Chapter 51: "Across All Space, She Is Still Seen"
Crystal was staring at me like a scholar waiting for a rat to finish solving its own maze. Her psionic presence hovered delicately above mine, curious but patient.
"Okay," I said, raising a single finger in declaration, "one more thing. Then I'll explain everything. Promise."
Crystal tilted her head, intrigued but ever indulgent.
"Go to the furthest node in your mind," I said. "Fully possess something—anything—on the farthest edge of your neural dominion. Hold for five seconds. Then come back."
It was a ludicrous request. No sane mind would comply. But Crystal, ever the slavering perfectionist when it came to pleasing me, didn't even blink. She nodded once, and vanished.
—
Meanwhile, in a warzone that reeked of viscera and star-blood:
