In less time than I expected (no more than twenty minutes), my implant notified me, “Project complete. The implant constructor will now create Xiniti implants.”

I thought back, “Including citizen implants? Not just local auxiliary?”

“There is no functional difference except in the information provided and access permissions. Should an auxiliary become a citizen, the changes will require downloads, not physical replacement.”

I began to wonder how exactly I’d use the thing, but the implant placed the information in my mind even before I finished the thought. It wasn’t complicated. All I had to do was connect to the egg and command it to produce a certain number of implants.

If I wanted to, I could set permission levels for different kinds of information or simply take the defaults.

With that kind of control, I could even consider giving Sean and his crew implants. It allowed me to effectively paralyze auxiliaries if they attacked—which meant that if Jody took one, it would be much easier to take him down. It also meant that any Xiniti citizen could paralyze most of our team—though “most” assumed that citizens weren’t vulnerable.

We probably shouldn’t assume that. On the other hand, we weren’t likely to go up against Xiniti for the foreseeable future. For now, we needed to focus on surviving Magnus. After that, we could worry about the side effects of implants.

I sent a notification to everyone in the League, notifying them about the implants and explaining that it would make control of their suits instantaneous. I also added that it would make identifying Abominator relics easy which was good since Rook had visited the Moon long before we caught up with him on Mars. Worse, he’d probably been looking for them to judge from what he’d said when we’d fought him during my internship.

The first reply I got was from Julie. It was, “Awesome! Thank you!”

Rightly or wrongly, I felt like if she’d written me that note, it would have been decorated, possibly with unicorns or hearts.

Daniel, who’d arrived to talk with the team while I was working, thought, I don’t sense the possibility of immediate disaster. From what I sense in the future, the results are more likely positive than not. The further out I go, the fuzzier it gets.

I thought back, That’s better than the alternative. What do you sense would happen if we give one to Jody?

I felt Daniel concentrate and then heard his reply in my head. Don’t do that.

Whoa, I thought back, that’s pretty direct.

Daniel’s agreement permeated our connection, The chance that goes horribly wrong is high. Oh, by the way, we’ve got a plan and the whole group is coming.

Haley stepped through the door first followed by Daniel. She glanced over at the egg and then at me. “I know you’re brilliant at what you do, but Abominator technology?”

“I know,” I said, noticing that Izzy, Rachel, Marcus, Cassie, Vaughn, and Jaclyn had all stepped into the room and more people were coming behind them.

Addressing the crowd, I said, “It’s all originally Abominator technology, but the Xiniti figured out a way to rewrite it so that it’s under the user’s control not the Abominators’.”

Haley looked behind her out of the corner of her eye, “I know. I think we should do it. Daniel said that our chances are overall better and we need every chance we can get.”

Her voice louder than anyone else’s, Cassie added, “And you all need to recognize Abominator tech. It shouldn’t be just me.”

Jaclyn and I met each other’s eyes, both of us fighting the urge to point out that technically she wasn’t the only one and that Marcus, Jaclyn, and I could as well. We didn’t though, because we knew that Cassie could do a lot more with Abominator tech than we could.

I turned to Haley, “Do you know if anyone’s saying no?”

Giving Cassie a look, Haley said, “Kayla wants to hold off for now. She’s right that she’s in here most of the time, but she does go into the field and sometimes people make it into HQ. She doesn’t have any powers. She needs every advantage she can get.”

Holding up a hand, Cassie said, “I’ll talk to Kayla. She gets nervous about new things, but she gets over it. It’ll work out. It’s a little like when our basketball coach decided she wanted to do defense differently.”

Jaclyn blinked and stared at her, “How is inserting alien communication technology into your head like changing a basketball defense?”

Letting out a breath, Cassie said, “I’m not going to argue, but it is.”

“It’ll work out,” Vaughn said, squeezing past Cassie to stand at the edge of the group. “I’m looking forward to hearing all the conversations the implant people have without me now.”

Marcus laughed, “Implant people?”

“You know what I mean,” Vaughn turned away from him to meet my eyes. “About Jody? It’s the plan I told you about. We’ll be meeting with them tomorrow at 9 am.”