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knew there was no time to make such a serious judgement and so he simply strode toward the nearest body.
    As he approached, he took two small vials out of the pocket at his waist and held them up for inspection. One contained the highly illegal drug Lyquis – the sacred means by which he communicated with Kari – and the other contained a solution of the suspended nano-tech that he’d stolen from a Coalition drop ship.
    Lowering the vials again, Garen leapt onto the nearest scroober’s bench and squatted over the man’s chest.
    He knew the added weight wouldn’t be noticed. All the scroober’s conscious attention would be on the scanners and cameras that covered his allocated surveillance areas.
    Reaching down, Garen gently thumbed the man’s lower lip down and poured the Lyquis through the small gap between the man’s feeding tube and his teeth. He then waited as the drug made its way to the scroober’s brain and wondered what it would make him see and whether the effect would be noticeable at the Golgotha’s central security hub.
    As he calmly pondered the question, the sound of heavy boot steps echoed through the hole he’d just cut in the door and Garen knew his time was about to run out.
    Kari had assured him that his own safety was paramount, but Garen knew he had to finish the mission at all costs. And so, despite being aware he was leaving himself open to attack, he ignored the boot steps and patiently lifted the dark visor that covered the scroober’s eyes.
    Multi-coloured lights spilled out from beneath the visor and Garen leaned forward to check if the man’s pupils were dilated – a sign that the Lyquis was working.
    “ Not yet ,” he thought, bringing the second vial close to the scroober’s eye.
    This was the part of the plan he had to take on faith. From the research he’d done with Kari and Onzo, he assumed the complicated nano-particles would be absorbed along the scroober’s optical pathways and migrate into his brain, where they could fulfil their purpose and begin transforming the cellular material.
    Garen had no idea what this would do to the scroober, but Kari was confident it would create an energy conduit that he could use to enter the Golgotha’s communication system.
    Kari was essentially made of energy – albeit one that could only be detected through the use of Lyquis – and so he could easily endure such a process. Then, once he was inside, he would be free to study the Golgotha and find a way to send the entire energy sump into the crushing depths of Jupiter’s lower atmosphere.
    “I know you can hear me, Kari,” Garen said as he waited for the scroober’s pupils to dilate. “I don’t need Lyquis to know you’re here with me now. I just want you to know that I’m ready for whatever will come. Do whatever you have to do.”
    Then the boot steps finally reached him, just as the scroober’s pupils grew larger.

Suddenly Garen had a split-second decision to make. He could either defend himself and possibly lose his chance to complete the mission, or he could finish this here and now, and leave himself at the mercy of the Security team charging into the room behind him.
    It was no contest. Ignoring the Security officers completely, Garen calmly tipped the vial up and poured its contents directly into the scroober’s eye.
    For a moment, he thought he saw a gleam of blue light as the solution was absorbed through the cornea’s membrane, then he heard a sharp BLAM and something slammed into his back. The force of the blow smashed him off the bench and he instinctively tried to turn in the air so he could catch himself before he hit the far wall, but another violent BLAM split the air and the associated blow slammed into his shoulder, hammering him into the wall with enough force to send bright sparks across his vision.
    The Security team was firing on him without mercy and if it weren’t for his stormsuit, Garen knew he would already be dead. He instinctively tried to