Recent entries

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2103 Copy

    Questioner

    Is Khriss going to make her appearance on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So far, she's had Nazh do that, but she is in Shadesmar, or has been in Shadesmar at various points. So it's entirely possible. She lets Nazh do the hard jobs.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2106 Copy

    Questioner

    Could a mindblade break a Shardblade? Could a mindblade stop a Shardblade, or would a Shardblade stop a mindblade?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think that a Shardblade would stop a mindblade. And whether the mindblade could stop the Shardblade or not would depend on the power of the cytonic and how strong their mind is.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2108 Copy

    Questioner

    Can Leechers leech on other types of Investiture across the cosmere? And how do people power their powers on worlds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, Scadrians can use metal from other worlds. The metal is considered a facilitator, a key for reaching the Spiritual Realm, and distance doesn't matter for the Spiritual Realm. All of the Allomantic powers, Leechers in particular, they do have an influence with the other magic systems. Even as simple as a Shardblade would be very difficult, near impossible to push or pull, because of the level of Investiture it has. Copperclouds have some interesting ramifications, as well as Seekers have interesting ramifications, and Leechers would work on other magic systems as well. It is a little tricky how it interfaces sometimes, but it'll generally do what you're expecting it to do.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2109 Copy

    Steeldancer

    A while back, you mentioned that if certain circumstances hadn't happened on Taldain, that Taldainians... the people on Taldain probably would've been the first to space. Which interests me greatly, because they don't really have a magic system that is very conducive to faster than light travel.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I didn't say--did I say FTL?

    Steeldancer

    You didn't, that's true, but that doesn't change my question. So my question is, is there a method, other than Allomantic ways and Surgebinding ways, for faster than light, that could be achieved on any minor Shardworld, as long as they have access to Investiture?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, there is, but it depends on if you could get in Shadesmar. You could travel FTL in the Physical Realm through Shadesmar. Basically, just take a spaceship in Shadesmar and travel between Shardpools and you've achieved FTL. Because travel through Shadesmar, you could walk between planets in Shadesmar. So anyone who can get in and out of Shadesmar reliably can FTL. Ways in and out of Shadesmar are very rare, which is extremely limiting, but it is possible.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2111 Copy

    Questioner

    Is Taln still part of the Oathpact?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Oathpact has been broken. There's a ghost of it in existence, fragments, but the death of Jezrien has broken the Oathpact. More than death, super death.

    Questioner

    Is that in the books? Should I know that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, he's at the end of Oathbringer, his soul gets sucked by the knife they give to Moash.

    Questioner

    I didn't know it ended the Oathpact though.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, that did break the Oathpact. If one of the Fused were to die, they would be reborn immediately. The Oathpact is a goner. They would have to form a new Oathpact, or something like that.

    Questioner

    Before it was broken, was Taln still involved with it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2113 Copy

    Questioner

    Which series have you enjoyed writing the most?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Probably Wax and Wayne. It is just pure joy. I save up Wayne quotes for years, and then find places for them in the books.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2114 Copy

    Tim

    Nightblood's intent is to destroy evil. Since it consumes Investiture, does it view Investiture as evil?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, it does not. Nightblood has trouble deciding what is evil. It is getting better, more and more, but it wouldn't view Investiture itself as evil.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2120 Copy

    Erik02847

    If a listener were to Awaken something, would they imitate the listener or a human?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They would imitate the listener.

    Erik02847

    And would that change based off of their form?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It could slightly change based off their form. More likely it's just gonna about their culture and the way the person sees the world, but the way that the listener sees the world is changed based on their form, so yeah, it'll have an effect.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2122 Copy

    Questioner

    I read a lot of the Star Wars books, and they have a timeline in the front of each book. I know that you mentioned that you don't want to force people to have to read them in a certain order. Is that something that you've ever thought of?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is. I've actually thought of starting to stick in the back of the book, a guide to the cosmere and stuff. It's just, finding the space for it in the books and all of that is tricky. I think we will eventually do it. But it's just one of the many things that I have to find time to do.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2123 Copy

    Questioner

    I've heard that you're kind of close with the Magic: The Gathering people?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I mean, I did write a story for them, I do know some people over there.

    Questioner

    Have they ever asked you about doing a set, like how they're doing D&D and stuff?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Different thing, but they asked me to write the story for the new Urza set that's coming out. (The Brothers' War, I think they just announced it last month.) And I couldn't do it, I just didn't have the time. But a Secret Lair is totally possible. That's something that we could probably do.

    It's just tricky because mechanically unique cards are divisive among the community, and so the question is: "Do we want a Secret Lair that just takes other cards and reskins them? Do we want to wait until there are cards that are being made that would match the characters, and then reskin those? Do we want to see how people receive the Lord of the Rings set, and if they really like it, then maybe they would do something Stormlight?" Something like that. I really kind of want to see how all of this plays out with the Secret Lairs and stuff, which I really like, but I know they're divisive in the community.

    Anyway, this is on everybody's radar, right? They're making fantasy properties into card sets. There's only a couple names that come up. It's Tolkien, then probably George, and Harry Potter, and then me, so they have talked to me. But a full set, there haven't even been talks about that. It's all just been like, "Hey maybe would you be interested?" That sort of thing. So don't hold your breath, but we'll see how the Lord of the Rings set goes.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2124 Copy

    Questioner

    How old was Shallan when she killed her first spren?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would have to look at the exact outline of that. Karen keeps all of the continuity timeline stuff, and I just kind of offload that part of my brain to her, so she's the one that would know. You can ask Karen some time when she's around.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2125 Copy

    Questioner

    Jasnah was in Shadesmar for kind of a long time, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    Did she go somewhere and get other Investiture?

    Brandon Sanderson

    She did not manage to get off world. Good question. She's becoming cosmere aware, but really it's through Hoid. Before, she didn't really have very much awareness of that.

    Questioner

    How did she survive, like getting stuff to eat and stuff?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You can get it if you know what you're doing in Shadesmar.

    Questioner

    She's pretty resourceful, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    She's pretty resourceful. Most of the time, you're gonna have to trade for it. There's actually caravans that go through Shadesmar. They almost always stop at Roshar to resupply through the Horneater Peaks. So if you know what you're doing, you could trade for food. They have food in a lot of the waystops and the cities and things like that because humans are coming through, and it's a thing they can trade them.

    Questioner

    A lot of those canned goods, those coming from Scadrial?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If it's canned, it's coming from Scadrial at this point. Taldain probably has the same technology at that point, but Taldain is closed. So the cans are coming from Scadrial.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2126 Copy

    Questioner

    In the fourth book of The Way of Kings, when Kaladin ascends to the fourth thought [ideal]. The only thing I don't like is that he projects the Shard [Shardplate], you know, to protect the kid and stuff. How - I don't know, that bugs me.

    Brandon Sanderson

    You are allowed to be bugged. And I give readers line-item vetoes. If you want to pretend that doesn't exist, you'll just have to imagine some of the scenes in future books differently.

    Questioner

    Well I mean, hopefully there will be an explanation for that or something, I don't know. As of right now, it bugs me, but everything else was awesome.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'll try to explain it, we'll see if it works for you.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
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    Very Nice Name 16

    Do you ever plan to update the Knights Radiant quiz, when we've seen all the Orders in the books?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, I could imagine us doing that once you've seen all the Orders. But we used a lot of information from me and my wiki and my knowledge of those Orders to make those, but the Orders could tweak as I write them, so it's totally possible that we will change things.

    That would take quite a while, because it's basically saying, by Book Ten we maybe will have changed some of these.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #2128 Copy

    Use the Falchion

    Wondering about a Mainframe release schedule.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right now, we are focused on the Skyward novellas, which are going to come out with the ebooks. We're doing ebook and audiobook together on this one, just because it's an ongoing series, and I felt locking those behind audiobook is not as appropriate as it was with something like Lux, where it was being created specifically (like, I wasn't planning to write the book) for the audio.

    The things that we're mainly working on how is: Dark One, the novelization with Dan Wells. Once we get the Skyward ones done, then our attention turns to that. Dan actually just sent in a first draft of something he's been working on related to that that I told him I would read before October, once Wax and Wayne revision is done. I'm excited by that.

    But first, I want to keep eyes on these Skyward releases, because they're really gonna determine what we're able to do in the future in this realm, because the publisher is putting a lot into them, and is worried (like I said earlier) about the release schedule that I have asked them to use.

    Those are the main things, and I think that and then Legion: Death and Faxes is the last of our first group of Mainframe projects. And that one, we have a draft of, also.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #2130 Copy

    The Sunny One

    I've been rereading the earlier Cosmere titles recently, and I was wondering: are we ever likely to see full world maps for these locations?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, probably during next age, or next era. Once we get to modern era, and their mapping technology is to a modern equivalent, you'll start seeing full world maps. I'd love to do globes; I don't know how much interest there is in a Roshar globe, but I've wanted to do that for years.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
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    Comrade Herald

    If Shallan had married into Veden royalty, would she have taken on the family surname?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If she had moved into royalty? I don't think the Vedens take last names. I think that is in the wiki. I don't think that you change your name when you're Veden and you're marrying, regardless. It might be different for the royal family. But my gut says "no." This is not stuff that's in the books, so I'm out on a limb here. If I've just said something that is contradicted by the books, I'm sorry; I don't have Karen looking over my shoulder. But I don't believe Vedens take each other's last names.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #2132 Copy

    Kryzinmoon23

    What was your inspiration for Dabbid? Is Dabbid based off someone in your life?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Dabbid came from a couple of sources. One is just reading some first-hand accounts of people who have lived life such as him. This is the sort of thing that I look for and love to read, is first-hand accounts of life experience that can help me understand the world and other people better.

    All three of my children would not be alive if we did not have modern medicine. All three of them had complications of birth that were not trivial to deal with, even for modern... nothing really bad, but all three of them would have died either during birth or shortly thereafter. So it is something that I think about. And for one of them, the cord was wrapped around his neck. And they only noticed this because, when Emily would push, the baby had a big heart rate change that they're like, "Woah woah woah; stop. Something is really wrong." And without modern medicine, that's Joel, my eldest, would not be alive. And I think about these sorts of things quite a bit. So it's kind of a mix of those two things.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #2133 Copy

    Questioner

    In your most recent Stormlight book, there was a character that came out as ace. Could you talk though that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is not a spoiler. I feel like this is there in the text, even though I wasn't 100% sure where I was going or how to pull it off. I think I was laying the groundwork for this character, and I was not completely sold, let's be perfectly honest. The members of the ace community who are fans were suggesting that this was how I was writing the character, and I did not want to canonize it until I had the right scene from this character's eyes to make it work. When I really sat down to do this, I tried the character several ways, and this is the way that felt right to me. I've often said that, until I write from a character's viewpoint, that I don't really know. And I had done viewpoints from this character before; at least one, maybe a couple. But I hadn't talked about their sexuality at all. And I explore the world through the eyes of my characters. And this was an exploration that really worked and kind of helped me understand the world and people in the way that I really like characters to do for me. That's part of why I did it. And I was holding off on talking about this character's sexuality until the right moment, and then I tried multiple different things, and this is the one that just really sang to me. People encouraged me to try it, and I'm glad that they did, because once I did, they were right, and it worked real well. So, thank you to members of the ace community who are fans of the books. I feel like the character locked into place better for me once I understood enough to try writing this way.

    Footnote: The character in question was Jasnah, who was revealed to be asexual during Rhythm of War
    #jasnah #lgbtq
    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #2134 Copy

    SapphireBombay

    Is Jasnah left-handed? If so, did that play a role in her perceptions of how women are treated on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Left-handed women become very ambidextrous, kind of are forced to use their non-dominant hand, on Roshar. I will have to give it some thought whether Jasnah was originally left-handed. It seems like it would totally fit her.

    And I don't think I've mentioned any lefties; I actually get emails, now and then, from people being like, "Hey, can we know who's a lefty in the Cosmere?" I think that it is something on my radar, to canonize some lefties, but I'm not going to do that now.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #2135 Copy

    next191

    One of the few criticisms of Rhythm of War is that more and more Stormlight Cosmere lore is getting pretty complicated, and it's harder and harder to follow along without understanding the whole Cosmere. Will this trend continue? Will we need a degree in cosmere-ism to read Stormlight Ten?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I try to write these scenes such that, if you want to let your eyes glaze over and read kind of to the end of them, generally people summarize "this is what we need to do." This sort of stuff, honestly, goes back to Elantris. This sort of stuff is going to show up in a lot of the Cosmere books. It is a fundamental tenet of how I'm creating the Cosmere. Rhythm of War was definitely the pendulum further along toward that aspect, with Navani being a main character, than a lot of them will be. But if we do write Khriss stories, you're gonna get a lot in the Khriss stories. All I will say is: don't interpret it as increasing in complexity the more the books are written. Interpret it as: as we get to characters that that is relevant to, their sections are going to involve more of that than others.

    I see it increasing in all, a little bit, as we move along, but it really depends on who the characters are, what they're talking about, and things like this. My hope is that no, you do not need to. My hope is that you can (if it really is not your thing) skim those scenes, get an explanation at the end, and still know "okay, we need to do this thing." What I don't want it to be is just technobabble, also, that does not fit into the structure and worldbuilding. It is a fine line to walk, and I would accept... I think that criticism is valid of Rhythm of War, but it's one of those sort of things, like the first book having a steep learning curve, that is an aspect of the story that I'm trying to tell.

    I hope not. I hope you will not need one. This is something I am aware of, and we will see. If it gets to be way too much, I think fans will let me know, and beta readers will then pick up on that and start warning me "maybe this is too much, Brandon." We'll see.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #2136 Copy

    Questioner

    Are there any other actors that you currently have in your mind-canon?

    Brandon Sanderson

    People have really converted me to Lance Reddick for Sazed. That was not in my head, but the fans have been persistent, and now it's hard to imagine anyone else.

    I really don't have a lot of other people, though. I have never been one who does a lot of fan-casting, even for my own books or for other things, because I believe in the power of... like, there are casting directors. Really good casting directors are amazing. I would not have imagine anyone who ended up doing the new Star Trek movies, but that cast was just so good and so perfect. I like seeing that; people are experts in this. Like, the Lord of the Rings films. People are really good; it's their entire job to figure out how to match actors to roles. And actors, turns out, are really good at being different types of people.

    Other than The Rock as Rock, which obviously is too perfect.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
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    Questioner

    Any update on the White Sand omnibus?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't know if we have an update. The publisher came through with their plan, and I know that Isaac is making the final, last tweaks he can before it goes to press. So, we are very close, and it is coming. I think you guys are really gonna like it. Isaac has slaved over this to try to bring it more in-line with cosmere continuity and the way that we wanted the visuals to work. And White Sand was a learning experience; the White Sand omnibus is much more of a canon experience. It's almost like, the original White Sands, you supported us in an alpha version of it.

    I have no specific update, but I know it's really close.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
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    Mistradiant

    Any teasing for The Lost Metal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Did we record me reading the prologue of that? It's on the YouTube channel. There will be another reading of this happening at the Cytonic release, in some form or another, another reading from Wax and Wayne. The trick is finding ones that aren't spoilery to read.

    Wax and Wayne Four will be of particular interest to people who enjoy the variety of magics and cultures in the cosmere, not just Scadrial.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #2139 Copy

    dIvorrap

    What does Dalinar's name mean? Like how Kaladin means "born unto eternity."

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's gonna have to be something that I would need top open on my laptop and double-check, because I need to make sure it fits with continuity; I'm opening up the wiki that Karen has stamped. People ask me this a lot, and I keep forgetting to canonize it for people. We will get you an answer on that one.

    Karen Ahlstrom

    We know that "nar" means "like unto," but not much more.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, so I have not canonized that yet, for her. Well, I will do that (because I know what it means), and we'll get it in the wiki and make sure it's not replacing another word that is already canonized as another sound, and then we'll get that out to people.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
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    Ironeyes52

    What noble houses were Kel and Marsh born into? What's their surname?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I can't canonize that, yet. I've got it somewhere. Let's RAFO that, for now. That's the sort of thing that I need to run past continuity, make sure that I haven't contradicted it in later books. We should release that, though. It does make sense that people would want to know.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2141 Copy

    Questioner

    I imagine living Shardblades represent the people they're bonded with. If the person changed over time, would the design of the Shardblade change? For example, with holiness being symmetrical, and somebody was holy, that's gonna be symmetrical. If they became unholy, would their Blade become unsymmetrical?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's gonna depend on their perceptions of themselves and their spren's perceptions of them. But yes, it can change over time.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2143 Copy

    Questioner

    In The Stormlight Archive, will there ever be a point where we'll get to know what all of the different Orders are and all their abilities?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    Is that gonna be the fifth book? Or is that gonna be at the very end?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It'll be at the very end. Basically, to preserve some of the excitement and discovery, you'll notice me just kind of cutting away before some of those powers get used, and things. Just so when the books about those people happen, I am more able to explore it on the page and have more fun with it.

    Questioner

    Is it gonna be like, after the fifth book, is gonna end those main characters and you're gonna show the next generation?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's not next generation. It's the same characters throughout them all, but the back five will have different flashback sequences. So, the back five will have flashbacks from Lift, Renarin, Jasnah, Taln, and Ash. Characters from the first five are still gonna be the main characters. But, like you didn't get, in this one, any Jasnah flashbacks; Jasnah's flashbacks are in the back five, and they'll be kind of - yeah. So... does that make sense?

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2144 Copy

    Questioner

    How did Nale bring Szeth back to life?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Szeth's spirit had not moved onto the Beyond. It was basically Rosharan CPR. He repaired the body, and Szeth was not dead dead. His heart had stopped, but when his body came back together, it started beating again.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2145 Copy

    Questioner

    Are we going to learn the similarities between the two people, the surgeon's first words when they were born... <Demid> and Taravangian? The cord around their neck?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'll just say, I didn't intend that to be something you look at and say, "Oh, it's the same!" What I mean that to mean is bad medical care. All three of my children would have died in childbirth if we didn't have modern medical care. My first one had the cord around his neck. The doctors have told us they would all be dead. I just think that's very common in a society like this. The things going on with Roshar is, Rosharans are innately tougher because of their Investiture, so they're more likely to survive traumatic experiences. It's not meant to say you should be looking for any other connection in something like that.

    General Reddit 2021 ()
    #2147 Copy

    Ben McSweeney

    The bottom glyph is the sigil for Ardent Benabe (Beneba?).

    The rest of the translation is close enough, I think. I also took this (as well as the cutaway for Urithiru) to be an opportunity to semi-subtly include the numbering glyphs 1-10... as such, we can also see that the total length is ~30 [feet].

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2148 Copy

    Questioner

    In the Arcanum Unbounded, it says that a Rosharan foot is longer than cosmere standard. How does that compare to an Earth foot?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Longer. Kaladin is almost seven feet tall, by our measurements. We've got a height comparison, Shallan is about six feet tall. She thinks she's short. Compared to us, she'd be on the taller end. That's why if you notice people from around the cosmere that show up, they're often mentioned as short. Not Hoid, who's able to use magical means to change how he's perceived, but someone like Felt, and stuff like that.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #2149 Copy

    Questioner

    Would a Shardblade be able to hurt Steelheart?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, I think it would.

    Questioner

    If the person feared him, would they still be able to hurt him?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Even if they didn't fear him, if you mashed Steelheart into the cosmere--which it's not, but if you did, the Steelheart magics would all have to work on the cosmere magics, which means that a Shardblade could hurt him. If you had a Shardblade, you could hurt someone even if you didn't know their weakness. That would be a way it would have to work. Now, if you were to mash them all into Steelheart's universe, then maybe not.

    Salt Lake City ComicCon 2017 ()
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    Brandon Sanderson

    It's not every day you get you get to help save the world. Around here, it only happens about every six months.

    I stood in the Apocalypse Guard command center. The screens displayed Erodan, a planet threatened with destruction by a passing asteroid. Today, the Guard would save that planet, and I got to be part of it.

    "Emma," Commander Visco said, waving her cup toward me. "This coffee cup won't refill itself."

    A very small part.

    I seized the Commander's cup and hurried to the small kitchen beside the command station. As painful as it was to miss anything, particularly now that the asteroid was getting close to Erodan, I had a job to do. Commander Visco couldn't spare the time to fill her own cup. That's why you had interns like me.

    A pot was brewing on the counter inside the small kitchen. But just in case, I got a second one going in the other machine. Truth be told, I was a coffee-making genius. Everybody said so, and I took their word on it, because... seriously, why would you bother lying to the coffee girl? Granted, I had to take their word for it, as I didn't drink coffee. My skill was due to my secret weapon: I knew how to follow instructions. I flipped through pictures on my phone, finding the instructions. The other interns said they'd been making coffee for years and didn't need instructions... but they then seemed shocked when they tasted how great my brews were. Odd how it was, when you measured exactly and read by the manual, how things turned out better than when you did by instinct.

    New batch brewing, I filled the commander's cup, then took the rest of the pot with me as I rushed back into the main room of the command center, which was occupied by some forty people. We weren't actually on Erodan, the endangered planet; our command center was on the space station Charleston, which was in orbit around Terra, my home planet. We used specialized technology to look through at Erodan and manage the operation there.

    When most people think of the Apocalypse Guard, they imagine the Riggers and their fantastical powers. Most people forget that the Guard also includes hundreds of scientists, engineers, explorers... and office interns. A magnificent force united by a single goal: save planets from destruction.

    I delivered the Commander's cup, glancing at the command center's large main screen, which had shifted to a view of the asteroid. One of the technicians had nicknamed it "Droppy." The people on Erodan called it "Calamity." That was a bad name by our metrics for various reasons. Droppy didn't look that dangerous to me; more majestic. A grand oblong chunk of space rock tumbling quietly in the void, trailing a brilliant line of debris. The Apocalypse Guard had been working to stop it for two years now, ever since first discovering Erodan and making contact. That had been long before I had joined them, but I had read all of the mission briefs. Well, the ones that interns had clearance for, anyway.

    Commander Visco barked an order, checking on the Sapphire Riggers who were watching along the Erodan's eastern sea. Because of the Guard's actions, Droppy should miss the planet. But after that, the planet would pass through the debris of the asteroid's tail, and that would cause meteor showers, and some larger chunks of rock might prove dagneorus. The Sapphire Riggers would use their powers to stop any tsunamis.

    As the screen switched, I jumped, remembering where I was. Step one of not getting fired, Emma. Do your freaking job. Coffee pot in hand, I turned toward the rows of people seated in cubbies beneath the main screen. These scientists and operators supported the Riggers, who were our field agents. Filling empty cups wasn't glorious work, but it was my work, and dang it, I was gonna do it well. If Erodan fell, it wouldn't be because our command team lacked proper caffeination.

    The screen switched to another image of Droppy. From what I'd read, saving planets from asteroids was standard work for the Guard. They'd done it some six times now. I would have expected them to use nukes, or more dramatically, the Steel Riggers, who could shoot bolts of energy from their hands. Instead, the Guard had painted the asteroid bright white. That meant more sunlight bounced off Droppy, which, remarkably, had nudged it off its course. Two years later, it was barely going to miss Erodan.

    My pot ran dry, so I went to fetch a new one. On my way back to the kitchen, I hesitantly stopped the room's Firelight Rigger, who sat in a command chair off by himself. The man wore a bright red headpiece, kind of like a futuristic crown, and a similar chestpiece under his loose jacket. I wiggled the coffee pot, but he just stared forward, fingers laced with the index fingers tapping. The air seemed to warm around him. Looking in other dimensions, I thought, shivering. Technically, Erodan wasn't simply another planet; it was an alternate dimension version of Terra. There were technically infinite dimensions, but most weren't stable. They were wild half-realities, full of oddities and bizarre visions. Erodan, however, was what we call a Stable Node, like Terra. Or Earth, the Hidden Node. Erodan was a real world, full of living people, civilizations, and cultures.

    "Looking good," Commander Visco said as reports flashed on the main screen. She had a voice that tasted like fudge brownies. Oh, right, I kind of taste sounds sometimes, particularly peoples' voices. It's called synesthesia, and it's a totally cool thing that scientists find super interesting and not weird at all. I don't mention it to people very often. "Emerald Riggers," Commander Visco said, "Report."

    I trotted away from the Firelight Rigger (who was, admittedly, very creepy) and started scanning for other people who needed coffee refills. The main screen turned to a shot of a line of Emerald Riggers floating up above Erodan's atmosphere, each surrounded by a protective green forcefield. They were spaced out, watching the asteroid from a safe distance, a line of sentinels between it and the planet. "Asteroid pass is looking clean, Commander," said Captain Choy, an Asian man. His face, shaded green from his forcefield, appeared in the corner of the main screen. His voice tasted like brown beef with onions. "How are the tides?"

    "Sapphire Riggers report they are manageable," a scientist replied. "Everything is as projected."

    "Doesn't even look like there's much debris in the tail," Choy said. "Emerald Riggers standing by."

    I filled a few more cups, moving down a row of operators wearing headsets. Each of these would be in contact with a specific Rigger. I didn't know most of them, though Billy, who was the last in the row, gave me a grin and held up his cup. "Thanks, Emma," he said, pulling off his headset. His voice tasted of mint asparagus. Yes, I know. Billy took a sip of coffee, and then handed me the headset. "Hold this."

    "Um... sure."

    Billy slipped off his chair. "I'll be back in a sec. Have to hit the restroom. Cover for me."

    "Co- co- cover for you?" I just about dropped my coffee pot. "Billy, I'm not trained for this! Billy!"

    "It's fine," he said.

    "Where are the instructions?" Billy just left me there. He wasn't the only one getting up. Others would occasionally run to the restroom or something. A mission like this could take hours. But none of the others left an intern holding their headset!

    I looked around in panic. An Indian man two seats over glanced at me, then shook his head, as if in disapproval. Right, right, cover for Billy. Step one, put on the headset. Step two... look like you know what you're doing? "Hello," I said into the device?"

    "Hello, beautiful," a familiar voice said. "Glad Billy finally got your attention. Hovering up here is getting boring."

    Lance. Emerald Rigger, and the reason I had gotten this internship in the first place. My boyfriend, a man I could have freaking strangled right then.

    ***

    Lance's voice tasted like my favorite peanut cluster candy bar from home. A familiar, comfortable taste, sweet and salty at the same time. "Lance," I hissed, sitting down. "You're not supposed to be Billy's Rigger!"

    "Billy and I got it swapped," Lance said. "If I'm going to spend hours flying up here in a bubble, I can at least have someone fun to talk to."

    "You're doing important work," I said, hunkering down. What if the Commander noticed that I was shirking coffee duty to talk to my boyfriend? "Super heroic stuff."

    "Boring," Lance said, then yawned audibly into the microphone. At twenty years old, Lance Stoddard was two years my senior, which had caused some consternation on the parts of our parents when we were in high school. He was the Apocalypse Guard's star rookie, having mastered the Emerald Rig after just one year of practice. He'd been on active duty every since, saving planets. That wasn't enough, of course, for Lance Freaking Stoddard. "They refused to put me on the dangerous missions," he said. "I had a chance to be on help of Zima five months ago, but they-" Do I have to listen to his again? "They pulled me for no reason! Now here I am, staring at a rock! Important work. The Hex were on Zima, Emma."

    I shivered. The Hex. I wasn't allowed to read about our intervention on Zima. The reports were classified. But I did know we'd failed. The Hex had destroyed the planet. That made four planets so far they'd claimed in the eight years since they'd been discovered. People called them the most dangerous threat to the Knowns we'd ever encountered, a fact that I knew intimately well.

    Lance sighed again, loudly. "You're so aggravating," I said, fishing in my pocket.

    "You're getting out your phone, aren't you?"

    "No I'm not," I said, getting out my phone.

    "You're looking for that picture of me. The one you wrote instructions on."

    "Don't be silly," I said, pulling up that exact picture."

    "Well, if I'm supposed to be offended, I'm not. I think it's very cute, the way you talk. Very Idaho."

    "I work for the Guard, now. I've become very cosmopolitan." I lowered my voice, thickening my real accent. "So stop teasin' me, Lance Stardard, you flipping idiot."

    "I love the way that sounds! So pastoral!"

    "Hush," I said. "You're from Idaho, too."

    "I lived there for three years." Lance was originally from New York. He implied to others that he'd grown up in the important part, but I knew he'd lived in a town just as rural as Iona, Idaho. "I'm telling you", he said over the line, "I'm capable of more of this. The Pangaea mission will be even more boring. A flood? Scientists can solve that."

    "I'm sure everyone we save on Pangaea will be comforted to know they were almost killed by a boring apocalyse."

    On the screen Droppy drew closer and closer to Erodan. Sometimes, it was hard to remember that the screen was looking between dimensions, at another version of our world. Our history deviated from Erodan's some two thousand years ago, so they didn't seem very similar. Erodan's technology was stuck somewhere around the 1980s, and all the nations had different names from ours. They'd never heard of people like George Washington or Joan of Arc. Those people simply hadn't been born on Erodan. That was different from Earth, though, the Hidden Node. Apparently, that planet was so similar to Terra that there were alternate versions of most people living on it. Crazy. Fortunately, nobody could get to Earth these days, so it didn't really matter.

    "You're supposed to be keeping me company."

    "You're supposed to be staying focused. How long is Billy going to be gone, anyway?"

    "Someway, when your internship is done, you'll be my operator. Then we can work as a team! Think of it. Me, risking my life on daring adventures. You, admiring how well I do it."

    "You, tripping over your enthusiasm," I said. "Me, saving your heinie at the last minute, like in physics class, and in chemistry class, and in calculus class." I smiled. I did like Lance. He was like a big, barking Labrador. A little loud, maybe a little full of himself, but sweet at the same time.

    "Admit it," he said, "You're glad I suggested that you apply."

    "Suggested? You practically forced me into it."

    "All I did was give you a list of instructions for submitting an application!" His candy-bar voice sounded intentionally innocent.

    I sighed. It wasn't that I had minded getting out of Iona. But, well... Riggers gave me the shivers. It's just hard to explain. Our lives had seemed planned out, simply. But then Lance, instead of taking the football scholarship, had applied for the Guard. And he'd gotten in! And then when I graduated two years later, he nagged me until I applied. He pulled some strings, and I was really good at following instructions. So three months later, here I was, serving coffee to the Apocalypse Guard itself. Eh... when Lance let me do my job.

    "Do you ever wonder," I said over the line, "why we have to do this in the first place?"

    "Talk?" Lance said.

    "No, save planets."

    "You'd rather just let 'em be destroyed?"

    "No," I said, "not that. I mean, have you wondered why? We found like, what, forty different stable nodes?"

    "Yeah, something like that."

    "And Erodan will be our twentieth intervention," I said. "So, like, half of all the planets we discover need to be saved from some imminent catastrophe. None have their own Apocalypse Guard or their own Riggers."

    "Eh, some people from other planets do have weird powers. Jank is from Triveria; he can make things dry by touching them. He doesn't need a rig or anything."

    "That's beside the point. Why, Lance? Why are so many planets facing life-ending threats?"

    The Guard had a great track record. Of its twenty interventions so far, only six had failed. Four of those to the Hex, but that was still six entire planets we'd lost. with, in most cases, only a small percentage of people escaping to other dimensions.

    "Best not to think about stuff like that, Emma," Lance said.

    "I wish we had more answers," I said. "It..." I trailed off. A number on my monitor was flashing. The monitor had all kinds of readouts and things I didn't understand, since this wasn't my freaking job.

    "Just a sec," Lance said. "Something's happening." That number on my screen, I thought. It's Lance's heartbeat. It skyrocketed. Feeling a growing panic, I looked up to the large main screen, which showed Droppy in all its glory. It seemed to be wobbling in a different way than before. Though the control center, scientists and operators hushed. Commander Visco looked up from her tablet at the back of the room, lowering her coffee mug from her lips. The asteroid wobbled once more, then started breaking into smaller chunks.