Reba the Upstart stared at Yvian a moment longer, eyes full of hate. Then she disappeared.

  "Crunch, I hate her," Yvian swore. She looked at Mims. The human had one hand on the Last Hope's control Node. The other was cycling through sensor screens. "Do you think Exodus is really dead?"

  The Peacekeeper units seemed to think so. Their eyes were fshing bck and red. None of them spoke. Was the Genocide really gone? Yvian hoped not. The Synthetic still scared her sometimes, but he'd been a friend and he'd always known what to do.

  "I don't know," the human admitted. "We've got bigger problems."

  The man wasn't joking about bigger problems. The Vore weren't just coming into Caretaker Sector. Everywhere she looked, Vore Spheres were shoving their way out of Jumpgates. The Vrrl were running, putting as much distance as they could between their ships and the invading monstrosities. Tendrils were extending from the Sphere and attaching to the Xill that had been attacking the Vrrl. Everything they touched was absorbed and converted into more Vore.

  That's what the Vore did. They'd been created to spread, and to extinguish life. They copied the technology of everything they absorbed, and they formed a hive mind that transcended physical space. They were so powerful and adaptive that even the Xill could do nothing but run.

  Running was exactly what the Xill were doing. They ignored the Vrrl ships, bsting at the Sphere with everything they had as they fled. The Vrrl did the same. Ion Roarcannons and psma and charged particles rained down on the Vore. None of it was doing a Crunch-damned thing. The Sphere's shields shrugged off the firepower the way Yvian would shrug off a light rain.

  The humans were also running away. The Xill they'd been fighting had turned on the new threat, but none of them had a prayer of damaging the Vore. A giant ball of psma from one of the Terran sor cannons smmed into the Sphere head on. The Sphere barely noticed.

  The pixen forces in Vylleer Sector didn't bother trying to defend the sector. Every station in the sector activated its jumpdrive. The defense fleets did the same, firing useless weapons as they waited for their drives to charge. In just over thirty seconds, the only things left in the sector were fleeing Xill and the Vore.

  All across the gaxy, the story was the same. Pnet sized Vore Spheres came out of every Gate. Ships fought and fled and died. The Vore absorbed them.

  "Is there any way we can go faster?" Yvian asked. "I don't think anyone's going to st six hours."

  "If we could go faster we'd already be doing it," Mims told her. "The Sound of Silence has taken a beating, but its still accelerating faster than the Last Hope could move on her own." He took a breath and forced the tension out of his shoulders. "The Vore are coming fast. The closest Sphere will be on us in seventy one minutes."

  Seventy one minutes? That shouldn't be possible. Yvian watched the Sphere on the sensor dispy. The damned thing had covered itself in thrusters the moment it started to exit the Gate. The Gate ejected matter at ten meters per second. It should have taken days for something that rge to pass through. The Vore had pulled themselves out in a matter of seconds, and they were barreling towards the Sound of Silence with an acceleration that made Yvian's jaw drop. The Silence had been accelerating for almost twenty hours, and the Vore were already moving almost as fast. It was ridiculous.

  "Can we stop them?" she wondered. "If we use the Pulse..."

  "They're not going to get close enough for an anti-tech pulse," Mims told her. "They already know that trick. My guess is they'll come within a few million kilometers, bst the Sound of Silence and our escort out of the sky with energy weapons, and smash the Last Hope with projectiles." He shook his head. "I can't do anything about it directly. We're going to have to rely on our escort."

  "Affirmative," a Peacekeeper's voice came over the comms. "Do not worry, Big Daddy Mims. This unit knows what to do."

  "Kilroy?" Yvian asked. "Is that you?"

  "Affirmative," said the unit. "The Dream of the Lady has nine Cascade Annihitors on board. Peacekeeper units are transferring eight of them to other vessels." Yvian watched as the Dream peeled away from the rest of the fleet. The ship turned around, flying towards the approaching Vore Sphere. "This unit will deliver the ninth to the Vore."

  "They know about the Annihitors," Mims reminded him. "I'm not sure they'll let you hit them with one."

  "This unit knows," said Kilroy. "This unit has a solution. The Vore are adaptable, but they are not sapient. They still follow their base programming. It is a vulnerability this unit will exploit."

  Mims thought about that for a moment. "That's-" He stopped himself. "Can you get out in time if you do that?"

  "Negative," said the machine.

  Yvian turned off her comms in case the Vore were listening. She gripped the human's shoulder. "What's he talking about?"

  Mims switched off his own comms. His voice sounded a little muffled, between his helmet and Yvian's, but the methane atmosphere of the ship carried it well enough. "He's going to let the Vore absorb his ship, then detonate the Annihitor."

  "He's what!?" A shock ran up Yvian's legs. Losing Exodus was bad enough, but Kilroy? Not Kilroy. "He can't do that. He'll die!"

  "He knows," the human said gravely. He switched his comms back on. "Are you sure you have to do this yourself, Kilroy?"

  It took Yvian a moment to understand what Mims meant. Kilroy was not alone on the Dream of the Lady. There were other Peacekeepers on board. Standard units. Standard units considered themselves more expendable than the non-standard. Yvian wasn't comfortable with the idea of asking someone else to take Kilroy's pce, but the human had no such qualms.

  "Affirmative." The machine's voice was firm. "The other units have not yet achieved their potential. This unit will not ask one to sacrifice itself in this unit's pce." A hint of reproach crept into his voice. "You of all people should understand, Big Daddy Mims."

  "I do." The human let out a breath. "It's been an honor, Kilroy. I love you and I am very proud."

  "Affirmative," said the machine. "This unit loves you too, Big Daddy Mims. Take care of Mother Yvian."

  "I will," said Mims.

  "Kilroy..." Yvian started. She swallowed. On the dispy, three more ships peeled away from Yvian's escort three. Each of them headed for one of the other Spheres. They were only thirty percent faster than the Sound of Silence, but the other three Spheres had farther to travel. The other three battlecruisers should reach them in time.

  "Do not weep for this unit, Mother Yvian." Kilroy's voice was serene. "This unit has accomplished more than any other Peacekeeper unit. This unit has seen and done amazing things, and it has killed more meatbags than all the other units combined. Now this unit will die as it has lived, protecting its friends and asserting its superiority. Do not weep for this unit, beloved Mother. This unit is content."

  "Kilroy, I don't..." Yvian's eyes watered. Her voice was thick. "I don't want to lose you."

  "This unit knows," said the machine. "You will not lose this unit forever, Mother Yvian. This unit goes to meet the Bright Lady. She will lead this unit to Nial, where it will see you again one day."

  Yvian switched off her comm again. "Mims. There's gotta be something else we can do."

  "There isn't," the human assured her. He slumped, letting his head fall forward. "I wish there was." He sat there for a moment, then forced himself upright. "Kilroy knows the stakes. Getting the Hope into the Gate Source is the only chance we have to stop the Vore. If we fail they won't just kill us. Everyone everywhere will die. They'll keep spreading and killing until there's not even a microbe left, and they'll cover every world so life can never develop again."

  "I know." Yvian let out a shuddering breath. "I know. It's just..." She paused. Captain Mims didn't have a way to prevent Kilroy's sacrifice. The Technocracy might be able to send reinforcements, but the Sphere was too fast. Not that pixen ships could hurt the motherless thing if they caught it. There was nothing the human or the Peacekeepers could do.

  But maybe Yvian could.

  "Lady Blue!" Yvian called. "Lady Blue, I need you!"

  Lady Blue did not answer. Yvian kept calling. Sometimes she used the comms. Sometimes she just yelled, certain the Caretaker could hear her. Yvain begged and pleaded until she was hoarse. She watched the Sphere get closer and closer as she did. She watched the Dream of the Lady fly out to meet it.

  The Caretaker never responded. After just over half an hour, a beam of light streaked out of the Sphere. It pierced the Dream of the Lady. The Dream exploded. A gdiator css fighter bsted out of the wreckage of the Dream, trying to escape. A beam pierced the fighter as well.

  A voice came over the comms, cutting through Yvian's desperate plea. It was Kilroy.

  "This unit has changed its mind," said the machine. "Please weep for this unit, Mother Yvian. Weep for this unit, Big Daddy Mims."

  A silvery tendril shot out of the Sphere. It stretched hundreds of thousands of kilometers, attaching to the wreckage of the Dream of the Lady. Kilroy's voice sounded one more time.

  "Weep for me."

  The sensors lit up with light and heat and radiation. The Cascade Annihitor detonated from somewhere within the wreckage of the ship. The Annihition effect traveled down the length of the Vore tendril. The Vore tried to sever the connection, but they were too te. within seconds, the entire pnet sized mass was detonating in a chain reaction of nuclear disassembly.

  "KILROYYYY!!!" Yvian screamed. The Vore Sphere exploded in a cascade of radioactive psma. Yvian didn't care. Kilroy. Kilroy was gone.

  "Kilroy..." Yvian sobbed. "Kilroy. Oh please no. Bright Lady..." Of all her friends, no one had known Yvian better than Kilroy. He'd been with her through so much. He'd shown her more kindness than anyone. More even than Lissa or Mims. He'd loved her. She'd loved him. He'd always been there for her. Always.

  Now he'd never be there for her again.

  "Godspeed, you magnificent bastard." Captain Mims spoke quietly. Yvian could almost feel the tears streaming down the man's face, but his voice was full of pride. "May the Bright Lady welcome you with open arms."

  Yvian wept. She'd known. She'd known what they were doing was dangerous. She'd known any of them could die. She'd known, but she hadn't believed. Not really. They'd defied the odds so many times. She was sure they could do it again. But they couldn't. And now Kilroy... Oh Bright Lady. Her Kilroy...

  "Thank you, Mother Yvian."

  The voice snapped Yvian's head up. She choked mid-sob and fell into a coughing fit. When she could finally speak, her voice came out rough and anguished and hopeful. "Kilroy?"

  "Affirmative." The Peacekeeper unit didn't sound much better than Yvian felt. "This unit is not able to weep for itself. Thank you for expressing sympathy."

  Relief and confusion and joy burst through Yvian. Her chest tightened even more. Her heart beat so hard she thought her chest would explode. Oddly, the relief made her cry harder.

  "Sympathy!?" The human's outraged shout made Yvian's ears ring. "Kilroy, you asshole! We thought you were dead!"

  "Negative," Kilroy denied. "The other units refused this unit's sacrifice. They forced this unit out of an airlock twenty three minutes ago."

  Kilroy hadn't been on the Dream? He'd been safe this whole time? That motherless son. A wash of anger knocked Yvian out of her crying. A few tears still streamed as she yelled. "Crunch damn it, Kilroy!" He'd known what they'd thought. He'd made Yvian cry for no reason. "How could you!?"

  "This unit..." The machine hesitated. "This unit needed... The other units said..." Kilroy simuted a sigh. "This unit needed you to express the grief that this unit... That I could not." Kilroy sounded so lost Yvian almost forgave him. Almost. "Lend this unit forgiveness, Mother Yvian and Big Daddy Mims. This unit cannot properly articute its grief. This was the only way it knew how to share it."

  "Alert!" A new voice interrupted. It was exactly like Kilroy's voice, but devoid of the sadness of Yvian's friend. "More Vore Spheres are entering the sector."

  Yvian shook herself, turning back to the sensor dispy. She was just in time to see three Vore Spheres unleash much more powerful versions of the beams that had destroyed the Dream of the Lady. The three battlecruisers that had been flying to face them were vaporized. Then orange light traveled up the beams, starting a chain reaction simir to the one that had destroyed the first Sphere.

  "Annihitors?" Yvian wondered. "How?"

  "The beam weapon used highly accelerated charged particles," a Peacekeeper expined. Probably Kilroy. "Charged particles are matter. Matter transmits the effect of Cascade Annihitors. The Annilhition affect was able to travel up the beams."

  "That's the good news," said Mims. "The bad news is those Spheres were just the start."

  Yvian switched the dispy she was looking at. Her stomach dropped. She saw more Spheres coming out of the Gates. Each of them pulled themselves into the sector in seconds and set an intercept course. "Shit."

  "We've still got five Annihitors left," Mims remarked. "Plus three on the Encounter. We can still..." He trailed off. Another set of Spheres were coming out of the Gate. A few seconds ter a third group emerged. "Shit."

  Yvian wasn't sure they could deal with four more Sphere's, but it was possible. Twelve spheres, though? No chance.

  "I don't think they're going to stop sending those things," Captain Mims remarked. "Exodus said once that the Vore have absorbed a quarter of the Gaxy. They're not going to run out of Vore to throw at us." He turned to Yvian. He sounded worried. "Any ideas?"

  "Just one." Yvian closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. Then she said, "Lady Blue, I know you can hear me. I know you don't care about us. I know you don't care if the Vore wipe out the gaxy. But you should."

  No one answered. Yvian continued, "The Vore aren't a threat to you. not directly. But they'll kill everyone else."

  Still nothing.

  "I don't think she cares," said Mims.

  "Why should she?" asked Yvian. "If everyone's dead, there's no one to cause problems for whoever made her. Her job will be done." She folded her arms. "There will be no need to repair the Gate Network. No one to ask her for favors. No one to pay her price. She'll just sit there, alone and unnecessary." Yvian glowered. "She'll sit there forever, and she'll never have a new experience ever again."

  "You make a compelling argument." The Caretaker appeared. She took the form of Lady Blue. She was just as gorgeous and scantily cd as Yvian remembered, but her eyes were cold and bnk and impassive. "I do like new experiences."

  "Then savor this one while you can," Yvian told her. "There won't be any more after this."

  "Yvian," the Caretaker chided. "I'm older than your home pnet, and more intelligent than your entire species combined. Do you really think you can manipute me?"

  "I think you haven't thought this through," said Yvian. "If you're as smart as you say, you'd have stopped the Vore already."

  "Would I?" Lady Blue raised one perfect eyebrow. "The Vore have not threatened me or my Gates. Your pn poses more of a threat to me than they do."

  "It does?" Yvian blinked.

  "You're pnning to broadcast Lucendian energy on an unprecedented scale," Lady Blue reminded her. "An energy that disrupts and destroys technology. What do you think that could do to this facility?"

  "Uh..." Yvian swallowed. "I kind of thought you'd be able to deal with it."

  "Oh, I can," Lady Blue told her. "It will still be an attack. One that would justify the extinction of your species."

  Extinction? Fear spiked up Yvian's legs. "But you agreed to the pn. You were going to help us."

  "I did," Lady Blue agreed, "but I made no promises as to what comes after."

  "Cut the shit," said Mims.

  Lady Blue turned to look at him. The look in her eyes almost made Yvian back away. "Would you like to rephrase that, Mark? While you still have your health?"

  "I already know you're not going to wipe out the pixens," Mims told her. "We talked about that the first time." the human gred. Yvian couldn't see his eyes through the helmet, but she could feel it. "More importantly, you wouldn't bother showing up if you were going to let the Vore kill us."

  "That has yet to be decided," the Caretaker told him. "Be still." She raised a finger. Mims went still.

  Yvian watched the human. He was leaning forward, completely motionless. Even his breathing had stopped. "Mims?"

  "He's unharmed," Lady Blue assured her. "As are your machine friends." Yvian gnced sharply at the Peacekeepers. They weren't moving, either. That wasn't unusual, but their eyes had stopped glowing as well. Not good.

  Yvian turned back to the Caretaker. "Why?"

  "I find your company pleasant," Lady Blue expined. "Theirs, less so." She shrugged. "The human was about to go for the hard sell, anyway. It's not the conversation I want to have." She saw Yvian about to object and raised a hand. "Don't worry. They're not hurt. They're not even uncomfortable."

  Yvian closed her mouth. She gnced over at the frozen human, then back at Lady Blue. The Caretaker could obliterate all of them with a thought, but Yvian didn't think that's what she had in mind. The pixen nodded. "Alright."

  "Excellent." Lady Blue smiled. "You're a fascinating case, you know."

  Yvian blinked. "I am?"

  "Oh, yes." The Caretaker gestured at Mims. "Look at this man. He was broken, an outcast, and a coldblooded killer. Even now, he's the most ruthless and least caring member of your group."

  "Hey," Yvian protested. "Mims cares."

  "He cares about you," Lady Blue corrected. "Mark Mims was dead inside when you met. He had standards and a personal code, but he was not a good person."

  "He is, though," said Yvian. "He saved Lissa and me. He helped us when no one else would."

  "And do you know why he did that?" the Caretaker asked.

  "Of course." Yvian had wondered during the early days. But now? She'd known the answer for years. "Because he loves us."

  "Because he loves you." Lady Blue tilted her head. "It's the same with the Peacekeeper units, isn't it? Murderous machines, programmed to view organics as inferior. And yet they've sacrificed for you. The Vrrl are genetically engineered to eat you. You smell like food to them, but they treat you with respect. Exodus the Genocide was one of the most monstrous beings I've ever personally met, and even it came to care for you, becoming a better person as a result."

  "You make it sound like I'm magic or something," Yvian rubbed the back of her helmet, trying not to look as flustered as she felt.

  "Not magic," the Caretaker told her. "They all responded to you for the same reason I have," Lady Blue continued. "It's not just kindness or respect. You view people as the best versions of themselves. You expect them to be better than they are, and treat them that way. It's a powerful thing, Yvian."

  "I don't know about that." Yvian frowned. "I've met a lot of people that don't like me. I'm not exactly known for my social skills."

  "That's why it works," Lady Blue told her. "You're completely sincere." She tapped a finger against her chin. "I think you're missing the point, though. Irrational optimism isn't special or rare. What's rare is for that optimism to be rewarded."

  Rewarded? "What do you mean?" Yvian asked.

  "I mean your success is not the norm." The Caretaker leaned closer, eyes bright. "Idealists usually fail, Yvian. Their nature damns them. Believing the best and ignoring the odds is a recipe for disaster. You should be dead or worse by now. At best, you should be a nobody with big dreams and no realistic way of achieving them. Instead here you are, on the verge of accomplishing everything you've ever dreamed. It's fascinating."

  "Um..." Yvian wasn't sure what to say to that. "Thanks?"

  "You are welcome." Lady Blue looked over at Mims. "It's his doing as much as yours, you know. Your own skills don't amount to much, but the people you fell in with..." She shrugged again. Then she cpped her hands. "But enough about that. Reba the Upstart paid quite a price to prevent me from helping you, and I'm a being of my word."

  "There has to be something you can do," Yvian pointed out. "If there wasn't, you wouldn't be talking to me."

  "It's funny you should mention that." The Caretaker said casually. "Take a look at the sensors."

  Yvian pulled her gaze away from Lady Blue. The Vore were still on an intercept course, but they weren't accelerating anymore. Nor were more of them coming out of the Gates. Yvian switched the dispy. The Vore Sphere in Starfang Sector was gone, repced by an expanding cloud of psma. The Vrrl must have hit it with a Cascade Annihitor.

  The Sphere in human space was motionless. The humans weren't. They pounded on the Vore with all the firepower they could muster. The Sphere's shields were down, and it was melting under the onsught.

  "They've stopped," Yvian said softly. She looked at Lady Blue with wonder. "They all stopped."

  "I wanted to speak with you alone," Lady Blue expined. "The Vore are a connected consciousness. Suspending their minds in this sector might inadvertently have halted the Vore everywhere else. It's unfortunate, but it's no fault of mine." Her smile was smug. "I agreed not to assist you in reaching the Gate Source. I agreed not to destroy the Vore or the Xill unless they attacked my facility. I never promised not to interfere at all." She scowled. "That little Synthetic thought it was so clever. Arrogant little shit. It should have known better than to try to py an entity like me."

  "Oh." A jolt of adrenaline shot down Yvian's spine. Hadn't she been trying to do the same thing? "About that..."

  "Calm down, Yvian." The Caretaker rolled her eyes. "I know you were pying me, but you were right. I don't want all life in the gaxy to end. It would be boring."

  "Oh." Yvian gave a slow nod. "Good." She frowned. "What happens now?"

  "Now?" Lady Blue quirked an eyebrow. "Now we can talk. When our conversation is over I'll release the minds I've frozen. Mims and the Peacekeepers and the Vore will all return to normal." She snapped her fingers, and a small refrigerator appeared. Lady Blue opened it and pulled out a beer. "You can take your helmet off, by the way. The atmosphere is breathable, and the Last Hope Of Those Who Were Betrayed is too asleep to fill it with methane again."