"I am here, Oliver," Iris's voice came through. She sounded weak, but determined."I need you to alter the frequency of the city's blue energy dome," Oliver calculated rapidly. "Do not make it a solid wall. Make it a kinetic net. The orbital satellites are going to fire straight down. The lasers will destroy the enemy ships in the sky. The burning ships will fall. Your energy shield must catch the falling, burning metal so it does not crush the civilians.""A kinetic net?" Iris asked, her voice shaking. "Oliver, catching thousands of tons of falling metal will require impossible energy! It will break the city grid!""I am routing all power from the outer walls to your shield," Oliver said, swiping his hand through the blue light. "You will have the power. You must have the strength.""I will hold it," Iris promised."Captain Ren," Oliver called out."Ren here, Commander," the tough female soldier answered. She was on the ground inside the city walls."The Wraithborn will not just stay

The heavy bullet flew from Commander Oliver’s black pistol. It flew perfectly straight. It was aimed exactly at the center of the Wraithborn King’s pale face.But the King did not bleed. He did not die.The humanoid monster simply raised his dark, smoky hand. He did not move fast. He moved with impossible, magical grace. The metal bullet stopped in mid-air. It froze exactly one inch away from the King’s glowing red eyes.The King smiled. It was a thin, cold smile. He opened his hand, and the heavy metal bullet dropped to the concrete floor. Clink."We will finish this game later, Commander Oliver," the King whispered. His voice was smooth and terrifying. "The board is not ready for the final move."The King stepped backward into the dark hallway. His body melted into thick purple smoke. The smoke blew away in a sudden, cold wind. He was gone.Oliver slowly lowered his gun. He did not shake. He did not breathe heavily. He looked at the floor. His soldiers, Sergeant Cross and Maya, were

"Let him send them," Oliver said. He touched his heavy black pistol resting on the desk. "I will kill them. But I will not surrender my intelligence advantage. We monitor the coin. We control the data. We do not abandon it."Iris took a step back. She shook her head slowly."You are so cold, Oliver," Iris whispered. A single tear rolled down her dirty cheek. "You calculate lives like they are just numbers on a piece of paper. You are willing to risk the entire planet just to win a game of chess against a monster.""I am willing to risk the planet because it is the only way to save the planet," Oliver corrected her. "The probability of human survival without the coin's intelligence is 14.2 percent. The probability of survival with the coin's early warnings is 31.7 percent."Oliver placed his bandaged hand near the glowing coin."Thirty-one is greater than fourteen," Oliver said. "The debate is over. The coin stays on my desk."Iris stared at him for a long time. She realized she could

Iris's voice came through the radio. She was still at the central power core. "I am here, Oliver.""I need you to link your magic to the orbital energy grids," Oliver said. "The satellites will drop a wall of blue fire. You must keep the fire stable. Do not let it spread and burn our own soldiers.""I will stabilize the fire," Iris promised.Oliver looked at his digital clock. The red dots were very close."Captain Ren," Oliver said. "Do you see the two tall black rocks at the entrance of the narrow path?"Ren looked down the canyon. The purple fog was thick, but she could see the two giant rocks. They looked like a dark doorway. "I see them, Commander.""That is the red line," Oliver said perfectly. "Do not shoot until the first monster crosses the line between those two rocks. If you shoot too early, the enemy will spread out. You must let them bunch together.""Copy that," Ren said. She raised her rifle. "Hold your fire, soldiers! Wait for the red line!"The canyon grew very quiet.

The war room was finally quiet. For the last forty-eight hours, the room had been a place of noise. It had been filled with screaming alarms, loud explosions, and the voices of dying soldiers. Now, there was only the soft hum of the large computer servers.The air in the room was cold. It smelled like burnt metal, hot coffee, and dried blood.Commander Oliver stood next to his heavy black desk. He did not sit down. He did not sleep. He was looking at his right hand.His right hand was a terrible sight. The alien coin had burned away his skin. The flesh was cracked and black. A white medical robot had wrapped his hand in clean, thick bandages, but the dark red blood was already pushing through the white cloth.Oliver did not feel sorry for himself. He watched the blood spread on the bandage. He calculated how much blood he was losing. It was 0.2 ounces per hour. It was an acceptable loss. He did not need his right hand to think.Captain Vance sat in a chair in the corner of the room.