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“I don’t want them hurting you,” he whispered.

“They won’t. And I’ll have Brutus watching my back. He’ll bite anyone who gets too close.” She stroked Dallin’s face. “We’ll get back to the Apocalypse, then get you healed the old-fashioned way. And you’re going to have to accept all the help we offer you.”

He grumbled under his breath, then nodded.

They sat in silence as they watched the Siblet troop fall apart. One Siblet broke rank and raced away.

Captain Ghal shot him in the back.

Several more turned and ran, and soon, even Captain Ghal was fleeing from the mist of poison.

Sloane let out a sigh. “The coast is clear.”

Dallin caught hold of her hand. “Wait, a few more minutes, to make sure the poison has dispersed.”

“I’ll be okay. And we don’t have any time to waste.”

He sighed. “Be careful. Don’t take any risks.”

Sloane kissed him again. “I’ll be right back. Come on, Brutus.”

She grabbed two breathing masks and placed one over Brutus’s head, before securing her own. She took a weapon, then eased open the docking ramp and looked around. There were no signs of any Siblet.

Sloane hurried out and grimaced at the mess they’d made of the hull, but it was still intact.

She ran to the first docking arm and inspected it. The Siblet had placed some kind of ground clamp over it that prevented the ship from taking off.

She raced back on-board and grabbed a wrench, using it as a lever to pull off the clamp.

Brutus grabbed it once it was loose and hurled it away.

They repeated the clamp removal on the other docking arms, before running back inside and closing the ramp.

“Any problems?” Dallin said.

“All good. I’ll see if I can reach the Apocalypse and find out how they’re getting on with the antidote.” Sloane fired up the engines and lifted off the planet’s surface. “I tried to speak to Cleo when I was on my way here, but she didn’t reply.”

“They must have their hands full.”

“They should be making use of the antidote by now, so I hope they’re doing okay.” Sloane opened a comm line to the Apocalypse, but got no response from her repeated calls.

Dallin grunted and shifted in his seat.

“Let’s see if I can get hold of anyone from High Command. They’ll want to know what we found.”

“I’ll do it. You focus on getting us out of here.” Dallin shuffled forward in his seat and opened a comm line to High Command.

“Welcome to High Command. How may I be of assistance?” a smooth female voice said on the loud speaker.

“I need to speak to Commissioner Viewick,” Dallin said.

“I’m sorry, the Commissioner is in a meeting. May I—”

“It’s an emergency. It concerns the attacks being carried out by the Siblet. He needs to know this information.”

“I cannot disturb the Commissioner. If you’d like to leave a message, I’ll make sure he receives it when he comes out of the meeting.”

Sloane shook her head. “You’re wasting your time. See if you can get hold of Jagger.”