Power Burst looked him up and down. “How do I know you’re not lying to me about whose side you’re on?”

  Knowing Izzy’s powers, Power Burst’s physique didn’t make a difference. He could have been a couch potato that spent all of every day eating junk food, watching television, and playing video games with a body that reflected that inactivity, and still been capable of ending Ray with a slap.

  Instead, he fit the superhero stereotype—tall, defined muscles all over his body, and a grim expression. Combined with the military themed costume, most people would find him intimidating.

  If Ray did, he didn’t show it. “Me? I’m sure you could see right through me if I were lying to you.“

  Power Burst, who so far as I could tell, had failed utterly at that, said, “Yes.”

  Then he frowned and added, “Come on.”

  He turned around and began walking toward Magnus’ throne. As he did, my mind turned to another question. I was here at the center of things. I’d managed to get access to the life support system, internal messages, the ability to pull people through from inside a sphere to me as well as learning how to portal through from one part of the device to another.

  In addition to that, I could see the structure of the energy flow between the spheres above me. Suspecting as I did that they were a combination user-interface and representation of the device’s power system, I wondered if I could leverage that into taking control of the system.

  Of course, the best way to do it would be to grab whatever widget allowed Magnus to interact with the system as if he were Kee.

  I had a nagging feeling that if I did find it, it would turn out to be a twin to the little stone that I’d given to Amy so she could send the rest of the group through. It made sense to leave it with her if it could send the rest of the team through.

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  Bearing in mind that they hadn’t made it through yet, though, I found myself wishing that the Sumerian guy who’d handed it over to me had given me a user manual. I might have made a different choice.

  Keeping one metaphorical eye on my bot’s feed and the other on the spheres above the throne, I considered how I might be able to control the whole thing, or at least cut off power to Magnus.

  I concentrated on the energy structures visible to me through my nonhuman side even though what I was now seeing through the bot threatened to derail every thought in my head.

  Jody had appeared out of nowhere and run forward to stand in front of Power Burst, saying, “You can’t trust that guy. You need to get rid of him. Kill him or something. I’ll do it if you won’t.”

  I noticed two knives in scabbards on Jody’s belt and realized that I remembered them from the fight against the mushroom zombies. From how Jody’s hands edged closer to the knives, I knew that this had to be a version of him that predated the modifications Rook made and most likely the zombies getting out of control as well.

  “Jody,” Ray said, “I remember you. I missed you when I left, but if you check with Magnus, you’ll find that I’m with him too.”

  Jody ignored him and addressed Power Burst. “Hey,” he looked up the taller man, “you can’t let him get near Magnus. He kills people like us.”

  Power Burst’s face twisted, betraying the mix of emotions I’d almost always felt while interacting with Jody.

  “I’ve cleared him. Get out of my way.”

  Jody glanced upward, eyeing him, “Really? Then go ahead, but I’m going to be there to remind you what you did when you fuck up.”

  Power Burst fixed him with a glare, “Good. Because I’ll be there when Magnus realizes he’s better off without an obnoxious little prick with too many issues to think straight.”

  They both stared at each other for a second that stretched and then Jody blurred, reappearing near Magnus’ throne next to Colette.

  If Ray and Power Burst talked about what had happened as they walked, I missed it because I was tracing the system’s energy flow and querying the system. Even better, it answered, making the everything clearer one answer at a time.

  I wasn’t sure how to do it, but I’d noticed that the life support didn’t have much of a limit on how much energy it could supply. Could I use it to drain power at crucial moments or divert it somewhere else? I didn’t know yet, but at least I had a direction.

  Ray and Power Burst stood in front of Magnus, “I couldn’t destroy the Rocket. He severed my connection to you, but I’ve brought him here. With all of your forces, he doesn’t have a chance.”