Gasps and noise erupted from the dirigible.

Hands raised over their heads, Colonel Versici and his troops made their way down the gangplank. Their weapons had been taken and were now in the hands of Sheridan and the two Navy troopers who had been arrested along with her. One of the Army troops stayed, as well. That answers that, Avery thought. He’d wondered if any more Army people had been corrupted than the ones they knew about, and it seemed as if at least one had.

At a nod from Sheridan, one of the Navy men went to the machine gun (the one that had failed to be thrown overboard) and trained it on those grouped around Layanna.

“Don’t do this, Sheridan,” Avery called, pulling away from the others.

“Oh, I don’t plan to kill anyone,” she said. “But I will if she—” she hitched her chin at Layanna “—makes any move I don’t like. Now you—” this was aimed at Janx, Hildra, and the troops she had not already disarmed—“drop your guns.” They did, and one of Sheridan’s people retrieved them, bringing them back to the dirigible.

Sweeping her gaze across the gathering, Sheridan said, “You’ve all made a terrible mistake. You think you’ve beaten them?” Almost sadly, she said, “No. No, you have not.”

The trooper who had retrieved the guns began to ready the dirigible for departure while the other kept the mounted machine gun trained on the gathering.

“Where will you go, you bitch?” Hildra said. “The skies are full of our boys.”

Sheridan smiled enigmatically. “Not completely full.” Her attention shifted to Avery, and her expression softened somewhat. “Farewell, Doctor.”

He started to say it back to her, then hesitated. His mind spun, hot and bright. “Wait,” he said.

“Yes?”

“Remember in the Crothegra, when we were leaving the Dome, you said I could come with you. That there was a place for me.”

Her brows drew in. “You’re saying you wish to come with me?”

“Yes, I think so. If that place is still open.”

She studied him with extreme skepticism. “Why, Doctor? Why would you want to do that? You could stay here and enjoy peace ... at least, for a time.”

He shook his head. “What do I have left here? My friends have their own lives. My daughter has a new family, my former girlfriend wants no part of me. I have no purpose, no use.”

“What’re you doin’, Doc?” Janx said.

Ignoring him, Avery continued: “I know myself, Jess. I’ll go back to the bottle. I’ve done it before.” He grimaced, wondering if it were true. “Let me come with you, and I’ll have purpose again, and life. Besides,” he added in a different tone, “you know it’s what I want.”

She hesitated, and in that moment Avery’s heart almost stopped. The last thing he’d said had been all too true, Layanna was right, but there was more to it than that. He had said it himself only moments ago. He traded a look with Layanna, who, after a moment, seemed to understand.

“Fine,” she said, playing her part. “Go if you want to. I know you do.”

The horrible thing was he did. He looked at Sheridan, saw the cut on her lip from where Versici or one of his men had struck her, saw the way her lip had swollen, just slightly, making it even more bitable, and wanted to kiss it.

“Shut up, blondie,” Hildra said.

“Well?” Avery asked Sheridan.

She hesitated another moment, then held out her hand. “Come, then.”

Slowly, Avery moved toward the dirigible. Colonel Versici and his soldiers, looking baffled by this whole exchange, parted for him.

“Quickly, Doctor,” Sheridan said.

“Yes, go on,” Layanna said.

“Shut your pie-hole!” Hildra snapped. To Avery, she said, “Don’t listen to that bitch, bones. Bones?”

Avery was walking up the gangplank.

Janx grabbed his arm. “Doc, you can’t really do this.”

Haunted, Avery said, “I have to, Janx.”

“But ... Ani ...”

Forcing out the words, Avery said, “She has a new family. One better suited to her needs.”

Janx’s face turned to stone. His grip tightened. “Doc. No. You can’t.”

Making sure his face was turned from Sheridan, Avery mouthed the words, Have me followed. Trust me.

Janx’s eyes went flinty.

“Let him go,” Layanna said, in her flattest voice. If Avery hadn’t known better, he would have believed she meant it.

Slowly, Janx released his grip. Avery moved up the gangplank. He took Sheridan’s hand, feeling the deck of the airship tilt and sway beneath his feet.

“Don’t do this, bones,” Hildra said. “Ignore the bitch and come back.” She meant Layanna, Avery knew, not Sheridan.

“I’m afraid this is goodbye,” Avery said. “For now.”

“For ever,” Sheridan said, and nodded to the pilot. The dirigible began to lift off and drift away from the Starfish’s back.

Avery traded a nod with Layanna, who did not nod back. She was playing her part a little too well.

“Doc, no!” Janx shouted, and Avery was shocked to see moisture in his eyes.

What am I doing? Avery asked himself. Why am I REALLY doing this? He turned away, unable to look at Janx.

Sheridan directed the dirigible up, speaking into a radio, and minutes later another ten airships descended from the clouds. Avery gaped: were they all aligned with her? The ships turned about, escorting Sheridan, a sort of honor guard, and rose in a solid body toward the dark clouds, which broke suddenly, revealing a zeppelin. Its sides glimmered in a flash of lightning.

“A zeppelin,” Avery muttered. “And you don’t fear being pursued?”

“We have few extradimensional weapons left to us now, but we do have devices, and they can stymie your people long enough for us to be away,” Sheridan said.

Avery glanced back at the Starfish. Layanna and the others were invisible against its vastness. He realized that he was very, very alone.

The dirigibles docked with the zeppelin, and a woman—in an Octunggen uniform—greeted Sheridan on the other side of the boarding ramp. The woman had strange eyes with bifurcated pupils, like the eyes of a frog, and she snapped her heels and saluted.

“You are most welcome, Colonel,” she said, and Avery remembered that Sheridan was only a colonel in the Octunggen military.