The pressure of that responsibility settled over us like a physical weight, made worse by the knowledge that some of our escorts were actively questioning whether we deserved their protection.
“Even if they’re gone,” Zara said quietly, and I knew she was speaking as much for the benefit of the D’tran as for Vikkat, “there might be other solutions. If we can study the control systems, understand how they were designed to interact with the atmosphere, we might be able to find a way to shut them down or stabilize them without Kythran genetic access.”
Vikkat studied her for a long moment, and I could see himweighing her words, trying to decide if this was a genuine possibility or desperate hope. “You believe you can do this?” he asked.
“I cantry,” Zara replied, and I heard the honesty in her voice. “But I can’t make promises about success. The technology is different from anything I’ve worked with before.”
“Trying is more than we have had for many generations.” He nodded slowly. “We show you everything. All records, all attempts we made. Maybe together we find answer sky-stealers never gave us.”
Another voice from the back. “And if she fails? What then, Vikkat?”
“Then we try again,” Vikkat said, his tone brooking no argument. “We do not give up. And we do not abandon those who try to help in good faith.”
But I could hear the uncertainty beneath his words. Vikkat believed in cooperation, in the possibility that Zara and I represented a chance to finally solve the crisis that had plagued his people for generations. But he was one leader, and the warriors with us had their own opinions about Destrans and our place in their world.
If things went wrong in these caves, if Zara’s equipment failed or the Kythrans proved hostile or any of a dozen other things went sideways, I wasn’t sure Vikkat would be able to keep his people in line. The thought of being trapped underground with warriors who saw us as corrupted and useless made my skin shift through darker and darker shades.
The crawler lurched over a particularly rough patch of terrain, and I automatically reached out to steady Zara as she bounced on the bench.
“Hey,” I said softly, leaning close so only she could hear. “Tell me about those modifications you made to the sensors. The technical details.”
She blinked at me, clearly recognizing the distraction for what it was. But she played along, her voice taking on the lecturing tone she used when discussing her work.
“I had to recalibrate the atmospheric composition analyzers to function more like ground-penetrating radar, which meant completely rewiring the sensor array and boosting the signal amplification by a factor of ten. The problem is that the increased power draw means the batteries will drain in about three hours instead of the usual twelve, and there’s a significant risk of overheating if I push them too hard…”
I listened to her explain the science, not really understanding half of what she was saying but grateful that it was pulling her attention away from the enclosed space around us and the unfriendly eyes watching us from across the crawler. Her voice steadied as she talked, her grip on my hand relaxing slightly as she lost herself in technical details.
“You’re not even listening,” she accused after a few minutes.
“I’m listening enough to know you’re brilliant and I’m lucky to have you.”
Her cheeks flushed, visible even in the crawler’s dim lighting. “Flattery won’t get you out of actually learning some atmospheric science.”
“Won’t it?”
“Definitely not.”
But she was smiling now, and that was worth any numberof scientific lectures I’d have to endure later. Even if we were heading into caves with people who questioned our right to exist, who saw us as corrupted versions of what they should have been, at least we had each other.
The crawler continued its descent into the depths of this wounded world, carrying us toward answers we might not want to find. If the Kythrans were truly gone, if we were chasing ghosts through abandoned caves, then everything depended on Zara’s ability to do what generations of D’tran scientists hadn’t been able to accomplish.
And if she couldn’t, I had no doubt that some of the warriors traveling with us would see that as proof that Destrans were indeed corrupted, that helping us had been a mistake. Whether Vikkat could protect us in that situation was anyone’s guess.
The weight of that responsibility should have terrified me. Instead, looking at my mate’s determined expression as she clutched her modified equipment, I felt something that might have been hope mixed with fierce protectiveness.
Because if anyone could solve an impossible problem with inadequate tools and no guarantee of success, it was Dr. Zara Rivers. And if anyone tried to harm her because she couldn’t perform miracles, they’d have to go through me first.
Even if that meant fighting my own distant cousins in the dark.
CHAPTER 16
ZARA
The moment we entered the cave system proper, the crawler’s interior lights shifted from their warm yellow glow to a deep crimson that made everything look like we’d descended into some kind of underworld. The red cast turned Torven’s skin into shifting patterns of burgundy and black, making him look more alien than I’d ever seen him. Even his eyes, usually that striking pale green, looked dark and shadowed.
“Why red?” I asked, more to break the oppressive silence than because I actually needed to know.
“So we can see better in dim light,” one of the D’tran warriors answered. The female who’d helped adjust my pack earlier—not one of the ones who apparently distrusted us. “Give us advantage in dark.”
