Jaz’s face turned pale. “I was only thinking about the danger to Adjar, but you’re right. They can’t be permitted to access that type of technology.”
“The other reason is that there seems to be a connection between the cyborgs and the dragons.” R-339 said quietly. “And I believe that understanding that connection may be essential to understanding what is happening to Mars right now.”
“What do you mean, what’s happening to Mars?” Jaz asked.
“The planet is changing, Ms. Kour. Slowly, but measurably. Temperatures in certain regions are rising at rates that don’t make sense. Ice deposits are shifting in ways that can’t be explained by solar activity or atmospheric conditions. Plant life is emerging with unprecedented speed. And the seismic patternsI mentioned are not random. They’re concentrated around specific locations.”
He rose from his seat, too agitated to remain still, and paced the room, his tail lashing behind him.
“The preservation system,” he said, half to himself. “It was never meant to be permanent. It was designed to activate when conditions were right. When Mars could support us again.”
“You’re saying the entire planet itself is… waking up?” Jaz sounded incredulous. “That’s not possible. Mars has been geologically dead for millions of years.”
“Dead by human standards.” He stopped his pacing and faced the ranger. “But my people lived here for far longer than humans have existed. We understood things about this world that your species has never imagined. The connections. The ice. The rock. The deep currents of heat that still flow beneath the surface. Mars is not dead. It has only been sleeping.”
“Like you,” R-339 said.
“Like me.”
Silence fell over the small station. He felt the weight of the revelations pressing down on him—not just the confirmation that others like him had survived, but the suggestion that his awakening was part of something larger. A pattern. A purpose.
Keeper of Memory,he thought.Is this what I was meant to preserve? Not just knowledge, but hope?
“This Rhyx,” he said finally. “And his mate. You believe we should meet them?”
“I believe it would be mutually beneficial. Rhyx has memories, fragmented like yours, but different. Between the two of you, you may be able to piece together a more complete picture of what happened to your civilization. And what may be coming next.”
“And GenCon?” Jaz asked. “They’re not going to stop hunting us just because we’ve made new friends.”
“No, but we may be able to… misdirect them. We’ve been successful in keeping Rhyx hidden from them. We can do the same for you. And if, when the time is right, you and Rhyx present a united front, with cyborg support…” The ranger’s expression shifted into something that might have been satisfaction. “GenCon’s position becomes considerably more precarious.”
He considered the ranger carefully. He was not an ally in any traditional sense, but there was something in those grey eyes that he recognized. Both a protectiveness and a need to know the truth.
It was a feeling he understood intimately.
“If we travel to this settlement,” he said slowly, “GenCon might follow. If they do, we would be putting others at risk.”
“Dustfall is a cyborg-affiliated community. They’ve dealt with GenCon before.” R-339 rose from his seat. “And frankly, just because they are searching for you doesn’t mean they’ll find you.”
Jaz looked up at him, her eyes searching his face. “What do you think?”
He wanted to refuse. Every protective instinct in his body screamed against bringing her into a situation where dangermight find them more easily. But he also understood what R-339 was offering—a chance to learn more about his own past and his own purpose. A chance to find others who might understand what he was going through.
And most importantly, a chance to build something stronger than he could build alone.
“We go,” he said finally. “But on one condition.”
R-339 raised an eyebrow in a surprisingly human gesture. “Name it.”
“If this is a trap. If you have betrayed us to GenCon, or to anyone else who might wish us harm…” He let his claws extend fully, let the ice in his veins turn his breath cold and deadly. “I will not simply kill you. I will freeze you alive, and I will ensure that you remain conscious for every second of it. Your kind may have technology woven through your flesh, but I promise you—it will not save you from what I can do.”
The threat hung in the air between them but R-339 didn’t flinch. “I would expect nothing less from a guardian of the polar vaults.”
“Then we understand each other.”
“We do. I’ll need a few hours to arrange transport and notify Dustfall of your arrival. Can you be ready by then?”
Jaz nodded. “We’ll be ready.”
