It was interesting to see Zara use what was left of her patience on this hardheaded D’tran. Clearly it was a strain for her.
“They won’t be alteredpermanently,” she said in the same tone one would use on an errant youngling. “And the meaning given to them in the ancient language is likely arbitrary. You probably don’t want to hear that.”
Vikkat sighed deeply. “No. No one does. This will take time to…process.”
“That’s understandable,” Zara said. “The Kythrans say there’s one weather tower that is a nexus for the others. It’s a central one that is connected to the others more directly. That would be the location we need to go to, to input the code. The Kythrans alone can’t make meaningful changes. But if the D’tran markings contain control codes, then together we might be able to shut it down.”
“Shut it down.” I felt hope stirring in my chest for the first time since the violence had erupted. “Or at least stabilize it. And we can get our people and go home.”
Zara smiled. “I’d love to go home.”
I reached up and touched the mating marks on my neck, feeling them warm under my fingers. All this time, we’d thought they were just biological phenomena. Just the universe’s way of saying two beings belonged together. But they were more than that. They were a solution to a problem that had existed for millennia.
“The ancient engineers were smarter than anyone gave them credit for,” I said slowly. “They built a system that would force species to work together or face extinction.”
“It’s brilliant and terrible at the same time.” Zara sat down beside me again. “Brilliant because it prevents any one group from having too much power. Terrible because it means generations suffered while species refused to cooperate.”
“Or didn’t know they had to.” Vikkat rubbed a weary hand over his face.
“True.” She gestured at the chamber around us, at the smashed equipment and injured Kythrans. “You almost killed everyone an hour ago.”
“But we didn’t.” Vikkat straightened and looked at his warriors, who were listening and saying nothing. They looked stunned, even Dorek, who was initially resistant. “And now we have much to think on.”
I squeezed Zara’s hand. “It’s the start of cooperation. Messy, imperfect, but real.”
The Kythran elder spoke again, and Zara translated. “They say they know the way and can guide us through passages that avoid the worst of the surface storms.” She looked at me, and I saw the question in her eyes before she asked it. “Can you travel? With your injury?”
I tested my back carefully, feeling the pull of healing tissue and the ache of bruised muscles. It hurt. It was going to hurt more when I started moving. But the medicinewasworking, and I was stronger than I’d been even an hour ago.
“I can travel,” I said.
“You don’t have to—”
“Yes, I do.” I cut her off gently. “You said it yourself. We need all of us. The Kythrans, the D’tran, you, and me. If we’re missing any piece, the whole thing falls apart.”
She was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “We’re really going to try this. Attempt to shut down a planetary weather control system that’s been running autonomously for millennia.”
“With improvised plans, hostile allies, and no backup equipment,” I added.
“When you put it that way, it sounds insane.”
“Itisinsane.” I smiled at her. “But we’re going to do it anyway. Because the alternative is giving up, and neither of us are any good at that.”
“No,” she agreed. “We really aren’t.”
I pulled her closer, careful of my injury, and kissed her forehead. Through the bond, I could feel her fear mixing with determination, her doubt tangled up with hope. We were both terrified. We were both uncertain. But we were facing it together, and that made all the difference.
“Rivers,” I said quietly.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you. For not giving up on us. On this.”
“Thank you for taking an energy blast for me. Eventhough it was completely reckless and terrifying and I’m still processing the trauma of watching it happen.”
“Any time.”
“Please don’t say that. I’d really prefer if there wasn’t a next time.”
