Corbin handed Vash a sheaf of papers as the helicopter reached a comfortable cruising altitude and sped out of Conurbation One, following the course of an arterial linear arcology that snaked north-east along the ragged coast. Vash leafed through the printouts, scanning over the profiles of the dozen or so special operatives detailed within.

‘Their record is certainly impeccable. Do you trust them?’ Vash asked, leaning in towards Corbin so as to make himself heard over the drone of the helicopter’s twin turboprops.

‘As much as I trust anyone, yes,’ Corbin replied, smiling reassuringly. Vash knew the man well enough to recognise the remark as high praise. ‘In my old line of work you had to have one another’s backs. The politicking of Arco can be vicious but out in the field…’

‘I sometimes forget who you were. When did you leave to join the Internal branch – it must have been three, four years now?’

‘Don’t remind them of that!’ Corbin laughed. ‘And certainly don’t tell them about my cushy Directorship – they’ll mock me enough as it is. But in all seriousness, that kind of bond won’t fade. I have their loyalty.’

Vash nodded. There was no time to assemble another team, and he didn’t want to test his authority by ordering directors to supply more troops, but for all that he tried to rationalise it, Vash could not dispel the sense of disquiet he felt. He passed the sheaf of printouts back to Corbin before turning to watch the world rushing by beneath them.

Slate-grey waves beat against the coastal levees, water sluicing down into sheltered overflow channels where it was gathered for desalination or directed towards the big thorium plants that powered the hulking form of the linear arcology beyond. From this height the vast structure still conferred a sense of the order imagined when it had been built, a couple of generations into the Dynic occupation, when such feats were still possible. In reality little was left of the original but the superstructure; the carcass of some leviathan of carbon allotropes and secrete, washed ashore in a storm. Only bleached bone had survived decay and the predation of scavengers.

‘You mentioned a dragon’s tooth; the symbol painted on the tank,’ Corbin said at length.

‘That’s what it looked like,’ Vash replied, not turning from the window.

Under the gathering gloom of the tempestuous evening sky the vast bank of the arcology lit up with a cold brilliance, although great stretches remained shuttered and dark, with small fires and the odd huddle of lights the only sign of occupation.

‘You thought it might have some significance. You said it could be important,’ Corbin prompted. ‘You said it might be more important than anything.’

Vash could feel the pressure of Corbin’s eyes on him. He was certain the man knew he was concealing something. The silence stretched.

Vash trusted Corbin, even enjoyed his company; his friend’s tone was conversational. So why did this feel like an interrogation? The casual tone might have fooled someone less acquainted with the man’s moods, but Corbin was already hungry for information.

Not for the first time since seeing a dragon’s tooth emblazoned on the vehicle of a quixotic revolutionary movement, Vash wondered whether he should just tell Corbin what he suspected.

‘I thought I recognised it from somewhere. It’s a befitting symbol for a militant group, even if it’s no more than a coincidence, don’t you think?’

‘Skeleton warriors and dragon’s teeth,’ Corbin mused. ‘All a bit portentous, isn’t it?’ he gave an easy smile. ‘It’s as if the Revolution is announcing itself to us.’

What was it that stopped him from saying more? A fear that Corbin would leap to conclusions of his own? A selfish desire to keep the revelation to himself – perhaps that symbol had been intended for him specifically? Or a sense that Corbin would reveal it all to truly be nothing more than coincidence?

‘They’ve hardly shown a predilection for the conventional.’

‘You could say that,’ Corbin laughed.

How long had Vash waited for some promise from the past, a reassurance that there had been a plan that he might play a part in, instead of desperately improvising? He knew that to be able to relinquish even a fraction of the responsibility he bore with clear conscience would grant him profound relief. He also knew he shouldn’t fixate on such a faint possibility – instead he would focus on the evidence he had available and make the best decisions he could. It was too early yet to call the developing knot of intentions in his head a plan, but the beginnings of one? Maybe.

There was another lull, both men momentarily lost in their own thoughts.

‘Why the secrecy, sir? I mean, I understand that the kidnapping of one of them is a delicate matter, but why the insistence that you handle this personally?’ Corbin asked. ‘I would be far more suited to leading this operation. I’ll reiterate my offer…’

‘Strictly speaking Liar to Animals would probably object to you knowing the amount that you do already but – ‘

‘Liar to Animals?’ Corbin interrupted, taking the bait.

‘K’txl, the voice on the phone – it’s the meaning of her name. I can’t help but feel something was lost in translation there,’ Vash smiled wryly.

‘Definitely not the most reassuring name for something speaking to us on behalf of its species,’ grinned Corbin, warming to the theme. ‘So what does it have to hide?’

‘Even the Dyn aren’t a monolithic bloc, for all that they appear to be. My becoming Ambassador was the direct result of her own rise to power within the firmament,’ Vash said. ‘Suffice to say there is a faction that opposes her and the loss of her ‘heir’, on the surface of the planet she’s meant to control, would be a major blow to her legitimacy.’

‘Surely any opposing faction could have seen all this from orbit? And thousands of people will know by now what happened.’

‘We simply have to hope that nobody else knows enough to realise the bigger picture – merely being capable of seeing this all unfold from orbit is besides the point. You have to know where to look in the first place.’

Corbin considered this for a moment then nodded as though it confirmed some suspicion of his.

‘So why should we care if our current alien overlord is replaced by another? Let me guess, it threatened to smite another couple of cities if we didn’t rescue it’s progeny?’ asked Corbin, flippantly. His grin faded when he saw Vash’s expression.

‘If we fail and K’txl is toppled, everyone on Earth dies.’

‘And why should we believe the threats of something that refers to itself as Liar to Animals?’

Vash paused. The arcology they were flying over now was utterly dark, difficult to distinguish from the mountainous coast. The region had been evacuated following a nuclear accident several decades back and the exclusion zone remained utterly devoid of any significant human presence. It was thus ideal for their purposes – there was scant chance of discovery out here. They must be nearing the rendezvous.

‘K’txl…’ He searched for the right words. ‘K’txl spoke through a girl – their minds were linked, connected using old technology the Dyn have managed to reverse engineer. K’txl claimed she had done this so that she could understand us, in order to resolve our differences. She told me that she wanted peace.’

‘Surely that would have been easier before they massacred several hundred million people and turned our own world into a godforsaken prison?’

‘I don’t think they have any intuitive grasp of the abstract concepts that come naturally to us,’ Vash said carefully, trying a different angle of approach. ‘You know, things like justice or ethics. K’txl spoke of them as though they were some kind of sickness – a mass hallucination was how she referred to it. She seemed particularly afraid of universal morality; that by some objective measure an action could be deemed to be fundamentally moral, or immoral.’

Corbin didn’t say a word, he just shook his head, disbelieving.

‘K’txl asked me if I thought she was evil,’ said Vash. Corbin let out a bark of bitter laughter. ‘She said that we would have seen their nature as something that had to be righted, that we would not be able to tolerate their existence. You were right, you know – Dynic technology really was the more primitive. So they invaded preemptively, using the only advantage they had and have held us hostage ever since.’

‘And you’re willing to take it on its word?’

‘What reason would K’txl have to lie, Corbin? To compel me to rescue the next in her line? Why bother with such an elaborate threat? There are few logical motives to invade across interstellar space, even with an impossible artefact like the Other Moon to improve the logistics. I don’t claim to be able to read an alien’s intentions, but if that machinery translated anything then what it conveyed most forcefully was fear.’

A solitary flare was burning out on one of the upper tiers and the helicopter began it’s descent. Vash leant in again, holding Corbin’s gaze.

‘K’txl claims to seek understanding, but having heard what I have there is no doubt in my mind that there are Dyn up there that given half the chance would wipe this planet clean and deal with the consequences later. So yes, we take K’txl on her word.’