The Spider and the Fly

by C.E. Stalbaum

  ***

  “My lord? Is something wrong?”

  Soren Foln blinked and took in a deep breath. Even without the doctor’s serum, he had felt another mind brush against his. It hadn’t been much—little more than a nudge on the shoulder, really—but it was enough. A series of numbers floated through his mind, and without even thinking about it he learned forward and punched them into his terminal.

  “My lord?” Grier repeated, standing and moving over to him.

  “It’s Markus,” Foln said hoarsely, his lips curling into a wide smile. “He just sent me his location—he’s at the Damadus.”

  Grier glanced down to the terminal and shook her head. “But how…?”

  “It makes no difference,” Foln told her, standing. “Helmsman, plot a course, maximum speed.”

  “Yes, my lord,” the youngish man at the front of the bridge said. “It’s on the opposite side of the Expanse, sir. It will take us at least two hours to get there.”

  “Then use the astral drive. Prepare the Golem for a shift.”

  “We drained most of the capacitors getting here, sir,” Grier warned him. “It will take everything we have left to—”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Foln said as he strode to the center of the bridge. “The Damadus is ours.”