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He took his own do not disturb edict to heart, staying outside Razili’s lab and turning away anyone who dared bother her.

He didn’t need to go inside to know when another substance had failed her tests. As she grew more frustrated, she took it out on the slides. He winced as the sound of shattering glass hitting metal rang out again.

The leather of Irul’s wings shuffled together as he shifted. Razili had kicked her out an hour before, saying she was distracting her.

Calyx thought the truth was that she didn’t want anyone to witness what she must feel is failure.

He still held out hope. One of the last samples would be the key she needed. It had to be.

Despite Premiere Det’ae herself urging her to reconsider, Razili refused to reveal the source of the initial compound. She didn’t trust the alliance not to go to great lengths to collect the amount they needed for the war—no matter the consequences.

He was proud of her for holding her ground.

She told the Premiere, “It is not worth winning the war if it takes us becoming the very thing we fight against.”

So they waited. It took several hours for the tests to run on each sample. Calyx tried to get her to leave the lab while the equipment worked, but she refused. He arranged instead for meals to be delivered, and even a cot and blankets when the cycle grew long.

Each time, the wait seemed longer. The pressure mounted and he grew more and more worried as her anxiety visibly increased.

The door to the lab opened behind him, the hiss of air so uncommon it startled him.

“You should go rest.”

He shook his head at her. “Not until you do.”

Her chest rose and fell. “What of your portion of this project? Do you have a way to distribute the compound if I’m able to synthesize it?”

“ When you can synthesize it, we have specialized torpedoes capable of atomizing your compound in the atmosphere of any targeted planet. The planet itself will do the rest, distributing the compound on the flow of air currents.”

She nodded, exhaustion in every line of her face and body.

“You need to rest, Razili.”

He thought she might be about to nod, but a chime from the lab stopped her. She slowly turned and made her way back inside. The doors closed with a soft shush, and he braced for the sound of shattering glass.

When it didn’t come, he peeked into the lab and found her standing over the trash bin, where she let a slide slip from her fingertips.

She looked up and caught him watching her. She glanced around to see if anyone else was watching, before she moved to a worktable and picked up the vial of bright purple. The substance she had scraped from Irul's talons after their fight in the cave.

She mouthed at him, “Last one.”

He nodded.

She went to work and he put his back to the wall. He slid down and bent his knees, resting his head on his forearms. He must have fallen asleep, but came awake when Irul’s talons sank into the flesh of his shoulder.

He spun to the lab, fearing something happened to Razili, only to watch her jump and dance her way across the floor. She ran and smacked the button to open the doors and let him in, then threw herself into his arms.

He caught her and she squealed. “I’ve done it! The compound successfully synthesized! I engineered a sample twice the size of the original and it’s stable. Now we just need to test it on Scozid tech and make sure it works as well as the primary.”

He grinned. “I knew you would find the answer.”

“Actually, it was Irul who knew what we needed. It was the sample she insisted we take from the cave that had the chemical bond I needed.”

The beast remained attached to his shoulder, and she reached up and ruffled its fur.

“Extra fruit for you today.”

She chittered at her.

Calyx grinned. “Do you have enough to test right away?”

“How much do you need? It doesn’t take long to manufacture, now that I’ve worked out the synthetic version of the compound.”

“A kilogram should do for an initial test.”

She nodded. “I can do that. Give me an hour.”

“I’ll get the cylinder that will hold it in the torpedo for deployment and ready a fighter.”

Her grin fell. “Wait, you’re going to be the one to test it?”

“Yes. I created the atomizer. If tweaks need to be made, then I need to be present to make them.”

She nodded, her voice small when she responded, “I understand.”

She released him and went back to her work, creating more of the goo that would win them the war. He called after her, “You should name it.”

“What?”

“You should name the compound so we can stop calling it goo.”

She tilted her head. “Who calls it goo?”

He laughed. “Everyone but you.”

She gave him a weak smile. “Fair enough.”

Razili thought for a moment. She wanted to name it after the gruthji who put his entire species at risk by telling them what their saliva could do, but she wouldn’t endanger Wrenross.

“We’ll call it tuppu.”

“Tuppu?” Calyx repeated.

She nodded. His pronunciation was off, but it would do.

The phrase for spit in her language was the closest she would come to Wren’s saliva without putting the gruthji in danger.

She knew the universal translators used by the Denchui Alliance weren’t calibrated for all the distinct Earth languages, since everyone aboard the Shangris used the far more common universal tongue.

Calyx grinned at her, then carefully pried Irul’s talons from his shoulder and disappeared with long strides.

Irul flew on silent wings into the lab and reclaimed the top of a large microscope as her perch. She preened and strutted until Razili laughed.

“Yes, you did good.”

She was still cooing over her when a throat clearing got her attention. She turned to find Rahel standing in the doorway.

She expected him to berate her for disobeying him. Her smile fell but she straightened her spine.

“I owe you an apology.”

Shock dropped her jaw, but she composed herself quickly. “But I disobeyed you.”

“Yes, you put yourself and Calyx in great danger.” His scowled turned darker. “I am not happy with you for that decision. However, I must admit that you did what any Ka’atari would do. You did what you felt necessary for the good of the whole, and it was successful.”

She didn't blink at him knowing she'd synthesized the compound. News traveled fast on Corix 23. “What if I hadn’t succeeded? What if my impulsive decision got us both killed?”

“Then I would mourn you as a fallen warrior.”

She hugged the elder she’d come to respect during her time on Corix 23. Her mission was only successful because Calyx caught her sneaking onto his ship. If she had attempted to go alone, she would have died.

“Thank you, Rahel. That means a lot.”

“Don’t misunderstand me. If you think about running off by yourself on a fool’s errand again, I will lock you up and forget the key code.”

She laughed. “I think my adventuring days are over. That was enough excitement to last me a lifetime.”

She had the tuppu ready when Calyx returned with a good-sized cylinder. She smiled at being able to fill it to the top, but it faded quickly. “How will you test it?”

“Droscal knows where Scozid abandoned a cache of tech. We’ll test it there.”

“Abandoned? What if it’s no longer functioning?”

“Then we’ll find some that works.”

Fear choked her throat closed. A full team of warriors stood ready behind Calyx, but he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“I can’t say, but I will be as fast as possible.”

She nodded. With another quick peck on her lips, he and the team turned as a unit and disappeared. She followed behind, unwilling to let him out of her sight just yet. He never paused. He never looked back.

They held a steady pace to the hangar and she lost sight of him as he climbed the ramp into a ship a good deal larger than his. She continued to stand there, staring at the smooth bulkhead that wrapped the ship’s frame, until its thrusters fired and the noise and heat drove her back.

She recited a quick Hindu prayer and resigned herself to many cycles of worry.

The other Shangris women present on Corix 23 were determined not to let her wallow. They descended on her before she made it back to her quarters.

“You are not going back to the lab,” Cora announced.

Razili didn’t hide her smile. “You’re right. I’m not.”

Cora deflated a bit. “Oh. I thought you’d be eager to make vats of goo.”

“No, we’ll wait until the tuppu is tested before we make more. No sense in using materials if it fails.”

Gabriella caught her eye. “Tuppu?”

She knew what the other woman was asking. “A name I gave it from my language.”

“What does it mean?”

Razili turned to Stephanie. “Spit.” She glanced at Gabriella. “It seemed fitting, since we’ll be spitting on their technology.”

Anela nodded. “It is. It’s hard to believe something so innocuous as goop would bring down an entire civilization.”

“Wait, we’re wiping out a civilization?” Willow pushed her way past several of the other women.

“Just their technology. We’re sending them back to the stone age, essentially.”

“Won’t that gut their ability to survive?”

“Who cares?” Anela sneered. “They haven’t cared about any other species’ ability to survive.”

Willow fell quiet. Razili wondered if the indigenous culture scientist worried they would be rendered too vulnerable to invasion. “The premiere plans to negotiate a treaty.”

Willow nodded.

Cora reached up to touch Irul where he perched on Razili’s shoulder, but he hissed at her.

Cora laughed. “I see you’ve brought back your own pet.

” Her hand dropped as if to rub her preuvret’s head, but the large feline was missing.

Cora caught herself and at Razili’s questioning look, she said, “Torvid’s watching the kids. ”

Razili stroked the iridescent feathers coating her friend’s chest. “This is Irul. Without her help, I wouldn’t have found what I needed.”

“It’s good she found you, then.”