Saturn’s Rings: The Complete Series

By Odette C. Bell

Lisa’s spent her life looking at the stars. An astrophysicist, she’s always felt pulled toward space.
It’s about to become more than a feeling. When a Supreme Outer Guardian comes crashing through her roof and crushes her telescope, she can’t get away. Not when he claims only she can help him save the universe.
J’nar Mackay is a new Guardian. He only got his stripes yesterday. An issue, because he’s about to be thrown into the greatest fight of his life. A mission gone awry sees him finding an ancient force in the ring of a seemingly normal woman.
But he’ll quickly learn that nothing is as it seems when it comes to Lisa Snow. All her life, her hand has been guided toward one purpose – opening up the stars to get to what’s beyond.
In a tale that spans universes and blasts past the stars and back again, Lisa and J’nar must learn to wield the greatest of all powers. And no. It isn’t love – yet.
...
Saturn’s Rings follows a starry-eyed astrophysicist and a newly-minted lieutenant fighting destiny to save life itself. If you love your space operas with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Saturn’s Rings: The Complete Series today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.
Saturn’s Rings is the 2nd Supreme Outer Guardian series. A massive, exciting, and heroic sci-fi world where the day is always saved and hearts are always won, each series can be read separately, so plunge in today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Odette C. Bell
• Release date: Aug 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215747728

Book preview

Prologue

J’nar Mackay

Oh God, Lisa, no. I skidded into the room to see her crumpled next to the massive window. Space was arrayed beyond, the stars glinting, not like glittering jewels, but like illuminated eyes.

That made a lot of witnesses to see the single tear that trailed down my cheek and splashed onto my chin. My armor didn’t dry it. I wouldn’t let it.

I grabbed her shoulder and moved her around, fingers shaking as I feared the worst.

Her ring flashed on her finger, somehow looking more powerful than it ever had.

I clutched up her palm in my shaking hand and turned it around. There I saw black lines of the infection climbing her skin. They’d reached her wrist, gone past her shoulder, and disappeared deep into her arm only to reappear along her neck and up the left side of her face.

I slapped her cheek lightly to wake her, even though my armor told me there was no point. She was seemingly on the edge of death.

I twisted. The door opened. Dammit, I’d closed it and locked it with Supreme Outer Guardian tech. But this man could not be stopped.

Glory Tarn strode in.

He stopped in the middle of the room. His helmet was down, and I could see his face. Not once did he look over at Lisa in regret. Instead he tilted his head to the side like a curious crow trying to decide how to get into the soft belly of some poor half-dead creature. Drop her and leave her. Your part in this play is over, Supreme Outer Guardian. You’ve done as I’ve asked.

I shook my head wildly. I clenched my teeth until I could’ve chewed right through my jaw and kept going through this godforsaken ship. I didn’t do a thing. I didn’t help you—

Your part in this play is over, he said strictly. You can choose to leave on your own two feet, or you can be carried away.

I didn’t want to leave Lisa cold and alone on the ground, so I jumped up with her, pinning her limp form against my chest. Her messy hair slid over the torso unit of my armor, her infected hand and that freaking ring just there, close enough that I could see the internal light playing within. I’m a Supreme Outer Guardian. Have you forgotten—

He lifted a hand imperiously, the movements slow and deliberate. He placed one finger up. You may be a Guardian. But that means nothing here. We have been graced by the gods. Leave, or you will be assisted to. Permanently.

My gaze flashed to the left and through the open doorway. I could see his guards readying their weapons.

So what did I do? I grabbed hold of Lisa harder. Like my life depended on it.

And maybe it did.

I’d made an oath as a Supreme Outer Guardian to protect all who needed my help. But with Lisa, I’d made a promise, too.

I jutted my chin out and stared at him defiantly. Do your worst.

It will be a pleasure, Glory Tarn snarled. Then he sliced his hand to the side, and his guards leapt into the room.

I’d have no chance.

But I didn’t need a chance to win.

Chapter 1

Earlier That Day

Lisa Snow

I sat there at the kitchen table, the chipped linoleum pushing against my elbow as I slid further down and collapsed my chin into my hand. I drummed my fingers against my face. They’ve got to accept this application, right? Come on, I have a proven publication track record, and I’m an ace at applying for grants. Why can’t they just give me a job? I said all of this to no one at all. My apartment was empty. I would use the word echoing, but that would suggest it had sufficient space. It was so cramped that should I be inclined to, I could stand, lift my arms out, and virtually touch both walls. There was just enough room for a table which I used as my computer station and the little nook in the corner for my telescope.

I slid my gaze over to it again. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it. You can live on the street, I said as I shoved my nail into my mouth and chewed on it industriously. My lips crinkled to the side then paused as I tried to gather the gumption to open the email.

What was the point, though? I knew what it would say, right? Thanks but no thanks. All of our positions in astrophysics are already filled. You were a dolt for studying this at university. It’s hardly a long-term career path for more than a handful of the best.

And I was good. But I wasn’t the best.

So that’s when my gaze slid toward the telescope again. No way. I am not selling it to pay for the rent on this crappy apartment. Which leaves you, doesn’t it? My stare jolted down to the ring I always wore.

The ring that had been gifted to me along with the telescope. It hadn’t been from a grandparent or anything. It wasn’t like our family had ever had money. And if we’d earned it, we’d always blown it that day.

But my familial money management skills were not under scrutiny right now. The ring and telescope were. They’d come from the old man down the street when I’d been growing up. The same guy who’d captured my imagination. Because every day at exactly the right time, he’d taken out his telescope, set it up on his porch, and waited. His passionate routine had soon captured my curious mind, and I’d ditched the simple imagination of childhood for his learned knowledge of the stars.

When he died, he’d left me that ring and that telescope. And they were unquestionably the most expensive items I owned. Nothing else in this apartment, aside from my computer – which I needed for work – could possibly pay the rent.

And I needed it. Today.

I flexed my hands in and out once more then opened the email.

I won’t tell you that my stomach dropped. I won’t tell you that I started crying. Because I didn’t. You can’t really be that disappointed when you knew, 100 percent, that you were going to fail from the outset.

I closed the lid of my laptop without reading the rest of the rejection and crumpled onto the table.

I opened one eye and stared at the chipped linoleum, tracing the patterns.

Then I pushed to my feet.

My fingers moved toward the telescope. No way. I’ll never stop looking at the stars. So it’s gotta be the ring, then? Unconsciously, as I’d said that, my other hand had moved over and clutched up the ring. Not like it was going to wrench it off and throw it at the nearest pawnbroker. But like it wanted to protect it from my baser instincts.

Wincing, one by one, I peeled my fingers back and stared at it.

A solid chunk of gold, that alone was worth a small fortune.

The stone inside I’d never been able to identify. It was this milky black gray. It wasn’t a smoky quartz, and nor was it a strange onyx.

Whatever it was, I just hoped it was worth something.

I never left my apartment without it. Hell, I slept with it on. If I didn’t, I’d always have dreams telling me to put it back on. Because yeah, both my telescope and ring factored in my dreams. It wasn’t like I had much else to distract myself with.

I walked over to the telescope one last time. I slid my fingers along the brass base and up to the top.

I’d had it valued. Insofar as I’d looked on the Internet. It was worth about two grand. That could buy me food and rent. But I’d never sell it, even if I had to move under a bridge.

I glimpsed through the curtains and saw the sky beyond. It would be a long time before the sun set. I promised my frayed nerves that I would spend most of the night staring up at the sky, even though there was so much light pollution around here, I’d barely be able to see a thing. That wasn’t the point. The ritual was. Because the ritual reinforced one thing. No matter how consuming and petty my earthly problems were, there was always space out there to put them in perspective.

With my ring in hand, I left my apartment.

I shoved a jacket on to protect myself from the cold but kept shivering anyway. Was I really at this point? I’d dragged myself through university and grad school. I’d always been able to find work. But now it had dried up. I didn’t care what kind of work, but it didn’t care, either. Because it hadn’t manifested. Now I was here. A trained astrophysicist on the edge of utter destitution.

I walked the block, and the wind howled behind me. I swear it knew what I was doing. This was an affront, it said. This went against everything old Barney had ever taught me.

He hadn’t been concerned about earthly problems. No matter what had been going on in his life – including the cancer that had ravaged his body toward the end – every night he had always carried his telescope out onto the porch.

And now I’d be selling one of his cherished memories. He’d told me, his hand on mine on his deathbed, never to let go of these two items.

Guess that’s another person I can disappoint, I muttered bitterly.

I knew the pawn shop I wanted to go to. Another family trait. No, we didn’t fence stolen goods. It’s just, due to our poor management skills, we always got into strife. We’d buy high and sell low. Real smart, that.

I saw the pawn shop across the street. I made nothing of the fact some loner dressed in a long dark jacket was leaning against the wall beside it.

I walked straight past him and into the store, the shop bell tinkling. The pawn shop was a mess. You show me a pawn shop that isn’t. It’s the very nature of them. With so many goods flowing in and out, they will always spill over the shelves and in bargain buckets at the front.

With my nerves playing in my stomach, I walked up to the guy at the back counter. I pulled my hand out of my pocket.

He watched me. But when he saw I wasn’t holding anything, he leaned back and drummed his hands on the glass top counter. An array of watches, rings, and bracelets glittered underneath. The prices were extortionate. I could tell you they were about 10 times higher than what the guy had actually bought them for. Remember the family motto? Buy high, sell low. Because there’s really not too much strategy you can bring to desperation.

You got something for me, lady? he asked perceptively.

I was in a decent enough jacket, but my face would’ve screamed poor. I was not here to partake of his cheaply bought goods. I was here to sell my blood and bones. I was wondering if you are interested in….

The bell tinkled from behind me, and someone walked into the shop. They browsed. I tried to ignore them. And honestly, they weren’t distracting. But my freaking conscience was. The same words kept repeating in my head. Could I really sell this ring? Barney had clasped my hand on his freaking deathbed and told me to always keep it. Yet here I was, about to ruin that memory.

I closed my eyes. My brow scrunched. It felt like I was manually moving through my morality. Maybe for some people they can’t grab hold of their better side. Mine felt so small that it was pretty easy to grasp.

I don’t have all day, the guy said as he leaned back, crossed his arms, and shot me a stern look.

This ring— I began, about to push my hand toward him.

I watched his eyes light up. The price of gold had recently gone through the roof. He’d know that. Plus, he’d be able to see from the solidity of the ring this wasn’t plated. This was the real thing. It was horrendously heavy. I wore it anyway. Because it helped me hold onto the most important memory of my life. Seriously. Barney’s gift of knowledge was the most important thing I had. And here I was about to sell it? Had I really looked around for every possible job out there? Couldn’t I downsize to a shoebox apartment?

This was wrong. It was utterly freaking wrong.

Hand it over, he said impolitely, likely because he was trying to stop himself from outwardly salivating.

He shoved his wizened hand toward me.

He himself wore a Rolex, and while I could be unkind and think it was fake, it probably wasn’t. Hell, judging by the greedy look in his eyes, if I sold him this ring, maybe he’d give me a couple hundred bucks then wear it for the rest of his life.

Look, I have changed my mind, I said. I meant it.

This was a watershed moment for me.

I could sell the ring for the price of its glittering gold. But I would never get back the memory.

I turned.

Hey, lady, there’s no need to play hard to get. I will give you the right price. Just hand over the ring so I can have a good look.

I brushed past the guy looking at the electronics shelf, made it outside, then almost ran.

What a freaking idiot I was.

A tear trailed down my cheek. If Barney could see me now, he’d be so disappointed in me. Or maybe he’d tell me in that characteristic old lilting accent of his that it was okay. It didn’t matter how you started. It mattered what you did in the end.

But if he were here, I’d reply with one thing. Sure. Endings are important. But if life always keeps you down and you can never start, you’d never get there.

But I guess you should be careful what you wish for. Because the day my dark fate started to unravel would be the day I’d take this universe with me.

Chapter 2

J’nar Mackay

This was… everything I’d ever dreamed of. For the last several months, anyway. Once upon a time, my dreams had been small and worldly, I guess you could say. A career cop who’d come from a family of career cops, I’d seen myself working on the force until I retired. Then one day… oh, one day I’d punched up.

After I’d been struck on the head by a crim, I’d fallen into a coma, and on the cusp of waking up, as I’d tried so hard to open my eyes, I’d accidentally punched up instead. I still didn’t understand the process, and if you asked me, most of the other Supreme Outer Guardians didn’t, either. And what were we?

Good question.

Once upon a time, I had been a police officer with a certain jurisdiction. Now I was essentially still a police officer, but my jurisdiction was the multiverse.

When you punched up, you accidentally pushed through the fabric of your own universe into the multiverse.

The Supreme Outer Guardians would pick you up, and if you were the right kind of material, they’d train you to become one of them.

So now you kind of understood why I’d said this hadn’t always been my dream. This was so much bigger than anything my small mind had ever been able to imagine.

"Come on, the ceremony is about to begin, B’Anna said, waving me forward.

She’d punched up at a similar time as me. We’d trained together. And B’Anna was… an alien.

And I said that with almost no hesitation. Once upon a time, I’d been a real stickler for science. I’d thought aliens might statistically be possible but were still improbable. And now I was surrounded by them. And they were real, all right.

B’Anna waved me forward, her wide smile showing just how eager she was to get this done.

It reminded me of my graduation from the police academy. With a couple of added multiversal bells and whistles, of course. We strode down the main corridor in the command section then took a left. We walked through an open doorway into the primary room. I said room without telling you what it was, because it could be programmed to do whatever it wanted. It could become a training hall. It could become a lecture theater. It could become a dance hall if you were so inclined. But no, my commander and the commander of the station – Frost, wasn’t the kind to do the boogie.

She stood there, looking like some great statue of a goddess ready to play with the fates of others for the universal good. She’d redesigned the room to look like a theater. She was at the bottom, near a lectern. And around her, arrayed on the seats, were the other Guardians.

This sense of overwhelming pride welled in my chest. Back when I’d graduated and become a cop, my dad and mom had been there – cops, too. They’d since died. They couldn’t be here today. But I kind of quaintly wondered if their spirits could be. And no, that wasn’t a rejection of the science I had based my life on.

It was just… when you had your mind expanded and you punched up, you started to realize anything might be possible.

This is so exciting. You know we can go on a mission straight after graduation, right? B’Anna bubbled.

I grinned. I really don’t think they’re gonna send us on one yet. Things have been pretty quiet recently.

To us. We never know what’s going on in the background, though. She got a certain look in her eyes as she said that. She was from a semi-psychic race. She was very good at reading people’s emotions, and before I could dismiss her warning, I stood a little straighter.

The ceremony began.

Frost leaned forward, locked her hands on either side of her floating lectern, and looked at all of the graduates. There were five. Apparently that was more than they’d had in one go for a long time.

I didn’t need B’Anna to tell me that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. You increased your recruit rate when the crimes in your jurisdiction increased, too.

And when your jurisdiction was the multiverse, that was worrying indeed.

You are all about to join one of the oldest and greatest traditions in the multiverse. You have all lived previous lives. And those lives have not become irrelevant nor been superseded by this. You have simply moved into a new stage of your existence. I want you to bring the wisdom of your past selves to your job as Guardians. For it is only with wisdom that we can all rise. The job of the Supreme Outer Guardians is simple. We protect. When universes are in trouble, when external forces have invaded them, we protect them. When bad actors seek to gain influence over lower civilizations, we protect them. When lost ones are found, we protect them. For that is what we do.

I started to tune out.

I concentrated instead on my latest lessons.

Last-ones were kind of like runaways. Though sometimes they were kidnapped or had no clue of what they were. They were usually examples of the last of their kind. The multiverse was a massive thing. And it had existed for a very long time. Civilizations had come, and civilizations had gone. But we had an edict from the Higher-Ups to protect the last examples of certain races. When you found them out on missions, you brought them back to the Guardian stations to be protected and resettled.

If you asked me, it was a front. And if not exactly a front, then a mission that hid a much more important operation right at its heart.

Every Supreme Guardian, when they found the last of their kind, had to check their left hand for a certain mark. You see, there was one certain lost last-one that the Higher-Ups were interested in. Someone they’d been looking for for thousands of years.

But I digress. I tuned back in to Frost’s heartfelt speech just as the other Guardians gave a cheer. I shoved my chest out. I couldn’t stop my mind from imagining what would come next.

And what came next was Frost moving down the line, handing out our badges. Though badges was kind of a parochial term to describe the Supreme Guardian insignia. It didn’t have a little pin at the back and wouldn’t adhere to fabric with glue. When she locked it against your armor, it would form its own impossible-to-break connection. Somewhat like the connection you’d get with your Peacekeeper.

My own Peacekeeper was a quiet soul.

Did you have no idea what I meant by a Peacekeeper?

Guardians were given symbiotic energy creatures, for want of a better term. The Guardian would become the host for them, and they would provide the Guardian with almost unbelievable power. Together with a set of Guardian armor, there was theoretically nothing you couldn’t do and no one you couldn’t fight.

Frost reached me. She slowed down and made eye contact. She nodded once.

I got a real thrill at that. She hadn’t nodded at anyone else.

She had pulled me aside once and told me that I should make a great Guardian.

Should.

No good commander will tell you that you can or can’t do something. They’ll give you room to figure it out for yourself.

Frost turned. She opened her mouth to continue the speech, but that would be when a category two alarm echoed through the command section.

I was already on my feet, so I didn’t need to jump to them. Other Guardians did.

Most of the senior staff suddenly touched the sides of their faces and activated their internal visors. I longed to find out what they were looking at.

Frost was right in front of me, but of course she gave nothing away. A mission has come up. A restricted race has been detected using multiversal gate technology.

I didn’t know why I did it, but I took a step forward.

Out of all of the other Guardians here, I was the least likely to be picked. This was a restricted race. She hadn’t told us exactly which restricted race, but for a category two alarm, it would have to be an important one. Assassins or marauders, you pick. For them to be using gate technology, it meant they had slipped into someone else’s universe. And when you had zero compunctions, sophisticated technology, and an ax to grind, you needed a Guardian to stop you.

Frost looked at me. I saw her calculating something behind her sharp gaze. She nodded once. You’re on the mission, J’nar.

Fastian, one of her most important assets and an alien capable of reading people’s energetic systems, rose to his feet and strode over to the commander.

They shared a meaningful look.

I wish to go on this mission. I have a hunch, he said.

Then go on the mission. You two head out now. A ship has already been prepared. And good luck, she added.

B’Anna looked at me. She did the equivalent of her race’s thumbs up.

I turned swiftly. I hadn’t even had a chance to give a speech of my own, to promise the other Guardians that I would be there for them. That, no matter what I faced in the wilds of the multiverse beyond, I would always come back to this base, and I would always protect it and everyone I could.

Fastian hurried ahead. He had a tall, lanky form and bright blue skin. He also had a mechanical arm. He’d lost the real one in a recent incident that had almost consumed the entire base. It was before my time, but I’d heard it had shaken everyone up and had something to do with the Higher-Ups. And what were the Higher-Ups? Look, it was almost impossible for me to say. All I knew was that we ultimately worked for them. There were some crazy theories out there that they were gods or something.

I might have quaintly believed that the spirits of my parents were looking on at my graduation. I did not, however, believe in gods.

We must hurry, Fastian said.

What are the details of the mission? I demanded efficiently.

A restricted race has gone into universe 598. We will track them down, we will capture them, we will bring them back here, and we will ensure they have not done too much damage.

Okay, a simple grab and bag, I muttered, letting a little of my old vernacular slip in.

Simple, he said haltingly. Yes.

He was distracted. It would be pretty hard to be him. He could sense energetic systems in lifeforms, even in machines. That would be a lot of distracting information he’d have to constantly filter from his mind if he wanted to focus. But there was something about the look in his eyes I should’ve interrogated further.

We reached the hangar bay.

The ship was indeed ready for us.

It looked tiny from the outside. Honestly, it wasn’t that much bigger than a large king-size bed.

You wouldn’t want to be stuck on it for any prolonged period of time. Especially with some snotty crim.

As soon as we walked up the ramp that led into the open back hatch, that all changed. I won’t say it was palatial now, but I would say it felt as if we’d walked into a large house instead. I knew that I still constantly measured everything by my old lexicon. Houses, cars, beds. That was my old life. And this was my new life.

Fastian swiped a hand to the side. Rather than bother to walk to the bridge, he brought it to him. The door right in front of us resorted. The sound was nothing more than a slight murmur. It was like a babbling brook from a few hundred meters away.

But the effect was almost instantaneous and utterly perfect. We strode into the bridge. It was large enough that there could be two navigational seats, the command seat in the middle, and a massive screen at the front. I used the word screen. It wasn’t solid. It wasn’t exactly a hologram, either. It was something unnervingly in the middle.

Fastian swiped a hand to the side as he collapsed his large, tall form into the command seat. A section of the screen broke away from the main unit and floated in front of him.

His lips, which were usually in a neutral and friendly line, creased down slightly.

I sat in one of the navigation seats, locked a hand on the console in front of me, and stared across at him.

B’Anna had been a librarian, for want of a better word, before she punched up. At least I had experience in the emergency services. And one of the first things you want to do in any pressured situation is attune to the expressions of those around you. Get into their heads and try to figure out what they’re thinking. Because unless your team is strong, your chances for success are slim.

I wasn’t doubting Fastian’s abilities. But it certainly seemed as if he had information I didn’t.

Set the coordinates, he said.

I turned, and I set the coordinates. Yep. That’s right. For a guy who’d once had a dumb phone and had been proud of it, I now knew how to interact with sophisticated alien technology. And while sometimes I slipped up, I always had my armor to fall back on.

I didn’t need help right now, and I programmed the coordinates from the information that had been downloaded to my armor for the mission.

I went over the mission parameters again and concluded that, indeed, it was a simple grab and bag.

But my mind got stuck on the word simple as my gaze darted back to Fastian. He leaned back in his seat, arranged his long arms on the armrests, and went to tap his fingers but froze. For several seconds, he was just paused there, eyes wide as he stared at the information being relayed to him.

I didn’t understand what it was, and maybe that was the point.

It took almost no time whatsoever for our ship to leave the hangar bay.

It lifted up, pushed through the shields at the front that always separated the station from the vagaries of multiversal space, then traveled out to a safe distance.

Prepare the gate, he said.

Preparing the gate, I called back.

My fingers fidgeted with itchy energy. Seriously, they wanted to shout at me. This was my first mission. I had just graduated, and Frost clearly had enough faith in me to let me go out in the field, day one.

I didn’t grin at that. I swallowed my enthusiasm, concentrated, prepared the gate, and waited for one of the coolest things anyone would ever see.

A halo of light appeared in front of the ship. I wouldn’t say it was godly. Return to my previous comments if you didn’t understand why. But it was… fundamental somehow.

Have you ever wondered what reality is made up of? Have you ever wondered if you might one day be able to see it? I hadn’t until I’d become a Supreme Guardian. But now the very lifeblood of existence was right in front of me. It formed this perfect massive blazing circle of light. As soon as it joined up together, it created a gate. I didn’t need to program the ship to plunge through it. It did so anyway.

Our vessel didn’t shake. I had no tactile feedback about the fact I was being flung right through the multiversal fabric. This wasn’t like those crappy sci-fis you get on daytime TV, that made it feel as if space was like driving an old car without suspension.

This was the real deal.

My stomach had one single second to kick with nerves. Then we punched through to the other side. I can’t describe to you the thrill of exhilaration that shot through me. We were in another universe.

At first we faced nothing but stars. Then the ship reoriented itself without a command from me. We turned until we looked at a planet. It resembled the world I’d come from. In that it had large tracts of blue oceans and green and yellow continents.

It took my freaking breath away.

But something else was designed to take it away further.

Fastian suddenly snapped to his feet.

From the pressure of the move, I could tell this was no ordinary reaction. I’d heard from the longer-term Guardians that it would take Armageddon before Fastian actually reacted to something hastily.

I spun and snapped to my own feet. What is it?

Battery fluid has been detected close by. We need to split up, he said simply.

Battery fluid? It took me a moment. That incident I’d spoken of previously that had almost destroyed the Supreme Guardian station had included something called battery fluid. It was an ongoing mission for the higher Supreme Guardians to find it and find out who’d used it.

Split up? I concentrated on the most important thing he’d said.

You had the best scores during your training phase. This is a simple mission. Your armor and this ship will help you to go through with it. Simply find the restricted race and grab and bag them, as you said.

He ran to the door.

But you’ll need this ship to get back to the Guardian station, I snapped.

This is a new breed of vessel. It can split, he said simply.

It could… split?

There was no time to question that. There was only time to wire my suddenly weak jaw shut and watch as Fastian interacted with something on the wall of the cockpit room.

He activated some drive that whirred underneath the floor. It didn’t make the entire room shake, but it felt a bit more like I was in one of those old crappy sci-fis.

One with the most extraordinary graphics of all.

Fastian looked at me one last time then snapped a salute.

I couldn’t help but snap one back.

Then he took a step backward, the salute still in position. Good luck, Guardian.

With that, the other half of the ship behind him just broke away. It didn’t fracture like somebody had hit it with an ax. A shield appeared in front of Fastian, sealing him off from me.

Then the ship really did divide itself into two.

I stood there, gobsmacked. And I would’ve stayed there had the bridge around me not prompted me into action. I saw a flash of the viewscreen. The footage of the planet changed. A pair of aliens appeared on screen.

I said aliens and meant that term. For they were non-native to this universe. Reams of information about their race and their violent proclivities flashed across the screen. It finally got me to turn completely. By that point, the door had closed. Not just on Fastian, but on that part of the ship.

The viewscreen was capable of showing multiple things at once, and to my left, I saw footage of our vessel split and then Fastian’s side disappearing in a flash of blinding white light.

Crap. I really… I really was alone.

Before I could let my nerves climb, knowing just how dangerous it was to give in to your emotions during a breakneck mission, I threw myself forward, sat in the navigation seat, and commanded the computer to, Start tracking the crims.

Crims? it questioned.

I shrugged awkwardly. From now on, crims is going to be short for criminals, which is going to be short for restricted races. Got it?

We are now tracking the crims.

Excellent, I muttered breathily. I stared up at the planet on-screen that looked so much like my own.

My heart shuddered with the kind of emotion you couldn’t easily ignore.

I’d gone skydiving once. Abseiling too. I was an adrenaline junkie. So I knew this twitch. And I knew I just had to ride it out.

Sometimes you want adrenaline. It’s there to keep you alive.

The ship shot toward the planet. In a blink, we were traveling right up alongside it.

Form a geosynchronous orbit with the location of the crims, I said.

Orbit has been achieved.

I went to leap to my feet to transport down to the world, then realized protocol. Are the crims shielded? Can we just transport them aboard?

They are shielded. You will have to personally go down. Anomalous readings have also been detected.

My nose scrunched. Anomalous readings?

The source is unknown. But it is coming from the vicinity of the crims.

Then let’s go find out.

I turned. I stood in the middle of the bridge, and I threw my arms out. I closed my eyes and let the smallest smile mark my crumpled lips.

Here we go.

Yeah, there I went.

I was transported. And that was a pretty wild experience. It was right up there with traveling via a gate to another universe. One moment, I was standing there on the bridge with my eyes closed. The next, I felt my feet clunk down onto the pavement.

I stared down at it. I’d actually forgotten to ask what level of sophistication the primary civilization on this planet had achieved. Was it technologically advanced? Was it more like my own old world?

The gritty pavement beneath my feet confirmed the latter. I looked up the side of a moldy green and gray building to see a half-broken window, a glimpse of a lace curtain fluttering between the jagged glass. Out onto the street beyond, I saw a flash of vehicles that looked like cars. They traveled on three wheels. I could see stacks and towers. It kind of felt like home. But this was very much not home, and this was not a holiday.

I reached up and activated my helmet. It seamlessly moved over my face, hiding my identity.

If someone saw me, I could easily induce an amnesiac field that would block their memories of me. No technology would be able to record me. It didn’t matter what level of sophistication this otherwise backward planet had. Unless they were anywhere near Supreme Guardian technology, they could take every photo they wanted, but none of them would show me.

So it meant I could go in and I could get out with no one ever knowing.

And I could do it quickly.

My armor beeped. I saw something flash across my visor. It indicated that the restricted lifeforms were in the building to my side. It was a real hovel. If this place was anything like the world I’d left, it looked like a slumlord owned it. Some greedy prick who only wanted to make money off the poor folk he extorted within.

The old me might’ve wanted to do something about that. The new me had much greater horizons.

But I should’ve been careful.

Careful to note just how large those horizons had become.

When we think we can clutch at one thing, we focus on it. And we forget something important. Reality is always there to prove us wrong, smash us against the rocks of uncertainty, and take us far, far beyond our limits.

And this was the first step beyond mine.

Chapter 3

Lisa Snow

I made it home. I was crying. What an idiot. I was really gushing, the tears trailing down and marking my old pilled collar.

I collapsed against my kitchen table. I locked my head in my hands. Then I moved my fingers back to stare at my ring. I grasped it up. I’m so sorry.

Yep. That’s right. I actually apologized to it. It was just a ring. Wait, no. It was not just a ring. It was the vehicle for a memory.

Barney, if you could see me now, I sobbed, though my tears were starting to dry slightly, you’d be really disappointed in me. Look what I’ve made of my life? I went and got my degree, my PhD, too. And they’ve counted for absolutely nothing. I am just a—

I would never get to find out what I thought about myself. There was a scratching sound from my door. I looked across at it, brow compressing in tight confusion. Is that you, Gary? I muttered.

Gary was the guy who owned this apartment complex. He knew I was down on my luck, knew that I was working really hard to get a job. He’d said he’d give me time. But Gary was not above busting into somebody’s apartment to look for money under their bed.

Look, Gary, I will just open the door, I began.

I strode over. But the door opened itself. It wasn’t Gary. You knew that, didn’t you? It just took my stupid brain too long to catch up.

From the thick hood covering his face, I realized it was the loner from the pawnshop.

He’d followed me home.

He’d seen the ring. And apparently now he wanted it for himself.

He said nothing. Didn’t grunt, didn’t threaten me, just moved into the room, grabbed my hand, twisted it to the side, and kicked the door closed.

It took until then for my frazzled brain to remind me how dangerous the situation was. But before I could scream, he locked a hand over my mouth. Any vocalization froze midway to my lips like somebody had sucked the last scrap of heat from them. He didn’t grab my throat, didn’t rip out my windpipe. But as his cold, stiff fingers locked against my lips, it was like my brain forgot how to scream.

More fear than I had ever felt catapulted through me, but there was nowhere for it to go and nothing for it to do.

The guy grabbed something from his pocket. It would be a gun or a knife… except it was a small silver oblong disk. He locked it against the door.

I had to be blacking out from the terror, because I was certain I saw a blue energetic sheet shimmer over it.

What the—

He turned his attention back to me.

He had a really big, long, dark hood on.

It covered most of his face. I couldn’t see his eyes. I couldn’t even really see his chin. But as he inclined his head ever so slightly toward me, I thought I could see a flash of red light.

I tried harder to scream. I wanted to wrench it up out of my parched throat, wanted to throw it at him. It was the only weapon I had left.

He said something. Or at least he made a noise. It almost sounded ordered, like it was a real language, but I had no idea what it was.

He pushed me.

At the same time, somehow, my chair on the other side of the room scooted over. It bashed into my legs, and I fell into it.

It… had moved on its own.

He grabbed something out of his pocket. It was small, just this kind of thin metal contraption, a little like a large remote.

He pressed it close to my face. I saw the screen. A perfect hologram appeared above it. It was a hologram. I was an astrophysicist. Trust me. And I knew it was perfect. I couldn’t even see through it. There were no lines of refracted light. There was no interference.

It was simply… technology that should not exist at this time and in this place.

This real woozy pressure struck me right between the brows. Maybe it was fear of the fact that I still couldn’t scream even though he had removed his hand from my mouth. Maybe it was the device. Maybe it was the force field protecting the door. And yeah, I was gonna call it that now.

Or maybe it was something more I simply could not understand.

More images flashed across the device he was holding.

I still couldn’t see his eyes, but that red flash I’d detected earlier grew brighter. It darted from the left to right like it was someone’s pupils scanning information.

This… this couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be happening! I screamed in my head.

But there’s only so long you can deny reality for. And it had caught up to me.

He pushed forward. He grabbed my chin. He tilted my head back. My heart fluttered violently then stopped a beat. What was the point in continuing? It told me. He was about to snap my neck and end it.

He did not. He let out a long, dark hiss.

It had this edge of victory to it. I had never been able to read hisses before today, but I’d never had the reason to try.

He still held his scanner device or whatever it was. An image flashed above the screen, and this one I could understand. For it was my ring.

Even as my heart refused to beat, even as I stopped breathing, the fear getting too much for me, everything felt like it slowed down.

Have you ever had an experience where your mind feels funneled toward something? Maybe you are having a nightmare, and you focus all of your attention on waking up. Maybe you’re trying really, really hard to remember something, and finally your mind goes off on the right track.

Even if you’d had those experiences, it would’ve been nothing compared to what I felt now. Everything, and I mean everything, within me was funneled toward the picture of my ring floating just above that scanner.

The guy didn’t pause. Because he wasn’t a guy, was he?

He grabbed up my wrist.

I finally saw his hand. I’d commented that his fingers had been so cold and stiff previously. That’s because they weren’t fingers. They were metal.

They were seamless and perfect, smooth, too. And they had better dexterity than any person would ever possess.

He grasped hold of my ring. Inside, I screamed. It was even louder than when he’d grabbed me. It was this real guttural, terrified roar as if I was about to lose my life and everything that had ever mattered all in one go.

I tried to fidget and throw myself back, but the same thing stopping me from screaming sank through my limbs until I felt as heavy as an iceberg out at sea.

His metal fingers wrapped around the ring. And he went to pull it off.

Everything slowed down. Then it sped up with this jolting snap.

Because he couldn’t pull it off.

The ring… it did something. It shivered. And trust me, the energy came from the ring and not from the guy’s hand.

It trembled there against my skin then felt like it formed a lock.

I was staring over at the door at the time, and it reminded me of the force field still playing across it.

The guy hissed. He jerked back. Then he pushed closer and tried to remove the ring again. He couldn’t.

He wasn’t weak. He was some freaking alien robot. But he couldn’t pull the ring off, because the ring refused to go.

The scanner he was holding beeped. I saw something appear on the screen.

I said something. It took my poor addled brain a few seconds to be able to recognize it, let alone describe it.

There was the head of an alien.

He had this massive ridged brow and these pronounced floppy lips. And if my grasp of emotions was anything to go by and could be extended to him, he was not pleased.

He said something to my captor. Or at least garbled sounds came out of his fleshy, flopping lips.

My captor straightened.

He locked a hand on my shoulder. He muttered something back. Then he wrenched me up off the chair.

I felt like I was a puppet. Or maybe a deboned fish was a better image. I had no ability to move. I could only be moved by this alien now.

He turned me around and pushed me toward the door. And everything caught up with me all at once. I was about to be kidnapped. Aliens were real. And my ring—

Before I could try to force that thought out, the alien twisted his head around as his scanner let out a warning beep. It was shrill, and it echoed between my cramped walls.

He yanked his head to the left toward my window, and I did the same.

It was just as it blasted inward, the glass and protective iron bars shattering out everywhere.

Something landed down, right on top of my telescope. It snapped the stand and bent the barrel.

And that something was a man.

A spaceman.

He wore armor