow Infiltrator suit, not the hug. That reminded me. I didn't need to be yellow anymore. I switched the suit to the cool iron color of the Alliance Starmada, loading one of the preconfigured outfits. It was just a standard pilot outfit. Nothing much was in the armor's system yet, but it felt appropriate, and I felt at home in a pilot's uniform.

  Besides, I was about to show off my best piloting skills.

  "A puppy!" @zerogstar exclaimed. She reached down to greet the excited Kibble, who was circling around everyone's feet with its tail wagging.

  "I'm Kibble," it said happily. "Nice to meet you."

  "Ahh!" @zerogstar stepped away from the dog, pulling her hands back, but the puppy got too excited and leapt up at her, forcing her to catch it. She fumbled until she could get a grip, but I could tell she was only holding Kibble out of instinct and would have preferred to toss it across the room.

  "I am a robot!" he told her. "A puppy robot."

  That calmed @zerogstar down, and she stopped backing away into the interior. @dustcaller closed the hatch behind us. @bitchfrog and @foxcutter took off toward the medical bay.

  "Where?" @zerogstar said, as Kibble licked at her face. She set him down on the ground, and he ran off toward where @foxcutter had gone. "Where is @astrowave?"

  I frowned and looked at the three of them, @auroraloon, @dustcaller, and @zerogstar. I held up his memoryshard between my fingers. "He saved me. I'll tell you all about it later, but I've got him."

  They noticed that I had another memoryshard below the first, nestled in the palm of my hand.

  "Who's that?" @zerogstar asked.

  "Let's move," I commanded, not answering the question. "Stations, everyone."

  I put a hand on @dustcaller's shoulder. "Join us in the cockpit. Take the weapons station." That was @astrowave's spot. I ventured a guess that @mickeymouse's origin, even freshly awoken, would be able to figure it out with the lethal poise I needed.

  I explained as we ran. "@awesomedog is going to create a distraction, piloting his ship, to help us get away. His Worm apprentice is out there trying to activate the shield to buy us some time so that Oblivion can't shoot us down before we leave." I couldn't say her name. Didn't want to.

  What was I supposed to say?

  I was stuck on Dactyl during a zombie outbreak. Spent some quality time with @astrowave before he blew himself up to save me. Ran into a girl in a dungeon. Bouncy bouncy. And now I'm here???

  My love life was none of their business.

  We assumed our positions, and I cozied into the pilot seat, scanning the area through the forward window of The Pharaoh. Kibble trotted in, joining us. I wondered what the robot was capable of, but any help it could provide would be welcome.

  The elegant form of Oblivion appeared through the opening of the roof, hovering in the space beyond the landing zone. Valkyries aren't the largest ships in a fleet. Those are battle carriers, Whales and the like. But Valkyries are the largest of the fighter ships, massive and fast, heavily armored.

  It was just as impressive as the first time I spotted it.

  Oblivion was a sleek rectangular ship with a wedge-shaped nose and two powerful engines in the back. The sides angled down, thicker in the middle and smaller out to the edges. A thicker shaft ran down the center, and a circular bridge was embedded in the heart of the ship. Its blue thrusters matched the color of the laser that had carved out the other section of the roof.

  And now those lasers fired at the roof above us.

  We sat in the cockpit, powered down, as drips of melted metal fell in front of us.

  We were running out of time.

  "We have to go," @auroraloon said. She was right. My mental clock was saying the same thing. In a matter of seconds, we would be crushed beneath the remains of a heavy roof.

  "A terrordactyl storm is incoming," @zerogstar said excitedly. The urgency made her talk fast. "If we can wait … ugh … 93 seconds, the storm will be here. Oblivion will need to leave the area."

  I shook my head. "That's a great plan, but we don't have the time."

  "I know," she said, dejected.

  "Power on," I commanded. "Let's get out of here."

  We couldn't wait any more. I just hoped @sundial wasn't a mindless overtaken, left to wander the streets of Dactyl for an eternity. I wondered what, if anything, they felt. Were they still inside there, suffering, alive but no longer in control, or were they truly mindless?

  The Pharaoh's interior lit up. The ventilation system kicked in, and I literally saw dust being sucked into the return vents as hot air poured in to warm us. I wondered if the ventilation system would pull power from the engines, but I was so cold I decided we could shut them down later if we needed to.

  Oblivion picked up on the power surge immediately. Our scanners were active just in time to pick up the missiles firing.

  "Incoming!" shouted @zerogstar.

  She really didn't need to scream. We all saw it with our eyes as the beast opened fire.

  We also saw the spectacular zap of energy as a shield snapped into place around the landing zone. Oblivion fired anyway, its missiles streaking toward us and detonating against the deflector shield, flashing us in a bright but harmless light.

  She had done it. @sundial had raised the shield!

  "How much time do we have?" I asked. "How long will it hold?"

  @auroraloon shook her head, while @zerogstar answered. "Not long enough."

  "Oblivion will carve through that," @auroraloon said. "We need to be ready to run."

  I nodded. "As soon as that shield drops, we're blasting out of here. Secure yourselves."

  I waited nervously with my right hand on the accelerator, ready to launch us forward in an instant.

  Time seemed slow, a stark contrast to the quickened pace of my heartbeat. I took a deep breath. Oblivion rotated in the distance, only partially visible now as it began targeting the area around the center of Dactyl to disable the shield.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kibble scamper away from us, click-clanking along the floor, running down the passage into the interior of The Pharaoh. My eyes remained fixed on that shield. I had to get the timing right.

  Our comm crackled to life.

  awesomedog: "Got room for one more."

  We had the room. Did we have the time?

  I admit that I was disappointed. I had hoped for the voice of @sundial, and I wondered if she could make it to us.

  I plinked her on a private channel while I stared out the window.

  kittyboy: "@sundial? Are you there?"

  Silence answered.

  The Pharaoh's hatch opened.

  The protective shield in front of us dropped.

  Shit.