Torin nodded again, bleakly. "And," Kai hesitated, "I have had some contact with the Lunar Resistance."

Torin shot him a wary look. "I hope we will not place all of our hopes in them, Your Highness."

"You don't want to instate Cinder as the true queen of Luna, then?"

"No," Torin continued, "That isn't it. I just think that they do not have the same considerations that we do, and are willing to take risks that we cannot take. But they are not out in the open yet—maybe they will surprise me. That girl has certainly surprised me enough so far."

Kai grinned a little. "Oh, and that reminds me. I'd like to call off the cyborg draft. Erland told me that the draft's real purpose was just to find Cinder, and that the hope of finding an antidote like that was slim, so I think it's time we stop such a waste."

Torin seemed a bit surprised. "You will call off the search for a cure?"

"No," Kai said carefully, "Levana should be bringing her antidote to Earth soon. And to avoid dependence on her, we will continue searching, but not at the expense of a group of my citizens. I think this is a time when we need to be unified as a country. And continuing to treat cyborgs as second-class citizens isn't helping. This won't solve everything, but it's a start. And I think it will show everyone that we're concerned about the citizenry's well-being."

"Very well." Torin did not look like he disagreed. "It will be done. What word from the Resistance, then?"

"Well, I haven't spoken with them, exactly," Kai said sheepishly, "They gave me this." He held out ρ. Torin studied the ring.

"Rho, say hello to Torin." Pause. "Rho?" The android remained stubbornly blank. Torin raised an eyebrow.

Kai cleared his throat, slipping the ring back on his finger. "Um, Rho, I hereby command you to say hello to Torin. He is a friend." Kai felt silly while they both waited.

The android grew warm on his finger then, and text scrolled across the surface. Kai smiled, triumphant, and then—

CINDER

"Not Cinder. Torin."

CINDER, ρ insisted. The ring grew warmer.

Torin tilted his head. "What is it?"

"An android. It's got a D-COMM, though I haven't gotten it to work ye—oh, Cinder! Yes, yes, accept D-COMM."

"Hello?" Cinder's voice echoed quietly from the ring on Kai's finger. Torin stared.

"Hello!" Kai laughed. Torin nudged him and Kai lowered his voice, abashed.

"You figured out Rho." There was a smile in her voice.

"Yes, well, he helped. This ring is so clever! How did you get it to be aware of when other people are in the room?" His voice –absurdly—sounded much sillier than he would have liked. He swallowed back the giddiness that did not belong to someone who was in as much trouble as he was.

"It has sensors, just like any other android. They're just too small to tell." Kai thought he could hear murmurs behind Cinder's voice.

"That Cress of yours must be quite the programmer."

"Why thank you, Your Highness!" A new voice came from ρ now. A few people laughed in the background. "I hope the Bio is working for you?"

"Um, yes, it does the trick…"

"Oh, sorry. You're on with the main crew here." Cinder's voice again. "We're not actually on base right now and we've been… preoccupied. That's why I had to hang up on you earlier. Sorry."

"It's fine. It's good I was free—I ended up having to take an urgent call from Prime Minister Kamin of the African Union. A rather unpleasant conversation, actually."

"Oh?"

Kai glanced at Torin, who shook his head. "It's just Levana stirring up trouble."

"Yeah, she attacked a few African cities just yesterday. And she's had spies crawling around European cities for weeks."

Kai and Torin both sat up in surprise. "Um, yes, actually, that's exactly what Kamin was calling about. Although I didn't know about Levana's spies in Europe."

"I'd bet the European Federation doesn't know about them either."

Kai's jaw flexed. This was troubling news. And how did Cinder know about it?

"I'll be going to Africa in the next week, I think," he told her, "Trying to smooth things over while Levana leaves the planet. What if I visited the Resistance while I'm there? Secretly, of course. The political visit will be the only official excuse for my being there. But are you in the AU, with Dr. Erland?"

Cinder hesitated, looking around the crowded cockpit. Wolf was looking wary, gesturing at her to be cautious.

"Um, Ka—Emperor, Kai, we're going—"

"Wait—Emperor?" said another unfamiliar voice. "As in, of the Eastern Commonwealth? As in, the Queen's Husband? What are you doing! Don't give him our location!"

"Relax, Rhea. He's not going to tell Levana where we are. Let's just say his loyalties lie elsewhere..." Someone else assured him. Kai raised an eyebrow at the impertinence of the new disembodied voice.

More quietly, "You've got the Queen's own husband working against her?"

"No, they do not," Torin piped up for the first time.

"OK stop!" Cinder said. "If you all had not noticed, these androids work better for a two –person conversation. Kai, did I hear Torin, there with you?" Kai hmm'd after a moment, realizing that Cinder could not see him nodding.

"Good," she said, "I'd hoped you would tell him about the android. But we need you not to tell anyone else. That ring needs to be secure."

"Of course."

"OK. Then yes, one of our bases that I mentioned to you before is in Africa. Rabat, Morrocco, specifically. And if you're around it would work perfectly for you to come. We can discuss more then how far you're able to get involved. I think the person you'll need to talk to first is Captain Thorne, our fleet commander, so I'll put you on with him to figure out the details."

Kai bristled. Torin gave him a questioning look, but Kai ignored him. There was no justifiable reason for him to dislike the escaped cadet—that he would say out loud anyway. "All right. I will be schedule a trip to Rabat in a few days' time then. Give me Thorne and we will figure it out. With any luck I'll be able to set right some of Levana's wrongs on this trip," he said darkly. And perhaps it was Kai's very real dislike of the man he was about to be passed off to that made him bold enough to say, "And, I look forward to seeing you again. Cinder."

Torin threw him a look.

"They're on first name terms?" Kai thought he heard someone ask.

Cinder stammered a goodbye, making Kai smile. Then he heard Thorne's voice.

"Hellooooooo, Your Majesty," he said grandiosely. Kai gritted his teeth slightly, and they began to plan.