“What do you mean by synchronized? Did they both have the same vision?” Aquarius questioned. The warriors had long listened to Sage when she saw a hint of the future, but Olivia, an actual child, had only recently begun relating the things she could see.

“Last night, as I headed back into Tower after a startling encounter, which I’ll tell you about in a minute, both Sage and Olivia emerged and, as if possessed of one voice, said, and I quote, ‘As great evil arises promising destruction, there is but a single, narrow branch to victory. To the dusty red planet, the water bearer must journey to seek audience with the queen who once was. The queen who lost everything fighting the ancient enemy. The queen who will demand the impossible in exchange for saving humanity. But beware, for once the water bearer sets upon this path, there is no return and the stars shall weep.’”

“Um, that’s an ominous prediction.” Stars weeping? Definitely not good. “And might I add, they never actually mentioned the planet Mars.”

Aries arched a brow. “What other planet would match that description?”

None. Nor could he deny that the term water bearer had to refer to him. Aquarius. The coolest of the Zodiacs of course. “Mars has never shown any signs of life. At least not in like a gazillion years.” Scientists speculated that, at one time, Mars might have possessed an atmosphere and even water, two essential building blocks when it came to living things. However, there’d never been any kind of confirmation that Martians ever existed.

“I’m aware their foretelling makes no sense. However, it is my duty to listen and relay.” Aries took his job as leader of the Zodiac Warriors seriously.

“Did you question them about it?”

At his query, Aries appeared even more troubled. “I tried, but neither remember talking to me. Soon as they made their announcement, they suddenly woke, confused as to how they’d gotten outside. And before you ask, I am one hundred percent certain that is what they said.”

“I don’t doubt you heard them correctly, but it all seems rather odd.”

“It gets stranger,” Aries muttered, drumming his fingers on his desk. “It turns out the aliens we destroyed were only the tip of our problem. I was visited by their master last night.”

The claim shot Aquarius’ brows into the stratosphere. “Visited as in here, at Tower?” The Tower of Babel, the home of the Zodiac Warriors and other strays who didn’t fit into the human world. A magical place with defenses to prevent discovery and infiltration.

“It didn’t come inside. This thing”—Aries’ lip curled—“appeared on the other side of the moat. It claimed the rabid aliens we exterminated were pawns, basically cannon fodder. Says more of their kind are coming.”

“Fuck me, that’s bad news,” Aquarius exclaimed. The aliens they’d fought had been four-armed, three-eyed, ugly critters who could create clones of themselves from a tiny hunk of flesh. It made the warriors’ task of eradicating them difficult, as they couldn’t miss a single spattered bit. They’d been rampaging around the world, with the highest concentration murdering their way through Toronto, Canada. Luckily, the Zodiac Warriors had stumbled across their Kryptonite, some toxic water from Lake Natron. They’d thought them wiped out. Wrong. “Pity the poison we sprayed in the sewers and tunnels of Toronto missed the alien commander.”

“Oh, it didn’t miss. This fucker isn’t like the ones we were fighting. For one, it wore a human body.”

“Wore as in like a suit?” Aquarius almost called it an Edgar suit. Blame his love for Men in Black.

“It claimed to be a being of power who chose to inhabit flesh that it might better try and rule over our world.”

“So it’s a parasite?”

“Not exactly. At least not the physical kind.” Aries’ lips pressed into a grim line. “I threw a sword and pierced it through the chest. As it died, it said it would simply find a new body. Pretty sure it wasn’t lying because a ball of light shot out of the corpse and took off into the sky.”

Aquarius whistled. “Well shit. That’s not good.”

“Understatement. What’s worrisome is it implied it could inhabit anyone.”

“Like the President of the United States or the people controlling the nukes?”

“Actually, it claimed our leaders were too hideous and old.” Aries offered a wry smile.

“Which may or may not be true. Is there any way of knowing who it might take over next? Anything that gave it away?”

“Glowing eyes, but I don’t know if that’s a constant tell or not.”

“Did it mention what it wanted?”

“World domination.”

Aquarius snorted. “Villains, always trying for the impossible.”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss its threat. Even without its minions, the havoc it could cause simply by taking over the wrong person…”

No need to say more. Aquarius could easily imagine all kinds of worst-case scenarios.

“You think this body-snatching alien is related to the premonition from Sage and Olivia.”

“Seems likely, given the mention of an ancient enemy. I have to wonder if they’ve visited our solar system in the very distant past.”

“And the Martians somehow repelled them?”

“It’s a possibility.”

“If that’s the case, it could be why Mars is now inhabitable. Doesn’t seem like we should be following their lead.”

“We don’t know what happened. Could be Mars died from something unrelated. All I know is that’s the only clue we have.”

“A clue that seems to imply that if I succeed, I won’t return.”

Sorrow filled Aries’ expression. “Which is the reason why I hesitated to even mention the prophecy to you. I’ll understand if you refuse.”

“We both know that’s not an option.” When Sage spoke, the warriors listened. “And this is what I signed up for. Guardian of Earth and all.”

“There has to be another way.” Aries rose and paced in front of his window. “You’re too valuable to lose.” And then more softly. “I don’t know if I could live with myself if I sent you to die.”

“Maybe we’re misinterpreting the message. I mean we know there’s no way to get to Mars. Even if I could find a way there, wouldn’t its queen be long dead? Add in the fact neither Sage nor Olivia even remembers saying it. Could be this is that alien fucker trying to screw with us by sending your most valuable asset on an impossible quest so that it can terrorize the planet.”

“A possibility I hadn’t thought of,” Aries mused, rubbing his chin. “It is odd neither have any recollection.”

“Tell you what. I won’t try and hitch a ride of one of Musk’s mission-to-Mars vessels, but I will do some research on the planet.”

“I think that’s the wisest course for now. Perhaps you should pay a visit to the library. See if perhaps there are some mentions of Mars that can’t be found on the internet or in a NASA database.”

“On it, boss. And don’t worry. I have no intention of dying if I can help it.”

But if it came down to sacrificing his life to save the world? A hero always made the right choice.

Chapter 2

After his meeting with Aries, Aquarius descended a few flights and visited Tower’s library. Some might wonder why he’d want to bother with books when he could simply type a search string into his computer and immediately pull up information—even the kind of information he shouldn’t have access to. Given his role as resident tech geek, there didn’t exist a database Aquarius couldn’t hack. But here was the thing; he already knew what a search of human archives would reveal. Mars had no life. None that had ever been detected. No signs of civilization. Nothing. Nada.

Not exactly surprising. NASA only came into existence in the 1950s, and while their technology had evolved quite a bit since they faked the moon landing—don’t argue, he’d seen a reel of bloopers from when they filmed it. It should have been destroyed but there always existed those involved in conspiracies that liked to save things that might later pay off—Nasa would never truly know what happened on Mars until they actually set foot on it. Although it seemed more likely the very determined Elon Musk and his SpaceX team would be the first to land someone on the red planet. However, that remained several years away, and Aquarius needed details now.

If anyone had anything on the dusty dead world, it would be Tower’s library, which stored and preserved texts from around the world, some of it written thousands of years ago. Pity Tower didn’t have all the books ever written by mankind. Unfortunately, much was destroyed before Tower began collecting. However, if any ancient mention existed of Mars—or its supposed queen—this would be the place to start. Aquarius might try digging to see if any references existed of the aliens as well, although that might prove a tad difficult given they didn’t have a name for them. Searching worked best when you could use the proper nomenclature. Four-armed, three-eyed, rabid gross people-eater sounded more like a song than an actual search query.

The library—a cozy space with floor-to-ceiling bookcases, a crackling fire in a hearth, comfortable chairs and table—only held a fraction of its available texts, with the majority being stored elsewhere in Tower’s many—many—levels.

Spotting Asterion—the legendary minotaur that used to haunt the Labyrinth—bent over a table flipping the pages of a book, Aquarius cleared his throat so as to not startle. “Hey, Asterion. How’s things hanging?”

The bull-headed man straightened and offered a smile, which for the uninitiated might seem as if he’d decided to rip off your head. Really, though, the minotaur, who’d been rescued from his prison maze, couldn’t be a nicer guy. “Greetings, Aquarius. No hanging today, as Tower has introduced my nether regions to snug briefs.”

“Tighty-whities. Nice. I’m more of a boxer guy myself. You been promoted to head librarian yet?” Asterion had been learning how the library worked from the current caretaker with the plan he’d take over and allow the former to retire. A mysterious figure none of the warriors ever met but greatly appreciated. If they needed a book, they simply had to state out loud what they sought, and poof, it appeared on the table. Cool trick and almost as quick as a typed search on his computer.

“I still have much to learn. The amount of knowledge stored is quite astonishing. It will be a decade or more, I think, before I come even close to being as efficient as Carlos.”

The librarian had a name? “Decade? Damn. That’s an insane apprenticeship, but if anyone can do it, it’s definitely you.” Asterion had a thirst for knowledge.

“Did you require aid locating something?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. Two things, actually, and both of them tricky. The first would be if we have anything about the aliens. Pretty sure your boss, Carlos, has already been looking, but thought I’d put it out there just in case.”

“He has indeed been seeking, however not having any success. While there are many four-armed creatures that do appear in some of the older legends and myths, none are three-eyed and self-replicating.”

“What if I told you they were simply foot soldiers for a being that can inhabit bodies?”

Did you know a minotaur could raise brows it didn’t have? Kind of comical. “That is new information. Where did you come across it?”

“Aries. He met this alien overlord dude last night. Calls itself master. Says it wants to rule the world and can supposedly take over anyone it wants. When Aries killed it, a ball of light exited the corpse and flew away probably looking for a new body.”

“Most perturbing, but at the same time, these new details will give us new areas to search. You said you had a second request?”

“Yup. I need anything we’ve got on Mars. Especially the ancient stuff. I’m looking for mentions of it having people or Martians, if any Martians survived, if there’s a way to get there.”

“I assume there is a reason for the interest?”

“Sage and Olivia said something about me visiting and meeting with the Martian Queen.”

“Visit how?” Asterion sounded genuinely curious. “My understanding is the Zodiacs can only beam to locations on Earth.”

“That’s what I need to figure out. According to the prediction, this queen might know how we can defeat the body-snatching alien.”

“Meaning the two are related,” Asterion murmured. He cocked his head and stared off into space for a moment before adding, “Carlos says your request might take a bit of time, as he’ll have to peruse the older archives that he’s less familiar with.”

“Nothing recent I take it then?”

Asterion shook his head. “It would seem the only historical mentions of Mars are of the planet as seen from Earth, the god the Greeks assigned to it, and the modern knowledge that is readily available.”

“In that case, I’ll leave the two of you to dig and head to my office. See if I can’t suss out something on my own.”

“I shall work diligently in the meantime,” Asterion promised.

“Thanks, dude.”

After a brief detour to the dining room to load up on snacks, Aquarius headed to his office, a techno geek’s wet dream. Multiple screens, a military-grade server, and the digital world at his fingertips, all assembled by Aquarius. While Tower could provide most things, it struggled with technology. The one thing he didn’t question? How the hell Tower, a place built thousands of years ago, managed to get him the electricity needed. Some things just had to be accepted because, otherwise, you might go mad trying to understand.

Search after search only emphasized humanity’s lack of knowledge about Mars. Yes, they had images of the surface and scientific theories as to why a planet that once seemed to have water went dry. Something about the atmosphere disappearing, which led to solar winds stripping the surface. If it once held any vegetation, or even civilization in the form of structures, they’d long been erased—or hidden. After all, Tower knew how to hide itself from living and even electronic eyes.

Some alien buffs believed the Martians went underground to protect themselves from the ravaged surface. Possible but, again, unconfirmed. No way of knowing unless Aquarius could actually visit. Speaking of which…

A peek at the latest SpaceX news showed them still working on getting to Mars with the first few missions being unmanned and still not for another year or two. A tad too long given the situation.

“Hey, oh mighty star god who watches over me…” A tad much but Aquarius would rather overdo it than piss off the Astraeus. The beings of power inhabited the Zodiac constellations, and each chose a person of valor on Earth to be their avatar. It meant cool powers, a wicked tattoo on the back, which connected them, and increased stamina, strength, and durability. “I don’t suppose you could beam me to Mars?”

No reply. The star deities never spoke directly to their avatars, but if they could act, they did, so the fact he remained in his chair made it pretty clear the answer was no.

A message from Aries popped onto his screen.

This might be a long shot, but maybe you should visit the techie who fixed the alien nanobot. Ah yes, the little machine that was the start of all their troubles.

Why? I doubt he knows any more than us at this point, Aquarius replied.

The techie who fixed it is actually a she. Apparently, Lance had no clue how to repair the nanobot and passed it on to someone else. I wasn’t too happy, as you can imagine, which is when he reassured me she could be trusted.

How does questioning her help?

I’m thinking with this alien commander having lost his army, he’ll be wanting to do something to replace them. Those parasitic nanobots might be what he turns to next.

Smart thinking, and Aquarius saw where Aries was going with this. To build new nanobots, alien dude is gonna need more than cast-off junk and stuff bought at Best Buy. A comment made because recovered energy weapons used by the four-armed aliens showed them created from parts made on Earth. This chick might be able to direct us to a company with the ability and equipment capable of replicating the design.

Exactly.

Got some coordinates? I can head out asap.

Unfortunately, no. But Lance, the guy who hired her, will know how to reach her. I’m sending over his address now.

Wouldn’t it be simpler and quicker to call him?

I have. He refused to give me even her name.

Meaning Aquarius would have to play tough.

Or get the guy drunk.

The latter proved easy, too easy. The fellow passed out before Aquarius could question, but luckily, it didn’t take long to hack his home computer and find what he needed.

Whoever this Ishtar was, she would never see him coming.