The plane flew toward Buenos Aires.

In the cabin, Ty sat in a plush chair, gazing out the window, deep in thought.

He looked up when Nora plopped down across from him. Her counterpart was snoring softly on the couch. Maria was asleep in a club chair. Kato was in the cockpit, the door closed, seeming to want time to himself.

“This is the first chance I’ve had to really talk to you since Peenemünde,” Nora said.

“Yeah. It was pretty crazy at the end.” “What are you thinking about now?” “Unanswered questions.”

Nora laughed. “Which ones?”

“Several. But mainly, who brought us here? To this world?” “Who says it was someone? What if it was just chance?”

“I’m a scientist. I don’t believe in chance. Or coincidence. There’s something else going on here. And I want answers.”

*

It was night when the plane landed in Buenos Aires.

A strong gust of wind blew across the tarmac as Ty stepped out onto the stair landing and descended. Kato, Nora, and Maria were close behind, followed by Nora’s counterpart.

At the bottom of the stairs, Nora’s counterpart pulled away from the group and walked ahead, making a beeline for the terminal. Ty knew she

couldn’t wait to get in touch with the Pax embassy and relate what had happened in Peenemünde—and the offer the Covenant had made.

The glow of the moon mixed with the floodlights from the terminal and the round beady lights embedded in the ground, creating a strange confluence of illumination.

Ty thought he sensed something to the right, but when he turned, the tarmac was empty. It was that same strange feeling he had experienced since coming to this world. He stopped and stared at the point where he felt it strongest.

Kato stopped too and stood beside Ty. “What is it?” The light in the air where they were staring rippled. “I don’t know,” Ty whispered.

Nora and Maria turned and backtracked to join them. “What’s going on?” Nora asked.

The light bent and seemed to suck inward. “We should go,” Kato said, voice strained.

Ty was pretty certain they couldn’t outrun whatever was about to happen.

He inhaled and watched, waiting.

Maria’s voice was shaky. “I don’t like this.”

Ty felt Nora’s fingers intertwine with his and squeeze.

On the tarmac, four human figures appeared where the ripples had been. They wore black outfits made of nonreflective material that fit loosely. Every inch of their bodies was covered. Their helmets featured mirrored visors that covered their entire faces. To Ty, they looked like astronauts in slightly less bulky suits.

There were no markings on the outfits—no words, no flag, no logo. Each of the figures had a small metal ring mounted in the center of their chests. It was a quantum radio medallion, and the symbols on the dial were the same as the ones on the medallion Ty had used to bring them to this world.

The figure closest to them reached up and tapped the dial on the medallion mounted on their chest, four quick pecks.

In the blink of an eye, Buenos Aires disappeared.

In the next second, Ty, Nora, Kato, and Maria were standing on the edge of a cliff, the wind blowing across them. Ahead, red and brown canyons and mountain ridges stretched as far as the eye could see.

The four figures stood nearby, facing Ty’s team, unmoving, as if waiting for Ty and the others to adjust to the new world.

Ty knew instantly they were on another Earth within the multiverse. It was night, and the moon shone brightly in the sky, casting shadows across the rocky expanse. The air was crisp and cool but not frigid. It smelled clean and fresh, as though nothing man-made had ever touched it.

The only sound was the wind. Above, the stars in the night sky were breathtaking, a masterpiece of light and color.

Ty expected one of the four suited figures to speak, but they didn’t. Their mirrored helmets merely focused on Ty, Nora, Kato, and Maria, waiting as the team took in this strange world.

“Who are you?” Ty asked, his voice distorted in the blowing wind that lashed the cliffside.

The voice that replied was like a human voice that was being disguised by a mechanical device. “You already know, Ty.”

“You’re the ones who’ve been watching us. Since the museums at the National Mall. And after. I felt a presence.”

“That’s right.” “Why?”

“To observe you.” “Why?”

“You know, Ty.”

Nora tightened her grip on his hand.

“Who are you?” he asked again, voice quavering in the relentless wind. “You know, Ty.”

“You sent the quantum broadcast I found. With our genomes. And the schematic for the quantum radio medallion.”

“Correct.”