“Yeah, but I don’t know how far away it can be picked up.”
“Let me take a wild stab in the dark—pretty fucking far.” He shakes his head. “So, what do we do now?” His eyes narrow on Gage. “My vote is toss the fucker out of the airlock along with his neural chip.”
Beckett raises a hand. “I second the motion.”
Bloodthirsty drokarays—both of them.
Gage tugs on his earring, then glances at Max, who shrugs like he doesn’t care one way or the other.
And now Gage is starting to turn a little green.
“Don’t be silly,” Rain says. She crosses to Gage and pats him on the arm. “Of course we’re not going to toss you into space and leave you to die.”
“Pity.” Ian shoves his hands in his pockets and eyes the other man. “I could use a little something to break up the monotony. Maybe just his head, then, and we’ll keep the rest of him around for old times’ sake?”
My lips twitch, and I almost laugh—except I’m not totally sure he’s joking. That’s the thing with Ian: I’ve seen how easily he kills. And once seen, that sort of thing cannot be forgotten.
“Could we remove it?” I suggest tentatively. “Do you even know exactly where it is, Gage?”
Gage looks more than a little alarmed at the suggestion. “Not a chance. It’s inside my skull. No way are any of you goons digging around in my head. No way.” He jumps to his feet and starts pacing. “Look, I’ll kill it,” he says quickly. “I heard there’s a way they can be deactivated. It just needs an electromagnetic pulse. A big one, but I’m sure I can rig something up to do it. Just give me a little time.”
“That does sound painful,” Ian said. “Maybe the airlock is the better option. I heard it’s real quick.”
Again, I think he’s teasing. But again, this is Ian I’m talking about, so who really knows?
Gage’s eyes widen. “Come on, Ian. Seriously? I can do this. You have to at least give me the chance. You need me in order to find Milla.”
“I don’t have to do anything.” Ian takes a step toward him. “But for Milla’s sake, you can go ahead and try—before your fucking friends find us again. Or I really will toss you out of the airlock, and I won’t even feel bad about doing it.”
Chapter 39
Kali
Gage comes back an hour or so later, eyes watery and bright with pain. Max enters behind him, looking shaken. When I give him a what-in-the-system-happened look, he just shrugs. Still, when we try the wand on Gage’s head, it doesn’t beep anymore, so I’d call it a win.
Once Gage is “deactivated,” no more ships come after us, and the rest of our journey to Glacea goes by uneventfully. Ian is a pretty fucking good captain. He generally keeps the peace, making sure there are two people on the bridge at all times, but I’ve noticed that I’m never alone with Beckett. Most days are spent traveling, arguing, and with a few small moments when Ian is actually willing to teach me a couple of simple self-defense maneuvers. I’m now the proud wielder of a kick-to-the-groin move that honestly isn’t half bad.
Usually, Ian assigns me to the bridge with Max or Rain—both of whom work just fine as partners for me. Max makes me laugh all the time, and Rain makes me feel like the system might not be the horrible place I’m beginning to suspect it is.
Ian has also set up a roster for cooking and cleaning. He’s actually amazingly organized, for an obnoxious thief and murderer. My first time in the galley, they all waited with bated breath to see what sort of disaster I was going to produce. Hah. My dad taught me to cook in the palace kitchens—fare from around the Senestris System—and our favorite was a delicious dish playing on Seratian cuisine but using Askkandian protein: the dreaded fishgalen that everyone but Merrick hates so much.
I reconstituted it, made a sauce from dried onions and fungi, and served it with maize porridge, a staple of Kridacus. Rain said she loved it, that it made her feel like she was back home, and for once she actually seemed to be comforted by that thought. Even Ian ate two portions, and he’d said beforehand that just the smell of fishgalen made him hurl. I’m sure my mother would call it peasant food, but I don’t care.
And neither did my dad. He believed everyone should be able to cook at least well enough to look after themselves, so he taught me. He said just because we were royalty didn’t mean we had to be useless. Though he never said anything like that where my mother could hear.
Anyway, it was fun to cook for everyone, and I don’t mind the cleaning, either. I feel almost blissfully exhausted at the end of each day, a kind of satisfied ache throughout my shoulders that tells me I did something that day. Something that mattered and that makes me a part of a community.
A part of this team.
So, yeah, I’ve been happy.
That’s all about to change, though, because we’re approaching Glacea. There aren’t any checks to pass on entering the atmosphere, but that’s because the planet is basically inhospitable outside protected ports—hopefully the spoofed credentials from Askkandia will work once we approach civilization. Maybe we’ll find Milla. Maybe we won’t. But I have a strong feeling it’s not going to be easy.
First, though, I start to smile as I hear Ian say, “Five minutes,” to Rain for the twentieth time. “You have five minutes to get back on the ship, or we’re leaving without you.”
Rain stands on tiptoe and kisses him on the cheek. “You’re the best captain ever,” she says. He looks a little bemused.
Our ultimate goal is the sky port of Rodos, but Beckett has made a slight detour to the Herodios Mountains way toward the northern pole. Because Rain has convinced our captain that the two of us need to see snow.
We had to fly deep into the vast mountain range—Glacea is the least affected of the planets by the current situation, as it’s the farthest from the sun, but even here the effects of system warming are clear to see. But we finally found some snow in the end, and the view from the viewing screens is completely white. Plenty of snow on the ground in all directions, but, disappointingly, none falling.
Rain holds a hand out to me. “You have to come with,” she says.
“Obviously,” I agree, only hesitating slightly before putting my palm against hers.
“Beckett?” she asks hopefully.
For a moment, I think Beckett is going to stay put, but then she gets up and crosses the bridge to stand on Rain’s other side and grabs her other hand.
“Merrick?” Rain says. “You want to come?”
“I’ll pass,” he mutters. His face has healed a lot in the last two weeks, but he still looks unhappy. And distracted. Something is definitely bothering him, and I suspect it’s more than just Rain. Then again, I know how distracted I was, how much I hurt, after my father died. Is there any wonder Merrick doesn’t seem like he’s on his game?
Rain, Beckett, and I start to wander from the bridge. To my surprise, Ian follows us. Before I can even get fully down the ramp, Rain is running like a child while Beckett follows bemusedly behind her.
I wrap my arms about myself as I shiver, but I keep pressing forward. It’s too fun to watch Rain experience her first snow.