The Living Past

"What brings you to the Goliath?"

"Rendezvous with the Stormhammer," Knave said, setting down his tray. Not really knowing anyone else on the ship, the ice cheetah decided to hang out with Psikaris. Knave was merely a passenger, headed to his assignment. Psikaris was the Goliath's chief engineer. Currently, both were in the massive ship's mess hall.

"Isn't that the ship Alluro is on?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't find anything else." Knave wasn't too worried, though. While he and Alluro rarely got along at the best of times, Knave was a fighter pilot while the hypnotist had some sort of science position, so it wasn't likely their paths would cross. "The Shalgi Dusaii would have had me, but they don't need any more people. The Stormhammer only recently finished repairs and is short-staffed. Plus, the captain's some kind of hopeless Lunar cross - like, at least four obvious races - so I'm hoping to run into less prejudice there. Not that I care who likes me, but it makes life easier."

* * *

"Impressive ship you have here, captain," approved Shade in her natural voice. Much to her delight, Nightshade had been mostly sulking for the last month. 'Nightshade' was a wraith, a misty creature from the Dark Moon, residing in Shade's mind. Usually wraiths had full control of their host body but, due to unusual circumstances Shade tended to be the dominant personality. The way to tell who was in charge was the voice. Shade's voice was light and had the Dark Moon accent. Nightshade sounded more like she wasn't sure what to make of vocal cords, so every word sounded forced and guttural.

It seemed her new will-power stemmed from the fact that her father was back. Red-Eye and some others had been stranded on a little planet called Third Earth for years, but recently they had returned. Currently, Shade was returning to the Dark Moon after a short conference with the new queen on the Third Moon, and her transport was no less than the Goliath.

Captain Taralon perked up slightly at the compliment paid to his ship. Lately he had been rather depressed. He was a strong supporter of Aristarchus, but the former Moonking had been ousted by Luna. Despite this, he remained in command of the Goliath. He was the one who best knew how to run it, after all.

Of course, he wasn't completely trusted. Luna had stacked his crew in her favour, so his second-in-command and chief engineer were loyal to her. The other senior staff didn't really care.

But he was ignoring his guest. "It is, isn't it? I trust you've found your stay comfortable?" Taralon asked pleasantly. Of course, hiding behind that facade was a man furious to being demoted from 'Captain of the Imperial Flagship' to 'Captain of a Flying Hotel'. Aristarchus spoke of bringing back the old glory of the Empire. He just never had time to do so...

"Very," agreed Shade, oblivious to the icewalker's hidden displeasure.

"Captain Taralon, I've just picked up an object on the sensors." The speaker was Darius the changeling. Not a Lunatac, but a something from the Third Moon. Taralon hadn't asked for him either; the shapechanger came with Tycho. Tycho - Moonking before Aristarchus, second-cousin to Luna, and current commander of his ship. But Darius didn't get in the way and occasionally made himself useful, so Taralon didn't complain about him.

Glad to be pulled from his duties of Overglorified Hotel Director, Taralon turned to the changeling. "Well, what is it?"

"Unknown. Seems like some sort of escape pod," replied Darius. "Here. I've got a visual lock."

The image on the screen did indeed appear to be an escape pod. It was speeding along at a decent clip, and its green-black outer hull seemed to glisten slightly with reflected light. "Origin? Design? Life signs?" asked Taralon.

"Unknown, unknown, and unknown," reported the shapechanger. "There might be something in there, but maybe the weird stuff the pod's made of is messing up my readings."

Inside Shade's mind, Nightshade said, I recognize it.

Shade asked, What is it?

I said I recognize it, not that I can identify it. Racial memory, Lunatac. Nothing more.

Taralon continued, "Get a tractor beam on it and tow it into Cargo Bay Four. Tell Tycho and a security team to meet me there."

"Yes, sir."

Shade asked, Do you want to go along to see this? Maybe a closer look will trigger your memory.

Nightshade said, Be quiet and let me think.

* * *

Also on board was the telepath Tanthas. Mystan, Luna's Court Advisor, had wanted to arrest him, but there was nothing to arrest him for. There were no laws against trying to get married, and no way to prove that he had only tried to wed Luna for her title.

Being no longer welcome on the Third Moon, the telepath had arranged transportation on board the Goliath. He wasn't sure really where to go. The other three Moons had conditions too harsh for his liking, and he wasn't fond of space travel... he assumed he would eventually go home to the Desert Moon, even though he had grown used to a softer life.

* * *

Some escape pod, Taralon thought. The image on the viewscreen gave no idea of size. Unless it had a very thick hull, whatever was inside had to be over eight feet tall and built like Luna's guardian Amok. Even if whatever was inside was friendly, Taralon was not a man to take chances. Hence the security team.

Upon closer inspection, Taralon thought he recognized the alien symbols. Maybe it was something Aristarchus told him once. A piece of Lunatac history? Maybe the symbols were ancient Lunatak ( he mentally made the end syllable harder. The pronunciation of their race-name had changed over time. ) That would explain the familiarity. Also, Aristarchus said that once the Lunatak Empire was huge, covering a third of the galaxy. Some great disaster later forced them back to the Moons of Plundarr. If so, that could also explain why it was found entering the Plundarr/New Thundera system.

He still kept the security team, though.

And if Tycho's expression were any indication, he seemed to be quite interested in the stasis pod as well. Concern was the dominant emotion showing, but Taralon could understand that. But, enough stalling. "Open it up," he ordered a random crewman. "Let's see if we've got a new guest."

The pod opened with the slight 'hiss' of escaping air, and a thick fog seeped over the edges and onto the floor. "It's cryogenic," said the crewman, tapping a few buttons on his hand-sensor. "But I'm still not picking up any life signs... no, wait..." The little display obediently reported that whatever had been in cryostasis was slowly waking up. And like all good horror-movie characters, the crewman leaned over the pod to peer through the mist and perhaps see what was inside.

The Lunar Blade was in Tycho's hand before he even realized he drew it. Usually the sword would only give him feelings, but this time he heard a voice as clearly as if it was spoken: "The Damned of the Damned! The Damned is returned!"

* * *

Knave gasped and doubled over in his seat, clutching at his temples. Psikaris was on her feet in an instant, catching the halfbreed around his shoulders. "Knave! What's wrong?"

The halfbreed cheetah's senses were screaming. "Something's been let loose!" he gasped before losing consciousness.

* * *

It was only Tanthas' highly trained ability to shut his mind that kept him from going mad in that instant. Even with his psychic senses numbed, he could still feel the heavy, alien undercurrent. It was like the time he touched the mind of the wraith, but somehow much, much worse.

* * *

An instant later, before anyone could move, the Lunatac disappeared in a spray of blood. "As soon as you see the alien, kill it!" Taralon shouted.

Instead of just standing up so the security team could pick it off, the alien somehow leapt straight into the air. The few Lunatacs with the presence of mind to fire missed. The monster landed, immediately tearing into the nearest guard with long claws. The laserfire of the others barely singed its strange hide as it tore and tossed the Lunatacs about like ragdolls.

It lashed out at Taralon next, but the icewalker had fast enough reflexes to avoid damage. It moved to strike again, but a blast from the Lunar Blade seared its flank and re-directed its attention. It leapt at Tycho, but was caught in mid-jump by an icewalker guard's freezing breath.

Threat contained, the remaining guards set about tending their wounded and wanting to know what was going on. The most common question being, "What the hell is that thing?"

Taralon and Tycho answered at the same time: "Tar'unt'Tar." Tycho didn't know where he got the word from. It just felt right. Taralon knew. Now that he could see the creature, he knew.

It was easily nine feet tall, mottled brown with orange highlights. Its tiny eyes were a malevolent, smouldering red. It had no visible ears or nose, and out of it's mouth curved two tusks, like the pinchers of a scarab beetle. Strangest of all were its limbs, arms that split at the elbow and legs that split at the knee. Four limbs split to eight. Aristarchus had hinted of such creatures to Taralon. These were what destroyed the Lunar Empire at the peak of its power.

Despite the chatter, everyone in the cargo bay fell silent when they heard the ominous, unmistakeable creak of cracking ice.

Even though the alien had ripped through their ranks once, the security team were well-trained Lunatac warriors and could adapt to new situations. Abandoning their standard-issue laser rifles, clawed hands reached for more traditional weapons. The ice cracked and fell away from the Tar'unt'Tar, and though its natural speed enabled it to slash through one more guard, the others tore into the alien with bloodlust, savagery, and various blades.

Taralon stood back over the carnage with a satisfied smile. He was an ice Lunatac, and thus had a taste for the occasional bloodletting. He wasn't pleased about the deaths of his crew, but the Tar'unt'Tar was currently in several mangled pieces, so he was satisfied. "Casualty report," he said after radioing for a med team.

"Shashik, Statin, Cheejauk, Taefrosta, and Dantmor were killed," said Tycho slowly, crouching by a psychic. "The rest of us are injured in varying amounts." He himself was covered in slashes; the Tar'unt'Tar had put a concentrated effort into trying to kill him.

"What about Mephi? She looks uninjured," said Taralon, indicating the blonde woman Tycho was with.

Tycho shrugged helplessly. "Psychic shock, I think. She's a hypnotist. She cast her psyche crystal at the Tar'unt'Tar and just collapsed."

"Damn," grumbled Taralon to the universe at large. But at least the alien was dead now. To the clean-up crew he said, "Take the stasis chamber to Science Lab Four and the alien to Psilin in Lab Six."

* * *

"Another case of psychic shock?" asked Nyctanys, chief medical officer of the Goliath, looking down at Mephi. The darkling looked more annoyed than worried, given the shape of the rest of the security team. "Her and every other sensitive on this ship. Everything from fainting to migraines to nausea. Not much you can do for it. I only kept the more severe cases around for observation."

Like the cheetah halfbreed. Taralon wasn't as interested in him as the person he came in with. "Psikaris," said the captain, "When you're done here, I want you to report to Science Lab Four. That's where the stasis pod is."

The engineer nodded. "Of course, sir." Then to Knave, "Will you be okay here?"

"If not here, where else?"

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Psikaris replied. Truth be told, she was itching to get her hands on the alien technology.

* * *

Science Lab Four was second home to the scientists Mesine and Lilias. The two themselves weren't much respected by the other scientists on the Goliath; both were too curious about everything to become specialists. However, because of their general skills, they tended to get first crack at anything new, which only served to fuel the animosity between them and the other departments. Mesine and Lilias didn't care.

Psikaris found the two engaged at various tasks; she standing before a machine, he crouched by the pod itself. The small Lunar man waved Psikaris over. "Hi, we were warned you'd be coming. I'm Lilias, by the way. That's Mesine." The gray psi-woman made a slight noise of acknowledgement without turning around.

The engineer went to the pod, opposite from Lilias. "What have you found out?"

Mesine snorted. "Nothing. It's been ten minutes."

"Ignore her," Lilias advised Psikaris. "She likes to pretend she hates people."

"How about you pretend to have a work ethic, Lilias? I've still got a headache."

"Slave-driver."

There was no malice in either voice. Psikaris assumed the casual fighting was just part of the scientists' relationship. "What do you want me to do?"

"You're an engineer," said Mesine, not unkindly. "Start with the engine."

* * *

Science Lab Six was the domain of the Biology Department, under the rule of Psilin. The sandweller gave the thing on the table a distasteful glance as she pulled her gloves on. Not because the creature was ugly ( one of her assistants took one look at the thing and left to be violently ill ), but because of its state of disrepair. Never mind that it tore through five security guards like tissue paper; that was Nyctanys' problem. Psilin was a perfectionist, thus liked her specimens to be in good condition.

Were she prone to such things, Psilin would have sighed. The military had no respect for the sciences.

One of her stronger-stomached assistants, Emefdei, looked at the mess curiously. "Was its blood that dark when it was brought in?"

Psilin scowled, but looked again. "It's turning black," she said, curious. Taking one of her larger scalpels, she cut deeply into a chunk of meat that used to be a leg. A clear fluid seeped out, which darkened in the bright light as the biologists watched. "Silver-based," murmured Psilin. "Dim the lights, Emefdei," she instructed. "I want a few pure samples of this stuff before we do anything else."

* * *

After being tended by one of the medical staff, Tycho was declared fit for duty provided he took it easy. Darius had other ideas, and insisted that the young prince rest for a few days. The shapechanger would take over Tycho's duties for the time.

Which is why Tycho found himself still in the medlab after two days. More specifically, in Mephi's room. The blonde, silver-skinned woman still hadn't wakened from her psychic shock, though the other sensitives on board had fully recovered. He wasn't even sure why he was with her; he'd seen her around the ship once or twice before. That was all. Besides, he preferred his women darker, softer-featured, and shorter. Definitely shorter.

And his attention wasn't even focussed at the woman on the bed. As usual, Tycho was sitting on the chair, facing away from her, with the Lunar Blade drawn and lying across his lap. It knew what the alien was, if he could just get the information out of it. It was strange; back during the fight, something in the Blade had manifested powerfully. He had heard one of its many voices clearly, and that voice was terrified. As he fought the Tar'unt'Tar, Tycho had felt taller, stronger, than he had any right to be, and even now sometimes expected to look down upon a body clad in armour the likes of which hadn't been seen for thousands of years...

Tycho sighed. The Lunar Blade drove Aristarchus to paranoia, was it now driving him insane? The thoughts whirling through his mind... he had no idea where they came from or what they meant. If only I could organize them, maybe I could get some answers...

Another insane thought occurred to him. He could use the Lunar Blade to read minds, he just had to focus on the person. What if he tried that trick on himself? It was a crazy idea, but it was a bizarre sword in the hands of a man himself going batty. Tycho rested one hand on the hilt of the Blade, took a deep breath, and focused.

Dimly Tycho remained aware of the med room, of the chair he sat in, of the Goliath. But superimposed over those things, and somehow more real, were swirling purple mists. Out of the void stepped a sandweller warrior, clad in millennias-old armour. Before he spoke, Tycho knew him as the Voice that warned him of the Tar'unt'Tar: "My young prince," said the warrior in a slightly-off Desert accent, "From here there is little I can do, but my skill is at thy service and the service of the Empire."

"Who are you? Are we in the sword?"

"I am Boron of the Stormhammer Clan of the Charavah Yerah, my prince, and once-General of the Lunatak Armada and advisor to young Queen Lunaria. My soul is tied to the Lunar Blade and I am inside it. Thou hast merely cast thine perception inside."

"I'm Tycho," said Tycho, then added, "Of the Lunar Clan of the Third Moon. I'm second cousin to the current Queen. What was that thing?"

Boron shuddered slightly. "Tar'unt'Tar, the Damned of the Damned. That is what we called them, named for an ancient iztla yerin legend of mountain-demons."

Iztla yerin. Ice Lunatacs. "Yes, but what are they? Why did we find a stasis pod now?"

"They are aliens," stated Boron, "And we know not why they chose to tear through the Empire. There was no way to understand them; telepaths went mad when they tried to feel their minds, and empaths could not understand their emotions." The warrior shook his head. "Their motives do not matter. Perhaps we came too close to their territory, perhaps they saw us as sport. We do know that they had but one planet, and we destroyed it, thank Yerith. As to the stasis pod," he shuddered again, "We tried to destroy them all, but there must be hundreds such left in the galaxy. I weep for any who find them. If Yerith is merciful, all the others will crash into suns or be exposed to the dark vacuum of space."

That made sense. A stasis pod could, in theory, last forever. Depending on how fast it was going and where it started from, it could take thousands of years to get to the Moons. And space was fairly empty; it was feasible ( unlikely, but feasible ), that such a craft could escape destruction. "Are they psychic?"

The warrior nodded. "Yes, my prince, and horribly so. They reached their minds toward our people, and where those foul thoughts went, madness went also."

Which would explain what happened to the sensitives on board the Goliath. Either they felt the psychic overspill of the Tar'unt'Tar or it tried to induce insanity in the crew, but since it was weak from its long stasis, it failed. Tycho noted with some worry that the effects were felt throughout the ship. If the creature had a range, it was very long.

Something else occurred to Tycho. Taralon knew what the Tar'unt'Tar was. Tycho learned from the Lunar Blade... Aristarchus. Did Aristarchus learn of these aliens and mention them to Taralon? "Has anyone else cast their perception in here?"

"Rarely. The secrets were lost even in my time. The last was the King Aristarchus."

"I thought so. Did you tell him about the Tar'unt'Tar?" Tycho asked.

"No. The King Aristarchus was unfocused and could not contact us as thou hast. Indeed, he tried to read all of our secrets at once, despite our warnings." Boron sighed. "I fear it may have broken his mind."

Tycho shook his head. "Aristarchus isn't completely insane, though he's close. How many of you voices are in here?"

"I have encountered thirty-three distinct spirits within the void. I was one of the last to join their number. Ask me not how, for I cannot answer."

Something stirred in the room with Tycho. "Something's happening over here. I should go."

"Fare thee well, young prince."

The void faded, leaving only the Goliath. Tycho looked around to see what had disturbed him, and found Mephi staring at him with her luminous hypnotist's eyes. "I'm sorry," stammered Tycho. "I..."

Mephi's yellow eyes were wide with fright. "Where were you just now?"

The prince looked confused. "Right here."

"No, your body was sitting there, but I couldn't feel your mind," she explained, "And now there's something else looking through your eyes!"

::Forgive my boldness, young prince,:: said Boron. ::I was able to follow thy consciousness back to thy mind. I wish only to see the Empire again.::

"Oh, fine," sighed Tycho, then regretted saying it out loud.

Oddly, Mephi didn't look at him strangely. "I... heard him," she said. "I'm telepathic; I just speciallized in hypnotism."

"You tried to do that to the alien, didn't you?" Tycho asked. The psi-woman nodded. That would explain why she was hit with the worst case of psychic shock. "Could you read anything? What was it thinking?"

"I don't know," Mephi replied, clenching her fists in frustration. "It felt, but I can't explain the feeling. It thought, but I couldn't understand. It was like trying to read something in another language, but with randomly changing letters."

::And yet thee survived?:: asked the voice in Tycho's mind. ::I am impressed.::

"I saw it only for an instant," Mephi admitted. "Then I blacked out."

* * *

"The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little."

"Pardon?"

"Sorry," said Psikaris. She and Lilias were still carefully taking the stasis pod apart. "Just part of a story I read once. It just popped into my head: The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but someday the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we should either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."

Lilias chuckled. "I hope that's not true, or Mesine and I will be out of a job. Where are those results, anyway?"

"Keep your shirt on," Mesine directed from the other side of the room. "One, I'm almost finished. Two, you aren't nearly as good-looking as you think you are." With that, the sandweller ripped a print-out from the device. And her perpetual scowl deepened. "There's something wrong with the machine."

"What is it?" Lilias asked. He went to peer over her shoulder, remembered he was too short, and settled for looking over her arm. "No, no, see? It could work. Maybe."

Psikaris, overcome with curiosity, wandered over. "What's wrong?"

"I was dating the various pieces of the stasis chamber that you people gave me," Mesine said accusingly, as if it were Psikaris and Lilias' fault that her readings were strange. "For the most part, they're only a few years old. Some parts, all on the outer hull, range from five years to nearly ten thousand."

"The outer hull has random patches of aging?" asked Psikaris.

Lilias raised an eyebrow. "Repairs done over a ten thousand year period?"

"Don't be ridiculous," scoffed Mesine.

"Besides, the hull was all one piece," Psikaris reminded him. Then, "It looked okay, though. No damage on it... at... all?"

"She's right," said Lilias. "Aside from a few burn marks on the back, it was in perfect condition."

Mesine was already at one of the Lab's four computers. "I'm downloading the sensor logs in an attempt to back-trace the pod's course." She typed a few numbers. "Now, given its direction and speed, assuming that it maintained a constant speed... This isn't right, either. Look. It would have gone through a heavily-trafficked part of Solarian space, and crashed right through Iph Anoli."

"No, look," said Lilias, nudging her aside. "Rewind a bit... there! It just appeared on the scanner. The sensors have a longer range than that."

"It just appeared," said Psikaris, puzzling over the data. "Anyway, I can't help with this. I'm going to take the engine down to the testing bay."

* * *

Tanthas wandered aimlessly through the corridors of the ship, looking for something without being sure what he was looking for.

There was an intruder on board the Goliath.

The telepath's wanderings brought him to the medlab, where he almost ran into the wraith-possessed darkling girl coming the other way. He stepped back and bowed slightly. "Shade."

"Tanthas," she said quietly. Twit, said Nightshade, though only Shade could hear. Send him away. He's probably here after what we're after, and he'll get in the way.

And how am I supposed to do that? Shade asked in her mind. Nightshade grumbled a bit, but stopped complaining.

"Can I help you?" Nyctanys asked when the sandweller and darkling walked into the medlab.

"No. No, I'm just looking for someone," said Shade. Tanthas used the doctor's distraction to walk past her, though he didn't notice her anyway. His attention was occupied by a room down the hall.

He moved through the hall like a sleepwalker, and didn't bother to knock at the door. Mephi looked surprised, and Tycho whirled to see what she was looking at. "Tanthas. What are you doing here?"

"Tracking an intruder," Tanthas replied. "He's here."

"There's no one here but Mephi and mysel..." Tycho started, then remembered; Tanthas is a powerful telepath. "Oh, yes. Boron. He's a spirit. Perfectly harmless."

"Harmless," repeated Tanthas.

Tycho looked at the older man curiously, and through his eyes, so did Boron. ::He was the one who controlled Aristarchus to delve into the secrets of the Lunar Blade,:: said the sandweller warrior. ::But he was a sharp mind, dangerous, like a poisonous snake. Like...:: Boron paused, and didn't continue that thought. ::Something is wrong. Something dulls him.::

Apparently Shade got away from Nyctanys, because she walked in. "Tycho, Nightshade has been warning me of... ahh!" The darkling girl staggered, then looked up. With a guttural snarl, she launched herself at the young prince.

Startled by the sudden assault, Tycho was knocked to the floor, the Lunar Blade knocked from his grasp. Even though he fought back with all he had, it wasn't nearly enough. Shade was bigger, stronger, and the more competent warrior. Luna had warned him of Shade's personality changes. "Get off of me, Nightshade!"

"Damn you, why can't I remember?" demanded Nightshade in her strange voice. "Flames and void and cold and dark so dark so dark and warm and lost and all alone and now I'm trapped I'm trapped in this weak shell and now you're trapped, you're trapped like me, I'll kill you kill you like you killed them all and he, and he will help me back to might and strength and..."

"That's enough!" Mephi snarled. She stood and twisted Shade's arms behind her back, pinning the darkling woman.

By now, two more security officers ran in. "Remind me to schedule more speed drills," Tycho muttered to no one in particular. Louder he said, "Take Shade down to the brig until she calms down." The security officers complied, followed soon after by the still-dazed Tanthas. "Thank you, Mephi."

The hypnotist straightened her hair. "Just because I'm out of uniform doesn't mean I'm not a security officer."

* * *

"Well, if it isn't the most wonderful engineer in the Fleet. And in my hangar." Cameo winked. "I've barely seen you in two days, 'Karis. I was afraid I was going to get a ransom note from Mesine and Lilias soon."

Psikaris allowed him to hold her for a few minutes, then moved out of his embrace. "I'm still on shift, you know. We've run into some rather odd readings on the stasis chamber, so I decided to test the engine and leave the hypothesizing to the scientists. Don't you have work to do?"

"Slow day. How about I help you with your work, in exchange that I get you all to myself tonight? I know you like your work, but you get too caught up in it. And at least I can make sure you eat right and get a full night's sleep."

"You're as bad as my brother," Psikaris sighed.

Cameo smiled. "Well, I can't let the Goliath lose its chief engineer, can I? Let's see this engine of yours."

She gestured to the table. "I was just about to start the tests. There seems to be two parts to this device: the engine, and a part I don't understand." She stepped around to a console, followed by Cameo, and hit a switch. The engine sat there and hummed. "Well, at least the part that looks like an engine also works like one."

"Only more so," said Cameo. "Look at these readings! Even Solarian liquid light doesn't generate that much power. Why would they waste something this powerful on a little stasis pod?"

"Maybe it wasn't powerful to them," Psikaris replied. "All right, let's see what happens if we activate the unknown part of the device." She turned on the alien drive. The power readings jumped off the scale, and the device vanished.

Psikaris hit the intercom. "Mesine, Lilias! Scan the hangar. Are you detecting a cloak or a teleport signature?"

Mesine's voice answered. "No. No other abnormal readings either, unless you count Cameo."

The engineer blushed slightly, even though Cameo was merely helping her with the tests. "Thank you, Mesine. I was just double-checking."

"Any problems down there?"

"No. No, everything's fine. Psikaris out." She turned off the comm unit, then sagged against the console. "I've just misplaced an entire engine. Cameo, what am I going to do? And what are you doing?"

Cameo snatched his hand back guiltily from where he was waving it through the space the engine had been. "Just making sure it hadn't gone invisible," he said.

Psikaris mentally kicked herself for not thinking of that possibility, even if it was kind of dumb to stick your hand there. "All right, not a cloak, not a teleport, not invisible. I've heard of intangibility cloaks that change the molecular vibration rate so normal matter passes through it, but I've never heard of it working on anything larger than a few square inches. Even then, the power needed..."

"Which this little thing might be able to generate," Cameo reminded her.

"Maybe," Psikaris granted. Anything else she would have said was forgotten when the engine reappeared. No flash, no phase-in, it was just there. "At least it's back," she sighed. "If only we knew where it had been. I guess this fourth set of controls activates the strange part, rather than just regulating the power flow." With that, she switched them off and repeated her first experiment. The engine sat there and hummed.

"Could it be some kind of dimensional phase-out?" asked Cameo. "Like, if it went and sat in the Astral Plane for a few minutes?"

The ice hybrid sighed. "Maybe, but why have a timer on it? It doesn't make sense. Lilias said the whole pod appeared out of nowhere, and the pod was pretty weird, too." Psikaris talked mostly to focus her ideas. "We're not sure how old the pod is. The inner workings can't be more than five years old, though the outer hull has patches up to ten thousand."

One of Cameo's eyebrows shot up. "Time travel and the shielding was fuzzy?"

"Really now, that's impossi... maybe. Maybe time isn't so special. Maybe it's just another direction," Psikaris started, warming to the subject. "These controls make the pod go up and down, these go left and right, these go forwards and back, and these go ninety degrees to all of those. The engine was there the whole time, it just moved forward in time. Its 'reappearance' was just our perception catching up."

"What good would it do?" asked Cameo, "Aside from allowing it to go in a straight line from A to B? It would just go 'over' obstacles in three-dimensional space. Would it save on fuel?"

Psikaris nodded. "Perhaps. It would have only to move an infintisimal amount to go 'over' something, like a two-dimensional thing would need only jump high enough to clear an obstacle that was infinitely thin."

"I think I follow. So the engine just slipped 'below' our perception and moved 'forward' to another point in the plane."

"Exactly!" said Psikaris, "I think. The problem here is that there are no fourth-dimensional adjectives. I could say that since I made the borogroves mimsy, allowing the engine to outgrabe, but it would be gibberish."

"I've heard those words before," said Cameo.

The engineer shrugged. "Part of a poem:

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimbel in the wabe.

All mimsy were the borogroves,

And the mome raths outgrabe."

* * *

Cameo woke up and found a note on his end table: Couldn't wait to tell M and L about the mome raths. No, I won't skip breakfast. Love, Psikaris.

The icewalker smiled slightly. If nothing else, Psikaris enjoyed her job. Sometimes Cameo felt jealous that he was her second love, but he knew better than to try to break up Psikaris and her engines. He had a morning shift anyway, so he got dressed and headed down to the mess hall.

That's where he first heard about the monster.

* * *

"Does that look like it could have done anything?" Psilin demanded, pointing savagely at the general mess on her operating table.

"Something attacked two members of my crew and killed them," Taralon snapped. "Something that left the same type of marks your pet left on half a security team."

"This alien was in six pieces when I got him, and now is in seventeen. Most of those are in neatly labelled jars. Find a more mobile suspect. Didn't you gain any information from your security cameras?"

Taralon snarled. "You think we didn't try that first? Power was blacked out in that section; that's why those two crewmen were there, to repair it. And the sensors don't show any aliens or extra life signs."

"We've got a theory on that if you're interested." Taralon and Psilin turned to see Lilias in the doorway. He winked at the sandweller. "It's got nothing to do with biology, so you might not understand it, Psilin."

"Go stick a test tube somewhere uncomfortable."

"Like up your left nostril?"

"Psilin, Lilias, please be civil," ordered Taralon. "What have you got, Lilias?"

Lilias shot a smug look at Psilin, then pointedly ignored her. "Fourth-dimensional travel. Psikaris ran the idea by Mesine and I earlier this morning. That's how the first stasis pod just popped into existence.

"The point we're trying to make is what if there was a second pod? And not a stasis pod, but a ship? What if it saw the pod vanish from the fourth dimension, and curious, tracked it with its sensors. The alien on board then saw that we picked up the pod, and decided to try to rescue his fellow."

Psilin snorted. "Right. Why didn't Alien Number Two just pick up the pod himself?"

"Maybe his ship was too small. I don't know. All we're saying is that there was a second alien who followed the first," huffed Lilias, "And that this one has a personal dimensional-shifting device to avoid detection."

"Feasible, but wrong," said Taralon. "Even if your second alien appeared for a second, the internal sensors would have detected him. They did on the creature in the cargo bay. Work on it." Lilias nodded slightly, and left. "What can you tell me of your creature then, Psilin?"

The biologist picked up a clipboard. "Clear, silver-based blood that goes black in light. That's why the lights are dim in here. No vocal cords, and almost completely atrophied ears. Apparently whatever planet they were on had a thick atmosphere that made sound useless, though this developed over time. Also a fairly dark world, for bright lights would turn one black. Oxygen-breathing, likely herbivorous judging by their flat teeth and length of intestine. The tusks and spines are useless except for defence, so they probably started fairly low on their planet's food chain. I can't think of why their limbs split like that. Maybe they started as octopeds and were phasing that out, or vice-versa."

"Keep on it."

* * *

"There he goes again. This is getting weird."

"You've got some psychic abilities, Knave," said Cameo, "Can you pick on what's wrong with him?" The 'him' in question was Tanthas, who seemed to be running on automatic pilot, wandering the Goliath with an attitude of acute listening. Cameo and Knave were having breakfast in the mess hall.

Knave shook his head. "What could I do? He's a telepath; he probably just got a severe dose of what zapped me. Even that security girl who blacked out is doing okay. He'll come around."

The icewalker sighed, playing with his fork. "Everything's been going strange since we picked up that pod. Tanthas 'sleepwalking', Tycho's been distracted, which puts Darius in a bad mood, 'Karis is caught up in her weird time-travel theories and quotes nonsense poetry, the Fifth Moon delegate attacked Tycho, and now there's an invisible, undetectable monster stalking around. You're lucky, you get transferred to the Stormhammer in two days."

* * *

"You what?" Darius and Tycho were walking down to the brig.

"I've got the ghost of an ancient sandweller warrior living in my head," Tycho said. "He was one of the voices in the Lunar Blade, and he transferred himself to my brain so that he can see what's become of the Empire."

"And?" asked Darius. The shapechanger was Tycho's bodyguard. He showed up two years before, and gave himself to the then-Moonking's service. He could deal with most physical threats, so the mental ones frustrated him to no end.

Tycho sighed. "He complains a lot. Thinks we should have rebuilt the Empire by now. Dislikes crossbreeding. Doesn't trust you. Really hates Shade. Well, Nightshade. The feeling is mutual. She didn't attack me in the medlab; Nightshade was trying to kill Boron. I want to see what you can make of it."

"Aren't you worried that your continued contact with the darkling woman will allow Nightshade to continue to manifest?"

"Not really. According to the guards, Shade hasn't been in control since Nightshade attacked. Ah, here we are." Tycho dismissed the guard to the corridor, and stepped into the prisoner viewing area.

Nightshade, in the body of Shade, flung herself at the barrier and bounced off. "You again, damn you. Let me out. I will tear you down with purifying flame and show him that I am worthy."

"You mentioned 'him' before," said Tycho. "'Him', who?"

"He who will free me," growled Nightshade. "He who will separate me from this soft, pink flesh."

Darius pulled Tycho aside. "Usually wraiths can leave a host body at will, but Shade is a strange case. Nightshade possessed her before her birth, and became tied to her."

"Could a powerful psychic free Nightshade? I've heard of telepaths who can leave their own bodies to possess another," said Tycho.

"True telepaths are rare and powerful ones even more so. Who would be on this ship? Tanthas has the power and you did try to kill him once," Darius reminded him.

The prince rolled his eyes. "Right, while he was pretending to be an elyon Lunatac called Luntalus. Besides, he seems pretty well out of it. Any others?"

"Lureline, Mephi, Mesran, Lura, and Auryth," said Darius. "Mephi and Lura are the most powerful of that group, though only Mephi has been fully trained in the use of that power."

"Mephi is a 'her'."

"Still, we must keep our minds open."

Tycho ignored Darius' tone of voice. "What about all the fire imagery? She keeps threatening to kill me and burn the remains." Indeed, Nightshade was ranting on that subject again.

"That's how the wraith-possessed are destroyed," Darius said, "Either burned alive or cremated immediately. The flames dry out the misty wraiths."

"Come to think of it, that's how you permanently kill telepaths," said Tycho. "Psychro told me after he fought Tanthas. The reason he didn't kill him in that duel was because he figured Tanthas would jump bodies on him. Psychro couldn't burn him down because he wasn't allowed to use his powers in the fight. I'm not sure how the fire stops them." He looked over again at Nightshade. "I don't think we can learn anything more here."

* * *

During the ship's night, Nightshade awoke to the soft sound of a security guard's lungs filling with his own blood. By the time the misshapen shadow lurched into the viewing area, the darkling was waiting. "You came," she said as quietly as her gravelly voice would allow.

The creature, hulking, brown, with orange highlights, nodded and casually tore the access panel from the wall. Within seconds, the forcefield dropped.

Nightshade looked up at the alien in awe. "I won't fail again," she promised before blending into the shadows and running off down the hall.

The Tar'unt'Tar watched the darkling go, then loped off in the other direction.

* * *

Tycho woke up and pulled on a heavy purple bathrobe when he heard the knock on the door of his quarters. "This better be important," he grumbled, opening the door.

He saw the Lunar Blade flash its warning from the corner of his eye an instant before he was knocked over. "You again?"

"And this time you're without help," Nightshade growled.

True, Tycho realized. Where is that Darius? Darius was still stewing about Boron's little sojourn into Tycho's mind and had disappeared somewhere.

::I can help thee, like the Lunar Blade guides thy actions.::

The possessed darkling's hands were at his throat. Anything! Do it!

Tycho felt his consciousness shift. While he still saw everything, his body felt numb and detached. He saw his own hands ( tiny, pale, weak things ) reach up and hit Nightshade at a point on her neck. The darkling rocked back, convulsively clutching her throat and gasping for breath. A few more quick blows to specific points, and Nightshade collapsed to the floor.

Boron withdrew, and Tycho tapped the comm unit to summon a security team. They appeared in two minutes, Darius forty-five seconds later. And within another five, the security team reported back that part of how Nightshade escaped was that the guard outside her cell was dead.

* * *

And in ten minutes, the senior staff gathered for an emergency meeting. Taralon slammed a blue fist into the table. "I want this monster caught, I want it killed, and I don't care if it takes every man we've got!" They tried asking Nightshade what was going on, but she wouldn't talk. Torture wouldn't work; they'd just be hurting Shade. And no telepath on board was powerful enough to reach the wraith's mind.

"The injuries were of the same type that killed the other two," agreed Nyctanys.

"The alien is highly intelligent, but we knew that from the level of technology in the stasis pod," said Darius. "Instead of blacking out the area, he set a short, repeating loop in the security cameras. Of course, he couldn't fully block the internal sensors without setting off an alarm."

Psikaris stepped in. "I've looked over all that. Internal sensors were turned down, though not off. According to those, the intruder couldn't have been an alien; it didn't register any abnormalities."

"Just out of curiosity," said Tycho, "Which species do the sensors count as acceptable?"

"Lunatac, Thunderan, Plundarrian, Solarian, and Darius," Psikaris replied.

"Could it have devised some sort of cloak?" asked Taralon.

The engineer shook her head. "Most unlikely. Cloaks give off certain signatures."

"What I want to know," said Nyctanys, "Is how it snuck up on that security guard. The first two walked into a darkened room; this guard was a darkling. The halls are long. No matter how fast the creature could run, the guard should have seen it and got at least one shot off. My people can see through most cloaking fields. Yet the internal sensors picked up no weapons discharge."

"Most cloaks," said Tycho.

"Or he might have just phased in, and the guard didn't have time to react," added Psikaris.

Captain Taralon shook his head. "The alien would be detected as soon as he appeared."

"Unless he had some type of cloak we couldn't detect," Darius reminded him.

"Round and round and round, and the same mixture as before," quoted Psikaris. Then she cringed, realizing she said that out loud. "Sorry."

"I want at least two separate stations making sure the internal sensors are running at all times," Taralon said. "I want them looking for any sort of cloak, energy field, teleport signature, alien, anything that shouldn't be there."

Darius and Psikaris spoke at the same time: "I'll get right on it."

"This is only monitoring duty," said Taralon. "The night crew can handle it."

* * *

"Oh, great moon gods, not another one." For a few seconds, Nyctanys didn't recognize the tiny, broken form Tycho carried into the medlab. Of course, aside from Tycho, she was the only one on the Goliath who could recognize Darius in his natural form. Usually he was about five-foot-ten, medium build, with black hair and turquoise skin. His true shape was much smaller, almost a foot shorter, slight, pale green-gray skin, with antennae and bat-like wings.

Tycho gently lay his friend and bodyguard on a bed. "He's not dead, just very close."

The darkling grabbed her supplies and quickly took stock of the shapechanger's injuries. "The marks are the same as on the others. Luckily for Darius, changelings are tougher than they look. Where was he?"

"In a side corridor. We split up after the meeting, but I remembered something I wanted to talk to him about, so I used the sensors to find him. Tried to, anyway. They were still dimmed from the alien's attack on the brig guard. I eventually found him by accident," Tycho explained.

Nyctanys never looked up from her work. "Why would it attack him? Was he getting too close to the truth about it?"

"Maybe. I don't know," Tycho said, clenching his small fists in frustration. "The Tar'unt'Tar are psychic; maybe it read our minds during the meeting. Maybe he was on the right track about the untraceable cloaking device."

"But if it was untraceable, why dim the sensors?"

::She is correct. There is something else afoot here,:: said Boron in Tycho's mind.

Tycho sighed. I had forgotten about you.

The psi-race warrior ignored the implied insult. ::If thy friend yet lives, perhaps the answers still rest in his mind.::

The Tar'unt'Tar are psychic. Why try to kill him? Why not just erase his memories or drive him insane?

::I don't know.::

And either way, the Lunar Blade can only read the minds of Lunatacs. Darius is a changeling. His mind is closed to me.

::There are other telepaths on board, correct?::

Of course! Tycho went to a comm unit and turned it on. "Lieutenant Mephi, please report to the medlab."

* * *

Mephi arrived soon thereafter and was quickly filled in. "Can you read his mind?"

She concentrated, but shrugged in defeat. "Not his. I can only pick up on active thoughts in aliens. If he was a Lunatac, I could get your answers. But for him, I haven't the ability."

::Tanthas.:: Tycho felt rather than saw Boron wrinkle his nose in distaste. ::Tanthas is skilled and powerful.::

* * *

The telepath didn't answer or even acknowledge the summons, so Mephi was sent to fetch him. She returned several minutes later, the older man in tow. Tycho said, "Darius has some important information regarding the alien in his mind. Could you find it?"

Tanthas blinked wearily at the young prince. He was a mess. His hair was loose and untidy, his clothing rumpled, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. "I couldn't even guess what number you're thinking," he said thickly.

Tycho resisted the urge to slap the telepath. "What the hells is wrong with you?"

"I'm tired. I feel like someone wrapped my brain in a towel." He paused and added, "It's a fluffy, pink towel."

Mephi stared a long moment at Tanthas, brow furrowed in concentration before she blinked in surprise. "There's a powerful psychic shield blocking his mind," she said, "And he's the one creating it."

"What?" Tycho whirled on Tanthas. "Why in the Six Hells would you do some damn-fool thing as shut yourself off?"

The telepath scowled. "I don't know. Leave me alone."

::Ask him this...:: said Boron, then explained.

Tycho repeated Boron's question: "Tanthas, you're a very powerful telepath. When the Tar'unt'Tar first appeared, I bet you got the worst psychic shock. Even more so than Mephi, because while she can skim the surface of minds, you can reach their very core. You got a split-second glimpse into the very essence of the Tar'unt'Tar. And that glimpse sent you reeling back into the depths of your own mind, whereupon you set up the most powerful barriers you could create to keep anything like that from happening again. Add to that a bit of self-memory erasing..."

"It's weakened," said Tanthas. "I can resist it. But not if I drop my shields."

"We need you to tell us what Darius knows so we can kill it," said Tycho.

"I won't drop my shields."

"Maybe I can help." Mephi went and stood in front of Tanthas. Slouched as he was, she could look directly into his eyes. "I am telepathic. I can open my mind to you, so that you can send your perception into me. I will let you use my power if you will use your skill to read Darius' mind. You don't need to receive with your own mind, only send."

Tanthas considered that, then said slowly, "Maybe it only sees me as the threat and will ignore you."

Mephi nodded and drew her psyche club. Though instead of casting it, she merely held it out to the telepath, who wrapped long fingers around the crystal. Both closed their eyes in concentration, though Mephi's snapped open a few moments later. She let out a long sigh. "Oh, yes, this is much better."

The young prince raised an eyebrow. "Tanthas?"

"In the flesh of another," Tanthas said through Mephi. "This won't be easy. The young lady is merely a conduit for my consciousness. If the connection were to sever while I was looking to the changeling..."

"Just do it."

Mephi's head nodded and looked to Darius. Then, "Oh, great Yerith..."

* * *

The comm unit activated for the second time that night: "Psikaris, report to Lab Four immediately," said Taralon's voice. "We may have a way to track the alien."

"I swear I'm going to start turning that thing off at night," grumbled Cameo as he felt Psikaris leave his side.

"Shh, you know how important this is," she reminded him. She got changed, not worrying too much about modesty ( because the lights were off ), and stepped into the light of the hall.

And into a ring of a dozen security guards.

"Surrender," said Tycho. "We'd rather not hurt you."

Psikaris was too startled to reply. Behind her, the room light clicked on and a sleepy, indignant Cameo wandered over. "What is wrong with you, Tycho? Can't your crisis wait 'til morning?"

"Step away from her," Tycho ordered.

"You've got to be..." Cameo's complaint was cut off as rapidly extending claws slashed across his midsection. The attack was miscalculated, and did little more than scratch. Worse than that, however, was that his sweet, gentle Psikaris was turning into a monster before his eyes.

Blue skin deepened to mottled brown, arms and legs split at the joints, spines erupted from her back... it would take too long to describe the transformation, which was over in seconds. Two sets of claws tore into a guard who had stepped too close. "Don't kill her if you can help it," ordered Tycho, drawing the Lunar Blade.

"'Karis!" Cameo shouted, "Listen to me! You can fight this! You can..." Perhaps it was because she could fight it that the Tar'unt'Tar merely knocked the icewalker away, instead of ripping into him with stained claws.

"Laser weapons don't work," Tycho reminded the security team. "Try fire. She's half ice Lunatac."

Four of the security team were themselves icewalkers, and four bursts of flame exploded against the thick and mottled hide of the Tar'unt'Tar. The alien sank to its double-jointed knees before collapsing to the deck. From there, the cells of the creature slowly groped their way back to their natural state, and a slightly-smoking psi/ice hybrid in a torn uniform lay on the ground.

* * *

The meeting had been moved down to the brig, where Psikaris found herself with a power-dampening collar around her neck and her hands tied so she couldn't just take it off. Plus she was in a cell. The Goliath crew weren't taking any chances.

Nightshade, from her cell, had watched with curious amusement until a glare from Psikaris sent her scuttling back to cringe in a far corner. Tycho was loathe to leave Darius, but he knew he would just be in Nyctanys' way if he stayed. The others were Tanthas, Mephi, Cameo, and an irate Taralon. "Explain, Tycho."

"I'll try," said Tycho. "There never was a second Tar'unt'Tar. Being strongly psychic, the one in the pod was able to separate his mind from his body upon death. Some powerful Lunatac telepaths can do this, too. If we had burned the body instead of dissecting it, that would have killed the alien spirit. Instead, this spirit jumped to Psikaris."

Tanthas nodded his agreement. "However, a jumped telepath is weakened, having moved to a mind incapable of telepathy. All it can do is read minds, and even then not deeply. That's why we're all still here instead of dead by madness. It's also why it's still in Psikaris' mind, rather than a new host. Young Tycho was forced to leave you in the dark as to why you summoned Psikaris. If he called her, the Tar'unt'Tar would have known of the trap."

A voice opined something in Tycho's mind, and he said it aloud: "I bet it tried to jump to you first, Tanthas, which is why you shielded yourself so heavily. It wanted to retain its psychic abilities, but Psikaris made an adequate second choice." Then, "Darius figured out that Psikaris was possessed, at least, and had been thinking of it when he left the first meeting. Psikaris probably took on another form before shifting to the Tar'unt'Tar and attacking," Tycho said. "Fortunately he survived, and Tanthas was able to pull that information from him."

"And that would be why the sensors didn't register anything abnormal," added Mephi. "No matter what she looks like, Psikaris is a Lunatac. However, she had to dim the sensors because there's only three psi/ice hybrids on the ship. There was nothing as fancy as cloaks; she got close to the guard in her natural form, and you saw how fast she changed into the Tar'unt'Tar."

"But she's just not that powerful," protested Cameo. "Yes, yes, I saw her do it, but her skills are minor. I've never seen her shift that fast or to that degree before."

"I can help explain that," said Tanthas. "Psikaris always was afraid of her power, thus set subconscious limits on herself. There was a time on Third Earth that the subconscious barriers of psychics were down, and her powers were out of control." Noting Cameo's rising anger, he added, "I didn't read her mind. I got this after sifting through Mystan's memories some weeks ago." - 'Know thine enemy' was a piece of advice Tanthas took to extremes - "He helped her through that time."

Cameo still looked annoyed, but didn't pursue the subject. "But how do we get that thing out of 'Karis? Exorcism? You said it's weak, Tanthas. Can you rip it out?"

"And do what with it?" sneered the telepath.

"Stuff it into another host body," said Tycho, "An animal or something, then burn it."

"It's possible," said Taralon slowly.

"And give it an opening into my mind?" asked Tanthas. "My memories of the last couple days are hazy, and Tycho's guess to why I shielded myself is as good as any." He was about to add, 'Just destroy the hybrid and be done with it', but knew that wouldn't go over too well.

"You're the only one with the power to do it," Mephi reminded him. If any other woman said that, she probably would have fluttered her eyelashes and gasped a bit. Mephi merely stated the fact.

"I could order you to do it," Taralon said.

Tanthas made an indignant noise. "You could not. I'm a civilian."

"Put it this way," Taralon growled, "Do it or we find a power-dampening collar in your size. They can be rigged to explode if you try to remove them."

The telepath regained his composure within seconds. "I'll do it, you blackmailing icewalker," snarled Tanthas. "Yerith help me, I'll do it. Your engineer might not actually be there any more, you know. At least, I would have destroyed the host psyche were I in its position."

Tanthas heard a soft 'snik', and felt a sharp point press into his back. "Don't give the alien any ideas," Cameo advised him.

Tycho left and returned about ten minutes later with a lab rat equivalent from the Biology Department. "Will this do?"

"If it has a brain, it will work," Tanthas assured him. As Tycho held the rat, Tanthas closed his eyes and focused his mind. He tried to visualize his psychic shielding, twisted into a funnel that the Tar'unt'Tar spirit would be sucked through, not touching him, but going straight into the rat. He had to block out everything else. There was a sensation like pulling one's foot out of quicksand, a dark blur ripped through the tunnel, then silence.

He opened his eyes. Tycho held the rat by the tail with his left hand. His right had the glove tucked under his arm while he sucked a small injury at the base of his thumb. The rat twisted furiously, trying to bite the young prince again. Psikaris had collapsed. Taralon and Mephi had each grabbed one of Cameo's arms and were holding him back from running to the engineer. Nightshade peered up from her corner with a curious expression of disappointment and relief.

Taralon shot Cameo a warning look, then let him go and walked over to Tycho and the rat. Without a word, Tycho dropped the squirming creature into his captain's hand, where it was immolated. Taralon dusted the ashes from his black gloves and turned back to Tanthas. "Well?"

Were he a less dignified man, Tanthas would have sagged against the wall in relief. "It's dead. The Tar'unt'Tar is destroyed. Psikaris is no longer possessed."

"But is she..?"

"She'll be fine," said the telepath, waving Cameo away. If she's lucky enough to not remember her time as a Tar'unt'Tar, she'll be fine.

* * *

Darius visibly relaxed when Tycho entered his room. Being a prisoner of the medlab had put him into a foul mood, but seeing his friend again helped. The changeling was still in his natural form, so the only people he allowed in were Nyctanys and Tycho anyway. Tycho smiled and pulled up a chair. "How are you?"

"Healing," grumbled what currently looked like a petulant demon-child. "How is everyone else?"

"You'll be happy to know that Boron is back where he belongs; in the Lunar Blade," said Tycho. "Those who weren't killed are recovering nicely. I still haven't allowed Psikaris back to work; she's still trying to deal with the fact that she killed four people and maimed a few others while possessed. Nightshade went into remission after the Tar'unt'Tar was destroyed. And Tanthas is planning on leaving our fair ship next time we stop at the Fourth Moon. Which, surprisingly enough, is where we're headed now that we've finished with the Stormhammer."

"Good riddance," agreed Darius. "What about that Mephi girl?"

Tycho sighed. "If I didn't know you so well, I'd say you were jealous. Nothing has happened between us, nor will it. She remains Lieutenant Mephi, security woman on board the Goliath."

"Just so long as that's understood," muttered the changeling. "What's the official excuse for stopping off on the Desert Moon? Aside from getting rid of Tanthas."

The young prince smiled. "We're pretending that it's on our way to the Fifth Moon, so we can leave immediately and claim we had to deliver Shade."

The End.

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