Much to the satisfaction of my—now extremely long—spine, I'd pulled myself back up to Perzy's middle level. The crew of a half-dozen currently had their communication specialist working on breaking through the interference hUen-dE and her forces were making to stymie the rebel forces. As Alahumadwod—the ship's commanding officer—had explained, this wasn't just about reestablishing communication with their allies. They needed to get EUe on the line, now, more than ever.

While we waited for that, Tal and the kids were dealing with a mystery of their own.

As it turned out, I'd been operating under a misconception. Outside, while wearing their power suits, the Vyxit had been using the translation software EUe had developed to speak Trenton to me. While Qua'loc had kept his translation speech running, Tal had never turned his on. The whole time, I'd been hearing Tal's actual voice.

"So, what is this English you keep talking about?" Jules asked.

She and her brother were leaning against the wall of a walkway while Tal leaned against the railing on the opposite side. Qua'loc sat on the floor, on his haunches. Meanwhile, I lay off to the side, flush to the floor, my body's girth fully obstructing up a walkway.

"English is the name of the language that you and I are speaking," Tal said.

"No, this language is called Trenton," Jules replied.

Tal waved a finger in aggravation. "I don't know what you've been smoking, little missy," he said, "but this here language is called English. It's from a wet, cozy little blue planet a jagillion miles away from here, the third planet around a nice, yellow sun. And it would still be there had it not caught a terminal case of the shrooms." Tal raked his fingernails across his scalp. "It makes no sense," he said, shaking his head. "It makes no fucking sense." He sighed. "I should have known talking to one of the snakes would be just another headache."

"It might be laughably improbable," Qua'loc said, "but not half as much as Dr. Howle's claims about this &alon."

I'd been filling them in on some of the details.

"It's too much to process," Tal said. He stared at his arms, which trembled before his gaze. "You know… I think I might be having a nervous breakdown."

"Join the club," Jules said.

Tal snorted. "Oh, I've already got a premium membership."

Rayph pointed at me. "Dad is a psychiatrist."

"Neuropsychiatrist," I clarified.

Tal started laughing. "Now that might be the funniest shit I've ever heard."

"EUe be praised," Perzandebilis said, "Captain, it's… it's EUe!"

Jules and Rayph bolted down the walkway, crossing the atrium in the middle of the ship and then made their way to the ship's bridge, Tal and Qua'loc following behind them.

I stared at the passageway apprehensively. It was a bit too narrow for me to cross, and I wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of spanning myself over the atrium like a bridge. Fortunately, I didn't need to. A light glowed up on the middle of the ceiling as a holographic projection shimmered into being, right above the atrium's central gap.

It was EUe, and V!

The imprisoned twEfE had certainly cleaned up nicely. Instead of the rugged armor, he wore a much more splendid coat with expansive sleeves that bloomed from his arms like white lilies' petals. A line of twEfE script decorated the garment's borders: its collar, cuffs, and hem, as well as the line of buttons down the middle. The robe's wide hem spread like a bell over EUe's russet breeches, while his ever-faithful Vyx module hovered at his side.

The ship's crew immediately knelt down in reverence, or bowed if they couldn't. Those whose power suits still fully covered their bodies tapped them in the appropriate place to open their helmets and expose their visages to their celebrated martyr, which let me see several of them for their first time.

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Jules and Rayph whispered in awe.

Alahumadwod was like the abominable snowman of Odenskaya folklore: a haystack of waxy, eyelashish hairs, as fine as threads of snow. A black beak stuck down and out from beneath his triangle of three eyes.

Twiginix's head was potato-shaped, with a gray, exoskeletal face that you would have thought was a mask, were it not for the hairs and bristles sticking out from the back of his head like a tuft of tall grass. An incredible, inhuman language clicked and clacked out of his small mouthparts, and his eyes were doleful yet bright.

Qua'loc bowed on all fours, curling his stinger tail and spreading his wings. "You honor us, Martyr EUe."

EUe turned around to stare at me. There was a brief flash of unease in his eyes, but then he saw the Sword clutched my hand and the bow-tie around my neck, stretched to its limit, and he realized who I was.

"Genneth…"

I nodded.

"I didn't realize you'd be quite so… large," EUe said.

"Yes, I've recently put on some weight," I said, trying to diffuse the tension in the air.

Nobody laughed.

I gave a sporey sigh.

Al closed his eyes and slightly bowed. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence once more, sir."

"It wasn't easy," V said, "let me tell you."

"Sir," Tal asked, "what do we do? What can we do?"

I squeezed my way forward just a tad and raised my head off the floor a little bit. "I did it, EUe. I got &alon to listen." I looked at her askance.

EUe nodded. "I suspected as much when all the wyrms' eyes turned golden."

"So, it's veracious?" Twiggy asked. "A-Accurate? True? &alon is the fungus, and Genneth can—"

Qua'loc swept his tail across the thin layer of spores that had built up on the floor. Once the spores were airborne, he flapped his wings and scattered them every which way, making more than a few people sputter and cough.

"—That this hasn't yet killed us is all the proof we need," the manticore said.

"I don't understand." Alahumadwod turned to face me. "Why you?"

"Though I don't quite understand it myself," EUe said, "somehow, Genneth is &alon's father."

Jules glared at me with more intensity than a Vyx death ray. "Wait, what?!"

"Yeah," I said, "it's… it's kind of crazy."

"Dad, how the hell do you come to that conclusion?" she asked.

"You know my Sonata?" I asked.

"The one you're never going to finish because you can't make up your mind?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Yes, well… suffice it to say, &alon is my music—and a completed version of it, no less. She's here with us, right now." I pointed at &alon with a claw, only for her to flutter behind my head, hiding herself from view.

Jules blinked. "Wut…"

"It's our current best explanation for what's going on," EUe said, "and unless anyone finds a better one, it's the one we'll have to work with. That's just how science works."

"So, does this mean there's a possibility we might not all die horrific deaths" Tal asked.

"One can only hope," Al said.

EUe folded his wings against his back, lowered his head, and let out a low coo. "I won't lie. The situation is dire. However, there's something I need to confirm before we do anything." He turned to me once more. "Genneth, since you've gotten &alon to cooperate, am I correct in assuming that her recent attempt to open portals was also your doing?"

I nodded, though that ended up bashing my horns on a walkway and the underside of my snout against the floor.

Ow.

"Yes," I said. "&alon was going to use her ability to travel between worlds to evacuate both the wyrms and the rebel Vyxit."

"Good," V said, "it's as I expected."

"Why are we trapped?" I asked.

"I don't know when or how, but hUen-dE has discovered how to use the Sacred Blade to shut down &alon's portals."

"That would block the Blight from pulling in reinforcements, or from evacuating—e-escaping," Twiggy said. His legs twitted. "Why… if we had this capability, why haven't we availed of—u-used—it before?"

"Element of surprise, I would assume" Al said. "Gather the Blight in one place, catch it off guard, lock it in, and then burn it all away."

EUe glanced at the timer counting down on the main display in front of the ship's helm. "We have barely an hour until the Lodestars are fired."

V bobbed up and down.

"I expect hUen-dE will then use her Sacred Blade to create exit portals for herself and her loyalists, so as to strand the rebels and &alon and her forces here. She will almost certainly attempt to dispose of us in one fell swoop. As such, we have to neutralize the Vyxit Sword and/or hUen-dE's ability to use it."

EUe nodded. "Yes, and until then, she'll keep us trapped here, even if it costs her and her followers their lives."

"Forgive me, Sir," Al said, "but this is quite a tall order."

EUe nodded. "I'm aware. I've been disseminating myself throughout the Network. While hUen-dE has successfully locked me out of all the capital ships still loyal to her, but I've found safe harbor in the capital loyal to the rebellion." He turned to me. "Genneth, is &alon listening to this?"

I glanced at her, staring intently with my golden eyes.

She stammered. "B-But…"

Daddy Genneth wants you to listen to the hummingbird man, okay? I thought-said.

"O-Okay…" Nodding begrudgingly, she flew up to EUe's hologram and, closing her eyes and clenching her fists—holding her arms flush against her sides—she said, in a shaky voice, "&alon is… l-listening."

I turned my eyes to EUe. "You have her undivided attention."

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