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Cassidy gives the Other her unvarnished opinion of its reluctance to help them against the All.
Cassidy suddenly snorted laughter, muffling it as best she could to avoid disturbing Jackie.
“What’s so funny?” the Other asked.
“The answer to my questions is so obvious. How did I not see it before?” Cassidy shook her head at her double. “The Other is a coward. A weak, pathetic coward.”
“We…we fail to see your reasoning.” Bafflement filled her double’s face.
“It’s something my clanmate Lidon quotes from his faith. ‘True courage is to take a stand for the weak when it wins you nothing and could cost you everything.’ Of course, you have the advantage that you lose nothing no matter how you act, but you lack any bravery whatsoever.”
“How did you arrive at this hypothesis?” Real consternation had appeared.
“You hide behind grand pronouncements of your superiority. You stood back and let the All wipe out who knows how many lives in your dimension because it had no effect on you personally. You’re perfectly willing to let it happen here too. You tell us to make our peace with the inevitable end, rather than trying to help us stay alive. We don’t have to die at the All’s tentacles, but you’ve decided you’re too important to do anything about it!”
“We’re not sure you’re accurate.”
The Other looked positively sulky. Maybe it hadn’t lost all emotional ability after all if it didn’t like the words it was hearing.
Jackie shifted and burbled a tiny sound. She’d be waking soon and ready to nurse. Cassidy decided it was as good a time as any to show her unwanted guest the door.
She had a couple more things to get off her chest first.
“The proof is plain. You’re afraid to lose your view of yourself as a preeminent entity by lowering yourself to assist mere physical beings. Arrogance makes you unwilling to save species the All would wipe out.”
“We don’t experience arrogance,” the Other insisted.
“Ha! You’ve displayed it every time I’ve encountered you. Your ego keeps you from getting involved. It makes you worse than the All.”
“Worse?”
“The All is merely vicious. However, the Other lacks basic decency. You stand by and watch the All commit atrocities and don’t lift a finger to stop it, though you could. If there’s a better example of pure, unmitigated evil and cowardice, I can’t imagine it. Our blood and the blood of those you allowed the All to kill is on your hands. You bear as much, if not more, guilt as it does.”
* * * *
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Victories against invasion have been won, but the galaxy may be lost in the end.
There may be no escape from the All’s extermination plans for the dimension. Emperor Clajak has one last card up his sleeve, however: a band of misfit renegade Kalquorians called the Coydidak. Only with their help and an impossible mission to beyond the known reaches of the universe can Kalquor hope to preserve life.
A determined engineer is at the top of the list of Coydidak leader Dramok Rorix’s least favorite humans. She’ll stop at nothing to board his ship for a one-way voyage that’s to last a lifetime. Is ultimate freedom from the empire worth dealing with the beautiful but unrelenting Laughter Lorenz?
As the clock ticks to the end of Dr. Cassidy Hamilton’s pregnancy and potentially life in the dimension, she works feverishly to find a way to destroy the All. A visit from an undiscovered entity brings to light her greatest hope and worst fear. Only time will tell if this new being is friend or foe…but Cassidy’s time and that of her soon-to-be-born child is almost up.
Adventure. Danger. Intrigue. Romance that outburns the sun in any galaxy. It’s all here in the sixth installment of the Dark Empire series.
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