The monsters charged. Fifty white bone-spiders leaped into the air. They moved like a single terrifying wave. Their jaws dripped with white acid. They wanted to tear the silver girl apart. Elara did not step back. She gripped the glowing spear. She swung it in a wide arc. The silver light cut through the dark square. It hit the first line of spiders. The ancient weapon did not just break their bones. It erased them. Five monsters turned into gray dust instantly. The dust fell onto the freezing metal floor. But Elara was not a soldier. She was a Navigator. Her body was human and fragile. A spider slipped past her spear. It slammed its heavy skull into her chest. The impact threw Elara backward. She hit the ground hard. The silver spear slid out of her hands. The monster raised its sharp claw to pin her down. "Fire!" General Thorne roared. Thorne emptied his heavy pistol into the spider's face. The bullets did not kill it. But the kinetic force pushed the monster off balance. Ela

The Core-Diver sank into the red meat. The heat was intense. The black iron ship melted the cosmic flesh easily. It left a burned tunnel behind them. The tunnel healed and closed up almost instantly. The sleeping god was regenerating. Zero watched the biological radar. She did not act like a scared child. She acted like a cold doctor in a bloody emergency room. "The patient has a terrible fever," Zero said. She tapped the glass screen. "Heart rate is rising fast. Massive muscle spasms in the lower mantle. The patient is waking up. We need to administer the anesthetic right now." Su Qing gripped the dual flight sticks. Her knuckles were white. "Give me a clear path to the brain." "Go straight down," Zero replied flatly. "Aim for the central nervous system." ... The General. Up in the broken city General Jaxen Thorne watched the steel walls crack. Huge

The Iron-Abacus was warm. The orange lights shined brightly. The giant forges started to beat again. The people of the Great Zhou were safe. They had the blood of the god to heat their homes. Su Qing stood in the city square. She did not celebrate. She looked at the crushed black iron ship. She looked at the deep hole in the floor. Zero stood next to her. The small girl held her data cable tightly. "She saved us," Su Qing said softly. Zero nodded. Her gray eyes were completely dry. She had no tears left. "Physics Lesson 634. Equivalent Exchange," Zero said quietly. "You cannot get something out of nothing. We bought our lives with hers." General Thorne walked up to them. He put a heavy hand on Su Qing's shoulder. "We will build a statue for the Navigator," Thorne said. "But right now we must build weapons. The energy is flowing. We have a world to fix." Su Qing picked up her heavy plasma cutter. She looked down the dark hole one last time. Then she turned away. She went back

Six months. The clock started ticking. General Jaxen Thorne stood on the high balcony. He looked at the busy city below. The orange lights burned brightly. The Iron-Abacus was warm. But a cold fear lived in every heart. The people knew the truth. Zero broadcast the radar image to every screen. They saw the red wall of death. The Architects were coming. "We survived the freezing cold," Thorne spoke into the microphone. His voice boomed over the speakers. "We survived the bone-spiders. We will survive the dark." The people cheered. It was a desperate sound. They wanted to live. ... The Archive. Su Qing sat in the command room. She looked at the giant computer screen. Zero typed fast. Her small hands flew across the keys. She searched the deep Federation Archive. She needed a weapon to fight dark matter. Normal guns were useless. "Physics Lesson 637," Zero said softly. "Matter and Anti-Matter." "You cannot shoot a shadow with a bullet. You must shine a light. A very bright li

The Core-Breaker fell through the boiling rock.Su Qing held the flight sticks tight. The ship shook violently. The heat was incredible. Zero watched the depth gauge. They were hundreds of miles deep. They passed the paralyzed brain chamber. They kept going down."Physics Lesson 639," Zero said."Chemical Corrosion.""We are entering the digestive tract. The walls will be lined with pure cosmic acid. The stomach of the Star-Eater breaks down entire planets."The solid rock gave way. The ship dropped into a massive open space. It was not a dry cavern. It was an underground ocean. The liquid was glowing sick green. It smelled like burning sulfur. The Core-Breaker splashed heavily into the acid sea.Red alarms blared instantly."The hull is melting!" Su Qing yelled. "We are losing armor plates!"General Thorne and his soldiers held onto the metal benches in the back. The ship rocked violently on the green waves. The black iron hull hissed loudly. Toxic white smoke filled the cabin....T