Walking into a lab was like walking into my own home. I inhaled deeply, relishing the smell of disinfectant and sanitation agents.

The equipment was not state-of-the-art like it was in my home lab. I hadn’t expected it to be, especially since Duvest was attacked so recently.

Some of the machines looked like they had been pieced together from spare parts. I admired the ingenuity of these people, but poor equipment meant imprecise work. That may account for at least one of the problems they’ve had while trying to develop the scent bomb.

They had a spare lab coat for me. It didn’t fit right, and it smelled used. I felt a pang in my chest as I thought of my closet full of pristine, perfectly-tailored, monogrammed lab coats.

I missed my house. I missed my spotless stainless-steel lab counters. I really missed the AI interface that could read results and run an analysis for me while I did something else.

But this would do. I still felt the same tingle I always felt when I had something to work on.

There was an organized, structured way to do this. There were rules to follow and methods to apply. This was my lab now—I was in control.

I wasn’t like Axtin or Jeneva. Or even Mariella. They were all happy to fling themselves into the unknown to seek what they desired. They didn’t mind braving inhospitable landscapes and hostile environments to find what they were looking for.

That sort of life never appealed to me. I preferred to be in here, with lab manuals and research notes, meticulously examining impossibly small samples, hunting down the slightest difference in their composition.

“This is the equation we’ve been working with.”

My moment of self-indulgence was interrupted by a tall woman with skin the color of honey and an abundance of thick, dark hair.

I didn’t understand why she was here—I already had all of the research notes. I knew the equation. I already had several adjustments I wanted to test.

“Yes,” I said. “It’s likely to grow unstable the longer those elements interact with each other. I’ve come up with a few potential stabilizing agents, although I don’t know what this lab has in stock.”

“We don’t have much,” the woman said, stepping into my workspace. I tried not to grit my teeth.

She extended a hand. “I’m Rael, a professor at the campus here. Well, before the attack. Much of the grounds were destroyed, but I managed to salvage quite a bit from my old lab.”

“That’s a shame,” I said. I didn’t recognize her name. Usually, I knew the notable professors in the field. “Did you reconstruct the lab equipment yourself?”

“Mostly,” she said with a proud grin. “I had some of the engineers help me with the wiring. It’s not perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot more than I thought we were going to have. I also have a list of potential stabilizing agents. The trouble, is we’re going to have to make them ourselves.”

She pulled up her list on a datapad and handed it to me. I was impressed—our lists were almost identical. Even if I had never heard of her, she seemed to know her stuff.

“It’s a good start,” I said genuinely.

I asked her to pull up a list of what the lab had in stock. It was disappointing.

“Essentially, we have to combine and separate these compounds over and over again until we have something that can fit into our equation without causing an explosion,” I said.

“Or give off a toxic gas,” Rael added.

“Or corrode skin,” I chimed in with a smirk.

“Or harm civilians,” Rael finished with a laugh.

I couldn’t help but laugh, too. It was me and her against an impossible problem.

“What about notes on the Xathi?” I asked.

“Minimal,” Rael replied. “After the attack, we were able to secure a few dead samples to analyze, but our equipment simply can’t measure an alien lifeform the way we need it to. Everything about them—their blood, their brains—is completely unlike anything on this world. We decided on a scent bomb because their olfactory system was the only thing relatively normal about them.”

“Aside from field testing,” I shuddered, “how can we know if we’re on the right track?”

“During the attack, a few citizens worked with the red alien to put a makeshift prototype together that had success in slowing the creatures down,” Rael replied. “That’s where we began to advance the research.”

I nodded, remembering the stories.

“There was also a sonic weapon that had promise, but the problem was that, right now it affects humans almost worse than it would affect the Xathi. We need to spend more time developing and refining it, which will take much longer,” Rael said.

“So, scent bombs are the only approach,” I concluded.

“We were able to develop a simulation program,” Rael explained, walking over to the computer. “It shows our best guess at how the Xathi process smells and how it affects their brain. We can input the equation and see what could happen.”

“At least it’ll help us narrow in on the right stabilizer,” I said with a shrug.

It was guesswork at best. Ordinarily, I wasn’t comfortable with guesswork. Especially when lives were at stake.

But there were aspects I could control. I could make this work—and I was determined to do so.

Rael and I worked for hours. Progress was slow, but I was happy. Rael was actually brilliant at what she did—she was a great partner to have in this. I possessed more technical knowledge than she did, but she was more creative when it came to testing compounds and using our limited resources.

With the new calculations in place, we ran the simulator again. I watched as our creation interacted with the hypothetical Xathi body.

It went haywire on the Xathi’s smell receptors. That in itself was an accomplishment. But it was what our calculations did to the Xathi’s brain that made me want to jump around and cheer like a moron.

The simulated brain went haywire.

“I’m willing to bet that that will disrupt the hive mind,” Rael said smugly.

I was beaming. This was incredible. I couldn’t wait to tell Axtin about our progress.

Axtin. I’d been so focused on my work all day that I’d barely thought about him at all. Now that I had a chance to think about something other than the scent bombs, I realized that I was...excited to see Axtin.

I wanted to give him good news, give him a little hope that this world won’t be lost the way his was.

“Now, we just have to make the stabilizing agent,” I sighed, pulling my hair away from my face.

It was still a daunting task. We were missing several core components. It would take hours, if not days, to make it ourselves—if it could even be done.

“Ms. Dewitt.” A man entered the lab, looking a little uncomfortable. “Your…escort is back.”

“Send him in!” I grinned. Axtin appeared a few minutes later.

My smile faltered a little. There was tension in the way he held his body. The corners of his mouth were pulled down. His eyes weren’t glinting with a secret mischief.

“I have good news!” I said, not letting my own cheer diminish. He blinked in response. “Um…the equation. We fixed it.”

I felt foolish now. Axtin’s expression remained neutral.

I persisted. “We figured out that—”

“You know the details are lost on me,” he cut me off.

My temper snapped like the end of a whip. Was I wrong for thinking he would care? There’s no way he didn’t understand how important this was.

I felt like I was missing a vital piece of information. I hated that feeling.

“Right,” I said crisply. “I just thought you’d like to know. I’m sure General Rouhr is expecting an update.”

“Let me worry about that,” he replied, looking at the lab equipment rather than looking at me. I bristled.

“Actually,” Rael interjected hesitantly. No doubt she could sense the sudden tension in the room. “When you do message your general, will you pass on my request to send you and Leena to Fraga with prototype scent bombs? Once we make them, of course,” she added with a wink in my direction.

“Shouldn’t you be asking me?” Axtin said, lifting his brows in arrogant surprise.

“Does your general ask before he gives you an order?” Rael quipped.

I liked her even more. Spending time with her made me miss the relationship Mariella and I had when we were children. We were always different, she and I, but we were always on the same side.

Now, I felt like no matter where I stood, Mariella placed herself as far away from me as she could. Chemical warfare I could handle, but the problems between me and my sister were outside of the realm of my control.

“I’ll pass along your request,” Axtin said curtly. “However, it will be in person when I deposit Leena back on the Vengeance.”

“Excuse me?” I blurted.

“It’s safer for you,” Axtin explained. “And for me. I can handle whatever is in the forest. I can’t keep track of you and ensure the scent bombs don’t explode in our faces.”

“Absolutely not,” I said through clenched teeth. “This is my project. There is no way in hell I’m letting you take that from me. The only way the bombs would go off is if you were being careless—oh, wait, that’s your natural state of being.”

My words were spilling out before I could stop them. His indifference hurt me. But right now, I couldn’t afford to be hurt. I constructed a wall of ice around my heart. That was the only way to ensure I wouldn’t lose focus, that I would stay in control.

I was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he upset me.

But there was another reason why I needed to go to Fraga—there was a Quake station between here and there.

Many Quake stations were operated and maintained by the university. The computers here weren’t linked up to a larger network, but the computers at the Quake station would be.

I had thought that there would be a way to create a connection in Duvest. But every method I tried to access my research failed when I attempted to connect to the university network.

If I could access my university network...there was a chance I could recover my research on my genetic illness.

I’d like to see Axtin try to keep me from it.

“Leena is qualified and authorized to handle the bombs,” Rael interjected once more. “My apologies, but we can’t allow anyone else to handle such delicate cargo.”

Axtin wanted to fight her on it. I could see it writhing in his mind. But before he could start another argument, I spoke up.

“Why don’t you go do your job and keep your general informed? I have a lot of work to do. I’d appreciate it if you stopped distracting me,” I said icily.

Axtin worked the muscles in his jaw before storming out of the lab.

What the hell was his problem? I bet that this was a little game he liked to play. He liked to seduce women just to leave them hanging. I bet he got off on watching them pine for him.

Well, not me! This was how I wanted it to be in the first place. I didn’t even want him to come with me.

He was wild, dangerous, and unpredictable. He had no place in a lab, and he had no place in my life.