Two weeks later, Dinah blinked as light flooded the darkened stage where she and Strayhorn sat. She found herself gazing out at a huge crowd of orange-furred squid people, packed into a vast, upside-down theater.
Thousands of squid dangled by their tentacles from rungs in the ceiling. Each squid had one giant eye, blood-red and unblinking, fixed on Dinah and Strayhorn.
A chill rippled up Dinah's back as she felt their eyes upon her. Yet again, she marveled at where she was, so far from home, on an alien world that no human being before her had ever visited.
Kioska had led them here, to his homeworld, from the space station. It was here that the humans would hold up their end of the deal and earn salvation for dying Mother Earth.
Suddenly, a familiar figure tumbled onto the stage--e
