THE INNER DISK SPINS, and the corresponding opening aligns only briefly before sliding past for another revolution. Each time it opens I get a brief glance inside, a snapshot of Mila battling with the Leader.

Each time I hesitate, and fail to step through, I fail to help her. Each glimpse inside is a frozen image of my friend in pain—kicked, punched, thrown. The Leader is huge in comparison, towering over her with a psychotic smile on his face as she throws another onslaught of combinations, only to have the majority of them blocked.

I huff out my fear and coil in readiness, feet resting against the inner wall of the tunnel. The opening slides into position, and I push off as hard as possible. Immediately as I pass through the portal, gravity clasps my body and slams it against the floor of the disk.

My muscles ache, remembering how to move in gravity. But I’m nowhere near Mila. Where is she? Directly above, they come into view on the opposite side of the disk. Mila battles the Leader, but he’s toying with her, knocking away each assault. Finally, he counters with a fist strike that sends her sprawling. He could just grab her by the neck and snap it. But he’s enjoying himself.

“Mila!”

She glances up. Her face is split and smeared with blood, her chest heaving. But all I’ve done is distract her. The Leader kicks her squarely in the stomach, and she slides across the floor, wheezing.

“Mila, you can’t beat him,” I call into the radio. “He’s learned your style already. Get away from him.”

The Leader’s laugh fills the disk, reverberating off the walls and consoles. “Stupid girl. What is it you think you can do? Infect me with disease? I am genetic perfection. And you—you’re the genetic waste we cast off. You disgust me.”

“C’mon.” Mila dives and rolls, grabs something from the floor, and then rockets toward him. As they collide, she spins under his arms and flicks the gleaming steel of her knife across his solar plexus, the blade penetrating to the hilt and dragging through his flesh.

Did she do it?

Mila spins again and slices low across his abdomen, but he anticipates her move, grabs her wrist, and lifts her into the air. He squeezes until she drops the weapon, and he kicks it away.

Mila flails against his grip, but to no avail.

He flings her viciously to the floor. She hits the metalwork hard and slides to a stop.

The Leader cranes his neck to see me and points. “Meddling child. You die next.”

What the hell is that? Gleaming from the wound Mila just inflicted are metallic innards. Buried among them is something more familiar: a miniature fusion reactor, much like the one Nikolaj created. The nanobots are already at work, sealing the gash.

“You’re a geminoid? Is that why the gunship wouldn’t lock on to you?”

“Don’t be stupid, boy,” he shouts. “I’m as human as you. But how would you expect someone could live so long? Even Graciles have an expiration date. I did what was necessary to survive and complete what I started so many years ago.”

“You’re jacked?”

He grins. “I enhanced myself, for the benefit of all of you. To ensure you all can live forever.”

“This doesn’t make any sense. Have you ever asked us what we want? If we want to be dissolved into information and stored on the event horizon of a black hole?” Even saying it out loud sounds crazy.

“I didn’t need to. I know. The neuralweb is a wonderful thing—it tells me everything I need to know.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“You’re a feeble-minded boy, Demitri Stasevich. I am the neuralweb. Every thought, every search, every use of our web passed through me. I have collated every conscious and subconscious desire of every Gracile in my long lifetime. You all want the same thing—immortality. You may not say it out loud, but this is the truth. You are afraid of death, of not existing. I am your Leader. Your savior. This is my destiny. To give you all what it is you crave. You’re too afraid to pay the ultimate price for what you want.”

We take death to reach a star.

“Just because people think something, it doesn’t mean that’s what they truly want. Trust me on this. You’re mad.”

“And you’re out of time,” he snaps back.

He steps to Mila, grabs her by the jacket, and lifts her into the air. “Say goodbye to your pet.”

Mila’s eyes open. She grabs the little fingers on each of the Leader’s hands and yanks on them. It’s enough to make him drop her. She rolls to the side and crouches in a defensive stance.

“Demitri. Do something.”

Even if I run to her, the Leader will see me coming. And if I did manage to make it to her, what can I do against him?

“Demitri,” she shouts.

“Mila, keep him busy.” This is a long shot.

“Are you kidding me? What do you think I’ve been doing?”

“Just a couple of minutes.”

“I don’t have a couple of minutes,” Mila yells back.

I drop to my knees and empty the contents of my pockets—everything I took from the Opor hideout. The second stim syringe is still there. I pull the cap off and empty the liquid onto the floor. Using a stripped piece of thick copper wire, I make a tight coil around the body of the syringe—as many loops as possible. Where are they? Yes. Two neodymium magnets.

Mila is using her small size to dodge and evade the Leader, bouncing from the floor to the walls and throwing anything within reach at his head.

“Demitri!” she cries again.

“Almost there!”

The last piece, where is it? Here it is. The firecracker Denni gave me. I slide it into the syringe, cap both ends with the magnets, and wrap either end of the copper wire onto them, leaving the fuse sticking out.

“Mila. Do you remember the gunship in Etyom? The one you took out?”

“I remember,” she cries back, ducking another blow.

“Brace for impact.” If this works, the magnetic field protecting the miniature fusion reactor will collapse. Of course, that will result in a chain reaction ...

The Leader grabs Mila again. “Time to die, bottom feeder.”

It’s now or never.

I grab the small torch from the pile on the ground and tap it a few times. It snaps on with a brilliant blue flame and catches the fuse of the firecracker. The device in my hand, I squat deeply and shove off from the wall with all my might.

The reduced gravity pulls at my limbs, but its hold is not enough. My body powers upward through the air. With arms outstretched, and still clasping the fizzing EMP device, I soar past the midway point. Everything inverts. My stomach turns.

I slam down to the floor directly between the Leader and Mila. He stumbles back, but grips my arm to maintain his balance. His eyes glass over at the sight of the EMP. The Leader lets go of me to run, but it’s too late. I throw the firecracker at him, and it bursts with a high-pitched squeal and a plume of red smoke.

“Fool! Do you know what you’ve just ... I’m ... I’m ...” He coughs through the smoke.

“You’re finished.”

I spin to face Mila. Her wide-eyed gaze meets mine as realization dawns on her. I give a knowing look, then step forward and envelop my small friend in my arms. There’s a popping sound, followed by a blinding flash.