Far on the other side of Infinity, a second small landing craft skimmed the rocky surface.

“Set down over there,” Siena determined. She pointed toward a craggy mountain range jutting up against the sky in the distance. She consulted the hand-drawn sketch of the planet’s surface that Colin had given them.

“At the base of those hills, right?” Ravi confirmed.

“Right.”

“Is there going to be a door or something?” Niko wondered.

“Probably just a hole in the ground,” Ravi said. “I’ll try not to set the ship down right in it.”

“Yeah, let’s avoid getting stuck in a pothole,” Siena said.

Silence returned to the Clipper landing craft. Premission tension. Everyone had their game face on.

There were plenty of other entrances to the caves that didn’t require going through the Jackal compound. Colin’s map led to one of them.

From there, they’d have to record their progress through the tunnels carefully so they could find their way back out. Maps were useless underground, Colin had insisted, since the tunnels changed so often.

That’s why they could comfortably avoid the Jackals—and any difficult negotiations that might ensue. “Leave the diplomacy to the Alphas,” Colin had said with a hint of a sneer. “They’re all into teamwork, so there’s no chance they’ll dodge the Jackals. It’ll slow them down. Meanwhile, we’ll be in and out and waiting for them.”

“The terrain is not as flat as I expected,” Ravi said. The landing craft skimmed along the textured landscape, approaching the mountain. “This might be a rocky landing.”

“No pun intended,” Niko grumbled good-naturedly. Siena laughed.

Ravi set the craft down with a bit of a jolt.

“Are we there yet?” Niko joked as the ship’s frame rocked and settled.

They trudged with heavy legs to the edge of the cave entrance. From the surface, it looked less like a cave and more like a gaping pit in the planet’s surface.

The hole was deep. A pitch-black funnel into the depths of Infinity. Its edges were raw and jagged. Gray-brown dust came away in Siena’s fingers as she ran her hand along the rim.

The trio set up their climbing ropes, securing them to a large rock near the mouth of the hole. They would rappel down into the cave one at a time.

“Who’s first?” Siena asked.

“I landed us here,” Ravi said. “You two duke it out.”

“I’ll go last,” Siena suggested. “I’m the best at handling the climbing equipment.”

They turned to Niko, who grinned broadly. “Like I was gonna let either of you beat me in there.”

Ravi took hold of Niko’s safety rope to belay. Just in case.

Siena stood by the rock, triple- and quadruple-checking the apparatus to make sure it was well in place. They didn’t know how deep the tunnel was, so Niko would rappel down a few feet at a time until he found bottom.

“Here goes nothing,” Niko said. He tested the rope’s tautness against the rock one last time, then launched himself into the crater. His feet bounced against the side wall as he hopped downward, loosening and tightening his clamp on the rope with each jump. Soon he had descended out of sight.

Ravi held Niko’s safety rope more loosely than Siena would have preferred. Granted, it was also tied to the giant rock, but still. She was going third for a reason. She would rather trust the rock.

“This is totally creepy,” Niko’s voice echoed out of the hole.

Siena checked the depth counter, which was tracking Niko’s descent based on a locator chip in his harness. “Fifty feet.”

“I can’t see a dang thing,” Niko complained. “Just walls.”

“Seventy-five feet.”

“It’s pretty dry down here. And cool.”

“Those chills are from fright,” Ravi called in a taunting voice. “Is somebody a little scared of the dark?”

“Shut up,” Niko called back. “You’ll be crying for your mama when it’s your turn.”

Siena watched Ravi’s hands tighten around the rope, then loosen again. “One hundred feet.”

“We only dropped two hundred feet of rope in there, right?”

“Yeah,” Siena said. “If it’s farther than that, then we have to try a different hole.”

“It wasn’t supposed to be this deep,” Ravi said.

“Tunnels change,” Siena reminded him. She glanced at the counter showing Niko’s progress. “One hundred thirty feet.”

They stood in silence and stared down into the hole. The silence was remarkable. It was a far cry from what they were used to. No plants or animals to make noise. Barely a breeze. Too silent.

“He stopped talking,” Ravi noticed.

“Or we stopped hearing him?” Siena suggested hopefully.

The climbing rope began to tremble and bob.

“Oh no.” She barely breathed it.

Ravi tightened up on the safety line…which turned slack in his hands. He drew it up quickly, yard by yard, until a frayed end appeared in his hand. He turned to Siena, alarmed. “Do you think he got eaten?”

The climbing rope jerked more distinctly. Again. And again.

“Wait, he’s pulling on the rope,” Siena realized, relieved. “He’s found bottom.” The counter had stopped. “One hundred and forty-five feet.” Siena reset the counter to track the depth of Ravi’s harness instead of Niko’s.

“Okay, here I go,” Ravi said. He tightened the safety rope against the rock, then clipped his own harness to it and to the main climbing rope. He winked at Siena. “See ya soon.”

Alone on the surface of Infinity, the silence felt even more profound.

The place was neither desert, nor mountain, nor plain. Only rock and dust and stillness. It was hard to even believe in the dangers that lay below while she was surrounded by such utter lifelessness. It was especially odd to realize that at the moment she might be the sole living thing on the surface of an entire planet.

When it was Siena’s turn, she sighed as she lowered herself into the hole. A few calm minutes, without tension and wisecracking, was a lot lately. It had felt strange, but good.

One hundred and forty-five feet below the surface, the three Omegas regrouped and ventured into the tunnels. The wide, dark cavern was made only a little less dark by their flashlights, but if Colin was correct, there should be Stingers found easily nearby.

The Omega crew didn’t need any help from the Jackals. They could do it all on their own.

It was better this way.

They’d get in and out, no problem, Colin had assured them. Quick and clean and, hopefully, unnoticed.