Loree pushed her nutribrick at me. “Here, you can have mine. I don't think my teeth are up to another one.”

In the field I'd gone for days without eating. But it wasn't a good idea. And after a day of on top of the dome, I was plenty hungry.

“We can order something else for you,” I offered, reluctant to take her bar.

“Not if its charged against our wages. We've only been here a day. After the charge for the comm home, I don't think we have many creds left.”

“Really, I'm not hungry.” She looked around the busy mess hall, the tables filled with chatting crew members.

For the first time since we'd arrived the dome crew and the mechanics mixed. The result was noisy as each team out bitched each other about the workload, about SysSec, about anything. “Just anxious.”

“Let's go see what we've got.” I stood, held a hand out for her. “I can eat on the way. And if nothing came in, we'll come back and you'll order something.”

“Deal.”

At each intersection she stopped, glanced over her shoulder. I looked back, but didn't see anything.

“Anything wrong?”

“I don't know. Feels like I'm being watched.”

I glanced up at the cameras. “You are.”

“Yeah, but...”

Whatever Doc had triggered in me and Connor didn't work on demand. I could feel when it was on, but when it wasn't... nothing to be done. And right then, I couldn't feel anything in the air. I tried to stretch with my mind, like any of my other senses, but still nothing.

“Can't do anything about something we can't see.” I shrugged, hoping to relax her, but tension wound through my gut.

Loree keyed in her code and this time the screen flickered. “She answered!” Loree bounced.

Or... someone had. The face on the message was unfamiliar, and long moments ticked by until it clicked. A composite.

Granny's dark skin but Doc's eyes and nose. The familiar scarf wrapped around the head but instead of Granny's spill of tiny braids it held up a spike of flame red hair.

Mostly Doc and Granny, but apparently Nixie had added a few touches of her own.

“Thanks for checking in. I've been busy with that puzzle you left me. But think I've cracked it. You know I don't mind a good mystery. Speaking of mysteries your little sister has been out of control. Parties and men and such not. You know how much I worry about those enclosed nightclub satellites. It wouldn't take much for an airborne virus to catch hold and then where would we be?

Well, that's enough for me. Your Granny says to tell you she's waiting for a chess game. Her queen is ready to take you any time.”

The message blinked out.

Did that make sense?

“I don't know, play it again.”

This time I focused, the surprise of the strange face no longer a distraction. The transmission was crystal-clear except for an occasional bit of static.

Wait.

“One more time.”

This time I squeezed Loree's hand at every point of the transmission interference.

Mind. Control. Enclosed. Airborne virus.

Void.

“I don't think I want dinner now.”

No kidding. “Babe, I think we need to move fast.”

She nodded, chewing on her lower lip. “Agreed. But to go where I think we need to be, we may need to wait a bit anyway.”

I didn't like it. If Stanton had an airborne mind control virus, he needed to be stopped. Now.

And it fit. The Cadre members at the Compound. The experiments on Erich and the others. Even Melra, who Tobais swore had suddenly changed.

The entire SysSec, under Stanton's control.

Soon, every scientist in the leading power research facility in the Empire.

How long would it take before Prince Vandalar was exposed as well?

Stanton didn't need General Melchior's troops to take over the Empire. The prince would hand it to him without a single shot fired.

How long, I whispered, half to Loree, half at the vision of the spiraling new order.

Less people awake, she answered. And I need to review the specs.

That was fair, even if every instinct I had screamed to hurry.

“I need to go study,” she said loudly, in the same chirpy voice she'd used with the port agent. “New job, lots to learn. Come keep me company.”

The seconds ticked by as we waited. Loree chattered as she showed me the map, overlay the schematics, pointing out everything she'd learned while working in the mechanicals shop.

“The water recycling is 99.9 percent efficient. Apparently the loss is due to our altitude. The fire suppression tower can spray a fine mist of foam across the entire dome in less than 60 seconds. And here's where the environmental controls are.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me adorably. I reached over, expanded the map. Lots of places to hide something in there. “It's a restricted area, but if I work here long enough, I'm sure I'll be upgraded and have access. It needs visual inspection, not just maintenance by bots.”

Right then. We had it narrowed to the most likely place.

Loree's fingers tapped on the screen. “The bots sure are useful. They can see everything, go almost everywhere.”

Yeah, they would be useful. But unless she could take them over in the next - I checked the chrono again - thirty minutes, we'd have to do this on our own.

“Want to take a stroll before bed?” I asked. “I could stand to stretch my legs”

'Sure.” She grabbed the tablet, slung the bag from Outlander Terminal over her shoulder, and headed out. “I can keep studying while we walk.”

I glanced over as we wound through the now quiet halls. Yup. Trying to hack the maintenance bots. That's my clever lady.

Before long we hit a passage where the cuffs didn't want us to enter.

“No going back.” Once we went through, our cover would be blown. Maybe we could try to wave it off as harmless exploring if we were caught. Maybe, but not likely.

Loree shoved the tablet into her bag and stuck out her wrist. “Then get this thing off me now. One of the guys in maintenance says they're rigged to give a shock if you get into a high level restricted area. I'd rather not be surprised.”

“I was afraid of that. The Pack has run into these before. Problem is, it's just as likely to give a shock if we remove it without the correct operating codes.”

“Do it now,” she insisted. “You can't always protect me. And it's better to take the hit when we expect it then if we're in the middle of a fight or something.”

Just because she was right I didn't have to like it.

“All right,” I grumbled. “There's not a latch to force, and I don't know how to make it loosen again. This is going to be rough.” I wrapped the tips of my fingers around the edges, tested the metal for any flex. “One, two, “I ripped the damn thing from her arm, throwing it away as she yelped then collapsed forward.

I held her to me, rocking until her whimper turned into a glare.

“Three. You're supposed to count to three.”

“Huh. We'll take it up with Doc when we're home, alright?”

A fiery band marred her flesh. While I was too angry to notice anything else, I tore my own cuff off.

Yup, a nasty shock.

I grabbed the shredded metal and threw the bits down the last corridor we'd passed. “Just in case they're still tracking us.”

“More likely they've already set off an alarm,” she countered.

“Then we better hurry.”

The environmental controls room sprawled before us, machines hissing and rumbling, criss-crossed and gridded by a series of dividers and half-walls.

“How are we going to find something out of place in all of this?” Loree wondered.

“We'll start with anything to do with ventilation,” I decided. “You show it to me, I'll take it apart until we find something out of place.”

A crappy plan, but all we had.

An hour later, we had nothing.

“I don't know what else to do,” Loree sagged against one of the partitions next to the machine she'd just examined. “That's everything that should be connected to the dome's air supply.”

A slow clap echoed through the control room. “And a very thorough job you've done of it, too.”

A pair of SysSec agents darted from either side of the partition, flanking her before I could cross the room. Stanton stepped out, still clapping.

“Make sure she stays still.”

An agent pulled a shock stick, held it to her chest.

“I wouldn't suggest moving, girl.” Stanton didn't bother looking at her, confident his order would be obeyed. My fingers curled into claws, but nothing I could do would help.

There was no way to reach her before the shock knocked her off her feet. Probably killing her.

And Stanton knew it.

“If you get the girl, the beast will follow.”

He'd given the order to Tobias and Melra, and now we'd delivered ourselves to him.

“What was it,” I spat. “The cuff?”

“Oh, those were mostly decorative,” he shrugged. “You provided me with your every move yourself, ever since you assaulted my agents.”

“What?”

“Well, not you. Her.”

Loree became ashen. “What? No I didn't. I never sent anything...” Her voice faded away. “Oh no.”

“Catching up? You were so careful, both of you.” Stanton crossed the room, poked my chest, knowing full I couldn't retaliate. Couldn't breath any way he might take offense at. “Destroyed an Agency ship. That whole ridiculous routine with ditching the shuttle at Outlander, then crashing it. Fake identities, jobs. You've been very busy, you two.”

He wandered back to Loree, and a growl slipped out of me. He didn't bother to react. He didn't need to.

“Through it all, you kept your beacon with you.” He reached for her hip, then carefully, without touching her, slid the tablet from the bag.

“Remember where you got this?” he mocked.

A tear spilled as Loree nodded. “Tobias' ship.”

Void. He was right. We'd had a tracker on us the whole time, and never realized.

“Xander, I'm so sorry,” she sobbed.

“Not your fault, babe.” And it wasn't.

I should have figured it out earlier, been more alert. Should never have let her leave my side to be where Stanton could touch her. Hell, never should have let her leave Orem.

“Take her away,” Stanton snapped. “No need to worry about him.”

“Well, isn't this interesting,” a bored drawl echoed through the room.

Stanton's eye twitched. Just by a micron, but a twitch.

A pair of soldiers in deep crimson uniforms glided into the room, followed by another pair, then a third, forming a narrow aisle.

A tall man sauntered between them, blond hair waving. Void. Was that a cape?

Four more soldiers followed him, fanning through the room, charged sticks ready in their grips.

The idiot in the ludicrous outfit surveyed the room, one eyebrow cocked, then stopped in front of Stanton, ignoring the rest of the scene.

He didn't say anything, just waited.

Yup. A definite twitch.

And then Stanton knelt.

“Your Highness. What an interesting place to start your inspection.”