Now I need to tell you all the information I desperately wanted to tell you last night at the party, but kept my mouth shut for Dad’s sake.”Miriam set her teacup on its coaster and folded her arms atop her desk to give Alex her full attention. “You went to NGC 55 and observed some Rasu.”“Some Rasu? Yes, I most definitely observed ‘some’ Rasu.”“And what did your observations tell you?”“That we should go back to Aurora.

We have a very short window in which to accomplish a great deal, one measured in minutes rather than hours.“We succeed, and we will have freed dozens of galaxies and species from tyranny. We succeed, and we will have saved our home, our friends and our loved ones from the looming threat of annihilation. We succeed, and everyone has a future. So let’s get it done.

The Anadens have a somewhat different perspective on death.”“On account of not having to deal with it, sure. Personally, I think their little immortality contrivance has destroyed the value of life for them.”“It brought you back.”“Thus I reserve the right to be hypocritical on this particular topic.

Solum invoked a sensation akin to lingering déjà vu in the wake of a dream.It was not Earth. Its city-planet architectural stylings hid the outline of continents that might have otherwise been recognizable and altered the vibrant blue-and-green color palette enough to erase any familiarity in its silhouette.Yet if you tilted your head just so and let your gaze unfocus a little, you could almost see Earth. Its echo, its memory.

No matter what comes, we will persevere. It’s not over until we win.”Oh, how she wanted to believe him. How she wanted to believe that her father not only had all the answers, but the power to make everything okay. Once upon a time she had believed it; then he hadn’t come home. “Why are you so sure?”“Because I didn’t cross universes to return to life, simply to die again.

The progeny will be lost and adrift. Without the integrals reinforcing their focus and purpose, they will begin to question both.”“Sator, this is not a bad thing. Humans spend years struggling to figure out what they want to do with their lives, then often revisit the question at multiple points in the course of living it. It’s in our nature.”“Commandant, I’m sure I need not remind you that we are not Human.”“No. But perhaps when this is over, you will become a bit more so.

The Idoni Primor’s gaze fell on Eren immediately. Her head tilted in idle curiosity while a fingertip dipped into a crystal bowl beside her. “I know your face, anarch.” She brought her fingertip to her mouth and sucked it dry of gods only feared what hypnol. “You have been a most troublesome little asi of late. Have you come here to repent, to fall to your knees and beg to be allowed to return to the fold? Fair warning—you’ll be on those knees for a while.

The ceiling shattered, and the vacuum created yanked her into the air. Her face grazed a shard of the ceiling as it broke off. Then she was in space.Her left hand unlatched the breather mask and slid it on while her right felt for the helmet trigger. Her finger slipped past it, fumbled back for it. Found it. Pressed it.

I’ll gloss right over the implication in what you said that the Reor are sentient entities—for now. Dare I ask why they gave you a copy of their universal decryption key?”Alex and Caleb shared a look, and she shrugged. “We can only speculate, but it’s possible they want us to win.”Miriam dropped her elbows on the table. “Hmm. Okay. In that case, I welcome the minerals to our side of the fight.