I turned back to the D’tran. “I know you’re afraid. I know this feels wrong. But sometimes the bravest thing we can dois trust. Trust that the ancient engineers knew what they were doing.”
The tower groaned, and I saw more cracks spreading across the walls. We were rapidly running out of time.
“So I’m going first,” I said. “I’ll put my marks into that device and let it take what it needs. And if it scars me, if it marks me as one who violated the sacredness, then so be it. I’d rather be scarred and alive than pure and dead.”
I moved to the collection device before anyone could argue. It looked simple enough, an oblong metal device that fit in the hand with a cone-shaped, pointed tip. It was connected to the console via a flexible metal tube. I lifted it from its holder and placed the point to my neck. The cool metal was cold and sharp on my mating marks.
“Zara, activate it.”
“Torven—”
“Do it.”
She hesitated for just a moment, then moved to the console. “This might hurt.”
“Can’t be worse than my back.”
She nodded. “That’s true. Okay. Here goes.” Thresk initiated the sequence, and pain shot across my neck like liquid fire. The device was extracting tissue, taking samples of skin and pigment from the mating marks. It felt like someone was peeling my skin off with a dull blade, layer by layer.
I gritted my teeth and refused to make a sound. The D’tran were watching. If I showed weakness now, they’d use it as justification to refuse.
The extraction lasted maybe thirty seconds, but it felt longer than that. When it finally stopped, I pulled away fromthe device and looked at my reflection in a nearby screen. The mating marks were still there, still visible, but now there were tiny white scars on one corner of them, like pale, raised threads, where the tissue had been taken.
“It’s done,” I said. “The marks are intact.I’mintact. And now we have what we need.”
I looked at Vikkat. “Your turn.”
The D’tran leader studied me for a long moment, his eyes moving from my scarred marks to my face. Then he nodded slowly and moved toward the device.
But before he could reach it, Dorek pushed past him.
“No,” the warrior said. “I go first, leader. If anything happens—if this is a deadly trick—I will not leave D’tran people leaderless.”
The shock on Vikkat’s face mirrored my own. Dorek, who’d been the most hostile, the most resistant, was volunteering to go first.
Vikkat nodded, holding Dorek’s gaze. “Honorable of you.”
“I have spoken ill of star-cousins,” Dorek said, stripping off his cloak and shirt to expose his heavily marked arms and chest. “I have questioned their honor, worth, their right to be here. But this Destran—” he gestured at me, “—he took a blast meant for mate. He offered sacred marks to save a world he does not call home. He shows more courage than I have shown wisdom.”
Dorek picked up the collection device with a resigned sigh and placed is against his arm. “If he sacrifices for her, I sacrifice for all of us.”
Zara activated the device again, and I watched Dorek’sface tighten with pain as the extraction began. But like me, he made no sound. When it was finished, he put the device back on its holder and examined the tiny scars crossing one small section of his marks.
“It is done,” he said simply, then looked at the other D’tran warriors. “Who is next?”
One by one, they came forward. Vikkat, then the others, each placed the device against their marked skin and endured the extraction with stoic silence. The Kythrans watched with something like awe, and I saw Thresk’s expression shift from fear to respect.
When the last D’tran had contributed their sample, Zara turned to me. “The computer is indicating that it has enough genetic material. Thresk, can you input it into the system?”
The Kythran elder moved to the collection device and began the transfer process, carefully loading each sample into the main interface. The crystalline structure accepted them one by one, the patterns flowing across its surface like living things.
“Now we try again,” Zara said, her hands moving over the console with renewed confidence. “Everyone in position. Kythrans, prepare to execute the shutdown sequence. D’tran, stand ready. Torven?”
“I’m right here,” I said, moving to stand beside her.
She looked up at me, and I saw fear and hope and love all mixed together in her expression. “This has to work.”
“It will work.”
