The three survivors squinted against the hazy daylight as they emerged from the Empire Mine. The fires had been extinguished and the weapons of war silenced. A few birds had cautiously returned to their chirruping.

"What happens now?" Asked Alice.

"I see no further advantage to our continued cooperation," answered Weizza. "Your services are no longer needed."

"Will you kill us?" Marcos asked bluntly, eying the circling drones.

"I hope that is not necessary. I do have conditions: None of you will mention my involvement with Petbe. Should you need to talk about any of my actions, you will attribute them to Robert."

"What if someone checks up on our story?" Alice asked.

"My resources are controlled by a shell company. Any investigation will find records indicating Robert was the sole director. Should someone attempt to dig deeper, I will handle it."

"Okay, we can do that," said Marcos. "What else?"

"That is all. If I find that anyone has implicated me, all of you will die. I promise you your deaths will be swift and painful."

"Deal," said Marcos. "Now will you take the bomb out of my head?"

"That was a bluff." Weizza attempted a smile. "Unless I am lying to you now. You will require an experienced surgeon to be sure.

"Now, I have business to attend to."

Weizza strode over to one of the recently arrived Blackmountain helicopters.

"Wait!" called Alice. "What about Julian?"

"I think that is him now," Weizza answered, glancing up.

A SpaceCore branded electric copter descended into the clearing, one of the four seaters. Alice's heart leapt; inside were Julian and Nadeja.

The craft touched down and Julian hopped out. Alice swept him up in her arms.

"Oh Julian, thank god you're safe," Alice sputtered, squeezing her son fiercely.

"Jeez mom, gentle," he replied with a laugh.

The reunion was interrupted by the roar of Weizza's helicopter departing.

"Where's she going?" Julian yelled over the noise.

Alice waited for the sound to die off to answer. "She didn't say. I don't think we'll see her again." She paused. "Or rather, I sincerely hope we never see her again."

"Like her or not, she's got the right idea," said Marcos, "there could be more troops on the way. Without her protection, we're sitting ducks."

"Right, yeah," said Julian. "Let's get in the helicopter. It'll be a tight squeeze with the five of us." Julian looked around. "Where's Robert anyhow?"

Alice looked away, eyes watering. Marcos just shook his head.

"Oh. I see." All the cheer had drained from Julian's voice. "All aboard then."

Marcos and Julian climbed aboard. Alice hesitated at the door, remembering her ill-fated flight with Robert what felt like ages ago. Had it only been a week? And now it was over; Petbe was neutralized, and Robert was dead.

Alice took a deep breath and climbed in.

"Where to?" Julian asked.

"Beale Air Force base is nearby," Marcos responded. "Think we ought to go in and answer some questions. Before they come to us."

Alice nodded in agreement. Julian punched in the course and the copter rose into the air.

"You didn't tell me how you got away from your captors," Alice looked at Julian.

"Lots of practice," Julian deadpanned.

"It was Weizza's spiders," Nadeja contributed. "Soon after Lynch called a host of them boiled out of our gear. The soldiers were caught flat-footed. It was hardly even a fight." Nadeja shuddered. "I would not want to be Weizza's enemy."

"That reminds me," said Marcos. "Weizza has some pretty strong ideas about privacy. You two need to keep her name out of it. If you need to talk about something she or her bots did, you say it was Robert, got it?"

Nadeja and Julian nodded.

"What happens if we slip up?" Julian asked.

Marcos drew a line across his throat with one finger.

"Are you serious?"

"Deadly."

***

A small detachment of troops was waiting for them at Beale. Marcos had called ahead to avoid any misunderstandings.

"Major Oliveira, this way please." A tall soldier gestured toward a waiting jeep. Marcos shrugged and got in the car. Alice stood to follow.

"Not you Miss Yang. Please remain in the vehicle with the other passengers. We will be with you shortly."

"Are we under arrest?" Alice asked.

"We'd like to ask you some questions Miss Yang. Given recent events, well, I'm sure you understand our curiosity."

"Are we free to leave then?"

"It'd be better for everyone if you remained calm Miss Yang."

"Are we under arrest, or are we free to go?"

The tall soldier sighed. "You're being detained Miss Yang."

A second jeep pulled up to the helicopter. "Here's our ride now. Some friendly advice: it's martial law, and we're skipping the lawyers today. Cooperate and we'll get everything sorted out quickly so we can all go home. Try to fight me..." He let the alternative hang in the air.

The jeep drove them to a squat, windowless building. Alice followed the tall man inside, where he directed her to an interrogation room. Julian and Nadeja were corralled down the hall out of sight by another soldier.

The tall man stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. He gestured to the chair on the other side of the table. "Have a seat."

Alice thought of protesting, but grudgingly sat down. No need to be pig-headed. Truthfully she was almost too tired to stand.

The man clicked on a recorder built into the table. "I'm Special Agent Harlow, Criminal Investigation Division. Are you willing to answer a few questions for us today?"

Alice thought back to his unspoken threat. "Yes."

"Great, thank you Miss Yang. First question: What is your relationship to Aden Lynch?"

"He was my boss."

"Do you not work for him anymore?"

"No. He's dead."

"And how do you know this?"

"I watched him die."

"Ah. I see." Agent Harlow tapped a button on the desk. An attendant rushed in. He whispered a few words in her ear, then she hurried out of the room.

"Pardon the interruption. That's a juicy piece of intel you just provided. I appreciate your cooperation."

Alice smiled insincerely.

"Now back to our questions. You worked for Aden Lynch. On the Petbe project, is that right?"

"Yes. I mean, no. Not exactly. I worked on the space mining project. What he did with Petbe, that has nothing to do with my work."

"Forgive me Miss Yang, but my sources say you were the director in charge of the Petbe project. You expect me to believe you had no knowledge of the weapons program?"

"You think I'd help build a weapon for mass murder? No, I knew nothing about the weapons program. Lynch snuck that in off the books and behind my back."

"I have a source that says you successfully connected to the Petbe weapons system several days ago. Do you deny it?"

"Jesus, what? No, I don't deny it. I was trying to shut it down."

"Uh huh. How would that work, given that you weren't part of the weapons project and presumably would not have access?"

"I had help. Robert Angstrom, the other cofounder of Space Core. He helped me hack in to the system."

"Is that so? Where is Robert now? I'd love to have a word with him."

"Also dead."

"Convenient."

Alice slammed the table with both hands and stood. "Listen, asshole, we just moved heaven and earth to end this nightmare we've been living. We nearly died more times than I can count trying to save you and the rest of this shitty world.

"Robert was a great man. He risked everything to stop Lynch's genocide. Ultimately he paid with his life. What the fuck have you done? I'll not hear some pissant bureaucrat casting aspersions on Robert."

"Easy Alice. I know you've been through a lot, so I'm going to let that little outburst slide."

"Oh, you're going to let it slide are you? How generous." Alice's voice dripped venom.

"Yes Alice, I am being generous, but you are beginning to try my patience. I don't think you realize your position. There will be no trial. There will be no time off for good behavior. I am your judge, jury, and if necessary, executioner."

Alice sat back down, fuming. But she kept her mouth shut.

"Look, I want to believe you Ms. Yang. But you've got to understand what this looks like. You worked directly under Lynch on Petbe, and you just told me you also worked closely with the other cofounder as well. That doesn't sound like someone trying to fight the system. Can you give me any evidence at all?"

Alice thought hard. "I have this." She held out the thumb drive Robert had given her. "We were going to run this on Petbe to lock Lynch out."

Harlow plucked the proffered drive from Alice's hand. The assistant scurried in once more, and he handed it off to her with another whisper.

"Assuming what you said is true," Agent Harlow continued, "that just makes it sound like you were helping in a power struggle between the founders. Who would have control after you locked Lynch out?"

Alice stared at the table, remembering Weizza's threat. "Me. Me and Robert."