The countdown timer on the screens was getting more specific by the second. Not just eleven months and twenty-three days, but hours, minutes, seconds. Like whatever was coming had already locked onto Earth's location and was approaching at a calculated speed.
Elena was studying the star charts while still holding weapons she'd taken from the government agents. "These aren't random coordinates. This is a planned invasion route. Whatever's coming has been watching us for a long time."
Luna was lying quietly in Victoria's arms, but her glow was pulsing in rhythm with the data flowing across the screens. Like she was somehow interfacing with the computer systems directly.
"She's reading the data," Victoria said in amazement. "A newborn baby is processing information faster than supercomputers."
Sarah was at another terminal, her scarred fingers flying over the keyboard as she accessed files that should have been impossible to hack. "The time travelers didn't just leave genetic material. They left instructions. A complete guide for preparing humanity for what's coming."
New images appeared on the main screen. Not star charts this time, but photographs. Surveillance images of what looked like human settlements, but the architecture was wrong. Too organic, too fluid, like buildings that had been grown instead of constructed.
"Future Earth," Scarlett said. "After the invasion."
The images were both beautiful and terrifying. Cities that looked like they were part of the landscape itself, humans who moved with the same enhanced abilities as the Blood Queens, and in the sky above it all, ships that definitely weren't built by any human civilization.
"They're not invaders," Elena realized. "They're refugees. Something drove them out of their home system, and they're looking for a new planet to colonize."
"But they're not going to ask permission," Sarah said grimly. "According to these files, first contact results in an 87% human casualty rate within the first year."
Luna made a sound that was almost like a word, and suddenly the screens changed again. Now they were showing the medical data from the four Blood Queens who were still in the comas.
*Status: Stable. Resurrection protocol: Ready. Activation required: 4 simultaneous subjects.*
"They need all four of us to wake up the others," Victoria said. "The system won't activate unless multiple Blood Queens are present."
"Because it's not just about individual enhancement," Scarlett said, understanding flooding through her. "It's about creating a collective intelligence that can coordinate humanity's response to the invasion."
Elena was checking her weapons again. "Then we wake them up. Right now."
"It's not that simple," Sarah said, pointing to another part of the display. "The facility where they're being held is three hundred miles away. It's underground, heavily guarded, and according to this, it's rigged to self-destruct if anyone tries to break in without proper authorization codes."
"So we get the authorization codes."
"From who? Marcus is probably dead or dying on the pavement outside. The other program personnel will shoot us on sight." Sarah's expression was grim. "And even if we could get to the facility, we'd have to do it in the next few hours."
"Why?"
"Because the government has decided the Blood Queen program is too dangerous to continue. They're planning to terminate all remaining subjects at midnight tonight."
The screens flickered, and new data appeared. Not files this time, but a live video feed from what looked like a high-security medical facility. Four women were lying in beds that looked more like coffins, connected to machines that were monitoring their vital signs.
But the vital signs were changing. Heart rates increasing, brain activity spiking, like they were starting to wake up on their own.
"The proximity to Luna is activating their systems," Victoria said. "Even from three hundred miles away, she's affecting the other Blood Queens."
Luna's glow was getting brighter, and now Scarlett could feel something happening to her own system. Not the familiar connection to Victoria, Elena, and Sarah, but something new. Like a door opening in her mind, revealing rooms she'd never known existed.
*System evolution complete. Network connectivity established. Blood Queen Collective: Online.*
The voice in her head was different now. Not the cold, mechanical tone of the original system, but something warmer. More human.
*Scarlett. Can you hear me?*
It was Victoria's voice, but Victoria's lips weren't moving. The connection between them had evolved beyond simple information sharing. They were developing some kind of telepathic link.
*I can hear you,* Scarlett thought back.
*Me too,* Elena's voice joined the conversation. *Sarah, are you there?*
*I'm here. And I'm getting data from the other facility. The four Blood Queens are waking up faster than expected. Their systems are trying to establish contact with us.*
The screens in the monitoring station were now showing readings from eight different subjects instead of four. Luna had somehow linked all of them into a single network, even across three hundred miles.
*We need to get to them before the government does,* Elena's mental voice was urgent. *According to the data I'm seeing, they're planning to use some kind of nerve agent to stop the awakening process. If they succeed, the other Blood Queens will die permanently.*
Scarlett looked at Luna, who was now staring directly at her with those unnaturally intelligent eyes.
*She's not just connecting us,* Scarlett realized. *She's making us stronger. All of us.*
It was true. Scarlett could feel her abilities continuing to evolve, becoming more powerful and more precise. She could sense Elena's combat skills integrating with her own memories, Victoria's medical knowledge enhancing her understanding of her own enhanced physiology, Sarah's tactical planning abilities giving her a strategic overview of their situation.
But more than that, she could feel the presence of the four sleeping Blood Queens. Their minds were awakening, reaching out across the distance, trying to join the collective that Luna had created.
*Time remaining until termination protocol: 4 hours, 17 minutes,* the system reported.
"We have to go," Scarlett said out loud. "Right now."
"How do we get three hundred miles in four hours?" Elena asked.
Sarah smiled, and for the first time since Scarlett had seen her scarred face, the expression looked genuinely happy.
"I may have mentioned that I've been preparing for this day for eight months," she said. "Did I forget to mention the helicopter?"