“Ill news is wing’d with fate, and flies apace.”

–John Dryden, “Threnodia Augustalis”

Aertimus Bass simply stared at the viewscreen. There was nothing else he could do.

The report from Titan Station was not itself a disaster. Disasters were far less destructive. No, the report Centurium Oden gave was a gorram black hole of awful, a singularity of failure so dense that hope could not escape from it.

“So…with all of that said, I hereby offer my resignation, sir,” Kir said, quietly.

Aertimus ran both hands across his temples, hoping that he could keep his head from flying apart. “Sorry, Kir,” he finally said. “You’re not getting off that easy. You say the shuttle’s what, 15 minutes out?”

“Yes, Navarchos.”

“Treating that human is your highest priority. And this time, when I say ‘highest priority,’ I don’t mean ‘thing that can be done half-assed because hey, what’s the worst that can happen?’ This. This is the worst that can happen, only it gets worse if you let her die.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m going to have to talk to Navarchos Imperii Solis,” he said. “I don’t even want to know what his reaction will be. I want reports on the hour. Bass out.”

You could hear a pin drop in the CIC. A human-sized one.

“Alright, back to work,” Aerti said, quietly. “Comms, get me the Navarchos Imperii, in my ready room. Belay that – he’s just getting in, it’s early in Tuaut. Contact his office in thirty-nine minutes, mark. When you get him, send the call to my quarters.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Archiploiarchos Tam, the CIC is yours,” Aerti said, and as the lift doors closed, he felt very, very tired.

Honestly, he should be pushing the issue. This was a disaster, and there was no reason not to interrupt the Navarchos Imperii. But Aerti didn’t want to talk to Ziah Solis. Not quite yet. He needed a bit of advice first.

He exited the lift, and walked down the corridor, opened the door to his quarters, and stepped through. He hadn’t gotten four units inside the door when he was tackled from behind and flipped onto his back. His assailant straddled him, and leaned in close, smiling.

“You’ve really gotta stay more alert, Navarchos Bass,” she said. “Now you’re gonna pay.”

“Drat,” Aerti said, grinning back, as the woman leaned in and kissed him.

Eyrn broke long enough to help her husband up. “Sometimes I think you’re letting me win,” she said.

“Only sometimes, Dr. Bass,” Aerti said, giving her one more kiss for luck. “I only let you win when you don’t beat me. I’d take that greeting every other minute if I could.”

“Yeah, well, you’d miss out on some other things,” Eyrn said, grinning.

“Those sound nice,” Aerti said, sighing. “Wish I had time, shorty.”

“What’s wrong?” Eyrn said, as Aerti’s face fell.

“It’s…well, obviously I can’t tell you,” he said.

“Well…tell me something hypothetical, then.”

Aerti laughed in spite of himself; he’d told Eyrn enough “hypotheticals” over the years to get himself court-martialed.

“All right. Let’s say that some lovely day, the people of Earth sent a couple spaceships to Saturn, and one of our spaceships kinda ran into one. How do you think they’d take it?”

For one of the few times in her life, Eyrn Bass was dumbstruck. When she picked her jaw up, she said, “Any hypothetical casualties?”

“Just for fun, let’s say there was one seriously injured human who we decided – just to make it ridiculous – to bring back to Titan Station to treat.”

“Well, if it was explained to them….”

“Oh, no, we’ve been hypothetically maintaining hypothetical radio silence per Order Gama-1. Hypothetically.”

Eyrn brought her palm to her face. “Oh, criminy. If they still have nukes on Earth, you’ve got all of ‘em trained on you.”

“You think they’d go to war over this?”

“You think they wouldn’t? Imagine if some giant ship came in and ran into the Gyfjon, stole a crewmember and left without a howdy-do, and you saw where they went, and it was just to Archavia. How many Star Carriers would be in orbit, and how fast?”

“Yeah, that’s how I see it,” Aertimus said, sitting down heavily. “Gorram, this is a clusterfuck.”

“That it is.”

Aertimus sighed. “So what would you do, if you were in my shoes? Hypothetically, I mean.”

“Well – hypothetically – I’d say you need to talk to the humans, and quick. Tell ‘em the truth. At this point, you’ve just gotta make contact and let the chips fall where they may.”

“You think that’ll work? This is already a disaster.”

“Naw, they’re a forgiving lot. I assume, hypothetically, this was an accident?”

“Of course. We’d never deliberately ram a human ship.”

“Well, then. Tell them that. Tell them you ran into them accidentally, saw the crewmate, got her back to base where you could save her. The humans will forgive that. Not saying they’ll be doing dances and cheering, but shit happens; it’s life.”

“’Shit happens?’ Is that a real human saying, or are you making that up?”

“Now how could I make that up? You know, living on an army base wasn’t the best, but at least I got to learn some fun phrases. I always liked ‘snafu.’”

“Snafwhat?”

“English acronym. Situation Normal All Fucked Up. One of Darren’s favorites. ‘Cept he usually skipped the shorten-it-to-an-acronym part.”

“That sounds like Darren.” Aerti sighed. All right. This could be fixed, maybe, with a little luck. “Thanks. I swear, Eyrn, you understand them better than anyone I know.”

“Nah, I think Niall probably gets humans better, being one and all. Not to mention, oh, eleventy dozen other humans we know.”

“Doubt it,” Aerti said with a half-smile.

“All right. Flattery will get you everywhere. I’m gonna make you some hot gok’ma, and then I assume you’re gonna go talk to the Navarchos Imperii, and leave me to my writing?”

“Not my first preference,” he said, gathering his wife into an embrace. “I mean, the gok’ma, sure, but leaving you alone while I talk to upper brass…well, if flattery gets me everywhere….”

“’Sokay,” Eyrn said, grinning. “We’ll find time to get you everywhere later tonight.”

* * *

Rixie had to admit, she was a little impressed.

She had been standing face to face with Pryvani for almost four minutes, on guard, waiting. By this point, her employer usually had long since lost her patience and attacked, and Rixie had successfully parried the attack, and Pryvani was on the ground firing her again. Same old, same old.

Not this time. Pryvani’s gaze was steel, her face marble. Rixie flinched, just a bit, just to get a read, but the heiress remained motionless. No – not exactly. She was up on the balls of her feet, balanced well, not frozen in place. Pryvani was loose, and sitting in a potentially effective stance.

Fine, Rixie decided. If she thinks she can actually defend against me, she’s nuts. And without betraying so much as a hint of it, Rixie suddenly moved forward, aiming for an easy punch on Pryvani’s chest.

It never connected. As Rixie attacked, Pryvani sidestepped, grabbed her and threw her off-balance. Rixie hit the floor and popped back up, coming back into an attack position as Pryvani moved herself back into balance.

“That the judo Darren said he was gonna teach you?” Rixie asked.

“Maybe,” Pryvani said, though her eyes never wavered.

“Bit passive,” Rixie said, and adjusted her technique; this time she tried a Ler-inspired attack, but the heiress turned, grabbing Rixie and sweeping her plant foot. Rixie’s balance could not overcome the abrupt change in momentum, and she fell again.

“When’s the last time you got me down twice?” Rixie asked, springing back to her feet and turning.

“When’s the last time I got you down before you got me?” Pryvani said. “You losing a step?”

“Are…are you trying to get under my skin?”

“Maybe,” said Pryvani, and this time she adjusted her pose to one Rixie had taught her.

Before Rixie knew what hit her, Pryvani was coming in, feet and arms moving in a blizzard of combinations. Rixie recognized them, parried them, but Pryvani was throwing them with abandon, and more than a couple broke through. Finally, Rixie was able to land a hard shot on Pryvani’s jaw, but that just made the heiress smile; she dropped and swept Rixie’s legs, and before Rixie could recover, Pryvani had her thighs wrapped around her employee’s neck in a tight submission hold.

Rixie considered briefly whether she could get out of it, but decided discretion was the better part of valor. She tapped the floor, and Pryvani let her up.

“Want to go again?” the heiress said, moving back into position.

“What got into you today, boss?”

Pryvani held her attack position for about two seconds more, before she sighed, and slowly slumped.

“I needed to get this out of my system. I’ve had better weeks,” she said, suddenly looking less like her usual self and more like a forty-something woman. Which she was, but…she didn’t usually look it.

“You’ve had worse ones, too.”

Pryvani nodded. “Much worse, but still. Sorcha and Alesia recommended we end our mission to Avalon. Turn everything over to the Avalonians.”

“Didn’t we do that 20 years ago?”

Pryvani laughed in spite of herself. “Well, for the most part…yes. We’ve been aiding at their request, coordinating with the government. And it’s worked well…at least recently. But this is more than that. This is withdrawing completely, telling them they’re on their own.”

“And what do you think?”

“I think…I think they may have a point.”

Rixie sat down next to her employer and friend. “They always have a point. Doesn’t mean they’re right.”

“Honestly, Rixie, they might be. But I worry. They’ve done so much – they’re amazing. But there are a million things that could go wrong. If we’re here to protect them…but of course, that’s the point, isn’t it.”

Rixie nodded. “I think so, boss. We keep looking at them like kids. Fine – kids have to grow up. Don’t get me wrong, if it was up to me, Ryan would still be living at home, bubble-wrapped. But I think he’s happier as a productive adult, even if he is a pilot with Alex’s bravery and my respect for authority….” Rixie sighed. “I’m sorry, I was trying to argue that we can trust the Avalonians.”

“We can,” Pryvani said. “Quite as much as the Avalonians trust Chilaearch Carey. They’re smarter than I was when I was pretending to be a goddess. They’ll be fine. That’s not all, though, but…gorram, this sounds so selfish.”

Rixie didn’t say a word. Pryvani would talk if she wanted to.

“Rixie…this moon, the one we’re on right now – it’s the only moon owned by one person in all the Empire.”

“Right, sure,” Rixie said, not certain where her boss was going with this.

“My family founded the mines on Simtani a thousand years ago, and began terraforming this world around the same time. It’s been our legacy – for good and for ill – for half as long as the Empire has existed. And if I turn things over to the Avalonians, completely….”

Pryvani shook her head sadly. “It sounds selfish, but…I mean, I don’t need Avalon. It’s not about me. But there’s part of me that feels like I’m letting the family down somehow if I just abandon it.”

“Avalon is yours, for better or for worse, Pryvani. This is your call to make.”

“That’s the problem,” Pryvani said, quietly. “It shouldn’t me my call to make. It never should have been. It should be theirs. They’re the ones who live here. Who built this society. I’m…I keep thinking back to when I decided to stop pretending to be a god.”

“Still one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen anyone do,” Rixie said, meaning every word of it.

“Yeah, well…I didn’t step down as god just to become queen. And I’m afraid that’s what happened.”

Rixie put her arm around Pryvani’s shoulder. “Look, I can’t tell you what to do, but I know this much: All of us trust you. Including the humans on this rock, you may recall.”

“Well, I don’t know if they should. I know I talk a good game, but I honestly have no idea what’s going to happen next.”

“Nobody does. Not even you. So that’s a good sign.”

Pryvani smiled weakly. “I know what I have to do. I just have to get over it. And if my heirs hate me, they hate me.”

Rixie laughed. “Your heirs are half-human, Pryvani. If anyone would understand….”

Pryvani’s smile grew a bit. “That’s a very good point, Rixie. A very good one indeed.” She stood, and offered a hand to Rixie. “All right. Well, I feel better. And not just because you let me hit you. Ooh – sorry, I think I got you in the eye.”

Rixie felt the incipient shiner, and grinned. “You were bound to win one eventually. But don’t think I’m going to forget this next time.”

“Are we done?”

“Yeah,” Rixie said, grabbing a towel. “I need a bath.”

“Uh huh. Give my love to Alex.”

“Always do,” Rixie said, grinning. “You give mine to Zhan.”

Five minutes later, she walked into her apartment, began to disrobe, and was promptly greeted with the loving sounds of her…well…her Alex.

“Hey, Rix, how was the training – wait a minute. Did Pryvani kick your ass?”

“What?”

“You’ve got a black eye, a bloody nose, more bruises – yowza, did she get you in a leg lock? Around the neck? …Do you have video?”

“Don’t you have an opening in Tremarla to plan?” Rixie sighed.

“Nah, Renna’s got that covered,” Alex said. “Besides, how could I worry about work when you need me to help you feel better? Why, my sweet, innocent, frail flower has been hurt. By Pryvani. Oh my God, Pryvani kicked your ass! How did she hey wait why are you mgmpfh….”

Rixie silenced Alex by scooping him up in her right hand and – carefully and lovingly – pushing him into her opposing armpit. Ah yes. That did make her feel better.

After a moment, she was aware that Alex was still attempting to talk. She pulled him back just enough to hear him.

“Great,” he grumbled. “And now I’m gonna need a bath.”

“Hope so,” Rixie said, and pushed him back in…just to be sure.

She walked toward the bathroom, when she paused, and then chuckled. And then laughed outright. Alex was attempting to tickle her armpit – it was really his only defense – and the sad thing was, it was working.

She pulled him back out, and set him gently on the floor. “Well, fine then. If you don’t want me to carry you to the bath, I don’t have to; I’ll see you in half an hour when you get there. If I’m still in the tub.”

Alex sighed. “If you didn’t want me to make it there before you got out of the tub, you wouldn’t have set me down this close to the bathroom.”

“Well, we’ll see,” Rixie said, lighting out, and leaving Alex far behind.

“Sure,” Alex grumbled, as he trudged after her. “Can’t get found by Pryvani or Eyrn. Have to get found by the girl with the longest legs in the Empire. Which…okay, was incredibly lucky. Bah! Stupid Rixie and her being perfect and not giving me anything to legitimately complain about.” He heard the water cascading into the tub. “Don’t use too many bubbles!” he shouted, as if Rixie could hear him. “I don’t want to get lost again!” Okay, he felt a bit better after that.

After a good ten minutes, a good two or three minutes after the water stopped, he reached the door of the bathroom. The bathroom itself was larger than many studio apartments in the capital. Rixie had closed the door most of the way, adding a minor road block; he was forced to walk along it before looking back.

“I’m serious! If I can’t see you through the bubbles I mmff —!”

Alex did not get to say that he was still going in, but under protest, as he suddenly found himself slurped upward into a wet, sticky world.

It had happened so quickly that he barely had time to realize Rixie had sucked him up into her mouth as soon as he’d rounded the door; by the time he realized it, Rixie had spat him out into her hand.

“Bleagh. You taste like someone’s armpit,” she said, making a face.

“Well. That’s weird. I wonder how that happened.”

“No idea. Probably need to clean you off, though. All right,” she said, getting close enough to the tub to make it safe. “One…two….”

“You wouldn’t….”

“Three!” Rixie tossed him gently into the tub, giving Alex just enough time to get his arms and legs together as he went under.

He paddled upward quickly, and broke the surface, only to curse.

“I told you, not this many bubbles! I can’t see anything!”

“I know….”

“Oh, crap,” Alex said, as Rixie threw herself in to the water, setting the lake-sized tub into chaos. When the churning slowed, Alex finally righted himself, just in time to see a hand rising in the opposite direction from where the tidal wave had hit him.

“Don’t you dare, Rix….”

Rixie dared, pushing the water back toward her, pushing Alex ahead on a wave that finally broke on a soft, warm island, one of two in the chain.

Alex gasped for air, and turned toward the head which sat equidistant from the two islands, and addressed the grinning goddess. “It’s lucky for you,” Alex said, “that I really, really like your breasts. Or I might be upset.”

“Well,” Rixie said, beaming. “I certainly wouldn’t want to make you upset. So while I lay here and relax…you make yourself at home.”

“About time,” said Alex, as he trudged toward the island’s summit. There was something soft and pink up there. He thought he’d give it some attention.

* * *

Kir Oden felt as if he’d aged two hundred years in a few hours. He never imagined he’d actually be worried about a human pulling through surgery. And yet here they were, with his career likely hinging on the skill of the vet.

When he came out the operating room, Kir practically leapt to his feet. “How is she?” he asked.

“Well, she’ll make it,” said Dr. Nhaven, allowing Kir to exhale. “She had a subdural hematoma, but we managed to repair the damage; a bit of concussing in the frontal cortex, too, but that just meant I had to get some cortexifan from the doctor – thanks again for making that available.”

“Navarchos’ Bass’s orders. Her other injuries?”

“Nothing too bad. We set her arm, gave her some bone grafting agents. The rest was just bad bruising and a cracked rib. You won’t want to have her doing much climbing for the next week or so. Good you got her to me when you did, though. Another hour, that brain bleed would’ve started to cause serious damage. You probably would’ve had to put her down.”

Kir hoped that he didn’t smile when the vet said that; it would have been wildly inappropriate for him to find that funny.

“When will she come to?”

“Well, we’ll keep an eye on her; my guess is about nine hours or so. Maybe more, maybe less.”

“Keep me posted.”

“Lotta trouble for a human, if you ask me. Not that she isn’t a pretty little girl. And I’m glad to put her right. But still, your bill’s gonna be more than it would be to treat most Titans.”

“Fair enough, doc,” said Oden, musing that he’d gladly surrender a year’s pay, just as long as this particular human pulled through.

* * *

Admiral James Harwell, meanwhile, felt very much as if he had taken five shots of Islay whisky, chased down with a cricket bat to the skull.

The series of messages from the Lem grew increasingly surreal. In the span of half an hour, they had gone from running experiments above Enceladus, to nearly crashing on Enceladus, to the likely loss of Hala Nejem, to….

…to aliens. Intelligent, highly developed extraterrestrial life. There could be no doubt of it. At present, every nation on Earth with orbital capability – that is to say, every nation on Earth – was united under the umbrella of the Joint Terrestrial Space Agency. There was nobody left to launch a ship, let alone one bigger and faster than the Lem.

That the stream of messages, one after another, were reaching Earth one-way nearly an hour and a half after the fact made Harwell sick to his stomach. He could do nothing to help them; they may all be dead already, or they may have made First Contact.

He had stopped and started seven messages to the Lem, and so he waited for just a minute or two longer to be sure no more updates would change his response. Finally, he signaled the comms officer that he was ready.

“Stanisław Lem, this is Houston Actual,” Harwell said in his genteel accent. “I do not know whether today is going to be one of the worst days in our species’ history, or one of its finest; I am certain it will be one of the most consequential. Shang Xiao Xú, you and your crew have already justified our faith in your abilities. Rest assured, we will do everything we can to render assistance as needed.

“We understand the Sally Ride is heading to Titan, and that you have been attempting to contact the unknowns. You don’t need my approval for that, but it is given; indeed, you are authorized to take all reasonable steps to recover Maj. Nejem. We will be transmitting further instructions soon. Godspeed. Harwell out.”

He nodded, and the comms officer sent the message. Then, to his adjutant, he said quietly, “Execute Folder Epsilon.” His adjutant nodded, and she went to talk to the security officer. Clearly, there would be no news of this going out. Not yet.

He checked his watch. The Secretary-General should still be up. He supposed he’d better get this over with.