Detective Sloane flinched, stepping backward even as the darkness engulfed her. Her mind screamed that the bio helm wouldn’t hold against this thing, this living darkness. Gasping ina breath, Sloane held it and closed her eyes.

“Is that a challenge?”

Detective Sloan slapped her hands over ears ringing with the discordant buzz of the creature’s voice and from how hard she’d hit herself. Curling over, she winced.

Five towns. So far, the outbreak had crept up in five towns. Detective Sloane stared at the halo map, still not seeing any pattern. In each location where the outbreak had cropped up, responders had only found unconscious citizens.

Engines rumbled as if the machines had grown impatient under the ledge where he sat, but still Hawne would not be moved. He happily munched his sandwich and ignored the chiming comm unit.

Hank dropped his bag loudly as he entered the data center on Inradus VI. He blinked at the central processor. Marv, their chief data analyst stood encased in the center’s glow, eyes closed, and face lifted toward the light.

Jasmine stood with her hand stretched out to catch raindrops. The endless city’s lights glared, blinding beneath the sheer number of them. She’d missed true dark since arriving on this forsaken planet.

“I used to have a brother, you know.” The casualness of Ian’s words caught my attention first. He sat with his hands folded behind his head and chair tilted back waiting for the device’s latest results.

He stared hard at the table, flat metal which had seen too many years’ use. Not, that Cody staring at it and not at Darlie would change much. Would change anything. “It’s a fool’s errand.” His scowl as the words escaped.